Monthly Archives: March 2018

Disney, Food Review

Storyteller’s Cafe – November 12, 2017

We always try and make at least one reservation at a new-to-us restaurant on every trip – we had multiple on this trip, but one of them was Storyteller’s Cafe located in the Grand Californian Hotel.

This restaurant offers a character breakfast Monday-Friday, a character brunch on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays, an a-la-carte lunch and an a-la-carts/buffet hybrid at dinner (no characters). We booked the Sunday character brunch for the day of the Avengers Half-Marathon, I figured Luke would have worked up quite an appetite after running for 21km.

I also made a reservation late enough that Luke had time to go back to our hotel, have a shower and change into clean clothes before going to eat. Also, since he was feeling a bit sore (rightfully so!), we took an Uber to the Grand.

We checked in, and that place was slammed! It was a long weekend with a runDisney event happening, so it wasn’t all that surprising when we were told they were running behind a bit. We found a bench outside and sat down to wait. There were two little boys with remote control cars, their parents were sitting on the bench directly across from us. The younger boy, I’d guess him to be about 4 years old, thought it was hilarious when he drove his little car under the gate by the pool we were close to, but then of course had a huge meltdown when he couldn’t figure out how to drive it back under the gate to where he was. You can’t just open the gate either, you must be staying in the hotel and use your room card to open it, so I couldn’t offer any assistance . The older brother, maybe 6 or 7 years old, grabbed the controller from his younger brother and was trying to drive the car back under the gate, but it kept getting stuck. Eventually, someone who was in the pool area came over and opened the gate so the boys could go grab the car. Watching this made the time pass by quickly, and about 20 minutes after sitting down on the bench,  our names were called.

This restaurant is really gorgeous – high ceilings in the centre by the buffet, and lots of wood.

Even the floor leading to the main check-in counter is beautiful:

The carpet also ties in to the theming of the restaurant:

The buffet area was quite large here:

I took buffet pictures as we were leaving, since the crowd was gone by that point and I wasn’t interfering with anyone or holding anyone up just so I could get good pics for my blog haha. The food wasn’t as well signed as it is at other buffets, so I’ll do my best at remembering what everything was…

Bread pudding with vanilla sauce

Uhh…Cereal.

Mini cupcakes – I believe they were red velvet?

Various salads of death.

Charred corn chowder with various toppings – bacon, green onions, etc

Bacon, tater tots (or “potato barrels” at some Disney restaurants haha), and hash brown casserole

Salmon, rice pilaf

Butter, yogurt, etc.

Smoked salmon, onions, lemons, etc

Very picked over fruit platter. Just imagine it being full…

Mickey waffles, pancakes, French toast

Chilaquiles And eggs Benedict

Cinnamon buns, assorted pastries

Mini muffins

Make your own omelet station

Chicken and… something? 

My first plate, from the top and going clockwise: bacon, rice pilaf, chicken, casear salad, watermelon, grapes, tater tots, hash brown casserole(?).

For some reason, I really wasn’t very hungry and filled half my plate with salad and fruit – that’s just not typical for me haha. Everything was good that I tried though.

Luke’s first plate, starting at the top and going clockwise: chicken, mini cupcake, key lime tart (they must have been all gone by the time I took pictures of the buffet at the end of our meal), breakfast sausage, smoked salmon, pineapple slices, hash brown casserole, tater tots, bacon and scrambled eggs.

He also grabbed a bowl of their Nebraska charred corn chowder

My second plate was a little bit of bread pudding and half a plate full of caesar salad – not a great idea.

I really liked their caesar dressing, it tasted homemade – which meant it was very rich. Apparently my stomach couldn’t handle that much salad/rich dressing, and I ended up throwing all of this up about an hour later…

Luke’s second plate: scrambled eggs, eggs benedict and that red mess was a Mickey waffle with raspberry or strawberry sauce.

