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

[keishashadow]

We walked back home today as it was so lovely

Love how you put that

islands has been off our rotation a year or so before the pandemic as to food options & quality

Extremely unreasonable of you not to want cold soup!

Well, unless it’s strawberry

Can’t say I’ve ever been served Luke warm soup, anywhere, yuck

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Oh my Carole. These food experiences just keep deteriorating. I do wonder what is wrong with people. He obviously forgot about you and your food. An apology would have gone a long way.

I am looking forward to your Ghost Tour! We just did one on our Louisville trip and had a blast! Really some crazy stories. There is a book, A Dark Room In Glitterball City which relates the tale of one of the houses on the tour. Apparently it’s being made into a documentary Versace-style. Every time you thought it couldn’t get crazier, it did

I hope ET is never replaced. It’s just such a classic. That said, I wouldn’t mind if they updated the tech to the 21st century.

I’ve only seen the Bourne show once but thought it well done and would absolutely repeat it.

I wonder how many people just don’t notice Knockturn Alley? Sometimes when you hurry too much, the hidden gems are missed.

Do you have a favorite show experience at Universal? I’ll include special events as well

 

[schumigirl]

Extremely unreasonable of you not to want cold soup!

lol......we were beginning to wonder if it was us.......for about 3 seconds......

 

[schumigirl]

Love how you put that

islands has been off our rotation a year or so before the pandemic as to food options & quality

Well, unless it’s strawberry

Can’t say I’ve ever been served Luke warm soup, anywhere, yuck

Well that`s twice in a row we`ve had a not so great meal from there, so not sure if we`ll give it a go next time, but Kyle does love that Wok Experience......

Walking back home?? Well it certainly does feel like home......

First really cool soup for us too!

 

[schumigirl]

Oh my Carole. These food experiences just keep deteriorating. I do wonder what is wrong with people. He obviously forgot about you and your food. An apology would have gone a long way.

I am looking forward to your Ghost Tour! We just did one on our Louisville trip and had a blast! Really some crazy stories. There is a book, A Dark Room In Glitterball City which relates the tale of one of the houses on the tour. Apparently it’s being made into a documentary Versace-style. Every time you thought it couldn’t get crazier, it did

I hope ET is never replaced. It’s just such a classic. That said, I wouldn’t mind if they updated the tech to the 21st century.

I’ve only seen the Bourne show once but thought it well done and would absolutely repeat it.

I wonder how many people just don’t notice Knockturn Alley? Sometimes when you hurry too much, the hidden gems are missed.

Do you have a favorite show experience at Universal? I’ll include special events as well

I think that`s what made me so annoyed, he was transferring the responsibility on to us.....no one wants to take account anymore. An apology would have been nice, but really I just want good food, the right temperature and not wait 40 minutes for it! Not really unreasonable. The manager was nice though.

I think your Ghost House looked better than ours, it was beautiful.....lol.....I love a good old haunted house and we did enjoy it. I`ll look out for that documentary, sounds interesting.

I worry with updated technology.....I still love the old original Scooby Doo cartoons, I watch it with my friends granddaughter if we look after her, then you see the computer generated ones of today (I sound about 185) they are terrible! But, I agree it could do with a little updating in some parts. I find it very loud until the bikes take off so always have my fingers in my ears......I do look silly, but it helps.

We had a real giggle several years ago when we walked out of Diagon Alley and stood for a second beside a couple with a map....they asked us if there if there was anything worth seeing "in there" pointing to behind the bricks.......I think we thought they were joking at first, but they were serious. We weren`t cruel enough to say nah don`t bother there`s nothing back there......we told them that`s where they wanted to be!!! I think they thought the area with the Knight Bus was it......lol. So, yes I agree, I think it`s really easy for folks to miss a lot!!!

Favourite? I think all the Christmas stuff probably.......we`ve visited four times at that time of year and it`s simply wonderful. I would have said HHN till this year, but Christmas is magical. I know you love the Holiday stuff too!!

Least favourite event was Mardi Gras......it just didn`t gel with us too much, we went twice but I doubt we`d ever go back, we enjoyed it just fine, but enjoyed all the other stuff we did more on those trips.

Yes, the Bourne show is very good

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

All caught up and wow I missed a lot!


