Have airline credit, Must travel: a mostly non-Disney park August 2019 adventure (11/29/19 update)

kittylady1972

Disneyholic
Joined
Oct 20, 2003
Welcome to what I hope will be a quick trip report from our August 2019 Orlando adventure. While we stayed on Disney property, we only visited ONE Disney park and that was MK for the MNSSHP...YES in August! However we did eat at a few Disney restaurants which I'll also review here...as well as reviewing our party evening and day at Discovery Cove and two days at those OTHER PARKS nearby.

As for the title...well the reason for this trip materialized a few months earlier. We were thinking of a trip to do HHN at Universal and I knew we had some airline credits from our November 2018 trip that I had to use for 5 of us. You can't let $50-$60 in airline credit go to waste! However when I plugged in potential Sept/Oct 2019 dates the airline website informed me that those credits had to be used by AUGUST.

So...August in Florida...I ran it by the family...they were all in on it and of course let me do all the planning and just asked where and when to show up. And so we did...Aug 16th got here VERY fast and soon we were on our way!
 
DAY 1: Travel Day

I wish I could tell you life was all rainbows and unicorns for us all of the time, but the truth is we just love to get into some nice fights especially on the day of travel. This would be no exception. I can't even recall how it started, but I can tell you that once we picked up my FIL and packed up the car and headed to the airport...it was a very quiet ride due to me not wanting to even be in the same car with my husband. Good times.


Soon enough we were at the airport where my daughter and I grabbed some food while waiting and the rest of the group (my 19yo son, 15yo son, DH and FIL) also got something. Due to the fact that we used a combination of airline points and cash, and I was trying to make this trip pretty cheap, we would be connecting through the Atlanta airport both ways to/from Baltimore. This was our first time doing this as normally we just do the direct 2+ hour flight into Orlando.

As it turned out, we got into Atlanta a bit early and there was talk of a delay for our next flight to MCO. Since we had over 2 hours to kill at least, DD16 and I took a walk to stretch our legs and explore. The Atlanta airport is pretty cool...and yes BIG. We walked down to other terminals and this overhead scene was pretty cool...there was actually video projections on the ceiling of sky and birds too.

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As we were coming to and end of our walk and about to turn around we got the message about the delay. Since it was around 5pm and our flight wouldn't be taking off until after dinnertime we suggested a meal at Longhorn Steakhouse in the airport, and DH being a meat eater was all in on that plan. We decided to make it faster by hopping on the Atlanta airport "tram" back to our terminal which was near the restaurant.

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Soon we arrived and the restaurant was pretty packed making it tough for a party of 6 to find a table. We let them know we would be fine splitting up our party into 2 tables so that is what she did. Here we are at our seat...and my 19yo and 16yo at the table near us in the background.

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We also had different wait people which was fine, as we told them both kids were more than capable of ordering a meal and paying for it on their own even thought they look much younger.

We decided there was no driving in our immediate future..drinks were in order:

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Yes margarita for me and yes it was good and had a good portion of alcohol in it.

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This was from one of our flights...can't recall which one....but as it turned out the flight was only about 30 minutes delayed which wasn't as bad as originally projected.

Upon arrival at MCO, we walked over to get our rental and I chose a nice Toyota Highlander as that's what I drive at home (though mine is older and top of the line instead of basic) and we headed out to our hotel for the night.

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When we arrived we were a bit hungry. I wanted a Dole Whip from Polynesian and maybe some food from Capt Cook's there but the boys wanted wings from Evergreen's at SOG. They insist they have some of the BEST wings there. The rest of the group stayed in (my FIL and 19yo shared a room connected to ours) while DD and walked over to the Poly. Actually we caught a ride on the Shady Shuttle and had a young guy driving who just talked and talked the whole ride over. I kinda felt bad that I didn't tip him but I was having trouble finding any small bills.

DD was after one thing only at Capt Cooks...Chicken Noodle soup. She loves Disney Chicken Noodle soup for some reason. Unfortunately the Dole Whip place was already closed as it was after 10pm, so I settled for this:

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It was a bit broken...but still good. We were able to watch some of the first MNSSHP fireworks as we walked over and while we ate as well. We had our late night snacks and then walked back over to the Polynesian and hit the bed.
 
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Day 2: I'm sure the wait won't be that long!

So after a good night's rest at Shades of Green, we woke up and got ourselves packed up. We had breakfast to get to at Kona Cafe and then we were going to hit the Universal parks next.