This was also a character brunch, so of course we met some characters – Pluto, Chip, Dale and Kenai from Brother Bear.

As with all character meals at Disneyland, we received pins specific to that location. I love that they do this here, it’s such a great little keepsake.

This brunch cost $39 each, but I saved 15% with my annual pass so our total bill came to $71.44 with tax. I wasn’t very hungry, and the  food I did eat I ended up throwing up, but I still want to return here again one day. I don’t blame the restaurant or Disney for me being sick, my stomach just couldn’t handle that much of the rich salad dressing. Luke really enjoyed his meal here, and he felt perfectly fine afterwards.

Disney, Food Review

1900 Park Fare – January 1, 2018

We had a reservation to eat supper here on our first trip to WDW, back in 2016, but unfortunately I ended up getting sick that day and we had to cancel. We tried finding a spot to squeeze it in on our 2017 trip, but it just didn’t work out, so we were determined to get there on this trip.

Our Walmart trip earlier that day ran a little longer than we expected it to, so we were a few minutes late checking in for our 6:35pm reservation – but they were backed up so it wouldn’t have mattered. We didn’t have a terrible wait, they called our names around 6:50 and led us to our two-top table. The hostess showing us to our table pointed out the buffet, and let us know that we would have more than enough time to go grab a plate of food before any of the characters made their way to us, as they were all on break at that point. We were hungry, so she didn’t have to tell us twice!

My first plate, starting at the top and going clockwise: mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy,  cheese, green beans, Mongolian beef, rice, baked ziti, cheese ravioli, pork and butter chicken.

They clearly don’t know what butter chicken is – this was more of a mild curry chicken – it was very good, but don’t call it what it’s not. The baked ziti pasta was surprisingly really good! Lots of cheese baked in throughout, and the pasta had a texture I liked. The beef and rice was a real standout on the plate, which shocked me a bit – usually beef like that (especially from a buffet) is tough and chewy. It was definitely cooked well done (big thumbs up from me for that!) but it was still tender and the sauce had great flavour! Honestly, I liked every single thing I tried.

I also had a bowl of their famous strawberry soup. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, but I enjoyed it. It’s served cold (which isn’t soup in my opinion). When I was young, we had lots of local strawberries in the summer, and one of my favourite things to eat was mashed berries mixed with some heavy cream (usually unwhipped whipping cream), and then I would dip buttered toast into it. Basically, 1900 Park Fare’s Strawberry soup tastes exactly like that – which leads me to believe it’s just heavy cream and strawberries. Simple, but delicious!

We were both feeling fancy and ordered alcoholic drinks. Luke went for the Moscow Mule – Russian standard vodka, fresh lime juice and agave nectar topped with ginger beer, $11.

The drink that caught my eye was the Antioxidant Lemonade – Van Gogh Açai-Blueberry vodka, Odwalla lemonade and pomegranate juice, topped with Sprite, $9.75. We were both pleased with our selections, and I loved the little stir sticks with the hotel logo on it.

Luke’s first plate from the buffet contained, from the top and going clockwise, fried catfish, potato salad, sausage, pork and mushroom gravy, “butter chicken”, cornbread, roast beef, mashed potatoes, a single chicken nugget from the kids section (he informed me he had more, but he snacked on them as he made his way around the rest of the buffet…).

Luke’s favourites from this plate were the catfish and the pork roast, but there was nothing he didn’t like. That roast beef is way too rare for me, and Luke’s only complaint was that the juice from it made the catfish batter a little bit soggy. He also made a similar comment as I did about the “butter chicken” – terrible butter chicken, but excellent curry chicken.

Luke’s second plate: casear salad, butternut squash ravioli, Mongolian beef and rice, turkey and gravy and honey sriracha salmon.

Luke raved about that salmon, he tends to like most things sriracha-flavoured, but he also said the salmon was very well cooked. I don’t eat seafood, so I can’t tell you my opinion on it. He was also a huge fan of the butternut squash ravioli – but again, there was nothing on his plate he didn’t enjoy.

