Are you ready for a magical tour of Disney's latest enthralling experiences? Buckle up as we take you on a riveting journey through the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, unraveling the mystery of the Hatbox Ghost's debut at the Haunted Mansion and celebrating the grand opening of the World Celebration Area. Join us as we reminisce about our unforgettable encounters at the Holiday booths and the Winter Wonderland event, share our unique perspectives on ride speeds, and express our delight over the overall new additions to Disney World.
Brace yourselves for an illuminating discussion on the mesmerizing new additions at Epcot. As we marvel at the stunning Spaceship Earth lighting and the dazzling debut of the Harmonious fireworks show, you'll be entranced by our vivid descriptions and enthusiastic reactions. In addition, we'll be serving up a delightful blend of updates from Disney Springs, tasty cookie recipes from Disney Eats, and the enticing perks for Disney Plus subscribers this holiday season. But, that's not all! We've got some exciting Pixar movie news and special gifts for Walt Disney World annual pass holders to reveal.
Don't miss out on our mouth-watering gastronomic tour of the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. We'll be recounting our culinary adventures, from the succulent roasted ham with mushrooms to the sweet and spicy gingerbread Christmas log. With our delightful conversations and hearty recommendations, you'll feel like you're reliving the holiday experience at Epcot with us. So, tune in for an episode filled with enchanting tales, fascinating news, and a hearty dose of Disney magic!
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Music: “Cân thema (Mickeyphile Podcast Theme)” copyright Scott Daves 2023
Hear the Podcast at:
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Are you ready for a magical tour of Disney's latest enthralling experiences? Buckle up as we take you on a riveting journey through the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, unraveling the mystery of the Hatbox Ghost's debut at the Haunted Mansion and celebrating the grand opening of the World Celebration Area. Join us as we reminisce about our unforgettable encounters at the Holiday booths and the Winter Wonderland event, share our unique perspectives on ride speeds, and express our delight over the overall new additions to Disney World.
Brace yourselves for an illuminating discussion on the mesmerizing new additions at Epcot. As we marvel at the stunning Spaceship Earth lighting and the dazzling debut of the Harmonious fireworks show, you'll be entranced by our vivid descriptions and enthusiastic reactions. In addition, we'll be serving up a delightful blend of updates from Disney Springs, tasty cookie recipes from Disney Eats, and the enticing perks for Disney Plus subscribers this holiday season. But, that's not all! We've got some exciting Pixar movie news and special gifts for Walt Disney World annual pass holders to reveal.
Don't miss out on our mouth-watering gastronomic tour of the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. We'll be recounting our culinary adventures, from the succulent roasted ham with mushrooms to the sweet and spicy gingerbread Christmas log. With our delightful conversations and hearty recommendations, you'll feel like you're reliving the holiday experience at Epcot with us. So, tune in for an episode filled with enchanting tales, fascinating news, and a hearty dose of Disney magic!
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/946434275769168/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickeyphile_podcast/
Music: “Cân thema (Mickeyphile Podcast Theme)” copyright Scott Daves 2023
Hear the Podcast at:
iTunes: https://tinyurl.com/3azxhptm
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4m9rxnsb
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yupaf7f7
iHeart Radio: https://tinyurl.com/cjjcras4
Pandora: https://tinyurl.com/4mhhbars
The Atbox Ghost has made its triumphant debut in the Magic Kingdom. The World Celebration Area has opened in Epcot, along with the luminous nighttime spectacular, we have news and reviews of some of the Festival. The Holiday booths. On Episode 170 of the Make it Fall podcast.
Scott:Welcome everyone to another Mickeyphile Podcast. I'm Scott, and with me is my lovely wife Karen. I'm on remote.
Karen:We're on remote, hello everybody.
Scott:You're at the home studio, I'm on remote.
Karen:That's true.
Scott:That's true. So another episode. We are another week closer to 2024 and Christmas. I know A cruise. We got our luggage shags today.
Karen:Yeah, I actually didn't go to check the mail, but I saw that they're out there.
Scott:I don't know why I thought from all the pictures I see online of people going, I don't know what these are. Are these the keys to my room?
Karen:It says right on there it's luggage shags.
Scott:I think it's usually for people like staying there like parks, not on cruise, oh yeah, but for some reason the pictures always look like they come in a box. So, surprise, it's just an envelope in the mail.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:I mean, I probably shouldn't be, but I was surprised by it, yeah they're just like it's the first time. Yeah, I mean, they're just luggage shags.