Minus the diner and that amazing looking deep fried cheesecake (I am not a sushi fan so I will say orchids looked great but I’d never know) what was up with your meals. And the audacity of the waiter at Lombards!


Looking forward to Mount Dora!

 

[schumigirl]

I think we told everyone about Lombards.......I`m sure there was no one in RP who didn`t hear the story!! But, onwards......

The rain was finally easing and nice time for us to set off up to Mount Dora, we were leaving early as we planned to eat dinner there and they also had street entertainment so we liked the idea of wandering around before eating and the ghost hunt.

It takes about 45 minutes to get up there and with the rain having stopped it was a nice drive up. I think there must be 84 ways to get to MD and we`ve taken every single one of them!

We try to park in our usual parking place, a two level parking garage handy for everything, but it`s full so we take a chance and see how close we can get to the Donnelly House.....it`s by pure fluke we get parked right opposite it.

It`s only a couple of minutes walk to the town centre so we head back down as we can hear live music and it sounded like a lot of fun. Mount Dora is one of these little places that always has something going on whether it be live music on the weekends or full on festivals for certain times of the year.

I have to say the live music was not the kind of chilled out mellow music I expected, it was very hard rock which did surprise me for such a quaint little town, but they were very good and folks were rocking and dancing along.....

People chat to you here, I think they recognise when you aren`t local sometimes and most folks are very friendly and will just start a conversation, I like that as we are like that too. I say it often, I could live here.

The Ghost Hunt didn`t start till 7.45, so we had plenty of time to go and get some dinner before it started and we do love The Goblin restaurant here, but wanted to try somewhere different as we had eaten there several times....maybe a brave option after the last few meals......but I had asked about this place and a couple of the ladies had heard of it and heard it was good, so we`d give it a try and hope for the best......

Tony`s Chowder House was a little place a block up from the Donnelly House, so we could just wander down when we were done.....it looked exactly as we had imagined, small and a little rustic and we did hope the food would be good!

You wait outside, not inside, they don`t have a list with names.....they do it from memory which was something to see as there were quite a few folks waiting.

I think we waited about 10 minutes, and there was a mass exodus all of a sudden, so we knew they were clearing the tables and setting up again, so we got a table for two in a few minutes, and it was a very unusual little place, but we liked it.

I ordered a red wine, it was a basic wine list, but anyone could get something from it and it was quite a nice wine I got.

Designated driver.......

The menu is very good and my goodness it has some lovely choices on it from full meals to sandwiches and it even had one of my most favourite items ever......Hush Puppies!!!

I asked about a side of them but the guy told me you get some with the entree, so I didn`t bother, but my goodness I love these little globes of heaven!

Tom ordered the crab cake sandwich with potato salad and I went for their classic lobster roll.

And my lobster picture is the reason I`m not allowed to take food pictures anymore It`s blurry.....but without my glasses, I have no clue.......oops.

This food was GORGEOUS!!!!!

These sandwiches were beautiful, crab cake was fresh and full of flavour and the lobster was exceptional, and there was a lot of it in there. Hush puppies were also beautiful and I really could have eaten four times the amount, but didn`t want to look greedy and ask for more.....lol.....

I would come back here in a heartbeat. It was a very quirky place for sure, but everything was lovely.

It was around 7.30 now so we wandered the couple of minutes down to the house and we were the first ones there.

The Donnelly House is lovely and is a working Masonic Lodge today, I had never heard of it before till I looked into this Ghost Hunt but it was incredibly interesting, if you like history of course but it was crammed with interesting facts and features I genuinely had no clue about before looking into it all.

Those who know me well know I would love a home with a wraparound porch like this one.....our homes aren`t really designed for porches like this, but it would be perfect if I lived in the right type of home.

So seeing the rocking chairs here, I was a happy bunny.

There was a slow run of folks appearing for the hunt, and they all looked alright, but no one was chatting yet......I did hope they were going to be a fun bunch, because something like this needed the right mix.

They also offer a haunted pub crawl and when the couple who run these things came out they asked who was for the pub crawl and who was for the house, everyone was there for the house tonight. They were dressed in period clothes which looked good for the era of the house and did add to the experience.

