Sketch: Cinderella Castle

Toddler Son enjoys sitting at our kitchen bar drawing, while he does that he insists that Dad join him. While drawing Toddler Son will make requests of what he wants Dad to draw for him and most of the time the subjects are Disney attractions. Usually Dad will doodle very loosely but sometimes he will take the opportunity to spend a little more time on a drawing.  This time Toddler Son asked for a drawing of Cinderella Castle, with a balloon. So Dad obliged and drew it using color pencils on xerox paper; Dad ended up drawing Toddler Son in the "It's A Small World" inspired balloon. 

Review: Safari Donald Duck and friends at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom's Tusker House Restaurant

Tusker House Restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom is the location of a fantastic character meal. The food is a plentiful all you care to eat buffet of exotic (especially for a theme park) African & middle eastern dishes. And you have the opportunity to be visited by Safari Donald Duck and friends. On our visit we saw Donald & Daisy Duck, Mickey Mouse, & Goofy.

We had an advance dining reservation and there was a bit of a wait for this one, but we were still seated in a relatively timely manner. The detail at Disney's Animal Kingdom is pretty remarkable and the Tusker House is no exception. We were seated in a dining room that was adjacent to a large atrium where the food was. The decor was as if we were staying in a hotel in an African village.

Our server was super friendly and the character visits were very efficient.  Each character had a nice little moment with us, they took pictures and signed our autograph book.

The food was excellent, a real standout among all of the menus we have sampled at Disney Character Meals. Typically the food at the character meals is pretty straight forward and not always memorable. But Tusker House had a lot of different dishes that were very flavorful. We were there for lunch and enjoyed dishes like basmati rice, tabouli & hummus, and curry chicken. It was the Thanksgiving holiday so the menu also included Turkey. All in all we really appreciated the variety at this buffet and had a great time, we would do this one again for sure.

Disneyland Photo Tour: Main Street, U.S.A.

A  photo visit to  Main Street, USA at Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom through our snapshots over the years.

Esplanade, Turnstiles, & Mickey Floral

2015
Let's start with a trip through the turnstiles...we are steps away from "The Happiest Place on Earth"

2004

2007

2016
We must not forget to take a picture in front of Mickey and the Train Station...

Tunnel Posters

A look at the classic attraction posters that line the tunnels leading to Main Street U.S.A.'s Town Square

Town Square

2008

2008

2008

2017

2000

2008

2009

2008

2008

Main Street 

2016

2016

2008

2008

Review: The Crystal Palace -A Buffet with Character at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom

This was definitely one of our favorite Character Meals at Walt Disney World. Food, ambiance, character interaction were all top notch. The basics: we had dinner here with Pooh & Friends. We were visited by Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, & Piglet and there was a character parade that the boys could participate in marching around the venue with the characters. 

While we find the breakfast buffets acceptable, we think the lunch and dinner foods are much better and Crystal Palace was no exception.  Dad always loves a buffet with shrimp cocktail and a carving station, and there were lots of interesting salads. This is an all you care to eat buffet in the splendor of a Victorian Conservatory as interpreted by the 1970's and it works very well. 

We had to reschedule our advance dinner reservation a couple of times through the my Disney experience app as we were trying to avoid being rained out on our Magic Kingdom day. On the day of our reservation we were delayed, but they still accommodated us and very promptly which was unexpected and greatly appreciated. We had plenty of time with each character, plenty of food, and beautiful architecture...what more do you want from a Walt Disney World Character Meal?

Review: Minnie’s Beach Bash Breakfast at Walt Disney World's Beach Club Resort's Cape May Cafe

For Toddler Son's 2nd birthday last year we had a delightful time at the Beach Bash character breakfast with Minnie & Friends at the Cape May Cafe.  The Cape May Cafe is located in Walt Disney World's Beach Club Resort, and we were visited by Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, & Goofy in their beach clothes. 

The food here is pretty much the standard Disney Character Breakfast menu....in all you care to eat portions. For the most part we find the various Disney Character Breakfast Menus to be interchangeable but still of good quality. While each venue might have a unique dish or two you are guaranteed a similar selection of breakfast meats, potatoes, fruit and of course Mickey waffles. It is the character time that makes the breakfast meals worth it to us. Incidentally for both lunch and dinner we have found the Disney food to be much more interesting in and of itself.