Kona Cafe was...okay. I have to say I expected more from breakfast and though DH and I shared the Tonga Toast I really feel the quality (and quantity) has declined. I think we would have done just as well, or better, at Capt Cooks for far less money. Lesson learned I guess. The service was good and our waitress very nice and a bit flirty we thought with my 77yo FIL.

After breakfast we made the drive to Universal. We chose to pay for the "Preferred" parking since it was a Saturday but honestly...I don't think it's worth it. My AP gave us a parking discount at least. We parked and started the walk into the park.

Once at the gates, we selected Universal Resort as our park of choice as my FIL had never seen Diagon Alley yet. First and foremost we had to have our military vouchers for turned in for tickets for 3 of our group. That line took FOREVER! I swear it was easily a 30 minute wait just to turn in vouchers for tickets. The should have opened more windows for sure. My DH was debating paying for front of the line Express Passes for us but at over $1000 for that I told him I didn't think it was worth it. We knew we'd be coming back at least one more day, and a WEDNESDAY at that, so I figured we'd get everything else done that day for sure.

Tickets in hand, our first stop was directly to Diagon Alley and riding Gringott's. This is truly one of my favorite rides, I love how it's done. My FIL was in awe of the inside of the the bank and we were happy there was really no wait...we mostly walked right through but tried to take time to take it all in there. After riding Gringott's, we then decided to explore Diagon Alley a bit...and of course...the family needed Butterbeer.

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And exploring a bit...while I grabbed some ice cream for the place there that I'm not even going to try to spell. I will say I was a bit annoyed that they refused to sell me a cup. Your choices were sugar cone or upgrade to the SOUVENIR cup for an upcharge of course...and I'm not a big ice cream cone person. Oh unless you had a food issue where you couldn't have the cone. So I got the cone...and it was okay. Ice cream melts fast in Florida in August!

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We decided that was the only ride we were interested in for sure at that park, so it was time to board the train (which FIL had never done either) over to IOA.

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The family decided they wanted to do Harry Potter but I'm not a huge fan of that one and neither is DD. We sent them off on what SAID it would be about a 20 minute wait...and we went over to the restroom. As we had walked in, we noticed that Hagrid's was closed at the time. However as DD and I walked over there it had just opened back and though it posted 210 minutes I figured it had just opened...surely it would be shorter.

Ha.

We texted the family that we were getting in line and they said their line was probably going to be more like 40 minutes. Here we are in the queue:

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How exciting...we are almost inside in a few minutes...surely it much be a shorter wait.

Right?

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I think within about 30 minutes maybe we were at the preshow. Wow...not much longer right?

Wrong.

It moved slowly. And slowly. And at least one or two announcements of a delay.

Soon it was an hour.

But we passed through another room. And another. And then DD pulled up a YouTube video of the queue.

Yeah we had many rooms left.

Still we figured...what else would we be doing? There would be lines all over the park for other rides.

At about 1 hour 45 minutes we were texting the family and we heard that outside it was raining. Not that we could see that. You had no idea what was going on outside while in that castle for hours. Still at least we were waiting somewhere dry. However we were getting hungry.

Then a text miscommunication with the family as they mentioned lunch. They were talking about going on Kong since most things were shutdown due to the rain. Eventually at about 2 hours we decided to throw in the towel. Hagrids would just have to wait.

We met up with the family at Monsters Cafe for lunch and afterwards we decided to see the Hollywood Horror Makeup Show which we have seen a few times and enjoyed.

Oh on the walk over there were fish on rollerskates:

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Kids were not thrilled with this plan. While waiting in the lobby THIS guy showed up:

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I am a huge Beetlejuice fan and this guy was spot on in looks and personality. I was so happy to get a photo with him!

The kids really ended up enjoying the show (of course) and after that I think we decided to bail. Our treehouse was ready for us and we were ready for a break.

Up next: Treehouse of Dreams! :)
 
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Joining in! I've always wanted to stay in one of the treehouses and can't wait to see what you thought of it!
 
So we left Universal and drove directly to our Treehouse Villa since I had been texted the number. It was one of the first ones you come across and located at the end of the driveway was one of the two bus stops for the villas.

This was I believe our 3rd stay in a Treehouse Villa and we were really looking forward to having all of the space.

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The middle and youngest kid claimed the bunk bed room:

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having already decided that their older sibling snored too much and would be best having the sleeper sofa or couch.

