Back to the Tropics, Day VIII

 (contd.)

Day VIII

One Last Hurrah in the Sun

We definitely had ourselves a late morning on this last day of our Florida venture.  The sun was already high in the sky by the time we started crawling out of bed, still exhausted from our previous day's excursion to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom.  We were looking forward to a chill, low-key, poolside/packing suitcases sort of day.

While the kids slept in, Kris and I threw on some flip-flops and stumbled across the resort parking lot to a nearby Dunkin Donuts (which you may remember me talking about on our last vacation down here.)  Figured we'd be nice parents and surprise our kids with some frozen drinks and donuts.  When in Rome.

After the kids got their lazy asses out of bed - and were subsequently pumped full of sugar - we made our way down to the pool area to get a few more hours of sun and chlorine in our system.  Like the last time around, we didn't have much on the agenda today, this being our last, full day in Florida before our flight back to Michigan the following day.  A morning/early afternoon enjoying the pool one last time, a last-minute trip out to Disney Springs to pick up any remaining souvenirs and items any of us might want to snatch up, returning to the condo in order to re-pack up all our luggage, and getting to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour.

None of us were feeling overly energetic to dive straight into the pool quite yet - like I said before, we were all dragging a bit considering we had tackled two, full Disney parks the day before - so we just quasi- fell asleep in the sun for a bit first.

Abby - wedgie and all - passes out under a lounge chair.

After a few hours - and some much-needed showers, I will add - we prepared to set out for Disney Springs.  The girls wanted to putz around in the stores again, just to make sure there wasn't anything they had missed before (neither of them had bought very much in terms of souvenirs on this trip, despite the fact that they were rolling with much more spending money than the previous trip.)

After a not-nearly-as-painful-as-last-time experience with parking (I will say that it's far easier finding a parking spot on a weekday afternoon than, say, a weekend evening), we rode down the Lime Garage escalators and came out into the Outlets section of Disney Springs.

Still hot as f*** out, just in case you were curious.

We looked around this Ron Jon for quite some time, believe it or not. . . which is weird for our family because none of us really get down with the vibe of this place.  We love our tropics, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't really call us 'beach' or 'surf' people by any means.  In the end, no one bought anything from here, and we moved on.

Kris and I didn't really get a chance to check out the Outlets last time we were here, so we made a point of it to drag the girls around to a few of the stores (not the super fancy ones, though - none of us are buying Prada or Gucci or that kinda nonsense.)

This area snakes out in multiple directions, it's kinda confusing.

Kris checks online prices in the Levi's store (deals were better online and in Birch Run's outlets back home, so we didn't get anything here, either.)

After an hour or two of popping in and out of different name-brand stores in the Outlets - and not buying anything - we said 'screw it' and headed in to the marketplace area of Disney Springs (forget what it's called now.)

By this point in time, it was in the late-lunch/early-dinner neck of the woods, and the kids were definitely getting hungry again.  Kris was pretty indifferent, so I suggested we give Raglan Road a shot (it had been easily 15 years since Kris and I ate here last, so it was definitely overdue.)  Alayna was pretty excited about trying Irish food for the first time, so we put our name down on a wait list and headed back over to the pub's merch store next door to kill some time.

Hey look - here's this guy.

(I bet those are glued together or something.  No way that's free-standing.)

Believe it or not, we didn't buy anything here, either.  Usually I pick up a shirt, or a pint glass, or something. . . but I just didn't see anything I really wanted.  I seriously picked up, like, four things on this entire trip, I have no idea what's happening to me.

After a half an hour or so, Kris received a text saying our table was ready.  We ordered some waters and began to peruse the pricey, pricey menu. . .

I was more warm than hungry - which is honestly par for the course on trips like this - so I only had a beer.  In my defense, though, it was a 12% beer, so it sat heavy.

Alayna ordered some kinda steak/potatoes/onion rings entree that was like forty f***ing dollars, but Abby (thank God) just ordered a kid's mac n' cheese.  Now I don't mind dropping a ton of money on a nice dinner at a classy restaurant, but pushing $100 for lunch at a pub seems kinda ridiculous to me, honestly.

I do love the decor in this place, though. . .

Live Irish music.  Always awesome.

Checking out handmade prints of some kind from a local vendor, following lunch.  They have small kiosks like this scattered throughout Disney Springs, they've been a staple for the last twenty years or so.  

Kris, waiting nearby on her phone.  Probably texting.

We passed by this T-Rex restaurant like a dozen frickin' times and never once went in.  But we've eaten there before a few times, and it's nothing special - very similar in price, taste, and vibe to, say, Rainforest Cafe or something else along those lines.

This new walkway - which they must have built sometime in the last three years (because it definitely wasn't here when we were here last in 2019) - is super convenient: it cuts down the walk time from the T-Rex area of Disney Springs to the Rainforest Cafe area by, like, half.  Cuts right across the lake so you don't have to walk around it like some kind of asshole.

As previously discussed, this place has mediocre, over-priced food, but some cool atmosphere - the girls always liked poking their head inside to see the animatronic animals and the fish tanks.  And of course the merch store next door. . .

We headed into one of the designated Christmas Ornament stores from there, and picked out yet another Disney ornament for our tree so that we could properly commemorate our trip (I think we have three ornaments that serve that purpose now - a little excessive.)  After picking one out, I got into a very, very long line, and Kris took the girls next door to another store. . . where she, for whatever reason, took this picture of Abby high-fiving inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Woods.

