A Magical Almost Valentine's Day Quickee Trip Report - Update 6/23

Flossbolna

Sea days are just so relaxing!
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
This is not your typical “family travels to WDW, stays there for a week” trip report. This is a bit different and has elements in it from WDW, DVC, Universal and Miami.

To understand why this is, first a bit of an introduction of the two main characters:

We are a couple in our forties, Magdalene (that’s me, flossbolna here on the DIS) and
Michael (without a username on the DIS but his writing will appear in this lovely color here in this trip report). who wonders why it is important you know we are in our 40s. We have an unusual long distance relationship since I am German and live in Germany while Michael is American and lives in Southern Florida. Yes, it sounds strange, but yes, it does work for us.

We have been together for about 4 years now.
Yes, but it feels like 70 or 80. We are both pretty big Disney parks fans (which does not mean that we cannot sometime be quite critical of certain things Disney does – I am sure this trip report will give us quite some opportunity to talk about some of Disney’s recent decisions that we do not agree of. So, this is not going to be a trip report just filled with flying unicorns (I heard they now have their special drinks in the US at Starbucks…) and happiness). They did. They came and went. I only saw one attempted as they didn't have all the ingredients. It was shared by a bunch of high schoolers who were not impressed. Like me and the burgers at the Liberty Inn ... but I am getting ahead of myself as that will come in a later trip report about a prior trip. Did I lose you already? I'm sure the guy in Delaware is lost, but that's likely because well ... you know him.

Starting with my very first cruise in 2013 with Michael I have been writing trip reports about our travels together: several cruises, WDW in December, DL and California). This is going to be a bit different from my previous reports. Yes, we are going to make you laugh and cry and fill your hearts with love and joy and pixie dust. (Ok, I am not sure why Michael is setting your expectations so high, I would advise to immediately lower them back all the way down to the bottom...)

It really did not start out as a true vacation that I thought I would write a report about.

With Michael living in Florida and me living in Germany we kind of have to plan when we spend time together. I had a long trip over Thanksgiving and in early December visiting Michael and his family and then going on a cruise on the Fantasy and ending the vacation with a long stay at VWL where I became an Annual Passholder thanks to some strange Disney accounting (yes, Disney really undercharged me) which made it suddenly affordable to change my 14-day UK unlimited ticket into an AP.


A truly up-and-down trip that you will all get to read about in January of 2020. Too bad we can't provide future trip report construction walls to keep you gasping in suspense for the wonders of future adventures!


But sometime in the early fall I had come across some really amazing air fares for early 2017 and Michael and I had talked about how much I would like to escape the grey winter here in Germany. I looked at timing at work and was able to take 10 days off in late February to use that cheap airfare. While we missed Valentine's Day by a couple of days, it still felt like it was close enough for us to call this our Valentine's Day "date". Originally we had thought that we would maybe escape to the Keys for a couple of days or so, but mainly the purpose of the trip was to just see each other.


And visit the outlet mall as all Germans do!


Then DVC announced that they were going to offer events at all the WDW parks throughout the year and it turned out that the first event was going to happen during my 10 days in Florida. As a DVC member I really wanted to take part in this event. With that plans changed and we knew we would spend a couple of days in Orlando instead.


I love free stuff. After all the dollars and euros we have given the Mouse over the years, I want whatever I can get back!


So, getting the AP then really made sense since I knew I would be back soon anyway.

And then a friend of ours, who worked at Universal Studios, offered us free tickets to go there for a day. And somehow then the plan of a couple of days turned into three nights in Orlando. And Michael’s mother and brother decided to join us and friends of Michael with their 6 year old son came to Orlando as well to meet up with us. So, we ended up with quite a group.


People love being with an international supercouple. We can't help it. Not our fault that we're spectacular.


After some long searching for hotels which was not easy for the week after Presidents’ Day and the weekend of the Princess Half Marathon, we all ended up booking rooms at Cabana Bay Beach Resort at Universal. They were offering some really good Florida Resident rates there during our stay and I was lucky to be traveling with Florida residents!

We really struggled booking something at first and settled on a nice timeshare resort very close to WDW that we all could share. But then we were able to get a suite at Cabana Bay on the Team Member Red Carpet rate, which is $50 a night, and add a regular room at the FL resident rate, which was about $130. A no-brainer. CB is wonderful and much nicer than the WDW value motels. In most ways it is nicer than the WDW moderates as well for far better prices. And, yes, it has plenty of magic.

