Epcot International Food and Wine Festival 2014 Round 1!

Around this time of year, there's something extra special in the air around Walt Disney World.  Something that just fills me with excitement and joy and magic.  Really, one might say that this is the most wonderful time of year.  What?  Did you say it was too early for Christmas?  Of course it is - I'm talking about the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival!

Every year, dozens of kiosks pop up around the World Showcase Promenade offering sample-sized plates of food and drink from various regions and cultures.  If you've never been, this is definitely an event not to be missed if you enjoy food and are willing to be a little daring from time to time.  This was my first trip this year to the Festival, and I plan to make a second stop in next week, so there will be even more reporting back.  Additionally, if I can get my hands on a recipe or two, you can be sure you'll see them up here on the blog post haste!  Now, on with the show!

Terra: Chocolate-Blood Orange Cupcake with Tofu Icing

I know what a good number of you are probably thinking: tofu icing?  That sounds awful!  Honestly, this vegan cupcake from the veggie-friendly Terra marketplace was pretty decent - rich in chocolate flavor and very dense.  The icing was fairly decent, also fairly rich, though the texture was just a little... off.   Maybe a little too solid.  Not my favorite thing that I tried, but still worth a nibble if you want to try to wander over to the vegetarian side.

"CraB'less Crab Cake" with Pepper Slaw and Cajun Remoulade

That's right - I got two items from the vegan marketplace.  It sounds pretty crazy coming from me, but it's true.  The "crab" cake featured here was fairly moist and tasted all right, but mainly seemed like something akin to a savory bread pudding or the like - not really much that makes it a "crab" cake, per se.  The remoulade added a bit of zip, and the pepper slaw was enjoyable, but nothing to write home about.

Patagonia: Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Puree

I'm not 100% a carnivore, but I will tell you - I was pretty happy to see some meat at this point, and this was a great item to start that off with.  The beef was extremely tender and nicely marinated, and the chimichurri sauce added very nicely to the flavor.  The boniato puree was nice, though it could basically be summed up as "somewhat like mashed potatoes" - worked well for the dish, but nothing exciting there.

Patagonia: Roasted Verlasso Salmon with Quinoa Salad and Arugula Chimichurri

The salmon in this item was cooked perfectly - very flaky without losing the slightly fatty moisture that makes for a good salmon.  The quinoa salad was fairly good - nutty with a bit of freshness from the vegetables mixed therein.  The chimichurri was very similar to that of the beef skewer - quite delicious, though I was expecting the arugula to shine through a little more.

Farm Fresh: Griddled "Yard Bird" with Braised Greens and House-made Habanero Sauce

This item from the former Florida Fresh Marketplace was one of my favorites that I tried on this particular visit.  The "yard bird" is chicken - to be specific, a griddled chicken thigh with beautifully crisp skin and moist, juicy meat.  The habanero sauce was just a shade more spicy than your standard buffalo sauce.  The braised greens were just what they said on the tin: and I happen to be very fond of greens - definitely a hit with me!

China: Beijing Roasted Duck in a Steamed Bun with Hoisin Sauce

They've had the steamed buns for the past few years at the Food and Wine Festival, and I love them.  They're almost like slightly sweet pillows of bread on which delicious items are placed.  The roasted duck is new this year, and definitely doesn't disappoint - tender, shredded duck covered in a rich hoisin sauce.  It's nothing too terribly adventurous, but it certainly is tasty.

South Korea: Roasted Pork Lettuce Wrap with Kimchi Slaw

This item is an old favorite of mine.  It has been around the Festival for quite a few years now, and I'd be a bit sorry to see it go.  The roasted pork is extremely tender and juicy, with a very rich, savory flavor that is very well offset by the bright flavors of the kimchi slaw and lettuce wrap.  Definitely a don't miss.

South Korea: iCing Grapefruit Sparkling Rice Brew

This was an interesting item - akin to the grapefruit beer served over in the Germany Pavilion, the drink is very refreshing, though the rice gives it a very slightly creamy consistency that contrasts with your usual expectations of a brewed grain drink.

Italy: Filetto di Pollo con Funghi al Marsala

This was a somewhat disappointing item.  It was a fairly decent chicken marsala, lacking a bit of salt.  The chicken was cooked nicely, and the bread worked well for sopping up the remaining sauce, but overall, a tad bit lackluster.

