Happy Anni-birth-aversary...A 33 night Celebration & HHN too.....SF & RPR September 2022 TR

[schumigirl]

Merry Christmas to you too Carole!! It's so interesting reading your account of what it's like to be in Orlando for a hurricane!! Totally get wanting to get out of the restaurant and watch from the room!!

Your anniversary dinner looked spectacular and so special with them making things just for you.

Hope you are having a marvelous holiday over there in the UK!! It's too bad you aren't closer to London, it's finally happening, my son is doing study abroad in London and I'm going over with him in January for a few days to help him get settled!

Thank you Kathy, hope you had a fabulous time over Christmas.


It really didn’t feel that bad in the hotel, and time passed so quickly in the end, it didn’t feel like as long as it was.

We were so grateful to them, one of the nicest surprises we’ve had.

How fabulous for your son!!! And you too of course getting to help him settle. I hope you have the best time, wrap up warm I think it’ll be cold!! Best wishes to him I do hope he enjoys his time in the UK.

 

[schumigirl]

Lol seems about right. Told its a staffing issue as that section closed, even tho they did expand a bit further towards the front this year. Maybe next can exit front gate!

a genuine feeling that this event was setting out to impress you and scare you was obvious to us. It didn`t feel like a complete money grab as prices were very reasonable.

Absolutely, has such a nice vibe. The less polished atmosphere enhances the thot that something might actually be a real
Sort of scare

Secret is out, unless no need when FOTL
At U, I’m a park commando in good standing

glad that got settled

Never tried that cheddars location. Probably won’t now. One on Kissimmee that doesn’t take res has still been good several times since pandemic. Do agree, the painkiller is not as lethal. I usually get the Texas tea one as not a huge coconut fan

Did find the SW bonefish site not quite as good as the one near crossroads. Guess it all comes down to the mgmt

lol…..I do hope they make the exit a shorter walk, and yes, I agree it felt like the guest was the most important element and wanting us to be entertained and scared at the same time. Certainly no money grab from Seaworld, it was an absolute bargain in the end as it was one of the most reasonably priced events we’ve ever been to. We just loved it.

I was so disappointed in the painkiller…….don‘t promise me something strong and then deliver a cocktail weaker than my grandma would have made!!! I doubt we’ll go back to their restaurants, such a disappointment.

Haven‘t been to Bonefish in years, there used to be a very good one we went to, haven’t a clue where now it was so many years ago.

Catch up soon……

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and wishing you a wonderful 2023

 

[schumigirl]

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and wishing you a wonderful 2023

We did have a wonderful time thank you, seeing my family was lovely, although it was freezing!!!! Will post a couple of pics when I get them uploaded, we didn`t take many but got some lovely winter sunsets.

Hope you had a lovely Christmas too.......

 

[schumigirl]

​

Welcome to 2023.......and I hope all the lovely posters on here have a fabulous, healthy and prosperous year ahead.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[schumigirl]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

You too BH......all good wishes for 2023 for you.




Anyone reading at Sapphire right now?

Friends of ours Neil and Luke, sent us a picture of a couple they got chatting to who said they knew us last night, I think Fernando introduced them to each other perhaps..........I`m sorry I have no clue who they are. I`d hate to think I`d forgotten someone we have met, but cannot place their faces.

 

[schumigirl]

You too BH......all good wishes for 2023 for you.




Anyone reading at Sapphire right now?

Friends of ours Neil and Luke, sent us a picture of a couple they got chatting to who said they knew us last night, I think Fernando introduced them to each other perhaps..........I`m sorry I have no clue who they are. I`d hate to think I`d forgotten someone we have met, but cannot place their faces.

Mystery solved.

It was a lady who reads my TR`s and her husband, she recognised me in IOA a few years ago and stopped to say hello. They said I introduced Tom to her husband, but I feel awful, I just didn`t recognise them. It was a brief conversation apparently so maybe that`s why I had no clue who they were when I saw the picture.