We were taken inside and led upstairs to the Temple which was interesting enough on it`s own.....he split us into two groups with about 7 on each side of the room and we got a couple younger than us and a man who was with his wife and her sister, they were very nice.

He left the room for a few moments and told us to to wander around and have a look, which we did of course.

Over on one table we saw an array of objects on a table that looked like they would be part of tonights Ghost Hunt. The ones to the left were listening devices and the 6 items would sense any "ghostly activity" then torches and two devices for seeing anything with a dark light.

Doc engaged us with a talk for a while with a projector, and my curiosity had kind of ruined this a little as I knew almost everything he was telling us....but he was very good, very personable and quite funny too, he did know his stuff.

He put the light back on and began explaining what would happen, they had set some challenges for us to find, each was worth points and we would work together to find them all, there were some red herrings in there too and we would lose pints if we included them, and words were hidden too and if we solved the puzzle it would make a sentence that was worth 600 extra points. Sounded good.

He did mention that sometimes people had reported things that they weren`t responsible for and couldn`t really explain, but of course he was selling an experience.

Slightly odd moment coming up.......

While he was talking my watch made a funny sound. It`s a Garmin and I had fully charged it this afternoon while we were getting ready, it`s a very quick charger.......I looked down to see what it was doing......and......it had died completely. Not an ounce of power in it and considering one charge usually lasts about two days, this was very odd and a little disconcerting to be honest. I mentioned it straight away and Doc said he wasn`t surprised in the slightest...I however was a little excited by this turn of event. Tom said it must not have been fully charged......Doubting Thomas right there.....lol.....but it had been fully charged. I kept looking at my watch and it never did come back on....that night.

At that point we realised the younger guy with his wife was a know it all who really wasn`t, but we stuck closer to the older guy with the two women....

The two groups went downstairs and our group started in the hallway area, the other group went into the parlour/dining room.

The lights went out and we began to search......and it was fun I have to say and we did discover the elements that they had set up, one of the group wrote down the findings as we went along so everything was recorded. We did pick up some things that later when we were going through all the findings said those weren`t part of the tour.

The house in it`s original state was more impressive than it looked now, it sat on it`s own land with nothing round about it and looks an amazing place to live, but it was a little creepy. I thought it was very beautiful and would loved to have seen round the whole property, especially in it`s original state.

After 45 minutes we put the lights on and switched to the other room to find what had been left in that room.

We enjoyed this room better and this was where the guy who thought he knew it all became a real pain in the asp!! But, no one listened to him which annoyed him all the more......he was just one of those folks......

This picture below was just too creepy....it was supposed to be beautiful, but when you looked at it, it filled one with intense and palpable sadness. I mentioned it to Tom who had no clue what I was talking about.....no surprises there......lol.....but chatting to the other team at the end one woman said exactly the same thing and she was one of the lesser believers of the group. So, who knows.....

The sound detectors were useful for listening to these creepy dolls, and they were creepy. They gave a message that we had to write down which when bigmouth eventually stopped prattling on, the woman managed to listen and we got the message which was quite sinister to listen to.

For the second time night, I was close to the fireplace and had the weirdest feeling of intense sadness, but couldn`t quite put my finger on exactly what it was. When I moved away from it, the feeling went, it was extremely odd but I didn`t share those thoughts and kept them to myself as folks tend to think you`re just making it up for dramatic effect, but it wasn`t about that, it was just odd.

I had noted the words that had been hidden in among the puzzles set for us and kept it to us and the group of three as the loudmouth was telling us we`d never get it.....it was really words about what had happened to her first husband and was he buried in Lake Dora......lol.....

Time was up and we all headed back upstairs to exchange our findings and he asked the other group if they had solved the puzzle, they said they hadn`t.....then the guy who thought he knew it all said we hadn`t worked it out either, then we said actually we did......he asked who solved it and I did say it was me.......and we won due to the solved problem!!!

This had been fun, a lot of fun and would only have been better if the one guy wasn`t there. At one point the older guy actually told him to behave as there were ladies present as he was becoming a little childlike in his behaviour....this guy was mid 30`s!

But the group were very nice and we got a group picture at the end before we left.

