COMPLETE: Live - Beauty and the Feast - September/October 2019

[Wordsworth]

That margarita at DC looks to be a rather strange green colour!

[orlandoamber]

Originally Posted by Wordsworth

That margarita at DC looks to be a rather strange green colour!

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I thought that! To be fair it looked okay when it was all frozen when I first got it but by the time we got back to the sun bed to take a photo the bottom half had melted and looked that strange colour

[orlandoamber]

Last night we headed to the Mall at Millenia. It’s a beautiful mall but with not many deals to be had, our main aim was eating at the Cheesecake Factory.

On arrival at the Mall we went in to enquire how long a table would be, as I know it can get busy in there and it was a Saturday night. Luckily the wait was only 45 minutes which we were happy with as it gave us some time to mooch around the Mall before dinner (we mainly just looked in Macy’s and Bloomingdales where I found the cutest little brown bag Christmas tree bauble but I simply cannot justify over $30 on a single bauble).

By the time we got back to the Cheesecake Factory our buzzer went off within five minutes so it was good timing. It is worth noting that the buzzer stops working after you get a certain point away from the restaurant, so it is recommended that you get closer the nearer your predicted seating time is. We did check earlier in the day but you can’t make reservations.

We were sat outside on the patio which was lovely (when we asked for a table at the start they asked if we had a preference of outside or inside but we didn’t - just whatever got us a table fastest!).

To drink we both stuck with water tonight so no cocktail pictures for once unfortunately.

We were then brought out the bread - one white baguette piece (which had three smaller tearaway pieces cut into it) and one brown. The brown is always more of a chocolate colour here and W enjoys it. This was the first almost photo fail of the trip as W grabbed some of the brown and started spreading butter on it quicker than I could scream ‘PHOTO!’ so there was actually a bit more brown bread than shown here - and I’ve only included the corner of the butter for obvious reasons

To start we shared one of the ‘small plates’; loaded baked potato tots.

When they came out we were a bit disappointed as we were expecting tater tots loaded on top with cheese, sour cream, etc. but we couldn’t have been more wrong. The actual inside of each tot was loaded with cheese, bacon and spring onions, with sour cream and sriracha mayo as dips. They were soooo good we were both in heaven eating them.

For my entree I went for the macaroni and cheese ‘glamburger’ which was a burger (cooked medium) topped with a big fried mac n cheese ball and cheddar cheese sauce. I also had fries on the side.

This was good but I think you can see from the close up photo how thick both the burger and mac n cheese ball were (the burger was equally as thick as the mac n cheese which probably looks thicker here for some reason)! I was defeated around two thirds of the way through, but managed a few of the fries too.

W ordered the spicy crispy chicken sandwich which he has had before and loved it. It was actually his favourite meal last year. It is crispy chicken breast with a choice of buffalo sauce or chipotle mayo (he has the chipotle mayo) with cheese on a brioche bun.

I tried it and thought it was good but W actually declared it to be better than Homecomin’ 😯 So, if you want a chicken burger - you know where to go! Although he did mention that if you were looking for really spicy, despite the title, this is not really very spicy at all, just really tasty. Perhaps the buffalo sauce option would be spicier?

The bill was as follows which we thought was really reasonable:

We really wanted to try some of the cheesecake on this trip (as despite eating there in the past we’ve never had a slice before) but there was no chance we were eating any after that meal! So we got some to go. Rather than ordering at the table we went to the counter after we had paid for the meal to have a look at what was on offer. There are sooo many different types but I’d be lying if I didn’t say the way they publish the calories isn’t off putting 1500 calories in some slices! They do the same on the menu too.

Anyway, after much pondering we went for the ultimate red velvet cake cheesecake which we planned to eat back at the room later on (we were heading to the outlets first).

W doesn’t like red velvet cake but said we should get this one as I’d love it and he promised me he would like this as it was a cheesecake so I wouldn’t have to eat it all myself...

Of course when we got back to Cabana Bay and opened it he tried a mouthful and declared he didn’t like it but he actually didn’t like the cheesecake itself rather than the red velvet cake part! I on the other hand thought it was gorgeous and made quite a dent in it, but the remainder is sat in the fridge and will be devoured as soon as I have submitted this post.

[Jannyjan]

Just for information, Super Target sells Cheesecake Factory cheesecake in the dessert section. Only a couple of flavours. Heaven!

[orlandoamber]

Originally Posted by Jannyjan

Just for information, Super Target sells Cheesecake Factory cheesecake in the dessert section. Only a couple of flavours. Heaven!