But, I`m glad our friends Neil and Luke found out who they were as I was racking my brain thinking it was someone I knew and had forgotten them!!!

TR will resume asap, I thought I`d be finished by now, but life gets in the way at times....

 

[schumigirl]

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29TH​

I think today could be renamed.....permanently pickled day .......there really wasn`t a whole lot else to do for us

Last night we had slept through the wind and rain for most of the night, but we did wake up at one point and looked out to see a load of emergency lights from police cars and fire trucks on the curve we could see on the highway. Not quite sure what happened but looking at the weather it wasn`t hard to imagine it was a nasty one. We watched out the window for a while and the wind was seriously howling out there and rain was bouncing and swirling at the same time, it was quite impressive, but we got back to sleep after a while and wondered what the morning would bring.

It was still windy and rainy when we got up and we switched on the news to see some places had really suffered from the hurricane, thankfully where we were wasn`t too bad but further up the road had seen some damage that made the news. It was quite hypnotic watching it, especially the trees billowing in front of us for a time. But, as usual, we got hungry and headed to the lounge and wondered what we`d do the rest of the day, we did think we`d get some food from Tuk Tuk at lunch and then probably Orchids or Jake`s for dinner, we prefer Orchids now as Jake`s just isn`t as good as it used to be, hope they get back to their previous standard before too long.

Into the lounge and we sat beside Matt and Rob who had managed to grab a window table, the lounge was busy this morning, so we could watch the weather while we ate.....and had some prosecco......of course!! Watching the storm was nice, and it was weird seeing the I-4 almost deserted, very strange.

I swear this was the morning we laughed so hard at one point I almost passed out!! The prosecco was flowing and our lovely Alex was working this morning and we laughed a lot with her too, she is just the sweetest young lady. But, we just sat back as we had nowhere to go today which was odd to be honest, but we were going to make the best of being safe in the hotel today.

The thing that was in the back of our mind today though was, Matt and Rob were leaving tomorrow if the airport opened in time....part of us were hoping their flight would be cancelled, but they both had work and their dog Jackson to get back to, but being selfish, we`d miss them a lot.

There were a lot of events going on downstairs for guests, we didn`t take part though as there were a lot of kids.....so we stayed in the lounge and enjoyed more prosecco than normal, but it was so much fun.

Rob told us Islands restaurant was opening for lunch and they were serving a buffet which sounded ideal, so the four of us agreed to meet there around 1pm for lunch together.

I think Matt wanted to have a snooze as he was still getting over this cold that was lingering, but we were amazed how well he had done powering through this trip despite not being 100% for some of it. So, when they headed back to their room, we headed back to ours too and we could see some of the effects of the storm from the windows.

Bula Bar had damage to their awnings and the pool area was flooded and had debris laying on the bottom, but we spoke to some staff in the lobby we know and they spoke of flooding on the walkways and it was deep! It would be a while till it was cleared, there were pictures on social media of flooded walkways and some areas that was flooded too. Everyone was talking about how high the water was and they had put the boats under the bridges and they were almost scraping the underside of the bridge.

We didn`t go wandering till much later when it had been cleared some, but listening to staff who had been out there, it was fairly bad early on. And of course, UO staff did a great job getting it cleared fairly quickly.

It was the gloomiest of days out there, there was no way we were heading out there right now and one staff member told us they had advised some folks not to go out there, but of course, they went anyway......

You can really see from the window just how high the water was and the rain was still bouncing down out there, but not as bad as it had been, the worst was over thankfully.

After we had chatted to some folks we know we headed back to our room and we too thought going for a snooze was a good idea, so Tom decided he`d go on the sofa as he wanted to watch some tv, mainly the weather, I wanted to sleep. And sleep I did for about an hour and a half and did feel refreshed. Tom had dropped off with the tv on and after we looked out the window to see it was more or less the same, we freshened up and headed down to meet the guys at Islands.

