Day 14 Universal and Islands of Adventure

After a slow start and a late decision to go back to Universal, we missed breakfast.  We ended up around lunch time stopping at the Beverly Hills Boulangerie at Universal Studios sharing a couple of Breakfast Croissants. 

We were quite impressed, they tasted lovely and were a reasonable portion for park food.

Think we probably had a few snacks at the villa - trying to finish whatever was left in the fridge, plus crisps!

We decided to try the Outback Steakhouse tonight.  This was a bit difficult to find as it was hidden behind some shops just off the 192 but it was well worth searching for.

Unfortunately we didn't take pics as I had left the sd card in the netbook at the villa and Keith didn't have his phone.  Starter was obviously going to be their famous Bloomin Onion, looked a bit like this ...

Looking back at the receipt, for mains we had:
Keith - Alice Springs Chicken, Linda - 6oz sirloin, Sarah - Chicken Tenders and Stephen - Burger.   Total with drinks $83.67 (approx £53)

Day 13 SeaWorld

Unfortunately I can't remember what we had for breakfast this day (that's what happens when you leave it a couple of months before finishing off the trip report!)  I would think that we probably had something in the villa before we left as we got to SeaWorld early today.

While watching the Shamu show we bought some snacks.  Keith had some crisps (probably Lays!), Sarah had a packet of popcorn and I had a Shamu shaped pretzel - this was pretty awful - very dry and tough! Would sadly have to advise not to bother with this.  We also took a couple of frozen drinks in with us.

Whilst waiting to see if the rides reopened after the afternoon storm we stopped (I think) at the Cypress Bakery.  Keith and I shared a carrot cake while Sarah and Stephen had a slice of chocolate cake.  These were both very yummy.

The kids had both mentioned that they would like to have a chinese takeaway and stay in for the evening.  Keith isn't a big fan of chinese takeaway so we decided to pop to Berry Town Centre and get the kids a takeaway (sorry no pics but think they had rice, sweet and sour chicken and a chow mein dish).  They said it was very nice.

Keith and I decided that we would leave them in the villa while we went to the Santa Fe Cattle Co just a bit north on the US27.  Wish we had been earlier in the holiday as we would definately have returned for a second visit.

We started with the Texas Toothpicks (strips of onion and jalapenos).  These were amazing.

For mains we had a "Wagon Full".  A sharing platter of steaks, ribs and chicken plus 4 sides - think we had caesar salad, coleslaw and 2 x fries.  This was a huge amount of food, but it was fabulous and excellent value for money.  Nearly forgot to take a pic - some food already gone by the time I remembered.

No room for dessert unfortunately.
Can't find the receipt for this but have a menu which says the Toothpicks were $7.99 and the Wagon Full $29.99.  Total for food + tax (without drink) - $40.25 (approx £25).   Keith had a beer and I had a diet coke.

Day 12 food

Just going to get the writing done here - have some pics for today but will have to add them later and i'm getting too tired to wait for the pics to upload tonight.

No Breakfast this morning, although the children did finish off the Red Velvet cake from last night.  Thought we would do lunch for a change.  We have passed a few Taco Bells recently and thought we would like to give it a try.

After our crazy golf we headed back along the 192 and quickly for a Taco Bell.  It looks very similar to a McD''s type takeaway.  The menu looked quite extensive and we were well confused so in the end opted for a 10 piece mixed, and let the server choose (4 crispy tacos, 4 soft tacos and 2 burritos).  The taco's were lovely but none of us really like the bean burrito's.  When we had finished these we ordered a couple more of the Dorito Tacos, one cheezy and one cool ranch.  The children thoroughly enjoyed them and it was a good, and cheap choice for lunch.  $9.99 for 10 mixed, then about $3.30 for the extra 2 dorito ones.

As usual we ate before I remembered to take pics!

 More Lays crisps were eaten after our afternoon swim.

Dinner was back to Bahama Breeze.  This is our new favouritist restaurant!!!!  Didn't disappoint 2nd time.  We ordered 2 starters Onion Rings and Firecracker Shrimp.  Stephen had Applewood Bacon and Cheddar burger, Sarah had Jerk Chicken Pasta (lighter portion), Keith had Calypso Shrimp Linguine and I had Grilled Jamaican Jerk Chicken (lighter portion).  I am going to have to find out how to do cinnamon mashed sweet potato, altho I think it'll only be me eating it!

Firecracker Shrimp

Calypso Shrimp Linguine - another dish that Keith loved despite readily admitting he's not a pasta person usually

Jerk Chicken Pasta (lighter portion!)

Applewood Bacon and Cheddar Burger

Grilled Jamaican Jerk Chicken with mango salso and yummy yummy Sweet Potato mash with cinnamon

Although full Sarah wanted to try their Chocolate Island, so we ordered one and all four of us ate it.

nearly forgot!! Chocolate Island after we had all started to dig in!

Superb food and lovely restaurant.  Would highly recommend.  Total £98.01 (approx £61).

Day 11 food

No pics today!

We started off with breakfast at Shoney's.  Not as much selection as Ponderosa but nice food and probably better not having soo much to choose from.  I think we all had some pancakes, then some bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs etc, the had some of the cakes, donuts and fruit flans.  We haven't yet worked out why when you order an orange juice (or apple) you are given a large glass with about a pint each - nice but way too much really - but this goes for most food stuffs here really!  Total $45.40 (approx £28.30)

Dinner was take away pizza from Mia's at Berry Town Centre (just round the corner from our villa resort).  We had Chicken wings and Garlic Bread along with a 16" Italian (pepperoni, sausage and chicken) pizza.  Very reasonably priced and lovely taste.  We finished with a Red Velvet cake that we had bought earlier in Publix.
 
