Innovations and Les Chefs at Epcot

Anna here, to talk about the amazing end to my birthday celebrations. Last Sunday, my mom, Matt, and I went to Epcot to end my birthday week with a bang. Once again, I wore my Happy Birthday Anna button. I had made reservations at Les Chefs de France in Epcot about a month ago thinking my dad would be in town, but it ended up being just the three of us. We had planned to go to Magic Kingdom before going to dinner for Matt to play The Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, but he had forgotten his cards at home, so we decided to just explore Epcot. We first fast passed Soarin’, got a Mickey ice cream, and then sought after a new adventure.

Innoventions

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While at a theme park, air conditioned buildings are always very attractive when you’re just trying to wait out a storm or a heat wave. One of the first buildings you encounter in Epcot are the innoventions buildings. They are called innoventions east and innoventions west. We explored innoventions west and immediately came upon the Video Playground. The playground is a wall full of seven game consuls with the newest Disney Interactive video games ready for anyone to play. I’m not into video games, but I was willing to give it a try. The new video game from Brave caught my eye (as all things princess does) and I started playing around with it while Matt played a WALL-E inspired game. I got so into the game that I didn’t realize that Matt was beside me until I heard him laughing at the faces I was making while trying to jump Merida across a river. After playing a little bit longer, I could tell Matt was itching to play so I handed over the controller. After finishing up there, we decided to explore the countries.

World Showcase

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The first country we made a stop at was Norway. We looked in the little shop and I got some Swedish jelly as a house warming gift for my friend, Michael. We then went on the ride, Maelstrom – A High Seas Norwegian Adventure. The ride was really cute, but by no means a high seas Norwegian adventure. After getting off our “boat” from “Norway”, I noticed that the main restaurant in Norway is Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. The restaurant advertises “Disney Princesses Storybook Dining inside a medieval castle with soaring archways and cathedral ceilings”. I’m defiantly going to have to go back to that one with my girlfriends!

After just perusing through some of the other countries, we finally made it to France. As we were waiting for it to come closer to our dinner reservation time, we saw Belle from Beauty and the Beast (my favorite princess) skipping along the fountain as she does in the movie. The seen got me really excited for dinner.

Les Chefs de France

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The interior of the restaurant was beautiful and reminded me of the actual France. Although, our waiter, Harry from Paris, France, was very nice and did not give me dirty looks for my lack of French speaking skills and everything was rushed in American fashion which brought me back to reality that I was indeed still in the US. This restaurant had the option so do a set price three course meal, which my mom and I took advantage of. I had their house salad, beef short ribs with pasta, and the puff choux with vanilla ice cream, all of which was very delicious. Since I was wearing my birthday button, the waiter knew we were celebrating my birthday and brought out my dessert with the rest of the waiting staff singing what I can only assume was the birthday song in French. All in all, a great experience. The only let down was that I had heard a rumor that Chef Remy from Disney’s Ratatouille made appearances in the restaurant, but he was nowhere to be seen.

La Nouba

A Boundless and Festive Journey of the Imagination

For part of my birthday present, Matt wanted to surprise me (Anna) and take me to dinner and to see La Nouba, a Cirque du Soleil show, which I’ve wanted to see for a long time in Downtown Disney. However, Matt was called into a work meeting that lasted almost all day, so I had to meet him there and while the traffic in Orlando tried to stop him from making it, we were able to go into the show just a couple of minutes late. Matt got us some really great seats, so I was close to all the talents in the show. These talents ranged from rope skipping to the high wire to flying trapeze and so much more, all to the sound of two amazing singers and a band that was above and to the sides of the stage. There was a story line to everything that went one, but at times it was hard to follow, but it really wasn’t the main focus of the show. While all the acts in the show were simply incredible, my favorite ones were the little girls with the diabolos and the cyclists. I’d never seen the act of using diabolos, but these little girls were outstanding. All the tricks they did had me at the edge of my seat and clapping nonstop. The cyclists had me on the edge of my seat for other reasons. I was sure someone in the audience would be knocked in the head with a tire or the men on the bikes would topple off of them and onto the stage. The whole show was very exciting and entertaining. I would recommend it to anyone of any age. It was amazing!

Hi-yo, Silver! Away!

Do to some unforeseen circumstances; I (Anna) ended up intruding in on, my parents' date to see The Lone Ranger at the AMC dine-in theater in Downtown Disney. While I might have been the third wheel, I still had a great time.