Islands is never open for lunch, so it was ideal that they had opened up for this buffet as there were quite a few folks already seated when we went in. We got a table and kept an eye out for Matt and Rob who were only a few minutes behind us. We soon moved though as there was an air conditioning unit right above us and it was freezing!! Elena was lovely and moved us without question.

We got some drinks and then we all mooched up to see what was on offer and it did look good. Tom didn`t manage to get a picture of all the food as he wanted to eat......or so I`m told!!!! They also had pizza slices, mac n cheese and chicken tenders and it did all look rather nice.

I think we all tried everything between us, and it was all well replenished when items disappeared. I had some chicken, potato salad and some salad then tried one of the pizza slices and it was lovely. The quinoa salad was also surprisingly nice, something I usually avoid....I do love cous cous, but quinoa is a bit too healthy for me!

Tom, Matt and Rob tried the hot dogs and burgers and I think Rob had the tomato bisque and said it was nice.

They did have some lovely little desserts and although I`m not a person who usually chooses desserts, I did have a couple of the eclairs as they offered a lemon one which is not one I normally see.....it was lovely. And think the guys all enjoyed some desserts too. Tea and coffee were included in the price of the buffet which was nice, we all enjoyed that with those lovely little desserts.

I think Tom and Rob tried the chocolate thing, Tom said it was a little too rich even for him, but didn`t stop him eating two!!

We passed a couple of hours in Islands just chatting and chilling and we had enjoyed a lovely lunch which was a nice surprise as we thought we`d be grabbing a sandwich from Tuk Tuk.....it had been lovely and of course the company was fantastic.

When we were done Matt and Rob were going for a wander, we had a quick mooch outside to see some of the effects of the storm, but we didn`t get far as it was rather cool which rather stupidly I didn`t expect.

The wind had died down a lot, so we did wander a little and went along to the convention area and it was fairly busy with folks, I was impressed with what the hotel were doing to entertain guests, there was something for everyone. We could have gone in and watched a movie, I think it was ET today, but could have got mixed up with yesterday, but you could easily pass a few hours amusing yourself here, especially if you had kids.

I have no clue what we did all afternoon, I`m sure it involved chatting to folks we knew in some part, but we did watch a little tv, then as is usual we headed to the lounge where we met our best buddies and had another couple of hours of laughter and fun.

But, the airport was opening in time for their flight to take off tomorrow which both made us happy for them, but knew we`d miss them terribly. They were taking off from the new Terminal at MCO, and we were looking forward to hearing of their experiences of how it went. I didn`t think we`d ever leave or land there as Virgin weren`t moving as far as we knew, but BA were using it for now.

We had a giggle as the food on offer tonight was chicken pieces and potato salad.....I guess the chefs had made a lot more than they needed for the lunch, so Club Lounge ended up serving it tonight and it did go down well with folks who were in.

I was taking pictures of the food when a woman spoke to me about what she thought was subpar food in here....I listened as she mentioned how disappointed she was with the offerings here and how Portofino Bay Club Lounge was better and bla bla bla......

I told her it was all a matter of opinion, I wasn`t impressed with Portofino offerings as I hate pasta dishes.....each to their own. And folks do sometimes complain it`s too pasta based over there, so there`s no saying who`s going to enjoy what. But, she kept talking for what seemed like forever and I could see the guys making gestures to me to come back......I didn`t want to be rude, but it was getting to that point where I was glazing over and didn`t really hear her ask what I thought of her whole conversation....Tom did as he came up to rescue me.......

In my mind I was saying.........

​

But, I just smiled and said I hoped she enjoyed the rest of her trip and maybe go back to Portofino next time.........to be fair she was very pleasant the next day we saw her and didn`t complain about the lounge to me anymore.

I got back to the table finally and my glass had been completely topped up....lol.....and we sat and chatted, laughed and watched the storm that wasn`t really a storm anymore, more of just heavy rain, but it was still nice to watch.