Hops & Barley: Baked Lobster Alfredo

Delicious lobster? Check.  Creamy macaroni and cheese (Alfredo, technically, but there was macaroni and there was cheese)? Check.  Crispy breadcrumb topping? Check.  Favorite new item from the Hops & Barley Marketplace?  Double check.  If you love any one of the above things, this is most definitely a must try.

France: Tartelette aux Escargots

For many years, the France Marketplace had chopped escargots in small brioches.  Very tasty, but one could not get the texture of the escargots from it, which always disappointed me, as I had not tried to eat snails before.  This year, the tartelette features larger chunks of escargots, so I finally got a good taste/feel for what these somewhat strange delicacies are like.  I must say, I quite enjoyed them!  They were extremely tender, not entirely unlike a good scallop, and covered in a delicious garlic butter sauce.  of course, the whole thing is topped with spinach and bacon and placed in a nice pastry crust, so - yet another must try!

Ireland: Warm Chocolate Pudding with Kerrygold Irish Cream Liqueur Custard

The last three items on this list are old standards of the Food and Wine Festival.  First up, we take our dessert course.  The warm chocolate pudding is not what Americans think of when they hear the word "pudding."  This is far more like a dense, slightly undercooked cake with a rich chocolate flavor, and topped with a creamy sauce that is a must-have for any fan of Irish cream.

Ireland: Lobster and Scallop Fisherman's Pie

To compliment our warm chocolate pudding, we also picked up the lobster and scallop fisherman's pie.  If you like seafood, this is most certainly an item you're going to want to pick up, as it contains large chunks of lobster and scallop, all mixed in with mashed potatoes and a slightly peppery cream sauce.

Canada: Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup

For our last item, we hit an old favorite: Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (which I posted the recipe for recently).  This was Tabby's first time having the blessed savory liquid, and she was most definitely not disappointed, even with the massive amounts of hype I put on this item.  With a slightly peppery flavor from the sharp Black Diamond cheese, and nice little bits of celery, onion, and bacon throughout, as the Festival winds into the cooler months, this is a must have for warm your belly.

Well, that's it for our first trip around the Food and Wine Festival!  Did I miss a favorite of yours, or do you disagree with my opinions on one of the items?  Let me know in the comments!  And until next time, stay magical!

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Boo to You! - Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2014

NOTE: We were having some camera problems during our foray into MNSSHP, so, unfortunately, a lot of our pictures didn't come out very well.  Sorry in advance for the lack of photo reference!

It's just about that time of the year again.  Well, in Central Florida it's more like temperatures are finally starting to average in the 80's instead of the 90's, but no matter where you're from, Pumpkin Spice Lattes are becoming the rage and the merchandise in your local stores is starting to become more spooky and sugar-filled.  That's right, with October just around the corner, Halloween is upon us.  And with Halloween comes my favorite Disney hard ticket event - Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

When we arrived at the event, early (around 5:30, and the event started at 7 PM, there was a heavy downpour on.  A few members of my family were wearing ponchos to keep the rain off, including my brother, who remarked in a glum voice, "great, everyone else has the same costume as me."

I remarked to a cast member that I didn't know that they were planning on moving the event to Typhoon Lagoon this year, which he very politely chuckled at.  I do always appreciate a polite chuckle.  On this day, the expedition included myself, Tabby, our friend Theresa, my sister Ashley, my brother Nathan, and my mother.  We camped out in the Emporium for a while to hide from the rain, but eventually decided to venture out to grab a bit of the specialty grub that the party had to offer.  The thing that caught my attention most?

This little beauty

That's a pumpkin spice waffle from Sleepy Hollow Refreshments - and it was delicious.  I'm a sucker for both waffles and pumpkin spice (Yes, I know it's overdone, but I still love it), so this was right up my alley.  The waffle was freshly made, so it was nice and warm, which made up for the rain a little bit, plus the flavor of the pumpkin spice gave it that special autumn feeling.  The ice cream, of course, just added to the whole deal.  There were a few too many of the crunchy festive sprinkles - liberally applied by a cast member who commented on my Maelstrom shirt and her disappointment at the attraction's impending doom.

After we finished our treat, we headed over to the last showing at the Hall of Presidents, and were treated to a bit of a Presidential trivia contest put on by one of the cast members - always great at keeping people busy in less-than-pleasant circumstances, as they're being driven indoors by the elements.  After Morgan Freeman finished introducing us to the long list of executives of these United States, we headed back outside to find even more rain.  Those who had not been issued the party's wristbands were being filtered out of the park so the festivities could begin.

