Fly on Friday the 13th?? Yep, we`ll turn superstition into 23 nights of fun!! A Sept/Oct 2024 TR

[schumigirl]

Hi Carole!
Love the airplane pics. Seats look so comfortable. Gareth and I swore we are going premium next trip to Europe. Showed him your seats on VA! Very nice. . Thanks for including the menus …… your chicken dish did look yummy.
Reading along
Brenda

Hi Brenda,

Oh I like plane pictures too and yes those seats were very comfy!!

I hope you do get those seats booked, Premium is so nice, bigger comfier seats with a larger luggage allowance is very much worth it for us. And the food for airline food is actually decent, it passes some time too, we both enjoyed that chicken and said we`d have it again.

Glad you`re still along for the ride

 

[schumigirl]

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14TH CONTINUED




We drove home and got parked easily, the parking lot didn`t seem as busy as it usually is on a Saturday, we got a space right at the entrance, so less time to walk in this heat which was incredible!!! But, not complaining at all as it was just gorgeous!!

Who doesn`t love this entrance!
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In the lobby we had a chance to chat more to Milton and Rob and can completely understand why they`re moving to Helios, it will be an amazing move for both of them, I was surprised Rob was leaving but he is such a theme park guy and to open a new hotel is something they all want to do. I always thought if RP closed he`d be the guy locking the door after everyone else has gone, he has been there forever and there`s nothing he doesn`t know!!!

We went upstairs and sent Kyle a message to see if he was free for a chat, he was so we had a nice facetime with him and caught up on stories, he had been alarmed when he got the message about the "good" bangle.....but thankfully it was fine. He was going out so we finished our chat and said we`d catch up next weekend sometime.

We popped along to the lounge to get a cup of tea each and enjoyed another slice of that beautiful birthday cake waiting for us last night, still as fresh today as it was when we cut it open.

After that we were so tired, our eyes were just closing!










I forget how long we slept, but it was at least a couple of hours and we did feel much better after we got up although I did look as though I had been asleep forever!!










Time for a quick shower and hair done and we head down to the lounge which is always a nice relaxing time.

Most folks know we never really eat dinner here as we do prefer to eat out around Orlando, but the food on offer is very nice and some nights are more popular than others. We do usually have a little sample or some cheese and crackers to go with the wine as it is just a little early for us to eat dinner.

Food is on offer between 5 and 7pm with wine and beers available till 7.15pm. There`s always one hot dish and the usual salads with various dressings depending on the salad, crudites, crackers, cheese and tonight was meatballs with a tortellini cheese pasta which was a very popular dish with guests.
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The wines and beers don`t change much, but they do offer a seasonal beer that is local. This time of year it tends to be Halloween based drinks and I know Tom enjoyed one or two of those, not being a beer drinker I never tried them, but they are popular.​

They also have dessert hour from 8pm, we very rarely ever make it as we`re usually out but they do have mini desserts that change nightly but they always have cookies of various types. They do now have a new cookie that is lemonade flavour and they are gorgeous!!

Again it was nice catching up with the TM tonight, one girl was over from PB Club Lounge and she said she preferred our Club Lounge to the one at PB for many reasons which was nice to hear. PB CL for us is just not personal enough, the staff also say they don`t get that personal feeling either as it is just too big. But, nice girl who was only with us a few nights.

The crowd in the lounge varies sometimes daily, staying 23 nights we see a lot of changes and some are interesting. There was one family who must have been there for just under a week after we arrived and I never saw them smile once, not once. I think they thought we were the devil incarnate with how they looked at us on occasions, it was funny but sad to see folks who just didn`t seem to be enjoying themselves.

We had a couple of glasses of wine and then headed over to Strong Water Bar for dinner and cocktails, our favourite place in UOR!!!

Fernando knew we were coming tonight and had set us a table aside, but it wasn`t too busy and we were greeted by a lovely new girl who made us smile asking if this was our first time in SW! She was lovely and I had asked where Abdel was who usually greets people, he would be back in five minutes so we`d see him then, lovely young man!!

Demi was looking after us tonight, she is a dream and of course Maggie came over as soon as she saw us, love these two ladies! Abdel did come over and say hello and it is always so lovely to catch up with everyone.

We still hadn`t glanced at a menu yet, but as we were about to, Fernando came over and of course it is so wonderful to see him. We do keep in touch between visits and he is very special to us indeed.

We always bring over a load of chocolate for SW, CL and several individual bags for friends, so we hand the large bag over to him, he shares it out sparingly apparently over time lol.... and we have a separate bag for Maggie too and we give him the bottles of Scottish Rum we always bring him. Trying to find something different each time is always fun and he does enjoy seeing the varieties and very grateful, but it is such a pleasure to be able to bring him something different.

And tonight apparently, we don`t need menu`s for food, but for drinks I did say I wanted to try a couple of their new drinks on the menu, one was called the Rum Dream which has Bacoo Rum, condensed milk, evaporated milk, orange juice, passion fruit and vanilla which blend so well together, it was gorgeous and I did like the cinammon on top, you could taste how it enhanced the drink.