My second plate: cheese ravioli, green beans, casear salad, macaroni and marinara sauce from the kids section, baked ziti and Mongolian beef and rice.

I basically went for more of my favourites from my first plate. Of course, my eyes were much larger than my stomach (what else is new? Haha), and I was not able to finish this plate. It was all so good though!

While we ate, the characters made their way around the room. I’m always super awkward with face characters, I never know what to say to them, but these ones made it easy! The step-sisters were hilarious, and so was the Evil Step-Mother. Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of Cinderella, she’s a little too prim and proper for me – I prefer the spunky princesses like Rapunzel or Tiana. The Cinderella we met here was exactly what I’d expect, a very polished, proper princess.

This was the first time we’ve met a male face character. The interaction was good, but nothing really memorable.

Drizella was hilarious. We had one of our “Happily Ever After” buttons sitting on the table, so she asked if we were on our Honeymoon. When we explained that we were actually on our wedding trip, and getting married the following week she got all excited and asked to see my ring, so of course I showed her. She squealed, and asked if it was vintage (which it is, it belonged to my Grandmother). Drizella then went on to tell me all about the jewels she’s going to get that currently belong to her mother.

She had the best facial expressions hahaha.

As her sister, Anastacia, approached, Drizella excitedly told her we were getting married soon, so she asked me if she could see a picture of my dress. Luke snapped these pictures while I showed her the pictures of me wearing my dress…

I know she’s supposed to be an evil step-sister, but she was actually really sweet! I liked her 🙂 The table next to us had an older lady sitting there, the grandmother of the group, and it was apparently her first trip to WDW. Anastasia came back a few times just to give grandma a hug and tell her how adorable she was – the Grandma clearly thought this was just the greatest thing, I loved watching her smile every time Anastasia came over.

The final character was the evil step-mother, Lady Tremaine. Again, she found out we were getting married soon, so she asked me why I was marrying him – was he rich? I embarassed Luke and told Lady Tremaine I was marrying him because he liked cats and had a pair of them haha. She was pretending she didn’t want to get too close to him in case he had cat hair on him.

There was a decent dessert selection as part of the buffet, but we had ate so much of the other food that we didn’t want any. Our server did bring us each a cupcake though as a congratulations, so we did each have a bite of that. We left over half of each one though, we were so full!

I’m so happy we finally made it here for a meal! I think it might be my favourite character meal at Walt Disney World – the characters were great, and the food was fantastic. It’s not a cheap option, and my Tables in Wonderland card was blacked out due to it being January 1st, but I could still use my AP discount (10% on food only). I would not hesitate to return here, and won’t even complain that much about paying full price.

Tables in Wonderland Original Cost: $150                                              Break Even Point Before this Meal: $130.60                                                     Savings this Meal: $0 (blackout date)                                                                     Total until Breaking Even: $130.60

Predicted food budget: $2631.67                                                                             Estimated Cost of this meal: $27.46(Pop Food Court – Breakfast) + $112.89 (1900 Park Fare) = $140.35                                                                       Actual Cost: $15.95(Pop) + 112.20 (1900 Park Fare) = $128.15           Over/Under: Under by $12.20                                                           Remaining: $2218.58

Next meal: California Grill

Disney, Food Review

Plaza Inn – November 9, 2017

We hadn’t made any plans for this night, we weren’t sure if we would be really tired and want to go to sleep after the Race Expo, but we were so excited to be back in California that we decided to enter the park.

We were starving, but hadn’t made any dining reservations- luckily we remembered reading rave reviews about the fried chicken at Plaza Inn, and it was technically a quick service meal! We had ate breakfast there on our previous trip, so we knew exactly where it was and set off in that direction.

