Saturday, June 28, 2014

WDW Top 5 Unique Dining Experience





When you are on vacation you don't want to do the same old thing right? These are my top 5 picks for a Unique Dining Experience at WDW: 



1) PrimeTime 50's Diner-  I was always too afraid to dine here because I heard about all of their antics. I've been twice & we love it! I love everything from the decor, food, attitude & on top of that it is a fun atmosphere. Here are my pictures/review of our experience here: 




AMAZING band from Biergarten!!!

2) Biergarten-  This is probably one of our favorite places to eat!  You get to see a show & the food goes from plain to authentic German eats. I'm a very picky eater & found a lot of great things to eat here. Be warned that you do sit on communal picnic tables with other guests. We have never had issues w/ the people we sat with. Try the vanilla pudding here !!! Here are my review/pictures:




3)Cinderella's Royal Table- Even as an all adult party you will have to dine here at least one time in your life. We ate here for breakfast & it was amazing! The view is great & you get to meet all of the princesses in one location. It is worth the price if you have princess obsessed daughters. Then it saves you time later for not waiting in line to meet them. You also get a photo with Cinderella as part of the price of the meal. Here are my review/pics:


Pic courtesy of mouseplanet.com

4) T-Rex-  This is a great place to take any dinosaur loving kid. Be warned the animatronics can be loud & scary to small kids. We went as an all adult party & thought the food,beer, & atmosphere were awesome. I never would've gone here in the past but am glad my friend forced me into it. ;) I will go again for sure! My review/pics:


Pic courtesy of whyIrundisney.com

5) We ate dinner here a few years ago & loved it. They have a LOUD and fun atmosphere. Who wouldn't love bottomless milkshakes that let you change up the flavor?!  They play games with the kids & do cool stuff for adults too. We ate here for our anniversary & they gave us two glasses of champagne with strawberies. They made us kiss in front of the entire restaurant until she counted to 10 SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWW. It was a magical moment for us. Remember to ask for the ketchup...... 

This is located at Wilderness Lodge hotel near Whispering Canyon




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Friday, June 27, 2014

Blue Sky Monorail Diner


The Monorail Diner

"Please stand clear of the orders"
"Por favor, manténgase alejado de los pedidos"

In Kansas City, there are several Fritz's Railroad Restaurant locations (www.fritzskc.com) which inspired the concept of the Monorail Diner.  I went to the one at the Crown Center a few years ago.  The food is satisfactory at Fritz's, but it's the presentation that's spectacular.  A track-based system called Skat Kat moves orders around the dining room and brings them to your table from high above.  The vehicles are decorated to resemble railway engines.  There is a video embedded at their website illustrating how the trays are lowered.  It is not too hard to envision a miniature monorail (or minirail) instead, but let's plus it up a bit.

This isn't the first Blue Sky engineering attempt at automating food delivery.  Previously published was the concept of resurrecting a Horn and Hardart Automat (http://yohoyohobloggerslifeforme.blogspot.com/2012/09/horn-and-hardart-revisited.html).  Like Horn and Hardart Revisited, the Monorail Diner lies somewhere between table and counter service.  In this case, ordering is done at the table, but there's no need to wait for a server.  Selection is by touchscreen (think of the Jetsons' Food-a-Rac-a-Cycle) with the advantage of multilingual menus, pictures for non-readers and audio for the sight-impaired.  As an aside, Braille touchscreens already exist too (https://sites.google.com/site/dagarsd/braille).  Special situations may be handled though a brief Facetime session with the humans behind the scenes.  

Delivery is by minirail with trays lowered along "pylons" to the guests.  The 1970s patents on the Skat Kat's train and elevator have long expired.  There was also a problem with inertia when overloaded trains dropped their loads.  Disney's Audio-Animatronics experience with compliance could very well resolve the sudden speed change issue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio-Animatronics#Compliance) and improve stabilization.  The sticklers at The Monorail Society (http://www.monorails.org/) may argue this is not a true monorail.  There will still be waitstaff for items too heavy or unstable to for the track.

So, what's on the menu?  It is called a diner, therefore timeless diner fare keeps the food in theme.  In your mind, merge the 50s Prime Time with the Sci-Fi Dine-In.  It may also be time to bring back the Monorail Cocktails (Red, Yellow and Pink) from the old Top of the World restaurant's bar.

image
Disney Recipe (and Happy Hour!): Monorail Drinks fro...
If you've ever wanted to make cool retro Disney cocktails, now's your chance! Check out recipes for the Disney Monorail Drinks from the old Top of the World Restaur...
Preview by Yahoo
Just look at that glorious mural behind the bar while you're at it because that's where we're going next.

