The United Steaks of America - Offsite and Universal dining August 2022 - complete

[PigletsMum]

https://DIBB.in/15598442 Travel day
https://DIBB.in/15600434 Day 1 Dennys and Millers Ale House
https://DIBB.in/15601967 Day 2 Volcano Bay and Olive Garden
https://DIBB.in/15604369 Day 3 Hard Rock and Simpsons Land
https://DIBB.in/15605179 Day 4 Hard Rock again and Longhorns
https://DIBB.in/15606271 Day 5 Cracker Barrel and Chick Fil-A
https://DIBB.in/15608954 Day 6 City Walk and Tin Roof
https://DIBB.in/15609896 Day 7 Celebration Diner and Antijitos
https://DIBB.in/15612298 Day 8 Portofino Bay Club Level
https://DIBB.in/15613806 Day 9 Portofino Bay again, Today Cafe and Saltgrass
https://DIBB.in/15615029 Day 10 - McDonalds, Blaze and Via Capri
https://DIBB.in/15616638 Day 11 - First Watch and McDonalds
https://DIBB.in/15619178 Day 12 - Walmart and Applebees
https://DIBB.in/15621590 Day 13 The Leaky Cauldron, Green Eggs and Ham and Wine Bar George
https://DIBB.in/15621710 Dennys and travelling home

We’re nearly there! After booking this trip way back in Feb 2021 (no, it wasn’t rearranged… it was the furthest out that I’ve ever booked any trip but we wanted something to look forward to!), we can finally say that we go back to Florida this week.

I’ve never written a blog or report before, but have loved reading everyone else’s in the run up to this and previous trips and found them so helpful, that I wanted to do the same and share our trip.

So, I guess it makes sense to introduce ourselves first we are a family of 4, Myself (Deb), my husband (Dan), and our two boys Sammy (17) and Charlie (14). Pic is from our last trip in 2019.

As a family we are pretty into sports - mostly football with both Dan and I coaching with a womens football team and Sammy taking a BTEC in sports with a football club and Charlie playing as well. We also love our food - especially me and it is no coincidence that I’ve decided to attempt a dining blog first!

We are heading to Florida on Wed 17th for 14 nights from Bristol with TUI which means into Melbourne which will be a first for us (unsurprisingly given the newness of the route!). We are staying offsite at Lake Buena Vista Resort Village and Spa (our third visit to this hotel) and only planning to visit Universal in terms of the major theme parks. We do also have 2 different nights booked at Universal hotels to take advantage of the express passes - so we are looking forward to a night at Hard Rock in Club level in the first week and a night at Portofino Bay in Club level in the second week all thanks to Tesco clubcard vouchers!

We’ve not got huge amounts of plans as we’re looking forward to a really relaxed holiday, but we do have a list of places we’d like to revisit or try and these are…

Dennys - an old favourite and def our breakfast on the first day!
Olive Garden - I LOVE the breadsticks… would happily go purely for a plate of these!
Perkins - nobody else is overly keen but at the very least I want to pop in and pick up a slice of chocolate peanut butter pie
Anjitos - looked at this last time and didn’t make it in but I really want to try this time
Cracker Barrel - not sure if it is the shop or food that looks best but will be a new one for us
First Watch - seen this on vlogs and looks good
Wine Bar George - not been before but fancy this for lunch (especially as the boys are all fairly enthusiastic carnivores given the opportunity… hence the title of the blog, so the steak frites looks amazing)
Bread Box - who doesn’t love a sandwich?

So as you can see from the list we want a pretty basic dining experience and are unlikely to be anywhere particularly smart. Fingers crossed we walk enough to burn it all off!

We’re likely to end up with some days where we take snacks into the parks and some where we buy there - but I’m assuming we probably won’t want to eat huge amounts in the middle of the day in the heat so are unlikely to do many sit downs in the parks (although we usually find time for a visit to one of the Harry Potter pubs… but the draw is more the theming than the food in all honesty!) but of course this could all change!

Because we are flying from Bristol (where we live) there is no pre travel day trip to a hotel for us (again, new when going to Florida) so we will start with our trip to the airport and breakfast in the aspire lounge at Bristol which we have included as we are flying premium economy. Our flight time is 9.45 and I’m a little worried about the delays that have been happening recently, although friends who have flown out of Bristol recently assure me this is not really an issue any more, so we will have an early start and long day - but the upside is landing early in the afternoon if all goes to plan and we are on time! I’m hoping to blog live, but I have a feeling this will last for part of the trip and then the rest is caught up after… and I’m cool with that as my worklife involves a LOT of deadlines and I’m looking for some time off from these!

