Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Hi y'all and sorry for the delay! It seems like forever since we watched a girls night movie because the holidays. Well now we are back to watching and this last week's movie was bedknobs and broomsticks! This movie debuted in 1971 and featured a younger Angela Lansbury, which for those who don't recognize the name, she was the TV series star of Murder She Wrote. This a is a fun filled British movie (I mention British because it used a lot of British terms we didn't quite understand) that stars Lansbury as a witch in the making. She's under the impression she is enrolled in a witches school where she receives lessons in the mail to complete.

The story takes place during the WWII, which is why three children find themselves staying with Miss Price (Lansbury). Sound familiar? The movie reminded me of Harry Potter meets chronicles of Narnia at this point. As this was my first time seeing the movie, I don't want to give too much away to those who haven't seen it, but the movie focuses on Miss Price trying to learn the last lesson of "substitutiary locomotion" to help in the war effort. Miss Price, the children and Emelius Browne (the headmaster of the witches school) embark on an adventure set out to find the spell.

The movie features early Disney animation mixed with real life acting, much like the famous Mary Poppins. And of course, the feature has some fun song along songs (what Disney movie doesn't?). So if you ask me, embark on the flying bed (yes I said bed) and using the traveling spell and search for the spell to help end the war on this Disney adventure.

Candlelight Processional at Epcot

This is the first year that my family and I (Anna) went to the Candlelight Processional at Disney’s Epcot. A friend at work had told me that I needed to go this year and as usual (she also convinced my family to get annual passes) we took her advice. For those of you that don’t know what that is, it’s when Epcot host several famous people that will read the Christmas story (you know, the one with Christ actually in it) while local choirs sing Christmas songs. They have three showing a night.

One thing I’m glad we did was make reservations in advance to eat before the show and then get priority seating for the processional. It’s called the Candlelight Dinner Package. It was well worth it for us!

The restaurant we chose was Tutto Italia Ristorante. I had wanted to eat here for a while anyway and this provided the perfect opportunity. The food was absolutely delicious! As part of the dinner package, my dad, mom, and I each got to pick a non-alcoholic drink, a starter, an entrée, and a dessert. Everything we all ordered was great. I shared the Calamari Fritti to start with my mom, the Filetto di Sogliola (lightly breaded fish served with white asparagus, capers, and a lemon butter sauce) as an entrée, and the Torta di Ricotta (lemon ricotta cheesecake topped with marinated strawberries) for dessert. I would definitely recommend any of my choices.

After we ate, we had enough time to walk around the other countries and make our way back to “America” for the spectacle. On our selected night Dennis Haysbert (might recognize him from All State commercials or the TV show 24) was the person reading the Christmas story. There were two lines. One of the lines was for the people that got the dinner package, and the other line was for the people who were waiting in standby. Both lines were so long that they were flowing into the nearby countries. It didn’t look like any of the standby people were going to get in, which was disappointing because Matt was going to meet us there after work. Luckily we were able to save him a seat, but hardly any other standby people were let in for our time slot.

The processional was very good. All the singers were excellent and Dennis Haysbert did a great job reading after a few mix-ups at the beginning. I was a little confused when the audience didn’t get any candles to hold, but I guess it’s safer that way. Overall, it was a great experience and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Brother Bear

We finally were able to have another girl's night and watch our next Disney movie after a few weeks of conflicting schedules. It was held at my (Anna's) house and the movie was Brother Bear. Brother Bear has always been one of my favorites because of the main characters overcoming adversity, so I was pretty glad to see it on our list at number 94. 

Brother Bear starts out with the main character, Kenai, coming of age. Before he can become a man though, he must achieved what his sacred totem symbolizes. Much to Kenai's dismay, his totem happens to be the Bear which symbolizes love. With the help from his brothers and other friendly creatures he finally learns that love is actually all he needs to become a man. It's not that easy and it's a great adventure so you're going to have to watch it to find out.

Since the movie was based in North America, I made our little group a Canadian themed dinner. As an appetizer I made Maple Bread with Soft Cheese. I thought it was a fitting start and pretty delicious too. As our main course I got a recipe from this year's Epcot's Food and Wine Festival cookbook. The recipe came from the Canadian pavilion and I think it turned out better than it was at Epcot (if I do say so myself). If you want to try it yourself (which I highly recommend) the recipe is below. For dessert, we had Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars. These were also delicious, but something Canadians probably only have in the summer. Us Floridians can enjoy it all year long!

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup

Serves 10

Ingredients:

·         ½ pound bacon, chopped into ½-inch pieces

·         1 medium red onion, finely chopped

·         3 celery ribs, finely chopped

·         4 tablespoons butter

·         1 cup all-purpose flour

·         3 cups chicken stock

·         4 cups milk

·         1 pound grated white cheddar cheese

·         1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

·         1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

·         Coarse salt, freshly ground pepper to taste

·         ½ cup warm beer

·         Chopped scallion or chives, for garnish

Directions:

1.       Stir bacon over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned, in a 4-or-5quart Dutch oven.

2.       Add onion, celery, and butter and sauté until onion softens, about 5 minutes.

3.       Add flour and stir constantly for about 4 minutes over medium heat. Whisk in chicken stock and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4.       Add milk and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Do not boil after adding milk.

5.       Remove from heat and stir in cheese, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper until cheese is melted and soup is smooth. Stir in warm beer. If soup is too thick, thin with some warm milk.