You enter the main doors, and then order your food from the centre section of the restaurant. We both went for the same thing, the Plaza Inn Specialty Chicken – three pieces of chicken, fried to a golden brown, seasoned with distinctive herbs and spices. Served with mashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuit and a mixture of vegetables, $17.49

This is a massive portion! I could easily share this meal with someone (I’d just need to order an extra scoop of potatoes because I don’t share those haha). The chicken was juicy, the crispy batter had great flavour and I can see why this place has the reputation it does. I don’t know what they do, I assume use lots of butter, but Disney green beans are always so good! Mashed potatoes and gravy is one of my favourite foods (I have such fancy tastes in food haha), and I enjoyed this serving. The biscuit was good, not great. I couldn’t finish everything, this was a lot of food! Luke did well, but he couldn’t clear his plate either.

Luke had a Coke to go with his meal, I grabbed a root beer. However, after my first sip of my pop I realized the fountain must be almost out of syrup, it tasted terrible. So, I also grabbed a coke.

There was a couple sitting at the table next to ours wearing the Bride and Groom Mickey ear hats, so I pointed at their ears and asked if they were on their Honeymoon. They told us they were actually on a pre-honeymoon, they were getting married the following week in Vegas, but were spending a few days in California first. They told us it was their first time at Disneyland, and asked us what attractions they should try and do. We chatted for a few minutes, and told them our favourites in the park before wishing them well in their upcoming nuptials. We didn’t even get their names, but I hope they enjoyed their day at Disneyland!

For some reason, it seems like I didn’t take a picture of our receipt here. I would have used my annual pass for a discount, but I can’t remember if it was 10%, 15% or 20% – I’d assume 15% since that’s standard with a top tier pass in California.

This place is on the list of places I would definitely eat at again. The price was right, the servings were large and the food was really tasty. Two thumbs way up for you, Plaza Inn!

Disney, Travel

Disneyland Character Dining

As of the date this post was written, there are four options for character dining at Disneyland- one in each of the three hotels and one inside Disneyland.

  1. Plaza Inn
  2. Storyteller’s Cafe
  3. Goofy’s Kitchen
  4. PCH Grill

There used to be a fifth option that offered princess dining located in Disney’s California Adventure, but it closed earlier this year as part of the Pixar Pier retheming.

1. Plaza Inn – breakfast

Located in Disneyland at the end of Main Street just as you start to swing right towards Tomorrowland, Plaza Inn offers a character breakfast.  It is hosted by Minnie Mouse, so you are guaranteed to see her – the rest of the characters are the luck of the draw. We have ate here three times (January 2017, November 2017 and June 2018),  and the first two times there were 10 characters in total and the third time had 12 characters (with only a few minor changes in the lineup). For comparison, most character meals have 4. The group of characters is quite eclectic; we’ve seen Fairy Godmother, Winnie the Pooh, Captain Hook, Max, Rafiki, etc.

While the characters are fantastic, the food is just basic breakfast fare for the most part, really nothing special.

For lunch and supper, the restaurant becomes a quick service location with no characters, but the food is great.

2. Storyteller’s Cafe – breakfast/brunch

Located in the high-end hotel, The Grand Californian, Storyteller’s Cafe offers a character breakfast  Monday to Friday, and a character brunch on weekends and Holidays. The breakfast and brunch are hosted by Chip and Dale, so you will meet them. The rest of the characters in attendance are various other woodland creatures from Disney movies – the day we ate brunch there (November 2017) we met one of the bears from Brother Bear, and Pluto (who doesn’t fit perfectly with the theme, but it’s probably just the cast member they had scheduled to work that day). I’ve seen reviews that had Meeko from Pochantas.

Food wise, this is probably the best of the character dining options. There is a large variety to choose from, with options like corn chowder (delicious!), smoked salmon and warm bread pudding (which is very common at WDW, not so common at Disneyland).

