I'm Just Here For Brunch: A 16 Day DR *Update 8/3

jerseytinkerbell

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 17, 2010
Hi everyone! Oh my gosh it has been too long! I don't like the whole, one year between trips nonsense. :laughing:

For those of you who don't know me I am jerseytinkerbell, AKA Jeri, and I am a DVC member and AP holder and love my multi-week WDW trips. With me as always is my DH Rob. Here we are our first night of the trip.



We almost didn't take this trip. We just bought a house last summer and almost immediately the water line to the fridge burst and destroyed said house. We spent all summer and fall dealing with the insurance company and remodeling the whole house. To say it was stressful is an understatement lol. I booked three weeks at OKW before we bought the house and were set to go from NYE weekend on, but that was just not affordable now with all the money we had to put into our new house. However, through sheer determination and pixie dust, I stalked the DVC site endlessly for weeks in December and Frankensteined together 15 nights at OKW for mid-January from the 11th-26th. It was a miracle! So, we got to take our trip. We just took it a little bit easier with our food budget this time. Not a lot, but a little. :rotfl2:

Also joining us again this trip, for the first part of our stay, is Rob's sister Lindsay who we always have a blast with. She has done a few trips with us now and she's a lot of fun. She does the girly Disney stuff with me that Rob hates. :laughing:

Just a quick mention, all of my pics this time were taken on my phone. It seems that I lost my camera charger in the move and I did not figure that out until I was packing the night before we left. Overall, I think the iPhone still took great pics, but in low lighting a few of the pics are meh, so my apologies in advance for those pics.

It was so exciting to have the day finally here!



As usual, we made the 14+ hour drive from NJ to Orlando. This drive was BRUTAL. Rob talked me into leaving when he got done work at 12:30am instead of 5:30am as planned and it was a mistake. We were both so tired. I got about 3 hours of sleep and he got none. We made it into NC and immediately stopped and slept for almost 2 hours. Except I barely slept because it was FREEZING in the car. Then I felt super nauseous for hours. We were both tired and miserable and my car was acting weird too.I finally felt better and woke up more later in the drive. We sat in standstill traffic for the last 35 miles of I-4 and when I saw this sign I actually cried with relief.



We checked in with no issues and went back to our deluxe studio in building 43. In the car Rob talked about going to Disney Springs for dinner and I kept saying, okay lets see how we feel. Sure enough, we were NOT feeling the idea of traveling to DS and instead opted for dinner at the resort. We waited for the internal shuttle to take us up to the Hospitality House where all of the food is located. We went back and forth between Olivia's, Gurgling Suitcase and Good's Food To Go and eventually landed on Gurgling Suitcase as we really wanted to relax and drink a bit after that drive. :laughing:



Gurgling Suitcase is a bar that is basically attached to Olivia's and is enclosed with a few seats at the bar and a few tables behind it. You can eat there or take your food and/or drinks to go. We opted for an empty table in the back and settled in with our menus.



Everything sounded amazing, but I was really in the mood for a drink that I have always wanted to try and is exclusive to Gurgling Suitcase. The Turtle Crawl. Siesta Key white rum, Parrot Bay coconut rum, Sailor Jerry spiced rum, with grenadine, pineapple, orange and key lime juices





This did not disappoint! I really only drink rum based drinks now and this was perfection. I like a lot of rum with a lot of different juices, so this drink was tailor made for me. Rob tried it too and really enjoyed it. We may have both had a couple of these. :rolleyes1

For food Rob got the Duval Street Burger. Topped with shrimp, pepper jack, avocado, and pico de gallo served on our signature pineapple-coconut roll with house-made potato chips. However, they did give him a choice of chips or fries and he opted for the fries.





He really enjoyed this burger! The man loves avocado, so this was right up his alley. I had a bite too and it was pretty tasty.

I almost got the burger too, but I'm glad I switched at the last second and got the Barbecued Pulled Pork Nachos - house-made potato chips topped with jalapeños pepper jack and mozzarella, pico de gallo, and sour cream. Except I opted for no jalapeños.



These were so good! I loved the melted mozzarella on these and the chips were delicious. Even better than your standard tortilla chip for this flavor combo going on. Yum!!!

Our bartender/server was super friendly and he seemed to be a favorite. Everyone going in knew his name. A lot of regulars it seemed. Also, this was race weekend for the marathon and there were a lot of runners hanging out and relaxing and grabbing a drink this evening. It was a good atmosphere. Just what we needed to unwind from the drive.

We caught an internal bus back to Old Turtle Pond Road, which took FOREVER to arrive, and called it a night. We didn't even make it through an episode of Dateline before we were both out for the count.

It was a long, weird day but at least we're in Disney now so who cares!
 
I'm first in! Sorry your trip down was so miserable, but OKW is such a great resort. Looking forward to all of your reviews!
 


Yay I’ve been waiting! Stalking you on Instagram only holds one over for so long!
 
Woooohoo! I am here for 15 nights of food reviews.

We’re thinking of squeezing in one more 5 or 6 night trip before our APs run out, probably in the fall for MNSSHP, and we’re thinking about staying at OKW. I just love the laid back vibe! And you can’t beat the low points. Adding that drink to my to-do list.

Can’t wait to hear more!
 


I'm following along! Sounds like a rough start with that drive but that dinner looked great!
 
Glad you guys had a chance to get to WDW. Looking forward to following along.
 
I don’t know how you two do this drive! But so glad you did so we get another dining report! I’ve only stayed at OKW once but remember the bar as a really cool spot.
 
Joining in, excited to hear about your dining adventures. That was a brutal drive, I would have had some sort of meltdown I’m sure. We can’t even handle our drive from Kentucky straight through...
 
Looking forward to your review. We were there 1/21-2/1 and it was cold most of those days.

Sorry to hear the problems with your new home. Oh, the joys of being a homeowner!
 
Love a dining report from Jeri! Those nachos and burger looks so good, I’m really hungry right now, haha!

Glad you made it and now could relax and enjoy Disney!
 

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