Cinderella's Carriage at Disney's Hollywood Studios

By Arnick

After seeing Cinderella, I fell in love with her carriage! Once I found out that Cinderella's carriage was located on the streets of America at Hollywood Studios I had to go see it. When you enter the street you can spot it immediately. It's shiny and gold, not hard to miss.

As you get closer, you notice all of the intricate details on it. Even the glass windows have etchings. The interactive part of it was awesome. You got a chance to hold Cinderella's golden slipper. I felt like a kid in a candy store!

If you're a Cinderella lover like me, make sure you stop by Hollywood Studios because everyone deserves to be a princess for a moment.

Cinderella Live Action Review

By Arnick and Jared 

 

Being a Cinderella fan since I was basically born, I was skeptical about the Cinderella movie. I didn't get a chance to see the preview at Hollywood Studios so I went into the movie blind. I must say I was thoroughly impressed. I was afraid that the original story of Cinderella was going to be completely lost but it wasnt. A new twist was added which was kind of nice to see to make it more modern. And they gave you a new appreciation for Cinderella. The graphics were pretty awesome also. The beginning is a tad slow but it does pick up. You do go through quite a few emotions during the movie but when you get to the end of the movie, of course, you get the happy ending. At first I must admit I did not like Cinderella's  dress, but once I saw it in motion I changed my mind. It is gorgeous. And although I didn't like Lady Tremaine too much, her wardrobe was fabulous.  It is a must see! 

My husband went with me and here's what he had to say about it: 

"Cinderella: A guys perspective 

As someone who lives with a Cinderella fanatic, I have become very familiar with the Disney classic. I went into the movie with mixed emotions, I had enjoyed most of the recent Disney live action versions of their classic animated movies, but I didn't know how they were going to make the Cinderella story more contemporary.  After watching the film I went away pleasantly surprised, the Director took fairly one note characters in the animated feature and made them considerably more fleshed out. Probably most notable would be Lady Tremaine which explains how she came to treat Cinderella so horribly. The CG is incredibly well done, and there's a bit of a chase scene to spice up the action. All in all I would recommend this film to everyone from the hardcore Disney fan, to someone who may just be tagging along with one, and everyone in between."

Wordless Wednesday : Disney Royalty

Best Vacation Haircut!

by Gaylin

In April of 2005, I had my head shaved to raise funds for Balding For Dollars, a local Vancouver charity run to help kids in the cancer ward at BC Children's Hospital. With the help of friends I raised $1,500!!

Two weeks after I had my head shaved I went on vacation to Walt Disney World. I have to say, being bald in hot Florida in May was wonderful! I got some strange looks, a few people tried to be sympathetic, I guess they thought I was going through chemo and a couple of times people forced me to take their seat on the bus . . . I did explain why my head was shaved but they made me keep the seat anyways.

And talk about a great hair style to enjoy the water parks! Slap some sunscreen on my noggin and go play.

I did have a very heartfelt talk with a woman who was going through chemo, she had a wig and a hat on – in the May heat. She thought I was very brave to shave my head, I told her she was very brave in her fight with cancer.  Hopefully she at least stopped wearing the wig and stuck with a hat for the rest of her trip.

Here are a couple of photos from the Magic Kingdom.

 One from the Animal Kingdom.

And one from the Garden Grill at Epcot.

And finally one last photo, taken at Typhoon Lagoon.

Cinderella’s Dining at Cítricos – Breakfast and Brunch with The Disney Princesses

By Nick

I didn't have any idea I'd be going to Cinderella’s Dining at Cítricos – Breakfast and Brunch with The Disney Princesses until just a few days before our wonderful breakfast at my favorite resort, Disney's Grand Floridian.

The breakfast, usually held in Cinderella Castle, has been relocated to Citricos while Cinderella's Royal Table undergoes refurbishment.

We attended this grand affair with our friends Kandi and John, and their children Jazzlyn and Grayson.

Barbie, me, Jazzlyn, Cinderella, Kandi, Grayson, and John

I'm very glad we went, not only for the experience, which starts with a photo with Cinderella herself, and continues into the lovely dining room of Citricos, where we also got to meet Belle, Snow White, Jasmine, and Ariel...

...but also for the food, because we were all very pleasantly surprised by the selection!

To start, we were brought coffees, teas, sodas, and our specialty beverages of choice, which were Mimosas, along with a basket of freshly baked multi-grain croissants, blueberry muffins and apple pastries.

For an appetizer, I had the charcuterie, while Barbie asked if it was okay to order 2 items, the charcuterie and the chicken noodle soup, and our wonderful server said "Yes!" Both were very good.

During the meal, wishing wands and swords were brought to the table for Jazzlyn and Grayson to use in the Magical Wishing Ceremony, where, with a little Disney magic "your prince’s or princess’ wish can come true!"

For entrées, both John and I ordered the steak, but instead of the slow-poached egg, we asked if we could substitute scrambled eggs, and were told that was not a problem. I ordered the steak medium rare, and it was more to the medium side, while John asked for his well done, and it was VERY well done, but still good. In the future, I will have to remember to ask for rare, as apparently, steak prep errs to the side of caution.

Barbie had the grilled ham and biscuits.

Kandi had the scrambled egg whites with hot ten-grain cereal, Greek yogurt topped with granola, a whole-grain croissant and fresh fruit.

Jazzlyn had Mickey waffles with sausage and bacon.

Desserts were a trio of a piece of cake they called crème brûlée, chocolate-raspberry cake, and a vanilla bean cream puff, the standout being, perhaps not surprisingly the chocolate cake.

The experience is not inexpensive, being $50 plus tip, but as far as character meals go, we felt it was absolutely one of the better experiences, and the food was a notch above a buffet.

