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Thread: Part Two Davenport

  1. #1
    Florida Junior
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    Part Two Davenport

    Part Two.

    Day 2.
    Well awake at 3am (my body is telling me it’s 8am UK time), what do I now? Jayne soon put paid to that “Make a cup of tea” she says.
    Fresh Florida orange juice and a nice cup of tea are prepared and the TV is switched on to catch up with the weather and news. 90 degrees is forecast (Thursday 13.06.2013) as we sit drinking our beverages…. lovely.
    Where to go for breakfast? If our son were with us it would be ‘Shoney’s’, as he loves the buffet and being able to make multiple trips. Being just the two of us we decided to pay Bob Evans a visit down near Posner Park (I4 J/W the 27). On our arrival we saw that it was being refurbished and as the Waffle House was recommended on this forum, we paid that a visit instead. First impression was that it was more like a greasy spoon in the UK, but the staff were very friendly and having ordered breakfast tucked into the hearty meal and enjoyed it. I don’t know about you, but I always judge a place by the toilets and the Waffle house, were well used if you get my drift.

    We then drove over to Posner Park and had a walk round the ‘Super Target’ I love looking at all the new gadgets and comparing the prices. When flying, I have always looked at some of my fellow travellers with envy when they slip on their comfy noise reduction headphones and I stick the hard plastic ear buds in my ears. Having looked in the duty free shop, I saw that the BOSE headphones are about £260. Too much for me to fork out…..as a comparison they are priced at $300 in Target (£200) which is a lot cheaper. Still too much for me (so I am told by Jayne!!). Anyway having purchased some bits and pieces, it’s back to the Condo. and a bit of sunbathing and swimming. It’s sun factor 50 for me to stop me burning!!. At about 3pm we decided to pay a visit to Downtown Disney, just to have a stroll along the walkway. We always seem to park by Disney Quest (Multi floored building filled with electronic games which are all free, having paid the $45 entrance fee) and walk to the market place. One ritual we always do is to visit the ‘Ghirandelli’ chocolate shop as they always give out samples as you enter. It was a delicious caramel chocolate on this occasion. On the return walk we have a quick drink in the Raglan Road pub and watch the world go by, then off home again.
    We decided to have a pizza and an order was placed at our local Papa John’s to take out. Having feasted on the delicious pizza and a can of beer, I fell fast asleep on the sofa at about 8pm. I was so tired!

    Day 3

    We had arranged through Lowes (B & Q of Florida) to have some plantation shutters put up in the Condo. to replace the Venetian blinds that were already there when we purchased the property (they get very dusty with the air con. and my job is to clean them when we visit!). Delivery and installation was to be around 9-11am. So I stayed in the condo. whilst Jayne went down to the pool. Sure enough at around 11am I recived the phone call that the installers were loading up the van and would be with me within the hour. True to their word they arrived and after carrying all the parts into the condo. proceeded to install them. There was me expecting them to use raw plugs and screws to fix the frames, ha ha little did I know…..they produced a big nail gun and the frames are fixed with 2 ½ inch nails. These boys know what they are doing and within and hour all the windows are completed. After cleaning up the minimal amount of mess they made, off they went clutching the tip I gave them.
    One thing I forgot to mention. When ordering these blinds at Lowes the assistant mentioned that if we were new owners we could get a discount. Apparently if you are thinking of buying property over here or moving, then all you need to do is go to the local post office and ask for a moving pack. You will be given an envelope containing lots of offers including 10% off of Lowes products, which could work out to be quite a bit of saving if painting and fitting out a home. There is a limit to how much you can get, but each visit is added up to that limit. I wish I had known that before, it’s only a question of filling out an on line form and the discount code is emailed to you.