6.       Serve hot, garnished with chopped scallions or chives.

Disney's Frozen will Melt Your Heart

Last night I (Anna) was able to FINALLY go see Disney’s newest movie, Frozen! I’ve wanted to see it since the day it came out (and it’s not just because I’m a little bias with the new Princess being named Anna). I went with Matt, Shannon, and Neil. Ashleigh was also supposed to be in attendance, but her dog, Maximus, thought some Christmas ornaments looked a little tasty.

As you could guess, the movie did not disappoint! Disney has once again outdone themselves. The story was cute and thought provoking and the songs were beautifully done! To no one’s surprise, Idina Menzel who plays Elsa, the Snow Queen, sang amazingly, as did the rest of the actors. Before attending the movie, I heard critics saying that “it was their best movie since The Lion King!” and that made me a little nervous. I was afraid I was going in with my expectations set too high, but that was not the case. They were definitely met and exceeded.

Now about the movie… since Disney refused to give too much away while they were marketing the movie, I will have to follow their lead. The movie is based very loosely on The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen; although I didn’t find very many similarities. The movie’s themes focus on courage, not judging a book by its cover, and, of course the Disney favorite, true love.

Trust me; your heart will melt for Disney’s Frozen. Go see it!

The Mighty Ducks

So I'm a little behind again, but I'm pretty forgetful and I've been busy with school work. Anyways, us girls being me, Ash and Anna got to finally continue our girls night again after it being interrupted for a month or so. The next movie on the list Anna has was The Might Ducks, which I remember watching as a kid. Even though this ones a little older I still don't want to give away the complete story just in case someone hasn't seen it and would like to watch it.

In the movie Gordon Bombay is now a successful lawyer and as a kid he had played hockey, but never wanted to return. This is due to him failing to win the championship for his team. Upon making some poor choices one night, Gordon is sentenced to do community service meaning he's the new coach for a small and uncoordinated youth hockey team. As the story progresses bonds begin to form between the youth and their new coach as he helps them improve their hockey skills. This definitely has a nice story and overall is a fun movie to watch. There are also two sequels that follow the same team. Since I saw this when I was young it was nice to see it again after so many years and I would say regardless of if you like hockey or not you can probably find this movie to be enjoyable.

So once again sorry for getting this up so late, but overall I give this movie a thumbs up!

MARVELous Review: Thor 2!

Hey y'all, here's a different movie review other than our girls night Top 100 disney movies countdown. This last Friday we made our way to the Merritt Island theater to watch the much anticipated new Marvel movie, Thor: The Dark World. Everyone has their favorite superheroes, but Shannon and Anna prefer Thor as their fave (although seriously who doesn't love those muscles?). So we were quite excited to see the movie and not disappointed at all.

Without giving the plot away, the movie was action packed, moments that pulled at your heart and well muscles for our lady viewers! I highly suggest everyone seeing this movie. During the movie, there were several moments of shock and fear and sadness for some characters. You'll cheer along Thor to succeed and your heart will melt as his romance with Jane Foster grows. You'll be in shock and awe as the plot thickens. And enjoy the humorous dialogue that seems more and more in Marvel movies. This movie is pretty family friendly besides some violence and maybe some minor language (I honestly can't remember if there was cursing). The movie is full of some high tech technology and science from Jane along with some more mythical legends from Thor's side of things. It makes for a very interesting sci-fi kinda movie.

This movie didn't disappoint as a superhero sequel and I look forward for the series to continue. My only hint to the plot would be not everything appears as it seems but that's my only hint! Let the movie captivate you and take you away to Asgard and enjoy Thor 2. :)
 

Food and Wine- My experience

     On October 19th, we made our way to the food and wine festival finally! Of course, Shannon and I were running late to meet up with Anna and Matt. However, upon arrival we checked out our passports and started making our way around the world! We skipped a lot of the beginning places like Mexico due to the massive crowd, deciding another visit would include those. We stopped at China for our first try. Now for those who don't know, these are all basically samples and best to share and try different things with a group otherwise it probably will be WAY to expensive. And in an effort to share all we had, here is the list:
1. Kung Fu Punch-China
2. Almond Crusted Blue Cheese soufflé with Fig jam- Cheese
3. Schofferhofer Grapefruit-Brewer's Collection
4. Zapiekanki- Poland
5. Ravioli de Formaggio all'Emiliana- Italy
6. Teriyaki chicken hand roll- Japan
7. Griddled Greek Cheese with pistachios and Honey- Greece
8. Ouzo- Greece
9. Guylian Belgian chocolate seashell truffle- desserts & champagne
10. Chocolate orange cupcake- dessert & champagne
11. Morello cherry pistachio mouse- dessert & champagne
12. Kalua pork slider with sweet and sour dole pineapple- Hawaii
13. Leinenkugel seasonal shandy- craft beers

     I would say most were excellent and a few fell shy of expectations. All food samples we tried were between $3-$6 each. Liquor was around $8 each. While beer was $4-8 depending upon size. Not too bad for prices I would say. I would have to say the dessert were my personal fave followed by any alcohol hahah!

     I would suggest to bring your own regular drinks to stay hydrated (it was horribly hot that day). In addition, every so often seek some shelter (again from that sun). It might be hard to find a place to sit with your food so investing in a food and wine tray might be worth it. It holds your food and drink in one tray (even the wine glasses)! We missed out on the Night Ranger concert but I suggest checking the schedule whose playing when you plan on attending.