3. Goofy’s Kitchen – breakfast/supper

This character meal hosted by Goofy is located in the Disneyland Hotel. The other characters you will meet vary; the day we ate there (January 2017) we met Minnie, Pluto, Chip and Dale in addition to Chef Goofy.

We ate there for a late breakfast. You could easily get the regular staples of a Disney breakfast buffet, but they also had some one-of-a-kind creations like PB&J pizza. The dessert options were plentiful, so I was happy!

4. PCH Grill – breakfast

This is located at the Paradise Pier hotel and is hosted by the main mouse himself, Mickey. The remaining characters change, but you’re likely to see some combination of Daisy, Pluto, Donald, Minnie and Stitch.

This is the only character meal we have never personally done, but from everything I’ve read it’s very basic breakfast staples – Mickey waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, etc.

The price for all of the character buffets is around the same – anywhere from $34 to $39 per person. Yes, they are pricey, but there is a benefit to them if you like meeting characters.

Food Review

Cheesecake Factory – November 12, 2017

This is a chain restaurant that is not located in Canada (other than Toronto), so I get very excited to eat here whenever we go to Anaheim. I believe we have now ate at the GardenWalk location on three of our four trips to SoCal…

The menu is gigantic – I believe they claim there are over 250 items on the menu and I wouldn’t be surprised if there actually was. They have just about anything you can think of, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, salads, etc.

They bring a basket of bread to start your meal. I didn’t take a picture of it this time, but it definitely had pumpernickel as one option – I think the other one was a more generic white or whole wheat. I like their bread – it’s really nothing special, but it’s always soft and honestly I just love bread haha.

For some reason, I keep ordering pasta whenever I go here. This trip was no different. I decided to try the Four Cheese Pasta with Chicken – penne pasta, mozzarella, ricotta, romano and parmesan cheese, marinara sauce and fresh basil $19.50

It’s quite dark in the restaurant, so I apologize for the shitty pictures. I enjoyed this, the penne was thinner than most which I actually prefer. The sauce was fairly standard, but I enjoyed it.

Luke has been on a huge Mule phase lately, so he ordered the Pineapple Moscow Mule – Stolichnaya, pineapple, ginger beer and lime, $11.95.

I just asked Luke to tell me his thoughts on this drink – he looked at me with a puzzled look and said “I ordered that?”. So – I’d say this drink was not memorable. I don’t remember him disliking it or saying it was gross, but it was nothing special (kind of the theme of this place haha).

For food, Luke does a much better job than I do of switching it up every time we eat here. On this trip, he went for the Truffle-Honey Chicken – fried chicken breast with truffle-honey, asparagus and mashed potatoes, $16.95.

The plating left a bit to be desired, it looked a little messy/off centre, but it tasted decent. The chicken was breaded nicely and was flakey. The honey was minimal, just enough to give it a nice sweet taste. The mashed potatoes and asparagus were good.

I can’t go to the Cheesecake Factory and not order cheesecake, even though Luke decided he didn’t want one this time. I only ate about half of my pasta in order to have room to enjoy cheesecake, and I ordered the Caramel Pecan Turtle – pecan brownie and caramel-fudge swirl cheesecake topped with Caramel Turtle pecans and chocolate, $7.95. I forgot to take a picture of this, but Luke and I shared it and enjoyed it – is there such a thing as bad cheesecake?

Our total bill came to $60.72. Overall, this restaurant is just standard, basic food but I really like it. Plus they have like 50 different cheesecakes to choose from, so that automatically makes them a winner in my books!

Empties

Empties – October 2017-February 2018

Sometimes I do this post after three months, sometimes it’s four months – this time it was five. It’s worth noting that Luke and I were away for two weeks during this time for our wedding trip, and we finished off a bunch of hotel samples during that time which I did not keep or photograph. We also had someone staying in our house watching our pets during that time, and I believe a hand soap or two was finished, but I did not ask him to save the empty bottle, I don’t need him thinking I’m crazy haha.

