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Old 7 Sep 19, 12:27 PM  
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caitlinsmummy
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Day - 8 The Day Noah Got To Go On His First Upside Down Rollercoaster

Welcome to our trip report! I'll start off by introducing the family and a little about the name of the report in case you haven't read the pre-trippie.

We are a family of five and we returned from Orlando in November 2018. In September 2018 Virgin had a MASSIVE sale and I found a bargain for just over £300pp for direct flights, accommodation at Rosen Inn International and transfers for 9 nights! It was too good a deal to pass up so I booked it. I intended to tell everyone at Christmas but needed to tell Mr Grump earlier. We told the kids on Christmas morning and they were over the moon.

Find the Index HERE

Previous day is HERE

So this trip consisted of:

Myself (Kelly) - Chief planner and organiser ... none of the trip would have happened without me

Husband (Chris) - The laid back photographer one ... I guess it wouldn't have happened without him paying for it so I have to give him some recognition there

Caitlin (12) - total drama llama and pre teen one.

Thomas (10) - the cheeky brain box one.

Noah (6) - the cute one. Noah is autistic and struggles with change so holidays are quite often a challenge for him

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Day - 8 The Day Noah Got To Go On His First Upside Down Rollercoaster

So for some reason I barely have any photos of this day at all. I think they've been lost when we've transfered them from our phones

I have in my notes that Mr Grump woke me this morning 7.20am and I wasn't happy no idea why as we were going to Busch Gardens today so needed an early start.

I had a voucher for Perkins so decided to head there for breakfast. We could have walked it but with having to go to Busch Gardens we thought it would be just as easy to park and head straight off from there. We arrived at Perkins at 8.06am.


Perkins



The smell in here was amazing. For those who don't know Perkins is also a bakery and the baked goods smell was just wafting through the restaurant! It wasn't too busy in here but there were a few tables in, busier than IHOP and Denny's were last week.

We ordered our drinks and perused the menu. I had a hard time choosing in here as there were a few things I wanted to try.


STRAWBERRY CROISSANT FRENCH TOAST PLATTER - A flaky buttery croissant, dipped in our signature batter, grilled and loaded with sweet glazed strawberries and Bavarian cream.



I really enjoyed this. It was so nice and different and the strawberry made it even nicer. This ended up being my favourite breakfast! It came with a choice of eggs and bacon or sausage.

Chris ordered:


SCRATCH-MADE BELGIAN WAFFLE PLATTER* -
A Belgian Waffle dusted with powdered sugar for the perfect dash of sweetness.




This wasn't exactly what Chris ordered as his was a special but it's basically the same just it had strawberry's on top. He really enjoyed this too everything was cooked so well.

Thomas ordered:


SCRAMBLED EGG, HASH BROWNS AND TOAST - One scrambled egg, with hash browns and one slice of white toast. Served with choice of one side.



Again he really enjoyed this and ate nearly all of it, he just left a bit of toast. Each kids meal also comes with a 'treat' and the kids opted for cookies.

Caitlin had:


Toast and Bacon



It is what it is she added jam to her toast. Again she enjoyed this, I think her and Noah were fed up of all the American food. If I remember correctly I think we just ordered this as 2 sides

Noah had:


Toast and Fruit



Noah enjoyed these and he actually ate quite a bit too! Chris took the kids to the car whilst I paid and collected the cookies. I asked our server if I could pay for 2 extra cookies (As Thomas got one free with his meal) she went off and came back with 4 cookies but didn't add them to the bill which was lovely of her. I signed up to the mailing list before we left and had a 20% off coupon which was applied to our bill.

The total for this was
$40.62

We were in the car and on the way by 9am. The car journey was pretty uneventful, probably coz they kids had their tablets to keep them quiet apart from Noah suddenly decided he needed the toilet so we had to pull up on the highway for him to go to the toilet!

We arrived around 10.20am and parked fairly easily and headed into the park. We headed to guest services to get a DAS pass for Noah and ended up waiting over 20 minutes just for this. The kid's were playing up as it was hot and there wasn't much shade. We eventually got the pass and headed to toilets.

All freshened up we headed to Cheetah Hunt first but it was 65 minute wait! 😯 I told Mr Grump to go on and we'd meet him somewhere but he wouldn't. Next we went to Cobra's Curse and got a return time of 11.40am. Mr Grump went on Montu and we did parent swap and I went on. We then did Cobra's Curse which everyone loved.

We then had a slow meander round to Scorpion, getting a few pictures along the way.

















