The previous day, our Wedding, is HERE

Day 8 Wednesday 18 November

I meant to post this at the end of the previous day– the view was just lovely at night



We woke up with the realisation we had gone a whole day without shopping so plans were made to immediately rectify that state of affairs. Shocker

Oh yes, we also woke up as Mr and Mrs, it was really weird . Its like everything has changed but nothing has changed if you see what I mean. Andy took every opportunity to call me Mrs A or “ my wife” all day and it made me laugh every time he did.

Our stay at the Yacht Club had come to an end, it had really added something special to the big day and I am so grateful and appreciative to Disney for the upgrade and the way they treated us so well. It was wonderful.

We packed everything up – putting all the wedding gear into separate bags so that we could drop them off at the hotel on the way to our next stop at Universal. It was around this point we found that our cake topper had broken in half with being squashed into the cake . Sad face.

No pics of breakfast but we had it in the Club lounge. I had a bowl of oatmeal, bagel , bran muffin and some pastries, including a truly scrummy cheese Danish – nom nom.

Andy had the most odd combo of bagel, Philly cheese and cold boiled egg. Didn’t get it myself but he liked it.

He also had pastry envy and snaffled some of my cheese Danish too.
It was busy but the food was plentiful and we were not in a rush. We had some fast passes for a bit later and as it still looked cold , we were not mega keen to set foot outside.

Andy thought we should go straight back to the Rosen Inn , drop off the wedding gear, get our jeans and jumpers (!) and come back to Epcot. I wasn’t keen , given we could walk to the park and it seemed daft to go up to I drive, come back to WDW and then back to Idrive for Universal.

I went to check out and pay for yesterdays breakfast while Andy took the cases to the car, Happily the sun peeped out so he declared he would be ok to walk round in his shorts as it wasn’t that cold (oh, famous last words)...

He also made quote of the holiday “ did you know we could get a bus to Magic Kingdom from here and then we could get the monorail to Epcot? “

Er, yeah, we could, or we could just walk round the corner.

I did try very hard not to roll on the floor laughing. Priceless, bless him.

The Christmas display had appeared overnight . Fabulous detail













It had been a leisurely start to the morning and yet incredibly it was only 9.30 so the park had not long been open. We set off in some lovely sunshine






Its just so beautiful here







Andy was genuinely amazed at quite how close the park was !



We soon realised that whilst it was nice in the sunshine, it was still blinking chilly in the shade so this could turn out to be a really quick trip









When do you ever see WS this empty ! When its not open of course



It looked deceptively warm …



Post box hugging – I think its like the older man’s version of planking, but safer





The tree was quite splendid





Arty bird legging it away from hardy/mad Englishman in shorts











The timing of our fastfastpasses were not fantastic as they would see us here till gone 1.30

The park looked empty so we were a bit shocked to see that standby for Test Track was already at 45 minutes.

We had a FP for Soarin at 1210 but we decided to risk the 25 minute standby line so we could get away earlier.

It wasn’t 25 minutes though it was 40 , and we spent the whole time behind a total brat so it felt like 4 hours. It is the most boring queue area ever !

We had the middle row, not the best, but we still loved it, and it brought back happy memories of our West Coast trip.

Remember Andy is in shorts, look at everyone else ..



We had come over to MS to use our fast passes( it was now 1045).

Andy wanted to do orange but I am definitely a Green person, given that orange made me feel really unwell last time I tried it. I ended up in a pod of two with a lady from Boston and we had a real laugh.

I was surprised to find Andy waiting for me but he said at the last minute he had terrible claustrophobia as the harness came down and they had to let him out. Really odd, never happened before.

We thought about going on Spaceship Earth but it was a 25 minute wait standby , our fast pass wasn’t till 1.20 and it was increasingly more cold than sunny so we decided to walk back to the Yacht Club the long way round World Showcase.

Of course, as we are at the farthest possible point, the sun decided to completely disappear and it just became plain cold.

Brrrr, look at the cold water !








I was a bit disappointed at the lack of decorations but we found a few in Germany



As we passed Frozenland, I mean Norway, I declared I must have schoolbread from the Kringla Bakery.

There were lots of yummy things on offer







And i think the schoolbread may have been a duff choice for us looking back at the other goodies !



I cant repeat Andys intial assessment of it - very un Dibb like but he did say to point out this opinion improved a bit as he finished it
The creamy stuff is nice as is the coconut - I am sure I detected ginger as well.The issue was the bread - it was just plain old stale and not very nice at all

Wont be on my must do list next time

We stopped at China, always find this one so fascinating











We saw the flag dudes come out at Italy, they looked thrilled to be out in their tights in the freezing cold





Continuing yesterday’s theme – nice pavement ...