It was around 10.30ish, I hadn`t realised we would be so late nor that the hunt would be as detailed. It was absolutely worth the money as it was only around $34 each, couldn`t fault it really and Doc was excellent.

We got back home and it`s always nice to see the lobby practically empty which is rare and even better Tuk Tuk was still open so we grabbed a sandwich to share as we were both a little hungry and very nice it was too. I think it was char sui pork, but who knows!!

We had a glass of wine with it before climbing in that lovely comfortable bed as it was after midnight now and we were both tired, but had enjoyed a rather lovely day, excluding Lombards of course.......

I hadn`t noticed, but at some point on the way home, my watch started working again and was almost fully charged.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Loved your adventure to Mount Dora! Really love those types of things! And while I don’t eat crab or lobster (I’m picky with fish and seafood I know!) it looked amazing!

 

[schumigirl]

Loved your adventure to Mount Dora! Really love those types of things! And while I don’t eat crab or lobster (I’m picky with fish and seafood I know!) it looked amazing!

Yes, it was a lot of fun and anything spooky always gets my attention.

Oh we adore seafood....could eat it everyday and we`re lucky with where we live we do get excellent seafood too and we can order the best from Scotland anytime too.

But, it`s one of those things if you don`t like it......doesn`t matter how nice it looks.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Yes, it was a lot of fun and anything spooky always gets my attention.

Oh we adore seafood....could eat it everyday and we`re lucky with where we live we do get excellent seafood too and we can order the best from Scotland anytime too.

But, it`s one of those things if you don`t like it......doesn`t matter how nice it looks.

I do enjoy it but not all of it lololol.

If that crab cake was a fish or a shrimp cake we would be talking a different story

 

[schumigirl]

I do enjoy it but not all of it lololol.

If that crab cake was a fish or a shrimp cake we would be talking a different story

lol…..I think the only fish I don’t like is Swordfish, but if you don’t like something……

I‘m craving crab cakes now…….might do them for dinner next week sometime!

 

[schumigirl]

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18TH​

I think we slept just a little later this morning, but not by much and we were in the lounge for around 8.30ish. We had Tory, Alex and Mitchell this morning who is the guy who is only there on weekends, so it`s always nice to say hello to him too.

It was fun this morning but we missed Matt and Rob and would be glad to see them later when they got home from Miami.

Sparkly isn`t served till 9am on a Sunday and as we were taking our time this morning we waited and had a few glasses, well, I did as again Tom was driving.....I really did need to take my turn driving soon!!! We both enjoy driving so much in America, maybe not so much around Orlando area, but certainly elsewhere and usually we argue over who gets to drive......but......prosecco in the mornings.....so tempting!!!

We planned to visit the Farmers Market at Lake Eola again this morning, we always enjoy a wander round the lake even if we don`t buy much from the market itself. We asked Tory about a place we were thinking of for lunch as she knows the Downtown area well, she had never been to this particular place, but hadn`t heard anything bad about it......that would do......lol......

And we did take our time leaving this morning as we could chat to these guys forever.......but eventually we leave and head out to get the car, it was a hot one today again and absolutely beautiful.

It takes about 20 minutes to get to the car park we use right beside Lake Eola. It`s an office car park during the week, but you can pay $5 on a Sunday to park all day if you wanted which was a bargain as we had passed some similar lots that were charging $10 and $20 which seemed a bit much considering they were further away from the lake. Parking is a consideration here for sure, there are several of them if you can find them. We don`t know this area very well so we take the obvious option.

Lake Eola is beautiful and to be right in the middle of Orlando, well, you`d never know really as it`s so peaceful and has a certain tranquility about it, even on a busy Farmer`s Market day like today.

Ever wondered if you`d just not noticed something before????

Neither of us could remember if we saw this structure in May or if it was brand new???? We`d have to ask......

The swans here are very tame despite them in general being known for being quite aggressive, although I wouldn`t like to test them out! Oone whack of that wing and you`ve got a broken arm. But, they wander along the path very slowly and folks will generally move out of their way or some will feed them there and then and some will plop themselves beside you on the grass and have a snooze.

We sat on a bench for a while and there was a family with about 6 tiny little puppies on the grass beside us on a blanket. They weren`t selling them I was glad to see, but they were taking names of anyone interested in buying them. Meantime, you could pick them up and cuddle them if you liked or play with them. I have no clue what type of puppy they were, but they were cute and no we didn`t pick them up.