    
 We called it a day early to take advantage of Anna's family staying at Fort Wilderness with a dip in the pool. Following an awesome grilled burgers, baked beans and chips. The Barrett family did a great job feeding us a big full meal before we had to say goodbye for the day. Overall, a great experience and I look forward to going back!

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

This past Friday, I (Anna) along with my parents and Matt went to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. We also met up with Ashleigh and Alex later in the night. This was our first time going to the annual event and it did not disappoint!

We got there a little before 7 pm (it’s start time), collected our trick-or-treat bags, and through much confusion received our wrist bands that let us be there after 7. As usual for a trip to Magic Kingdom, our first stop was the “fire station” to get Matt cards for The Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game, but instead of just getting the normal pack, we also received the special Halloween cards for this year. We then got dinner at one of our favorite “fast food” Disney restaurants, Casey’s Corner, which serves baseball park style food.

After filling our bellies, we were ready for the festivities! We headed off into Adventure Land and encountered Jane and Terk from Disney’s Tarzan. I got my picture taken with them and their autographs. Soon after we ran into Genie and Jasmine from Disney’s Aladdin and were able to get their autographs and pictures too. In fantasy, near where they are building the new seven dwarf’s ride, were the seven dwarfs! Matt and I also were able to get a picture with them.

We also went on a few rides. We of course had to hit up The Haunted Mansion because besides being one of my favorite rides at Magic Kingdom it also had some enhancements for Halloween. There was a "ghost" telling jokes as you waited in line and all the ride attendants were looking extra spooky with exaggerated makeup and costumes.   

All through the park there were places for anyone to go trick-or-treating. As a child, I never went trick-or-treating, so this was a first for me. The places that had candy were shown by Mickey lanterns and usually a cast member (employee) holding a Mickey pumpkin sign checking for the special wrist bands. The lines weren't very long and there were good varieties of candy at each station.

For the Halloween party, Disney had special shows at the castle, parades, and firework shows. We missed the shows at the castle. Will try to catch that next year! We saw the fireworks show while waiting in line to see the Seven Dwarfs. While we couldn't see what was going on at the front of the castle, the show was still pretty spectacular. The parade was very cute and was full of Disney characters that you don’t normally see out and about. All the Disney Villains were out in full swing.  The same song played throughout Main Street during the parade and that got annoying, but it was still a cute experience.

There are still nights you can attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party through the rest of October and on the first Friday of November. Check out their website for special deals for Florida residents and annual pass holders. 

Girls Night Movie Night #96

      Hey Y'all! My post is a little late but we continued our girl's night with number #96 on our Disney Top 100 list! The feature was Disney Channel's "Right on Track". Like Number 97, we struggled to find a way to actually watch the movie this week. Thankfully, Neil was able to find an online version we could watch. For those who don't remember this movie, it's a movie from 2002 about Erica and Courtney Enders. This movie is actually about the real Erica and Courtney and from my research was pretty accurate in telling their story.

     Erica and Courtney were two young teens who competed in Junior drag racing in Texas. I think the movie focuses mostly on Erica in her struggle to win. Erica doesn't accept losing and even at a young age in her drag racing career she loses to a boy and well she becomes determined to beat him later in life. Erica gets the opportunity years later (still a young teen though) and accomplishes her goal (sorry for those who haven't seen it). However, Erica becomes a sore winner. Her father does a great job showing how embarrassed he is by his daughter and teaching her to be better than that.

     The movie does a great job showing what many of us might have felt in high school/middle school with the pressures to do go at an extra curricular activity, do good in school and have a social life. It's tough being a young teen and handling all that. Erica experiences this the most since her focus is to win more than anything. Part of the reason she is allowed to race is if her grades stay up. As she struggles with French class and meets a boy she wants to be with she gives up racing. This is when Courtney's story comes into play. Courtney is old enough to race and succeeds very easily. Courtney is the exact opposite of Erica's personality in the fact she is fun, carefree and simply enjoys her time. She is no where near as serious as Erica. After Erica succeeds in French class and the jealousy of her sister's success, she gets back behind the wheel.

     Erica approaches Nationals finally and well I leave that part for you to watch if she wins or not. It's a heart warmed Disney Channel movie full of good morals and things young teens typically deal with. If you haven't seen it, I'd watch it sometime. Who knows maybe you'll be inspired to succeed at your favorite hobby! Oh and the pic on the right, that's the real Erica and Courtney!

 

Furlough-cation

Since the government shut down a week ago, I (Anna) have been on furlough and since I’m on this forced vacation I’m trying to make the most of it and do some vacation-y stuff. What better way to spend the day than at Disney? That’s exactly what my mom (also furloughed) and I did last Wednesday. We went to all four Disney World parks in one day!

We started our day at Animal Kingdom, but before we even got in the park my mom dropped her annual pass somewhere between the bag check and the ticket entrance. Fortunately for her, someone had picked it up and brought it to the lost and found where we were able to get it back pretty quickly. When we finally got into the park, we headed to the Tree of Life to do the A Bug’s Life show, It’s Tough to be a Bug. It was cute as usual. After that, I convinced my mom to go on Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. Although I enjoyed myself, she did not. She’s not a fan of roller coasters and she confirmed that once again after riding this one. After our adventure with the Yeti in the Himalayan Mountains, we went to hang out with Dug and Russell from the movie Up. The characters spent a lot of time with each person that stood in line and it was very special.