Tom opted for The Reverend which included Plantation Stiggins' Fancy Pineapple Rum, Banana du Brésil, pineapple, lime and lemon juice, habanero bitters and I loved this too, I do get to taste first, but Tom enjoyed it a lot.
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At this point or maybe just before we got drinks, I forget now, but a lady and her husband approached us to say hello and it was @bobbie68 from the San thread, we had never met before and it was lovely to put a face to a name. They had been in for dinner by coincidence and were just leaving, but it was nice to get a chance to say hello to both her and her husband.

At this point our food arrived and they know we like the Grio which is marinated and fried pork chunks with sweet plantain (which I adore) Pikliz and a spicy chimichurri, it is one of our favourite dishes in here, beautiful and the meat although it looks crispy, it is very moist and tender inside. ​

Chef Carlos came out to say hello, he is so nice and a very creative chef, his creations are always wonderful and never disappoint. He does a varied menu which has something for everyone, not everyone loves spice so he has dishes that don`t involve any spice or heat whatsoever, we however prefer the spicier dishes!

This was a new one on us, Amberjack Collar which was a fish dish very popular in Japanese cuisine, we had never tried it so he sent it out to see what we thought. They again came with a creole sauce and beautiful mushrooms in rice, we really enjoyed it, it was something different, it is coming off the new menu out soon though.
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We were discussing how many SW are leaving to go to Helios and we always said when we saw the rooftop bar that it would suit Fernando and wouldn`t be surprised if he left to open that bar within the hotel and yes, Fernando is leaving Strong Water to run the amazing rooftop bar in the new Helios hotel! He will be a huge loss to SW but this new bar will be perfect for him and with him at the helm it will be a massive success. His assistant manager Julissa who is lovely, is staying we were glad to hear, she is such a hard worker and very good with guests too, another asset to the bar for sure.

Sitting chatting while listening to the lovely couple singing was so very pleasant and we already felt so much at home here. The couple sing every Saturday night and they sing very middle of the road music and are very good.

Sattina came over to say hello at this point, she has been one of the best rum captains in SW since it opened, she really knows her stuff and is the nicest lady too, we were happy to hear she isn`t moving to Helios, but so many of the team are, we will miss them.

Demi brought us over another Reverend and I fancied a spicy Margarita and this one was amazing!!! Some bar tenders don`t make them as spicy as they should be, but Demi had asked how spicy I liked it.....I emphasised the spicy and boy did Sattina deliver!!! ​

The rest of the evening went past so quickly, Fernando sat with us for a while and we did have a good old catch up, even though he`s moving on we won`t lose touch, he has been a good friend for too long now, so it was a lovely evening with some of the staff popping by to say hello and most of them are leaving too!! Understandable of course, hearing about this new bar and all it entails.

I forget what time we left but it was sometime after 11pm and we were glad we had a snooze earlier or we would have been gone ages ago. We love our time here and are very lucky to know the folks here, they are the nicest of folks and we adore them all.

We said our goodnights and head back over to RP. Despite them being two different hotels, we tend to think of RP and SF as being one big hotel for us, we enjoy both stays so much and the walk back and forward never seems overly long when you go through the ballroom/convention areas.

It was after midnight before we got to bed, but I do know we fell asleep instantly despite our longer than planned nap earlier, seems we still had some catching up on sleep to do after all. These beds are so comfortable and the pillows too, so yes, I think we`ll have an amazing sleep tonight.



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[frenchfryseagull]

I've read several of your trip reports, Carole - just wanted to comment mentioning that I love how focused on the positive you always are! It's such a wonderful, inspiring attitude!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[schumigirl]

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15TH




Again, we slept so well, but as is usual for me, I`m up far too early, Tom would snooze longer than me, but eventually decided it`s just easier to get up than have me asking when he`s getting up. I think he believes when on vacation one shouldn`t be getting up early, but for me, I like to get up and get the day started.

Once we were ready we went down for breakfast and Daniel came up to say a big hello again, it was so good to have him back in this hotel again, he had been in Aventura but nice to see him back in the first hotel he had worked in. He did however have a sting in the tail for us later!

Once we had eaten, we went back to our room to get sunscreen on and our room had already been cleaned, I think our housekeeper Lusette must have pounced as soon as we left the room this morning, but always nice to have the towels changed and so on. My one disappointment was they have gone down the communal shampoo/conditoner/shower gel route, although is still the Julian Farrel products which are nice, but I`d stick to my own now. I have a pathalogical paranoia about using shared products!

Sunscreen on, we headed down to get the car and we head to Lake Eola for the farmers market and a wander around the Lake which is lovely and has such a lovely family friendly atmosphere, we do like a visit here on most trips.

It only takes 15 minutes to drive to Downtown and traffic is very quiet today which is a bonus and we drive straight into the area where businesses utilise their parking spaces for everyone to park for around $10 which isn`t bad considering you can park there all day and it`s straight across the road from the park and close to a good selection of restaurants too for afterwards.

