Mission 0 credits complete! Sept 2014 Dining Report (Onsite/Offsite) **COMPLETE**

[Jnyfrk8]

Great update about the Gilly Water/Elixir. All the flavours sound awesome but don't know how my other half will feel about spending that much on squash!...Maybe we won't tell him that's all it is
Thanks for sharing,
Jen xx

[smythy21]

Looks great

[pho3nix]

Love your report - I'm so torn about whether or not i would go for the Gillywater - I want to say no but I'm sure once I'm there I'll get drawn in to it all!

[DisneyKel]

Fab report, Apple Crumble Ice Cream and Gilly Water on my list, thanks for sharing

[Princess Belle]

Fab report! Love these updates! My list of must try foods is getting rediculous!

Thank you for sharing!

[MissFortune]

Day 12: Universal - Hard Rock Cafe bar

We were finished in the parks by early lunch time and were dying to get back to the hotel pool so made an exit. To cut the huge walk in half , we stopped in at the Hard Rock Cafe to visit the bar. It was more tradition really as we always spend a fair bit of time in there every trip. The music and atmosphere is awesome and the bar staff really nice.

We stayed there for a while and I had a couple of drinks.

First up a lovely white Sangria. It was sweet, refreshing and had lots of fruit.



Next up I had a Fruitapalooza. To be honest, I was sold as soon as I saw the name thankfully the description was right up my street too.





It tasted nice but I wasn't a fan of all the pips. They were getting stuck in my teeth and just had a gritty feeling. I wouldn't bother getting it again.

Andy had 4 Purple Hazes but to be fair to him they aren't that strong and are sweet so they do go down like pop.


Forgot to take a pic so borrowed one from Google images.

Two thumbs up for these



Total paid in cash without tip (incl. applicable tax) - $58.42

[MissFortune]

Day 12: Universal - Emack and Bolio's pizza

Having not really eaten anything proper during the day, just little snacks here and there, come dinner time we were really hungry. We both fancied pizza so I took to the ipad to look at our options out on Citywalk. When it came down to it though, neither of us could be bothered to get ready and go out again. I then remembered seeing advertisements for pizza from Emack & Bolio's around the hotel so it seemed the perfect compromise.



Basically these are made to order - you start out with a plain cheese and tomato pizza and then can customise your own toppings from a list of lots of delicious options. There are a choice of two sizes.

I really should have took a picture of the board menu with the list of topping and specific size options but I didn't (dingus).

After much debating we decided on a large pizza with pulled pork, chicken breast, mushrooms and onions.

Orders are placed at the cash register, they take your name and there is a 15-20 minute wait. You can wait in the store but we decided to go for a wander. When we came back our pizza was hot out the oven and waiting for us.



How cool is the box?!





The pizza was taken back to our room and enjoyed in bed - it was absolutely delicious and really satisfied our pizza cravings. As pizza goes it was a little expensive, but if we had gone out for a proper meal we would have spent a lot more so it made for the perfect chilled cheap night in. It was a lovely change of pace.

It was a good size too so I had some bonus cold leftover pizza the next day (love fridge pizza! ).



Total paid in cash without tip (incl. applicable tax) - $28.76

[MissFortune]

Day 12: Universal - Velvet Lounge

I mentioned in my above entry that whilst waiting on our pizza we went for a wander - a wander to the Velvet Lounge as it was really close to E&B

We sat out on the lovely balcony again and I had another fruity cocktail from the daily specials. Again I have no idea what it was or what it cost - for some reason I was really bad with making notes about the Velvet Lounge

It was pretty though, so i've included it although it's no use to anybody lol



Sadly I didn't like it too much, so did my best and then left the rest as I had pizza on my mind.

Total paid in cash without tip (incl. applicable tax) - $? No idea sorry!

[MissFortune]

Day 13: Universal - Butterbeer cart

A quick stop for a nutritious breakfast.

1 frozen butterbeer in a regular cup to share (I already have 2 of the souvenir mugs ).



Not much to say about this other than "Awesome!". We both hate the regular fizzy version of butterbeer but the frozen version is a totally different animal. Caramely, butterscotchy slushy with marshmallow topping I always fight to have the first big sip as I'm in love (no exaggeration) with the marshmallow plus the comedy moustache is always fun.

It's perfect to share as it gets a little sickly after a bit.



Total paid in cash without tip (incl. applicable tax) - $4.68

[MissFortune]

Day 13: Universal - Hard Rock Cafe

Dinner was again close to home - Hard Rock Cafe. There was a bit of a wait once we'd arrived and we told them we were guests at HRH. I think in theory you are given priority if you are staying at one of the onsite hotels, but in practice I'm not sure if this was the case as we were given a buzzer and still had a 15/20 minute wait - no biggie though.



Once buzzed we were shown through to a small room off to the left of the bar. It was quite cozy in there and plenty to look at but lacked the atmosphere of the main room.



Drinks first - Angry Orchard and a glass of the lovely Moscato I had before.



Again as we hadn't had any proper meals today we decided to be daring and get an appetiser to share - An order for chicken wings.

There was a choice of Buffalo style or grilled with Classic Rock, Tangy or Heavy Metal sauces or dry seasoned. We picked Classic Rock.





They had a pretty spicy kick but nothing too bad. Andy has the lower heat threshold of the both of us and he was fine. The meat was well cooked and easy to get off the bone so in all we were both happy with these. I don't think you can beat Hard Rock wings.

For main Andy got the slow cooked Hickory-smoked barbecue duo combo. His two meats were pulled pork and chicken - it was served with seasoned fries, cowboy beans and citrus coleslaw.



Sadly he didn't really enjoy this. The meat was really underwhelming and had little flavour, hickory smoked or otherwise. The pulled pork at the Disney counter service restaurants beats this version hands down for a much better price. He doesn't eat coleslaw or beans either so the best bit was the fries.

For my meal, I really wanted to get the red, white & blue burger that I got last year as it was fantastic but it had disappeared from the menu *sulk* I had to settle for a smoke house sandwich instead.

The Texan with Hickory-smoked pulled chicken. Again this is served with seasoned fries, cowboy beans and citrus coleslaw.

Choice of hickory-smoked pulled pork or chicken with chipotle barbecue sauce, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, crispy fried jalapeños and onions, piled high on toasted brioche.





The pulled chicken sounded like an interesting choice and it was pretty tasty for the first few bites. After a while though it all got a too rich and the mass of fried toppings made it greasy tasting. I got about half way through and had to give up with a slight queasy feeling. I enjoyed the fries and the coleslaw though, but these shouldn't really be the star of the show. I will say though that this was a good price for a large meal costing only $1 more than the wings appetizer we had.

Perhaps we just ordered wrong or were quite possibly fooded out by this point but we both went away disappointed with this meal, which wasn't that cheap. Not sure we will return as there are plenty of great looking choices to try on Citywalk. This might be a place to try for the "experience" which we have done a couple of times and now time to move onto pastures new.

No dessert as we had something else in mind.



Our server also helpfully highlighted the fact that gratuity was not included. Good job really as I had no idea! *eye roll* . OK I'm just being bitter now

Total paid in cash without tip (incl. applicable tax) - $79.72