At this time, we decided that the rain wouldn't let up for a while, so we began to trick or treat.  That's right, if you're not familiar with Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, a large part of what makes the event fun is going from land to land, opening up a big bag (you can bring your own, buy one in the shop, or take one of the smaller ones that they distribute as part of your admission [They will also supply more bags if your first one fills up]), saying "trick or treat" to the cast members, decked out in special Goofy's Candy Company costumes, and getting a handful of candy.  This is unlimited, so if your goal is to hit every single stop multiple times during the night and bring home ten pounds of candy, I highly recommend going for broke.  As you wander around, you'll see bright orange balloons that signal the presence of candy distributors.

Like a siren call for sugar addicts...

This is what most of our night consisted of, as well as the fantastic Boo to You parade, which is one of my favorites in the park.  Many of your favorite characters appear in special costumes, as well as some special surprises from the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.  If you want to check out the whole parade, hop over to YouTube and watch Inside the Magic's video.  Just a warning, though - the theme song is catchier than It's a Small World and One Little Spark combined, and will stick in your head just as fiercely.

Speaking of characters, if they are your thing, you'll find friends around that you might not normally meet - such as all Seven Dwarfs not too far from their mine train, Tarzan in Adventureland, Jack and Sally on Main Street, and others.  You might even spy Bowler Hat Guy (Disney hipster points if you recognize him easily) at the dance party in Frontierland.  Characters were not our priority that night, so we didn't take the time to visit them - and we also didn't take the opportunity to get our groove on either in Frontierland or at the Monsters Inc dance party in Tomorrowland.

As I said, there is a lot to take in at the party, and if you endeavor to do so, you can see all of it.  Our main priority was trick or treating, the parade, and the fireworks, also Halloween themed and featuring guest appearances from the citizens of Halloweentown and some of your favorite Disney villains (including an instrumental version of "Court of Miracles" from Hunchback, which was another point of Disney hipster glee for Tabby and I).

Following the fireworks, we took advantage of the thinner crowds (only a certain number of people are admitted into the park during the event - many, many fewer than capacity), and headed onto some rides, including a walk-right-on trip to Splash Mountain, since we were wet already.  MNSSHP also offers some treats at the bakery, Gaston's Tavern, and other locations that are a little spookier than normal, but we were so full of candy that we didn't bother to pick any up, no matter how fun they looked.

I particularly like the Maleficent candy apples

So, after enjoying our meandering, we headed home at closing (Midnight), bidding a farewell to the spookily-lit Main Street USA, with Michael Jackson's "Thriller" blaring into the night.  So, I'm sure you're wondering just how much candy Tabby and I accumulated on this trip.

Enough to fill a reusable grocery bag, that's how much.
We won't need to buy Halloween candy for this year, that's certain.

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Villains' Sinister Soirée - A Wicked (If Expensive) Good Time

NOTE: We were having some camera problems during our foray into MNSSHP, so, unfortunately, a lot of our pictures didn't come out very well.  Sorry in advance for blurry pictures and occasional lack of photo reference!

It seems that Halloween creeps up earlier and earlier every year - and in some ways, I'm fine with that.  It's almost autumn, though down here in Central Florida there certainly is not a chill in the air, but Disney manages to make it feel like we should be ready for ghosts and ghouls to be popping up everywhere with Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.  Tabby and I attended on the first day of the festivities, and while I shall be writing about the party at a later date, I do want to mention a special little event called the Villains' Sinister Soirée that we made a point to check out.

For those not in the know, the Villain's Sinister Soirée is essentially an upgrade for $99 per person, in addition to the hard ticket price for MNSSHP ($61-$77).  For this fee you get priority seating for the Boo-to You-Parade and Happy HalloWishes!, as well as the titular event - the Soirée, a dessert party hosted by Lady Tremaine at Cinderella's Royal Table, where you get to rub elbows with characters such as the Lady herself, Cinderella's stepsisters, Dr. Facilier, the Wicked Queen, Maleficent, and Cruella de Ville.  Is all of this worth the extra dough, or are you better off just sticking to your trick or treating?  Let's break it down.

To start, the priority seating.  I suppose "seating" is the wrong word, as it's a VIP area cordoned off near Cinderella Castle, in the center of the hub near the Partners statue.  The spot is perfect for the Boo-to-You Parade, especially if you move over near the entrance to Liberty Square, as you get a head on view of the floats as they pass over the bridge onto Main Street. For the fireworks show, however, you may want to head a bit further up Main Street, because the viewing area is extremely close to the Castle, and a significant portion of the fireworks are obscured from view (though the finale was pretty impressive, giving the feeling that you were surrounded by fireworks, but I'd prefer being able to view the entire show).