The park hosts many stalls and companies every Sunday morning and this is one of our favourite markets to visit along with Winter Garden which is on a Saturday morning and it is always very busy with families. ​

One of the products we were looking to buy today was a few bottles of Hot Honey, some of them would be given as gifts in with Christmas boxes this year, I accidentally discovered my favourite niece loves hot honey and I had no idea, so we planned to get her and some friends of ours a couple of bottles too and there are several places to choose from, but we`d have a good wander before we bought any.
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This honey guy we liked.....he was so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about his product that it certainly had us fascinated with the conversation, I didn`t know anyone could be so interesting talking about bees!! I`m not a fan of creatures of that size, but we need bees, so I`ll never kill one of them, wasps are another thing altogether, nasty little creatures! ​

The samples were beautiful and this is from someone who doesn`t like honey, but they were very unusual and the hot honey was indeed, hot as it should be.

We purchased a load of bottles from him and asked if he could keep them till we were done in the market as they were heavy, he was happy to keep them for us, he just reminded us he`d be leaving by 1.30, we`d be back long before then. ​

Apart from the lake, the park area is beautiful and you could easily spend all day wandering around enjoying the shade from the many trees and as there are stalls selling everything, you could be fed and watered till the market ends early afternoon. ​

Day two and I could already see our return suitcases being completely overloaded as soon as I saw the Hot Sauce guy
I knew I had to buy some items from him and I don`t regret it as they are gorgeous!! I was not for sharing any of these little gems with anyone and I wasn`t too bad, I only bought four bottles but I`ll use them sparingly, although with how hot they are, I can`t imagine using them any other way than sparingly ​

Always have to take a selfie now of course!

The lake is lovely, and today we noticed it was quieter than usual but a nice part was there was a lovely breeze which just took the edge off of the heat which was incredible!! So walking around was pleasant and we really took our time as it was so lovely. ​

We finished walking around and didn`t see anything else today we wanted to buy, so we went back for the honey and dropped them off at the car before heading down to have brunch somewhere, there are certainly plenty of options and all within a few minutes walk from the park.

On one side of the street there was Rust Teak, we had once gone to one of the other venues and it was very good, they own Teak Neighborhood Grill so you know the food is going to be excellent, but on the other side of the road was a place I for some reason called it The Drunken Mule???

I mentioned it to several folks and I could see them looking confused, then I realised it was actually called The Stubborn Mule....no idea where I had the idea it was called the Drunken Mule!!
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We hadn`t booked so we could either sit at a high top or at the bar, so we opted for the bar and it was a busy little place but we liked the feel of it and staff were very nice.​

The menu they had was lovely and we had to take a moment to decide what we would have, but they did offer mimosas, so I asked for just champagne or a naked mimosa as they are known to us, no problem said our barmaid, I could have whatever I wanted were her exact words, I liked this girl!!!

And I was happy to see I got the first glass out of a new bottle, always nice to see a fresh bottle opened! It might not have been the best champagne in the world, but it was decent enough and very drinkable and shows those that call me a wine snob (you know who you are ) I can drink stuff that`s not what you would class as the best!!!

I might even have two
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Tom opted for the Spicy and Infamous which was a waffle, spicy chicken pieces, bacon, fried egg and lovely potatoes which came with maple syrup and a spicy mustard sauce too, it did look good! I think we did wait a little longer than usual for food, but everything is cooked to order and we don`t mind that as they do tell you it might be a little longer, it was worth waiting for. ​

For me, it was a simple choice in the end, Benedict de parma which included the muffins, poached eggs, arugula with Hollandaise sauce and instead of just ham, it was parma ham which I love, so along with the breakfast potatoes it was a gorgeous meal although if I`m being picky, we`d have preferred boiling hot plates, hate a cold plate with hot food.

And a second glass of fizz too of course! ​

I think we`d definitely come back here another time, their regular menu looked really good too and it wa such a nice place, I think in the evenings this place would be bouncing!

Back to the car we headed home and we were quite amazed at how quiet the roads were today, we knew it was Sunday but even so it was less hectic than usual.

We parked the car and decided we wouldn`t be eating out anywhere tonight, that had been a very filling meal indeed. But we headed in to the lobby and ran into a couple of the girls we know and hadn`t seen yet, while we were chatting the lovely Elida came out to say hello, we first met her when she was a supervisor in the lounge too and happily she had also worked her way to a better position but always finds the time to say hello.....and guess what.....yep, she is going to Helios too!!!








Of course we were happy for her, she will do amazingly well in the new hotel and I think she`ll love it! But, we were beginning to realise we`d know more folks at Helios than we do here in the future!

We headed up to our room and heard it might rain again tonight, there was some heavy rain last night with the remnants of Francine so much so they brought in the outdoor furniture from SW and no one could sit out there, but as the worst had passed we thought the rain had passed but we had more to come tonight, we were just glad it was in the evenings and not daytime.

If it didn`t rain tonight we thought we`d have a pool night but would wait and see. Right now we thought we`d head into Citywalk for a wander and a cocktail in Margaritaville while it was still so lovely.

However, we didn`t know that later we would meet some folks that we would have so much fun with over the next few days!!!! ​

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[schumigirl]

Not sure about the big red X again……will look into it!!