After finishing up at Animal Kingdom, we hopped on a bus to Epcot. Upon arriving to the park, we were a little bit hungry. The International Food and Wine Festival is still going on and will continue until about mid-November; because of this we were able to visit a few stands to get our lunch. Our first stop was Brazil. We ordered the Seared Scallop with Ragout of Tomatoes, Peppers & Hearts of Palm and the Frozen Caipirinha featuring LeBlon Cachaca. Both the scallop and drink were very good and I look forward to having them again. After Brazil, we headed to Mexico and tried the Shrimp Taco with Purple Cabbage. It was probably my favorite food there so far this year.

Once our tummies were full, we got on another bus heading to Hollywood Studios. Upon arriving at the park, a couple who was leaving gave us their fast passes to ride Toy Story Midway Mania!. We had a little bit of time before we could use them so we first headed to Star Tours – The Adventures Continue. It’s a ride I’ve been on a lot and it was good as usual. Since we were there on a week day in the fall, there weren’t a lot of people in the park so we had time for another ride. We chose The Great Movie Ride and practically just walked on. By about the time the ride was over it was almost time to get in line for the Toy Story ride. Neither of us had ever been on it, so we were very excited and it did not disappoint! The ride has been blogged on here before, but I thought I needed to reiterate its awesomeness.

We decided we wanted to end our “magical” day at Magic Kingdom, so we took yet another bus to that park. We spent the majority of our time there eating, walking around, and shopping. The main event at Magic Kingdom was getting good seats for the light show on the castle. We set our eyes on the tables outside The Plaza Restaurant near Main Street. Other people had the same idea, much to the dismay of the people who actually wanted some place to eat. One man got so perturbed that he was cussing loud enough for people to hear and came over to my table while my mom was getting us ice cream, yelled at me, and left his and his wife’s hotdogs on the table. The wife later came back and got the food and apologized. Even though getting the view of the castle was quite eventful, it was well worth it.

Eat and Drink Your Way Around the World

The Start to the Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival
This past weekend Epcot’s annual Food and Wine Festival started with a bang. I (Anna) along with Matt and my parents went to check out the festivities this past Saturday. The park was packed with all sorts of people ready to eat and drink themselves around the world. This year they added two new stands, American Adventure Coffee Cart and Scotland, which makes THIRTY destinations all together. If you have never been to the food and wine festival or the International Flower & Garden Festival in the spring then here are a few tips:

1. Go with a few friends and share every dish.
2. Get a “passport” at your first destination and get it stamped at every country.
3. Bring a pen so that you can mark off the things you have tried.
4. Buy a tray at the front of the park so that it’s easy to hold all the hot food and drinks.

Last year when the four of us went we had to visit all the countries in one day which left us stuffed (and a little tipsy). Since we have annual passes this year, we decided to take it slow and enjoy a few counties at a time. We went to Canada, Greece, and Scotland this trip.

Canada

Canada was our first trip and the busiest of them all. Since we had bought two trays when we first walked in, we let my dad go and try to find a seat in the shade for all of us after getting our food. We decided to get all the food items and two of the drinks to share. The dishes were Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup, Seared Rainbow Trout with Bacon, Frisee & Maple Minus 8 Vinaigrette, and “Le Celliar” Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce. The drinks we tried La Face Neige Apple Ice Wine and La Face Neige Sparkling. I loved everything that we tried! Matt is one of the pickier eaters in our group and is not a fan of fish usually, but the rainbow trout was easily his favorite.

Greece

In Greece, we tried the majority of the food choices and two of the drinks. They offered the Taste of Greece: Grilled & Marinated Calamari, Htipiti, Eggplant Dip, Olives & Pita Bread, Griddled Greek Cheese with Pistachios & Honey, Chicken Gyro with Tzatziki Sauce, and Spanakopita. We didn’t really know what any of the drinks were, so we let our cashier pick two for us. We got Alpha Estate Axia Syrah-Xinomavro and Ouzo by Metaxa. All of the food dishes were delicious. My favorite (as it was last year too) was the Griddled Greek Cheese with Pistachios & Honey. It’s so great! Everyone should at least try this in Greece. The Alpha Estate Axia Syrah-Xinomavro was good, but the Ouzo was very strong and definitely a shot that will have you yelling Opa!

Scotland

After Greece and buying Vinylmations, we decided to try one of the new destinations. Mom and I decided on Scotland and left Matt and dad to guard our seats. We once again got all of the food options, but stuck to water and coke for drinks. They offered Seared Scottish Salmon with Cauliflower Puree, Watercress & Malt Vinaigrette, Vegetarian Haggis with Neeps &Tatties (Grilled Vegetable Cake with Rutabaga & Mashed Potatoes), and Scottish Banoffee Tart with Bananas, Scotch Whisky Toffee, Walkers Shortbread Crumbles & Sweet Cream. Surprisingly enough, Matt’s favorite was the vegetarian dish which none of the rest of us really liked and he’s a meat guy all the way. Mom and Matt weren’t fans of the dessert claiming the taste of the Scotch was too strong, but dad and I liked it (not sure what that says about us…). They were out of cauliflower puree, so the salmon was also served with rutabaga and mashed potatoes.
All-in-all, our experience was great as usual and I can’t wait until our next trip to continue our way around the world.

