Just The Four Of Us - On site at OKW - Day 5 The Beach, Pier & The Polite Pig at Disney Springs

[Kidd McFluff]

Today was a strange awakening. We had a good nights sleep and we were all still snoring away when I woke to a knocking at the door. I checked my watch and saw that it was only 7:18am. Assuming that my car was on fire or we were being evacuated (nothing like a bit of imaginary drama on a Monday morning) I rushed to the door in my boxer shorts just as it opened from the outside and I was confronted by the Mouse Keeping team. ‘Oh sorry, shall we come back later?’.

I asked them to give it at least another couple of hours and in future not to wake us up before 9am. They apologised and left. Kirsten and the kids had woken somewhat confused by the interruption and so it would appear that we were now up for the day.

We decided to get some washing done over at Turtle Pool so after a quick breakfast in our room, the usual fruit loops, mellon, strawberries, waffles and coffee, we got the swimming kits on and headed to the pool.

The laundry facilities are good with a vending machine for laundry powder and a couple of large machines and dryers. Kirsten handled the washing while I followed the kids into the pool for a quick dip. We were off to the beach today but not really in any hurry. We were aiming to get to Cocoa Beach for lunch on the pier so we had plenty of time to do the washing and drying before we headed back to the room.. Kirsten and I swapped tasks, she headed for the pool and I folded and bagged all of the clean clothes (What a team!). We were done by 10:30 and ready to hit the beach.

We packed the car with beach things (swimming costumes, goggles, sun lotion and a host of other essetials) and with the help of our new best friend (Google Maps) were soon on our way to the coast.

We headed for the first Publix Google Maps could find and were soon lost in the isles of our favourite supermarket. Sweets, drinks and more waffles were bought along with Hay Fever tabets for me and some snacks for the beach. We were in danger of running out of margarita mix so we stocked up on this and some little bottles of prosecco while we had the opportunity. Beef Jerky and ‘savoury fish’ were added to the bag along with some Sprite and about $25 of American candy to take home to Blighty and we were back on the road to Cocoa Beach.

Three toilet stops later we arrived in the small town of Cocoa Beach. It’s a fairly non-descript place and didn’t look very promising from the road. Tucked away behind a load of motels and residential properties, a few blocks back from the main road we found the pier. We paid $10 Dollars to park and went to check it out. There were some small shops, an arcade and a huge restaurant inside at the front of the pier. Outside was a long pier out into the Atlantic with a very cool looking Tiki Bar at the end. There were fishing kits for rent and some nice rocking chairs to sit and watch the world go by.

We were keen to get some lunch and so we checked out the menu at the restaurants on the pier. There are two restaurants here. One is a semi outside/inside affair under cover at the front of the pier. They seemed to specialise in seafood and burgers in a basket. It was quite busy and with no view of the sea so we decided to head further up the pier to the larger eatery (Pelicans Bar & Grill).

We were expecting to see sky high prices here but were pleasantly surprised. The menu was huge. full of great seafood and American classics like burgers, fried chicken, steaks and salads. Our server (Dianne) was very pleasant, she made a fuss of the kids and quickly took our drinks orders. It was coke for the kids today and cocktails and beers for the grown ups. Kirsten had a Mohito which she described as ‘good but could do with more rum’ and I chose a local IPA which as IPS’s go was pretty good.

Our table was perfect, right beside the window and looking out onto the busy beach below. It was a super hot day today and we were glad to be inside as we had all started to wilt on the short walk from the car to the restaurant. We spent our time watching people playing in the waves and watching baseball on the TV’s hanging around the bar (after much discussion we still have no idea how this game works). Diane was soon back with us and we ordered our food. Isla and Dylan both went for the Mac & Cheese with fries which was reported as ‘OK…pretty good actually) and Kirsten chose the Fried Shrimp which came with beer battered wedges and a salt and vinegar sauce. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and the battered chips were crispy and delicious.

I went for six of each of the buffalo and the barbeque Chefs killer Wings. These were excellent! The buffalo habanero sauce was very hot and full of flavour.

We ordered 6 fresh oysters on ice too. These came with horseradish and chilli sauces and saltine crackers and were absolutely delicious!

We shared the barbeque wings, shrimp and oysters and were all feeling very well fed by the time we had picked the last meat from the chicken bones. (where do they get chickens that big?). The bill came to just over $110 Dollars including the tip and we all thought that was good value for the good food and lovely view.
It was time to head to the beach to lounge off some of the calories. (sunbathing counts as exercise right?). We had forgotten to bring any towels with us from our room at Old Key West so we braved to tourist trap ‘beachwear’ shop and spent $20 on a Cocoa Beach towel. Off to the sand below the pier now and we were soon skipping (that sand was flippin hot!) across the sand to a parasol with sun lounges. These cost $10 an hour for the set and were only a few yards from the waves as they crashed onto the shore.

Did I mention it was hot? Wow…it was about 32 degrees at the beach but it felt so much hotter with the sun bouncing back up off the sand. As soon as we were all covered in sun block it was off into the sea to play with the waves. The water was warm and we had fun together, mucking about and being knocked over by the bigger waves. There was loads of seaweed about and Dylan and I ended up taking half of it back to Old Key West in the pockets of our swimming shorts.

Kirsten and I rotated between lounging in the shade and jumping around like idiots with the children in the sea for an hour or so before we decided to call it a day at the beach. It was a bit too hot for us today and by 4ish we were all ready to head back to Orlando and have a shower and a dip in the Turtle Pond pool.
The drive home was uneventful and thankfully free of toilet stops (dehydration is obviously the way forward) so we were back ‘home’ just after 5:30. Isla wanted to go over to Disney Springs again to find the ‘Lefty’ shop (more of this at a later date) and have a look around the concessions and we all liked the look of the menu at the Polite Pig.