    We decided (or was that Jayne?) to visit her favourite restaurant, which is called ‘Sweet Tomatoes’. For those who don’t know, it is a restaurant with a huge salad buffet with anything you could name plus lots of dressings. Upon entering you take a tray and plate then, if you are like me, fill it to the gunnels with the healthy salad and then top it off with the unhealthy dressing. It is really nice. What I can never figure out is that they offer you two sizes of paper cups with the relevant prices but you can refill the cups as many times as you want at the soda fountain. Why would anyone pay for the larger cup?
    After making your payment (always check on-line for discount coupons) you enter the seating area and you then access to the vast selection of home made soups, chilli, jacket potatoes (and toppings), pizza and home made bread. Having eaten to your hearts content you then have the dessert bar to choose from which consists of chocolate pudding, apple crumble, crushed nuts, sauces and an ice cream machine which you help yourself to, vanilla or chocolate. What the kids don’t realise is that the ice cream is in fact yoghurt. You can’t tell the difference though. It is really nice!.
    Having eaten it was back home and this time a decent nights sleep.


    Day 4

    We have some friends who live in Ocala and they are kind enough to keep an eye on our place for us. They love Disney and often pay visits and stay the night at the condo. This gives us great peace of mind knowing that everything is ok. I was made aware that the guest toilet system was noisy and needed looking at. On inspection it was a little different to the type I have replaced at home and so I looked it up on Youtube and followed the instructions. I took a video of the faulty system and drove up to Lowe’s on the 27. I love it in there……it’s like an Aladdin’s cave for a D.I.Y. person like me. I showed the assistant the video and he gave me the part needed. I returned home and fitted it in minutes. So far no leaks!!
    We have often driven through the town of Kissimmee on our way to the Florida Mall and have always said we would pay a visit to look at the shops. Well today was the day and having found a parking space on the main road set off to explore. On closer inspection it looks as though the recession had taken its toll on the shops as quite a few were now left empty. There were a couple of antique shops, Jayne loves to rummage through. It was very hot and we decided to have a coffee in one of the restaurants, this particular one was called ‘Joanie’s Diner’. There were lots of locals outside enjoying the food and so in we went. Again the staff were very friendly, but they should have called it ‘Sticky elbows’ because that was what mine were doing on the table top. Coffee was ordered and I ordered a short stake of pancakes (2 x pancakes) expecting the normal tea saucer size pancakes. I couldn’t believe my eyes when the food arrived, they were massive. I must say they were very, very nice, light and fluffy. Jayne had a cinnamon bun that was so big she couldn’t eat it all.

    We carried on visiting the shops and came across an Amtrak railway station. It was just like you would see on an old Judy Garland or wild west film. We were informed that the train comes up from Miami and heads right up to Chicago. I took a timetable and found that the journey from New York City to Kissimee took 22 hours at a cost of $131. I am told however that it is not the most comfortable of rides. To book a sleeper room is an additional $230 (for twin room). I think I would prefer to drive down on one trip just to visit the different States on the way down.

    Back to the condo. for a quick swim and sunbathe then off to the 192 and a visit to the Miller’s Orlando Ale House. This is one of the newer restaurants that have opened up at the ‘Rolling Rock’ shopping area on the west of the 192. Over the last couple of years in this little area they have built a large Super Target, Sweet Tomatoes, Olive Garden, Bahama breeze, Long Horn, Applebee’s, Texas Roadhouse and a number of smaller restaurants, so there is a good choice. We paid the Texas Roadhouse a visit last year, upon entering you find that you are walking on peanut shells. Just next to the door is a huge barrel filled with roasted peanuts. As you wait for your seat you can eat as many as you like, but it seems the custom is to throw the empty shells onto the floor (never been to Texas so I have got to take their word on that). Every now and then a shout goes up and all the staff perform a line dance. Very entertaining I could just imagine the staff at a Little Chef doing that!
    We met up with our American friends and had a few drinks with the meal. I had a flat iron steak with boom boom shrimps, fries and green beans. Jayne had a pasta dish. Both were very nice and we would definitely recommend a visit..
    Jayne drove me home and I poured her a glass of wine whilst I sat down to type this report. When I looked round she was fast asleep on the sofa and hadn’t touched the wine. Oh well, waste not want not, down the hatch. Another good day and we have ticked off something we had been meaning to do for a long time. I do hope Kissimmee gets over the recession and a few more shops open up.