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Oooo thank you!

We saw it in Costco back at home recently but wondered if it would be as good.

[dixonsontour]

Moe's looks great, never been there as does cowfish

[orlandoamber]

Originally Posted by dixonsontour

Moe's looks great, never been there as does cowfish

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We love Moe’s - it’s really good value for what you get, especially with the free chips and salsa.

Cowfish is great too. More pricey than some places but we think it’s worth it as it’s something a bit different.

[orlandoamber]

This morning we got the complimentary bus to Seaworld and then walked through the hotel we stayed at in 2016, the Doubletree at Seaworld, to Denny’s for breakfast, which is about a 5/10 minute walk from there along International Drive.

To drink we both ordered orange juice as we were craving it again after having some yesterday!

We both usually come here and order the grand slamwich which W discovered during our 2016 trip. It is a toasted sandwich comprising scrambled eggs, crumbled sausage, bacon, shaved ham and American cheese served with hash browns.

W ordered this as expected and it was just as good as we remembered. However, I decided to go off plan and ordered the Philly cheesesteak omelette which came with grilled prime rib, fire-roasted bell peppers, onions, sautéed mushrooms and melted Swiss cheese. It was also served with hash browns and a choice of bread or pancakes. I opted for pancakes.

The omelette was lovely but it just didn’t compete with the grand slamwich. W could tell I was jealous and swapped with me after a while so I did get some of the slamwich! I am glad I ordered what I did to get the pancakes too though, as I was fancying them.

The bill came to:

But I had a 20% off coupon which reduced it to around $23 (we didn’t receive another bill including the exact reduced figure and I’m not sure if it was taken off before/after tax, presumably before though).

We were very happy with our breakfast and waddled off back to Seaworld for the day, where we later ate at Shark’s Underwater Grill on the extended Magical Dining Month offer. Review coming up shortly!

[orlandoamber]

When Magical Dining Month was extended to 7th October, we made a booking for the Shark’s Underwater Grill at Seaworld as we have been there a couple of times before and always enjoy it. The $35 three course menu appealed, although it didn’t have my usual shrimp main course on so I would have to get adventurous!

Our reservation was for 4.15pm. I had only been able to make a reservation for 1 person as they only take a certain number of Magical Dining customers per day, but I’d been in touch with one of the managers before who said it was fine for two of us to come for the reservation. It was all handled fine when we checked in too.

To drink I just had water as I was gasping from walking around the park, and W a coke. It is lovely watching the fish and sharks as you drink/eat.

The menu for Magical Dining was as follows:

To start I had the shrimp cocktail and W the lobster bisque.

The shrimp in my jumbo shrimp cocktail were lovely and a decent size. I’m not sure what I was expecting from the sauce but this one was quite spicy and not like anything I’d had with a shrimp cocktail before. It was still nice but you didn’t need much of it with each shrimp.

W’s lobster bisque was great. Really creamy and flavourful, but there were not too many pieces of actual lobster (and the ones in there were not too big) but it provided a really fresh lobster taste. I tried some too and enjoyed it.

For entree we both opted for the filet mignon cooked medium rare.

This was cooked beautifully and was really tender. We were both impressed. The mash was also really smooth and lovely. I tried the carrots which were also nice but not the courgette, but W finished all of those too so they must have been good! A very nice dish overall.

To dessert we also both opted for the same option with the cabernet chocolate cake.

This was nice but we were both stuffed by this point after the Denny’s breakfast and a three course meal. I mainly just ate the top half as the layer right at the top was velvety and lovely so went down easily despite being full!

We were then brought the bill; first the original bill had we not been on Magical Dining and then our actual reduced Magical Dining bill so that we could see the difference in cost.

Our server had been great throughout but really topped it off when she popped back over before we paid with two free unlimited quick queue tickets for the rest of the day! She said that someone else had left them who was leaving the park and she’d decided to give them to us We were so pleased as we really wanted to ride manta for a second time but there was a 25/30 minute queue all day and we only had an hour until our bus arrived. We tipped her well and then ran out to grab a locker and spent the next hour running between manta, journey to atlantis and kraken - making our bus with one minute to spare we wanted to find another couple to give the quick queue to for the last hour and a half of the day but everyone we saw as we were leaving was also leaving so we left them with another member of staff to give to the next couple who arrived (we were hoping someone would as it was one of the Halloween nights and I think there was a show on for it).

[Tinkermom]

Thank you for getting me into the spirt of food planning 😊