 

[schumigirl]

I've read several of your trip reports, Carole - just wanted to comment mentioning that I love how focused on the positive you always are! It's such a wonderful, inspiring attitude!

Looking forward to reading more!

along frenchfryseagull

I`m so happy you`ve posted and joined in and thank you for your lovely comments, always nice to read such lovely words!!

Hope you enjoy this one too, happy you`re along

 

[schumigirl]

SUNDAY 15TH CONT..

A big thank you to Corey for sorting out the big red X`s that appeared last night again, whatever he did, it seems to be fixed!!





It was fairly dull outside right now, but we wanted to head into Citywalk for a couple of drinks, a wander and hopefully say a quick hello to Patster who was going to be in NBC mid afternoon watching something sporty, I forget what it was now, but it would be nice if we could catch a quick hello.

The boat dock was completely empty when we went down, sometimes this time of day on a HHN evening the boats and Citywalk can get busier mid to late afternoon, but we were the only folks on the boat today heading into CW. ​

Someone trying to take an arty shot! ​

Citywalk wasn`t as busy as we thought mid afternoon and it was really, really hot now but still with that little breeze that was so welcome, the sun had come fully out now and I realised about now I had forgotten my hat!! We wouldn`t be spending a lot of time in the blaze of the sun anyway, but I did always wear a hat to avoid getting the old scalp burned. Did that once many years ago in Europe and it was awful, it was so painful and vowed never to do it again.

We went into NBC and had a good look around but couldn`t see Patster, I guess we were unlucky this time, maybe next time our paths will cross and we can say hi!!

Back outside we stopped to look at how Citywalk had been decorated for Halloween and it was so cute!! Loved it. A few years ago they had done a full village set up here for the Holidays and it was very good too, but you can`t go wrong with a few pumpkins with all sorts of faces and a witches hat, very Halloweeny!! ​

Our next stop was Margaritaville, we fancied having a couple of cocktails there and just pass some time on the afternoon, we didn`t need food but cocktails would be very nice about now.

We got a couple of seats at the bar and Mike was on, we have known him a few years now, so we ordered our drinks and I asked him if we had missed Irish Jack again, he was a professional wrestler several years back and had left to go do it full time but had come back as he had retired from wrestling. We hadn`t seen him for years and had missed him a couple of times last visit we had been in as he was working another night. Anyway, Mike said he`s here.....I looked around and couldn`t see him, Mike went and got him, I had told him he probably wouldn`t remember us but he always used to call us "Scotland" whenever he saw us, next thing he appeared and I wouldn`t have recognised him, he wasn`t as bulked up as he used to be, but so good to see him again!!

He hasn`t changed one bit nature wise, very funny and was talking of his travels to Ireland and Scotland, such a nice guy, we were glad to catch up again.

I got a very spicy Margarita and Tom had a Frozen Mango Margarita both were lovely and on a day like today they were very welcome!! Jack did ask why I wasn`t having a Blackberry one, I compliment him as having introducing me to them several years back, so of course I had to have one next. We didn`t get pictures of those as we chatted so much!! ​

We learned very early on in this trip, we are too old and too not used to this heat to ever do a proper bar crawl again, honestly after two cocktails, that was more than enough for us, so any thoughts we had of doing a bar crawl were soon dismissed!!! Nice idea though.

After our drinks we walked back home and it was lovely hitting the cool of the hotel, we had expected some rain this aftenoon as September is famous for the 3/4pm downpour, but that was something we never experienced this trip for the first time. Everyone commented on how dry September was and certainly the dryest September we`ve ever experienced. I think they had so much rain during the whole of August they were glad of the break.

We headed down to the lounge and before the crowds appear it is fairly quiet usually and today was no different, so we got a cup of tea and sat down when one of the girls appeared with my hat???? I knew I`d forgotten it when we went to Citywalk, but assumed it was in our room, however I had sat it down in the lobby when chatting and the ladies knew it was mine and very kindly brought it up to the lounge for me! I can be incredibly forgetful with hats and wouldn`t like to think how many I`ve lost over the years here!!!

Me asking where`s my hat was almost a daily call for several years!

The hot dish tonight was Char Sui Pork served with rice, this was actually one of the best dishes ever to be served in the lounge. Although we weren`t hungry right now, we did try some later and it was beautiful, once of the Chef`s own recipes which was nice to hear and very popular. I would have thought it would have been served with lo mein, but rice it was, we didn`t try the rice but again it was very popular. ​

We had been enjoying a nice time in the lounge tonight, it wasn`t too busy, some HHN going folks had come in and left after enjoying some food and it had gone kind of quiet again. I had gone up to speak to Suyen one of the supervisors when Dawn, the lady in the picture below and I started chatting about fingernails.