I can`t remember how long we sat in here tonight, but it passed quickly and eventually we said goodnight to our friends. I think they were going to pack, so we headed back to our tower and watched some tv before having an early night.

Tomorrow we`d say goodbye to Matt and Rob and whatever else we`d do, wed decide then. One of our HHN buddies had txt to say HHN would be on tomorrow night if we wanted to go he`d get us a pass, our Rush of Fear was out of date now as really we should be home, but we thanked him and said we were done with it this year.....he knew exactly what we meant.

So, with that thought, we popped the tv on and I fell asleep instantly, I thought I`d be wide awake as I`d had a snooze, but....out like a light.

​

 

[Worfiedoodles]

You made the most of that day. The weather was not great, but sometimes it’s fun to just hang out inside watch the heavy rain. We saw storm damage reports but I’m sure it was much more impactful in person.

I don’t blame you for being done with HHN. It seems like that just wasn’t the event you were hoping for.

I think it is so nice to have the club lounge in general, and especially in that situation! I can’t imagine complaining about the amenity in the middle of a hurricane! Hopefully she’ll be happier at PBH, and leave a room open for RP fans

This may be obvious, but did it seem like people were staying in their hotel or wandering over to the others? Perhaps with the flooding that wasn’t an option?

 

[Aunt Mar Mar 1420]

Mystery solved.

It was a lady who reads my TR`s and her husband, she recognised me in IOA a few years ago and stopped to say hello. They said I introduced Tom to her husband, but I feel awful, I just didn`t recognise them. It was a brief conversation apparently so maybe that`s why I had no clue who they were when I saw the picture.

But, I`m glad our friends Neil and Luke found out who they were as I was racking my brain thinking it was someone I knew and had forgotten them!!!

TR will resume asap, I thought I`d be finished by now, but life gets in the way at times....

Mystery solved.

It was a lady who reads my TR`s and her husband, she recognised me in IOA a few years ago and stopped to say hello. They said I introduced Tom to her husband, but I feel awful, I just didn`t recognise them. It was a brief conversation apparently so maybe that`s why I had no clue who they were when I saw the picture.

But, I`m glad our friends Neil and Luke found out who they were as I was racking my brain thinking it was someone I knew and had forgotten them!!!

TR will resume asap, I thought I`d be finished by now, but life gets in the way at times....

Mystery solved.

It was a lady who reads my TR`s and her husband, she recognised me in IOA a few years ago and stopped to say hello. They said I introduced Tom to her husband, but I feel awful, I just didn`t recognise them. It was a brief conversation apparently so maybe that`s why I had no clue who they were when I saw the picture.

But, I`m glad our friends Neil and Luke found out who they were as I was racking my brain thinking it was someone I knew and had forgotten them!!!

TR will resume asap, I thought I`d be finished by now, but life gets in the way at times....

The “Mystery Lady” finally registered on the forum so I could tell you how much I have enjoyed reading every one of your trip reports for around 10 years. I recognized you while in Hogsmeade and just had to say hello. That was on December 13, 2018. I had to do a bit of research in my records to figure that out since I couldn’t remember the exact year. LOL. Even found your post where you mentioned me. I introduced myself as Marlene from Michigan. However, we moved to Florida last year and we are just north of St. Augustine. Your reports covering the city were part of the reason we finally stopped to check out the area. Loved it. So here we are.

Fernando did introduce Neil and Luke to Ray and I at Strong Water’s New Years Eve party. We all wished you and Tom were here. The employees at the Tavern are as wonderful as you have reported. Anthony insisted I try the drink he named after you. Excellent and very refreshing!

Keep those reports coming!

 

[schumigirl]

You made the most of that day. The weather was not great, but sometimes it’s fun to just hang out inside watch the heavy rain. We saw storm damage reports but I’m sure it was much more impactful in person.

I don’t blame you for being done with HHN. It seems like that just wasn’t the event you were hoping for.