There are a vast array of stalls in the market from jewellery and soap to hats to pet products and various food options to purchase including various dips you can sample if you like.

Over on the far side of the park there are a plethora of stalls selling all kinds of food and in the centre there are plenty of seating to enjoy the options and it does get very busy, but folks share tables here and don`t hog them, they`ll happily bump up so you can sit too if there`s room.

This was the guy we were here to see.......The Sauce Man. He sells the most amazing rubs and sauces, some of the nicest we have tasted and it`s not mass produced either, he`s a small cottage industry and does very well out of it.

He encourages you to try before you buy....or just try......but once you taste them, my goodness, I`ll bet my bottom dollar you`ll buy them as they are gorgeous. The spicy ones are as spicy as promised and the sweet bbq is beautiful.

He sells products such as Raspberry Reaper Rush, Ghost Tonic (wow) Scorpion`s Sting and one I really love, Cranberry Jalapeno. Every single one we have tried has been gorgeous....and as hot as was promised!!

We made our purchases and didn`t buy too much as the jars are quite heavy so we stuck to four bottles including a new one we hadn`t tried yet......and still haven`t tried it!!

There are plenty of options for food if you want to eat here and they are all very popular as there are usually lines for most.

We did enjoy sharing a blueberry muffin from the guy who bakes some gorgeous items, everything here looks beautiful, but we didn`t want to eat too much as it was nearly lunch, however sharing one wouldn`t affect our appetite too much, and it was lovely.

We wandered round a little more, the park is full of families, couples, folks on their own, joggers, yoga folks and many folks with pets all on leads which is good to see.

Downtown Orlando has so many different cuisines you are completely spoiled for choice. We had enjoyed Brunch previously at another place, but we aren`t really brunch fans unless it`s at home with some friends or at their home....but for a meal out it`s not going to be my first or fourth choice.

But, I had heard good things about Oudom, a Thai and Sushi restaurant and had wanted to go at night, but knew we`d never get around to it, so lunch here today would be ideal. We love Thai food and haven`t tried many Thai places here, but this one looked good.

It was around 12.30 when we went in and we were a little put off as it was completely deserted.....whereas most other places we had passed were all full to bursting so we did wonder if we had made a mistake, but we were here now so we`d give it a bash hoping we wouldn`t regret it.

The whole restaurant albeit an empty one, was was immaculately clean and had a very fresh aroma as you walked in and a lady welcomed us immediately with a smile, although she didn`t speak the best English we could just about understand her.

I ordered a glass of Cabernet and Tom stuck to water and she brought us the menu which had Sushi on one side and Thai options on the other.....this could take a while!!

And we were glad to see there were now folks coming in and although it wasn`t filling up, it was getting busier. I think this is more a place you would visit on an evening instead of lunch. I did like proper linen table covers on the tables here, it gave it a very elegant look.

Eventually, after much deliberation, Tom went for the Sweet Thai Chicken Wings which came with a lot of sauce, but he managed to devour the lot.......I thought they looked dry but they really weren`t, they were lovely. He absolutely loved them and almost licked the plate!

For me it was an easy choice, Tuna Kobashi which came with avocado and the wasabi was very decoratively placed on the plate with the dish placed just on top so you could still see the effect.....this looked lovely.

And it was stunning! Very fresh tuna, lovely ripe avocado and the wasabi was wow!

The only issue we had, and this might have been our fault was, we had just tucked into our appetisers, when the entrees appeared which is a little bit of a pet hate of ours, but we left it and just ate both......next time we`d ask for our appetisers first and then order entrees.

However the dishes we ordered were beautiful....I had chosen the Thai Basil Chicken, no cilantro and ordered medium heat as I wasn`t sure of their spice level....I wish I`d ordered extra hot as it was very mild, but very tasty. There was a bowl of rice but it is the plainest picture ever.....so I won`t bother.....

Tom had rather unusually went for the Sushi and chose the Bumblebee Roll which was Shrimp tempura, cream cheese, avocado, topped with smoked salmon, mango, coconut flakes, and a rather sweet mango sauce which could have been doing with a little bit more of, but he absolutely loved this dish, he just wished he had ordered a spicy one instead.