So, this trip report will be a short one just with a few chapters on the different things we did during our stay in Orlando, but also our one day excursion to Miami Beach. I hope you will enjoy reading about it!

I hope you do too. If you do, then it's because of me. If you don't, then blame the Bavarian. ... Also, I can't help but think we still owe a report about that January 2016 winter trip to Europa and DLP before my memories fade and I can't add the amazing 9,654 words of substance that I do on average. He fails to mention the amazing picture book I recently made for him of our Panama Canal cruise. That cost me nearly as much time as writing a trip report...

Up Next: Southern Florida Adventures
 
Southern Florida Adventures

We start with the flight to Southern Florida and then the adventures in Southern Florida.

I was trying a new airline for this trip. Usually I like flying Lufthansa, but I also have flown with Air France. This time I was booked on Swiss. Since they are in the Star Alliance with Lufthansa, I was keeping to my favorite network, but for a change I was connecting in Zurich. This all went very well. And I was soon on my plane to Miami.
No complaints. You could have been on United!

I was flying on an A330 and this one was the strangest planes I have ever seen. The whole cabin was very dark. The seats themselves were a brownish color and the backs of the seats (like where your tray is and such) was nearly black. While it kind of made the cabin look less roomy, I found it to actually be quite a calming atmosphere, especially on the flight back.

I flew them a few years ago back from Germany and was quite impressed. I don't recall the cabin being dark at all. But who knows? They are modernizing quickly and added six 777s to the fleet last year and are redoing interiors on their A340s. And we might have some flights on them coming up to exotic locales ... like Paris and Shanghai. You forgot Tokyo there...

I had a good view of the last bit of Europe:

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We got two meals, the first one was actually a choice between chicken and a vegetarian meal. I liked that. I am not a vegetarian, but sometimes I prefer vegetarian over meat. The option was couscous with a vegetable stew and it sounded good to me, so that is what I got:

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During the flight you could get snacks and drinks from the galley. I liked it that they did not just have bags of pretzels, but also real mini sandwiches.

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This was one was roast beef and was really tasty! They also had cheese on offer. They were actually freshly made by the flight attendants. I saw one of them putting together the tray before she put it out and I took the one that you see above.

Sounds just like UAL!

They also came round with some ice cream bars at some point and regularly came through offering water. The flight route took us from Switzerland over France to the Southwestern part of England, then over Ireland and then over Eastern Canada and we kind of turned southward rather far inland. Most of the time the flight would hug the Eastern coast of North America, but this time we were far more inland. Which gave us some interesting views. For example these mountains:

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I think this was around when we were above Washington D.C. I thought they looked quite impressive from up in the air!

I must have missed that we have mountains in D.C. ... I wonder if those were a bit west! Well, if you are 30.000 feet up in the air "a bit" west is actually very close to where you are... Yes, I am sure these were west of D.C.

Next we were served the official “snack” for the flight, which was more a light meal. It consisted of pizza and cake!

The pizza arrived in a box that was quite hot:

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Once you had opened it, it was a calzone pocket:

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Surprisingly, it was actually really quite tasty! I thought it was a nice change from the usual airline food.

When we got down to Florida, the route then took us out just off the coast and I had a perfect view over the whole of Florida all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. It really was very beautiful, especially since the sun was about to set there in the West and there were a million reflections off of all the water that is in Florida. I took a lot of pictures, but this is the best one:

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The amazing thing was that you could tell where there was still nature and where there was civilization. Not by the amount of water on the surface, but by the way it was distributed. As soon as there was a city (Orlando was the most obvious there), the water surfaces were suddenly everywhere, but they were tiny and parceled up. In more rural areas, you had large lakes and then forest.


Orlando is in the process of being totally paved over. What happened down south here from the 80s on has been going full tilt in the WDW area since the early to mid 00s. What has developed behind the MK truly makes me want to cry. All the open space is gone and urban sprawl backs right on up to the park. Blessing of size? Hah. Maybe in 1987. Not now.


