Disney All Star Movies Resort

Our bonus night was spent at a 'value' resort (the Wilderness Lodge was a 'deluxe' resort). The room was $50 less than than the La Quinta at the airport and included free transportation to and from Walt Disney World. As soon as we had the room booked, we couldn't wait to get to Disney, more importantly Disney Quest.

We stayed at the All Star Movies property. It was clean and functional, not much different than a Motel 6 but it had really great Disney theming and that free Disney transportation. We stayed in one of the 'Herbie' buildings - of course I was thrilled! Herbie was everywhere.

Herbie was jumping out of our building.

Herbie jumped in to the other building across the courtyard. At night the headlights and taillights lit up - so cute!

In between the two buildings there was a photo op/water feature area. The water is coming down behind the big tire - the car and the water are huge kid magnets. I tried to get a photo with no one else in the shot - it proved to be an impossible task.



The outdoor corridors were covered with big tools and hearts (Herbie was a Lovebug).

Even the cement had impressions of tools and car parts.

The other building themes included Fantasia and 101 Dalmatians.

All Star Movies had a huge bus queue compared to the Wilderness Lodge. I think that would be the biggest drawback of staying at this resort for an extended length of time - some of the wait time could be very long. Plus there are two other 'All Star' resorts, every time you come and go you have to make stops at the other resorts. I know we saw some very big lines of people leaving Animal Kingdom - they were waiting for the All Star resorts. That being said, you can't beat the price.

We took advantage of a few photo ops while waiting for our airport bus.

Hidden Mickeys

What is a Hidden Mickey you ask?

For those of you not in the Disney know, here is a definition from www.hiddenmickeys.org:

"Hidden Mickeys started out as inside jokes among the Walt Disney Imagineers. A Hidden Mickey is an image of Mickey Mouse concealed in the design of a Disney attraction (ride, resort, etc...). Originally, it took the shape of a head and ears silhouette, , i.e. one large circle with two smaller circled on top in the appropriate place, but Hidden Mickeys can take on many forms.
In designing, constructing or adding the final touches to an attraction, Imagineers subtly "hide" Mickey Mouse silhouettes in plain sight. Soon, it became a tradition, and as the word spread, Disney fans everywhere went on the search for Hidden Mickeys in Disney movies and theme parks."

I am always in search of Hidden Mickeys, they are one of the small touches that add interest to a park visit. We found several on our trip, below are photographs of a few - can you find them in the photos? Some are more subtle than others. Our hotel had a Hidden Mickey challenge, they were really hard! I only found two out of thirteen during our stay.

EPCOT

We visited Epcot so many times - it was a staple for dinner. Our free park hopper upgrades on the tickets were a real treat. I didn't think we'd hop around as much as we did.

One of our trip highlights was in Epcot. While visiting the Living Sea area we stopped to watch the manatees feed. (Sadie is now known as the couch manatee due to her strong resemblance to the gentle sea cow.) As we were watching a burst of bubbles came up from under one of the manatees - you guessed a manatee fart. It's just not everyday you get to witness a manatee fart. We also each found a hidden mickey in the living seas exhibit (a great start to our vacation).
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Michael in Mexico, part of the World Showcase at Epcot.

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Another trip highlight (definitely Michael's favorite activity) - a 2 hour Segway tour of Epcot. We were inside learning how to ride the Segway for about 20 minutes and then they took our group of 8 outside for a tour of the World Showcase. The World Showcase of the park was closed to the general public, so the paths were deserted - perfect for Segway riding. The Segway is so sensitive you don't even have to lean forward to get it to move forward, just push your toes down. To move backwards you push your heels down. It only took about 5 minutes to get comfortable on it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Michael playing in a water feature in Epcot - part of the Test Track area. Due to a quick rain shower we didn't get to ride test track, but I did find a hidden mickey while in line. Can you find it in the photo of the workbench?

Disney Studio Madness

Monday we spent the morning at Disney MGM Studios. The park is a cross between Hollywood at DCA and Universal Studios. Lots of fun props, but not very many rides/shows.

The mock subway station looked almost exactly like the real thing in NYC. Michael had his Metro card ready. I wanted to take Herbie for a spin, but the doors were locked! The storm trooper released Michael after a brief questioning - he didn't know anything about a secret rebel base camp.

