Trying not to let the fact this is the second time I've written this post cause me to trash my house.
Also going to skip over the fact this is the first post since February.
Since then, there has been a lot of Penny love:
I never thought we'd ever have a dog. Especially not this kind. I always wanted a greyhound as a kid and thought we were going to adopt a retired racing one haha. We were probably never going to, but I had it in my head we were days away from picking up a greyhound. Penny is probably about as heavy as a greyhound though, she's like a bag of bricks. But so smiley.
In February we saw the touring Cirque du Soleil show Varekai at the arena, which was so good. I absolutely love Cirque du Soleil, and always have an overwhelming urge to join (or run away with) every time I see one of their shows. This time it was just too much and I ended up signing up for trampolining sessions again - ten years after giving it up. I was pretty wobbly the first couple of times, and actually found the view of the bed very disorientating when bouncing, and it made me feel dizzy, and reminded me of competing when I was little, when the holes on competition beds were a different size to normal and that put me off since I guess I had kind of got used to the way it looked when training. Within the hour though I was back doing somersaults and learning new moves. It was almost as though I had literally just picked up where I left off, even though it had been ten years since I had done it properly, and not just in the garden.
This show was so good, and was more story-based than others I've seen. There was a load of aerial stuff but not much bouncing unfortunately. They had Russian swings like in O, but these ones didn't go all the way round. Still enough to make me want to be a part of it!
And then we went to Disney World! This trip nearly never happened, after a date change and having to change our flights, we then nearly had to change them a second time (and pay the excess and fees again!), and then when we got there, there was still the chance we were having a weeks holiday in a villa since we were using guest passes and not tickets.
We took the opportunity to see Cirque's La Nouba in Disney Springs, since it's coming to the end of its run at the end of 2017, so this will be the last time we will get to see it. Who knows what will replace it, but it's unlikely to be another Cirque show, unfortunately.
This was the most insane lasagne I've ever had. Fresh pasta tubes filled with ricotta and bolognese, topped with béchamel and then tomato sauce. Deep fried, naturally. This dish was HUGE - I ended up taking two tubes home. I'd recommend the new Planet Hollywood. It was getting done out when we were there in September but it's now themed around the Griffith Observatory in LA, that we visited in August.
What an experience Tiffins was.
This restaurant is in Animal Kingdom, on the way to the new Pandora land. We walked in and were instantly underdressed. This restaurant is so posh, and our reservation was quite early so we had come straight from the park. Somehow the restaurant felt very executive, even though the people eating were mostly the same as us - in shorts and t-shirts.
Anyway, our server was nice, and your typical happy, excitable Disney cast member who loved what they do. Turns out when you go to restaurants in Disney World with a cast member, and talk to a cast member, the conversation changes and turns into a very casual, familiar tone.
We ordered the cheese board and bread to start with. The cheeses were a blue and a feta, and two other kinds, and there were various types of bread with sauces to go with them. We instantly felt very out of our depth as we were described these particular cheeses and had no idea what was said. Blue cheese was not to everyone's liking and we sat silently giggling away to each other as we felt like a bunch of kids in the poshest restaurant Disney World has.
My main course was the duo of lamb, and it was amazing. The lamb was so tender and there was also a lamb sausage which was nice, as well as tempura veg. Who knows what the veg was. Note the black edge of the plate - that's actually leek ash(!), which when dipped into gave a smoky flavour. At this point, we were drowning in posh gastronomy vocabulary, talking seriously about leek ash. Leek ash. Burnt leeks. It was very nice though, and definitely the best meal I had all week.
A very small, unassuming, finger sized strip of chocolate ganache that was described to me as 'the richest chocolate you'll ever taste'. Yeah right, let me try this for myself, I do know my chocolate. I was wrong, very wrong. This really was the richest chocolate I had tasted, and although I had mocked the size of the portion, that's absolutely all you could even eat. So nice.
We then sat and watched the new Rivers of Light show at Animal Kingdom. When we were there in September, this show was meant to have been ready, and it wasn't open until two weeks before we went this time! They had delayed this show for almost a year, and although it was a really good show, it was no World of Color.
Next meal, Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom. I'm not such a fan of this place, mainly since I was promised so much about it before I went last year but it delivered nothing I had expected of it. The food is nice, but not amazing. This below is the beef. I don't like beef, so that's probably not fair to say the food isn't nice when I don't actually like the meat I ordered hahaha. I got it because I liked its accompaniments. Although they do do a really nice potato and leek soup, it's amazing.
And then we couldn't resist going back to re-experience the joy that was Johnny Rockets. This place practically made the September holiday when we were in Vegas. 1am sitting in our hotel room starving, eating this burger from the place that was open 24 hours, and suddenly tasting heaven. There's another restaurant in Mall at Millenia in Orlando so we went there again.
