Day 6 of The First Time 2011, the first of my Disney Trip Reports, is here! Today is a day of shopping at Target and Michael’s Craft Store, with food from Bahama Breeze!
The First Time 2011 Trip Report Index has the full list of days for the trip. You can also check out my 2011 Pre-Trip Planning Report to find out more about us!
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Day 6: Shopping!
Bahama Breeze, Super Target, and Michaels
9th August 2011
Today is one of the shorter reports from our trip. Why? Because of the rain, and we did let it rain on our parade I’m afraid.
Today was a day of getting up late, messing about in the pool (when we could), having lunch, and doing some shopping, before retreating to the villa to watch the telly and go to bed.
My diary tells me that we awoke to rain, and my photos tell me that we were in the swimming pool in the morning, so somewhere between waking up and going out, it didn’t rain, as the photos show me it was very sunny!
By the time it came to go out however, it had got surprisingly dull, so, to grab some sunshine, we decided to head towards Bahama Breeze Island Grille.
Having read that it was a nice place to eat at, and since it was on our list of restaurants to visit, we drove the short distance to the one nearest to us on the 192 and parked up.
Bahama Breeze
We got to Bahama Breeze at around noon and ventured inside.
We were shown a table and introduced to our server who was very friendly and accommodating.
I was guessing more so than normal, owing to the fact that, at that time, we were the only customers!
We were given three different menus – lunchtime, fish specials, and snacks & small plates.
We began the daunting task of having to read huge menus, and the following picture isn’t staged at all…
We found most of the menus in restaurants in Orlando were huge and always needed more time to look through and decide what we would like!
After some recommendations from our waiter, we decided on the following…
Liam had Buttermilk Chicken Sliders ($7.99) as an appetizer and from the kid’s menu, a plate of Bowtie Pasta with Tomato Sauce ($4.29), which came with a tiny bowl of fruit on the side.
Liam enjoyed his starter, but the buns were too buttery for him, so he took the chicken out and dipped it into our jerk BBQ sauce.
It was a healthy portion for a starter – 4 sliders – he ate the lot!
Steve and I shared two appetizers – Jerk Chicken Wings ($10.99 for 8) and Firecracker Shrimp ($8.99).
The portions were considerably larger than any we had so far, and therefore, better value for money!
The shrimp was “OMG, the best thing I’ve ever eaten, EVER!” and the wings were huge!
In the UK we get half wings, and I guess that is what we were expecting.
It was a shock to get the whole wing – and the waiter was surprised when we commented what a chicken wing is in the UK!
The wings tasted good, and the sauce on the side to dip into was spicier than the wings themselves.
I opted for the Cuban Sandwich ($8.99), another on the list of eats, which can only be described as enough to feed 3 people!
Liam ended up eating my chips (clearly, his sliders and portion of pasta weren’t enough for a growing lad!) and Steve ate one-half of my sarnie. It was delicious though!
Steve went for the Chorizo Sliders ($7.29) as his main, but I think what was brought out was the starter portion, as it only had two on there – considering Liam’s appetizer had four, he was expecting there to be a mountain of them!
On the side, he had a bowl of tasty Chicken Tortilla Soup. As always, I sample everyone’s – for trip report writing purposes of course!
After all that, we managed to squeeze in a dessert, but let it be known that we didn’t have anything else to eat for the rest of the day!!
Steve and I shared the Key Lime Pie, which was delicious. The portion was huge (naturally!), I would say double the size of a normal slice of pie!
Liam went for the Chocolate Island dessert, which was so good, that he ordered it every time we visited Bahama Breeze on this holiday – three times!
The service was great, the chef came out to ask us how things were with the food, and was proud to mention how much they make in-house.
I thought that this was a nice touch, although, perhaps had it been busier we wouldn’t have got that, it certainly made us want to go back another time.
We felt really well looked after all around: from the friendliness of the waiter to the quality and price of the food.
Our bill came to $74.15 and for the amount of food that was per plate, it was great value indeed. We also gave our waiter a 20% tip.
It’s been established that I take plenty of photos, and random ones at that…this is the bathroom sink!
I was impressed at the complimentary mouthwash to freshen up after your spicy food!
Super Target
With the bill paid, we came out to the rain still pouring. Seeing that a Super Target was next door, we decided to pop in for a spot of shopping.
It was HUGE in there. There were some groceries (it didn’t feel as many as Walmart or Publix though) including an end-of-aisle display of ‘Fine British Foods’.
We didn’t feel the need to buy and – I’m in America – I want American stuff!
Michael’s Craft Store
After a wander through the rest of the store (which sold clothes, electricals books, craft/stationery items, homewares, and Disney stuff) and picking up some bits and bobs, we set the sat-nav to take us to Michaels at Posner Park, which, when I looked it up on Google maps back in the UK, saw it wasn’t too far from our villa.
Homer though had other plans, and decided to take us the long way around as it seemed to take forever.
Michaels, for those that don’t know, is like Hobbycraft. From my American friends, I know that this is a wonderful place if you are a crafty type of person and it was on my list of shops to go to.
When I stepped in, it was like I’d died and gone to Halloween heaven!!
I was delighted to see so much Halloween stuff out for sale, and like a kid in a candy store was picking everything up and saying “oh, I want this!” and “oooh, this is too cute!” and “OMG, I need that!” and “do you think this will fit in our suitcase?”!!!
Anything with a pumpkin, in my eyes, is cute!
This pumpkin light wasn’t going to fit in our case, but if it had, I would have bought it, believe me!
But so much stuff would fit in our case, including the cute little witch from the display below.
Every time I look at this photo – even a year or more on, I wish I had bought the complete set!
Nearly $200 lighter in the pocket (I’m a sucker for Halloween decorations, what can I say?!) we made our way out of the store to dump everything in the car.
By now it was pouring down with rain, and having done our daily allowance of cash (and more!) on food and shopping, we thought it best to not go into any more shops!
There was a dollar store next door to Michaels, which I said we should pop back and have a look at, but we never did.
As to what else was at this retail park, I really don’t remember – my mind was so focused on going into Michaels, I didn’t pay attention!
By now, it was very late afternoon, and with the weather dampening our spirits, we just drove back to the villa.
The rain continued into the night, so we just watched TV and went to bed, ready for Seaworld in the morning!
All photos from this day can be found on my Flickr!
Read about the day after:
Day 7 – Monde de la Mer
SeaWorld and Shark’s Underwater Grill
Read about the day before:
Day 5 – Universally Speaking
Universal Studios, Mel’s Drive-In, Chick-fil-A
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