Now Noah was really looking forward to the this. He is a total adrenaline junky 😂 it's safe to say it didn't disappoint. Him, Thomas and Mr G even went on again! He loved it that much he drew a picture of the roller coaster to show his teacher ❤️



Next up Thomas and Mr Grump head to the Serpant ride whilst Caitlin Noah and I shared some pretzel and chips. The others finished them off when they came back.


Bacon Pretzel with Chips and Cheese Dip



Caitlin, Noah and I had some and left the rest for Chris and the boys. We also got a huge cup of iced water and a sprite to share as well. We all realyl enjoyed it, it was nice and tasty and quite filling too.

This was
$10.72 including tax.

I sent Mr Grump down to the big rides and me and the kids rode the carousel. We then met up with him and sat in the tiger watch area just for aircon it was hitting 35C by now!



Mr Grump went and rode Sheikra and Tigris whilst we played hangman and waited. We were all way too hot and tired so decided to leave at 3.15pm. We stopped at a cart on the way and got a churro and some drinks before the trip back.









We decided to do one last Walmart trip to stock up on Poptarts etc for home ... over $100 lighter we left 😳 I've honestly no idea what on 🤣 that store is dangerous on so many levels.

Next we headed back to the room, packed a little more showered and left for Outback Steakhouse at just gone 7.


Outback Steakhouse

Tonight was Outback. I already had a code for a free 'Bloomin Onion' for signing up, but it was also Memorial Day so I received another code for 10% off our bills too bonus!

Earlier in the day I telephoned and booked a table as we had packing to do after this evenings meal so I wanted to ensure we weren't just waiting around for a table, plus we expected it to be busy with it being Memorial Day. I booked a table for 7.15pm. We arrived at 7.20pm. We mentioned about our table booking but they couldn't find it. Turns out they assumed I was booking a table for when I phoned even though I'd said 7.15pm. Never mind, we were seated within about 10 minutes. We ordered our drinks and we all had soft drinks then had a look at the menu.

Our server was lovely and very attentive. We ordered the Bloomin Onion and explained we had a voucher. He then came back to take our order and brought some bread with him.





Got to admit we weren't to keen on the Bloomin Onion, we found it a bit too spicy. I was so disappointed as I wanted to love it.

I ordered:


OUTBACK CENTER-CUT SIRLOIN*
- Center-cut for tenderness. Lean, hearty and full of flavor. Seasoned and seared
.




You get to choose 2 sides with this, I opted for loaded baked potato and broccoli and cheese, unfortunately they were out of broccoli so I had mac n cheese. I didn't really enjoy this meal at all. The steak was ok, the jacket potato skins was REALLY salty, in fact if you look at the picture you can probably see the salt on it. I tried to eat around it as it was just the skin, but every now and then I got a really salty bit and it put me off. The mac n cheese was ok but I found the pasta too big ... again I know that sounds stupid but I just felt it should have been smaller pasta.

Chris ordered something off the specials I think:


BLOOMIN' FRIED CHICKEN - Our twist on fried chicken. Boneless
chicken breast hand battered in our Outback Original Bloomin’ Onion® seasoning, fried until golden brown and drizzled with our spicy signature bloom sauce. Served with homestyle mashed potatoes
and fresh seasonal veggie.





Again they had no veggies so Chris opted for Mac N Cheese, he too wasn't impressed with it either sadly. He said the mash and chicken were ok but he wasn't wowed by them.

Caitlin had:


OUTBACK CENTER-CUT SIRLOIN* -
Center-cut for tenderness. Lean, hearty and full of flavor. Seasoned and seared.






Obviously she's picky with sides, so so got fries and salad. Chris and I shared the salad, Thomas ate some of the fries. We also asked for extra bread as she liked that so she ended up with a whole other loaf to herself too

Thomas and Noah had:


CHICKEN FINGERS -
Our tender, juicy Chicken Fingers are made with premium chicken and cooked to a golden crispness.




Thomas had his with fries and Noah had fruit. In hindsight we should have just got Noah fruit and gave him some snacks back at the room as he was falling asleep (my fault for trying out the melatonin herbal capsules from WalMart a little too early )

Thomas enjoyed his and ate all of it but tbh there hasn't been much that Thomas hasn't ate on this holiday

We decided to skip dessert as we just wanted to get back and finish packing. Whilst waiting to pay I had an alert to check in for our flight tomorrow so I sat and did that till the bill came.

