Day 6 - Back once again like a Floriday Master - Epcot/Coral Reef/Villa/Cali Grill

[Man v Disney]

Today was to be our last day in the Bubble… a day Han isn’t fond of, even though she knows it’s the best ‘bang for our buck’ to move to a villa to get the 4 week holiday we want.

After the packing I did yesterday, this morning once we were up and dressed was all about finishing the wash stuff, making sure the banshee was suitably nested for the journey and moving out!

As we had all woken around 7am, this took a good while and we finally left our room, saying goodbye to Caribbean Beach Resort at 8.50am for our drive (in a very packed up car) to Epcot.

We sensed it was a busy day with the crowds at the bag check desks. Now, Han and I usually have the ‘gift’ of ALWAYS picking the slowest queues and so far, we had done well – so well that we had even congratulated ourselves on it earlier. Well, this morning was a spectacular fail. We picked the shortest queue as it had a pushchair in it (which takes up the space of 3 couples) and so we expected to be through reasonably quickly. It was not to be – the couple had used the pushchair to bring the entire contents of their kitchen. Plus 4 carrier bags, 2 backpacks and various other. Even they didn’t know what was in the bags when security asked!

Anyway, we got through and I legged it to Test Track for a return time while the others moseyed to Soarin’ which was our first fastpass. I met them there and we headed down to the concourses. Along the way there are screens with multiple choice questions for people to pass the time in the standby line and at one point, Eliana just shouted ‘salt plains’ as an answer – which was correct. Han asked her if she had guessed and she said “no – I knew if from Top Gear”. I felt so proud. Our hours of watching (it’s a father-daughter thing) had also been educational!

We all loved Soarin’ again and this time had been put on the middle set of flyers so none of the images were distorted.

We went from here to see if any of the food places in World Showcase were open as we were starting to feel hungry – a sensation we hadn’t felt much so far! As we had those final 7 snack credits burning a hole in our magic bands, World Showcase and it’s offerings were where we wanted to spend them.

Unfortunately, it was only 10am and nothing other than the Frozen ride is open until 11am so we headed back towards our next fastpass which was Mission Space. Han had been notified by email that Test Track was down and we could use the return time for any ride, but as we already had fastpasses booked, we were happy to let it lapse.

Josiah again decided that he would explore the gift shop while we were in Mission Space and Han did the green one we did the previous time while Eliana and I took our lives in our hands and went for the Orange Mission. This really is a more intense experience, we both had to control our breathing , especially during the first section. Eliana said that she couldn’t even catch her breath!

By the time we finished up there it was 10.50am so we headed back to World Showcase and our first stop was Refreshment Port in Canada as we had heard about Poutine on Disney Food Blog (1 snack credit) and wanted to try it. It was everything we wanted in a snack! A good size portion of french fries, topped with gravy and cheese curds. We stood round a high table and Josiah and I had the most but Han and Eliana dipped in. Eliana wasn’t keen on the gravy but Josiah got her to try the ‘chicken’ which she liked. Only at the end did we tell her it was cheese but to make it acceptable, she is still saying it was chicken.

Because she didn’t have much of it, I took Eliana to France to the bakery for a croissant while Han went to Kringla Bakery in Norway with Josiah as she wanted something from there.

We agreed to meet them at the 3 Caballeros Ride in Mexico but on our way back we stopped for a photo with Belle from Beauty & The Beast. She was very chatty – so much so that I think she didn’t need us there for the conversation! She was excellent though, very ‘in character’.

Han had picked up a salted caramel pecan and milk chocolate cookie and, even though he had had a lot of the Poutine, Josiah got a Rice Cream (rice pudding with compote) which he had finished by Mexico. Han had only eaten half of the cookie as we had a table service booked at Coral Reef for 12.15pm!

The 3 Caballeros was a walk on and as always a lovely little ride.
We went straight from here to our final fastpass, the Pixar short film festival. The three films we watched were ‘Get a Horse’ which we had seen before and 2 new ones (to us) – ‘Piper’ and ‘Feast’ which were both about animals so Eliana in particular enjoyed them.

Coral Reef was next and this had been a must do after our last trip as it was a favourite of us all. We checked in and were soon showed to our table. We were in a booth on the second level facing the fish tanks and had a great view of all the tanks. This helped when we were playing ‘spot the fish’ as they give you a card with all the varieties on. We found most of them by the end of the meal, including that strange species, the Diver!

We quickly ordered as we knew from our research what we wanted. Eliana and I got the Colossal Shrimp Cocktail, Han got the Crispy Fried Shrimp and Josiah get the Clam Chowder. These didn’t take long to come and arrived with a basket of potato bread.

Mains were next and Han had ordered the steak with mashed potatoes, Eliana the same but with fries and Josiah and I both had the Lobster Seafood Boil. Josiah and I soon got cracking away with our claw and tail cracker. It was amazing and the broth it was in was delicious – so delicious I asked for extra bread to dip in.

Again, we knew what we wanted for dessert (chocolate wave for Han and me and key lime pie for Josiah) but as Eliana was at the bathroom when they took the order, I took the liberty of ordering her a Bailey’s and Jack Daniel’s Mousse. Surprisingly she didn’t want it so I took one for the team and ate it myself. It was delicious and I would say better than my wave!

