We're Doing a Sequel! Day 12 *Florida Mall, The Boardwalk, Trattoria al Forno and Symphony in the Stars!*

For the Index, click here.

For the Pre Trip Report, click here.

Today we were off to the Florida Mall to get our (my) shop on! We requested an Uber taxi via the app and were picked up from French Quarter at half 10. Our driver, Curtis, was great and was telling us he loves going to the parks and recommended we come back for the Food & Wine Festival.

We hit a fair bit of traffic on the way, and it took us 35 minutes to get there. It only cost us £18.86 though which I didn't think was too bad at all.

We hit up a number of shops at the mall including Sephora (where approximately $350 was spent - more on that later), Bath and Body Works, Macys, Hot Topic and, after spending ages trying to find it, Forever 21.



We checked how much money we had on our card when we arrived, and were shocked when we realised we were still using the money left over from our trip the year before! Absolutely crackers.

For lunch we paid a visit to Five Guys. I am so ready for the one at the Metro Centre to open because I have honestly not had enough of these burgers in my life. Two to be exact.





We wanted to stop by Pinkberry for a frozen yoghurt after enjoying it on our previous trip, but it was no longer there! Slightly disappointing, but we lived.

As usual I made a beeline for Hot Topic as they always have so much Disney stuff on the website. Alas, just like in 2014 I didn't find anything I wanted and Lewis ended up buying more in there than I did.

We decided to call it a day around 3pm, and stood outside JC Penneys requesting an Uber. The first driver (who was in the car park somewhere at the time) accepted our request but 10 minutes later still had not moved to come pick us up, so we cancelled that and requested another.

At the time of our holiday I didn't know that the Florida mall and the surrounding area wasn't the nicest place to be, but now I do know this it explains a couple of things. In 2014 when we were waiting for the bus back to Disney, at the bus stop there was a man next to us rambling on about how much he hated white people and this year a man approached us and started saying weird things that we couldn't totally understand?!

Anyway, our Uber arrived not too long after (and unfortunately so did the rain) and we headed back to French Quarter. The journey took just under half an hour and by the time we got back the rain had cleared up.

When we got back to the room we had a voicemail on the phone to say that my purchase from the Art of Disney was ready to pick up in the gift shop, so I headed down to grab that after unpacking our shopping.

This is what I bought from Sephora and Macys.



Lewis also purchased a bottle of Givenchy Gentlemen only, which I think was around $80. So I spent around $270 in Sephora



I also topped up my antibacterial gel collection in Bath and Body Works along with a candle & hand cream, and bought some pyjamas in Forever 21. Lewis bought a couple of t-shirts from Hot Topic.



While we had a pretty good haul, we've decided to skip the mall this year. I've heard they're opening a Sephora in Disney Springs, and I can always do my Bath & Body Works shopping online. So it gets us an extra Disney day

We took part in an afternoon of doing nothing before heading out at 6pm for our reservation at Trattoria al Forno on the Boardwalk.







There was a bit of a wait for our table when we arrived. While we were waiting, a woman and her family came in and were having a right complain because they were 3 hours late for their reservation and couldn't be seated because there were no available tables? She kept going on and on about it but left around 20 minutes later realising she was getting nowhere.

When we were seated we were brought some ciabatta bread and what I believe was parmesan to go with it.



Lewis ordered from the wine menu, but as the list is so comprehensive I don't for the life of me remember which one he ordered. I'll have to ask him to see if he remembers! I ordered a peach bellini.



When it came to ordering our food, I had decided that I wanted the smoked prosciutto, potato, rosemary and mozzarella pizza. However our server mentioned that the pizzas are actually intended as a starter and not as a main course as they're only small? I went ahead and ordered it anyway, and Lewis went for the chicken breast alla parmigiana.





The pizza was not small (around the size you're given when you order pizza in the UK) but it was really nice. Lewis' portion was fairly large and he enjoyed it too. We're planning on going back this year so I might opt for that this time!

We both had the Piedmont Hazelnut Chocolate Cake for dessert and it was delicious. The dessert size was not overly generous but it was large enough, especially after a filling main.



We paid for our food using our dining plan credits, paying extra for the drinks. I think we left a 20% tip as our server was lovely.

A stroll along the Boardwalk was on the cards afterwards, as we'd been here for a week and a half and we hadn't yet paid a visit to the Boardwalk Bakery, which we loved so much last time. Once I'd clocked the carrot cake in the case I felt like I was the human embodiment of the heart eyed emoji and had to get it. We used a snack credit for it





We wanted to catch the Symphony in the Stars fireworks from outside Hollywood Studios, and they were due to start half an hour after we left the bakery, so we caught the friendship boat from the Boardwalk over to the park.



While we were waiting for the boat, Lewis was checking our Trattoria al Forno receipt and asked me if it was a signature. I told him no, it was definitely just standard table service and he told me we'd been charged 4 credits for the meal!

I popped into the park to use the loo and I'm glad we weren't planning on watching the show from inside - it was rammed! Actual wall to wall people.

We shared the carrot cake while we waited and it was the greatest carrot cake I've ever eaten. The frosting was amazing, and it just melted in the mouth. And now I'm craving it again



The fireworks started at 10pm and the view was great. There weren't many people standing around where we were and, whilst the music wasn't as loud, we got to see them in all their glory. It really was a spectacular show!









Once it had finished we headed straight to the front of the bus queue and got on the first bus back to French Quarter. I feel like if we had watched the fireworks from inside the park it would have taken us far longer to get back!

When we got back, Lewis popped to reception to get the dining credits situation resolved. They happily refunded our two credits when they saw that they'd been used within minutes of each other (our server was having issues with her machine so I imagine that's how we got charged twice) and we were back to 6 credits remaining. We called it a night after that as we had an 8am reservation at Be Our Guest in the morning!

Tomorrow: Be Our Guest Breakfast, Magic Kingdom, Trader Sams, Ohana then back to Magic Kingdom!

I've still never been to Florida Mall! Good haul you got there!

Sounds like a lovely meal and great idea to watch the fireworks from outside the park!
X

Great day! Love your Sephora haul!

A good haul👍

I can't wait to go to Sephora. Would you be scared to use Uber on your own? I'd like a shopping day without DH & the kids but I'm a little unsure of Uber!

That pizza looks ace! 😊

If I'm honest I don't really rate the mall that much, but I love Sephora! It was definitely a great spot to watch them, it was so quiet outside the entrance x

Loads of the stuff is still going strong too!

Thanks!

If you're comfortable using any taxi company on your own then I'd say go for it. Personally I don't even like getting into a taxi by myself in the UK let alone in a different country, but I certainly felt safe the whole time using Uber. There was a bit of a language barrier with one of our drivers (who took us back to Downtown Disney from Universal) as he didn't speak English, but it just made for a nice quiet ride back. Hope this helps!

It was really nice! Not too salty either which I find is quite common with prosciutto pizzas

Another great day .

I am ridiculously excited about make up shopping when we go, your haul looks great!

Nice day.

Another lovely day, dying to see your picture. The fireworks look great, we definitely need to walk along the Boardwalk. (When is Five Guys opening?)