The total was
$92.96

Now I know Caitlin had an adult meal but I just found it so expensive and this was with the FREE Bloomin Onion and 10% off for Memorial Day! To say that Longhorns was a similar price (and we only got a free starter) but much better quality in my opinion I felt really stung paying this and wished we had gone to Longhorns

I don't think Outback is somewhere we would return again. None of us were wowed by it but at least we've tried it and no. Next time it will definitely be Longhorns for a Steakhouse.

We were seated more or less straight away and ordered. Noah was struggling to stay awake but I managed to keep him occupied with hangman again 🤣

Food here was nice but I much preferred Longhorns. Not sure we'd return here to be fair. It was OK but wasn't amazing. We headed back to the hotel at 9pm to finish packing and get the kids an early night for travel day tomorrow.



Edited at 12:29 PM.
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Old 13 Sep 19, 10:31 PM  
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Goldia
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We've still never been to Busch Gardens I just can't be doing with the journey. Although from what you've said that was fine.

A really hot day today though it sounds like you'd all had enough and after Mr Grump had his fill of the big rides I think it was a good idea to head home. Oh and I love the picture Noah drew, he enjoyed himself on the ride by the look of it.
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Old 14 Sep 19, 01:05 PM  
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7SeasSailor
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Got to admit that OH and me prefer Longhorns to Outback.
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Old 17 Sep 19, 09:39 PM  
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I can’t believe Noah did an upside-down coaster, he must have been so proud of himself.
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Old 4 Oct 19, 08:54 PM  
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caitlinsmummy
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Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
We've still never been to Busch Gardens I just can't be doing with the journey. Although from what you've said that was fine.

A really hot day today though it sounds like you'd all had enough and after Mr Grump had his fill of the big rides I think it was a good idea to head home. Oh and I love the picture Noah drew, he enjoyed himself on the ride by the look of it.
It honestly wasn't too bad you really should, I think you would all love the rides too.

He absolutely loved it ... in fact he keeps asking to go back next year xx

Originally Posted by 7SeasSailor View Post
Got to admit that OH and me prefer Longhorns to Outback.
I definitely don't think it's somewhere we'd return sadly! Longhorns all the way here too! X

Originally Posted by collybird View Post
I can’t believe Noah did an upside-down coaster, he must have been so proud of himself.
Oh Colette he was, his little face said it all, he still talks about it now

I can't believe it's almost your turn now, that's flown round! Are you all sorted? I can't wait to hear all about it! XX
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Old 6 Oct 19, 09:22 PM  
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It sounds like it was just too hot to enjoy Busch Gardens today. Well done to Noah for doing the upside down coaster... it's so cute that he drew a picture of it for his teacher.

It's disappointing that the food and prices at Outback aren't great. We haven't eaten there for years but thought we might give it a try again this year. And how can they run out of vegetables! It seems expensive for what you had.

Oh dear, packing - that's never fun... I hope it went well.
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Old 6 Oct 19, 10:05 PM  
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caitlinsmummy
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Originally Posted by Fuellady View Post
It sounds like it was just too hot to enjoy Busch Gardens today. Well done to Noah for doing the upside down coaster... it's so cute that he drew a picture of it for his teacher.

It's disappointing that the food and prices at Outback aren't great. We haven't eaten there for years but thought we might give it a try again this year. And how can they run out of vegetables! It seems expensive for what you had.

Oh dear, packing - that's never fun... I hope it went well.
It really was, the whole holidays had been a hot one to be honest ... too hot for us. The day we flew home the car said 100F when we arrived at the airport!

We felt the same to be honest. Longhorns was much more value for money and we enjoyed it so much more. I was so annoyed by that ... I really wanted the cheesey broccoli

We managed to get it all in the cases this time so that's good X
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Old 9 Nov 19, 02:37 PM  
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OOhPerkins looks fab, must look up where they are, we never drive so hopefully there is a convenient one for us.

Busch Gardens is on ur list for summer now that ds loves the big rides. Well done Noah on his first upside down!

Nice to see you compare Longhorns to Outback, Longhorns is on my list and Outback is off.
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Old 9 Nov 19, 03:17 PM  
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We seen quite a few Perkins so I don't think it'll be too much of a problem, fab little restaurant.

Yeah Longhorns knocks it Outback out of the water! Xx
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Old 14 Jan 20, 09:51 PM  
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Another great day. My girls love Busch gardens and there are certainly plenty of big rides there. I love Noah's drawing. What a shame that your dinner wasn't what you were hoping for. Still at least you now know for next time.
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