AMC Downtown Disney 24 with Dine-in Theatres

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This was my third time at the dine-in theater in Downtown Disney and I've had very mixed experiences each time. This time was a good experience and I only think my group had an issue before due to a crumby waitress. First I'd advise that you pre-order your tickets on their website: Visit AMC Dine-in Theaters. It only costs a dollar extra per ticket and this gives you a way to reserve the seats you desire most. When you get to the theater, simply go to a kiosk or the front desk with the credit card used to order the tickets to receive them. They only let you take your seat 20 minutes before the movie starts, so if you get there early (and you're of legal drinking age) there's a bar there to order your favorite drink. Once seated, a waiter will introduce him/herself as they would in a regular restaurant and tell you how there's a button in front of your table to push whenever you're ready to order or need any assistance. The menus are in front of you and the selection is very wide in variance. There's something there to please anyone. I have enjoyed everything I've ordered.

The Lone Ranger

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I was a little weary about seeing The Lone Ranger since it didn't get great reviews or do as well at the box office as Disney anticipated, but I'm a sucker for all things Disney and there the opportunity to see it lay. I absolutely loved it! There was action. There was romance. There was comedy. What more could you ask for from The Lone Ranger??? As far as whether it stays true to the popular radio show of the 1930's and the equally as popular black and white TV show of the 1950's, I have no idea. I was obviously not around during the radio or TV show when they originally aired, but I do know from the small amount of reruns that I've seen, that the characters and general plot are the same. They even have the original theme song played throughout the major action sequence that made everyone in the audience excited to cheer on the masked man. I believe Johnny Deep did a good job portraying Tonto for not actually being Native American and provided a lot of the comic relief (as to be expected). Armie Hammer also did a great job as John Reid/The Lone Ranger. Your heart went out to him in the sad times, but you also had his back when he realized his destiny as the Lone Ranger. I won't go into details because I really think it should be experienced. I will say that it is rated PG13 and rightfully so. There is a lot of violence (not stingy on the blood either) and the hero does let out a minor "bad word" that you probably don't want your child repeating. Well I guess all there is left to say, Kimosabe, is "Hi-yo, Silver! Away!".

Birthday Celebration at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground

This is Anna and I'm going to talk about how there is no better way to turn a year older than the Disney way! Birthdays are always fun, but I was a little nervous about turning 24. Each new age just seems old. I'll feel stupid for this post when I'm in my 50's, but for now it seems logical. Ashleigh, Shannon, Neil, Matt, and I figured the best way to help the birthday blues was to be a child again and what better way to do that than to have a Disney experience???

The Cabins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground

Matt and I met Ashleigh, Shannon, and Neil at the campground to check-in. The check-in went very smoothly and Neil and Ashleigh even played checkers while I was waiting in line. The customer service/front desk people were really friendly and full of information. At the end of the check-in, our clerk gave me a Happy Birthday Anna button to wear around for our stay. This insured that every Disney employee (and some random people) wished me a happy birthday everywhere we went and since I love attention it was a big plus!

Ashleigh and Matt grilling

Since we were staying in a cabin, we went to that section of the campground and immediately started to unpack our cars and explore our home for those two days. There was a porch, a kitchen/dining room/living room, a bathroom, and a bedroom with a double bed and a bunk bed. We fooled around for a little while, but then got to cooking. We had brought stuff to make bacon cheeseburgers, fries, and BBQ beans. Since Matt wanted fries made from actual potatoes he had to peel them as Neil washed/scrubbed them. After that, the boys and Ashleigh went outside to set up the convenient charcoal grill located right outside our cabin. Shannon and I stayed in the air conditioning to finish up the fries, beans, and bacon. Even though the kitchen was small; it was still stocked with most of the utensils we needed to prepare our dinner. After all was cooked and ready to eat, we sat down at the dining room table and ate our supper. When dinner was done, everyone surprised me with a cake and presents. The cake was chocolate, and I mean every part was chocolate. It was absolutely delicious!

Cake and presents!

Ashleigh had given me my present the night before which was a Beauty and the Beast Vinylmation (which turned out to be Belle) and a Mickey shaped wine cork. Shannon and Neil had made me a card with pictures from past Disney trips along with getting me a Vinylmation for my animation collection and an Eeyore (one of my favorite characters) coffee mug. Matt had found me the missing Eeyore animation vinylmation that I was so desperately was seeking. Even though they say you shouldn't swim after eating, we took the risk and headed off to the pool. (Note: Even though the pool wasn't too far, I would recommend reserving a golf-cart ahead of time for your trip to the campgrounds.)

Pool time!