Disney Gets Spooky

As usual, for our Thursday night, Girls’ Night, me (Anna), Ashleigh, and Shannon got together to watch the next movie on our top 100 Disney movies list. The only problem… we could not find the movie anywhere. And let me tell you, we used every method we could think of to get this movie. The culprit was The Scream Team (2002) (number 97 on our list). The movie was a Disney Channel Original Movie that they apparently never put out on DVD, and I guess doesn't play very often on Disney Channel anymore.

Since it was my week to host Girls’ Night, I had already come up with a menu to go with the movie theme and did not want to change the whole plan when it looked grim for us to find the movie. I served my guests “a snake", “blood”(tomato soup), a “spider’s nest”,“witch's brew”, and “poisoned apples” (traditional caramel apples). I think it all turned out great and would make it all again.

Because our meal was already planned, I went ahead and picked another Disney movie, that went with the “spooky” theme and that wasn't already on our list, called The Haunted Mansion (PG 2003). You might recognize the name as it shares it with one of the rides at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Both the movie and the ride are on my list of favorites. The movie is loosely based on the ride and stars Eddie Murphy. Although this movie wasn't as popular as the ride to movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, I still love to watch it. There are a lot of scenes from the ride in the movie, but it’s still not very scary. That being said though, I’d still go with the PG rating. The movie strives to show the importance of family and making time for the one’s you love, and pulls that off with ease. I would recommend this for a “spooky” family movie night film!

On another note, the new trailer for Disney's Frozen (2013) just came out! Check it out and get excited for Princess Anna!

Unleash the Villains....Bust!

It was only a matter of time before one of our many adventures to Disney would, well, come up lacking Disney magic. Our latest trip to Disney was last Friday, September 13th. A tip from one of our viewers and a friend, let us know that we could not possibly miss the Friday the 13th event. Of course, we became instantly interested and did a little research into the event. It seems Disney threw together quickly a Friday the 13th event celebrating the Villains of Disney called Unleash the Villains. The event was to start at sundown when the villains would be unleashed by Hades at Disney's Hollywood Studios. All of us made a big effort to get there as early as possible by leaving work early and meeting up for Neil to drive us over.

Upon arrival (we were early for the event), we took some time to check out stores for vinylmations and some food until the event began. We soon figured out how busy the park was based on the Villain Vogue store being absolutely packed. In fact, the store closed off the vinylmation section because so many people were there for the exclusive villain merchandise, which featured special Mickey ears featuring poisoned apples, Maleficent themed horns, and a Queen of hearts theme. Making our way around the park we stopped in at the Animation store for vinylmations. As a note, I (Ashleigh) have started my vinylmation collection with the release of the Little Mermaid themed items. I was happily surprised to get Prince Eric and his butler this time, but still in search of Ariel (all I want is Ariel and Eric lol!). Anna was disappointed to not find any Beauty in the Beast themed vinylmations anymore (we fear it's been discontinued). We trekked on stopping to watch the Muppets show and search out some autograph books. We finally choose the traditional autograph books and a pen from a store back by the Muppets show and stopped in at Pizza Planet for a quick bite before Hade's Unleash the Villains Party. Not much to our surprise, everyone else had the same idea and we waited in a long line for pizza.

Stuffing our faces with different pizzas, salads and some soda we made our way back to Mickey's hat where the stage was set for Hades. We were told the show was to start at sundown or 8 pm. This is when our evening started going downhill. The show was delayed to start and to my disappointment we couldn't get a good spot to see the show. Struggling to see, despite the extra screens we watched as Hades announced each of the 13 featured villains on stage, including some favorites like Maleficent, Ratcliffe, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Queen (referring to Snow White). All costumes were pretty awesome and unique. After the show, the DJ remained playing awesome music for a dance party. We, of course, made our way to get in line to take photos with the Villains and get autographs.

Now this is when chaos seemed to be unleashed (maybe part of Hades plan?). Rumors had spread that parking was full with many Disney goers having to park in Epcot and come over so you can imagine how packed the park was. We walked all around the areas with the "lines", talked with 3 different workers (the only 3 to be found anywhere), and discovered that the only distinguished line out of 3 supposedly formed lines went around the whole big circle across from American Idol. It seems that there were 3 lines supposedly (we could only find the one). Each line was suppose to lead to one of the three areas where a character was. If the lines weren't bad enough, we found out that the three areas were not three specific villains but constantly changing out so you were not guaranteed to get a picture with any villain you wanted. And worst of all, no autographs were being given. After all this chaos and many complaints amongst ourselves and others, we got out of line and decided to go back to Villain Vogue again and then leave the park. At Villain Vogue we bought other Vinylmations and waited in a line to check out and trade some Vinylmations. Upon check out we discovered the trades were moved across the street. Shannon and Anna made some trades then and we left Hollywood Studios to go to Downtown Disney.

At Downtown Disney, we checked out the D-store to trade again (not succeeding much for Shannon and Anna) and then finally going home very disappointed. It's with great displeasure for me to give Disney two thumbs down for this event. Overall, it was very disorganized with no defined lines for characters, little to no workers available or with knowledge, and lacking much of the Disney magic we typically feel. I would suggest for the next event, consider following how Star Wars weekend is set up to keep lines organized for the character spots. In addition, open up more than one bar with special drinks (forget to mention that disappointment). Perhaps make the event all day (considering Friday the 13th is all day not just 8 pm to 1 am) so people have more time with characters and enjoy the show, etc. I do hope the event happens again just better put together for enjoyment. Despite all this, we'll still keep visiting Disney (I don't know if anything could stop that) haha!