So, what's the decor?  
The overall look is retrofuturistic.  A scene in Horizons depicted this "future that never was" as envisioned from the 50s.
image
Preview by Yahoo
Or, one could go full on steampunk with lots of rivets and brass.  Either way, you don't have to worry about the present catching up to the future.  3-D artwork with historically significant monorails adorns the walls: 

image
Monorails in History II
  1952 - ALWEG Monorail
Preview by Yahoo

My favorite is the Mark VII.  A hypothetical Mark VII dining car could be the restaurant's facade complete with doors that announce... well, you know.

So, what's the location?  At first, it seems obvious to put it in the Contemporary Resort, but then other thoughts arise.  There's already a cafe there although a diner offers a broader menu.  Like Fritz's, there could be multiple locations operating on multiple lines.  The Disneyland Hotel also has a monorail station as does Tomorrowland inside its Magic Kingdom.  Epcot offers stunning views of its monorails.  Maybe, it's finally time to remodel and fully reactivate the Odyssey restaurant (scroll down one paragraph here:http://wdwuntangled.com/what-is-that-place/).  Futureworld and the Monorail Diner may even be a superior match thematically than is the Contemporary (i.e. tomorrow vs. today).

Next up, perfecting an aerial food order delivery system.  No one is going to mind whirling quadcopter blades in their faces, right?

-Jeff C.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Disney's Mango Sorbet Recipe...







Has anyone ever had the mango sorbet from Cinderella's Royal Table? This was SUPER easy to make. The most time consuming part was peeling the mangoes. I would make this again in a heartbeat. This is SO refreshing! It would be a great summer treat to share with your friends & family.






Sorry all my disney plates were dirty ;)

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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Transportation Quick Tips...



Did you know depending on where you stay at WDW has several different options of transportation?

The monorail resorts are: Polynesian,Grand Floridian,& the Contemporary Resort. If you are staying here you just need to ride the monorail to the Ticket & transportation Center to board the Epcot Monorail.

If you stay at Port Orleans you can take a boat to Downtown Disney.If you stay at Wilderness Lodge or the Contemporary you can also take the boat to Magic Kingdom.As a tip the boat line can get long depending on the time of year that you go. The boats also make stops at other resorts so plan accordingly!



Port Orleans

You can also take a boat from Epcot to Hollywood Studios that makes stops at the Yacht Club Resort & Boardwalk Hotel. The Boardwalk is a great place to kill a few hours plus they have an amazing Bakery!

You can always take the bus but why not try something new? 

What is your favorite mode of transportation @ WDW?
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Sunday, June 15, 2014

2 Men & the Mouse Podcast Review...



I normally am not one to listen to podcasts but I decided to give this one a try. These guys are from NJ & have a great show. I listened to their most recent podcast for last week & was fully entertained the entire show. I even learned about some of the new technology that the Magic Bands will have in the near future for everyone. They talked about what ADR's they made &what restaurants they like/not like. They give a lot of advice for a newbie if that is something you are looking for. They have a fun trivia contest going on right now too! Marvel has recently come out with a Disney comic I think any Disney fan would love! Tune in to guess at their trivia question to win the below comic book!

Our Facebook page is Facebook.com/2menandthemouse and our discussion group is Facebook.com/groups/2menandthemouse

Website: http://www.2menandthemouse.com
Twitter: @2menandthemouse
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Marvel Comic cover 
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Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Other Disney Destinations...



waltdisneymuseum.com

Did you know there are other Disney Destinations besides DisneyLand & WDW in the United States?

If you are on the west coast why not try to see the relatively new Walt Disney Museum in San Franscisco? It opened October 1,2007. I hear it is an amazing exhibit. They used to not allow photography but has since been lifted. I know I'm going to make it a priority to go here on my next California Trip! I saw a TV Special on this museum recently & it is truly amazing. Walt's daughter Diane built this in his honor. She wanted to share the history with the fans & we thank her. 

pic courtesy of cleverhousewife.com One of the cool exhibits at WD Museum in SF


Photo credit: Disney.wikia.com

photo credit:parkthoughts.com 

If you are in the Mid-West why not visit Marceline,Missouri  or Kansas City? I have friends who live in KC. I'd like to travel here next summer! You can visit Walt's old town of Marceline. Marceline is rumored to be his inspiration for Main Street. There is a main drag there that looks pretty close to it. I hear the diner there is great too! They also have a small museum in Marceline. You can see his old office in KC.


Adventuregirlwillwrite.blogspot.com photo credit
Marceline startribune.com photo credit


wikipedia.org photo credit Kansas City laugh-o-gram studio
photo credit yesterland.com


Has anyone ever been to these places?

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