The pool we went to was the main one and was equipped with a fountain area for kids and a water slide. After some convincing from everyone else, we all went down the slide, which was really fun! We made some friends there (mainly underage boys hitting on Ashleigh), and it was a lot of fun. After the pool we went to Chip 'n Dale's Campfire Sing-A-Long. A lot of the songs were Disney favorites and a man was playing a banjo which gave it a campfire feel. Shannon, Ashleigh, and I roasted marshmallows and made s‘mores. (Note: Ashleigh had brought us s ‘mores supplies, but they do have a "wagon" at the campfire that sells everything you'd need). After the singing ended they put on that night's movie, which happened to be Wreck-It Ralph. Even though the movie was cute (and we had all seen it) we didn't stay for the whole thing.

Sing-a-long and Wreck-It Ralph

(Note: If you're going during the summer months, bring bug spray. Mosquitoes are killer in Florida.) After hanging out at the pool for a while longer, we went back to the cabin, played Scattergories, and then went to bed. The beds were pretty comfy, but we had somehow set the air condition to keep running and I was freezing almost the entire night. The next morning we got up and made breakfast. Shannon had brought her waffle maker, so we had waffles, eggs, and bacon. (Note: If, after getting to the campsite, you notice that you forgot something important to your menu [i.e.: eggs, butter, milk...], there's a number on your refrigerator that you can call and get those things delivered to you.) After we ate our delicious breakfast, we put all the dishes in the dishwasher (Note: The Campground will come in and clean up the kitchen for you), got packed up, and headed for Magic Kingdom.

Disney's Magic Kingdom

At the park, we went to get Shannon and Matt's The Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards for the day. We then followed them around as they each beat a villain in the game. After that we did Mickey's PhilharMagic. It's one of my favorite attractions because the wait is hardly ever long, you get off your feet in air conditioning, and it has a lot of Disney character and music favorites. We then went on the Haunted Mansion, another one of my favorites (it is my birthday after all...). The Haunted Mansion is home to many dancing and singing ghosts and ghouls who would really like for you to move in. They only have room for one more though... Since it had been awhile for everyone else, we hopped on a raft to Tom Sawyer Island next. There, we braved "Injun Joe's Cave" and other such places told about in Mark Twain's stories. After exploring the island, we went to Casey's Corner for hot dogs. I got (and loved) their corn dog nuggets. They were fresh and I will totally be going back for more. The cashiers were very friendly and even wrote me a greeting on my receipt. We then left there and watched the parade as we were leaving. It was a great ending to another great Disney trip.

Return to Epcot

Shannon reporting in to detail this week's Epcot visit with Neil and Ashleigh. We started the morning of July 5th (Friday) and decided it would be best to try to make our way to Soarin since none of us have ever been on it. Even though we arrived pretty early (at least for us) there was still a wait of about 90 minutes with fastpass returns at 4:15pm! Needless to say we sucked it up and hopped in line.

Soarin

The queue line is relatively bland with a few landscape paintings but not much else. However, we noticed the group behind us playing a trivia game on a phone and they looked like they were having a blast. Naturally we inquired about it. The game is called "Heads Up" and costs $0.99 in the App Store.

Here's how to play:

1. Fire up the app and chose a category.
2. Hit start and place the phone on your head with the screen facing your friends.
3. A subject appears and your friends start giving you hints.
4. If you guess right, you flip the phone down to count your guess.
5. If you don't know it, you have to keep guessing until time is up.
6. After a certain number of seconds the buzzer goes off and your score is tallied.
7. Pass the phone to the next friend and repeat!

It was good fun, but I just got too excited sometimes! I'm also pretty competitive, so that's probably half the problem.

Surprisingly we made our way through this line pretty quickly and we found ourselves boarding after only 60 minutes (vs. 90)! Moral of the story? Even though the line seemed outrageous our gamble was rewarded with a much shorter wait time, so don't let long queue times keep you from enjoying an attraction.

Onto the ride:

Soarin is a ride that takes you on a sensory simulated hang-gliding ride over many of California's feature highlights. The seats and environment are comfortable, but if you're afraid of heights this ride may not be for you.

After the ride the group agreed that it wasn't as exciting as we had hoped, but we were glad that we got to experience it at least once. I personally would have enjoyed it more if instead of California they let us fly through different Disney movies...but that's just me :).

Some things that might irritate the discriminating adventurer

• the video quality
• scene transitions
• the city scene it was very shaky

Still, overall the ride was enjoyable and Anna told us that's one of her favorites. Worst come to worst, the queue line is air conditioned and always will be a great place to seek refuge from the Florida sun.

