Festival of Fantasy Parade

When Buzz came to visit me a couple of weeks ago, we of course had to make a stop at our favorite place on earth! Now it turns out that we planned our trip to the Magic Kingdom and found out that the new Festival of Fantasy parade would start two days after we left. We were upset that we wouldn’t be able to see the parade but glad that we were avoiding the crowds that the parade would bring. So instead of being in the park for Festival of Fantasy we did the next best thing, we watched a live stream!

Unfortunately, Buzz’s vacation ended and she had to head back home. However, I was lucky enough to head back to the Magic Kingdom to see the new parade! I will be the first to admit that I was never the person who would wait on the sidewalk for a parade at Walt Disney World. Why wait when I could experience everything else the park has to offer?! This parade was a different story though. We saved a spot in Frontierland an hour before it started; my family and I were uninterested in waiting 2+ hours on Main Street so Frontierland was the best spot for us. It definitely got crowded and people kept trying to maneuver through the already tight space to see the parade or get out of the area, but once the parade started I was glad we waited for the parade.

The music accompanying the floats was fantastic, and the vibrant colors of each costume and prop gave a feeling of joy and whimsy to the overall production. The characters were expressive and fun; they had great interactions with guests and other characters as well. The order of the floats made sense and gave proper identification to each film that was utilized in the parade. Overall, this is a parade that the imagineers who have been working on it should be proud of for years to come.

Have you seen the Festival of Fantasy Parade? What did you think of it? Is there anything you wish was or wasn’t in the parade?

-Woody

And of course I can’t leave y’all without any photos!

Liebster Award 2014

A large thank you goes out to Disney Fairytale Files.  We have been nominated for a Liebster Award.  This award goes out every spring and showcases up and coming bloggers who have less than 500 followers.  This is a great way for newer blogs to reach a wider audience and all of us fellow bloggers to help each other out.

The rules for Liebster Awards are simple:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.

2. Answer the 11 questions they asked you.

3. Nominate 11 other blogs who have less than 500 followers.

4. Post 11 questions for your nominees to answer.

5. Let your nominees know you’ve chosen them by visiting their page and leaving a comment. 

6. No tag backs!

So, with all that being said, Woody and I have gone through and answered the questions we were given.

1.) If you could be any animated character who would you choose?

Woody:  Sheriff Woody

Buzz:  Buzz Lightyear

2.) What’s your favorite attraction at any Disney park?

W:  It’s a tie! Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion

B:  Space Mountain

3.) What is your least favorite Disney movie and why?

W:  Pinocchio because I haven’t seen it in years and I remember being scared watching it as a kid. I love Jiminey Cricket though!

B:  Snow White and the Seven Dwarves because it scares me and I don’t like Snow White’s voice.

4.) What was your favorite grade in school?

W:  1st grade

B:  Kindergarten

5.) If you could host a talk show who would be your first guest?

W:  Tim Tebow, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hanks

B:  Julie Andrews

6.) If your life was a song, what song would it be?

W:  Compass by Lady Antebellum

B:  Dust by Eli Young Band

7.) Rain or Snow?

W:  Snow

B:  Rain (thunder storms are my favorite!)

8.) What is your favorite sports team?

W:  Colorado Avalanche

B:  I’m a big sports fan, but I don’t really follow specific teams (based on my family I’m a New York Rangers and Mets fan)

9.) How many hours do you spend on the internet each day?

W&B:  More than we’d both like to admit.

10.) What is the first thing you do in the morning?

W:  I snooze the alarm on my phone.

B:  Put my glasses on so I’m not blind.

11.) Favorite vacation spot?

W:  Hawai’i (I’ve only been once, but I loved it!)

B:  The Netherlands (Holland) or Croatia (I visit my grandparents in Croatia every summer)

 

Now, it’s our turn!  Below are the questions we would like our nominees to answer!

1. Who is your idol and why?
2. What is your dream car?
3. What was your favorite Disney Channel show prior to the current line-up?
4. Walt Disney World or Disneyland?
5. If you could live inside one movie plot/setting, what would it be?
6. If you could live through only one kind of weather pattern the rest of your life, which would you choose?
7. Coke or Pepsi?
8. If you could be best friends with any Disney character, who would it be?
9. Dream job?
10. Which fairy talent do you wish you had (Think Tink)?
11. Best book you’ve read?

And, drum roll please, we nominate:

1. Disney In Your Day
2. Mouse University Online
3. Eating WDW
4. It’s “All in WDW”
5. Bernhard/Playhard
6. Disney With Me
7. Lessons as I learn them
8. Why Hello Dolly
9. My Live Action Disney Project
10. Disney for Five+
11. Muffy’s Fitness Blog

And thanks again to Disney Fairytale Files for the Liebster nomination!