I cannot tell you how cold it was by now



Arty Ball shot



I think we were on quite a fast march now, but a quick divert into Japan as we just had to see “ lucky number 7” , its just so great and we had a very enthusiastic lady today. It was good fun. Its so beautiful around this area.



Poor Andy was really cold by now so we called it a day and walked back to the Yacht Club to pick up the car.

We were soon on our way and dropped off our wedding bags at the Rosen Inn, Picking up our outfits for the photoshoot the next day so still having more baggage than ideal for a two night stay !

This must have been around 1pm as my trusty notes tell me we were at Five Guys in the Premium Outlets by 1.30

It was quite busy – I ordered a Cheeseburger with no toppings – and got a plain burger with onions.

Andy ordered a plain burger with all the toppings humanly possible and got a Cheeseburger so neither order was right.

We also had a Sprite that taste just of soda water. It was Andys first try at a Five Guys and probably his last , the burger was nice but he just wasn’t impressed with the wait and the order being wrong

Again my notes tell me we were here longer than I expected ( a quick nip in turned into two hours)

It appears jumpers and long sleeved polos were purchased in Lacoste for the princely sum of $24 a piece ( modelled by Andy in the Universal photos shortly).

I bought these in the Disney store for $5 each



And my favourite pooch, Frankenweenie for $7



I bought some jeans for Jamie in Levis ( $35) and I bought a hoody and two pairs of jogging bottoms in Aeropostale ( $47 for all three, one pair of the bottoms were only $7, the hoody and other pair were on a $20 normal price)

Andy also went back to Lacoste as they were putting out some trench style jackets and he picked one up that had retailed at $450 and was on sale for $42 – yes, $42 for a wool jacket , crazy bonkers . I was very envious as it looked soooooo warm !

So a bit later than planned and laden with more bags



we pitch up here .







It all looked very nice. I had put on the reservation that it was a honeymoon stay but that didn’t appear to have made it on to the booking as we didn’t get a congratulations. I found check in to be really lacklustre ( and bell services) .

I then learned some lessons in reception speak ( akin to that estate agent speak that is often commented on )

“ Your room has a lovely patio and view” – this means “your room is the only one on that stretch that in fact does not have a patio and has no view as there is a bleddy mahoosive tree trunk obscuring the majority of the French window”

“ Your room is really convenient for the water taxi” – this means “ your room is directly opposite the water taxi, you will hear it arrive and depart every 15 minutes as well as all the noisy people getting on and off as they will be as good as in your room”

If you are offered ground floor near the water taxi , West Wing – don’t take it.

West Wing



We trogged off with the cases and its further than you think with heavy bags across cobble stones .

I had quite high hopes but was somewhat disappointed as we approached the room to be met with the loudest air noise from a vending unit just around the corner . Fortunately the door did block it out.

I have to say I was completely disappointed with the room , the lack of view, being opposite the water taxi point. I had paid a fortune for the room as a surprise wedding present to Andy (£600 is a fortune for two nights in my eyes) and I felt really let down.

Andy said I should complain if I felt like that but I was by now so knackered from lugging the cases, freezing cold and just so disappointed that I couldn’t face moving.

I guess we got what we booked, a King waterview – but of all the rooms, this one was just rubbish in terms of its aspect. I know, if I was that unhappy, I should have gone back. I just got myself into such a stew and a strop I didn’t want to. Andy thought it was all ok and that it really wasnt going to ruin the stay. I just didnt feel it represented any " value" for money and definitely didnt meet my expectations

The room itself was just as the hotel photographs show it









In hindsight I think the cold really affected my sense of proportion.

When I booked this I had visions of sitting out enjoying the beautiful surroundings – and it is beautiful. I think I was just still in the “ holiday ruined” mode from the awful weather of the last couple of days.

Things like only being given one coffee sachet seemed really stingy for such a deluxe hotel ! Nor were the toiletries replenished. I just expected more after previous amazing stays in Hard Rock and Royal Pacific.

The theming though is stylish and just perfect


















We brave the cold and go over to the Studios around 6pm – I had hoped we would be there this afternoon but it just didn’t work out that way.

We spend some time with a really helpful customer services lady working out whether annual passes would be a good buy for us . It seems its cheaper by £88 if we upgraded to Aps rather than buying the 14 day tix again next year ( of course, we are still planning on a 2015 return visit at this point) .

We don’t get them there and then as we need to go away to do that maths that leads us to the £88

We have a wander around CityWalk, there are lots of new places to eat since we were last here.



Everywhere is very busy and we are being a bit dithery and indecisive . We stop in Pat O Briens for a drink thinking that will help us decide but the bar is draughty and cold so we are not in there very long.

As we were only moderately peckish, we ruled out a big sit down dinner and the choice came down to the burger /Sushi place ( too busy), pizza or chinese

We started off at Red Oven Pizza - it was very busy and after hanging about at the order point for 15 minutes with no sign of an order being taken and after also deciding that no single pizza quite met our requirements , we decided to follow the lead of the couple behind us who had announced they were off to Panda Express as it would be quicker, cheaper and nicer.