Our basket was fairly full, but I would have expected a bit more from five months. We have finished off quite a few things already in March though, so I think my next post of empties will be a big one.

I still use medicated shampoo every time I wash my hair, and I didn’t keep the empty bottle of that I finished off.

Head & Shoulders Men Shampoo – I didn’t use this, it was Luke’s. It’s something he’s had/used in the past, so he must like it.

Herbal Essences Shampoo – this bottle was huge, and lasted us forever. We had finished off the conditioner with the previous batch of empties.

TGel Shampoo – psorasis shampoo that doesn’t require a prescription – it’s not terrible

American Cream Lush Conditioner – I liked this, and would buy it again

Hotel samples of conditioner – I don’t remember what hotel we got these from, they were fine

Hand soaps:

Bath & Body Works – Snow Kissed Citrus, Vanilla Bean Noel and Raspberry Meringue

Softsoap – Tangerine Treat

Bath Retreat Citrus Bubble Bath – this stuff smelled good and it made bubbles – what more could you ask for?

Colgate Toothpaste – the old faithful of toothpaste, my favourite stuff!

Jergens BB Body Cream – I’m pretty sure we got this free one year at Stars on Ice, and I kept it on my desk at work. It was decent hand cream

Protopic Cream – this is a prescription cream for my psorasis, and it works really well. I use a lot of this stuff.

Neutrogena Sunscreen – meh

Elizabeth Arden mascara – it was fine, it was mascara. Not my favourite one I’ve ever tried, but not my least favourite either.

Overall, we really didn’t finish off a lot during this time frame, but our basket already has 4 or 5 things in it from March.

 

Disney, Food Review

Earl of Sandwich – November 10, 2017

After finishing our 5k, we were both hungry. One of the only places open at that hour was Earl of Sandwich, which is one of Luke’s favourite places. Since it was so early, they were only serving breakfast sandwiches, which sucked since I rarely eat eggs (they bother my stomach), and all of their breakfast options involved eggs. I’m sure I could have asked for a sandwich made without, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I did find some things to eat though 🙂

Bowl of Broccoli Cheddar soup, $3.99.

This is one of my favourite types of soup, and the version Earl’s makes is pretty good. It hit the spot, and made for a perfect breakfast selection.

Of course, no breakfast is complete without a little chocolate, so I also grabbed a Chocolate Pudding, $2.99

This had almost as much whipped cream as it did pudding. This was good, and I convinced myself I deserved it after walking a 5k that morning haha.

Luke actually ordered a breakfast sandwich, and went for the Ham, Egg N’ Cheddar – ham, eggs, cheddar and breakfast sauce served on our artisan bread, $5.29

Luke didn’t love this the way he loves their regular sandwiches. He ate it all, but wasn’t raving about it. There was nothing special about it, and we won’t be going out of our way to eat breakfast here again, we’ll stick to the lunch/supper menu.

Total cost was $13.22 – we had received free bottles of water at the finish line of the 5k, so we didn’t buy drinks at Earl of Sandwich. There was no option for a discount with my annual pass.