After departing Soarin, we were greeted by our traditional Epcot rain (which happens every time we visit), but this passed in just a few minutes. Hunger struck so we decided to tour the countries and snack at the ethnic carts near each country that we had enjoyed during the Flower and Garden Festival. We traveled from country to country to discover that there were no carts! Only the permanent buildings were open and served a limited selection of just alcohol and desserts. This was a disappointing discovery and we're not sure why the food carts were closed. Since we were craving food, we stopped in China at Nine Dragons Restaurant.

Nine Dragons in China

Neil and I dined here for lunch not long ago during the Flower and Garden Festival.The entrees are filling and the prices are fair for a high-quality table service restaurant. We started with an appetizer of pot stickers, which were delicious. Then we shared the Nine Dragons Fried Rice and General Tso's Chicken entree between the 3 of us. It was all very delicious and there was very little left over when split 3 ways (this would have certainly been too much for 2).

By the time we finished lunch it was nearing 2:00pm so we had to depart in order to get Anna's birthday cake and reach Fort Wilderness in time.Fortunately there is plenty of shopping and grocery stores within a 10 minute radius of Disney and we stopped at Publix and picked up a Chocolate Lovers Delight. After that we moved on to Fort Wilderness and got there just in time. Be sure to read Anna's post about her birthday weekend!

House of Blues - Tribute to Journey

As this weekend was filled with many Disney adventures for us, we started our long Disney weekend with a unique beginning, which was a concert! Matt got 6 tickets (Matt, Anna, Neil, Shannon, myself and IF I had a date) for Departure performing a Journey tribute. Now if you know me at all, you probably know my favorite karaoke song is "Don't Stop Believing" and well ever since then I've been a pretty big Journey fan. Needless to say I couldn't wait for this!

House of Blues is the venue located in Downtown Disney for those of you who don't know. Upon arrival, we had about 30 minutes before doors opened and went down to Wolfgang Puck Express for a quick bite to eat. Each of us choose a different pre-made sandwich (made fresh daily) which were pretty good and filling for our night!

House of Blues is a pretty awesome venue, it's kind of like an old wood mill feeling of a building. Inside holds probably a couple hundred people and includes an upstairs. The venue has three bars downstairs and it's set up with multiple levels to stand and watch. Doors opened at 7 and the music was to start at 8. Upon entering we checked out the bar scene, which to my disappointment didn't have any specials. Mixed drinks were $7 bucks but in honesty, they were half liquor so it was a good Disney price for what you got.

We walked around trying to find a good spot to hang out and one where we could potentially sit or lean up against something. At 8 o'clock the warm up band came out which were the Mike's.

Two guys (Mike and Mike) came out with an electric guitar and acoustical guitar to sing some old classics. Now when I say old, these were really old because well we had no idea of most of the songs. Personally I was pretty disappointed with the Mike's as it was hard to hear the words they were singing.

After a while and some setting up, Departure came out opening with a Journey song I actually didn't know but followed up with classics such as "Don't Stop Believing", "When the Lights Go Down" and "Faithfully". The crowd roared with the classic songs and couples sweetly danced to Faithfully.

We made some friends while there, had some more drinks and enjoyed the music. Departure did a great job representing Journey, sporting some awesome clothes (LOVED the 'MERICA shirt) and honestly sounded just like Journey. I believe the crowd was really pleased and our Disney weekend started with a bang!! In the words of Journey and fitting for Disney "Don't Stop Believing, Hold on to that Feeling" summed up our night.

Goofy's Goofy Lasagna

This past Sunday, I (Anna) had Ashleigh, Shannon, Neil, and Matt over to make a recipe out of one of my Disney cookbooks. The cookbook is Delicious Disney written by The Disney Chefs with Pam Brandon. The recipe was found in the "Magical Gatherings" section. If you wish to just eat this dish and not make it, it can be found at Chef Mickey's located in Disney's Contemporary Resort, a Walt Disney World Resort.

To be honest, when I picked out the recipe to make with everyone I didn't read the ingredients nor directions until I was at the grocery store trying to buy everything. In fact, it was hard to find all the ingredients. I ended up substituting the cilantro pesto with traditional pesto mixed with cilantro paste and the chipotle pepper tortillas with sun-dried tomato tortillas.

This is not by any means a traditional lasagna recipe. Needless to say, I was really nervous about serving this to my friends, but I had already gone in too far to come back out. Despite the bottom tortilla sticking to the bottom of the casserole dish, it turned out delicious (if I do say so myself)! I can completely understand why the Disney chefs serve this at their restaurant. I look forward to making it again and maybe even going to Chef Mickey's to see how the professionals perfect the recipe.