Gotta love Suyen being so enthusiastic in this picture!! ​

I honestly don`t know how this all came about, and I swear this won`t sound remotely funny, but at the time we laughed so hard about this later, I think it was one of those "you had to be there moments" but basically we chatted about her nails and how lovely they were, I reminisced about going to sleep rubbing my mum`s thumb and her nail when I was very little, so after much conversation and missing out some of it to protect the innocent Dawn said she was going to ask Tom if she could rub his fingernail......cue a very worried Tom as this lovely lady approached him and sat down asking for his finger, funnily enough he asked which one instead of why which would be the obvious answer for me!!! He did have a look of why is this woman doing this, lol...but he`s a good egg and went along with it!!

Dawn came back up and said I should go ask her partner Dinardo to do the same to him and they were sitting over the far side of the lounge on the high tops, so I wandered slowly and deliberately over towards this very nervous looking man and I asked if I could see his thumb.....

Strangely, he also asked "which one" instead of why.....lol.....must be a man thing!!!

There were others at the table too and it just became a whole thing for the rest of the trip and as I said, it doesn`t sound funny, but it really was and a real ice breaker!!!

We got chatting and onto the subject of why they and us were here, the usual introductions and one of them said they were here for a conference......

I was surprised to say the least and asked if they were sure......lol....

Yes, again, they really were here for a conference.

Now, we have met some nice conference people, but we have also met some not so nice ones who like to tell you how important they are while wearing lanyards the size of laptops and some had been a little rude and these guys were just far too nice, I mean really nice!!!! Then they told us they were from Canada

The group of them were so lovely, genuinely nice people and we had the biggest laughs that night getting to know them and all because of a fingernail being talked about!!!

So, we had Dawn, Dinardo, Chad and Darryl and we got to know them more over the week, it was like having playmates for a week or partners in crime more like, but it had been so nice to meet them.

I think they were heading off somewhere tonight, but we`d catch up again tomorrow.

Chad did say he was joining and was going to post......







For us, it was now dark outside and it was raining heavy, Suyen said it was going to be on all night, so we cancelled our pool time, finished our wine and headed down to the suite had some more wine, well what else do you do on a rainy evening and we watched another Harry Potter movie.

I felt so bad for the folks at HHN tonight again, that rain was awful and we were glad we weren`t out in it either.

We had a very cosy evening, Tom went back down to the lounge and got some cookies when dessert hour was on and brought back some tea too which was nice. We actually had the heat on a little tonight as it did get chilly just sitting watching tv, but as I said, very cosy.

I think we managed to stay awake till after 11 again tonight, between the movie and sending emails, our evening passed nicely, but we wanted some park time tomorrow!! We`d decide which one in the morning.

And it was still raining.

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[schumigirl]

Seems the red X issue hasn`t been sorted yet, apologies for the lack of pictures again!!

Edit....fixed again!!

 

[schumigirl]

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 16TH




We were up reasonably early again, not sure why we don`t sleep longer, but once I`m awake, I usually never get back to sleep and of course we are still so very excited to start our days in Orlando, time passes so quickly so we do like to make the most of ever moment.

Showered and dressed we head down to the lounge where it was exceptionally quiet this morning, no Canadians to have fun with, they had already headed down to their conference so we tucked into the offerings starting with fruit and Tom had his croissants and I made toast with cream cheese and grape jelly, and of course tea made from the bags in the lounge which were just fine. I always have breakfast tea here but they do have a nice little selection. ​

​

And the breakfast options are just perfect for us, we very rarely eat a cooked breakfast unless it`s poached eggs with French Toast, but on a day to day routine the choices here will more than suit most people.


The little Danish Pastries vary most days as do the mini muffin choices, they do a lovely little raspberry and cream cheese one which again is one of the chef`s own recipe and it is lovely. I think if Kyle had been here this morning he would have had a few of those chocolate muffins!!! Although with breakfast he is very easy to please usually opting for cereal, unlike us!!

The lovely TM`s do replenish regularly and everything is always fresh and kept clean. ​

We didn`t spend too long this morning in the lounge, we headed back down to our room and managed to get sunscreen on when just as we were leaving our housekeeper was coming in, we have known her for years and she has worked this part of the tower since we have been staying here at least. She stops to thank us for the envelope we leave every day.

Often folks ask us about whether to tip housekeepers, some folks think we shouldn`t as officially they are not a tipped position....

Yes, indeed, we have always and always will tip our housekeepers and we bring envelopes with us and every day leave money in one of the envelopes letting her know it is for her and a big thank you written on it. Some folks don`t, but for us it`s just something we like to do. And leaving it every day means if there is a change of TM or they have a day off, the person who cleans the room gets the tip, leaving it to the end of a trip means the person who may have cleaned your room most often might not get it.

Now, we head off for some park time and had decided to go to The Studios, there was a reason but I forget why now, so we hopped it down to the boats and we got lucky and there was one there straight away, no waiting is ideal. It was hot, but quite dull this morning.

We had picked up our new AP`s over the weekend so they would be activated this morning and we had been told they had the extra 3 months on them which someone reported that deal had stopped but we definitely got the 15 months which is a good deal.

There weren`t that many people in line this morning and we were very quick getting through, usually we get stuck behind the family that haven`t signed their passes or they have some kind of delay, but straight through today, the facial recognition is much better than the older less efficient fingerprint system, much quicker.