I think it is so nice to have the club lounge in general, and especially in that situation! I can’t imagine complaining about the amenity in the middle of a hurricane! Hopefully she’ll be happier at PBH, and leave a room open for RP fans

This may be obvious, but did it seem like people were staying in their hotel or wandering over to the others? Perhaps with the flooding that wasn’t an option?

We did Maria, and yes, we just made the most of it and enjoyed it. I was not amazed anymore to hear folks were complaining to concierge staff downstairs about the parks being closed/bad weather as if they could do something about it. One of the concierge supervisors was telling us she was once yelled at....yes, yelled at for the weather being rainy for someones stay!! It became a joke between us about writing an email to get the weather sorted after that if it wasn`t good......lol......

Yes, they`re selling far too many tickets for the event now. And when SA voice their concerns over crowds too, it says a lot. Will be giving it a miss this year for sure.

I think that woman and family were trying RP out after staying at PB and HRH previously, and of course in her opinion the UOR hotels don`t "hold a candle" to Disney hotels......I think I may have sniggered a little too strongly there......no one was supposed to be out the day before, no transport was running and paths were not passable, so I guess everyone was in their own hotel. She was gone next day and apparently thanked the staff profusely for being so wonderful......I was glad to hear that as they do so much for everyone.

 

[schumigirl]

The “Mystery Lady” finally registered on the forum so I could tell you how much I have enjoyed reading every one of your trip reports for around 10 years. I recognized you while in Hogsmeade and just had to say hello. That was on December 13, 2018. I had to do a bit of research in my records to figure that out since I couldn’t remember the exact year. LOL. Even found your post where you mentioned me. I introduced myself as Marlene from Michigan. However, we moved to Florida last year and we are just north of St. Augustine. Your reports covering the city were part of the reason we finally stopped to check out the area. Loved it. So here we are.

Fernando did introduce Neil and Luke to Ray and I at Strong Water’s New Years Eve party. We all wished you and Tom were here. The employees at the Tavern are as wonderful as you have reported. Anthony insisted I try the drink he named after you. Excellent and very refreshing!

Keep those reports coming!

Marlene........

I`m glad to see you post, but can only apologise for not remembering meeting you. I think when the email came through and Luke wrote we have met some friends of yours, I expected the picture to have someone I knew well in it......lol......and I just couldn`t place you.

Ah 2018. We had five trips that year and I haven`t gone back to check any reports as there are just too many to go through and we do meet a lot of folks who just want to say hello.

But, glad to hear you`re all settled in Florida and enjoying it. And glad to hear you enjoyed Carole`s Punch, it is my favourite drink ever as it has everything in it I like.

And thank you for the lovely comments, don`t be a stranger, it`s good to see you post here and hope you enjoy what`s left of this one now.......

 

[saskdw]

Mystery solved.

It was a lady who reads my TR`s and her husband, she recognised me in IOA a few years ago and stopped to say hello. They said I introduced Tom to her husband, but I feel awful, I just didn`t recognise them. It was a brief conversation apparently so maybe that`s why I had no clue who they were when I saw the picture.

But, I`m glad our friends Neil and Luke found out who they were as I was racking my brain thinking it was someone I knew and had forgotten them!!!

TR will resume asap, I thought I`d be finished by now, but life gets in the way at times....

When we ordered the Carole's punch at Strong Water I made sure to tell them that I had never met you in person, that we just chatted online. I didn't want to create any confusion.

I think most of them know your trip reports are world famous!

 

[schumigirl]

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 29TH



​

Today really was a new day.

On the bright side, the sun was shining and it was beautiful outside, but on the downside, Matt and Rob were definitely leaving as the airport was opening and their flight was going ahead....darn it!!

Once we were showered and dressed we headed down to the lounge and it did feel a little gloomier than usual somehow, not quite depressing but it would be very different without the guys for the rest of our trip. But, we did enjoy our final breakfast together and we still enjoyed some champagne, even Tom as we had no car now, we would Uber anywhere we needed to go, so he made sure he enjoyed a couple with the other three of us this morning.

