Foodie Friday: Tables in Wonderland - Dining Discount Card

I am now a proud owner of a Tables in Wonderland card.  I had been thinking about purchasing this Walt Disney World dining discount card for a couple years now, but I always thought that I would never make up the money spent on it.  Well, I took the plunge and am glad I did!  For Passholders or DVC members, the price is $100.  For Florida residents, it is $125.  We have dined at 'Ohana four times so far this year and at Whispering Canyon twice before I got the card and each time my bill was over $100.  Tables in Wonderland gives me 20% off of my bill, so I would have already made up my $100 cost for purchasing the card.  I am keeping a running tally of how much it will save me over the next year to show my husband that this was a smart purchase for us.

Since purchasing the card, we have been to Kona Cafe for breakfast and Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner.  We will be having dinner at 'Ohana this weekend and again next week.

Guess what?  It's good for free valet parking when you dine at a participating restaurant!  ($15 value)  I never valet because I am cheap, or frugal to be nice, but why not since it's complimentary!  It is especially helpful with two small kids and not having to drag them through a resort parking lot and valet saved me last weekend when it was raining.

With two meals under my belt (literally) and two uber fancy valet services, I am already more than halfway to making up my initial $100 spent to purchase the card.  After my dinners next week, I will be purely saving until June 2014.  I can already see the dollar signs in my husband's eyes.

Is Tables in Wonderland right for you?  Check out the participating restaurants HERE.

Mickey's Toontown-- Disneyland

One thing that now noticeably differentiates Disneyland from the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World is the existence of Mickey’s Toontown.  This section of Disneyland that sits behind “It’s a Small World” is a wonderful area for children to explore.  There are often characters waiting to be created by children.  

The houses of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Chip and Dale sit tucked into the back corner of the park.  The houses of Donald, Goofy and Chip and Dale are play areas for children.  It can be a great area to allow children free after being strapped into a carriage.  Minnie’s house is more of a traditional house tour giving a glimpse of how Minnie may live.  After roaming through Mickey’s house, families have the opportunity to meet Mickey Mouse as he prepares for one of his famous cartoon roles.

In addition to the houses of the Fab Five, there are two rides in this section of the park.  They include Gadget’s Go Coaster and Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin.  Gadget’s Go Coaster is a small scale roller coaster that has a minimum height requirement of 35”.  Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin features Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, the Weasels and “Dip”.  This ride has a deceptively long line that winds through dark ares.      

There are a few spots to grab a snack or small meal as well.  Three connected stands sell items such as pizza, salads, hot dogs, ice cream and sandwiches.  Tables are available near the center of Mickey’s Toontown to enjoy a quick bite to eat or watch kids play in the toon play area which features a toon jail, sound machines and toon cars.  

If this an area you want to explore, it is in the very back of the park.  The train does have a stop for Mickey’s Toontown.  This area does open later and close earlier than any other section of the park.  Even without kids it is a fun area to walk through and you are guaranteed to see Mickey Mouse.

Who's Who Wednesday: Hades

Not all Disney characters are heroes, and Hades is here to show it! This Greek God of the Underworld has a taste for evil in Hercules (1997), the main villain set out to steal the throne of Mount Olympus, from his brother Zeus. Hercules is set around the life and tales of the Greek Gods, so it’s not surprising that Mr. Hades is less human-like than us. Blue-skinned with flaming hair, sharp teeth, and a long flowing gray cape that turns to smoke at the bottom, he certainly is a frightenin

g and cunning antagonist. Hades is a bit like Donald Duck in his very hot-natured, losing his temper quite quickly. He is one of the most sarcastic of all the Disney characters, selfish and mean, setting out to destroy Hercules (Zeus’ son) and doing so by enlisting the help of Megara.

 

As a Greek God, Hades does not seek immortality, because he already has it! His search for power leads him to his sidekicks Pain and Panic, both aptly named for their traits, but they fail him at destroying Hercules as a baby. Hades, with his angry personality, has a difficult time handling his minion-like sidekicks. Hades is also owner of the three-headed dog Ceberus, a violent and scary guard of the Underworld. Hades job, while not constantly looking for ways to take control, is to bring the passed on souls to the heart of the Underworld or leave them in the River Styx where they are trapped for eternity. 

Hades powers are fire and chains of smoke, which correspond well to his title of lord of the Underworld. Hades also appears in Hercules: The Animated Series, House of Mouse, and Kingdom Hearts Series. Hades is very rare at Disney parks so don’t expect to run into him too often, not that you’d want to!

Caribbean Beach Resort - Pirate Rooms

I'm a sucker for anything pirate, so it was a great surprise that my husband booked us in a pirate room at Caribbean Beach Resort for my birthday!  This was my first time staying at this resort and it won't be my last.

