Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina
Life is short. Live it well.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2008
Arriving back at the Vistana, we wasted no time in changing into our suits and making our way to the Fountains pool 
. It was hot and sticky, and we wanted nothing more than to cool off and just relax and splash the afternoon away. Being such a warm and humid day, the pool was busy and there were lots of people both swimming and stretched out on the poolside loungers. The masseur located between the pool and the hot tubs was also kept hopping with a steady stream of clients, the first time we have ever seen them busy in all the trips we have made to the resort. We spent a good couple of hours in the water, listening to the music and people watching as we remarked that this was EXACTLY the way Christmas vacation should be spent 
.
Around 4:30 or so, the boys were starting to get some rumbly tummies…..with our late morning character breakfast, we had skipped lunch entirely and hadn’t even grabbed a snack at any point. We dragged ourselves from the pool and returned to the villa to dry off and dress for dinner. Steve was anxious to introduce Jake to a new favourite of ours that he hadn’t yet experienced, so once we were fresh and ready to roll, we hopped in the Equinox and made the short drive past the Crossroads to Millers Ale House.
It actually worked out nicely that we were there before the major dinner rush. While it was starting to get busy around the time we arrived, we were able to get a parking space and were seated a booth with no wait at all. It was “rib night” at Millers, so we knew that open tables would be much more scarce in another hour or two.
They guys were pretty peckish by this point, so along with our beverages (water for the boy and I, a pint of beer for the big fella….only $2.50 and cheaper than a soft drink!!) we ordered up a couple of appetizers to share between us, specifically fried mozzarella:
…and a barbecued chicken flatbread (half with red onions, half without):
The flatbread (valued at $7.99) was free with a sign up for the Millers Raving Fans email club
.
Both items arrived really quickly, piping hot and were mouthwateringly good. Jake indulged me in a cheese stretching photo for old times’ sake….it was his “thing” on trips when he was younger
. These fried mozzarella sticks were REALLY thick and substantial, so I am pretty sure we could have stretched that cheese right over to the next booth if we were feeling adventurous. These were not your average sticks of fried cheese!
We polished off every crumb of the appies, and our server (who was excellent) was quick to clear away our plates in preparation of the arrival of our entrees. We had just a nice little wait before our platters appeared, with cautions from our waitress to be mindful of some of the plates because they were hot, hot, hot (and true to her warnings, they were).
Much as I wanted to be adventurous and try something different from their vast menu, I loved their chicken parm so much on our first visit that I decided I simply MUST repeat the experience. Yet again, the portions were simply MASSIVE…..and I had enough chicken on my plate to feed us all, along with a staggering quantity of spaghetti and toasted garlic bread to top it all off.
As you may have suspected, Steve went right for the special of the day, a full rack of ribs, which were accompanied by French fries and coleslaw.
The Little Big Guy opted for their signature Zingers with garlic parmesan sauce, and a basket of fries (which ended up to be WAY more food than any of us had anticipated):
We opted out of any kind of dessert. Their options didn’t really appeal, and we were much too full anyway.
There is absolutely nothing that we can’t rave about as far as this meal was concerned. Food quality, portion sizes, taste, service, prices…..everything was top notch. For value and quality, Millers really is extremely tough to beat and it’s easy to see why it’s packed literally every night of the week. Our bill totalled $48.78 with tax (not including tip), so we paid our server and headed out into the warm evening air.
Rather than head straight back to the resort (we had nothing else formally planned for the evening), we decided to return to the Nike Clearance Store in Kissimmee to give Jake the chance to do a little more shopping. There were a few additional items he wanted to pick up (now that he had surveyed the options at both the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores and the Premium Outlet), and was anxious to spend the rest of his shopping budget. On the way there, we encountered the first heavier traffic of the trip (the 535 was SUPER busy) but other than making the short journey a little slower than normal, it wasn’t problematic. No stoppages or issues to report.
The boy shopped, shopped, shopped and left with a virtually empty wallet and bags full of sportswear. In addition to his full sized suitcase (which is large enough to fulfill the maximum dimensions allowed by Jetblue), he had brought an empty carry on to help handle his purchase load. Good thing, too, because he was going to need all that space by the looks of things!!
After leaving the Nike Store, I casually inquired if we should pick up something sweet to bring back to the resort and enjoy after our hot tub time later that evening. Something, say, from Krispy Kreme….since we’re here in Kissimmee anyway, you know. To make the drive out worthwhile. Yeah, that’s the reason
.