Apologies for lack of pictures, we must be hungry as we always remember just when there's a little bit left!! x

Day 10 food - Clearwater Beach

Breakfast was in Jimmy's Fish Bar in the Holiday Inn and Suites on Clearwater Beach. 

Keith had "Jimmy's Skillet" with Fried Potato, onion, pepper and bacon with Eggs overeasy and toast



I had an Eggery Burrito with fried potato

Sarah had bacon and sausage omelette with toast

Stephen had a breakfast quesedila with fried potatoes.

 Mid morning snack to beat the heat

Sarah had a mint choc ice cream and Keith had Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream

Dinner on our return to the Kissimmee area was at our "local" Applebees.

Stephen had a quesadilla burger, Sarah had the Cowboy Burger, Keith had Turkey and Bacon Sandwich and I had the Black and Blue burger. (sorry no pics again!)

approx £38.75

Day 9 Busch Gardens

Breakfast this morning was Cheesecake!  We were off to the coast for an overnight stop (via Busch Gardens) so the cheesecake would probably have been past its best if we had left it till our return. ;)

We had lunch in Busch Gardens Theatre/Dining area of Timbuktu.

Sarah and Stephen shared a mixed meat platter - sausage, ribs and chicken in bbq sauce

Keith and I had a chicken salad in a taco basket

These were both plenty big enough to share for lunch and were reasonably tasty.

After a quick drive round Clearwater looking for something to tempt us to eat we ended up back at the hotel and Jimmys Fish Bar.  We ordered a large pizza to share (no pics!) and then had a couple of puddings.

Sarah's choice was the utterly delicious and HUGE Chocolate Thunder cake

My choice was the deep fried banana cheesecake which was absolutely heavenly - would go back for this alone!

 

 

Approx £38.78

Day 8 Rest day and cheesecake factory

A trip to the local Publix supermarket late morning to pick up some croissants and muffins.  As we were staying in the villa most of today we tended to pick on these and crisps and any thing else we had in the fridge during the day.

Dinner tonight was the Cheesecake Factory - we had all been looking forward to this since our last visit 3 years ago.

We did have to wait about 45 minutes for a table but it was worth it.

Mine - Bang Bang chicken and shrimp - huge portion couldn't finish it :(

Sarah's Pasta with Chicken

Stephens obligatory burger! think it was a smokehouse burger

Keith also had a burger - think it may have been the mushroom burger

Selection of 4 cheesecake portions taken home!

Approx £74.38

Day 7 Islands of Adventure

Another early start - think we finished off the crisps for breakfast this morning before rushing to Islands of Adventure for our early appointment with Harry Potter.

Having ridden Forbidden Journey and a couple of rides on Dragon Challenge (it will always be Duelling Dragons to us) we headed for Jurassic Park for Brunch.

Sarah and I shared a Chicken Strip Meal and Keith and Stephen shared a burger meal. Sorry again no photos!

We stopped at Perkins for some dinner on the way back to the villa.  Really can't remember what we ate (now mid Oct!) but think me and the kids had burgers - only one photo so assuming we had the same and Keith must have had this ...

Maybe when I sort out all the receipts I might be able to find what these actually were!

Day 6 Universal Studios (food)

I know we set off and got to Universal Studios early so I am assuming we ate at the villa before leaving - probably croissants, muffins, crackers - really can't remember now, wish I had taken notes!
I also think we had some popcorn, crisps and drinks during the day but didn't have a proper meal until the evening.

Having spent most of the day in the park, we had returned to the hotel for a rest, cup of coffee and some crisps to snack on, before heading out to dinner.

I had been looking forward to trying Bubba Gumps for ages - I am the only one of the four of us who really likes seafood and I had had to persuade the others that it would be good!  Alas, can't really rave about it - food was OK but certainly not up to my expectations - perhaps they were set too high.  We ate fairly early about 5.30 so the restaurant wasn't busy but service was quite slow.

Sarah's Shrimp Shack Pasta - too much lemon, it was overpowering

My Shrimpers Heaven - OK, lots of shrimp but nothing special about any of the coatings really

Stephen had pizza - at least it made a change from burgers!

from this pic I think Keith had Forrests Seafood Feast.

 Pleased to have tried it but won't be returning on future trips.

Day 5 Eco Safari and rest day

As we were staying in the villa this morning Keith and I took a quick trip to Publix this morning for breakfast supplies.  Croissants, ham and cheese, with chocolate brownies with cream cheese topping (oh god these are good!) and choc muffins - hmm nice and healthy.  We do have some fruit in the fridge which Keith did open and ate a couple of pieces!!! (no pics!)
We ate some crisps mid afternoon after we had been on the Eco Safari ride, and Sarah had got some Alligator and Buffalo sticks (bit like pepperami sticks!).
Dinner tonight was Longhorn Steak House.  Chosen from more recommendations from The Dibb!  Wild West Shrimp for starters with jalapenos and dip.  Stephen had some bread from the bread basket.

Mains:

Sarah and Stephen both had Burger and fries

Ranchers steak - with bacon and egg

My Flat Iron Steak (no idea why its flat iron!!)

Dessert - no room!  so we decided on a Chocolate Stampede to go!  It supposed to look like this:

but ours is currently in a box with the cream and ice cream separate to eat for supper later :)  It is huge but it is supposed to be for sharing!

UPDATE - this was our supper - this is one quarter of it ...