We paid and went back to the car and had a drive around as I said we didn`t know this area well. There were some lovely places that stood out to us as somewhere we`d like to try in the future, including a winery I never knew existed!! I wish I`d written a list to ask Tory about all these places......we also passed Gideon`s Bakery.....I mentioned a few days ago they have another place in Orlando where you can exactly the same items but usually not as busy, however speaking to someone who does go there says it can get busy, just not as crazy as DS.

In a few days we would get to try one of their cookies and I`m just not understanding the hype for them. It`s a cookie, it might be a large cookie, but still a cookie.

It was well after 3.30 by the time we got back, so we went to the lounge and waited for Matt and Rob to appear, we were keen to hear about Lady Gaga last night.......

The lounge was deserted at this time of day and we got the chance to get a few snaps of it while it wasn`t serving food or drinks.

They had begun to set out for evening appetisers, and we knew it must be chicken tender night as the honey mustard and bbq sauces were laid out over on the empty work top with the cutie little bottles of tabasco alongside salt and pepper.

Soft drinks, water, coffee and a selection of teas are available all day when the lounge is open and they do have a decent selection of teas, some of which I have tried and they are rather nice. The Camomile tea surprised me as I don`t usually like it, but this one is nice.

After breakfast they remove the large urns of coffee and hot water, but the machine is always there to use. It`s a little slow if there`s a line, but it does make rather nice coffees and you can get hot chocolate and boiling water too.

Milk, cream and coffee flavours are set out all day too.

More to follow...

 

[shh]

The only issue we had, and this might have been our fault was, we had just tucked into our appetisers, when the entrees appeared which is a little bit of a pet hate of ours, but we left it and just ate both......next time we`d ask for our appetisers first and then order entrees.

Trained servers and good kitchens understand meal timing. Sadly, that's becoming rarer. Servers just enter all the items together in the system and everything comes out practically at the same time. Just like hot food is a pet peeve for you - this one's mine.

Nothing like taking that 2nd or 3rd bite of salad and then out come the hot entrees on big plates - and the runner or server just tries to cram everything on a tiny two-top table. Then they sit there getting cold.

It's happened so often lately that I will now only order entrees after we get our apps or politely ask the server to hold back on entering the entree order, so we have time with 1st course. It's kind of silly that the guests have to think to do this, but I've had no more problems, so I'll take it!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

What a lovely day at Lake Eola! That Farmers Market seems to have a bit of everything and served as a lovely stop.

I had Thai last night, I am a big fan and find it so much better quality than our local Chinese restaurants.

Thank you again for all the lounge photos. It is so helpful to remember what is offered and when. The staff are so kind and enthusiastic, you really feel like they are delighted to see you.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Well I have to say I’m glad to see you finally got a decent dinner
Can’t believe the cheek of the guy blaming you for not being happy with your cold food! At least the manager was lovely and hopefully he got several words to the wise from her.
Lake Eola sounds gorgeous. Those sauces would tempt me too. They sound so tasty and I love spice.
Club Level lounge at Universal looks great from all your photos. I mean who wouldn’t want to start the day with a glass or 3 of sparkly
Some of the other offerings are pretty tasty too

 

[schumigirl]

Trained servers and good kitchens understand meal timing. Sadly, that's becoming rarer. Servers just enter all the items together in the system and everything comes out practically at the same time. Just like hot food is a pet peeve for you - this one's mine.

Nothing like taking that 2nd or 3rd bite of salad and then out come the hot entrees on big plates - and the runner or server just tries to cram everything on a tiny two-top table. Then they sit there getting cold.

It's happened so often lately that I will now only order entrees after we get our apps or politely ask the server to hold back on entering the entree order, so we have time with 1st course. It's kind of silly that the guests have to think to do this, but I've had no more problems, so I'll take it!

We now make to clear we want a gap between our appetisers and entrees or we ordered apps then entrees and explained why we were doing it then most places were fine about it and all said they would make sure that didn`t happen. I do think it`s down to places having to employ people that aren`t naturally suited to understanding the needs when you work in hospitality.

