And When Did You Last See Your Father? - Day 6 (Resort Hopping, PINS and Fuddruckers)

[Guest]

We are a family of three - me (April), DH (R.C.) and DS (Poot, who turned ten on this holiday). We visited Orlando and Sanibel Island, travelling from Gatwick on BA.

DH has his own business and could only join us for part of the holiday (hence the title of this trippie). He's not much for theme parks, but always enjoys our time on Sanibel.

For our week on the Gulf Coast, we were joined by my lovely DM (Judybat) and her husband (Hans).

Trippie Index Here

Day 5 (Orlando Premium Outlets, Disney Springs and Blaze Pizza) Here




Should be a short report today! And there aren’t many “people pictures” - mostly food...and pins...so here’s a snap of Poot and I at a football game!

If you’ve been reading from the beginning, you know that Poot LOVES pins. I had promised him that today (our last day without park tickets) would be “pin day”.


We had another Garden Grocer breakfast and went for our last swim in the French Quarter pool. I just heard somebody describe this pool as “small” - but it seemed really big to me. We had SO much fun here. It always felt a little bit strange though - there is a Disney lifeguard like every twenty feet!

ALWAYS WATCHING!

After a couple hours in the pool, we got ready and grabbed the boat for Disney Springs. When we got there we crossed over the bridge…

...and walked down Hotel Plaza Boulevard until we made it here:

Thanks to Robblps for the tip about the photo opportunity.


The walk down to the Crossroads took twenty minutes. And we were not lollygagging - we were MOVING. Again, today we were time-rich, so it didn’t matter - but keep the distance in mind if you are planning to hoof it (especially with kids, in the heat).


There are a BUNCH of reasonably-priced restaurants at the Crossroads - Perkins, Fuddruckers, Noodles, Tom & Chee, Sweet Tomatoes, etc…


You can also walk to Sea Dog Brewing from here (we meant to do this - alas, another one that’ll have to wait ‘til next time ).


We picked Fuddruckers - they had emailed me a free birthday burger coupon that could be used until 5/11. It looked like this:

I LOVE Fuddruckers - but we hadn’t been to one since Poot was 2!

We each ordered a ⅓ lb cheeseburger (they will cook burgers medium-rare or even rare here, yay!) and an order of seasoned fries to share. I got a fountain drink, Poot had:

You order at the counter at Fudd’s -

-they give you a beeper that goes off when your food is ready. There is a massive toppings bar - lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers and salsa - as well as all the usual condiments. Best of all - they have PLASTIC CHEESE!

Mmm...liquid gold...


This was Poot’s first taste of plastic cheese - he was not a fan.


“That tastes weird, Mother. Not like cheese should taste.”


See what happens when you live in France (even for part of the year like we do) ?


Your children become cheese snobs!

Our difference of opinion as regards plastic cheese notwithstanding - we had a great lunch here. The burgers were fresh and delicious - and just as good as I remembered. I also really liked the spices on the fries - even though this “sort” of chip (more like a wedge) isn’t my favourite.

My photo’s not so great - here’s a better one.

Total cost of lunch - $13. Use those birthday coupons, people!

I just realised typing this...we ate rather a lot of beef on this holiday - please don’t tell Al Gore…

We walked back to Disney Springs, where we grabbed a bus to the Contemporary. Poot then pin-traded his way around the monorail resorts. He must have spoken to every CM we saw - at every resort.


At the Contemporary, we encountered one of the only rude CMs/TMs we met all holiday. In the Fantasia shop, I fell in love with this set of reveal/conceal pins (Rats! This pin business is contagious!) :

Did anybody else fall for these this year?


The shop only had one set of the pins, and I asked the CM if she knew anywhere else I could get them (I’d not seen them before):


Her, incredulously: Don’t you have the Shop Parks app?

Me, sadly: Oh, I live in Europe - I can’t get that on my phone.


Her, snottily: You could if you TRIED!


Um...I did try, but I couldn’t figure it out because I’m not good at that sort of thing…



We got the monorail to the Poly and then walked from the Poly to the G-Flo.

GF butterfly:

Poot (sporting his new "diamond lanyard"), monkeying around outside the GF:

Poot found his best ever pin trading in one of the Grand Floridian shops:

This is (according to Poot) a Disneyland AP exclusive pin - he was VERY excited to trade for it. The ladies in the shops at the GF are so great with kids - they really make them feel so grown up. It was very sweet to watch them take Poot so seriously.


I do REALLY wish that there was a path from the GF to Magic Kingdom, but instead we hopped on the little boat - we went past the new Poly over-the-water bungalows - is there a Dibber who has stayed in one of these?