The guys jumped at the chance. Rather than turning right onto the 535, our chauffeur navigated us down the 192 until we saw the sign:
Lo and behold, we had timed it just perfectly…..the “hot doughnuts now” sign was lit and shining like a beacon in the night sky!
Don’t worry. The boys didn’t trample anyone on the way in the door
. Surprisingly, we were the only ones in the whole store 
.
Walking into the tiny building, it was hard to miss the hundreds of warm donuts rolling happily down the conveyor belt. Mmmm….the smell was sinful all on its own
.
In addition to the hot glazed donuts, we surveyed the other specialty options and worked on making those agonizing vacation decisions that we all love to be faced with: how do we narrow it down to “just” 12?
They had several different festive creations, including cheery snowmen (filled with fluffy whipped cream) and adorable Santa Bellies (filled with chocolate cream) for a 20 cents each upcharge on the price for the dozen. It was Christmas, after all, so we had to try them
.
Total cost for the order: $10.14 with tax.
I would like to say the guys made it back to the villa before they indulged….or heck, even back to the Equinox!!....but they didn’t make it beyond the small tables right inside the shop
. Quite obviously, we are immediate gratification people!! They dug into those hot doughnuts like they were their lifeline to survival…..and right then and there, they became Krispy Kreme hot doughnut fans for life. You have never heard such oooohing and ahhhhing and contented sighing in your life. The iPhone was whipped out, Instagram photos were taken, and they announced to the internet world that they had found heaven at a little shop in central Florida 
.
Still full from dinner, I had one of the snowmen and left the boys to devour the hot doughnuts on their own (despite their insistence that I simply MUST give them a try). Thank goodness its Christmas and calories don’t count during the holiday season. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it
.
We snaked our way back up a very congested 535 and returned to the villa with the balance of our box of doughnuts, poured ourselves some adult beverages into plastic cups, and headed straight for the hot tubs. Again that night we met up with our new friends from Wisconsin (who announced with a laugh "well, its about time you guys got here!!", and again we spent a most leisurely warm night under the twinkling of the stars. "Peace on Earth" indeed.
Our Tuesday is up next!
. It was hot and sticky, and we wanted nothing more than to cool off and just relax and splash the afternoon away. Being such a warm and humid day, the pool was busy and there were lots of people both swimming and stretched out on the poolside loungers. The masseur located between the pool and the hot tubs was also kept hopping with a steady stream of clients, the first time we have ever seen them busy in all the trips we have made to the resort. We spent a good couple of hours in the water, listening to the music and people watching as we remarked that this was EXACTLY the way Christmas vacation should be spent .Around 4:30 or so, the boys were starting to get some rumbly tummies…..with our late morning character breakfast, we had skipped lunch entirely and hadn’t even grabbed a snack at any point. We dragged ourselves from the pool and returned to the villa to dry off and dress for dinner. Steve was anxious to introduce Jake to a new favourite of ours that he hadn’t yet experienced, so once we were fresh and ready to roll, we hopped in the Equinox and made the short drive past the Crossroads to Millers Ale House.
It actually worked out nicely that we were there before the major dinner rush. While it was starting to get busy around the time we arrived, we were able to get a parking space and were seated a booth with no wait at all. It was “rib night” at Millers, so we knew that open tables would be much more scarce in another hour or two.
They guys were pretty peckish by this point, so along with our beverages (water for the boy and I, a pint of beer for the big fella….only $2.50 and cheaper than a soft drink!!) we ordered up a couple of appetizers to share between us, specifically fried mozzarella:
…and a barbecued chicken flatbread (half with red onions, half without):
The flatbread (valued at $7.99) was free with a sign up for the Millers Raving Fans email club
.Both items arrived really quickly, piping hot and were mouthwateringly good. Jake indulged me in a cheese stretching photo for old times’ sake….it was his “thing” on trips when he was younger
. These fried mozzarella sticks were REALLY thick and substantial, so I am pretty sure we could have stretched that cheese right over to the next booth if we were feeling adventurous. These were not your average sticks of fried cheese!
We polished off every crumb of the appies, and our server (who was excellent) was quick to clear away our plates in preparation of the arrival of our entrees. We had just a nice little wait before our platters appeared, with cautions from our waitress to be mindful of some of the plates because they were hot, hot, hot (and true to her warnings, they were
).Much as I wanted to be adventurous and try something different from their vast menu, I loved their chicken parm so much on our first visit that I decided I simply MUST repeat the experience. Yet again, the portions were simply MASSIVE…..and I had enough chicken on my plate to feed us all, along with a staggering quantity of spaghetti and toasted garlic bread to top it all off.