We landed in Miami just on time (maybe a little early even) and I was very lucky at immigration. They now have everyone who is traveling without a visa (and Germans qualify for visa free entry) to get in line for the automated kiosks. That line for those took about 15 minutes. At the machines the machine scans your passport, then takes your finger prints and your picture and you have to answer a number of questions (mainly the same ones as on the customs form). Then the data is being checked and depending on the result you get a print out with your crappy picture and a symbol. I think I got a circle. You then go to an official who sorts you into a line depending on your symbol. Nearly everyone (including most Americans) was sent into another really long looking line. However, for some reason or another, I was sorted into a different, much shorter line. So, I just had two people in front of me, then handed the print out to the immigration official who looked at it briefly and wished me a good stay in the US. That was it. I have no idea why I qualify for the speedy line.
I talked to some people. The same happened last time. Unfortunately, I managed to damage my passport on the way home, so I had to apply for a new one. I am afraid that having a new passport might change my status from speedy line to long line. I will see in the fall…

I quickly picked up my luggage and met up with Michael, who was happy that I had made it into the country! And I managed to change my SIM card in my phone this time without losing the German SIM card in the process…
I was also happy you didn't have to wait for me unlike in November when they said your flight was over 30 minutes later than you actually arrived. I guess then you were also at fault for me losing my SIM card while waiting for you...

The next “big event” for me was that I actually got to spend some wonderful hours on my own at the Sawgrass Mills Outlet Mall.


I thought you were going to say your first meal at a Panera Bread. I guess I don't know you at all.
Totally forgot about that meal. It was very tasty! I cannot believe that this was the first time I ever tried that restaurant!

Sawgrass Mills is the largest Outlet Mall in the US and it is fairly close to where Michael lives. I had visited numerous times before with Michael. But dragging a man around when you want to do serious shopping is kind of counter productive (despite Michael being the most patient shopper I know). So, one of my goals for this visit was to just hang out there on my own. I had a lot of fun doing that. I did not buy that much in the end, but picked up a lovely scarf at the Disney outlet and some shorts. And I saw something totally bizarre:

IMG_2759_zpsdmnljh6h.jpg


I guess these are for dogs… First of all, who wants their dog to wear this? And then I was particularly amused by the blatant trademark plagiarism! Adidas is a local company (about 25 miles from where I live) and I once worked in the field of trademarks. So, I had to take a picture of this!!

I promise, it will get more interesting now! We spent one day visiting Miami Beach. First we had lunch at a the Yardbird a Southern cooking restaurant (that’s what they call themselves). It is a bit of a hip place and we were there for their weekend brunch time. It looked crowded, but they had a table for us.

Beautiful people belong on SoBe and, obviously, we fit the bill. I had heard great things about this place from friends and even my mother, so it was an easy choice.

Since it was brunch the menu had different things. We decided to split two items between us.

The first one was freshly made biscuits with crispy chicken and pepper jelly:

DSC04989_zpsqtkmoq5e.jpg


This was very good, but rather small. They kind of were fried chicken sliders. Ordering this was kind of a compromise as I really wanted fried chicken. But the real fried chicken dish was really large and our server said that it she would recommend to share it between two people. Neither Michael nor his brother who was along for the meal were interested in sharing with me. So, I saw those and thought they might be a good substitute. And while they were delicious, I was a bit sad that I did not get the fried chicken as the chicken was really good in our little sliders!!
You know we're going back! Yes, and you will still not be wanting to share the fried chicken with me...

Michael and I also shared the Low + Slow Smoked Chicken Salad with avocado, fried cornbread, capers and house made buttermilk ranch dressing:

DSC04988_zps1vmdkupx.jpg


It was stacked incredibly high and very densely packed. At the bottom was a fairly large slice of fried cornbread that was still warm. It was a bit of a mess to share. But this was one amazing salad!!
I still fantasize about it. That cornbread was so YUMMY!!!

They do have a big thing about all their bourbon there and they have some fancy cocktails which I could not resist and Michael decided to join me. So we ordered a drink each:

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I think one of them is the Blackberry Lemonade: made with Buffalo Trace bourbon, fresh lemon and cardamom this punch is tart and bitter with just the right amount of sweetness. The other drink is the Southern Peach: a cocktail fit for the front porch made with Wild Turkey 81, Aperol, fresh lemon & thyme with white peach puree & sweet tea. If I remember correctly, I had the the Southern Peach.

Drinks were great as well. And they do a bit of the hard sell on them because that's how you build a check. But they at least do put alcohol in them, unlike many drinks at WDW.