Disney, Travel

Disney’s California Adventure Rides

  • Flik’s Flyers –  a standard kiddie ride that goes in circles and lifts slightly off the ground. One ride vehicle is a Chinese take-out box, which is really adorable
  • Francis’ Ladybug Boogie – sit in a ladybug and spin around (think teacups, but manly ladybugs named Francis instead)
  • Frozen: Live at the Hyperion – an hour long Broadway-caliber stage show
  • Golden Zephyr – standard carnival ride that slowly goes in circles while you sit in a silver ride vehicle.
  • Goofy’s Sky School – a crazy-mouse style roller coaster
  • Grizzly River Rapids –sit in a giant 8-person floating tube – you will probably get wet – comparable to Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom in Florida
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout – the former Tower of Terror, re-themed to Guardians. More intense and much more fun than Tower. Probably my favourite Disney ride from all 6 US parks…
  • Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train – a little kid train ride, help Heimlich find the candy corn!
  • Incredicoaster – formerly California Screamin’, a high-speed roller coaster with an inversion – opening up at the end of June 2018
  • Jumpin’ Jellyfish – a ride which we’ve actually never been on…
  • The Little Mermaid – sit in a continuous moving seashell as you move along through an Animatronic Cole’s Notes version of the story. Same as one in Magic Kingdom in Florida
  • Luigi’s Rollicking Roadsters – a trackless ride with dancing cars
  • Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree – Mater will sing to you as you sit in a tractor doing a hoedown. It’s cute, kind of whips you around a bit.
  • Mickey’s Fun Wheel – a Ferris wheel. Two options – regular or swinging. Lots of puking in the swinging cars…. currently being rethemed for Pixar Pier
  • Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue – a slow moving ride through Monstropolis.
  • Radiator Springs Racers – a racing ride, sit in a 6-person car while you drive through Radiator Springs from Cars. Think Test Track from Epcot in Florida, but better.
  • Silly Symphony Swings – the classic carnival swings ride
  • Soarin’ – same as the ride of the same name in Florida- a motion flight simulator that takes you on a journey around the world to see the sights and smell the scents.
  • Toy Story Midway Mania – a shooting game where you sit in a vehicle wearing 3D glasses. Same as the ride of the same name in Florida
  • Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies – bumper cars located in the Bug’s Life Land
Uncategorized

The Ears Necessities

Hey, this is Luke.

Fallon often asks me to do some writing on her blog. I write for a living, so you’d think this would come easily. When I get to typing the words flow pretty easily. The trouble is I’m oft inspiration-ally challenged.

When I’m not working, I don’t want to freelance. Even this is like pulling teeth with salad tongs right now. I want to try hard. But I just… can’t.

That said, the easiest way to find out about someone is to get them riffing on something they’re passionate about. At a party with strangers and want to cut some awkward silence? Ask a few open-ended questions, build off the responses of the person you’re yakking with, then once you pinpoint what they like – keep the conversation going along that route until you can get more snacks or find a dog to pet.

So I’m going to open up HUGE here and say I like music.

Music?!?

WHAT?@?!?!?@!?@

I can’t believe it! Music? Really? Shit. Nobody likes music. You wild sonofagun. Bet you’re into breathing air too huh chum?

Yup.  Music. Music songs. Music sounds. Melodies. Hooks. Etc.

So many songs are synonymous with Disney.

So many catchy little diddies. And they start digging their earworm roots into our memory spheres Tripledent Gum style when we’re wee little ones.

I can hear the steel drums of Under the Sea as I type this. And it’s so simple to pivot to the next classic track. All you need is the right phrase. Try the grey stuff it’s delicious. Prince Ali, fabulous he. MWAH ZABENYA (or whatever they say).

Before we left on this most recent wedding/marathon/Eat-All-The-Things-We-Got-A-Tables-In Wonderland-Card Trip – I put together a Disney playlist.

Wanna get excited for the trip? Throw on this Disney Playlist and sing along.
Had a lousy day where you just want to feel like Patrick Warburton is there to say “Nice job, pal!”? Disney Playlist

Need a third thing for a blog post because things are conveniently funnier in threes? Disney Playlist can do that!

So there it is. Songs from movies. TV theme songs from our youth. A couple bangers from the Black Panther Soundtrack. Even tracks from the rides themselves cause you can’t not have Grim Grinning Ghosts amiright?

What songs would you add? Leave a comment and let us know. Keep in mind that Let It Go is totally on this playlist like 3 or 4 times or something. This Disney Playlist hakunas some serious matata.

And if there’s any specific topic you’d like me to write about – ask Fallon. She’ll let me know and I’ll give it a go in 2022 or so.

Peace/ Love. Hang 10.

