Happy Birthday To...Me! - Day 4
30th April 2019 - Shopping, Cheesecake Factory & Yachtsman Steakhouse

After a blissful uninterrupted sleep in my new room (thank goodness for that!) I woke up feeling refreshed!

Everyone wanted a bit of a lie in this morning so we had agreed to meet at 09:00 for a quick breakfast at the Mercado de Coronado.


It was a beautiful morning and CSR looked stunning.


There is a lot of choice for breakfast at the Mercado. Bernie got some pancakes. Tig got a lovely looking breakfast bowl with eggs, spinach, tomato, potatoes. I wish I'd remembered to take a picture. I was slightly jealous of his breakfast

Lauren and I used a snack credit each on a cinnamon roll which was huge (picture doesn't do it justice) and it was warm and gooey.


We had decided that we wanted to go shopping today and the first point of call was the Premium Outlets on International Drive. We got an Uber and were planning on using the "split fare" feature which we've used in the past with no problems. Unfortunately on this trip we always found problems with this and never all managed to split it four ways (even though we all had our phones open and ready to accept the split fare) - more often than not 2 out of 4 of us managed to do it on any given trip.

When we got to the outlets we all split up for a couple of hours and agreed to meet again at 13:30.

I managed to find some bits at Lane Bryant and also at Old Navy - my favourite! To be honest if I had more space in my luggage I would have got more at Old Navy - it was one of those rare occasions where I went in and actually found loads that I liked. I also walked past the Lindt store and remembered people on the dibb often talk about deals to be had there so wandered in.


I can't believe I'd never been in here before, or even noticed it in past trips! Thanks for the tip dibbers

The sales assistant was lovely and explained you could get different amounts of chocolate for different prices and the special deal of the day was 75 lindt balls for $20!

You could choose any variety you liked, they had about 25 different flavours! To be honest I was really tempted but then thought better of it as there was no way I could eat 75 chocolates while in Florida (the sun would probably melt them anyway) and I was supposed to start my diet as soon as I got back to London so knew this would be an extra temptation if I took them back with me.

So in the end I decided to get a more sensible number of 20 lindt balls instead for $12.


Amazing deal though considering I could have got almost 75% more chocolates for only $8 more. Hopefully some dibbers can take advantage of this deal!

And I can confirm I succeeded in my mission of finishing off all the chocolates before coming back home! It's a hard life

At 13:30 I met up with the rest of the gang and we got another Uber over to Mall at Millenia. I had 2 clear missions here. Cheesecake Factory and B&BW. Possibly 2 of my favourite things in the world!

We went for lunch first and had no wait for a table. I always prefer to come here at lunchtime as it seems much easier to get a table. Anytime we've been at dinner time (regardless of whether it is a week day or weekend) there is always a wait!


Even though the restaurant wasn't super busy they originally wanted to seat us in the middle table in a row full of people. I know why they do this as they assign tables in sections based on servers, but it was a bit of a tight squeeze in and out with all the other tables around us occupied so I asked the hostess if we could have a booth instead (I love a booth!) and she said it was no problem. I definitely find that if you ask for anything, they're always very accommodating in the US.


I was looking forward to having my first pink lemonade of the holiday. This is probably my favourite drink in the US (wish they did them here!) and the one at the Cheesecake Factory is definitely my all time favourite. Love the sugar on the glass rim


I knew I wanted to have the cheeseburger spring rolls as an appetizer. I had tried them for the first time last year during my trip to the West Coast and LOVED THEM.


They were just as delicious as I remembered! Lauren & Tig tried some too but weren't as enamoured - I guess that just means more for me next time! I don't know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing!

For entrees Bernie had the lunch portion of the Miso Salmon.


Tig had the Skinnylicious menu Grilled Salmon.


Lauren had the Chicken Parmesan sandwich.


I had the lunch portion of the Chicken Piccata.


Lauren thinks she made the wrong choice as it didn't taste how she wanted it to (plus it was a mammoth portion!) but everyone else loved their food.

For dessert we shared the Cinnamon Swirl cheesecake and the Cookie Dough cheesecake between us.


Cheesecake Factory - you've done it again!

After lunch we all split up again to do some shopping and I made a beeline for B&BW. I had to really restrain myself as I knew I had limited suitcase space so only got 2 foaming hand soaps, 5 hand sanitizers and some body spray.