The Great All-Nighter

Sorry for being a week behind, but school has consumed my life of late. I hosted Girl's Night last Thursday at Neil's house and naturally I was also running way behind with my cooking. However, my made-from-scratch chicken pot pie and maple-honey cornbread was a big hit!

Without further adieu, here is my review of Midnight Madness (1980) by none other than Walt Disney Pictures.

Midnight Madness is another film on our "Top 100" countdown of Disney movies. None of us had heard of this one before, but it turned out to be refreshing from the standard formula Disney movies we had gotten so used to watching. It turned out to be pretty entertaining and despite its 6.1 on IMDB I'd give it a solid 7.

The plot surrounds a group of college students taking part in a "game" that spans the entire city over one night and turns out to be quite a fiasco but also ties in a coming-of-age story.

The "game master" selects five students to act as "team leaders." The teams have to search the city for clues that lead them from one scenario to another, with a good deal of comedy along the way. It comes off as a bit silly to us in 2013 (I loved seeing the huge cell phones!), but we found ourselves quickly choosing our favorite team and rooting for them throughout the movie.

A note for parents: even though the movie is rated PG (1980), there are a few scenes of mild violence and some mild sexual suggestiveness which may be considered inappropriate.

Teppan Edo at Epcot

This past Saturday, I (Anna) went to Japan with Matt and my parents. Of course it was only the Japan in Epcot, but it was really fun (and delicious!). A while ago I made reservations at Teppan Edo which is their Hibachi restaurant for lunch. Since it is fall now, and football season, it gets hard to make reservations and find a time to go to Disney around our teams’ football schedules, but we managed.

We got to the park a little early, so we went into the many Japanese stores to look around. We've been in there several times, so I had already eyed the oyster pearl station. After looking at the different oysters for a little while my incredibly sweet boyfriend offered to buy me one. I let him pick the oyster (I have horrible luck when it comes to this sort of stuff) and there turned out to be a beautiful pearl inside. As the ladies at the desk open up the oyster they teach you to count down from three in Japanese and are very enthusiastic. It makes the whole experience exciting. After getting the pearl they have a selection of earing, ring, and necklace settings you can choose from to put your pearl in. I picked a ring setting for mine. When Matt was done paying for my new ring it was time to go upstairs to lunch.

Teppan Edo is like any other Hibachi grill. You will normally sit with another family and have a Japanese cook prepare your meal right in front of you. Our chef’s name was Kaoki. He was very funny and an excellent cook. The best part though was that he was an Auburn Tiger fan, which also happens to be where I graduated from college. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was awesome. My dad and Matt ordered the steak. My mom got the chicken and I got the scallops. Everything was delicious and I would definitely go there again.

Number 99 - The Secret World of Arrietty

As usual another Thursday night was kicked off for our Girls Night with this week being number 99 on our countdown list. Number 99 was The Secret World of Arrietty. For a little background of the movie, it's a story of the Borrowers, who are little people living in your homes simply borrowing little bits of things as needed to survive. It may sound familiar to the original Borrowers that was produced in 1997. The concepts of both movies are the same but that is about it. This version is a Japanese animated version while the other was real live actors. As for the story of what happens, the two movies are different and even the family of Borrowers is slightly different in the two movies. Personally, I liked this version better than the 1997 movie. I enjoyed the colorfulness in the animation, the soothing music and the Japanese influence in the characters.

As typical Disney, the movie had good themes and morals to the story. Without giving to much away to the movie, there's a little bit of love and most definitely friendship. And overall I would say that the movie teaches children that no matter how different someone may be, you can often times be friends if you keep an open mind and heart. I believe that was our favorite part of the movie, the friendship/love developed between Arrietty the daughter of the Borrower family and Shawn, the young boy staying with his aunt while he is sick. Although you never quite know what Shawn is sick with, your heart goes out to him since he is very good hearted and sweet. There were a couple moments of sweet remarks made by Shawn to Arrietty which caused for us all to say "AWWW". Including my favorite line at the end of the movie by Shawn saying "My heart is stronger now, because your in it". I would give this movie two thumbs up and suggest it to families of all ages. This is definitely a must see for your Disney collection.

Be Our Guest

Booking a reservation

The day had finally arrived Monday August 26th, much anticipation had been building (at least for me) to finally get the chance to eat at Be Our Guest Restaurant at Disney! Sometime months ago I went on a computer clicking rampage to try to reserve a spot at Be Our Guest, unfortunately reservations were already into December and with none available for our party of 6. Therefore, I took to a different method of madness to search for a dining reservation and began checking every night reservation starting at the current month until getting through probably 4 months in their calendar I found the night for us. I immediately booked it and added all 6 guests names to the reservation. Afterwards I told everyone about the date and time and we were all very excited especially since it wasn't in December!