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We left in the afternoon (yes it stopped raining) and headed to Animal Kingdom for a few hours. Animal Kingdom was fantastic. It had great theming - we needed an entire day there, not just 2 hours. The photos is from the centerpoint of the park, the Tree of Life. It has over 325 animals carved in to the trunk - including a hidden mickey (which I didn't find).

Happy Birthday Princess

Here come the photos - is this the modern equivalent of the 60's vacation slide show?


I had a busy birthday. We started the day at the Magic Kingdom.







Cinderella saved us a table at her castle and we dined with a host of Princesses. Of course we were the only adults without children in the room. This lunch is a dream for any little girl, not only are you eating a fancy lunch inside Cinderella Castle, you get to meet princesses and Fairy Godmother!


You start lunch with a Cinderella photo op. The inside of the castle was exactly what Cinderella's castle should look like - those Disney designers think of everything. Way up in one corner you catch sight of Gus and Jacques.



































Once seated I was given a birthday card all the Princesses signed and a birthday cakelette. I think my favorite is Fairy Godmother, you have a magic wand and a comfortable dress.






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After playing around the Magic Kingdom we headed to Epcot for dinner. World Showcase has so many good places to eat! From Epcot we went and played miniature golf. Mini golf was great. The course was super easy, well decorated and completely empty. We each had 4 hole-in-ones at the end of the night. The theme was Santa on vacation - it really couldn't have been any cuter.

Week of a Million Dreams

Just when you thought the updates had stopped - I'm back.

The blog updates had to wait until I was back in a blogging frame of mind.

Michael and I spent 6 days at Walt Disney World this February. We planned 5 days, but Mother Nature felt we needed one more day of vacation - a large snow storm in the Northeast left us without a flight home but with one more night to play.

Disney World is overwhelming. It is so large and there are so many things to do compared to Disneyland. It took us a little while to get used to the transportation system. Lots of buses! They also have the monorail and ferry boats (well they have fairies too, but they can't get you from place to place).

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We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, the hotel is themed after lodges in the Pacific Northwest - it reminded us of the big hotel in Yosemite Valley.

We had a great time and we did so much! It wasn't crowded and the weather was great. I can't imagine the crowds and humidity in the summer time. I'll stick to 'value season' when visiting, thank you. Not only did we avoid the crowds, but we got a smoking deal on the hotel/park ticket package.

Random NYC Observations

1. New Yorkers cannot parallel park.

Time and time again, I have witnessed someone trying to parallel park on the city streets. 99% of the time it involves bumping in to the surrounding cars and/or driving over the sidewalk. Sometimes the spots are tight but the streets are flat and the worst offenders are those parking in spots that have more than enough room for their vehicle. The biggest problem I see, is most people start out too far away - too far in to the middle of the street and they come in at the wrong angle. From that point they are screwed, they either hit the curb, back in to the car behind them or end up 18 inches away from the curb. The pulling in head first maneuver is a beauty too. It just is wrong and won't work. I don't think I've seen a perfect bumper in the city, they all have scrapes and dents. If you aren't hitting a car while parking, your car is getting banged up on the street.

2. New Yorkers love Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and karaoke.

If you want to see a bar go crazy, just throw 'Living on a Prayer' by Bon Jovi on the old karaoke machine. Everyone will immediately get on their feet and start singing while dancing around in a frenzy of head banging and finger pointing to emphasize the lyrics. In fact, I've decided if I ever feel the need to karaoke in New York that will be my song. No one will actually hear me sing over the crowd.
If you listen to the radio here (the stations all suck, especially compared to San Diego) there is a 25% chance at any given time one of the three artists mentioned above will be on air and most likely it will be Billy Joel (an official Michael statistic). New Yorkers try to deny this, but they are wrong - they just don't know any different since they have lived here all of their life, they think it's normal.

3. Dog pee freezes in the cold.

It is so cold out right now (how cold is it? you ask), it is so cold the dog pee freezes on the sidewalk. Forget the yellow snow, watch out for the trail of yellow ice. It is truly disgusting.