My son was super excited as we walked through the door.  He immediately jumped on the bed and pretended like he was steering the ship.  The pirate ship beds are awesome looking, but definitely fell short of being the least bit comfortable.  I previously heard about how rough a nights sleep is on these and I have to agree.

The overall theme of the room was great, but I felt it was lacking detail when you compare it to a Royal Room at Port Orleans.

Curtain to separate the bedroom from the bathroom

I LOVE this wall picture

Dresser drawers

The barrel has a hidden mini-fridge inside

The bathroom wall, so cool

I loved staying in this resort and I enjoyed the pirate room, but I probably will not be booking one again until the mattresses are changed.

Foodie Friday- Be Our Guest Dinner

   

    Upon arriving at check-in in front of the majestic castle of the Beast, you are given a pager and told to wait on the bridge. There is a gorgeous view of waterfalls beyond the castle and protecting gargoyles adorn the bridge. When your pager alerts you, your host/hostess leads you to the dimly lit dining hall with a candleabra.  The first thing you notice is the beauty and splendor of the entry (restrooms are located here) and of each room.  We were seated in the great ballroom with gorgeous chandeliers and painted ceilings. The tables are set for a princess's (or prince's) dinner. The napkins are folded on the plates to look like rose buds! 

    After being seated, your waiter greets you with a wine list and menus, some bread and offers appetizers. We didn't have any wine but instead chose Sprite, tea and lemonade. The adults had French onion soup and salad to start.  The salad was your typical garden salad with choice of dressings.  The soup was really good but not anything I would pay extra ($6.99) for again. It comes in a ceramic bowl and is topped with croutons and Gruyere cheese that is bubbling over the top. 



    While we were waiting for our meal, Beast came out for a visit.  He does a quick walk through each of the rooms and then meets with guests in the study for photos. Guests are also allowed to tour through each of the rooms, the West Wing, the Ballroom, the Enchanted Rose Room and the Study. We waited to take the tour after our meal. We did however take this opportunity to visit with the Beast. 

The Beast himself in the study

The West Wing

The mysterious Rose Room

    My friend and I both chose the grilled strip steak with garlic and herb butter as our main meal. The steak comes cooked as ordered and is served with Pomme Frites, basically some REALLY YUMMY french fries. We both enjoyed the entire meal, I loved the garlic and herb sauce that came with the steak. This meal is listed at $29.99.  The girls were eating off of the kids menu and had grilled chicken  with whole grain macaroni and marinara sauce.  They both said it was okay but not the best.



    On to dessert! Heaven better look out! The options for this evening were cream puffs and cupcakes.  The adults chose the strawberry cream cheese cupcakes and the girls went with the triple chocolate.  How can you go wrong with chocolate? I will say that it was good but the strawberry cream cheese was GREAT! It was so moist and delicious and even topped with a huge fresh strawberry.  I loved the little candy pearls that were used to decorate the cupcake. The cupcakes are about $3.99 each. Since my friend was celebrating her birthday, we got to try the gray stuff. Is it delicious? Well, we weren't impressed.  The only decription we could come up with was Oreo Cool Whip, the cupcakes were so much better.

Don't believe us, ask the dishes!



    The restuarant is open for lunch as a quick service and no reservations are needed but if you plan on dining for dinner, reservations are highly recommended and it requires 1 table service credit if you are using the dining plan.

  Read more about it here Be Our Guest Restuarant

Angela's Mother's Day Expedition Everest Challenge 2013

My Expedition Everst Challenge adventure started last year when my mom asked me to do the 2012 challenge for Mother's Day but I had to pass because I was not ready to leave my youngest at night.  I promised her  I would do the challenge the following year in 2013.

When I signed us up in the Fall of 2012 I think the farthest I had run was maybe from the turn styles at the Magic Kingdom to Dumbo.  January of this year rolled around and I had just finished cheering on my Mom in her Disney half marathon and cheering my husband on in his Goofy challenge.  Watching them train/race and complete their goals was very inspiring and I decided it was time for me to focus on me and figure out what this running was all about.  January 15th, I joined the gym and started my Couch to 5K.  Couch to 5K A couple of local 5K's later and down 30 lbs I was ready for the big Expedition Everest challenge!!  The event fell the weekend prior to Mother's Day this year but celebrating with this race early was perfect!

We arrived at Epcot Friday morning to enjoy the Flower and Garden Festival before going to packet pick up.

 

After a few hours in the park we headed over to packet pick up at Disney's Wide World of Sports.  There was also a cheerleading competition going on so it was packed. 