Reservations for Cinderella’s Dining at Cítricos—Breakfast and Brunch with the Disney Princesses can be made by visiting DisneyWorld.com, or calling 407-WDW-DINE.

January 2015 Walt Disney World Trip Highlights : Part 4 of 4

By Nick

Friday-1/16

Right off the bat, the biggest highlight after a couple of overcast days and a rainy previous evening, was the weather. It was on the cool side, but beautiful. We spent quite a bit of time in Epcot's World Showcase in the morning just taking photos.

We made our way to Mouse Gear in Future World where we were spotted by a Cast Member who remembered us from years earlier, Trinh, and we spent time just chatting.

Barbie was coming down with a cold, and I suggested that a shot of Tequila from La Cava del Tequila at the Mexico Pavilion would knock that right out. Makes sense right? To my surprise, she agreed! Barbie doesn't drink, so to see this was a highlight to me!

We made our way back to Future World to meet with our friends Kandi and John, along with their kids. A friend we met at Walt Disney World a few years ago, Kelly, saw us getting a PhotoPass pic, and came over to say hello.

This was just the first of many friend sightings/planned get togethers on this day, which Kandi  and John dubbed "Disney Musings Day."

We meet up with and spent a bit of time walking around and having lunch with Laurie and Angelo.

Right after Laurie, Angelo, and I got a few adult beverages at Rose and Crown, we happened to be in the right spot at exactly the right time to have a really incredible character encounter, which I will be recounting tomorrow, so please stop back!

 Heading back to Future World for Soarin' FastPasses, we ran into more friends, Beverly...

...and Barbara and Al!

Later, heading back to World Showcase for margaritas...

Me and Kandi

...Alan and Joe, Facebook friends, and fans of the blog (thank you again, you really don't know how much I appreciate it), saw us and took a selfie!

Joe, Alan, Barbie and me - Photo courtesy of Alan

We were also met by friends we met years ago on our Disney Cruise to Alaska, Marilyn and Peter, but it was dark, and I didn't take a photo, but, as always, it was wonderful seeing them!

Finally, on the way back to our room, I contacted a Facebook friend, Jennifer, who we had managed to miss on 2 previous trips, despite being fairly close, and met up on the Boardwalk. As a bonus, I got to meet another friend, Rene.' 

Rene,' Jennifer, and us

To everyone that we saw, thank you for making it a really wonderful day!

Saturday- 1/17

Our last day was another lovely one, and we started off in Disney's Hollywood Studios, where we saw the extended Cinderella preview, which was just terrific.

We took a slow walk over to Epcot, had Fish and Chips in the United Kingdom Pavilion, and just sat and enjoyed the weather, watching the boats go back and forth across the lagoon, which prompted us to do something we never really had done, which is actually take the boats back and forth across the lagoon!

We chose outdoor seats and rode back and forth on both boats taking pics of the World Showcase pavilions.

For dinner that evening, we ate at the newly opened Trattoria at Forno on the Boardwalk, enjoying a really fine meal!

Like so many of the highlights of the trip I've shared in Parts 1, 2 and 3, I will be posting a more in depth look at this experience in the future.

January 2015 Walt Disney World Trip Highlights : Part 3 of 4

By Nick

Wednesday 1/14th 

First, let me apologize for where I'm about to take us, which is back to the realm of Frozen.
(Did I just hear a couple of moans?)

We visited "For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration" with our friends and their kids. We had FastPasses and showed up about 15 minutes early, and managed to get even better seats than Barbie and I had during our visit in December with the Frozen Holiday Premium Package.

The real highlight was seeing how much our friend's daughter Jazzlyn got into the sing along, acting out the actions on screen. Even their 15 month old son Grayson was singing along!

Then, during the finale, with "snow" falling throughout the theater and clinging to our hair and clothes, I decided to take a selfie of Barbie and me, and we got photobombed.
I love a good photobomb, and happened to see this one as it happened, and thanked the young lady, telling her and her mom she was going to be on the internet with this one, if that was okay, which it obviously was, because here it is:

 

Barbie and I love Streetmosphere at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and we caught a very funny show with some members of the Hollywood Public Works we'd never seen before.

But that was not the true highlight. That came when we got a tap on the shoulder from a young lady who asked if we remembered her from Epcot.
It was Chloe, the Cast Member from the United Kingdom Pavilion, who had gone back home to England a couple of years previously! She was on Holiday, and had just so happened to spot us that afternoon!

Even though she is no longer a Cast Member, she continues to make Magic. Chloe, if you're reading this, we hope to see you again in the future!

Chloe wasn't the only person to recognize us and say hello that day. A gentleman named Chris spotted us in the Beach Club Marketplace, and recognized us from Disney Musings.

This means a lot to me, honestly, as I sometimes wonder if people are actually reading this blog, despite stats telling me you are, and if you ever see us at the park, please stop us and say hello!

Why were we at the Beach Club?
Because we were meeting our friend's for dinner at Beaches and Cream.

Okay, let's be honest, we met up to eat The Kitchen Sink! This wasn't our first, and I'm sure it won't be our last!

Have you had the Kitchen Sink?

Thursday  1/15th

We had breakfast at Citrico's with Cinderella and her Princess friends. The breakfast that is usually held at Cinderella's Royal Table inside the Castle in the Magic Kingdom has moved to the Grand Floridian temporarily while the Royal Table is under refurbishment.

Later that day, while at Disney's Animal Kingdom, another Facebook friend we had never met, Vanessa, said hello!

In our final part, we'll look at what our friends called "Disney Musings Day" at Epcot!

Part 1 of the Highlights can be found here, and part 2 here.