Since it was brunch there was some more breakfast like food on the menu as well and in that section we had seen something that sounded like it could be a good dessert option: Maple-Glazed Bacon Doughnut. Since it was singular, we were concerned that it might be a tiny portion, but our server told us that it was definitely shareable. So, this is what we got:

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There were 4 doughnuts in the pan. They were warm and fresh and had lots of very good bacon bits sticking on them. In the little silver pot was some additional glaze or so. Not just maple syrup, more like liquid fudge. It was really good!!

So, all in all lunch was a big success! It is a bit on the pricey side, but you pay for location (Miami Beach) and the atmosphere. Which was really quite fun:

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After lunch we walked to the beach though Lincoln Road Mall. This is a really nice street that is just pedestrian with lots of fun shops, but also quite a few tourist trap like restaurants. There was a market going on and it was nice to explore.

I love it down there, but don't go much at all anymore. It is close relatively speaking and without traffic I can get down there in 40 minutes. But when there is traffic, it is a nightmare. No different from when I lived in 90210 and would head to DL. Sometimes, it could take hours to travel the 30-something miles down. ... And then I could make it back to the apartment in 28 minutes! So, I'm sorta over SoBe unless it is for special occasions like having M in town.

It was a little overcast and because it was the weekend it was quite busy at the beach:

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The weather was also lovely. It really was like that for most of M's visit. February can be iffy here in paradise. But when it is nice, it is perfect. Not like now when it is already 90 degrees and humid and buggy and ...

But we still enjoyed our time there and walked quite a long stretch all the way to the southern end of South Beach:

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And while we were getting close, we started seeing the first cruise ships pulling out of the Port of Miami:

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It was really quite impressive to see how tall these things are when you are standing at the beach and they are coming by.//I think we saw four leave. Only one that I had ever been on.//

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The Southern tip of South Beach seems to be fairly newly developed and there was quite a nice park there. And of course some impressive buildings:

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Up Next: A Rainy Day
 
I'm looking forward to reading about the trip that we *almost* got to meet up!

Yes, and you will still not be wanting to share the fried chicken with me...

I've got one word for you....leftovers....fried chicken reheats quite well, I did it just this last week!

It was stacked incredibly high and very densely packed.

I thought that "stacking" went out in the 90's!

Maple-Glazed Bacon Doughnut.

These seem to be all the rage now.
 
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Following along.

Good that you had a nice flight and through immigration quickly.

Lunch looked really good. I think its weird that they are putting bacon on everything these days but I have to admit those donuts looked pretty good.

Nice pics of the beach and cruise ships. I have been to Miami a couple times to leave on a couple cruises but its been a few years.
 
I think we were staying at Cabana Bay the same time as you!
I do love that place. That and Port Orleans are tied for my favorite themed hotels.
 
I'm here! Thanks for the heads-up!

We have been together for about 4 years now. Yes, but it feels like 70 or 80.

This is either a great or a terrible sign. I can't tell.

They came and went. I only saw one attempted as they didn't have all the ingredients. It was shared by a bunch of high schoolers who were not impressed. Like me and the burgers at the Liberty Inn ... but I am getting ahead of myself as that will come in a later trip report about a prior trip. Did I lose you already? I'm sure the guy in Delaware is lost, but that's likely because well ... you know him.

ZZZZZZZzzzzzz...huh? What? Did you say something?

Originally we had thought that we would maybe escape to the Keys for a couple of days or so, but mainly the purpose of the trip was to just see each other.

And visit the outlet mall as all Germans do!

How romantic!

And then a friend of ours, who worked at Universal Studios, offered us free tickets to go there for a day.

You guys have friends in all of the right places.

No complaints. You could have been on United!

:scared1:

I am not a vegetarian, but sometimes I prefer vegetarian over meat.

I'm quite certain I have never uttered this sentence.

Once you had opened it, it was a calzone pocket:

That sounds much better than the standard bag of peanuts.

This was very good, but rather small. They kind of were fried chicken sliders. Ordering this was kind of a compromise as I really wanted fried chicken. But the real fried chicken dish was really large and our server said that it she would recommend to share it between two people. Neither Michael nor his brother who was along for the meal were interested in sharing with me. So, I saw those and thought they might be a good substitute. And while they were delicious, I was a bit sad that I did not get the fried chicken as the chicken was really good in our little sliders!! You know we're going back! Yes, and you will still not be wanting to share the fried chicken with me...

This sounds like a serious issue!