I hope that you’ll enjoy the chance to share our trip with us and that someone reads (imagine if this was the first blog to get zero readers!)

3 sleeps to go!

[Chrissie H]

I love food reports but will be following with special interest as we are staying at Lake Buena Vista Village Resort and Spa for the first time next month. Hope to get a few ideas of where to eat nearby.

[Sparksy72]

Have an amazing trip and you have some of our favourites on your list. Safe travels, xx

[PigletsMum]

We're finally here!

It just gone 6am on our first whole day so I thought that I would use the quiet time (waiting on teenagers to wake!) to write up yesterday.

We flew from Bristol airport, which is a 15-20 min drive from home so travel day started at 5 am with us getting up, showered and ready. We were super organised so that we didn't have to think at that time of the morning and just needed to coax the eldest to wake up. We left home at 6 and have to say that the airport was really quick and by 7 we had driven there, parked, walked to the terminal, checked in, been through security and were in the lounge! It helped that with premium economy flights we were in the short queue, but the other line wasn't that long either when we got there.

So, we had entry to the Aspire lounge which (despite flying from Bristol many times before) we'd never used. I think because it is our local airport, I don't ever feel there is a huge amount of value in a lounge. In fact, had in not been included we wouldn't have bothered this time! That said, it was really lovely - the airport was busy but it felt lots calmer and quieter in there. I do think it was fully booked as they seemed to turn people away who were just in front of us, and we only just managed to get a table for 4 together.

But here lies my first fail at writing this... completely forgot to take pictures of the food! Didn't realise until I was sat on the plane - but I promise I got better later in the day! There was a small section for hot breakfast (sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, beans), bread rolls, cold items (melon, cheese, cold meats etc) and then a pastries section with cakes, biscuits, scones. Plenty of choice of fruit juices and cold drinks as well as the bar.

We all opted for a small hot breakfast, I had sausages in a roll and some scrambled egg (although I wasn't overly keen on the eggs... but that might just be the early start and not wanting to eat too much making me fussy - the youngest loved them!). And the others all had similar. Plenty of tea and coffee and juices drunk and Dan even treated himself to a Jack Daniels and coke (it's always after 5 somewhere right?) - although as he started to drink it and glanced at his watch saying it was only 7.50 in the morning, I think he may have started to regret his choice!

The flight was due to take off at 9.45 and we boarded about 9am - so all good so far Sparkling wine or orange juice to welcome us.

Then the pilot announcement that the weather wasn't favourable for a direct flight to Melbourne and we would be popping over to Shannon, ireland, to refuel! Later chats with the cabin crew explained that the short runway at Bristol means they can't take off with the weight of a fully fuelled plane if the runway is wet - and it was the first time this year they had to do it! Lucky us!

That meant there was no drinks / food service until after we had taken off from Shannon - after the short flight over and refuel we took to the skies again about 12.30. If anyone is thinking about flying this route, it's probably worth mentioning that it wouldn't put us off flying it again - the rest of the flight and Melbourne airport was an absolute dream

So by this time we were all pretty hungry! Soon after we were in the air they came round with the standard drinks and a snack. Dan had one more JD and coke before switching to soft drinks as he would be driving later and I had the first of many white wines. The kids had water (eldest) and diet coke (youngest) and we all had a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. Weirdly I think we must have all been getting a little hangry without having noticed as we felt better as soon as we had these... although maybe it was just the fact that normal service was resumed and we finally felt like we were on our way! They did also offer to top our drinks up as they walked back up the plane (I accepted... everyone else declined!)

After drinks, they came around and asked us what we wanted for our meals. The choices were roast beef, chicken thai green curry and a wild mushroom something (I think pasta but we all chose the others so can't be 100%!). Trays were brought out with everything but the main and then the mains followed once we had finished our starters. The starter was hummus (I think 2 different kinds but I couldn't taste much difference in all honesty!), some flavoured orzo pasta and a little pitta bread. I thought this was really lovely and cleared mine. Dan and Charlie also enjoyed theirs but it didn't interest Sammy (was not a shocker to be fair!). Then Dan had the chicken whilst the rest of us had the beef - and have to say that for plane food this was pretty good. The beef they described as roast but it was like a slow cooked brisket or similar in a really lovely gravy with brocolli, carrots and little roasted potatoes. Veg cooked more that we would normally have it but as I say for plane food it was lovely! Dan also really enjoyed his chicken curry and cleared that away quite quickly!