Getting to the restaurant

Now, I wouldn't typically suggest clicking through all the dates on the dining reservation calendar, but for a packed restaurant where your date and time are flexible it can work. Our time was for 6:25pm, making us a little nervous because some had to drive from work. Well we got there and discovered that me and Neil (the two who didn't have work times in the way) were the last ones to arrive, but still caught seats with Ash, Anna, and Mrs. Barrett on the tram to the ticket center. That should have been a bad sign to us, Ashleigh was waiting on the tram before anyone else got there for around 15 minutes without another one coming. Matt was waiting for us by the ticket center and we started for the Monorail, but to our luck this broke down as we got in line. Instantly we began rushing for the ferry boat, but it just left. Now, we were really pressed for time and a new boat took forever to come. Needless to say we hit the reservation time while on the ferry boat and still had to go through bag check, get in the park, and back to the restaurant where you also have to stand in line. In the end they only had us wait about 25 minutes for a new table because they must had filled ours.

The dining experience

Our time came as we were waiting just inside the entrance (it started raining outside) and our host greeted us and began taking us through the castle explaining the different locations. We ate in the West wing which had dimmed lights compared to the ballroom and we personally enjoyed this more. Of course, we also had the best seat because we sat right in front of the rose and enjoyed seeing petals fall. This of course became a big picture area, but it didn't disturb us. The menu consisted of pretty much one item from every type of dinner entrée. Also if you are looking to drink at the Magic Kingdom this is the only location you can. Always remember you can drink at other Disney parks. I personally love bread so I was very happy to see them give us rolls and butter to begin with, not to mention that we were all very hungry. I then ordered the Chicken dish, Ash, Anna, and Mrs. Barrett got the ratatouille, Neil got the salmon and Matt got the pork.

Chicken entree	Salmon entree	Pork entree

Conclusion

All in all our meals were presented very nicely and we enjoyed them thoroughly. Of course the best part was yet to come with desserts! Our waitress brought around the rolling cart of desserts and you have 5 to pick from. They aren't very big so they are perfect for one person or for everyone to get a taste. Me, Neil, and Ash all got one with them being strawberry, passion fruit, and chocolate. Each was delicious, but Neil and I agreed that mine was the best! During your dinner the Beast will also come visit so have your cameras ready because he comes and goes very quickly, but after dinner you can visit him in the study and get pictures with him. After dinner it was dark out so we just walked around a bit and Anna began looking for Beauty and the Beast vinylmations. We couldn't find them anywhere that night, but they will be restocked soon. Overall we really enjoyed our night and our dinner! We all even were a bit dressier at Disney for once(something us girls wanted to do and decided we would do for this dinner)!
Overall here is how I rate Be Our Guest on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best:

Food	1 2 3 4 5
Decor	1 2 3 4 5
Service	1 2 3 4 5
Value	1 2 3 4 5

On a side note it did appear that it is now possible to walk up to the reservation booth at Be Our Guest and be able to make a reservation or wait for a table to open, when we first tried months ago this was not available because all the times were filled. It would appear that the rush to eat there because it is the newest restaurant is dying down making it easier to get a seat.

Disney's The Light in the Forest

Every Thursday night, I (Anna) am part of a “Girl’s Night” with Ashleigh, Shannon, and our friend Izzy. We usually eat a meal prepared by that week’s host and watch a movie. After finishing our last selection of movies, we decided that we’d start watching the top 100 Disney movies according to disneymovielist.com as of July 31, 2013.

Last Thursday, Izzy hosted and we started with the 100^th top movie which was The Light in the Forest. The movie originally came out in 1958 and was based on a book by Conrad Richter by the same name. As was usual in that time, Walt Disney took a lot of liberties with it and made the story more “family” friendly. The movie was never released to DVD let alone Blu-ray DVD, so Ashleigh was forced to dig out an old VHS player in order for us to watch it. We had fun reminiscing about VHSs and all the headaches that came with them.

The movie starred James MacArthur as True Son/John Butler and Fess Parker as Del Hardy. Both actors are no strangers to Disney films. MacArthur was in one of my favorites as a child, The Swiss Family Robinson, and Parker starred in all the Disney Davy Crocket films and TV shows. The Light in the Forest was very much a coming of age story. It’s about a white, young man, who is raised by Native Americans from infancy, but sent to live with his birth parents in hopes of keeping the peace between the Indians and white settlers. With the help of Del Hardy, True Son has to learn to fit in with the very people he was raised to hate.

I had never seen the movie or read the book, so I was excited to see the film. At the beginning, all of us thought the plot resembled the plot of Disney’s Pocahontas, but it turned out very different. Movies and books that have raciest themes that people overcome have always attracted my attention, so this movie did not disappoint.  I’d recommend this for pretty much everyone. The story has a history lesson, a little bit of action, and an underlying love story to it. It’s a good story that shows the events of early America and how we got to where we are today.

"Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me!"

Anna here to share my latest Disney adventure. Matt, my parents, and I started out our visit in Disney’s Magic Kingdom. We followed Matt around as he played the final round of The Sorcerers of Magic Kingdom interactive game. I won’t give away what happens when you win, but he was pretty excited that he finished and we went to get a new set of cards. They also upped his level from easy to medium for the next time he plays. We then ate lunch and sought after a new undertaking.

A Pirate’s Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas

We found that new adventure when my dad saw a small building in Adventure Land that was called, A Pirate’s Adventure. That seemed right up our alley, so Matt and my dad went inside. They came back out with a treasure map and a hint to their first destination. It was their goal to help Captain Jack Sparrow find the treasures of the seven seas. When we get to the first place on the map, Matt used his ticket (the annual pass) to make a parrot come to life to give us our next hint. We went long like this, discovering new places in Adventure Land and eventually finding one of the hidden treasures. There are several different maps you can go through to find different treasure, but we weren't able to do them all. We’ll pick it up next time for sure.