It`s always lovely to get back into the parks again for the first time and we do take our time and slowly wander round to see what`s new and evern though we weren`t doing HHN it would be nice to see what was on offer there. But, again, mostly disappointed with merchandise apart from one or two things that we did buy.

Hello Kitty store had finally closed and will be a Wicked store very soon with the advent of the new movie which I am so torn about!!!

Wicked is my all time favourite show having seen it several times on Broadway and London I just don`t know if a movie will be able show the same emotion as the stage, however the merchandise will be popular...no pun intended of course

If you know the songs you`ll get it!

​

Although we have little to no interest in HHN anymore, we still enjoy seeing the displays and so on, but even they were a little disappointing this year, all very plain and uninspiring, especially when you compare to previous years where they had been very elaborate.
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I think the only house we would have been interested in seeing was Insidious, everyone said it was magnificent and very well done with plenty of SA however they apparently didn`t put as much money or effort into the other houses and many folks noticed it, but for merchandise we had been asked to take back some Insidious shirts so we `d get them later in the trip.


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I did see a Ghostbusters mug that we might get for Kyle, he said he didn`t want any shirts this time but he does like a large mug!!

Minion ride was delayed, we had planned to do that this morning before Tom went on RRR, I stopped that one a couple of years ago due to the headbanging it give you, even on the front row now, so we wandered on as we don`t like the newest Minion shooting thing, can`t quite find anything nice to say about it as we just found it pointless and boring and such a waste as they should have been able to do something so much better with that space!!


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As we turned to go on RRR we saw it was also down with a delay and as always the poor TM were being asked relentlessly when it was opening up, they don`t really have an answer for folks so we headed forward.

We do like the little village area they have Minion themed though, it is very colourful for sure and although we didn`t try the Minion Cafe, we do plan to at some point, so many mixed reviews of it though, seems folks either love it or they don`t. It didn`t really inspire us to be honest and the menu didn`t exactly thrill us.
​

They do have the HHN menu`s up during the day too and several folks mentioned they would loved to have sampled some of the offerings, some do sound nice, but they are never quite as nice as they sound especially the pre made cocktails, very sugary and not very strong. But, they do theme them very well to the individual houses and always sound interesting. ​

It is quiet in this area this morning, we debate do we really want to go do Jimmy Fallon again and the answer is an astounding.....no. Maybe not as bad as F&F, but not for us. However the building is worth a wander through even if you don`t do the ride, it is very New York themed! ​

Whoever came up with the idea of putting a tiny potato on a spiral and charge $10 for it was a genius!!! They are amazing and quite fun to eat, but very clever and from memory the line for these little gems was always long, are they worth it...no, are they nice....heck yes!!!!

I remember years ago telling my mum about them when she was asking about the event.Trying to explain to someone about this potato, not even a very big potato on a spiral stick and you pay $10 for it, her face...










Yep, you could see she thought we had lost our marbles and needed our bumps felt!!! But this is the woman who scolded me for buying ice many years back lol.....she didn`t understand at all!​

The stalls are not as imaginitive or as elaborately designed as they used to be, you can really see where they have cut the budget over the last few years at this event. ​

We did like the Ghostbuster stalls, they did look like fun and many folks spoke of the marshmallow man you could buy during HHN, well some looked good other ones looked like a melted blob, so I guess it was a hit or a miss with that one. I love marshmallow so would have tried one for sure, friends got lucky and got some good ones!! ​

The Tribute store since they first started doing them have always been imaginative, decorative and downright beautiful at times from Mardi Gras, Halloween and Christmas they were always quite stunning to see and worth visiting.

I`m sure there are some that like it, I know there are some folks who it did impress, but not for us and I think this is where the lack of an Icon for the even was missed too. There should always be a specific icon for HHN. ​

I had promised my friend`s granddaughter Elise one of these Stay Puft Marshmallow men, but they were larger than I thought and we were limited with suitcase space, so I ended up getting one sent to the room and then wrapped it up and posted it directly to her, it wasn`t very expensive and she is over the moon with it!!! It would just have seriously prohibited future purchases for this trip if it had been going in the suitcases, so this was the best idea as she really wanted one.

It was so much easier when she was into Minions, but they`re for babies now apparently!!! ​

Aforementioned future Insidious purchases, well, a couple anyway ​

I about jumped five foot in the air when I first noticed these little blighters that weren`t really crawling on the floor, holy smokes one just caught my eye as I passed as they moved quickly and Tom of course thought it was hilarious and knew what my reaction would be as I hate bugs of any kind. Nice little touch though as cockroaches are a different kind of evil altogether, bleurgh. ​

There are always some nice HHN themed goodies in the stores, but as is usual with all these products, they`re never as nice as they look and this one we bought as one of Tom`s favourite childhood desserts is Black Forest Gateau so this appealed to him....very 1970`s here!!!

It was not as nice as it looked, not sure why they get these things so wrong. Their general baked goods are very nice, but this lacked much flavour at all apart from sugar and for $13 it just wasn`t worth it.
​

We chatted to the TM beside the baked goods for a time and it`s never nice to hear them quite disillusioned too, but some have been here a long time and know how it used to be too. They told us there was going to be some new products in the next day or so and we should pop back in, we would but only to be nosey.