They were excited to see their doggy again and had showed us videos their dog sitter had sent them, he is the cutest doggy and the most soulful eyes, so I could see why they missed him. We sat and chatted longer than usual and eventually we had to let them go to finish packing, we would see them before they left, but we still had lots of hugs and said our goodbyes there and then in case we didn`t see them. This was hard as we had spent so much time with them this trip and became very close, but we would be seeing each other this year sometime for sure. But the Club Lounge would seem a lot quieter from now.

​

Alex was also so sad to see them leave, everyone had loved them too and would be sorry to see them leave, so Alex was also a little upset to say goodbye.

We said our goodbyes and headed over to our room to get some bits and bobs before we set off for the Mall at Millenia, we would order our Uber once we were at the doors, however I think we met everyone and their grandma downstairs so we spent such a long time chatting which was lovely as we were really in no rush to go anywhere.

We did see Matt and Rob again in the lobby, we just blew kisses though, we were chatting to some of the concierge team who were staying at the hotel through the hurricane, bless them, they looked after everyone so well, now they got to go home.

I wouldn`t miss all the extra animals wandering around the hotel though, I do like dogs, well some dogs, but not in a hotel and some of them weren`t the friendliest looking things......I heard the comments so many times, oh she`s fine she won`t bite you......yeah, does she know that though!!!

We had a wander round and it was strange to see the elephant pond minus water. It had been emptied before the hurricane and would be filled back up today

​

There was a lovely vibe around the hotel today, everyone seemed very excited and happy around the lobby area which was lovely to see after a few days of being in the hotel.

We called our Uber and it was going to be there in one minute......what!!! One minute, by the time we got to where the valet guys were it was there......we were so impressed by this Uber business!!

The Mall is less than 10 minutes away and our driver was another who was very pleasant and the car had a lovely scent from it, it was peachy....she was very chatty which was nice and we were there in no time at all.

I actually forget what we were here for today, I do know we picked something up, but it evades me right now, anyway it was actually lunchtime now, we had spent so much time chatting and I was quite hungry. We didn`t feel like anything in particular today so we headed up to the food court and we both opted for the same thing from Chinatown.

Bourbon Chicken, honey chicken and shrimp fried rice, and as always we ask for a tiny amount of rice but we both got a good few shrimp in there too.

The food court here is very nice, plenty of choices for everyone from sandwiches to pizza to subs and plenty of other choices too. And it is always immaculately clean.

I don`t think either of us finished our trays of food, portions are large enough to share, but we thought we were hungrier than we were, but what we had was lovely.

I`m sure we picked up whatever it was we were buying, then had a slow wander round, we love this Mall, definitely our favourite one in Orlando.

Once we were ready we popped outside to get some pictures and marvelled at the temperature, it was weirdly cooler than it had been before the hurricane, but the best bit was, we had no humidity. It was still warm without being overbearingly hot as it had been some days, not a complaint though, but this weather was perfect.

We ordered our Uber and this one was the shortest ride yet, we were only going over the other side of the road to Total Wine where we had two special bottles to buy.

The meal that had been so lovingly created for us for our Anniversary in Strong Water had been so unexpected and so wonderful, we wanted to get both Fernando and Chef Carlos something as a Thank you for doing it for us. We knew what they both liked as we had bought them a gift previously, and we knew we`d get them both here.

Total Wine is huge, being honest we prefer ABC Wines in LBV, but they didn`t stock what we wanted, so we Googled and found them both here, wouldn`t take long and as we planned to go to the parks next few days, today was ideal.

We had to ask as neither was on the shelves, but the lady working found them for us and we happily bought a couple of gift bags and we had already picked up our thank you cards, then popped outside and ordered our Uber which took a whole 8 minutes to get there!!

We got back home and dropped the items off in our room, then headed to the lounge to get a cup of tea each.....it was nice and quiet today as folks had headed back out and it felt like we were back to normal now.