Restaurant Week - Meal #8

21 Club - our last stop on the Restaurant Week gastronomical express.

I was really excited to secure this reservation - the famed 21 Club. We even managed to get a table in the very small upstairs dining room. I thought it would be a perfect end to a week of fine dining - at least I hoped it would be.

21 Club lived up to it's reputation. We had an amazing meal with impeccable service.

The upstairs dining room only has about 10 tables. One waiter handles the entire room with the help of 2 assistants. The service was seamless. The menu is similar to the more famous downstairs dining room, but it is always a price fixed. The idea is that people can linger longer upstairs to enjoy the food and conversation.

The Restaurant Week menu had several delicious options. We started with the caesar salad and the fried oysters. The caesar dressing had a hint of anchovy and lemon with a thick and creamy consistency. The fried oysters came with a bacon remoulade dipping sauce (you had me at bacon) that complemented the oysters perfectly. For dinner I had the strip steak and Michael had the seafood selection - monk fish, shrimp, and a perfectly cooked scallop in a peppery sauce. Both meals were excellent. My favorite part of the meal was dessert. Michael had the creme brulee (of course he did - it's part of the creamy custard family) and I had a strawberry tart. The creme brulee had a crispy burnt sugar top and the custard was flavored with a hint of vanilla. My tart was fantastic, the tart shell was almost like a sugar cookie and it was sitting on top of a tangerine syrup. The combination of the pastry and the tangerine syrup was fabulous. I completely cleaned my plate, the waiter even joked about bringing me another - such a cruel, cruel joke to tease me like that!

I haven't picked a favorite Restaurant Week meal yet - but 21 Club is definitely one of the front runners.

Top Design in Grand Central Terminal

Well I've been hooked in to yet another Bravo reality series. Those clever people at Bravo started Top Design immediately after Top Chef. (And you pretty much had me at the teaser 'you can't design a room around a cat') Nothing will ever take the place of Project Runway - but when the runway is empty we all need something to fill the void. Speaking of P Run, is Tim coming back? I fear his new show is a warning sign that our mentor has moved beyond the work room at Parson's. Who will fill those perfect polished shoes?

Thursday after the first show aired, I was reading the judges blogs on the Bravo website. (If you haven't had the pleasure, read Jonathan Adler's first - he can turn a phrase like no other.)

While I was there I noticed they were promoting a space that was designed in Grand Central Terminal.

Well I had to go see it first hand. Surprisingly is wasn't drawing too much interest - how can New Yorkers be so clueless? The staff in the main room was really nice - they are in the photo below (I think they were pretty bored and surprised when someone who had actually seen the show was interested in the space). With any luck we were filmed and will be imortized on the silver screen in a background shot.



I tried to keep Michael out of the photo - but he just insisted.


The 'rooms' were set up in the Track 4 area of the shuttle that runs between Grand Central and Times Sq.

Fashion Week!

Some photos of Bryant Park during Fashion Week (Feb 2-9, 2007)

There appears to only be one main entrance in and out of the tents. While we were watching the Alexandre Herchovitch show finished and the crowd was on their way out. I didn't recognize anyone - but there were definitely paparazzi taking photos.

Signs from the front of the tents.













----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The main entrance in to the tents - invitation only. My tickets must be lost in the mail.


















Views of the back of the tents - photo and video check-in, and other backstage entrances.

Restaurant Week - Meal #7

Rosa Mexicana

We reluctantly headed to Rosa Mexicana Thursday night (2/1/07). We have had such lack luster Mexican food in the city, we both felt we were headed for duck carnitas and the mildest 'hot' salsa you can imagine.

We headed to Union Sq. and even managed to meet up on the express train on the way - no small feat, but we managed. The vibe was cool and crowded - lots of hipsters here. We had a OK spot for a table, it was against a wall and we could survey the rest of the space, which was good people watching. But our table was by a service area and it wobbled horribly.

As soon as we were seated we were greeted by an enthusiastic server pushing the pomegranate margaritas and table side guacamole. I agreed to the margarita (it is their speciality) and we held off on any menu decisions.