Food: 8.5
Service: 7.5
Ambience: 9
Total: 25

The amount came to $275.65 with the tip $51.76.


I stayed to settle the bill while Han took the kids to watch the Guardians of the Galaxy show in World Showcase. They decided to get the boat as a) the boat was just pulling up and b) they were full and didn’t think they’d get there otherwise!

I missed the boat so walked round (grabbing a photo first) and we got there at exactly the same time – and we all were 15 minutes late for the start. We caught the end and we definitely need to go back to watch it again from the start. The band and singers were great and the Star Lord himself was hilarious.

We walked back to the car via Germany and I told Han she would have the final 3 credits in Karmell Kuche. She dreams of this place when she is at home so went in and came out with 3 credits worth of caramel goodness to take to the villa with us.

The walk back to the car was the longest walk, not physically as we were quite close, but mentally as the heat was so intense. It was showing 104 degrees when we turned the car on and this didn’t go down too much through the journey to the villa.

We set the sat nav to our address in Davenport and off we went – via a petrol station as we needed to fuel up. We hadn’t needed to since leaving Tampa and so we were expecting a big bill. It came to $27.97 to fill completely. I worked out that it’s the equivalent to 53p a litre. I’d love those prices back home!

At 4pm we arrived at our home for the next 3 weeks. Unfortunately the code we had been given to let us in didn’t work but we called the management company and they gave us a code and came out later to change it to one of our choice.

Bedrooms were picked, bags unpacked and the pool was explored. It’s a beautiful place with all the essentials (play stations, games rooms) thought of. I can see us settling quite nicely here for the duration of our

The kids and I went in the pool while Han pottered around for a bit as we had a good few hours before our final meal – California Grill. We hoped to watch the fireworks while we were there and were treating this as our official anniversary meal and also as a little Clark memorial for our friend Andrew, who I mentioned in the trip report passed away in June with cancer at only 48.

Andrew was a larger than life character with a love of floral print and Hawaiian shirts who would have loved everything about eating while watching fireworks listening to Disney music. We miss him a lot and decided back at home that we would pay tribute at the meal, all of us wearing our floral shirts and raising a glass to him.


We set off at 7pm and arrived at 7.25pm – not bad at all and a good drive. Our reservation wasn’t until 8.05pm so we went to the gift shop on the 4th floor and bought Eliana 2 books she spotted. They look ‘Percy Jackson’ style but based in Disney so just up her street!

The surprising thing for us is how close to Space Mountain the Contemporary resort is! We also had a quick visit to the entrance of The Wave and tried to recreate one of our favourite pictures from 2016 – Grandpa, this one is for you!

We checked in on floor 2 and wished a happy anniversary and then took the elevator to the 15th floor to be taken to our table. We followed the server and we were placed at a fantastic table next to the window looking out over Magic Kingdom… we wouldn’t need to move to watch the fireworks! The table was covered with glittery Mickey Ears, I remembered these from our last holiday. We would find them for months afterwards in amongst all of our stuff!

Our orders were taken and took a little while to come but we really didn’t mind. Before the fireworks we were treated to a show by mother nature again and were at a perfect level to watch an electric storm rolling in. At one point it was touch and go whether the fireworks would happen but around the time they were due, the storm suddenly went leaving perfect conditions.

Starters for us were the charcuterie plate for Han, sushi for me and Josiah and Eliana ‘chose’ the beef wontons which we all shared. These were all amazing and the sushi for me was one of the best things I’ve eaten so far. The wontons were incredible too – like slow cooked beef in a wonton!

Main courses were next and Eliana and I both ordered the 21 day aged steak (at $75 each we got the most from the meal plan that meal), Han had the chicken and Josiah went for the smaller filet steak. They arrived just before the fireworks but unfortunately Eliana’s needed to go back to the kitchen. Instead of cooking hers rare, they had done it bleu and it was cold in the middle. They were hugely apologetic and when she requested the smaller filet steak instead (the other one was as big as her head and would have outfaced her anyway with it being so late by this time) there was no problem and it came out perfectly.

At this point, the ‘Happily Ever After’ music came on in the restaurant and the fireworks started. There’s not much I can say. Han sat between the kids and cried happy tears through the whole thing. We have watched Disney fireworks before but seeing them from a distance and getting the whole view showed us just how magical they were. It was perfect – Andrew would have loved it.

After the show, we were brought the dessert menu but we all declined – it had been a long day and we were ready for sleep. As an anniversary treat me and Han were brought out a little dessert selection, on the house, of Passion Fruit Jelly and Watermelon marshmellow – both were fab!

The bill came to $366.83 and tip $68.89.

Food: 9
Service: 7
Ambience: 9.5
Total: 25.5

We stopped at Walmart for basics to tide us over (cereal, milk, hot chocolate and OJ) and were shocked at how many people were there doing their weekly shop (it seemed) at 11.15pm and with small children. It was busier than a Saturday in Tesco!

Today we clocked up 15626 steps. Not bad going!

Tomorrow is a much easier day – lie in (if we can), water park for Josiah, Eliana and me while Han does a ‘proper shop’, Sweet Tomatoes and maybe golf if we decide to!

[Suzieee]

👏👏🙌🙌 Great read! Still not jealous at all 😏

[OB1LukeLucas]

Coral Reef looked really nice, as does your meal at California Grill. A nice tribute to your friend.