Incidentally I have just started using one of the foaming hand soaps which is Coconut Lavender and honestly it is life changing. My favourite ever - my hands feel soooo soft after and I love the smell!

We all met up again and got another Uber back to CSR. Time for today's installment of "inappropriate places Tig falls asleep in"


When we got back it was around 16:45 and we had a dinner ADR at Yachtsman Steakhouse at 20:30. We were talking about what we wanted to do and kept going back and forth. In the end Tig decided he wanted to go and spend some time in the Ranchos quiet pool, Lauren wanted to go back to the room for a bit of a rest and Bernie & I decided to head over to Hollywood Studios. We agreed to all meet up in the CSR lobby at 20:00 to get an Uber over to the Yacht Club.

Bernie & I agreed to just drop our shopping off in our rooms and meet back at the bus stop in 15 minutes. When I got into my room I was completely surprised to find a massive cookie arrangement left in the room!


I found a card and it was from my best friend Ro (who you might remember from my TR back in 2015)


I can't believe she went through all this trouble! I'm so thankful to have an amazing friend like her and I got a bit emotional to be honest

I met Bernie at the bus stop and told him everything on the way to HS. He knew all about it as apparently Ro had been texting him trying to arrange something for my birthday and they were wondering why I hadn't mentioned anything earlier, and then Ro had panicked that maybe something had gone wrong with the delivery as I hadn't got it on my birthday. We guessed that the whole room move-gate meant there was a delay in getting it to me.

Bernie & I knew we'd only have limited time at Hollywood Studios and had no real plan, we just wanted to soak up the atmosphere as we hadn't been there yet, and Bernie wanted to have a few go's on Star Tours. And that's exactly what we did!

While we were there we got a message from Tig who was enjoying himself at the pool.


It was a lovely few hours at HS but they did fly by and it was soon time to get the bus back to CSR so we had time to get showered and changed for dinner. We stopped by to get some PhotoPass pictures on the way out though


We got back to CSR and headed back to our rooms to get ready for dinner.


We all met up at 20:00 and took some pics while waiting for our Uber.


The Yacht Club is so lovely. We were all saying that it would be lovely to stay here (or the Beach Club next door) at some point in the future. I guess I better start saving up


We checked in at the podium and were asked to wait a few minutes at the bar next door for our table.


We waited less than 5 minutes and were taken to our table which was the very first one as you come into the restaurant. This probably wouldn't be my preferred table as there are constantly people walking through (both in and out of the restaurant and servers walking in and out of the kitchen) but I could see the restaurant was full so didn't ask to be moved.

The menu had changed slightly since last time we were here a few years ago, but our server told us that you could still choose any entree and then swap out the side for any other side if we preferred which was good to know.



Bernie, Tig & Lauren ordered some red wine and I went for the Glowtini. And then it happened. They brought out the bread and garlic I was in absolute heaven!


For entrees Bernie & Tig both chose the Filet and Lauren & I chose the Ribeye.


We all loved our steaks! They were delicious - my steak absolutely melted in my mouth!

Even though we were all pretty full by this point, we couldn't say no to dessert!

Lauren had the Creme Brulee, Tig had the Lime Semifreddo and Bernie & I both had the Yachtsman Sundae.


Again everything was absolutely sensational!

We all left completely stuffed but this was probably my favourite meal of the whole holiday. In hindsight it was a mistake to have both Cheesecake Factory and Yachtsman Steakhouse on the same day (food coma!) but it was definitely the best food day of the trip

We got another Uber back to CSR and I got back to my room just before 23:00 so pretty much crashed out - watched a bit of HGTV (Property Brothers, yay!) and then fell asleep.

It was a great day!

Tomorrow we're off to Animal Kingdom, a snack at Beaches & Cream and then to Hollywood Studios.

Thanks for reading

Day 5 is HERE.

Great day! So sweet of your friend to do that.

What a great evening you had 👍

Love the property brothers

Lovely day B&BW and Yachtsman - 2 of my favourites!

What a fab day, and lovely surprise from your friend.

Thanks so much everyone - it was such a great day. Looking back on it now I wish I could eat it all again haha

And it was SO sweet of Ro to arrange that, it was truly a (lovely) surprise!

Great day with some good shopping and lovely food

Joan