As you may have suspected, Steve went right for the special of the day, a full rack of ribs, which were accompanied by French fries and coleslaw.
The Little Big Guy opted for their signature Zingers with garlic parmesan sauce, and a basket of fries (which ended up to be WAY more food than any of us had anticipated):
We opted out of any kind of dessert. Their options didn’t really appeal, and we were much too full anyway.
There is absolutely nothing that we can’t rave about as far as this meal was concerned. Food quality, portion sizes, taste, service, prices…..everything was top notch. For value and quality, Millers really is extremely tough to beat and it’s easy to see why it’s packed literally every night of the week. Our bill totalled $48.78 with tax (not including tip), so we paid our server and headed out into the warm evening air.
Rather than head straight back to the resort (we had nothing else formally planned for the evening), we decided to return to the Nike Clearance Store in Kissimmee to give Jake the chance to do a little more shopping. There were a few additional items he wanted to pick up (now that he had surveyed the options at both the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores and the Premium Outlet), and was anxious to spend the rest of his shopping budget. On the way there, we encountered the first heavier traffic of the trip (the 535 was SUPER busy) but other than making the short journey a little slower than normal, it wasn’t problematic. No stoppages or issues to report.
The boy shopped, shopped, shopped and left with a virtually empty wallet and bags full of sportswear. In addition to his full sized suitcase (which is large enough to fulfill the maximum dimensions allowed by Jetblue), he had brought an empty carry on to help handle his purchase load. Good thing, too, because he was going to need all that space by the looks of things!!
After leaving the Nike Store, I casually inquired if we should pick up something sweet to bring back to the resort and enjoy after our hot tub time later that evening. Something, say, from Krispy Kreme….since we’re here in Kissimmee anyway, you know. To make the drive out worthwhile. Yeah, that’s the reason
.The guys jumped at the chance. Rather than turning right onto the 535, our chauffeur navigated us down the 192 until we saw the sign:
Lo and behold, we had timed it just perfectly…..the “hot doughnuts now” sign was lit and shining like a beacon in the night sky!
Don’t worry. The boys didn’t trample anyone on the way in the door
. Surprisingly, we were the only ones in the whole store .Walking into the tiny building, it was hard to miss the hundreds of warm donuts rolling happily down the conveyor belt. Mmmm….the smell was sinful all on its own
.
In addition to the hot glazed donuts, we surveyed the other specialty options and worked on making those agonizing vacation decisions that we all love to be faced with: how do we narrow it down to “just” 12?
They had several different festive creations, including cheery snowmen (filled with fluffy whipped cream) and adorable Santa Bellies (filled with chocolate cream) for a 20 cents each upcharge on the price for the dozen. It was Christmas, after all, so we had to try them
.
Total cost for the order: $10.14 with tax.
I would like to say the guys made it back to the villa before they indulged….or heck, even back to the Equinox!!....but they didn’t make it beyond the small tables right inside the shop
. Quite obviously, we are immediate gratification people!! They dug into those hot doughnuts like they were their lifeline to survival…..and right then and there, they became Krispy Kreme hot doughnut fans for life. You have never heard such oooohing and ahhhhing and contented sighing in your life. The iPhone was whipped out, Instagram photos were taken, and they announced to the internet world that they had found heaven at a little shop in central Florida .Still full from dinner, I had one of the snowmen and left the boys to devour the hot doughnuts on their own (despite their insistence that I simply MUST give them a try). Thank goodness its Christmas and calories don’t count during the holiday season. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it
.We snaked our way back up a very congested 535 and returned to the villa with the balance of our box of doughnuts, poured ourselves some adult beverages into plastic cups, and headed straight for the hot tubs. Again that night we met up with our new friends from Wisconsin (who announced with a laugh "well, its about time you guys got here!!", and again we spent a most leisurely warm night under the twinkling of the stars. "Peace on Earth" indeed
.Our Tuesday is up next!
Disney may have to add a Fastpass to see him! LOL! 
For a little over $10, you got a dozen of Krispy Kreme's hot, yummy donuts. That's cheaper than the Olaf apple at Disney Springs! 
. On a side note-Bass Pro (World HQ here in Springfield MO) was giving out "bass passes" with a predetermined return time to see Santa (had to go first thing in am when store opened - first come first served until ran out)---sound familiar???
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. Walking through Marvel, we didn’t spot any characters out and about nor did Steve feel like riding Spiderman despite my insistence to do so. We opted to continue on through Toon Lagoon and visit Hogsmeade while it was (hopefully) still fairly quiet.
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