Trip Report Mini side trip to Disney Springs

Where: St. Pete Beach with a side Trip to Disney Springs
When: Thanksgiving week, but DS will be on Tuesday Nov 20th
Who:
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Good grief could that picture be bigger? At least you won't have to guess if it's us!

Here's how we decided to go from Michigan to Florida for Thanksgiving week. Before the conversation let me tell you I seem to get stuck hosting Thanksgiving at my place every year. And I don't WANT to host it. I don't cook Turkey.. hubby barely likes it.. and I'm just over being made to host. So the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey, do you want to go down to St. Pete Beach for Thanksgiving week?

Him: why?

Me: Cuz you know how much I love hosting Thanksgiving dinner

Him: yep... let's DO it!

Can you tell I had to twist his arm? And from there the trip was booked! This'll be our 3rd time in that area.. and we just love it there. As dclfan can attest too, it's a really awesome area of Florida.

So after the planning was done, Hubby asked how far it was to Orlando? (about an hour and 45 minutes) He suggested we go to Disney Springs one day. He wanted to go back to the hat shop (EYEROLL) and the rest... (whatever that means)

So the plan is:

Leave early in the morning on Tuesday.

Check out the character warehouse before DS. (reminder to check when that opens)

Arrive at DS at opening and venture off to places I must go... Basin (need more shampoo), Amarette's (just before we leave) and the Hat store. Everything else is gravy.

Lunch is reserved at Homecoming at 1135am (never been but heard lots of good things)

After lunch I think we are going to hop a transportation to GF to see the Christmas decorations and gingerbread house. Any other resort we should see?

Later we will return to DS to finish up shopping, have dinner at Polite Pig, collect yummy goodies from Amarette's to take back to the condo in SPB.

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I wish we could have a MK day, but there is NO WAY, I'm going near the actual parks Thanksgiving week. I may even be sorry I agreed to go to DS, that week.

So that's the plans... we shall see how it all REALLY goes down. I'll post a mini trip report when I get back. If there is interest in the St. Pete Beach part, I can always include that.
 
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Rista1313

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Back in time for dinner... Scott wasn't hungry, I was only semi hungry, but I was *NOT* leaving without eating at Polite Pig. It was all I had been dreaming about since we ate there last May. I forgot to take any pictures... but it was just as good as I remember. Next we walked over to Amarette's Patisserie to get treats to take back to the condo for the next day.
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Magically Scott got hungry when we went in there... I'm not sure if his sugar was low so he was craving sugar instead of protein. He ended up getting a banana nutella crepe. We sat outside because it was chilly inside. It was also chilly outside... but a little less.

Our view from Amarette's
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At this point we were both extremely full, so we decided to walk around more. There were lots of elves on rollerblades around, and there was 4 bell ringers at the big tree. By this time my back was starting to bother me and I was getting tired... we still had to drive 1hr 45 mins back to the condo... so after walking off the food babies.. we started heading back towards the lime deck. On our way out, I snapped this picture...the gal had just ran up to the balloon keeper, but in my shot, she almost looks like she's wanting to fight her for them!

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Rista1313

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday morning we slept in, and really didn't have any plans with the exception of going to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. Once Scott was up and moving, We ate our amarette's for breakfast... (what, we are on vaca!) then we decided to take a ride up the coast of the key for fun... I always think it's a short drive, but from St. Pete Beach to Clearwater it's probably a good 45 minutes. But it's enjoyable looking at all the little mini resort towns in between. We made it to clearwater, and by that time I was getting a little hungry, but I didn't want too much, because I knew that I wouldn't want to spoil my dinner. So hubby and I split a corndog and fries... Here was our view from the snack shack.

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We walked around the area for a bit, and then made our way back. Both on the way there, and back, we saw this guy... I wonder if he just rides up and down the street all day long?

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Back to the condo in time for a mid afternoon nap. Our restaurant complete with early bird special from 4p-5p is called Snappers. There is one main reason we keep coming back. The fried clams. These are the most light and tender fried clams we have ever had. They are amazing!

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The rest of the meal was good too.. but the clams are the best part of the entire meal.

Went for another walk on the beach after dinner, before the sunset. This is the Don Cesar...it's very well known in the area, and it's about a block from the condo. We went in and walked around once... let's just say they need to do some updating, and we weren't impressed.

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and we found a broken shell shaped like Michigan =D
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The rest of the evening we just watched TV and chilled... we don't do a lot at night.
 
Rista1313

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanksgiving day!

I woke up just in time for the parades on TV... dh doesn't care for them, so I let him sleep as long as possible, so I wouldn't have to hear him gripe about them! We always enjoy watching the dog show at noon, so we hung out watched that. Ate leftover GOOD cuban sandwiches for lunch, and basically just chilled.

Our dinner reservations for Thanksgiving dinner, Florida style were at 530pm... it's literally less than 5 minutes down the road. We got the "your table is ready" message before we even left the condo... whoops!

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We were seated very close to the tanks
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I've never seen a light up menu
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I decided on twin lobster tails
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Hubby got a jerk swordfish dish
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And we decided to share a dessert. It was so tasty!
Island Baba
rum soaked banana cake | cream cheese mousse | candied macadamia nuts
brown sugar rum sauce | guava ice cream


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The perfect Thanksgiving dinner!

After dinner we looked around the giftshop, and then we went back to the condo and watched TV... when we aren't at Disney... we do a lot of chilling at night.

Friday... The day we depart

So we had one last adventure that we could have lived without .... it ended up being the nicest day of the whole trip. So we went down to the beach for one last afternoon. Our flight was at 6pm, so we had a little time. My hubby brought his knitting down to the beach (yes top hat man knits) and on our way back he had put his knitting back in his bag, but must have left a yarn loop sticking out. As we crossed the street, it got hooked to a car.... and got ripped out of his bag and dragged down the road. He was devastated. We walked a little ways down the road, but it was not dropped close by, so we got in the car and found it about a mile down the road.

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It looks ruined, but luckily it was the back side of the knitting, and when we got home, we were able to use a sweater shaver to salvage it.

After that fun adventure, it was time to head back to the Tampa airport. I love a new thing about the new car rental area. They have baggage check right there, before you go to the main terminal (there are time guidelines) It was nice not to have to stand in the Southwest line.

The airport wasn't too terribly busy, and we got thru TSA pretty fast.

Everything was on time... and we had no issues!

If you made it this far... thanks.. I know it wasn't all Disney, but if any of you are like me... I just like to read trips in any capacity. I love travel!
 
ThemedScream

ThemedScream

Active Member
Sounds like you guys had a great trip. Thanks for taking us along!

I love that your husband knits! I never learned (I had problems just trying to learn to sew by hand haha), but I am always impressed when I see some of the stuff knitters can do. True talent and patience there. Glad he could salvage his work.
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Rista1313 said:
I know it wasn't all Disney, but if any of you are like me... I just like to read trips in any capacity. I love travel!
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Very nice TR. I like how you mix up your vacation with different experiences. Not everything has to take place inside the parks. Plenty of other interesting areas to explore. And apparently, there's even some time to get in a little knitting! :) (Kudos to him--great skill to have.)
 
Rista1313

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MinnieM123 said:
Very nice TR. I like how you mix up your vacation with different experiences. Not everything has to take place inside the parks. Plenty of other interesting areas to explore. And apparently, there's even some time to get in a little knitting! :) (Kudos to him--great skill to have.)
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Thanks! I use to work for the airlines and be a corporate travel agent in a previous life, so needless to say I love to travel. We are going to New Orleans next... We are staying in the French Quarter... I'm afraid we won't find much Disney there!
 

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