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
• 2 tablespoons cilantro pesto
• 1 tablespoon sun-dried tomato pesto
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups thinly sliced zucchini
• 1 cup diced and seeded tomatoes
• 1 medium green pepper, seeded and julienned
• 1 medium red pepper seeded and julienned
• 1/2 cup chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups grated provolone cheese
• 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
• 3 large chipotle pepper tortillas

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix garlic, 2 pestos, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Stir in zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and spinach.

4. In another large bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, heavy cream, and Parmesan cheese. Add the provolone and mozzarella, and mix well.
5. Spray bottom of a 12-inch round casserole baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
6. Place one of the tortillas in bottom of dish. Spread one-third of cheese mixture over the tortilla. Follow with one-half of vegetable mixture.
7. Repeat procedure with second tortilla, cheese, and vegetables.
8. Place third tortilla on top and spread with remaining cheese. Cover with foil (spray nonshiny side of foil with nonstick cooking spray to keep from sticking).
9. Bake 40 minutes; remove foil and brown an additional 15 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
10. Let stand 15 minutes, before cutting. Slice into 8 wedges.

reviews

This is Shannon and I'm gonna give my review of this dish. First off I was a little nervous because it seemed weird for lasagna. I also tend to pick lasagna with meat, but you really didn't need it. I'm sure you could adapt it if you wanted to add some meat though. In preparation you might also think its going to be really dried out because there's barely any sauce, but it was nice and cheesy except that bottom tortillas. My suggestion is add a little more pesto on the bottom so it doesn't get harder than the rest. Everything together made a really delicious dish and now I think I'll have to start making this one a lot! If you like cheese and vegetables you'll probably love this goofy lasagna!

With Goofy being my favorite classic Disney character, I (Ashleigh was very excited to try Goofy's Goofy Lasagna. The recipe truly embodies Goofy since isn't so much a lasagna as a vegetable casserole to me. I personally love veggies so I thought this dish was delicious! I thought it was quite filling for a lighter dish and didn't give you that overly stuffed feeling. I would definitely make this dish again and would recommend it as a healthy alternative to traditional lasagna. And it's plenty for the whole family and fun to make. Enjoy!

Birthday Shopping!

Hi Y'all, Ashleigh giving the latest update on purchases from Disney. As this weekend of posts will reflect, Anna's birthday is coming up (July 9th) so it only seemed appropriate to make a secret trip to Disney to go shopping. Now this trip's ride over proved it would be interesting. For those native Floridians, you know how terrible I-4 can get and well as usual an accident was slowing us down.

We had a time crunch to meet back with Anna later in the night so we did our best to re-route. Well the outcome was going through Windermere which was a very nice drive and brought us into Disney a different and unique way. We got a little behind the scenes toward of the Disney employee world by passing by shuttle buses taking employees around, the energy facility and all the way to a special gate. Despite Shannon and I wanted adventure, Neil steered away from the gate and went around the park essentially to go into the regular entrance. (Shannon and I are still determined to go back to the gate and see if we can go in that way).

Typical Florida summer, we had overcast skies and a light rain was going to begin. However, that didn't slow us down. We had some ideas of what to get Anna and made our way to the Emporium, which carries just about anything. Without giving away Shannon and Neil's gifts, I'll describe the gifts I got her.

Of course, we had to check out the vinylmations which have now released the beauty and the beast series. I decided that was a good choice and luckily for me, Anna got Belle from the mystery box! In addition, the were carrying the Star Wars vinylmations (series 2) so I got Shannon one in hopes of Darth Vader. However, Shannon got the alien from the cantina (I'm sorry Shannon I don't remember his name). Our search for Vader will continue. We moved on hoping to find something different and unique for Anna.

We made our way to the princess store (as we call it but it's Mickey's something), to see if there were any new princess shirts. They had some awesome new ones that any girl should check out! Moving on we went to the "Belle store" as I've named it. It's near Gaston's restaurant to see the unique beauty and the beast themed gear. Shannon and I were hoping to go in together to get the wine glasses but however, it seems Disney has removed that product.

Not finding much, we made our way back to Main Street...checking the jewelry and crystal products but still not finding the right gift. Finally, bringing our trip full circle and back to the Emporium I picked up a stainless steel Mickey Mouse wine cork (since are drinking more wine these days). With that and Shannon and Neil finding gifts, we made our way home. (Oh and don't forget, of course Shannon got more cards since we were there). It was a very good shopping trip, and nice to see Disney always coming out with more and more Disney gear and gifts to buy. Happy early birthday Anna :)