Karen:No, they're literally paper tags that just go around the handle. They're not like fancy. Oh, they're not the cool tags. No, they're nothing fancy. Yeah, then who cares? Yeah, they just have our room number on it, they have our names on it. I think they gave us two of each One, with, you know, two under each of our names. We have a little vortex, but they're like what they do at the airport, like you know?
Scott:Yeah, I didn't realize that. I thought they were at least, like today, plastic tags no, they're not fancy. We're actually going to take the bus from Disney World to Fort Canaveral.
Karen:I know.
Scott:I think that it's going to be comparable in price to parking the car it is and we don't have to drive. Correct, which means but we also, you know, have to get on the bus to get home.
Karen:Yeah, but that's okay, we can still be relaxed. Yeah, and then we're coming back and spending the night. When we get back, yeah, party, bus, party bus, party bus. That's what I'm up for. Party bus yeah, we can have a beverage before the cruise.
Scott:Yeah exactly Went over to Disney World last week again.
Karen:We did, oh had a nice time.
Scott:Yeah, just a day trip. I'm not a day trip. We did spend the night, but.
Karen:Last minute, we decided to spend the night. Yeah.
Scott:I mean, it was just like we went over Friday around in by the time we got there and then left Saturday morning.
Karen:Yes, because we had to be back. Actually, yeah, we left there around noon.
Scott:By noon, yeah, or just afternoon, yes.
Karen:Yeah, because we had to get back for our city's winter wonderland, which included a golf cart parade Right and a drone show. I know the drone show was pretty cool it was pretty neat, we'll decorate the cart. Yeah, it's pretty neat how they do that. I know it was very cool. I like that All right.
Scott:Well, let's start the news and then we'll talk about what we've done.
Karen:Okay, All right. On the last day of November, Disney finally came through and put the hat box ghost in the haunted mansion in Magic Kingdom.
Scott:Yeah, I didn't think there was any way they were going to make it.
Karen:I did not think that either. So and but it you know, I know you know force, I know force perspective and all that.
Scott:First of all, I mean to say he's really cool.
Karen:Yes, it was way cooler than I thought it was going to be.
Scott:But, and you just so? We always say in there, they need to slow that ride down so you can take in everything.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:Although you know, let's face it, they've got to push people through it and also I think there's a lot of things in there they don't want you looking too closely at and you can see how it's done Correct. But when we got to him it said was on his shoulders and as we turn to the corner, out of view, it just sits with shoulder to hat box. So they either need to speed the effect up or slow the vehicles down because you're not like. You didn't get to see the effect.
Karen:Right, but basically right. When we first turn the corner in it just hit his head and just pop up to his shoulders.
Scott:Yeah, and as we left it happened again, so we didn't get to see it in the box. Now the people behind us or in front of us got to see it only in the box.
Karen:Right. You know, so it needs to just be slow to.
Scott:Just a minute a skill amount or just speed up his part of the effect Right, because I would like to see it.
Karen:Yes, and I've always said in the attic I want it to be just a little bit slower. I just like seeing. I mean, I get all that. I just like seeing the stuff and I think I would do it.
Scott:But it's a giant chain of cars, like they all have to go the same speed all the time. It's a chain, right, right so.
Scott:I understand, knowing that they're not going to slow it down because they have to get as many people as they can through that ride per hour. They need to speed up the hotbox so we can actually see the effect. The other thing is he's like four feet tall. I know that animatronics are not life size Right, but the two that like really stand out to me as being tiny is the hotbox ghost and the guy in the white jacket with the glasses at the top of spaceship Earth in the rocket control room.
Karen:Oh yeah, you're right, like both of those, yeah.
Scott:Seemed like various small people yes, more so than others, maybe because both of them are so isolated that there's nothing to put it into. You know, like this is the height of everybody, right? Both of them seem like really small to me.
Karen:You're not wrong. You're not wrong.
Scott:Like the hot guys, the hotbox and I like the hotbox ghost might be five feet tall, but he doesn't look it.
Karen:No, he looked very short.
Scott:Yeah, including the hat Mm hmm, Like now, maybe not including the hat, but the hat's like a foot. Yeah, yeah, I know that hat doesn't reach in six feet tall. There's no way. No, no, anyway, but it's very cool. I'm glad he's there finally. Yeah, I am too. Yeah, so we got to seeing him not on the 30th when he debuted, we saw him on the first.