Now, on to the Soirée.  There are two seatings following the fireworks, and Tabby and I had tickets for the second seating.  We lined up at Cinderella's Royal Table at the appointed time (11:30), and we waited.  And waited.  The show was running a tad bit late on getting started, it seemed.  I have since read reviews that the first seating felt a bit rushed, though that hurry didn't seem to carry over to the beginning of the second.  Then again, first night, ironing out bugs, these things are to be expected.  We were then lead into the Castle foyer, where we were greeting by Anastasia and Drizella, Judge Frollo, the Queen of Hearts, and Captain Hook, all available to take pictures with before heading up to the dining room area.

It's not really accurate to call them "ugly" stepsisters... more "extremely obnoxious."

Each table was set with a large Maleficent souvenir cup filled with candy in the center, as well as a sizable charcuterie platter with salami, a selection of cheeses, figs, bread, and fondue, and a glass filled with a specialty drink, with not one but two glow accessories (a Maleficent stir stick and a poison apple glow "cube").  The drink essentially tasted like soda water until stirred, when it magically transformed into a sour apple beverage, which I quite liked a lot - though one thing seemed to be missing: straws.  Since you needed to stir the "potion" after every few sips, it was necessary to leave the stir stick in, which lead to a small dragon's head shaped indent on my forehead after a while.  Is it my fault that I didn't ask for a straw?  Yes, it absolutely is, but I would not have complained if they offered them.

Maleficent cup (sans candy), and the Potion to the left

Then came the entertainment: Lady Tremaine and her personal pianist (a gentleman in Steampunk garb manning a keyboard) regaled us all with a tune before calling out the stepsisters, and her guests.  The characters had turned their charm up to eleven, and it was extremely fun interacting with them.  There was plenty of time for a bit of fun banter, as well as photos (even with our misbehaving camera), with attendants for each villain ready to take group shots for you.  After a while, it was time for the desserts.  As the servers brought out the treats, each villain took a turn on the main stage introducing their creations.

The full line-up

The Wicked Queen's contribution was a white wine baked apple - though this one came with a surprise: a rhubarb filling, giving the appearance of a bleeding apple.  The apple itself was cooked nicely, and the rhubarb filling was nice and tangy, but overall this dessert was a tad bit on the bland side.

Probably the spookiest of the desserts.

Maleficent brought with her a pistachio mousse, topped with "dragon toasted" meringue on top of a bit of purple cake.  The pistachio mousse itself was probably the best thing on the plate, but it was a bit offset by the lackluster cake - still quite good, though!

The chocolate tarot card presented by Dr. Facilier was another good item - a chocolate covered pecan praline Tarot card hiding some "friends" on the other side: a flourless chocolate cake with what tasted like a raspberry jelly (what exactly this was wasn't listed on the menu), with some bone shaped sprinkles tossed in.  This was my second favorite item, though the raspberry was a bit overpowering (or perhaps I just got a really big spoonful of it, but still really good.)

The remains of some friends on the other side.

Finally, Cruella's dessert was "101" layers of white and dark chocolate mousse, which was delicious, though nothing in particular to write about.  If you like chocolate mousse, this is definitely a treat for you, and be sure to note the adorable little paw prints next to this dessert.

101% Puppy Fur Free

During the dessert portion of the meal, Lady Tremaine treated us to another couple of songs: "Sing Sweet Nightingale," sung by the Lady, Drizella, and Anastasia, to comedic results; and a fantastic rendition of Lorde's "Royals," which was hilariously appropriate for the story of Cinderella's step-family.  After a little more mingling, including the Wicked Queen spooking me by sneaking up behind me and asking how my apple was, and if I was feeling a bit sleepy yet, Lady Tremaine closed the night out with one more song, accompanied by a bit of banter with Dr. Facilier, and then abruptly ordered everyone out of the castle, in a fashion true to character.

So, you ask, was it worth the $99?  My immediate answer is no, even though I had a blast at the party, it's not worth that much - drop the price by about $20 and we're definitely talking business.  If you're looking to do a lot of trick or treating and riding rides, it might cut that segment of your night a bit short (Tabby and I still managed to get a fair bit of each done, but we were not traveling with small children, as many people were.)  Between the priority spot for the parade and fireworks (again, not worth it for the fireworks) and the extremely fun and unique character dining experience, I'd say it's easily worth $70 for villains fans just for the mingling aspect alone, but I do think Disney may need to tweak this one a tiny bit before it becomes a regular add on to MNSSHP.