We quickly found packet pick up and found our names on the list of competitors and picked up our bibs and shirts.  Mine was way too big so they bendt the rules and gave me the size I needed with a lot of begging and pleading.  Inside the bag was a clue to solve.  This clue was to help us on our scavenger hunt later.  I did not even try to solve it right there I figured I would later.  From there we moved on to a super cute photo opportunity set up looking like base camp at Mt. Everest.  Then we added or names and team name to the wall of craziness.  I would post a picture but I misspelled our team name so it looks ridiculous. Bahahahahahaha!   We decided to call ourselves Hakuna Matata, this race was for fun and for the experience not for any kind of personal best.  Hakuna Matata was perfect. 

 From there we picked up a free artist printed photo of Mickey Mouse running through the Animal Kingdom.  I love free stuff! The expo was small but it did have some super cute character themed shirts and tanks but I could not bring myself to pay $42 dollars for a tank top. Yikes!  We headed out to meet up with my husband and girls who were just out front getting a kick out of all the cheerleaders walking around in full  competition get up.

Off to the resort we headed, checking in at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort for the first time.  We got settled in and hit up the fabulous pool !

We carb loaded for dinner. We feasted on chicken marsala on fettuccine pasta, it was really good.
After dinner,we had more down time so we relaxed in hammocks on the beach and the girls had a blast in the sand and the hammocks.  In the mean time my Mom and I tried to figure out the clue from our packet pick up bag.  Oh my, were we in trouble! I just kept thinking, if we can’t figure out this, we are in for a long scavenger hunt.  The race consisted of a 5K that had 3 obstacles, hay stacks, tires and a dirt crawl under a very, very low cargo net.  After you finished the 5K the race was not over, you had to grab your flash light and your first clue.  The finish line was not until you completed and correctly answered all clues.  WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!  I seriously though we sat on the beach forever and never figured out the clue.  I had to call my friend Susan, who was racing with her husband to tell me the answer.  Back to the room, we went to get ready for our Everest Challenge.

Clue from packet pick up bag

Our girls enjoying the resort beach.

My Sweat Pea and I enjoying the hammock.

 We put on our team race shirts who were made by my friend Becky Warg at RW Boutique on facebook.

Ready to rock and roll!

The race started at 10:00pm and we were directed to be at the start by 9:15pm.  We headed to our race transportation bus stop at 8:00pm.  Lucky us, we were finally picked up by 8:36pm.  Pulling into the Animal Kingdom parking lot, seeing the start and finish line and the massive crowds of people and cars was so exciting!  It is so hard to sit still and wait when you are so stinking excited.  We met and talked to so many competitors along the way and on the bus.  Some costumes were cute, crazy and over the top Disney style.  One guy was in a full on Yeti costume.

We finally reached the parking lot drop off point after the long traffic wait and headed straight to more photo opps!

One of four photo opps set up.

We were keeping our eyes out for friends we new who were racing too.  We were in corral G, so after the photos we headed to our corral when we found my friend Susan and her husband, Willie.

 Susan was in corral F, only one corral ahead of us, and after a failed attempt of sneaking in her corral we took our place in corral G only steps away but there was a six minute wait between each corral.  I believe we waited in the corral about 45 minutes all squished in together like sardines.  The gun fired off at 10pm sharp but our corral G start time was at 10:36pm.  We were standing there waiting for our go and we could see the corral A front runners finishing up their 5K and getting their first clue. CRAZY!  Finally it was our turn I was so exciting words can't even explain.

 The adrenaline alone was awesome!  The 5K and obstacles were going to be the easy part it was the darn clues that I was sweating... 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, we were off!  Immediately we darted out just to get out of the pack and find us some open territory to run in.  The first obstacle was the hay stacks.  Some people were just avoiding the obstacles all together which I did not understand?  Pay all that money for the obstacle race just to avoid them?  Anyways we jumped over like the troopers we are and I attempted some photos from my phone during the race.  Not the best quality but you get the idea. :)

The race started and finished in the parking lot.  Now we are running towards the turn styles, a path I have walked numerous amount of times before.  The course took us through the Oasis and all the way to Africa where we took a detour behind the scenes.  Definately nothing magical behind the scenes at AK, at least not where we were running.  Then it put us back in the park in Asia.

Running through the park at night was so amazing for this Disney fanatic!  The Tree of Life was illuminated beautifully.  Expedition Everest was amazing to run by at night as well. Approaching mile 2, we headed behind the scenes of Finding Nemo and took a back road down to the second obstacle, the tires.  The line to complete the tire obstacle was pretty darn long and slow moving but again, we were in it for the experience not for a timed event. So we completed our tires, almost getting side swipped by a guy who was wiping out on them.  We new at that point we had only 1.1 miles to go before our scavenger hunt began.  At this point we heard an announcement, runners to the left scavenger hunt to the right.  I could not believe the scavenger hunt came all the way out to this point.  I though ,OH MY we have so much farther to go still.  The scavenger hunt itself was roughly another 2 miles after the 5K.  