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The kitchen is just wonderful here. DH and I clamed the bedroom to the right of this...which gave us THIS view:

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As you can see in the distance is the boat dock. And here is our treehouse from the boat:


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This was an amazing location and that view was just fantastic.

We settled into our rooms, did some unpacking, then headed to the front desk because my FIL had neglected to bring a magic band with him and since I failed to order any of them...or decline them...I knew there would be 6 gray ones at the front desk.
Also none of the four magic bands I brought were working...and neither were DH's...but the kids all had working bands.

So we went to the front desk and got the bands and had our reprogrammed for the doors. After that we decided to just hit the market there and pick up a few items for breakfast. I didn't see the need to head off site to do a big shopping trip when really we just needed breakfast items so we picked up eggs, milk, cereal, bacon, ham, cheese...and two bottles of wine...to go with the cheese of course.

We returned back to the room to settle in and then everyone was hungry. We headed back over to Artist Point but there really wasn't anything my daughter and I were interested in eating there. So the boys had some food and we just waited for them to finish.

We headed back to the room but knew everybody was done for the night. What to do? Well I was feeling the need for some food and fireworks...and thought maybe we would hit the Top of the World Lounge. So DH, myself and my DD16 headed there.
 
Once we arrived at the Contemporary I decided that instead maybe the Contempo Cafe would be good. We headed there instead where my daughter got a turkey sandwich and I got the salad:
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This salad was fantastic...and HUGE. More than enough to share but I ate as much of it as I could eat. It was light and refreshing and perfect.

We knew we would be close to finishing when the fireworks were about to start at MK, so we decided to finish eating and then head out to the balcony right outside the 4th floor to watch from there. I've never done this before, and you do have the monorail right above you, but it's still not a bad place to watch and they do pipe in the music.

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This was a great ending to the evening. We did some looking around the shops there and then headed back to our treehouse. Tomorrow would be another big day for us...and once again the family would have to get up early...on vacation.
 


We will see if this works...part one of the treehouse tour:

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I'm here I'm here!! Going to go back and catch up!!

Yay! Glad you made it. Not too much to catch up on so far. I'm probably going to be going slow on this, might get another update done later today but after that...hard to say. With any luck today I can finish up Sunday which will be Discovery Cove and dinner at Toledo...SO good!
 
Joining in and I'm first. Horray! :P

You were SOOO fast getting that response just as I was trying to get the new thread established. Glad you found it!

Joining in! I've always wanted to stay in one of the treehouses and can't wait to see what you thought of it!

Nice to "see" you here. This was I believe our 3rd time in a treehouse, but this was the first time we really had a chance to enjoy it a little more since we weren't spending most of our time in the parks. We actually had time to cook breakfast, use the dining table and the deck, and just do more relaxing here. It's a fabulous space for sure. If I have anything negative to say it would be that you do feel a bit removed from the resort itself. We spent our last day at the High Rock Springs pool at SSR but we ended up hopping an internal bus to get there which seemed like it was a long wait (like 20 minutes). I do like how we could hop on a boat directly to Disney Springs (did that one morning) though. The views were great from our villa for sure. We didn't spend any time at the pool there but I really enjoy a more lively pool and one where I can get some drinks and food. We've always wanted to stay at a cabin at Ft Wilderness and I suspect this is pretty close to the same experience...but with more space.

 
Hurricane plans anybody?

So the hurricane has allowed us the unique position of changing our flight to Tampa this week. Originally we were scheduled for an afternoon flight, but I ended up changing it to a morning (but not early early morning) flight for no charge.

Then we started thinking...which is never a good thing...should we fly out earlier? We could do Wednesday night instead and then maybe head over to the parks since they seem pretty empty this week so far...what with the hurricane threat.

Believe me I've gone back and forth on this one. We could even bite the bullet and do an earlier flight to Tampa and spend more of the day in Florida. But would we go to Orlando for the day? Would it be worth it? I just don't know.

I think I mentioned in the other thread that DH and I almost went to Florida over the weekend spur of the moment...because it was so empty there. Then I started thinking...kids only have a few more days until school starts (tomorrow for the 10th and 11th grader) so shouldn't we spend time with them. Also maybe we should stick around through their first day of school Wednesday as well. So we are...for now. I don't think we will change it but you just never know.

Also good news was that on Friday it was determined that I did NOT have any fractures in my fingers as I was told Wednesday. Just bad bruises and strains so I'm out of my ugly brace and working on regaining function in my right (dominant) hand and all fingers. Still probably no tennis for me for a while but at least not as long as if I had breaks for sure.