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Frozen Summer Fun - Finishing Each Other's Sandwiches

A warm greeting from Disney's Hollywood Studios

I'll kick this blog post off by saying that I am one of the people that is still not yet tired of Frozen.  I'm quite sure that parents that have been stuck with their kids listening to the soundtrack over and over again or watching the Blu-Ray every day twice a day have a much lower tolerance that they can't just quite let go, but as someone who only has to enter the world of Arendelle when I choose to, I'm still very fond of the movie and its characters.  That said, I was pretty excited to hear about Frozen Summer Fun coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios.  The theme of the event is that after the events of the film, Anna and Elsa have embarked on a goodwill tour of neighboring kingdoms, including the currently quite summery Hollywoodland.  Kristoff is along for the ride, as well, and Olaf has decided to take his summer vacation with the royals.

He is one excited snowman.

In case you're wondering why Olaf pops up so frequently in the photos on this blog entry, it's because during the event, cast members are handing out small Olafs-on-a-stick to insert into your pictures.  At the end of the day, any photos posted online with the tag #olafsummervacation are taken into consideration for a picture montage at the end of the night before the Frozen fireworks spectacular, but more on that later.

Tabby and I arrived shortly after rope drop, so unfortunately I can't relay whether or not there was a special rope drop ceremony, though I am sure they did something fun for the events (though unlikely anything on the scale of the Star Wars Weekends rope drop).  The first thing that we did upon arrival was head over to Wandering Oaken's Frozen Funland to reserve a time for ice skating.  On the day that we went, there wasn't a huge rush, but I'd recommend planning to hit the Funland pretty early in the day in order to save a spot, as I'm sure that it fills up quickly on busier days.  I'll write more about the Frozen Funland later, when I discuss my first ever time on ice skates.  Yeah, I know you guys want to know how badly I crashed, but you're just going to have to wait - chronological order here, people!  After that, we headed next door to Wandering Oaken's Trading Post.

I heard that they were having a big summer blowout.

This was the place to find all of the Frozen merchandise available for the Summer Fun event, much like Darth's Mall at Star Wars Weekends (this will not be the last time you'll see SWW mentioned in this post.)  A good percentage of the merchandise was not exclusive, at least from what I could tell, but it was a fun place to browse, as well as currently the only place that I am aware of to get the Frozen MagicBands.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find a good angle to photograph the MagicBands, but you can check them out at the official Disney Parks Blog.  What I was able to get a picture of, however, was the specially designed cake pops that they have available for the celebration.

Of course, we had to sample the wares.

The cake pops were tasty - chocolate on the inside, white chocolate coating the outside (with bits of gummy-like candy for Olaf's features and sparkling sugar for the blue-and-white pops).  There were other options available, as well, such as reindeer-shaped cookies and rice krispie treats coated in what appeared to be confectioner's sugar, making them look like snowballs.  There were no specialty beverages, adult or otherwise, available inside of Wandering Oaken's Trading Post, but near the main stage in front of the Sorcerer Mickey hat they have tents with three beverages: one non-alcoholic and two alcoholic.  We didn't sample any of them on this trip, since we were trying to stay hydrated throughout most of the day.  So we browsed the shop a bit, and took a few pictures of the items available.

By this time, it was about half an hour until the start of the Royal Welcome, so we headed off back towards Hollywood Boulevard to find a spot.  Unfortunately, there were no particularly good spots for photography.  We got a couple of good pictures, but most of the better ones we took actually took place after the welcome ceremony, as the procession headed past Echo Lake, so either be early and find a good spot to take pictures or make your way quickly around near the American Idol building to get unleash your inner shutterbug.

Before the procession, Streetsmosphere characters were around causing mischief,
like this chef handing out "Free Snowballs"

The arrival of the royal sisters

Wait, is Kristoff doing the Smolder™?

The brief show, heralding the arrival of Anna and Elsa into the park for the day, was not exactly easy to take photographs of.  Why, you may ask?

No child left unshouldered.

It was a mild annoyance, I'll admit. The fact is, these kids are the target demographic of the majority of this event, and with people packed in like so many sardines, it would have been extremely difficult for the younglings to watch the show from the ground.  Although I'm sure there was a collective inner (and some outer) groan when the oft-played "Let It Go" started up as a sing along, as they needlessly showed the lyrics on the screen to the children who have memorized every word and looked "fractals" up in the dictionary, hearing a chorus of kids singing is something that always warms my heart a bit.  What can I say, I'm a bit of a softie.  Plus, my incredibly immature self couldn't help but snicker when Olaf invited the crowd to "follow his bouncing butt."  Played to the lowest common denominator, perhaps, but I definitely rank on the lower side.