I agree, we shouldn`t have to tell this to the people who are taking care of us.

 

[schumigirl]

What a lovely day at Lake Eola! That Farmers Market seems to have a bit of everything and served as a lovely stop.

I had Thai last night, I am a big fan and find it so much better quality than our local Chinese restaurants.

Thank you again for all the lounge photos. It is so helpful to remember what is offered and when. The staff are so kind and enthusiastic, you really feel like they are delighted to see you.

Lake Eola is beautiful and yes, that market sells such a variety of produce. There were also fresh fruit and veg stalls and everything looked so good! We also stopped of at a honey stall, we`ve bought form them before and they do some lovely flavours which Tom loves. I admit I don`t like honey in it`s natural form, but do use it for honey mustard dressing and sauces.....Tom keeps asking where his honey is disappearing to as I don`t like it........lol......

We love Thai food too. Yes, maybe a little bit more than Chinese, and I`m looking forward to going back to the newest one that has opened near us. Small, but beautiful.

The staff welcome everyone so nicely, it is a very warm place to go in to. And yes, incredibly helpful and want everyone to be comfortable and welcome.

 

[schumigirl]

Well I have to say I’m glad to see you finally got a decent dinner
Can’t believe the cheek of the guy blaming you for not being happy with your cold food! At least the manager was lovely and hopefully he got several words to the wise from her.
Lake Eola sounds gorgeous. Those sauces would tempt me too. They sound so tasty and I love spice.
Club Level lounge at Universal looks great from all your photos. I mean who wouldn’t want to start the day with a glass or 3 of sparkly
Some of the other offerings are pretty tasty too

lol......we did have some lovely meals going forward and maybe one or two that weren`t quite up to standard.......we didn`t starve though....

We were very annoyed at the waiter in Lombards, but you`d never have known by our demeanour, we`ll never rant at anyone like that despite him being rude. Yes, I hope he realised that`s not really the way you speak to customers.

We love spicy and these sauces do live up to their promise for being hot!!! you`d like it there I`m sure.

lol.....it became a bit of a joke with the bubbly in the morning.....I loved it!!! RP Club Lounge is lovely, no doubt about it.

Good to see you.....

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Glad to hear you have some more lovely meals coming. Hopefully they outnumber the substandard by quite a way.
You and I sound alike when it comes to complaining about poor quality food. It takes quite a lot for me to actually complain ( most often I’ll just say nought but never return) but when I do it’s in a calm and reasonable way. Really don’t get people’s need to rant at staff. Doesn’t actually solve anything and just makes everyone, including other guests, uncomfortable.
I think that’s why the audacity of your server in Lombards stood out- I mean to actually blame you for wanting hot food and decent service -imagine. At least you know it can be lovely in there if you do decide to try it again in the future. Btw count me in as another who likes a break between appetisers and mains and has taken to ordering one course at a time or explaining to servers that I want my food spaced out a little in certain places.

 

[schumigirl]

Glad to hear you have some more lovely meals coming. Hopefully they outnumber the substandard by quite a way.
You and I sound alike when it comes to complaining about poor quality food. It takes quite a lot for me to actually complain ( most often I’ll just say nought but never return) but when I do it’s in a calm and reasonable way. Really don’t get people’s need to rant at staff. Doesn’t actually solve anything and just makes everyone, including other guests, uncomfortable.
I think that’s why the audacity of your server in Lombards stood out- I mean to actually blame you for wanting hot food and decent service -imagine. At least you know it can be lovely in there if you do decide to try it again in the future. Btw count me in as another who likes a break between appetisers and mains and has taken to ordering one course at a time or explaining to servers that I want my food spaced out a little in certain places.

Yes, I think they did.

We hate complaining too. It’s not fun, but we used to never complain, but when things are inedible or especially steak not cooked correctly we will now always send it back, but nicely. Apart from not wanting to annoy the folks that cook your food……..lol…….we just don’t roll like that, yes seeing folks not treating staff nicely is horrible.

We probably will try it at some point, Kyle will want to go I’m sure, so hopefully we won’t get the same waiter again…….that would be our luck!!!

Yes, we never want to rush dinner or any meal really, so we do now mention it to whoever is looking after us. It’s not something that ever happens in the UK strangely.