Park Day 3 and an Offsite Excursion (Tuesday, 11/21)
We settled in Monday night with plans on using our gifted breakfast buffet voucher on Tuesday morning. We had plans of sleeping in but well.....the best of plans and all. We were up, showered, caffeinated and ready to hit the day by 8. Let me take a minute to say that one of the smartest things I did was to pack some of our creature comforts from home. Knowing the room had a Keuring, I'd packed our favorite coffees and my Sugar in the Raw. When we'd left home on Friday one of the very last things I did was pack a very small cooler with ice bags holding the creamer that both Corey and I use (settling on one would've just made too much sense). We're happy people in general, but our morning cheer does have a short shelf life and it's caffeine dependent.
We left the room and made our way down to The Kitchen. When we arrived at the hostess stand there were a couple of the hostess' laughing and picking at each other. Tony couldn't resist and starting poking at both of them. Really, we can't take him anywhere.
We had a wonderful breakfast and I'm fairly certain Corey ate his weight in pancakes and waffles.....I think he frightened one of the chefs. With his last plate of food in hand, Corey came back to the table not realizing the chef was right behind him. Once Corey was seated and looked up the chef laughed and asked if he'd enjoyed himself. Corey responded, "yes, very much!" The chef laughed and asked if he was done yet, when Corey said that was his last plate the chef threw up his hands and cheered. He started to walk off then turned back around and came back to the table to seriously ask if we'd enjoyed everything. It was just a good thing there weren't any bananas hanging around.....
I wish I hadn't put my phone down.....right after I snapped this one the Minion bearhugged Corey.
After a great breakfast we went back up to the room to change shoes and grab the small umbrella as there was a pretty good chance of drizzle in the forecast this morning. For very specific reasons, we were headed to Disney Springs this morning.
In short order we were on our way back down to the lobby. On the way down Tony made the comment that he really did want to hit Fit2Run but that he really rather not have to drive anywhere. When I told him I could take care of that for him, he was one happy camper. A quick chat with the valet and we were in one of the ODC cars with Ahmed and on our way to DS.
Wow....had this place changed a lot since we were there in '10. I went to Basin and knocked out a lot of Christmas shopping while the guys wandered around. I'd bought so much and it was early enough in the day...they were kind enough to let me leave the purchases there until we came back. We went to the couple of other places that we'd come for....Erin McKenna's bakery, the
Lego store and the Star Wars Outpost.
We clowned around and just enjoyed being together. I don't understand families that are so digitally consumed that they don't take time to connect. The amount of people we saw with their faces buried in devices....entire families just looking down at a screen....it truly made me sad.
This is one sequence I do wish I'd videoed. In the battle of father vs son, father won.
This was funny....we laughed and laughed and laughed.....over something as silly as a tray of sodas. It started to drizzle as we passed the Coke building....and visions of Beverly danced in my head. It was hilarious!!!
Obviously this isn't just after he'd sampled Beverly, but this guy....yeah, he makes my heart flutter. He works so incredibly hard so that I don't have to and so that we have a comfortable life. So many times I'd look over at him while Corey and I were waving our wands and he'd have the biggest smile....just watching us. But yeah, I'd also trick him into Beverly again in a heartbeat.....I'm not a complete sap.
What a laugh we'd had over something so simple! We went back to Basin and got my things and ended at Fit2Run. I was happy that we were able to find Corey a couple new pairs of running shoes. We live in a very small area so our choices here are limited. We do have a Dick's nearby and a Fleet Feet, but their stock doesn't rotate nearly often enough. With what that ankle of his now requires, I don't like ordering online for him....so the trip to DS would've been worth it for this alone. We were also able to find Tony several new pairs of running shorts.....he's so picky about his running shorts.....winner again. I was even able to find a new pair of Mizunos. Winner all the way around. We did go into one
Disney store and this is what we came out with.....no, just the picture...not the sweatshirt. LOL!
We called Ahmed from ODC and he was back exactly when he said he would be. Should you ever want to take one of the ODC cars from one of the Universal hotels to DS, the drop off and pick up point is right by the Cirque du Soleil theater. Ahmed was lovely and we enjoyed talking with him during both trips. The best I can remember it was $40 both ways and I'm sure Tony gave him a generous tip....he was just happy he didn't have to drive on vacation.
We went to the room and got everything situated there. So far we'd been able to keep the room really organized and tidy.....clutter is my pet peeve and I'm just able to relax so much more if I can keep everything organized....I know, weirdo. The area under the TV worked great for storing shoes. We were still doing okay on space....uh oh....remember that shopping bonanza in Basin? Hahaha, the floor of the closet was now covered in Basin!
The weather had cleared up so after chilling out for just a bit, it was back out to the parks! I'm fuzzy on what we did between going back in and going back for dinner at The Palm. So....for your viewing pleasure here are some of my favorites from Diagon Alley.
We had reservations at The Palm at 6:30 and we were so looking forward to it. We'd talked about trying to go to Ocean Prime, but that's where Tony and Jimmy (his boss) usually go when Tony has to go to Orlando for work.....so he's actually kinda tired of it. Having been there quite a bit he was also pretty sure that Corey would enjoy The Palm more. So back on that day at the pool, The Palm was an easy choice.
He's a pretty special kid. Tony and I were told that we'd never have children so to be able to watch him experience everything life has to offer him is a joy.....that's not to say I don't want to strangle him every now and then.
We were a few minutes early but still had no problem being seated as soon as we arrived. Without it feeling rushed we were served water and greeted by our waitress. I do all of our wine supply ordering so Tony just handed me the wine list and said to take my pick. I went to the cabernets and although I disappointed to not find Opus One, overall I was pleased with their choices. Weighing the choices with what he had at home....I wanted to choose something that we didn't have at home, I went with PlumpJack. I chose well, it was excellent.
For starters Tony chose the Italian wedding soup (more on that in a minute) and I had the lobster bisque.
The lobster bisque was outstanding. It had a wonderful depth of flavor and the texture was spot on. If they aren't done properly, bisques are easily either too thin or just have the wrong mouth feel. This was just completely spot on.
The Italian wedding soup.....I didn't say anything but I inwardly cringed when Tony ordered this. Thing is, this is his favorite soup....but he's used to the way I make it for him and every time he orders it somewhere he says the same thing.....it doesn't taste right. He enjoyed it but wasn't crazy about it. I tried it and instantly knew what he didn't like about it. It's not that it was bad, it was just different from what he knows and loves.
Tony debated between lamb and the filet and in the end...the filet won. He and I both had 9oz filets and as sides we had the Three Cheese Potatoes Au Gratin and the creamed spinach. We knew there was no way we'd finish the sides, but we couldn't choose between the two. They were both excellent! Corey had the 9oz filet and fries. We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals...the steaks were all cooked to perfection.
Tony and I couldn't pass up the Creme Brulee and I had a decaf coffee to round it all out. We'd had an excellent dinner and just enjoyed being together and talking about the trip, how things were going for Corey at school, how things were going for us in general since Tony's job had recently changed. It was just a very pleasant evening. We paid the check and thanked our waitress for taking such good care of us.....a great meal is one thing, but when the service is great....it just makes it that much better.
We were surprised to realize we'd been at dinner for two hours...it went by so quickly. We took our time strolling through the lobby, walking down the stairs and out by the pool. We ended up on the walkway that leads to the parks. We stopped at the little bridge and then just casually made our way back to our room. If anyone saw me....I was so happy that night, I had to have been floating a few inches off the ground.
Coming up on Wednesday morning.....Tony goes for a run and Corey and I hit EE.