Following the procession, we headed over for the Premiere Theater to take part in the sing along event.  Earlier in the day, we had gone over and picked up tickets for the twelve thirty showtime.  The tickets seemed to be going pretty quickly, so if you have a desire to see Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff in a stage show, you'll want to snatch them up pretty quickly.

                            

The Frozen-decorated theater filled up fairly quickly, and was a wonderful little break from the sun and humidity.  The sing along was fun, though the two "royal historians" were a bit... much at times.  Sometimes even lowest common denominator jokes miss their mark even with me, and that's saying something.  They were certainly not enough to make the experience less fun, with a crowd of people belting along with the royalty of , following a bouncing snowflake to the major musical numbers from the film.

Elsa, letting it go

After the last round of "Let It Go," (Yes, the song was played in its entirety once, then from the bridge on a second time at the end - maybe it is getting a tad overdone) we headed out towards our appointment with Oaken at his Frozen Funland.  At this point, I confess, I was quite nervous.

The face of someone who is 80% sure he's about to fracture is coccyx

For $10, you get the rental of a pair of skates, a helmet, a pair of fresh socks, and thirty minutes on the ice.  Just prior to the free skate, there is a short show with a pair of Oaken's cousins ice dancing to a selection of songs from the film.  After that, I headed out on the ice for the first time ever.  I held on to the wall more tightly than some of the youngsters that I saw around me, but I managed to make it through the thirty minutes with only two breather breaks rinkside, and a grand total of zero falls.  Mind you, I definitely would have hit the ice if Tabby (who was fancy enough to have brought her own skates... show off...) hadn't been babysitting me for most of the time.

Show off... not holding onto the wall and stuff...

After removing my skates, we explored the rest of the Frozen Funland, which included a snack spot with a few items that were special for the event...

And a snow play area, featuring a frequently refreshed pile of snow and tools for building snow castles.  There were a lot of kids in this area, so Tabby and I decided to forego that experience, since we figured we'd be tripping over young ones and inciting snowball fights, which Oaken's cousins would likely have discouraged.  I should also mention that a number of the cousins had accents that matched Oaken's Swedish Chef-esque voice, which made for a chuckle or two.

(It doesn't have to be a snowman...)

The cast member who greeted us with a hearty "yoohoo!"

From there, it was time to take a break from the realm of Arendelle and spend a little bit of time exploring Hollywoodland.  Tabby had never been on the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, so we hopped in a super stretch limo and blasted off through L.A. (The coaster now ranks as her second favorite, with Expedition Everest being her number one, though she does wish the yeti would stop being an extra from Saturday Night Fever), took in a viewing of One Man's Dream and the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and stopped for a drink and a snack at the Tune In Lounge, which I'll write a full report on soon, since it was quite the experience in and of itself.

A special blue raspberry Frozen-themed milkshake

Olaf hasn't been alive long enough to taste the drink, but he still loves a good photo op!

At the end of the night we headed over to Echo Lake to watch the pre-show for the fireworks to see if any of our photos made it into the Olaf's Summer Vacation photo montage.  We weren't too terribly hopeful, and Tabby even commented that there were many adorable children that had their pictures with Olaf.  We spoke a bit too soon, however, because as the montage started our photo was the first one to appear...

Our moment of Disney fame - even better than being the Rebel spy!

The fireworks were fun - a lot of the special shaped bursts that always impress me, and well choreographed missiles to the main songs from the film, with Queen Elsa making an appearance on the stage to initiate what essentially amounts to the first fireworks encore I've ever encountered.  As we made our way towards the exit, a flurry of snow fell on Hollywood Boulevard, closing out a Frozen day with a bit of magical flair.  There's just enough to do at the Frozen Summer Fun event to fill most of your day without feeling the need to rush around like a crazy person, and of all the featured experiences, only the ice skating cost any extra, and that was quite affordable.  If you or your kids are fans of the film, and are going to be in the area, I'd definitely recommend checking this event out.

Until next time, everyone, stay magical!

P.S. Yes, to my geekier readers, that is a snow Dalek shirt.  I was trying to find a link to it in case people were interested in buying it, but I couldn't find it!  If any of you happen to know where to pick it up, send me a link so I can share with the rest of the geeks!

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