Luke

Disney

Disneyland Rides

  • Alice in Wonderland – a slow-moving dark ride that takes you through scenes from the movie, over 3 and a half minutes long – much better than I was expecting it to be (but I wasn’t expecting much)
  • Astro Orbiter – same as the one at Magic Kingdom in Florida (only on ground level instead of requiring an elevator ride). A spinning rocket ride that is a tight squeeze for 2 adults
  • Autopia – drive a car along a guided path. Similar to Tomorrowland Speedway at Magic Kingdom. Basically Go-Karts, but infinitely less fun (unless you’re like, 6)
  • Big Thunder Mountain – one of my favourites, a roller coaster described as the wildest ride in the wilderness! Decently fast, some good turns and bumps but not overly intense. Very similar to the ride of the same name at Magic Kingdom (I find the California one slightly better)
  • Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters – a shooting style game to defeat evil Emperor Zurg. Very similar to the one at Magic Kingdom, but Disneyland’s wins because the guns can come out of their holsters giving you better accuracy.
  • Casey Jr. Circus Train – a train for little kids
  • Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes
  • Dumbo – the classic elephant ride
  • Enchanted Tiki Room – a show with some of the first animatronics ever. All the birds sings words and the flowers croon, in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room. Don’t forget to grab a Dole Whip before heading inside to eat during the show! Also – California’s is better than Florida’s because of the pre-show before entering the building.
  • Finding Nemo Submarine – an actual submarine ride, little kids love it, anyone with claustrophobia will not.
  • Gadget’s Go- Coaster – a beginner roller coaster that lasts less than a minute. Based on Gadget Hackwrench from Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers
  • Haunted Mansion –a slow, continuous-moving through a highly themed haunted house – focuses more on details and theming than jump scares. Watch out for hitchhiking ghosts!
  • Indiana Jones’ Adventure – a bumpy adventure with Indy. Very similar ride system to Dinosaur from Animal Kingdom, but this is much better. Queue line is fantastic
  • It’s A Small World – a slow moving boat ride through all the stereotypes of Earth while the most annoying song ever created plays on repeat.
  • Jungle Cruise – a pun-tastic boat tour through an animatronic-animal jungle. You’ll groan, but also enjoy it.
  • King Arthur Carousel – just a standard merry-go-round, located in Fantasyland
  • Mad Tea Party – the classic spinning teacups ride
  • Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – ride through the Hundred Acre Wood in a honeypot. Watch out for Heffalumps and Woozles.
  • Mark Twain Riverboat – a large, slow moving boat ride around the Rivers of America (12 minutes). A 1955 original
  • Matterhorn Bobsleds – a rough roller coaster
  • Monorail – the first daily operating monorail in the Western Hemisphere, has two stops – inside Disneyland and Downtown Disney
  • Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride – a 1955 Original ride, a slow-moving ride – just be careful you don’t get stuck in Hell.
  • Peter Pan – soar over London and travel to Neverland in a flying pirate ship.
  • Pinocchio’s Daring Journey – another 1955 original slow-moving ride that tells the story of Pinocchio
  • Pirates of the Caribbean – the last ride Walt himself oversaw, the ride that inspired a film franchise. Much better in California compared to Florida.
  • Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin – a dark ride based on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, ride in a a taxi which you can spin
  • Snow White’s Scary Adventure – another 1955 original – a slow moving ride that is basically a Cole’s notes version of Snow White
  • Space Mountain – high speed roller coaster in the dark. I prefer the ride vehicles in California over Florida (side by side as opposed to single file)
  • Splash Mountain – classic log flume ride. I prefer the ride vehicles in Florida – you get much wetter in California and the story doesn’t flow as well
  • Star Tours – a Star Wars themed motion simulator – same as the one in Florida
  • Storybook Canal Boats – a slow moving boat ride that passes by miniature versions of lands from Disney movies
  • Tarzan’s Treehouse – a walk-through attraction