Foody Forty in Florida - Nov/Dec 2018 - COMPLETE!

[Wordsworth]

I’ve learned a lot from reading everyone’s food reports, so I thought I’d try to contribute one of my own in the hopes of helping others in a similar fashion!

This trip is to celebrate my fortieth birthday (which was in the summer). We have no kids so it’s just me and DH.

We’re staying in the Point resort by International Drive/Universal Blvd for three nights, then we have 12 nights at the Wilderness Lodge with DDP (I’m most excited about this as although we’ve visited Florida many times, this is our first onsite trip) and we finish with three nights at RPR.

We really enjoy going out to eat, and we’re not that fussy - we will eat most things and as far as we’re concerned there’s a time and a place for both chains and fine dining!

We’ve always enjoyed dining off site and faves include Outback, Chili’s and Denny’s. Meanwhile all of our table credits are already accounted for with ADRs at California Grill (dinner and brunch), Narcoosees, Yachtsman, Tiffins, Tokyo Dining And Sci Fi Dine In. We also have an ADR at Victoria and Albert (again, so excited!), a lunch one for Be Our Guest and a couple of dessert parties booked. I’ve really gone all out for my birthday celebration...

Travel Day

We were up at stupid o’clock for our flight to Gatwick. Everything went smoothly and we were actually at the airport before the BA lounge opened!

One we were allowed in, I had some yogurt and tea; they do have warm ham and cheese croissants now but I was trying not to peak too early!

This is because, as we were flying Club, I knew we’d get the cooked breakfast on the plane. The cabin crew were great and offered champagne when they realised we were going on holiday, so being good went out the window!

We arrived in Gatwick on time and headed for the lounge there for our third breakfast. I also had some kettle chips later but stuck to tea and water as I wanted to be hydrated for the flight.

Our flight was delayed for about 40 minutes but once on board I had a pre-dinner G&T with almonds.

Then it was time for lunch. I had Sauvignon Blanc with this, which is the kind of wine I really enjoy. I skipped a starter as neither appealed, while DH went for the stuffed pepper but didn’t think much of it.

The mains were good though - I would have liked more of the massaman sauce with my chicken as it was delicious and fragrant, and my husband enjoyed most of the steak although the edge was a little dry.

We shared cheese and the citrus delice for dessert - the former was more successful as the delice was unfortunately mostly soggy and flavourless. I had a baileys afterwards, I do have a picture but am not sharing it as it’s a bit dull LOL.

During the flight I visited the club kitchen for some fizzy juice and chocolate, again the photo is too boring to show (plus I took it after everything was finished, oops!).

Before landing into Tampa we had afternoon tea; I’m not a great flier so normally don’t eat this, but I actually felt good this time and enjoyed the sandwiches, the chocolate cake and the scone (not pictured but with jam then cream, of course!).

We were off the plane, through immigration and had our bags within 30 minutes, which was great - but then disaster struck and we waited an hour and twenty minutes for our hire car . By the time we had the car and had driven the hour to the International Drive area, all we wanted was bed - so thanks to BA for supplying all our food for the day!