Kouzzina by Cat Cora® at Disney’s Boardwalk

Mine, Mom, and Matt's dinners

We left the Magic Kingdom by bus to head over to Disney’s Boardwalk Resort. I had made dinner reservation months ago (you certainly don’t need to make them this far in advance) to eat at Kouzzina by Cat Cora®. If you are a Food Network fanatic like me, then you’ll probably recognize that name because Cat was one of the first female Iron Chefs to be on the popular TV show. Her inspiration for the food offered at this restaurant comes from her Greek heritage and also from being raised in the southlands of the U.S.
We started off our meal with an appetizer of Goat Cheese Sto Fourno. We saw it while we were waiting to be seated and thought it would be appetizing to eat after a long, hot day at the park. We were right, it was just what we needed and absolutely delicious. In the dish were baked goat cheese, pequilla peppers, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, and greek olive oil. It was served with arugula topped with some oil and vinegar, and olive bread (her recipe for olive bread can be found at FoodNetwork.com). We all ordered different entrées. My dad ordered the Fisherman’s Stew which contained mussels, clams, shrimp, and scallops. He loved it so much that he went up the kitchen to compliment the chef who made it. Mom ordered the Kouzzina Trio which consisted of portions of greek-style lasagna, chargrilled lamb burger, and cinnamon stewed chicken with orzo. She thought the lamb burger was a little spicy, but loved the rest of the dishes. Matt, thinking that the menu was a little strange and practically in a different language, opted for the Wood-grilled Steak seasoned with fresh herb salsa and sided with a seasonal vegetable and Kouzzina potatoes. He liked everything, but the vegetable which resembled broccoli, but tasted nothing like it. I got the Briami which is oven-roasted vegetables with oregano, topped with Greek cheese, served with herbed orzo pasta. I’m on a total orzo kick right now and absolutely loved it in my dish. I’m known for putting salt on everything (yes, I know it’s bad for me), but none was on the table and none was needed because everything was so perfectly seasoned. I definitely enjoyed my time at this restaurant.
While waiting for the bus at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort to head back to Magic Kingdom and our car, a bus came to drop off passengers with their destination being “Anna”. Of course this caught my eye and I took a picture. I wasn't gutsy enough to inquire where it was heading, but it still made my day.

Lights! Camera! Action!....Hollywood Studios!

     Ashleigh blogging about my last visit to Disney. Although, my title suggests I was only at Hollywood Studios in fact we visited Epcot and Magic Kingdom all in one day! Talk about park hopping! Well last Sunday was the visit and I should highlight it was marked the hottest day of the year too, we arrived at the park around midday to begin our trip. My trip wasn't with the usual, in fact, I was tagging along with my church friends, Brent, Tracey and Brandon. Upon arrival we decided to make our way to Tower of Terror. It didn't seem to have too long of a line and well most of the line is shaded. Believe me by the time we got in line I was sweating like a pig! In case we haven't mentioned it, the Tower of Terror is an actual Disney Channel movie probably from the 90s and about a group of people who died on the night of a big party in the elevator. Needless to say you ride the elevator up....and well I'll leave the rest for a surprise for those who don't know. It's a classic and a must go! We grabbed some fast passes for later at Rockin Rollercoaster and made our way to check out the Indiana Jones show. This show is family friendly and obviously action packed. It's actually really funny and you might have a chance to participate like Tracey did!

Now one of the biggest highlights of the day was our lunch/dinner reservation at 50s Prime Time Restaurant. Now this is a cool place and must to go eat and check out sometime! Definitely make reservations because it gets packed. This restaurant is based on the 1950s including classic furniture in funky colors, old black and white TVs and super friendly waiters/waitresses who talk the lingo. Needless to say the waiter we had made it awesome and enjoyable. In addition they have great "home cooked" meals and they are quite filling! It's not too bad on prices with typical meals between 15-20 bucks. And before leaving Hollywood Studios, we used fast passes over at Rockin Rollercoaster and of course rocked out :)

     After this, we decided on going over to Epcot for some drinks (although yes, we had some beers in Hollywood Studios). At Epcot we decided to make our way to Mexico and brave some tequila shots (which were really good) and road the boat around Mexico. Afterwards we continued our walk around stopping in at Germany for beers and snacks, England to enjoy pictures with Pooh and Tigger and some awesome music by the British Revolution band (and yes we danced unlike most people). We headed over to test track and in an effort to save time, we did single riders and had a blast! And of course, I couldn't forget to get Shannon two Star Wars Edition 2 vinylmations (one which she had and one she didn't).


Finally, we headed over to Magic Kingdom where we finished our day. Here we rode some classics like pirates of the Caribbean, the haunted mansion, tea cups, and buzz lightyear. I have to make a special highlight on the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger ride. On this ride, you shot targets with a laser gun to earn points. Needless to say, I unknowingly hit some high point targets because before I knew it I had over 500,000 points! I ended up maxing out at 999,999 points and feeling pretty amazing at winning! We rode the people mover to get a break before heading back home.

     As usual, it was a pretty epic day and awesome to do some things I hadn't before. My biggest advice on this trip is to be prepared for the heat and to make a reservation at a cool reservation to check out! You won't be disappointed!