I still haven’t made up my mind about whether I don’t like them because they’re CHANGE…

...or because they’re ugly and spoil the view of the fireworks…

...or because I can’t afford to stay in one!


From MK we got the bus back home to POFQ. I decided that we would have an in-room picnic tonight so that we’d be sure to eat a few vegetables (from our Garden Grocer order)!

...and also so we could watch Game 6 of the World Series.

Poot loves baseball - and even though we are Twins fans ‘round ours - he had gotten quite caught up in the story of the Cubs’ attempt to break the “Billy Goat Curse”.


My brother lived in Chicago for years, I’ve been to the Billy Goat Tavern...can’t imagine what those World Series game nights were like there...

I think we made it all the way to the seventh inning stretch before...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.



Hollywood Studios tomorrow! DDP Starts, too!

[mick]

A good day apart from the very rude cm

Joan

[foiled]

Thanks for the trip reports - great reading.

I have the same feelings regarding the new bungalows at the Polynesian, not a fan.

[Disneyjay]

I can't tell you how much I am enjoying your trippy, I think your style of writing is fantastic, so much that I have spent the last couple of evenings binge reading everything you have written! Stalker alert 😂😂
I think you are a wonderful Mum and I am in absolute awe of Poot, what a truly amazing young man you are raising. Please can you let him know how brilliant his Boston/DC reports were and to always nurture his love of books, they are also my most favourite thing. Thank you so much for sharing your travels with us, they make me smile so much ❤️ Can't wait for the rest x

[samhugs]

Boo to the rude cm, I need to find out more about pin trading I think my daughter will love this.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by mick

A good day apart from the very rude cm

Joan

See more...

I'm a big marshmallow - that sort of thing stays with me for ages.

Thanks for sympathising!

Originally Posted by foiled

Thanks for the trip reports - great reading.

I have the same feelings regarding the new bungalows at the Polynesian, not a fan.

See more...

Thanks.

Maybe if we were each getting to STAY in said bungalows for a fortnight, we'd feel differently!

Originally Posted by Disneyjay

I can't tell you how much I am enjoying your trippy, I think your style of writing is fantastic, so much that I have spent the last couple of evenings binge reading everything you have written! Stalker alert 😂😂
I think you are a wonderful Mum and I am in absolute awe of Poot, what a truly amazing young man you are raising. Please can you let him know how brilliant his Boston/DC reports were and to always nurture his love of books, they are also my most favourite thing. Thank you so much for sharing your travels with us, they make me smile so much ❤️ Can't wait for the rest x

See more...

WOW! Thank you so much - what lovely and kind things to say.

I have been slow to respond to these recent comments and to post Day 7 - life gets in the way of my Dibbing sometimes! - but I would rather be slow and happy with what I have posted than quick and feel like I did a poor job...hope you understand...

I shared your comments with Poot - he was very touched. He's going to do a bit more of this trippie later on, but I fear that his wicked mother is keeping him rather busy right now with Latin translations...

Not that you asked...but I don't think we give kids enough credit. They have so much to say - if we just take the time to listen.

Again, thanks so much - I'm always glad to make contact with a fellow bibliophile -

Originally Posted by samhugs

Boo to the rude cm, I need to find out more about pin trading I think my daughter will love this.

See more...

I think so, too!

Pins can really be as good as money to kids - but a way to "spend" the same money over and over, IYKWIM...I am a total convert.

[collybird]

I agree about the bungalows at the Poly, I feel like they spoil the landscape. But I probably wouldn't turn down the chance to stay in one!

We'll definitely be visiting Crossroads in future, great choice of restaurants.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by collybird

I agree about the bungalows at the Poly, I feel like they spoil the landscape. But I probably wouldn't turn down the chance to stay in one!

We'll definitely be visiting Crossroads in future, great choice of restaurants.

See more...

I was really impressed with the choice of restaurants there - some really good options, especially with kids!

[ILOV3DOLPHINS]

I am loving reading through your trippie, I've definitely had a few laughs along the way!
It's quite an eye opener to see how much you can do without having park tickets, amazing how many different things you are both experiencing
Thank you for sharing with us all.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by ILOV3DOLPHINS

I am loving reading through your trippie, I've definitely had a few laughs along the way!
It's quite an eye opener to see how much you can do without having park tickets, amazing how many different things you are both experiencing
Thank you for sharing with us all.

See more...

Thank you - I'm really glad I've made you smile.

I was really surprised that we never felt bored or frustrated without park tickets - but I think that it really gave us time to do all the things that you SKIP when you do have tickets (because you feel like if you're not using the tickets you're somehow "wasting money" - do you know what I mean?).

Thanks again for commenting - hope you enjoy the rest of the trippie!