We also had a small roll, a lemon posset dessert that was delicious (i'm not mad on desserts but being really lemony this wasn't too much) and cheese and biscuits (really nice strong cheddar and a small boursin). With more wine to wash down we were happily full

This was followed up by coffee and baileys (or brandy if you preferred).

More drinks followed later and then about and hour and a half before landing we had afternoon tea. This was okay, 3 little sandwiches (one egg mayo, one mozerella and pesto and one cream cheese and cucumber) and a scone with jam and cream with either tea or coffee. Dan and I ate some, the bread was a bit soggy so I left some of my sandwiches and we both tried the scone but I think it was just a bit sweet and more than we needed at this point so we left bits. Boys didn't even try theirs but at least they had the option had they been hungry.

We were soon landed and through Melbourne with a drive up to Lake Buena Vista. We had planned on heading out for something to eat but by this time we were pretty tired and actually not that hungry so we hit Walmart for water, drinks, milk and a few other supplies and grabbed a big pizza to heat when we got back. No pics of that as by this time we were exhausted and had been up for 22 hours!

And that brings us up to date! Hope this wasn't too long a read! We're heading to Dennys for breakfast this morning and then into Universal... so will update you soon

[ClaireNJ]

Great travel day shame about your extra stop at Shannon 😬
Have a fab first day & enjoy Denny’s
Unlimited pancakes $4 what’s not to like
🥞🥞🥞🥞🥞

[Leebie3376]

Oh good to find your trip report! I’ve a teenage DS I’m travelling with from Sat, so watching your report with interest. I flew Tui premium (not to Florida) last month and was very impressed. Avoiding the queues at MCO is definitely a plus point!

Enjoy your first day!

[Florida1972]

Great start 😊
Those travel days are so long, I am in awe of the people who can hit a park on the first night. Look forward to reading more 🇺🇸

[PigletsMum]

Good morning all,

It's 06.20 here and I'm the only one awake so sat with a cup of tea on the balcony whilst I catch up and write this Thank you so much for the comments - they really made my day to know you were reading.

Yesterday we finally managed to wake the boys and organise them to get going and headed to Denny's on International Drive (the one by the massive McDonalds - I'm pretty rubbish with addresses I'm afraid!). We were seated and had a lovely server who asked if we wanted to order drinks straight away. I think we all blinked at her a couple of times and explained that we were still a bit jet lagged so she happily gave us a few minutes to gather our thoughts and decide.

Previous visits my youngest has always ordered from the kids menu and weirldy has always had spag bol for breakfast - but this time he ventured into the more conventional and ordered breakfast from the main menu along with the rest of us. Dan had the Santa Fe breakfast skillet (sausage, potatoes, mushrooms, peppers, onions, chorizo topped with cheese and fried eggs), Charlie had the All American Slam (scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, sausage, hash browns and toast), and Sammy and I both had Build Your Own Grand Slams (Sammy went with bacon, sausage, hash browns and pancakes which he upgraded to the chocconana and I went with bacon, sausage, fried eggs, pancakes and also added hash browns). Drinks wise Dan and I both went with orange juice as we had drunk multiple teas and coffees at the apartment waiting for the kids to wake, Charlie went with an Oreo shake (he's been dreaming of this since our last visit and had to have it... although as I've mentioned before, last visit he was eating from the kids menu so the size of it was a shocker - Sammy helped him by taking half of it off his hands!) and Sammy had water.

We all loved our breakfasts and were suitably stuffed! The bill came to $55 plus tip which we thought was good value in the current world because it was a lot of food! We did at this point remember that we had intended to register for some mailing lists to get some discount vouchers before we left, and had obv forgotten! So Dan is sat doing that now!

We then headed into Universal for the day and after a quick stop to sort my annual pass (they kindly credited me with an extra month as my last pass expired during covid) we headed straight to Velocicaoster where our lovely breakfasts nearly made an unwelcome return!