After a shower and a quick change we were ready to hit the road again. We hopped on the 6:20 bus and were in Disney Springs by 6:35. We’d not really explored the last time we were here so we took the time to have a good look around the designer shops and try on some of the lovely things that we can’t afford. Dylan did manage to get a nice pair of trainers from Zara but other than that we didn’t buy much.

We were hungry again by about 7:30 and so after a brief check of the map we found our way to The Polite Pig. This is another place that gets rave reviews on the Dibb and as far as we can tell they are fully deserved. The queue was long but moved quickly and we were soon placing our orders. Unusually for a QS on Disney, The Polite Pig has table service, although you still place your order at the front counters, the waitresses then deliver the food and alcoholic drinks to you at your table. We were given a buzzer and went to find a table.

We struck lucky with a table outside. The drinks were soon delivered and we sent the kids off to get drinks from the soda machine. Isla went for still lemonade but Dylan was obviously feeling adventurous today and had ‘a bit of everything’.

Our cocktails were great. Kirsten had a sangria and I (surprise surprise) went for a margarita, a grapefruit one this time. Gotta have have a bit of variety! They were both very large and packed the required punch. We sat chatting and looking at photos until our food arrived. The Polite Pig is a smoke house restaurant and specialises in ribs, chicken, brisket etc. We had ordered three meals on QS credits and used a snack credit for Dylan’s drink.

Baby back ribs and brisket meals were delivered along with sides of baked beans, potato salad and the house coleslaw. They were soon followed by a massive pulled pork sandwich topped with a huge pickle. The food was mostly good from what we can remember. The pulled pork was sweet and juicy and the ribs and brisket were nicely smoked. Nothing was amazing but it was all on the DDP and cost us nothing OOP. It was a good meal that we’d have been happy to pay £40+ for back home.

We used another couple of snack credits for some packs of Polite Pig lollies. These turned out to be very nice…Sticky but nice.

*****A quick note on snack credits*****
If you are looking to max out on the value of your snack credits then don’t buy soda’s or bottled water with them. Pay OOP for small snacks and use the credits for bigger and better things (nachos, pulled pork sandwiches, huge ice cream sundaes, funnel cake etc.) We started out like this but by day 4 we had only used 18 snacks. Much better in my opinion to simply put everything you desire on a snack credit. (coffee’s, soda’s, cakes, bottled water, trail mix, sweets, lollies, an apple...anything). We used snacks for nearly everything and still had over 20 left to use for sweets at Goofy’s on our last day.

We finished up at The Polite Pig and took a slow stroll back to the busses. We were soon on our way back home to Old Key West. We’d managed to squeeze a lot in again today but were happy that we’d not overdone it. The children were still awake by the time we got back to our room at 9:00 but were soon asleep with the help of some Radio4 (Just a Minute works every time!).

I popped over to Turtle Pond Pool for a quick swim before bed. I managed a few lengths before the call of the hot tub had to be answered. Not sure how people could cope in the hot tub during the day but it was the prefect way to losen up after spending the day on my feet.

I headed back to the room after a soak in the hottub and joined Kirsten on the balcony for a glass of prosecco before bed. We wrote some trippie notes and turned in at around 11pm. It was only day 5 and we’d already done so much. The time was passing slowly and we were all enjoying spending so much time together as a family.

Tomorrow it's off to Animal Kingdom and the long awaited Flights of Passage!

[mick]

A great day with good food and half a day at the beach

Joan

[Goldia]

Wow, that was an early wake up by housekeeping! What on earth were they thinking?

A nice day at the beach, even if it was a little hot.

We never made it to Polite Pig but the food there does look really tasty. I totally agree about the snack credits, it seems crazy to me to save them up and spend OOP for drinks etc, we'd never get through them if we did that.

[Floridaagogo]

Great day and the Polite Pig food looks lovely x

[Fuellady]

Cocoa beach sounds nice. It's not mentioned that often on here, most people seem to go to the gulf coast. My DH has always wanted to visit Cocoa Beach so I was interested to read about your time here. Shame it was a bit too hot for you to enjoy.

The food at a Polite Pig looks good, another one to add to my list of eateries to try

[Kidd McFluff]

Originally Posted by Fuellady

Cocoa beach sounds nice. It's not mentioned that often on here, most people seem to go to the gulf coast. My DH has always wanted to visit Cocoa Beach so I was interested to read about your time here. Shame it was a bit too hot for you to enjoy.

The food at a Polite Pig looks good, another one to add to my list of eateries to try

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Cocoa Beach was great. Yes it was very hot but there is shade and the food on the pier was brilliant. August was always going to be hot but we'd not expected it to be that hot! We still enjoyed ourselves but had to be careful in the sun.

[summersun]

great day x

[Kidd McFluff]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Wow, that was an early wake up by housekeeping! What on earth were they thinking?

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Yes it was a little surprising. I'll admit to being a little bit grumpy about it at the time. The car was parked in a different spot so perhaps they thought we were out for the day?

We didn't see them again for the rest of the holiday so they obviously moved us to a different time slot.

[jothp]

That was a very early wake up call from mousekeeping. I suppose there are lots of people who have already left for the park by that time in the morning. I had just got out of the shower once when mousekeeping walked in. I'd obviously missed the knock on the door!

We've never made it to the beach on any of our trips but it looks like you had a great time even if it was rather hot.

The food from the polite pig looks lovely especially for QS. DS really seems to have some good QS options now and I think we may well spend more time there in future.