Disclosure: We were hosted by Jotoro, Busch Gardens, and Disney, however all opinions are my own.
Since we travel again in less than 2 weeks, I thought it was time to finish up this trip report! Go back to part 6 if you missed it!
We left off after Hollywood Studios Day, and we were sad to be checking out out the Poly the next morning. We were meeting up with a friend in the lobby for a few, so Bobby went ahead and packed the car while I got Emma Kate breakfast and me some coffee. Guess what? It was raining. Boo! We were prepared for our day with ponchos and umbrellas, but still a bummer, plus it was chilly. Unfortunately we couldn’t chat with our friend long because we had to get to Tampa for a noon lunch reservation and I know the rain would make I-4 even more crazy than normal.
It rained the whole. way. to Tampa. We made it to Sparkman’s Wharf (previously Channelside) and after trying to figure out parking, made it only a few minutes late (there was of course a wreck on the interstate.) We had never been to Jotoro, it is relatively new to Tampa, but I had stalked it online and was so excited to try it out.
The rain tapered off, and we ate outside under the patio.
When I say all the food here is good, ALL THE FOOD HERE IS GOOD! We had a trio of dips and chips for an appetizer, and I had enchiladas for lunch. The kids meal had GOOD FRUIT, not just melon and cantaloupe (yall, one of my biggest pet peeves.) And the desserts were out of this world.
We tried a peanut butter ice cream and a dole whip ice cream. Both were good but the Dole whip one was AMAZING.
10/10 recommend Jotoro Tampa! They are also dog friendly on their patio, we saw a couple doggies while we were there (of course EK wanted to pet them all!)
We got back in the car and headed over to Busch Gardens for their food and wine festival. With full bellies, our plan was to hang out and do rides, etc. then eat dinner at the festival booths before heading back to Orlando.
We started off looking at some animals and letting our food digest (haha.)
Then we headed over to Bobby’s favorite thing, the birds. We bought some food and the birds flocked to us. I. got. pooped. on. Yall, I know it’s dumb but it put me in such a bad mood because I was cold and it pooped on my jacket so of course I had to take it off. First world problems I know, but just being real!
Full disclosure, I was dealing with some personal stuff the last half of our trip that changed my mood, and I hate that it happened, but it is what it is. Don’t get me wrong, I still had fun and am thankful we got to go, but there were some icky parts for me.
After the birds we went to the Sesame Street area and let Emma Kate ride all the rides. (Homegirl is still weaing her magic band haha.)
Then we decided to go ahead and eat because we had a long drive back to Orlando and then had to check into our last hotel.
We enjoy checking out all the booths and deciding what we want to try.
Since this was also serving as dinner, we tried to get things EK would eat as well.
The beignets were my fave, we had 203 orders of them! Then we had to get dessert.
I was getting really tired and dreading the drive back in the dark, so we went ahead and headed out about 6:30. Thanks to Busch Gardens for having us!
We made it to Saratoga Springs a little before 8:00, but here is a little backstory. So Disney was hosting us, and we were supposed to be in a studio. I added the reservation number to My Disney Experience, and it popped up, studio, preferred location. Cool. I did online check in and requested Congress Park (closest to Disney Springs.) at 4:00 (check in time) while we were at Busch Gardens, I got a text from Disney saying the room still wasn’t ready and that they would be texting back very soon with a room number. Well…it never came. Thankfully I knew to check the app for a room number so I could use it to unlock the door, and that’s when I saw we had been upgraded to a 1 BR. I don’t know if they did that because the room was so late or what, but it was no skin off our backs since we didn’t get there till 8:00, but I’m not going to complain about a free upgrade!
We unloaded and get settled in and I got EK in the bathtub while we unpacked.
Bobby the snorer had the living room/murphy bed, and Emma Kate and I had the master bedroom.
We also ended up with a Disney Springs view which we haven’t had before (well, we have had a partial one.)
We got ready for bed and passed out. I will say, while I LOVE getting to visit different places on these press trips, it’s a lot of work too, live posting and stories, driving, taking photos etc. and I was getting worn down. The drive to Tampa and back in one day was pretty bold of me, I don’t know that we will be doing that again!
Stay tuned for our last full day, opening day of Blizzard Beach waterpark!