It was the Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot when we were there, and it looked spectacular. There were thousands of flowers and also topiary characters all around the park and the whole place looked amazing, and so well looked after. Then again I guess it's easier to keep all these flowers alive when it's not 30°c+ every day like it is in the summer hahaha.
Since we were only in Floria for a week, and were using guest passes, we only did the Disney parks and didn't go to Busch Gardens, Universal etc. We decided to do all of the things we wouldn't usually have time for (this is my third time at Disney World). So we did the Figment ride in Epcot, Carousel of Progress, PeopleMover… we certainly did not have enough time (in our lives) to go on the Ellen ride in Epcot. 45 minutes?! Who has time for that?! I feel like this ride is for the families that have had enough of each other and want 45 minutes of peace.
It's nice to see the lesser appreciated sections of the park, and I finally managed to get on Seven Dwarf's Mine Train, since we didn't mind queuing as we had time. Good ride, good ride.
This meal was then at Hollywood Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios. Turns out this was the sister restaurant to Tiffins, so that's how posh this one was. As you can imagine we were suitable underdressed for this one too. We only had mains here, I can only imagine because we had a late lunch. Lunch was actually in the ABC Commissary, and there was a bird in the restaurant. A cast member successfully shooed it out of the door, and it was a very precise, measured and silent operation, but successful! I actually clapped for the guy, and started an applause in the restaurant for this guy. I felt very American.
This meal though was the chicken, and there was a lot of it! Considering how little veg and mash there was, I think there was too much chicken. I can't remember what it was stuffed with. That mash stuff though tasted like cheesy mash, but had a consistency of scrambled egg. Very strange, yet very nice.
And then we finally made it to Dunkin' Donuts on the last night! Only because we practically stayed in the park until closing every single night, so never made it to DD before their closing time haha.
Turns out they're not great donuts. My favourite was the bottom left cakey one, and the worst one was the top right, since it tasted like lipstick.
I had such a good time, and laughed every single day so much, I actually noticed it. It was cold though! I never thought I'd be cold in Florida since it's always been so hot when we've been in the past, and they usually get only one or two days cold days a year. Walking back to the car at about 1am and my back was practically one big knot because of how cold it was. The pool was freezing, I couldn't even put my whole leg in and I had to think about jumpers for the evenings! Not what I thought I'd have to be thinking about in Florida! It was nicely mild during the days though, which made walking round the parks much more bearable, especially Epcot, and Animal Kingdom, which is always a few degrees warmer than the other parks. We had one hot day that meant the pool heated up enough to go in, but the rest of the time it was just too cold, even for the boys so it wasn't just me being a wimp.
I've named the Facebook album Florida March 2017, because it's not a 0% chance we'll go back again this year haha…
Jordanavia :)
Also going to skip over the fact this is the first post since February.
Since then, there has been a lot of Penny love:
 |
| Tennis balls |
 |
| Gibside |
 |
| Working |
 |
| Saltwell Park |
I never thought we'd ever have a dog. Especially not this kind. I always wanted a greyhound as a kid and thought we were going to adopt a retired racing one haha. We were probably never going to, but I had it in my head we were days away from picking up a greyhound. Penny is probably about as heavy as a greyhound though, she's like a bag of bricks. But so smiley.
 |
| Hair too short :'( |
 |
| He just does what he wants these days |
In February we saw the touring Cirque du Soleil show Varekai at the arena, which was so good. I absolutely love Cirque du Soleil, and always have an overwhelming urge to join (or run away with) every time I see one of their shows. This time it was just too much and I ended up signing up for trampolining sessions again - ten years after giving it up. I was pretty wobbly the first couple of times, and actually found the view of the bed very disorientating when bouncing, and it made me feel dizzy, and reminded me of competing when I was little, when the holes on competition beds were a different size to normal and that put me off since I guess I had kind of got used to the way it looked when training. Within the hour though I was back doing somersaults and learning new moves. It was almost as though I had literally just picked up where I left off, even though it had been ten years since I had done it properly, and not just in the garden.
This show was so good, and was more story-based than others I've seen. There was a load of aerial stuff but not much bouncing unfortunately. They had Russian swings like in O, but these ones didn't go all the way round. Still enough to make me want to be a part of it!
And then we went to Disney World! This trip nearly never happened, after a date change and having to change our flights, we then nearly had to change them a second time (and pay the excess and fees again!), and then when we got there, there was still the chance we were having a weeks holiday in a villa since we were using guest passes and not tickets.
 |
| La Nouba |
 |
| LA Lasagne at Planet Hollywood |
 |
| Banana Biscoff Bagel Breakfast I'd do anything to be back here |
 |
| The Lion King show in Animal Kingdom. With trampolining monkeys |
What an experience Tiffins was.
This restaurant is in Animal Kingdom, on the way to the new Pandora land. We walked in and were instantly underdressed. This restaurant is so posh, and our reservation was quite early so we had come straight from the park. Somehow the restaurant felt very executive, even though the people eating were mostly the same as us - in shorts and t-shirts.
