Disney World. No Kids. Day 3. Happy Birthday to Me.
Shabbat morning we got out of bed around 9 and went to our 9:30 character breakfast!
To be clear, we didn’t say, ‘hey, we need to do a character breakfast,’ but we wanted to do a buffet breakfast on Saturday, and on Saturdays the buffet is a character breakfast. We’ve done this breakfast before and it is always great. Mickey, Minnie and Goofy walk around. It was cute, but also awkward when we gave them hugs and then sent them on their way without taking any photos. At one point though we were reading the Wall Street Journal and there was an article about the Iger-Chapek feud and there was a picture of Mickey, Minnie and Goofy, so when they came by we told them they made the paper. It was cute. The food was good, but the star was the fresh whipped cream. It had vanilla bean and was just delicious.
After breakfast we got ready to go to the spa for our couples massage. This time I put down that I wanted firm pressure. I feel like I always write moderate and it’s never firm enough, so I went with firm, and boy was she firm. It was a fantastic massage. We then spent a few hours relaxing in the spa and reading on the zero gravity chairs. It was nice. I think around 3 we decided to move and sit by the pool and get some food. Tzvi and I both got the same things we had when we were here last year - I had a salad with tofu, and Tzvi had a chirashi bowl. We also shared a tasty rum cocktail.
It was probably low 70s and cloudy. There was no sun at all, but it was warm enough to sit in a bathing suit, though way too cool to swim in the pool. Luckily there was a hot tub. There were a few other couples there. One couple was a man and woman probably in late 20s or early 30s. He looked like a linebacker and it’s possible that he was; we overheard him talking coach and captain and other sports words. Also, he ordered the fish tacos AND the chicken wings AND a hamburger. There were also two couples from Boston who were super drunk and very chatty. One woman, who for some reason was wearing a big floppy hat even though there was no sun, told us she had a learning disability. I can’t for the life of me remember why she shared that. Eventually we went inside and got ready for dinner.
Shabbat ended at 6:13 and we were off to Disney Springs! We headed straight for our dinner at Enzo’s Hideaway, which we’d booked for 7:00. Unfortunately when we got there we were told that they were having issues in the kitchen and had been closed all day, and they weren’t sure if they’d be opening for dinner. This was pretty bad because Disney Springs was packed. Like the most crowded I’ve ever seen it, meaning there was no way we’d be able to get a table anywhere else. They said they’d make a decision by 8:00 and would call us if they were able to open.
We walked around a bit and looked at different restaurants, but it seemed there were a lot of people with the same issue as us. We put our name on the list at Paddlefish, where they said it would be 90 minutes. We kept walking and hit a bunch of stores. While I was shopping at Everything But Water we got two text messages – one saying our table was ready at Enzos and one saying it was ready at Paddlefish! Somehow we went from having no table to two tables. I bought a couple of bathing suits, and then we headed to dinner. In retrospect it was good that dinner was delayed because I wouldn’t have been in the mood to try on bathing suits after eating a massive bowl of pasta.
Dinner was pretty good. The restaurant is underground and is supposed to be like a speakeasy/hideaway, which is actually a pretty smart way to make an unused windowless space seem cool.
We both had cocktails – I had a limoncello gimlet and Tzvi had a gin and tonic. We started with a Caesar salad, which I actually liked event though it was pretty creamy. The menu said it had focaccia croutons, but there were no visible croutons. Tzvi said something and the waitress said, ‘they’re in there.’ Tzvi started pushing around lettuce like he was looking for truffles in the forest until the waitress offered to bring him more. Then she brought a tiny bowl of breadcrumbs, which to be fair were delicious, but odd. For the main I had spaghetti with tomato sauce and Tzvi had eggplant parmesan with a side of spaghetti. A real heart healthy meal.
Oh, did I mention today is my birthday?
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me.
Anyway, we decided to skip dessert because were planning to get ice cream at Ghiradelli, so we paid and left and headed over to the Disney side to do shopping, because we hadn’t bought enough Disney stuff yet.
One of the most exciting moments of the evening took place at Goofy's Candy Co. The make your own caramel apple is back! For those that need a refresher on the apple saga, back in October 2019 I made a caramel apple, but unfortunately left it in the hotel fridge at the Four Seasons. They would not ship it back to me, as it was perishable. When we came in October 2021, they were no longer doing the make your own apple "because of COVID." So now, finally, in December 2022 the apple is back! Unfortunately, not all of the same toppings are there, but the magic hasn't left. I got a caramel apple (no marshmallows) dipped in milk chocolate, 50th anniversary sprinkles, and Oreo crumbles.
After shopping we walked to Ghirardelli and ordered the customary ice cream sundae – warm gooey brownies, cookie dough and cookies and cream ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and caramel sauce. Delicious as always.
Finally we finished and called an Uber to take us back to the hotel. We rarely have issues with Ubers, so it’s strange that we had two issues tonight!
The first Uber came, we got in, and then as soon as we were in the car the ride cancelled. The driver said, “it says you cancelled the ride.” Tzvi said, “No, I didn’t. You cancelled it.” The driver insisted he didn’t and then showed Tzvi something on his phone and said he could take us for cash. Tzvi said no and tried to call another Uber, but he claimed he wasn’t seeing the job come up on his phone. Pretty sure this was just a scam to try to get us to pay him cash.
We got out and called another one. The second Uber came. His name was Clarence. To start, he made us wait a minute before he started driving because he needed to “flag that last passenger on the app for not tipping.” He had two screens in his car showing live football and basketball games. He also had signs all over the car that talked about tipping. The text kept changing on his screen, and at one point there were several paragraphs about how passengers wanting to increase their Uber passenger rating should make sure to tip. Then he told us that Tzvi’s Uber rating is low (4.69 is low? someone (probably Javad) comment below and tell us if that’s low) and that one way to increase your rating is to tip. The guy was really strange and we didn’t want any trouble so we just nodded and didn’t say anything, but the whole thing was totally inappropriate and made us uncomfortable. And we always tip Uber.
Finally we made it back to the hotel, did a little packing, and went to sleep.
Great day.
Epilogue: We woke up Sunday morning with a few hours to spare before needing to leave for the airport.
Goodbye room
After packing up, we went back down to Ravello and enjoyed another breakfast buffet. This time there were no characters, but at least they had the delicious vanilla whipped cream.
After that we called an Uber and headed to the airport. And for those who are wondering, we left WITH the caramel apple.
When we got home, we had to wait a while at JFK for our luggage to come out, but at least it all came out.
Thanks Disney. See you next time.