Anyway just two working days for me this week and then I'm off for a 4-day weekend in Florida. Should be interesting for sure with this storm. Although now they expect it to maybe make landfall in the Carolinas...which happens to be where my dad (and his girlfriend) live. Dad is actually coming up to Maryland today as they are bringing his girlfriend's granddaughter (and one of her friends) home from their college Coastal Carolina which was evacuated. Then he plans to head back down to NC with the girlfriend, grandaughther, GF's daughter and some other people as they are spending the weekend with him. I'm not sure that's the best plan really...but whatever. He mentioned getting together with me maybe for dinner, but he's only here really 2 nights that I'm here and that's only if I don't leave Wednesday night so I declined. I guess that's a step up though as he has come to Maryland from NC before and not even contacted me..and he's in the same state as me (an hour or so away) when he stays with his girlfriend's family...or as I call it his "other" family since my brother and I really don't feel we are a priority for him any longer now that our mom is gone. Sad...but true...and maybe a bit unfair to him but that's just how it is and I'm thankful that I love my brother and family and at least we have each other. Last week my brother's wife came up to drop off a horse in Maryland (from NC) and brought my youngest nephew (age 5) and we spent a great day on Wednesday together at the National Zoo in DC. So much fun...so thankful for them.





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So I'm back...and I'll try to get a few updates here to make up for lost time.

We had a fabulous few days in Florida on the Gulf Coast. Spent a wonderful afternoon and evening Thursday night with one of my former coworkers and her husband at their house where they fixed us drinks and fabulous dinner and snacks and breakfast. We just sat around and talked both Thursday and Friday morning. We hated to leave...but it was time to get to Siesta Key for the wedding weekend for my cousin.

This was our home for Friday and Saturday night. This was a cute resort just across the street from the beach and easy walking distance down the street to where my cousin and her fiancee had all of their wedding weekend festivities.
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We spent most of Friday afternoon on the beach where they served us lunch and dinner. This was taken place after we returned for dinner. They had a bunch of pizzas for the crew there...and we picked up desserts and brought them.
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And then the storm hit!

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This was everybody in the group fleeing the beach after dinner due to a heavy rainstorm. Thankfully that was the ONLY rain we had the entire wedding weekend. However it left us soaked...so we returned to our room that night.

Saturday was breakfast at a cute little place down the street and the rest of the day at the beach again.

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This was pretty much all we did...sit in our beach chairs and DH and I played each other in Corn Hole and then played another couple one afternoon as well.

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After our day at the beach we went back to our room to hang at the pool and change for the wedding on the beach. This was taken after the ceremony on the beach. The reception was at a local bar/restaurant which was two doors down from our resort. Very convenient.

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This was at the reception after I had a few too many drinks. I drank more this weekend than I have in a long time...and it's clear that my older self doesn't handle alcohol as well as I had some severe acid reflux several times. Time to make a change, lose the weight I've put back on in the last year and make some better diet choices again. Good bye fried foods!

Anyway after about 5 hours of sleep Saturday night, we were back on a flight Sunday morning and home in time for the Baltimore Ravens football game...which was awesome. So awesome I didn't really watch too much of it but caught up with some friends who were over for the game...and then went to watch my daughter play softball.

Now it's back to work which has been crazy. I feel I need a change. That's never easy.

Up next: Discovery Cove!
 
Day 3: Discovery Cove

One of the things my oldest son really wanted to do this trip was return to Discovery Cove. We had been a few years earlier for the first time and really enjoyed it. When a great discount came out this summer I decided to bite the bullet and buy us tickets.

We woke up Sunday morning and headed out pretty early to the park in order to get there for breakfast, which is included. I would say we arrived between 8am and 8:30am or so. The line to check in was a bit long and longer when the computer for the person helping us went down and rather than send us to another check-in person we waited...for at least 20 minutes or more when it was clear her system wasn't coming back much earlier and nobody was working on it. Finally she sent us to somebody else.

After checkin we had to first hit breakfast. It was okay, nothing amazing but good enough. I think I had some fruit, eggs and a muffin. They had enough of a variety of things. Then our next stop was to find a bathing suit for my FIL because he put his on that morning and realized it didn't fit him! So we hit a little shop in the area where he tried on a new suit and purchased it.