The highlight at Cape May was seeing the characters in their "beach wear".  There was essentially no wait to be seated once we arrived for our advance dining reservation. We asked the servers for a birthday button for Toddler Son and they delivered a button, a card signed by all the characters, a cupcake and led the restaurant in singing to our son.  It was much more than we expected and this attentiveness really made the meal special.

Toddler Son has a big crush on Minnie so he was thrilled to meet her, he has stuffed animals of all the main characters and brought his Minnie along to meet Minnie at her breakfast bash. He also had a Cinderella Castle Magnet he enjoyed sharing with Donald & Goofy, he likes to have trinkets and mementos to show the characters.

After our meal we strolled the grounds and took a boat cruise along Crescent Lake- the lake that links EPCOT to Hollywood Studios and that is flanked by several Resorts & Hotels. Crescent Lake is a remarkable spot with picturesque architecture in various coastal/beachy styles. Once again even outside the theme parks Walt Disney World has the power to transport you to so many scenic places.

Sketch: Kiss Goodnight at Magic Kingdom

Have you ever been at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom at the end of an operating day? Then perhaps you have received a "Kiss Goodnight". The "Kiss Goodnight" is a wonderful selection of classic Disney music  playing (A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, When You Wish Upon A Star, a little sampling of Zip A Dee Do Dah, etc.) accompanied by a narration about Walt Disney, and the mission of the Disney Parks. As the music & narration play the castle then goes through a changing series of lighting profiles. It usually starts playing at some point after closing and then incrementally until Main Street ("with shops open 1 hour after park closing") finally closes, sort of like a very polite, magical way of saying "go home already!". This sketch tries to capture a little bit of that magical quiet and isolation of the "Kiss Goodnight" in those times after a full day in the Magic Kingdom.

Mickey's Not So Scary, Very, Very, Early Halloween Party

Halloween season at Walt Disney World starts in August now and last year we attended a Labor Day Weekend Halloween Party.  We entered the Magic Kingdom right at 4:00 PM, typically the time they allow party guests into the park and it closed to day guests around 7:00 PM. 

Little Orange Bird Costume Test

When we got to Magic Kingdom it was sunny, hot and not yet rainy

Perfect Florida sky at 4:13 PM

Toddler Son was dressed up in a homemade Orange Bird costume. The super nice folks at the Aloha Isle comped our Dole Whips ("It's on Mickey!") because "Orange Bird was visiting his home and they couldn't charge him at his own home." That was such a sweet and generous gesture and a nice dose of pixie dust. 

Complimentary Dole Whips for the Orange Bird and his guests!

Little Orange Bird in the Sunshine Pavillion

Once the party officially started there were trick-or-treat stations set up all over the park. Some of the interesting locations for candy distribution were inside the Enchanted Tiki Room, inside Mickey's Philharmagic Theater (while they played cartoons on the big screen!) and inside Pinocchio's Village Haus. We enjoy the shorter wait times for attractions during evening parties. This was our first experience with a special event party and did not realize we should try to prioritize photo ops & meet & greets before the lines get too long so we ended up avoiding them. We would definitely like to return and take advantage of visiting the meet & greets right away.

Moody Halloween lighting on Cinderella Castle

There was supposed to be 2 performances of the Boo To You Parade, periodic Castle stage shows, & Halloween themed fireworks.  Unfortunately the night we went had lots of rain, which cancelled one of the parades, most of the stage shows and delayed the fireworks. 

Rain in Frontierland...and throughout the park

Halloween projections & lighting on Cinderella Castle

The rain was heavy from about 8PM-10PM, eating up most of the party time. We ended up seeking shelter in an arcade near the Cinderella fountain in Fantasyland.  The parade ran in light rain, and the rain cleared up enough for the fireworks which had simple projections on the Castle which were very charming.

Spooky!

 

We did enjoy most of the night despite the weather. August is still very much the rainy season and often at night so it is something to consider if you are planning to go to one of the early Halloween parties.