The guacamole was one of the appetizer options on the restaurant week menu - it was for two, so that would be our only appetizer. As soon as we ordered the guacamole making cart arrived. It was one avocado (a perfectly ripe Haas), too much cilantro, tomatoes, jalapeno, onions, and way too much salt. It was a bit chunky, and next time I would definitely stop the addition of the salt - it was too salty. I've never added salt to guacamole, I think it is completely unnecessary. We did manage to eat the entire bowl - but we weren't happy about it. The normal price on the guac is $14 - pretty pricey for one avocado!

My margarita was pink, but tasted like a regular margarita - I couldn't detect any pomegranate. It was tasty, but not a speciality.

Dinner came out as soon as the guac was done - the service was very intrusive. Dinner was fabulous. I had chicken enchiladas and Michael had carne asada with beans and corn tomalito. The steak was fabulous - seasoned and cooked perfectly. It was served in a small skillet with melted jack cheese and grilled onions. They also provided delicious little home made corn tortillas. His beans were really good - not refried, but whole beans with an excellent flavor. The meal also came with Mexican rice and black beans. My enchiladas were very good, but the steak was the clearly the better dish.

We finished the meal with coconut flan. Our other dessert choice was Mexican chocolate pudding with orange whipped cream - no thanks. The flan was very tasty and even someone that didn't like coconut managed to finish almost the entire portion. It was garnished by a paper thin slice of pineapple that had been cooked - it was pretty and tasty. Also on the side was a cream anglaise type sauce that had been topped with sugar and bruleed. Crispy burnt sugar is a welcome addition to any dessert.

The food was definitely better than we expected, it was a good meal and a fun place for dinner. If only the staff would slow down a little and the tables stopped wobbling.

MC Sadie

After watching 'White Rapper' on VH1 Sadie wanted to increase her street cred. We made her a beanie to 'thug' her up. She's still working on her spitting (rapping) - but in a business where image is everything I think she's bound to be a star.

Restaurant Week - Meal #6

Water's Edge

Important lesson learned - no need to leave Manhattan during restaurant week.

Water's Edge tag line is 'The only thing we over look is Manhattan'.

They are located in Long Island City, which is across the East River from midtown Manhattan. It reminded me of Club 33, but didn't have the cool factor of being a members-only club and it reminded Michael of a country club (yet again without the members only vibe).

The night started off with a longer than anticipated walk from the train station to the restaurant. It was really really cold outside and we were walking in to the wind. My face was so cold I couldn't really move my forehead, I decided that is what it must feel like after a Botox injection. Michael was pretty sure his face went numb. It's wasn't a good start.

Once in the restaurant there was a very bad smell, like a bathroom type smell. It was really strong and really unpleasant....we were both thinking the view and the food better be spectacular after this.

We checked our coats and were taken to a romantic table for two by the window. Across the water there was an amazing view of midtown Manhattan (Chrysler building, UN, Bloomberg building, Citicorp building were all visible) unfortunately the two boats owned by the restaurant were partially blocking the view. (wuh wuhhhh) To top off the obscured view, there was some kind of motion sensor activated light that kept going on and off (I think from the wind). It was a spotlight that was on the boat dock - it really was distracting from where I was sitting (on, off, on, off, on, off the entire evening). Michael did make one adjustment with some kind of deer bronze statue that was on a ledge by the table and that was a huge improvement, it blocked the trigger happy light almost entirely from my view.

After all of this the food was very tasty. My only criticism for the food was it felt like high end wedding food - it felt like everything was prepared ahead of time and in the kitchen they were just plating and serving.

We both started with the mushroom risotto. It was warm, creamy, and delicious. It was flavored with thyme - a very nice pairing with the mushrooms. For dinner I had the roast pork loin. It was tender and well seasoned. It was topped with an apricot chutney (apricot jelly with big chunk of apricot), it was sitting on top of a bed of tasty scalloped potatoes. Gravy and grainy mustard were plated around the outside of the dish. The grainy mustard was really good on the pork, added some spark. Michael had short ribs that were served with horseradish mashed potatoes and asparagus. The mashed potatoes were the highlight of both meals. The horseradish added a mild peppery flavor. Dessert was a white chocolate napoleon and apple tart tartin. Neither dessert was great, neither one was bad (it didn't stop me from eating both of them).

The whole experience was interesting, the quality of the food saved the night. We might go back in the summer...we'll see.