Alrighty nominees! Good luck, have fun, and have a magical day!! °o°

Be Our Guest Restaurant: Lunch Review

This review may be late to the show, but I thought it be best to see how Be Our Guest is doing now that all the dust has settled and they have their groove going. I have been lucky enough to dine at Be Our Guest for both Dinner and Lunch multiple times, and was excited to be able to eat here for lunch again.

Be Our Guest is difficult to get into for Dinner if you don’t make reservations ahead of time. However, for lunch the restaurant operates as a Quick Service restaurant! Which means that anyone can eat there, the only catch is you’ll have to wait in line. My experience with waiting in line for the restaurant is it actually moves much quicker than I expect it to. When dining for Dinner you check-in with the Host or Hostess before you walk the bridge to the Beasts castle. Once you enter you will be led to your table in the Ballroom. Lunch works a bit differently. When you wait in line you slowly cross the bridge until you reach a Cast Member near the front doors to the castle. Once you reach that Cast Member they will ask how many are in your party—quick word of warning, make sure your entire party is with you or you will have to wait to the side until they are. Anyways, when your whole party is together you will be led into one of two lines by another Cast Member. These lines go through a hallway of knights with the menu displayed on screens between the two lines. Once through this hallway you reach a Cast Member who will ask how many are in your party, how you plan to pay (dining plan, cash, card), and do you have a Magicband? After these questions you’ll touch your Magicband to an RFID reader (it’s a circle with a Mickey on it), or the CM will touch a rose to it for you. You will then be told to order at a specific station.

I personally love the stations. They are electronic, with pictures of the meals they provide; while I appreciate the self-order station it seems that Disney sometimes have some issues with them. The couple in front of us were trying to order but they had some difficulties using the self-order and accidentally put that they wanted 46 quiches! Not quite what the two of them were wanting, the system wouldn’t let them delete it so a CM restarted the computer for the station and led them through the process.

Once it was our turn to order the computer asked how we were paying (Dining Plan or credit card) we had the Quick Service Dining Plan, so all four of us ordered a drink, entree, and dessert. Once we decided what we wanted we touched the Magicband to the reader and received our receipt. We were then led to dine in one of the three dining rooms. The West Wing, Rose Room, or Ballroom.

The West Wing is an extremely unique environment complete with a portrait of Prince Adam turning into the Beast and the Enchanted Rose slowly losing petals throughout your meal. This dining room is great for the environment; but is dark, loud and there are lighting effects. I prefer to walk through and take pictures instead of actually eating in there. The Rose Room is bright and relaxing with several portraits hanging around of the many characters from Beauty and The Beast. In the middle of the room is a gorgeous music box of Belle and Beast dancing in their iconic costumes. The Ballroom is the largest of the three dining rooms and probably my favorite. Exactly replicating the film with snow falling outside the windows and intricate paintings on the ceilings, accompanied by three show stopping chandeliers.

Now onto the food! Our meals were delivered to us by a CM and a fun cart displaying our dishes. They know where you sit through your Magicband or rose, so no need to worry if they’ll find where you are or not. Our four meals included the Braised Pork, Carved Turkey Sandwich, Prime Roast Beef Sandwich, and a Vegetable Quiche. My favorite meal at Be Our Guest for lunch was a Steak Sandwich they used to have, unfortunately for me they have changed the menu so I’ve been trying different menu items. I enjoyed the vegetable quiche, which was accompanied by a simple side salad of baby greens and a champagne vinaigrette on the side. The quiche was pretty plain with different vegetables throughout, it wasn’t my favorite meal but I did enjoy it. My Dad’s favorite meal here is the Braised Pork, and he was not disappointed; meanwhile my brother raves about the Carved Turkey Sandwich. He looks forward to it every trip and eats the whole thing. My mom said she liked the Prime Roast Beef Sandwich and it looked good from my viewpoint!  If you are eating here though you need to try one of the desserts! Whether it’s a cupcake or cream puff—my favorite is the Lemon-Raspberry Cream Puff—Be Our Guest definitely knows what they are doing with their desserts.

Overall, Be Our Guest is a dining experience that you do not want to miss out on. Whether you dine there for dinner or lunch you’ll have a memorable experience that you could never receive anywhere else.

 

We are Sorry! Forgive Us?

So this blog has been on the back burner as we are sure several of you have noticed. Unfortunately, it has been an extremely difficult couple of weeks for the entire Disney to Infinity and Beyond family. We have been overwhelmed with school and work, hoping that you all will forgive us for neglecting you! While we would love to begin regularly posting again right this moment, we cannot; at least not until school ends and we are In Summer (we love Olaf)! So please forgive us and be patient for the next few weeks, and we will be regularly posting again in May. Thank you for reading and being the wonderful followers you all are!

Wishing you lots of Pixie Dust,

The Disney to Infinity and Beyond Family