Anyway, our server was nice, and your typical happy, excitable Disney cast member who loved what they do. Turns out when you go to restaurants in Disney World with a cast member, and talk to a cast member, the conversation changes and turns into a very casual, familiar tone.
We ordered the cheese board and bread to start with. The cheeses were a blue and a feta, and two other kinds, and there were various types of bread with sauces to go with them. We instantly felt very out of our depth as we were described these particular cheeses and had no idea what was said. Blue cheese was not to everyone's liking and we sat silently giggling away to each other as we felt like a bunch of kids in the poshest restaurant Disney World has.
My main course was the duo of lamb, and it was amazing. The lamb was so tender and there was also a lamb sausage which was nice, as well as tempura veg. Who knows what the veg was. Note the black edge of the plate - that's actually leek ash(!), which when dipped into gave a smoky flavour. At this point, we were drowning in posh gastronomy vocabulary, talking seriously about leek ash. Leek ash. Burnt leeks. It was very nice though, and definitely the best meal I had all week.
A very small, unassuming, finger sized strip of chocolate ganache that was described to me as 'the richest chocolate you'll ever taste'. Yeah right, let me try this for myself, I do know my chocolate. I was wrong, very wrong. This really was the richest chocolate I had tasted, and although I had mocked the size of the portion, that's absolutely all you could even eat. So nice.
We then sat and watched the new Rivers of Light show at Animal Kingdom. When we were there in September, this show was meant to have been ready, and it wasn't open until two weeks before we went this time! They had delayed this show for almost a year, and although it was a really good show, it was no World of Color.
Next meal, Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom. I'm not such a fan of this place, mainly since I was promised so much about it before I went last year but it delivered nothing I had expected of it. The food is nice, but not amazing. This below is the beef. I don't like beef, so that's probably not fair to say the food isn't nice when I don't actually like the meat I ordered hahaha. I got it because I liked its accompaniments. Although they do do a really nice potato and leek soup, it's amazing.
And then we couldn't resist going back to re-experience the joy that was Johnny Rockets. This place practically made the September holiday when we were in Vegas. 1am sitting in our hotel room starving, eating this burger from the place that was open 24 hours, and suddenly tasting heaven. There's another restaurant in Mall at Millenia in Orlando so we went there again.
It was the Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot when we were there, and it looked spectacular. There were thousands of flowers and also topiary characters all around the park and the whole place looked amazing, and so well looked after. Then again I guess it's easier to keep all these flowers alive when it's not 30°c+ every day like it is in the summer hahaha.
Since we were only in Floria for a week, and were using guest passes, we only did the Disney parks and didn't go to Busch Gardens, Universal etc. We decided to do all of the things we wouldn't usually have time for (this is my third time at Disney World). So we did the Figment ride in Epcot, Carousel of Progress, PeopleMover… we certainly did not have enough time (in our lives) to go on the Ellen ride in Epcot. 45 minutes?! Who has time for that?! I feel like this ride is for the families that have had enough of each other and want 45 minutes of peace.
It's nice to see the lesser appreciated sections of the park, and I finally managed to get on Seven Dwarf's Mine Train, since we didn't mind queuing as we had time. Good ride, good ride.
This meal was then at Hollywood Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios. Turns out this was the sister restaurant to Tiffins, so that's how posh this one was. As you can imagine we were suitable underdressed for this one too. We only had mains here, I can only imagine because we had a late lunch. Lunch was actually in the ABC Commissary, and there was a bird in the restaurant. A cast member successfully shooed it out of the door, and it was a very precise, measured and silent operation, but successful! I actually clapped for the guy, and started an applause in the restaurant for this guy. I felt very American.
This meal though was the chicken, and there was a lot of it! Considering how little veg and mash there was, I think there was too much chicken. I can't remember what it was stuffed with. That mash stuff though tasted like cheesy mash, but had a consistency of scrambled egg. Very strange, yet very nice.
And then we finally made it to Dunkin' Donuts on the last night! Only because we practically stayed in the park until closing every single night, so never made it to DD before their closing time haha.
I had such a good time, and laughed every single day so much, I actually noticed it. It was cold though! I never thought I'd be cold in Florida since it's always been so hot when we've been in the past, and they usually get only one or two days cold days a year. Walking back to the car at about 1am and my back was practically one big knot because of how cold it was. The pool was freezing, I couldn't even put my whole leg in and I had to think about jumpers for the evenings! Not what I thought I'd have to be thinking about in Florida! It was nicely mild during the days though, which made walking round the parks much more bearable, especially Epcot, and Animal Kingdom, which is always a few degrees warmer than the other parks. We had one hot day that meant the pool heated up enough to go in, but the rest of the time it was just too cold, even for the boys so it wasn't just me being a wimp.
I've named the Facebook album Florida March 2017, because it's not a 0% chance we'll go back again this year haha…
Jordanavia :)
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