Karen:Correct.
Scott:Yeah, we went on Friday, the first Right Right.
Karen:So I'm glad we got to you, but you know, by the time we realized it was, we couldn't go that day. It's really just what I came down to. Couldn't go on the 30th, I mean we could have.
Scott:We could have gone on the 30th, yeah, but we weren't going to.
Karen:Right.
Scott:But we could have gone on the 30th.
Karen:We could have. Yes, it just made more sense to go on the first.
Scott:This is going to sound hypocritical, and it is Okay. So parks are miserable on opening days because of all the influencers.
Karen:You are not wrong.
Scott:I mean, whatever something is they doing? The parks are miserable, with all the bloggers, YouTubers and pod users.
Karen:I will. I will contest that one from last night.
Scott:We've done two of them recently. I am not in a hurry to go back for a third. Yeah, I will be more than happy to let them get the kinks out and see it a couple of days later or a week or whatever.
Karen:That's just. I was going. Yeah, no, luckily, I think I was going the opposite direction last night, so it was better.
Scott:So probably because you didn't get over there Rope drop.
Karen:Right Well most of them were there all through the night though too, but it was crazy. Some of the stuff I watching, some of them. Yeah. Yeah.
Scott:All right. Oh, speaking of opening day, miserable mess, exactly Miserable mess. Is that a word? I think it is. Sure, it is now.
Karen:It is now Epcot World Celebration Gardens, dreamers Point and Luminous. The Symphony of Us debuted on Walt's birthday, which was yesterday, december 5th, at Epcot. So we discussed last week.
Scott:We discussed last week the Walt statue, what looks way less doing his business than the original pictures did.
Karen:Yeah, it's actually pretty cool yeah.
Scott:It is yeah, and it's not the the same pose.
Karen:It's not the what.
Scott:The same pose, like Roy with Minnie is sitting on the bench in a specific pose, which happens to be like the same pose as the guy outside of Raglan Road. That's correct, right? You know like there is a pose that they do when they put people on a bench in a statue. Yeah, this is not the same pose.
Karen:So that is cool, it is Right, and you can actually go and put your arm around them. It's really neat.
Scott:Yeah, I can't wait for that guy gets to take a picture with this. You know, long lost twin.
Karen:Yeah, he was there today. I bet he was. Yeah, you know, it did it, did open it was. It was way cooler than I thought it was it was.
Karen:But yeah, the colors and the way it worked was really neat and there were obviously so many cast members there, mainly in the gardens, with Spaceship Earth, a lot of them. You know I talked to one of them. I'm like so when does Spaceship Earth light up? But he picks up and looks at his watch. He goes in about two minutes, so I can't wait to see what it looks like he goes. Neither can I.
Scott:You know, I guess it's not any different than the hub area, you know there.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:The area with the fake grass Right Probably bigger than the hub is, but I don't really understand it because it's like a dead space. It looks like it looks like a college quad or a giant Starbucks patio in the daylight, Anyway, watching on Facebook watching you walk around there.
Karen:Yes, I mean it's really cool. Yeah, once I really walked around and looked at all of the things there, it's really more college quad rather than Starbucks. Does that make sense?
Scott:Yeah, I just, with all the charging stations and the tables. They reminded me of a Starbucks.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:Which probably makes sense. There's a Starbucks like five feet from it, so good for them, right.
Karen:Right and they and some of the patterns that are inside the connections emulates in the gardens, like with some of the lights and things like that. But it was just very, you know, I don't feel calm and relaxed in a Starbucks. I know that sounds, you know seems weird, but some college campuses that I've been on it just looks very inviting. You want to sit down? You want to take it in? That was really Make some hacky sack. No, not hacky sack Ultimate frisbee.
Karen:No, but it just made you want to kind of just walk around or just sit on one of the benches, and the way they had seating just kind of built into the planters and things like that was just really it was very cool.
Scott:It is. And it's interesting to me, because Disney is not one that is known for providing areas for you to chill out. Correct, they want you in the stores and restaurants, not Right? They want you to chill out in the middle, but that's what they've set up there, which is cool.
Karen:Which they've set up for Epcot, because there aren't a lot of places to go and do that. You know there's not. You know, like, for example, at Magic Kingdom and you know, in the hub and everything you have. You know you have Casey's there, you have the Plaza, you have the Tomorrowland Terrace place, you can all go sit. They don't have that really Right, but they also want people to, you know, enjoy the space, be able to relax, be able to, you know, as one of the cast members said, kind of, you know, rejuvenate yourself, to get up and then continue on your journey. Yeah, which was kind of a really interesting way of describing it. So it's very cool.