    Terry


  2. #2
    Gold 5 Star Member SDJ's Avatar
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    Excellent report. We went into that Cafe in Kissimmee and know what you mean about portion size!!!

    Your plantation blinds sounds wonderful. Wish we could afford them but with 22 windows would cost a fortune.

    Looking forward to the next instalment.


  3. #3
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    Love your report. Over the years we have often said we must stop in Kissimmee but never had as pancakes are one of my favourites have told Stuart we must make an effort to stop and try on our next trip.


  4. #4
    Gold 5 Star Member eagleydo's Avatar
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    Loving the reports!, thank you. We too always say about visiting Kissimmee but have not done so yet.
    Jan


  5. #5
    Florida Chatterbox Dads_Taxi's Avatar
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    Terry, I can recommend an amazing pair of noise-cancelling headphones. They are so close to the Bose model in sound and appearance it is remarkable. The Goldring NS1000 model is regularly on offer at SuperFi (in fact they are currently on an offer) (other hifi retailers are available!). I got mine for £60 delivered, and having demonstrated them at work several of my colleagues have bought them. We're all broadcast engineers so we don't suffer inferior sound - if that helps persuade you!
    The only down side is that you wouldn't have them to use on your flight home from this trip. Might be worth a little research to see if they're available anywhere over there.

    Keep the reports coming, I love reading Trip Reports. Sounds like you've been retracing our footsteps from last year at times, I know the Super Target at Rolling Rock rather too well.

    Enjoy yourselves, cheers.
    Dave.


  6. #6
    Gold 5 Star Member E. Cosgrove's Avatar
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    Loving the reports Terry, keep up the good work!


    Liz


  7. #7
    Florida Chatterbox DisneyPrincess's Avatar
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    Part Two Davenport

    Great reports - can't wait for the next instalment!


  8. #8
    Gold 5 Star Member Lyn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dads_Taxi View Post
    Terry, I can recommend an amazing pair of noise-cancelling headphones. They are so close to the Bose model in sound and appearance it is remarkable. The Goldring NS1000 model is regularly on offer at SuperFi (in fact they are currently on an offer) (other hifi retailers are available!). I got mine for £60 delivered, and having demonstrated them at work several of my colleagues have bought them. We're all broadcast engineers so we don't suffer inferior sound - if that helps persuade you!
    We treated ourselves to the Bose headphones on our last trip, wish I had known about these, I could have saved myself some money.
    Last edited by Lyn; 16-06-2013 at 21:07.
    Lyn


  9. #9
    Gold 5 Star Member LiesaAnna's Avatar
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    love it Terry,we love driving around kissimmee... and the 192 is where we often hang out especially for evening meals... we love roadhouse... didnt know it was called texas roadhouse lol... i always have to chuck the peanut shells on the floor... well everyone else does!! lol
    keep it coming, thankyou xx
    Liesa


  10. #10
    Gold 5 Star Member stabard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jantel View Post
    Part Two.



    We carried on visiting the shops and came across an Amtrak railway station. It was just like you would see on an old Judy Garland or wild west film. We were informed that the train comes up from Miami and heads right up to Chicago. I took a timetable and found that the journey from New York City to Kissimee took 22 hours at a cost of $131. I am told however that it is not the most comfortable of rides. To book a sleeper room is an additional $230 (for twin room). I think I would prefer to drive down on one trip just to visit the different States on the way down.


    Terry
    Our very first visit to Florida was back in 1986 when Lee had finished a summer camp in Pennsylvania. I flew over to meet him in New York and we took the Amtrack all the way to Florida. I remember the seats where like loungers and the train was comfy. And yes, Kissimmee station was like something out of an old black and white movie.
    Jan and Lee


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