So, all in all lunch was a big success! It is a bit on the pricey side, but you pay for location (Miami Beach) and the atmosphere.

Sounds like a great spot. I'll have to keep it in mind!


Couldn't agree more.
 
Finally had some time to mosey back here and read the rest of your flight/arrival day. I've not ever flown Swiss, but they look pretty comparable food and spacewise to Lufthansa or the UAL overseas flights.

I"m sure Michael was THRILLED to see you again! I"m so glad you could celebrate Sweethearts Day albeit a couple of days late. :love:

Mmmm Panera! Pricey for the food, but still delicious in my book.

Yes, I'd imagine the cruise ships did look humongous. I think I"d have been rather impressed as well.
Anyway, finally subbed in here and can at least get notifications even if it is harder right now to keep up.
 
I'm here :) sounds like a super fun medley of a trip. I really want to stay at Cabana Bay Beach Resort, the pictures look too cute.

Fantastic you were able to change your ticket to an AP :hyper:

The plane ride sounds super smooth and yummy food, and immigration being that smooth is amazing!
 
I just found the link to this and I am checking in.

Yes, but it feels like 70 or 80.

Oh dear, I think somebody may be in trouble.

A truly up-and-down trip that you will all get to read about in January of 2020.

I am looking forward to this, even if I have to wait until 2020.

Then DVC announced that they were going to offer events at all the WDW parks throughout the year and it turned out that the first event was going to happen during my 10 days in Florida. As a DVC member I really wanted to take part in this event.

That is great that this worked out like this.

And then a friend of ours, who worked at Universal Studios, offered us free tickets to go there for a day. And somehow then the plan of a couple of days turned into three nights in Orlando. And Michael’s mother and brother decided to join us and friends of Michael with their 6 year old son came to Orlando as well to meet up with us. So, we ended up with quite a group.

I love it when trips evolve and become even better.

But then we were able to get a suite at Cabana Bay on the Team Member Red Carpet rate, which is $50 a night, and add a regular room at the FL resident rate, which was about $130.

That really is a bargain.

I was flying on an A330 and this one was the strangest planes I have ever seen. The whole cabin was very dark. The seats themselves were a brownish color and the backs of the seats (like where your tray is and such) was nearly black.

I quite like the A330s, but this seemed like an odd colour scheme.


That actually looks pretty tasty.

The first one was freshly made biscuits with crispy chicken and pepper jelly:

DSC04989_zpsqtkmoq5e.jpg

Oh, I would have loved this.


It amused me that you had photos of this ship on the last trip report and now on this one.

Corinna
 
Caught up.

But dragging a man around when you want to do serious shopping is kind of counter productive

I saw a sign recently that said something like, "Shopping with your husband is like hunting with the game warden".

And then I was particularly amused by the blatant trademark plagiarism! Adidas is a local company (about 25 miles from where I live) and I once worked in the field of trademarks.

Do you think they may have been marketed by Adidas? I wonder what was on the label. It's so blatant I doubt that a knockoff could have gotten away with that.
 
I promise that I will be back with replies and finally a new update soon!! (Hopefully tonight!) I really have to move on as the next adventures is going to start soon: Michael and I are going to Shanghai and Japan (where we will also visit the respective Disney resorts there). I have decided to join the Twitterverse in order to post a few pictures from this trip. If anyone wants to follow along, send me a PM and I will let you know my twitter name.
 
I'm interested, very interested to be precise.

:welcome: Karin!

I'm looking forward to reading about the trip that we *almost* got to meet up!

:welcome: Alison! I hope that the next time I am in Florida we can make it work that we can drop the *almost*!

I've got one word for you....leftovers....fried chicken reheats quite well, I did it just this last week!

:idea:

I never think in terms of left overs as this is so uncommon here. I think that that would work great though!

I thought that "stacking" went out in the 90's!

Might be the retro charm of the restaurant?

These seem to be all the rage now.

Yes, I saw that you posted about bacon donuts on another thread.
 
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Following along.

:welcome:

Lunch looked really good. I think its weird that they are putting bacon on everything these days but I have to admit those donuts looked pretty good.

I like bacon a lot, so the trend works for me! :goodvibes But I agree that it seems like bacon is one of the in foods right now.

Nice pics of the beach and cruise ships. I have been to Miami a couple times to leave on a couple cruises but its been a few years.

I have left Miami on a cruise ship twice, so it was fun to see the other perspective.
 

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