We had stuck around Disney Springs a little longer than we had expected to, but oddly enough we had very little to show for it - not a whole, hell of a lot of shopping done on this trip compared to last time around (when we, admittedly, went a little ape-shit with the souvenir-buying.)  After several hours of walking around in the sun, we were all looking forward to maybe squeezing in one, last dip in the pool before having to begin the packing process.

Another glorious sunset over Central Florida.  Say what you will about the traffic and the urban sprawl, but you can't really compete with sunrises and sunsets down here. . .

Another frozen drink by the pool.  Because it's vacation and there are zero f***s given on vacation.

After awhile of hanging out in and by the pool, the girls went back upstairs to shower off, catch up on Stranger Things, and start unwinding (the next day - traveling back up to Michigan - is always like running a gauntlet of stress, anxiety and exhaustion.)  Kris and I stayed down by the pool and had a couple more drinks, enjoying our last evening's perfect weather. 

Kris is a big fan of the pina coladas from this Tiki Bar, they put a lot of love into her drinks (she's on a first-name basis with more than one of their bartenders, after all.)

Sunset over the Disney Parks. . .

Well, Florida was fun while it lasted, I guess. . .

- Brian

The Houghs' Return to Florida: Day VIII

(contd.)

Day VIII

Shopping, Swimming, and Social Calls

Everyone slept in this morning, which should come to no surprise to anyone seeing how we had tackled two theme parks in mid-90s weather the last two days.  We had scheduled absolutely nothing for today, knowing that we needed one chill day of swimming, relaxing, and packing before our flight back to Michigan tomorrow.  Therefore, after a lazy morning sitting around drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee and watching good ol' Channel 9 Eyewitness News, we made our way down to the swimming pool to waste away a few hours.

This pool was absolutely amazing.

There is no such thing as relaxing in a pool when you have small children.  I just wanted to get some sun and relax, but ended up having to horse around with these two for most of the morning.  Oh well.

Abby catches some air.

This was an awesome poolside beer.  I generally don't care for IPAs, but this one was pretty watered-down, with a low ABV and IBU.

(Kris copied me.  Her drink's not as cool.)

The Tiki Bar we regularly frequented for food and cocktails throughout the day.

Grabbin' some lunch.  Of course it's fried, greasy food with no nutritional value whatsoever.

Another great poolside beer.  Sours are great when it's sunny and hot out.

Cheers, ladies.

There was a bee flying around Alayna's food, so she was trying to be sneaky dipping her fries in ketchup.  Kids are stupid.

At one point, in the early afternoon, Kris went up to the room to wait and meet her old friend from Sunchild, Vickie.  Here's the girls and I from six stories up.

Vickie and Kris hung out poolside and had a couple drinks while I went back up to the room and started getting around for heading into town.

Vickie only hung out for an hour or two, then Kris brought the girls up to the room, where everyone showered and dressed for a quick shopping stint we had planned for the afternoon.

The first spot we hit up was Disney Springs. . . 

These water pools are a lot cooler than the previous drainage ditches that used to surround Downtown Disney. . .

This place definitely looks a lot different these days.

What remains of Planet Hollywood can be see off to the right, there.  Pretty sure it's closed now, but they haven't torn down the globe yet.

I had wanted to pop into Raglan Road to pick out a shirt - always wanted a shirt from this Irish pub, and had never gotten around to getting one while we lived down here.

After buying my shirt and shopping around the store for awhile, we popped in a couple places on our way back to the car.  Along the way, Alayna insisted on stepping into this Cupcake store called 'Sprinkles.'

$5 for a frickin' cupcake.  Whatever floats your boat, kid.

A Cupcake ATM Machine.  Seriously.

Back into the Outlets. . .

After Disney Springs, Kris wanted to stop off at a couple of those super-touristy, cheap souvenir stores that are all over the damn place down here.  There was one right across the street from our condo on 535, so we stopped off at that one first.

If you've been in one, you've been in them all, folks - they're all the same.

Abby pretends to drink from a shot glass.  Because she has horrible, horrible parents.

She almost bought this hat.  Probably a good thing she didn't.

After hitting up a couple of those souvenir stores (that are seriously all the same anyway), we came back to the condo, went up to the room to change back into our suits, and returned once again to the swimming pool.  After a minute or so of swimming, there was loud thunder heard in the distance, and a pool employee kicked all the kids out of the pool.  The girls were pissed.

The storm looked a ways off, and appeared to be going in the opposite direction, so we sat by the pool and bided our time.

(Our balcony is five levels up, second from left.)

While we waited for the all-clear to get back into the pool, I ordered everyone some food (and myself a rum and coke, just to be safe.)

You can't complain with prices like these, folks.

The girls made a friend with the ballsiest squirrel I have ever seen.  This little dude feared nothing.

 

I had to yell at the kids a couple times because more than once they threw a french fry at him, which obviously only encourages the vermin.

I was not a fan of that son of a bitch.

The girls rescued a bee that had fallen into the pool, and attempted to revive it on the side of the pool.  Leaves for blankets, shit like that.

I don't think I was ever this weird as a child. . .

We hung out in the pool until well past 8pm before heading upstairs to wind the girls down.  We had to be out of the condo by 11am tomorrow, and had a crap-load of packing to do still.  Definitely not looking forward to traveling home tomorrow, this trip's been a hell of a lot of fun.

To be concluded. . .

- Brian