Back to our room after a while Tom went for a snooze and I put the tv on in the sitting area, and spotted this little guy perched right outside our window.....he was cute as a button.

I watched some tv and read some of my book, then sleeping beauty woke up, freshened up and we went over to the lounge. It was too quiet without our much missed compadres.....

When we had a glass of champagne we took a picture and sent an email with us saying we missed them......

​

They replied fairly quickly and posted a picture of them in the new terminal and they had found the only bar!!!! Love it......

We did feel like we had lost our other halves tonight.

But, we did see Joelle and Lynne who we had met a few days ago, they also knew us from the Trip Reports and had stopped to say hello. We had said we needed to get a picture together, so tonight was ideal before they set off for the evening.

Both are lovely ladies and we barely managed a wave as they set off a few days later, we passed in the elevators.....lol.....

This really was a day or so of not doing very much. We did think of wandering to Citywalk, but it was going to be mobbed from what we heard, so we decided to play it safe and stay onsite and maybe go down to Orchids for some food later, for two folks who haven`t done a thing for two days, we were weirdly tired!

We were also both ready for a haircut!! It had been 6 weeks for both us by now, so we both needed a good rump!

Orchids is one of our favourite places anywhere, it has the best sushi and never lets us down. They have a lovely regular menu and they always have some amazing specials from Chef Dan and his team. And the staff are always lovely.

We sat at the bar tonight and had Ty looking after us tonight and a we knew a couple of the other staff too which is always nice. Cocktails were our plan tonight, but we ended up not bothering, we just didn`t feel like having anything.

Miso soup is always our first stop here, it is beautiful and tonight was no different, I always think you feel very virtuous eating it as it is so full of goodness.

I always liked that Orchids never used to have any kind of entertainment in the evenings, that was always more suited to Jake`s which had regular entertainment on the weekends, but tonight they had a guy playing the saxaphone and he wasn`t too loud, so he was pleasant to listen to. He wasn`t too "jazzy" which is a music genre I loathe!!

Tom ordered the Volcano Roll for dinner, I went for the Martini Glass special with ahi tuna and avocado, nice and spicy and with a seaweed base...it is delicious. I have tried to recreate it at home, but I used samphire as a base.....it was good, but not as good as Chef Dan makes.

Both dishes were beautiful, and it was fairly quiet in here tonight which was nice as it had been so busy last few nights.

We were enjoying sitting at the bar for a change, we usually have a table, but it`s nice for a change.

And then, as if by magic, two bowls of our favourite coconut ice cream appeared in front of us, it`s funny when folks know what you like!! And this ice cream is delicious......

It had been a weird day somehow, we probably should have gone into the parks or ventured to Citywalk, but it had been quite nice having another day in the hotel, very much in our comfort zone.

Not the early night we planned as we sat chatting to one of our friends for a while who was working and then another, but we looked forward to tomorrow where we`d be back in the parks for our extra special bonus days!!

 

[schumigirl]

When we ordered the Carole's punch at Strong Water I made sure to tell them that I had never met you in person, that we just chatted online. I didn't want to create any confusion.

I think most of them know your trip reports are world famous!

lol.....I do like the world famous part

Yes, most folks say they know me from the boards, or they`ve read of something being recommended on the TR`s, that`s always nice.

I can`t wait till we get back there and see everyone and yes, have a Carole`s Punch.....or two!!!

 

[keishashadow]

I was not amazed anymore to hear folks were complaining to concierge staff downstairs about the parks being closed/bad weather as if they could do something about it.

Seriously, observed the same while holed up at AKV. Not only is it rude to the staff, they are taking up valuable time jawing away incessantly, causing those behind them in line to cool their heels.

WDW seemed much more strict with guests. if you weren’t checked in by 3 pm day prior to hurricane, you were out of luck until the following Saturday at 3 pm.

they were very clear stating that you could leave the building, however, you wouldn’t get back in…not sure if they made good on that or not.

all the furniture on the villa’s balcony was brought in by staff the first night. They must’ve practiced it as a drill in the past, as had it stacked Tetris like taking up little space. Observed two rooms’ guest near us promptly lug it back out. Security popped up shortly afterwards and handled the situation.