Quick trot up the escalators into Panda Express - very busy but fast moving. I bagged us a spot on the high tables while Andy queued.

The food was blooming delicious and given we were only peckish, we troughed the lot

I had honey sesame chicken and orange chicken $7.49



Andy had Honey sesame chicken, honey walnut shrimp and shanghai angus steak $8.98



total bill with a large soda and tax was $22.75

Simply delicious ! I could eat it all right now !

It was too cold for mooching around so we decide to make our way back, stopping for me to get a cinnabon for breakfast .

On the plus side for the room, the sofa is very comfy and I settled down to write up some notes and the bed is huge and also incredibly comfortable.

It feels like a bit of a wasted afternoon and evening – we didn’t go to the park and I am frankly being quite a judy moody moo.

We are encouraged to see on the news that some warmer weather is set to arrive so we are hopeful for our photoshoot tomorrow that it will be a nice day.

The next day is HERE

Lovely pictures in front of the Yacht Club, such a beautiful area, probably the most picturesque on Disney property, in my view. Poor Andy not having a clue where he was, bless him.

Hmmm, you can definitely spot the other Brits in shorts today.

Kringla Bakery is on my hit list for next week! Will probably give the school bread a miss now though - quite fancy the look of the cream horn (I'm sure I've read somewhere it's cloudberry or loganberry, or something along those lines, which sounds delicious).

Sounds like another successful shopping trip this afternoon, especially Andy's jacket. Sounds like the weather over the past couple of days had a bit of an influence over today's goodies!

Shame you weren't that impressed with your room at Portofino Bay. Hopefully the weather reports are spot on and some proper sunshine is on the way!

Love the photo of the view from your room, looked so beautiful.

Shame about the weather again, hopefully the weather forecast is right and you start to get some of that warm sun soon

One day we will take a proper look around World showcase, we've never been in China, it looks so interesting.

Such a shame about your room in Portofino Bay, think I'd have been disappointed for that price too. Must say that the resort does look very picturesque xx

You didn't have much luck with queuing today, did you?!

Love the Christmas display, it's beautiful. I'd love to spend a little time looking up close.

I was disappointed by School Bread too.

I laughed out loud at Andy wanting to get the bus then the monorail to Epcot. Surely you'd explained how close Epcot was a billion times before you left for your trip!?

I tried the schoolbread once and found it disappointing, still you have to try these things once. Portofino Bay looks lovely even if your room wasn't the best location, I'm checking prices for our October trip.

Sorry you were disappointed in the room, shame for so much money.
I am sure moody Judy goes with Randy and the photoshoot!

I think a day off from shopping on your Wedding day is allowed!

It really does look like it was so cold. I love that Andy thought the best way to get to Epcot was to get a bus to MK then the monorail! Brilliant!

What a shame about the location of your room at Portofino and that they did not mention your honeymoon. The room looks lovely though the bathroom photo threw me a bit as often the sinks are 'outside' the bathroom and the pic looked like the toilet was completely open!

Your dinner looked so good and what great value.

Hope you are having a fab time out there !
Yes the Boardwalk is so picturesque, I cant help but take loads of pics !
We were getting quite fed up of being cold by now and I just refused to buy a coat - I have more than enough of them at home but Andys jackets really were an absolute bargain. I was underwhelmed all round by Portofino which is shame. I think maybe Disney had just spoiled us too much !

Hi Julia, I love World Showcase, we always find something new each time and there are still loads of the acts that we havent seen. It is much better in the warm though. Portofino is a very gorgeous resort in its theming, some really nice touches.

Yes we really lucked out with queues today - which just surprised us given how empty the park looked ! It was nice that each day another little bit of Christmas appeared somewhere - the display had so much detail. Yes, rolls eyes, I had pointed out many times that Epcot was but a hop, skip and a jump away ... it really was a priceless moment

Hi Judy, yes, both here, the board walk bakery and croissant moon we made the worst choices - all those yummy options and we picked the driest things on offer. Just rubbish. PBH is stunning and I imagine in the summer its lovely to sit out. It just didnt quite meet my expectations

It was a shame, I did feel that I have massively overpaid for what we had to be honest. Moody Judy was all gone by the next day

Happily we did see some sun, not much, but enough to make our last couple of park trips quite nice. Last day was rained off though, boo. Thanks for reading along.

It was cold, not as cold as the day before but definitely coat wearing weather. The room at PBH was very comfy , it was just everything else about the stay there that led me to big fat feeling of underhwelment( not a real word I know but you get the gist). Even when I passed comment at checkout about my disappointment the reaction was lacklustre ! Wouldnt stay again.