Heading outside that kind of lingering mist had gone and the sun was now shining as it should be and the temperature had gone up too which was lovely.
​

Happier moments coming up

(fingers crossed pictures show up too)​

 

[disneyseniors]

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 16TH




We were up reasonably early again, not sure why we don`t sleep longer, but once I`m awake, I usually never get back to sleep and of course we are still so very excited to start our days in Orlando, time passes so quickly so we do like to make the most of ever moment.

Showered and dressed we head down to the lounge where it was exceptionally quiet this morning, no Canadians to have fun with, they had already headed down to their conference so we tucked into the offerings starting with fruit and Tom had his croissants and I made toast with cream cheese and grape jelly, and of course tea made from the bags in the lounge which were just fine. I always have breakfast tea here but they do have a nice little selection.

And the breakfast options are just perfect for us, we very rarely eat a cooked breakfast unless it`s poached eggs with French Toast, but on a day to day routine the choices here will more than suit most people.


The little Danish Pastries vary most days as do the mini muffin choices, they do a lovely little raspberry and cream cheese one which again is one of the chef`s own recipe and it is lovely. I think if Kyle had been here this morning he would have had a few of those chocolate muffins!!! Although with breakfast he is very easy to please usually opting for cereal, unlike us!!

The lovely TM`s do replenish regularly and everything is always fresh and kept clean. ​

We didn`t spend too long this morning in the lounge, we headed back down to our room and managed to get sunscreen on when just as we were leaving our housekeeper was coming in, we have known her for years and she has worked this part of the tower since we have been staying here at least. She stops to thank us for the envelope we leave every day.

Often folks ask us about whether to tip housekeepers, some folks think we shouldn`t as officially they are not a tipped position....

Yes, indeed, we have always and always will tip our housekeepers and we bring envelopes with us and every day leave money in one of the envelopes letting her know it is for her and a big thank you written on it. Some folks don`t, but for us it`s just something we like to do. And leaving it every day means if there is a change of TM or they have a day off, the person who cleans the room gets the tip, leaving it to the end of a trip means the person who may have cleaned your room most often might not get it.

Now, we head off for some park time and had decided to go to The Studios, there was a reason but I forget why now, so we hopped it down to the boats and we got lucky and there was one there straight away, no waiting is ideal. It was hot, but quite dull this morning.

We had picked up our new AP`s over the weekend so they would be activated this morning and we had been told they had the extra 3 months on them which someone reported that deal had stopped but we definitely got the 15 months which is a good deal.

There weren`t that many people in line this morning and we were very quick getting through, usually we get stuck behind the family that haven`t signed their passes or they have some kind of delay, but straight through today, the facial recognition is much better than the older less efficient fingerprint system, much quicker.

It`s always lovely to get back into the parks again for the first time and we do take our time and slowly wander round to see what`s new and evern though we weren`t doing HHN it would be nice to see what was on offer there. But, again, mostly disappointed with merchandise apart from one or two things that we did buy.

Hello Kitty store had finally closed and will be a Wicked store very soon with the advent of the new movie which I am so torn about!!!

Wicked is my all time favourite show having seen it several times on Broadway and London I just don`t know if a movie will be able show the same emotion as the stage, however the merchandise will be popular...no pun intended of course

If you know the songs you`ll get it!

​

Although we have little to no interest in HHN anymore, we still enjoy seeing the displays and so on, but even they were a little disappointing this year, all very plain and uninspiring, especially when you compare to previous years where they had been very elaborate.
​

I think the only house we would have been interested in seeing was Insidious, everyone said it was magnificent and very well done with plenty of SA however they apparently didn`t put as much money or effort into the other houses and many folks noticed it, but for merchandise we had been asked to take back some Insidious shirts so we `d get them later in the trip.


​

I did see a Ghostbusters mug that we might get for Kyle, he said he didn`t want any shirts this time but he does like a large mug!!

Minion ride was delayed, we had planned to do that this morning before Tom went on RRR, I stopped that one a couple of years ago due to the headbanging it give you, even on the front row now, so we wandered on as we don`t like the newest Minion shooting thing, can`t quite find anything nice to say about it as we just found it pointless and boring and such a waste as they should have been able to do something so much better with that space!!


​

As we turned to go on RRR we saw it was also down with a delay and as always the poor TM were being asked relentlessly when it was opening up, they don`t really have an answer for folks so we headed forward.

We do like the little village area they have Minion themed though, it is very colourful for sure and although we didn`t try the Minion Cafe, we do plan to at some point, so many mixed reviews of it though, seems folks either love it or they don`t. It didn`t really inspire us to be honest and the menu didn`t exactly thrill us.
​

They do have the HHN menu`s up during the day too and several folks mentioned they would loved to have sampled some of the offerings, some do sound nice, but they are never quite as nice as they sound especially the pre made cocktails, very sugary and not very strong. But, they do theme them very well to the individual houses and always sound interesting. ​

It is quiet in this area this morning, we debate do we really want to go do Jimmy Fallon again and the answer is an astounding.....no. Maybe not as bad as F&F, but not for us. However the building is worth a wander through even if you don`t do the ride, it is very New York themed! ​

Whoever came up with the idea of putting a tiny potato on a spiral and charge $10 for it was a genius!!! They are amazing and quite fun to eat, but very clever and from memory the line for these little gems was always long, are they worth it...no, are they nice....heck yes!!!!