It was an amazing ride to be fair, but I'm just not massively into the shaky head rides and came off with a fairly muzzy head which probably wasn't helped by the tiredness. After this we stuck to some indoor rides / shows to avoid the heat and allow us to climatise. I won't go into masses of detail with this being a food blog... but have to say that the Bourne Stuntacular is incredible! And that's coming from a family where 3 out of the 4 of us have never seen the films and had no interest in seeing them! We did go to recharge our refillable drinks mug that we had from previous visits but weirdly the guys said it was already charged - I argued and said it couldn't be. He said def was, did i get water in it? Nope... haven't touched in in 3 years I tell him. He shrugs and looks at me like 'why is the crazy British woman arguing over free refills?' and my mind catches up! So I say thanks very much and take my frozen coke! We refilled it several times either with slushies or coke zero's and shared between us. We do have two of these but I had only taken one with me - we don't mind sharing and these are a good way to keep hydrated along with the water we always bring with us.

About 2pm we were just thinking of heading out and you could hear the crackle of thunder in the distance which helped make our mind up! We managed to make it under the cover of the walk to city walk before the heavens opened, and then we just had to brave the dash to the car from the cover as of course we were parked on the top level! I mean when I say we had to brave it... of course I made Dan run and get the car then drive down to pick us up! Unfortunately that did mean he had to quickly drive down the opposite way than he was supposed to (don't worry no one was about) and might have accidentally caught a traffic cone under the front wheel (said cone survived perfectly okay you'll be pleased to note not like Sammy's street cred when we made him jump out to move it much to the amusement of a small group waiting for someone to bring their car!).

We were hungry again by this point (not that I'm sure we had rights to be) so we went to Millers Ale House by Universal. We've not been to Millers before as had tried on previous visits and always found it too long a wait (which makes me interested as it suggests good food... but also a pain when you're not organised to book anything!). But as this was mid afternoon we had no problems and were seated straight away.

Our server talked us through the menu and Sammys eyes lit up when he went through the zingers! We ordered some drinks with Dan and Charlie having diet cokes, Sammy having water and me opting for a Millers Light (I'm on holiday!).

We looked over the menu and ordered our food with Dan and Sammy both wanting the zingers smothered mountain (fries topped with cheese, bacon, scallions and zingers), I wanted something a bit lighter so went for the Cilantro Lime Chicken (grilled chicken with salsa, black beans, cilantro and lime rice and veggies) and Charlie wasn't overly hungry and asked to see a kids menu and he chose grilled chicken and fries from. We also ordered some fried jalepenos to share which came out first - these were delicious but a little hot for me... couldn't stop eating them though! They were a massive portion - I just forgot to take a pic until we had eaten half of them and the ranch was nearly gone!

The food came out and unfortunately there had been a misunderstanding with the zinger smothered mountains and the order came with just two plates of zingers. No problem says our server, I'll get you loaded fries to go with and off he runs. This means they effectively had the same things but split over two plates. By the time the fries came out they had already eaten their chicken but did say it was all lovely. Luckily the server thought to just order one loaded fries as these were massive, and more than enough for them to share! Mine was delicious and I really enjoyed it, and Charlie said his was fine - it was just grilled chicken and fries so not much to write about but exactly what he had ordered.

I think overall we thought the food was okay, but at $95 dollars it didn't blow us away considering that with the confusion we only had one main meal between us, 3 starters a side and a kids meal plus drinks. It was good but I don't think we'd rush back. Nothing wrong with it to be fair - and maybe that was just a first taste into how expensive things are now... so we might look back after a few days and feel differently!

We then stopped in Dollar Tree to pick up a few things (mostly weird noodles the boys and Dan want to try and some ice cream) and headed back to the apartment where we spent a couple of hours in the pool.

Later we all had snacks in the room which were a combination of pre made subs from Walmart from the night before (these were huge and Dan and Sammy shared one between them), lunchables for Charlie and I made myself a sandwich. No pics of these but they weren't overly exciting!

The early start after little sleep caught up on me and I was asleep by 9! But looking forward to a day at Volcano Bay now that the sun is fully up and the kids awake!

Have an amazing day everyone

[ClaireNJ]

Good first day can’t beat Denny’s, think if you sign up you get 20% off, basically the tip 🤣🤣never been Miller’s & maybe won’t be now 😬
Enjoy VB 😎

[Goldia]

I hope you have a fun holiday. How terrifying that the plane can't take off with a full tank of fuel if the runway is wet! I'm bet you're glad you found out after the event, at least I know I would not have liked knowing in advance!

The Denny breakfast looks amazing. Yummy bacon and eggs and hash browns. I bet that set you up perfectly for the day.

I'm looking forward to reading all about your trip.