All the public balconies were locked and barricaded with sand bags. Our housekeeper came by with an armful of towels and suggested we use at base of the slider. I was puzzled & asked if due to water damage She responded no, wind.

Islands & the lounge’s food spread looked much better than was offered in the convention area during Matthew. thankfully, we had boma for breakfast and lunch Half off, plenty of options this time.

surprised to see that RP didn’t ‘sink’ the pool furniture again in the pool this go-round. The flooding there was far worse than what we observed in AK & MGM areas.

I wouldn`t miss all the extra animals wandering around the hotel though, I do like dogs, well some dogs, but not in a hotel and some of them weren`t the friendliest looking things......I heard the comments so many times, oh she`s fine she won`t bite you......yeah, does she know that though!!!

I love dogs, just very allergic to most that have fur vs hair. was forced to stay out of the lobby during Matthew for that reason...will file it under needs of the many outweigh those of the few. Was very happy only a couple of ‘service animals’ in residence at our resort and they were well-trained

I’m also of the theory it’s the little pooches, with big dog syndrome, that do the most nipping of strangers.

 

[I-4Bound]

That beautiful bird is a red shouldered hawk, according to my daughter, the avid birder

 

[Aunt Mar Mar 1420]

Marlene........

I`m glad to see you post, but can only apologise for not remembering meeting you. I think when the email came through and Luke wrote we have met some friends of yours, I expected the picture to have someone I knew well in it......lol......and I just couldn`t place you.

Ah 2018. We had five trips that year and I haven`t gone back to check any reports as there are just too many to go through and we do meet a lot of folks who just want to say hello.

But, glad to hear you`re all settled in Florida and enjoying it. And glad to hear you enjoyed Carole`s Punch, it is my favourite drink ever as it has everything in it I like.

And thank you for the lovely comments, don`t be a stranger, it`s good to see you post here and hope you enjoy what`s left of this one now.......

No need to apologize Carole After meeting so many people over so many years I didn’t expect you to remember me especially after such a brief encounter. If I had been posting replies to your reports I’m sure you would have known who I was. Guess I was just happy to just read all this time but I plan to change that now!

I think I know how the confusion about you being a friend of mine came about. We were staying at the RP three weeks ago which is when we usually come for our Christmas trip. We walked over to Strong Water for dinner and drinks one night and met Fernando. I told him I felt like I knew him from your trip reports and that I met you once while in Hogwarts several years ago. He came back later and said we should come for the New Years Eve party there. So, since Sapphire had a room available, bought tickets to the party when we got back home. During the party Fernando stopped by our table to let us know he just talked to friends of yours and said we should go over to meet them. Luke thought you and I were friends too. That’s what Fernando told him . With all Fernando had on his mind that night he just forgot what I told him before. I did straighten it out with Luke the next night when we stopped at Still Water for a drink and saw him sitting at the bar.

Sorry for the long winded explanation and sorry for driving you crazy trying to remember us!!!!!!

The pictures you took during the hurricane brought back the memories of how we felt while riding it out here. First hurricane we experienced in person since we didn’t exactly get them when living in Michigan. The wind blew so hard for so many hours, didn’t it? Our whole area didnt really have any flooding or damage but St. Augustine flooded again. Being the oldest city in the U.S., it doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle all the water since it’s so low there. The news was showing people getting around in kayaks down the street that runs along the river. They seem to take it all in stride, repair and wait for the next hurricane or severe storm.

Looking forward to the big finish to your report?

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I know you were sad to say goodbye to the fellas
I understand the day felt weird, just getting back to normal.
I’m glad you were able to get out and go to the mall after being cooped up for the storm. And how nice to pick up some Thank Yous for the sweet orchestration of your anniversary dinner!

I’m looking forward to your bonus park days!!