We approached the dirt crawl and this was not just your average sandy dirt crawl this was dirty black dirt.  I kept thinking oh no my new shirt. LOL.  We cleared it, but came up looking like Hakuna I Need a Shower.  We crossed the 5K finish line but the race was not over, no medal was handed out, but we did get our flash light and first clue of the night. Here is a picure of all the clues.

I intermediately solved the first clue, the answer was (North West).  Then we darted off to the Oasis feeling super excited because we were able to solve it!  The second clue my Mom solved pretty quick and we headed toward Camp Minnie and Mickey to give our answer (North East) and collect our next clue.  Passing walkers was a challenge and there were some tight dark corners to avoid also.   The third clue was a bit tricky but my Mom got it right away. (South West) This clue took us to Africa, again.  Our clue told us at the bottom to find the sign Timbuktu, literately located as far away as possible in "Timbuktu",  lucky us.  We told her our correct answer and received our last clue instructing us to go to Asia.  Finding our sign in Asia was a bit tricky but we found it and gave her our answer the the fourth clue. (North East) Then were were given our final clue.

We then needed all of our clue cards to solve a puzzle it took only about 3 to 5 minutes of trying multiple options, which were not working, to line up and match any symbol on our race bib.  Then, all of a sudden, I  figured it out.  I seriously was so excited that I figured it out!  On the opposite side of the clue cards there were tons of symbols and N, W, E and S directions.  I figured you had to use your hand as a "needle" on a compass and point the direction of the "answer". Whichever symbol you were pointing to is the symbol you were to use for the puzzle.  When you did this with all 4 clues, it made the exact picture as the "white" symbol on my race bib. 

I felt like I had conqured the world over a simple scavenger hunt clue.  Then we darted off to take our solved scavenger hunt clue to the finish line!!  It was still another mile away.  We finish strong and claimed our super cool compass medals.  Grabbed our after race goodies and met up with my friends Susan and Willie for the after party.  We shared fun scavenger hunt and race stories and set off to Dino Land to ride Dinosaur.  I figure everyone else would of headed to Everest first so we avoided the crowd.  

Me and my awesome Mom!  Team Hakuna Matata!

Susan and I, besties since elementary school!

Dinasour was a walk on during the after party.  Here is our fun ride photo. :)

Then we headed back out to the party where everyone was dancing and having a blast to the pumping music.  While my Mom and the rest were dancing I headed over to the New Balance station where they were printing out FREE  Instagram photos.  All you had to do was hash tag your photos #NByetigram from 4pm to 1am and they would print them out.  I was a hash tagging fool all day starting promptly at 4pm.  I found about 17 photos that were printed out.  I took more during the after party but the printer got backed up so not all of them were printed.  Here is a picture of all my free Instagram photos!

 From there we headed over to Asia to take on Expedition Everest.  Riding this coaster in the dark is totally awesome!! 

Susan and Willie in the blue and my Mom and I in the front.  Yes I am taking a video while my Mom is most likely praying for it to be over!  Love you Mom what a trooper you are!!!

I can say with confidence my Mom will never ride that again.  But hey, we come to do it all!  We saved the rapids for last knowing we would get soaked!!  This was actually my first time on the rapids since my girls are not tall enough.  I was super excited, like always.  We were soaked within minutes and freezing our tails off during the cool breezy night.  But having a blast all at the same time!

Susan and Willie loving the ride too!

I made my way straight to the first towel vendor and bought myself the nicest, biggest, driest towel I could find!  I got a pass holder discount too.  We headed back through Asia and made our way to Dinoland to see if anymore of our Instgram pictures had been printed out,but the line to wait and get them was just far too long.  We grabbed a bite to eat at the restaurant and then made our way to the bus back to our resort.  While waiting for the bus to depart, we were chatting with the bus driver.  She told me about the time she was driving a passenger van for work and fell a sleep at the wheel with her eyes open.  SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!?!??!  So I was wide awake watching her and the road all the way back to the resort. Geeze.  She did say I like to chew gum to keep me awake.  Before she could say another word I shouted, "Does anyone have some gum!?" "Get this lady some gum!"  We made it back safely and all I could think about was I better get the dirt out of my new shirt. LOL.  So at 3am I am scrubbing the dirt out of my shirt in the hotel.  Seriously though, this race was the best experience and such a great time!!  I am so glad I was able to experience this with my Mom! I want to do it every year now and make it a tradition!!!  Disney did not disappoint with the Expedition Everest Challenge!!  Looking forward to the inaugural 2014 Minnie Mouse 10K and there is a possibility of my first half marathon ever at this years Wine and Dine Marathon...we'll see!