Next we all got our vests (required for swimming) and snorkels (if you wanted to do that...I didn't but some did) and then found a little place next to the "lazy river" area to settle after locking up our stuff. Really most of our day was spent lounging in the "lazy river" but we did head over to the area where you can snorkel...and the water there was just as cold as I remembered it from years ago. It's pretty though.
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DH and my oldest son braved the water:

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The rest of us enjoyed some free beverages and watched from above:

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We also spent some time just relaxing:

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That is when we weren't in the water:

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Now one of the cool things about this lazy river is the fact that you go through a waterfall and are in a bird sanctuary. This is the face of my child when she thought about all those birds in the trees above...and what was probably dropping into the water where we were swimming through:

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We did all get out where you can walk into the sanctuary and feed the birds. My oldest son LOVE birds...so he was the bird whisperer:

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However he was not the only one in on the bird feeding action:

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Really not much else to say about this place. It's the perfect oasis for the day, with the food and drinks included all day (including some alcohol) it's just a nice little break. We probably stayed until around 3pm or so and even lunch there wasn't too bad. We did want to get back to our room in time to get ready for our dinner that night...which was TOLEDO!
 
Glad you enjoyed your trip! And Discovery Cove looks and sounds so relaxing every time I read a review. I don't know that it would keep the interest of my boys but I'd like to try it with Steve one day :)
 
Glad you enjoyed your trip! And Discovery Cove looks and sounds so relaxing every time I read a review. I don't know that it would keep the interest of my boys but I'd like to try it with Steve one day :)

It really is the perfect place for some downtime. I wish we could have planned it more towards the end of this trip instead of the beginning but it worked out just fine. You should definitely give it a try one day.
 
OMG! That score was ridiculous!!! Go Ravens!

I cannot wait to hear your review of Toledo!!! This place is on my list...

Agree on the score for sure...but at least I could relax and not stress out about it. :)

Oh I can't wait to review and I have lots of photos that I have to go back and see if I can determine what menu item each one was but it was a great meal with fantastic views!
 
Day 3: Dinner at Toledo

When we last left off, we were headed to dinner...at TOLEDO! This is a pretty new restaurant opened up in the new Gran Destino tower at Coronado Springs. Pulling up to the parking lot it looks pretty fabulous from the outside:

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It looks just as fabulous on the inside though. We took the elevator all the way up inside the building. We were seated pretty quickly...and this was an inside view:

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It truly is a lovely restaurant...and even while seated we could see that the views from the outside here would also be great. I'll jump ahead here and show you just how great:

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Check out EPCOT in the left!


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Can you see the Tower in the distance? It's hard to see but all of the new Star Wars area is also visible from here.

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Gotta take a selfie of course.

And another lobby view inside before we left:

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Wish we had the time to look around the grounds here. They looked pretty fabulous. I think it would be awesome to stay here!

So now that we've jumped ahead to the before and after dinner photos, perhaps now we should move on to dinner.

I can't recall our server's name, but I can tell you he was wonderful. He had some great suggestions and was so friendly. I don't recall our initial orders, but I know my FIL got something alcoholic and probably DH also. I think I stuck to non-alcoholic stuff as I new DD and I were heading to Give Kids the World after dinner for a volunteer shift.

Ok so the food...the menu is not too extensive but there were some great Tapas options so we really debated just ordering only appetizers to share for dinner. In the end I stuck to the appetizers/tapas myself as they were enough and DH, DS and FIL were the only ones to ordered real meals.

So I started with an order of I'm pretty sure this:


  • Tronchón Cheese Gratinado - tupelo honey, lavender - $10.00
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This was a great start. The cheese was delicious and the bread was like a bruschetta. There was some honey also. Seriously I could have eaten more of this but I did share with the table.

Pretty sure my DS19 got this:
I think he ate it too fast for me to get a photo but I think he and his grandfather (who love octopus) enjoyed it.

I also got this:

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I can't explain these except to see they were warm and fluffy and delicious. Different but good and the sauce with them was wonderful also.

I feel like we had something else but I can't remember. I was pretty stuffed after this and then totally forgot when he brought out this:
  • Garlic Shrimp 'Pil Pil' - ‘ají amarillo’ yellow pepper sauce - $18.00
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Wow...these were really good. The sauce was nice and it was the perfect amount of food after my other Tapas.

So for meals, I think FIL got this:
  • Hanger Steak - crushed new potatoes, salsa verde, greens, charred peppers, yellow pepper - $32.00


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He loved this dish.

(continued)
 

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