I remember years ago telling my mum about them when she was asking about the event.Trying to explain to someone about this potato, not even a very big potato on a spiral stick and you pay $10 for it, her face...




View attachment 906197





Yep, you could see she thought we had lost our marbles and needed our bumps felt!!! But this is the woman who scolded me for buying ice many years back lol.....she didn`t understand at all!​

The stalls are not as imaginitive or as elaborately designed as they used to be, you can really see where they have cut the budget over the last few years at this event. ​

We did like the Ghostbuster stalls, they did look like fun and many folks spoke of the marshmallow man you could buy during HHN, well some looked good other ones looked like a melted blob, so I guess it was a hit or a miss with that one. I love marshmallow so would have tried one for sure, friends got lucky and got some good ones!! ​

The Tribute store since they first started doing them have always been imaginative, decorative and downright beautiful at times from Mardi Gras, Halloween and Christmas they were always quite stunning to see and worth visiting.

I`m sure there are some that like it, I know there are some folks who it did impress, but not for us and I think this is where the lack of an Icon for the even was missed too. There should always be a specific icon for HHN. ​

I had promised my friend`s granddaughter Elise one of these Stay Puft Marshmallow men, but they were larger than I thought and we were limited with suitcase space, so I ended up getting one sent to the room and then wrapped it up and posted it directly to her, it wasn`t very expensive and she is over the moon with it!!! It would just have seriously prohibited future purchases for this trip if it had been going in the suitcases, so this was the best idea as she really wanted one.

It was so much easier when she was into Minions, but they`re for babies now apparently!!! ​

Aforementioned future Insidious purchases, well, a couple anyway ​

I about jumped five foot in the air when I first noticed these little blighters that weren`t really crawling on the floor, holy smokes one just caught my eye as I passed as they moved quickly and Tom of course thought it was hilarious and knew what my reaction would be as I hate bugs of any kind. Nice little touch though as cockroaches are a different kind of evil altogether, bleurgh. ​

There are always some nice HHN themed goodies in the stores, but as is usual with all these products, they`re never as nice as they look and this one we bought as one of Tom`s favourite childhood desserts is Black Forest Gateau so this appealed to him....very 1970`s here!!!

It was not as nice as it looked, not sure why they get these things so wrong. Their general baked goods are very nice, but this lacked much flavour at all apart from sugar and for $13 it just wasn`t worth it.
​

We chatted to the TM beside the baked goods for a time and it`s never nice to hear them quite disillusioned too, but some have been here a long time and know how it used to be too. They told us there was going to be some new products in the next day or so and we should pop back in, we would but only to be nosey.

Heading outside that kind of lingering mist had gone and the sun was now shining as it should be and the temperature had gone up too which was lovely.
​

Happier moments coming up

(fingers crossed pictures show up too)​

I agree with daily tipping the cleaning staff. We leave money each day in envelopes addressed to Housekeeping and thanking them. It is a difficult task to do each day, I know. When we first bought our resort, we cleaned cabins until we could hire a cleaning crew.

I love the marsmallow man plush and might have to buy it for........myself I know Elise loved it!
We've never ridden F&F or Jimmy Fallon so I don't think we've missed much. Might try the walk through to see New YOrk.

The black forest gateau looks fabulous and something I would like to try, but not if it isn't as good as it looks. I almost forgot to ask: Are those real cockroaches??? Ick, just ICK!

Loving the pics and TR, Carole

 

[schumigirl]

I agree with daily tipping the cleaning staff. We leave money each day in envelopes addressed to Housekeeping and thanking them. It is a difficult task to do each day, I know. When we first bought our resort, we cleaned cabins until we could hire a cleaning crew.

I love the marsmallow man plush and might have to buy it for........myself I know Elise loved it!
We've never ridden F&F or Jimmy Fallon so I don't think we've missed much. Might try the walk through to see New YOrk.

The black forest gateau looks fabulous and something I would like to try, but not if it isn't as good as it looks. I almost forgot to ask: Are those real cockroaches??? Ick, just ICK!

Loving the pics and TR, Carole

lol....no the cockroaches were just projections or something more technical I`m sure, but they were a little gross!!

Honestly, you should go on Jimmy Fallon, it`s not completely dreadful and you`ll have EP plus the walk through the building is very nice, you`d like it.

I just find all these bakery items that look very "fabulous" are a big disappointment, more style over substance for the most part. Annoying this is, Tom loves Black Forest anything, so he was looking forward to it, but it was a no from him.

I agree, housekeeping is a hard job, and although we never give them much to do with us, it`s nice to appreciate them every day.

Thank you Ruth, I`m so glad you`re enjoying it