Scott:I can't wait to see it in person this weekend. Yeah.
Karen:And, like I said the honestly, the video and the photos don't do it justice at all, even though those came out really cool, yeah, no, I believe that it is completely different.
Scott:I understand that. That's true of most things that Disney, to be honest with you, except the food, and the photos usually do them more justice. Other than that especially the Disney photos, which we will talk about later.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:Photos of things Right how things look versus how they taste. Because, both looking at you, france, so luminous.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:Obviously, I was watching it on Facebook.
Karen:Yes so. I picked our favorite spot in Japan to watch it.
Scott:Yeah, I was watching it on Facebook. Right, it's beautiful, it's really cool looking.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:It is very lighty. It is very A lot of multicolored lights.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:Which is very cool.
Karen:Yes, but I want to add a thing here. Like with like with harmonious, they had the barges, so you had all the lights on that, and they were higher up. This had it sitting much farther down in the water.
Scott:Yeah, yeah, you could definitely pick that up. Right Right, it was very cool.
Karen:Yes, the effects that they were doing with the fireworks and the water was really amazing.
Scott:Yeah, and there were some neat fireworks. This is the best fireworks show they've done, for sure, yeah.
Karen:And we love the fact that you know the cannons shooting. Oops, the cannons were shooting, you know, in, and then they had the other one shooting out, and then how they made the heart in the middle with the fireworks. That was actually really cool. It was the one they did. Like four times they did the heart and then they were shooting actual heart shaped fireworks.
Scott:Right, right. So I did see somebody in one of our Facebook groups that we're in, so they were in China and got covered in ash. I feel like that has a lot more to do with the wind last night in Central Florida than it does being in China.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:But at least that shows that they were doing a lot of fireworks, because here's my problem, and I have the same problem with enchantment.
Karen:Okay.
Scott:From watching it on Facebook, so maybe it will be different in person. But this thing is supposed to be like. You know their big 100th anniversary fireworks show that they waited until the end of the year to debut, right, so you got 100 years of music. Why is it the same six songs in every fireworks show? It's like they took the happily ever after soundtrack and then through the illuminations narrator on top of it, right, like, can we hear a different song? I don't even care if they do an original. You know you are the magic or happily ever after, whatever kind of song for it, I don't care about that.
Karen:Right, just not the same six songs.
Scott:But it's not. It's the same six songs that are in happily ever after, and enchantment and harmonious Okay. But harmonious. They did them in different languages, which was super cool and very up top.
Karen:Yes, yes.
Scott:This was just basically the happily ever after soundtrack and every time you'd start to get really excited and into it then they would stop and have that narrator drawn on. I mean, speak Right. And it didn't have a flow that I was hoping it would have. That even harmonious I felt like had because of the way it was done.
Karen:Right.
Scott:Now I was watching it on. I was watching it on iPad, so it may be totally different in person, but that was the impression I got from watching it live. But a lot more people watched it live last night, or have watched videos of it today, than saw it actually in person last night, which is probably why the reaction on Facebook is not great. Right, of course, I don't really care about that, because they hated enchantment and they hated harmonious, and 18 years ago they hated happily ever after, right, and that's just a thing.
Karen:Right, and I even said I kind of befriended people standing in the same area. I was and they're like they've got a lot to live up to from harmonious this whole thing, and we both the four of us said we really enjoyed it. We liked the fireworks, we liked the effects that they had with it. We need to hear it again to have a better judgment. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does absolutely. Because I felt that way the first time with enchantment, because part of it is where we saw it.
Scott:But the first time I was like I remember what I said about enchantment, which was when we were walking out. It was happily ever after, with better projections and worse music.
Karen:Okay, but then I grew to like it a lot more than more. I saw it they also changed it Right. They added the wall and Roy part. Yes, right. So it made a big difference. That one had a lot more emotion once they added that part to it Right, it made a big difference.
Scott:And that was my thing watching it last night, was it? Every time it started to get some emotion, then the narrator, everything stopped and the narrator spoke and you were like, okay, right.
Karen:The flow isn't there, no Right, so that's why I'm reserving my judgment. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it Again. I want to watch it again, maybe in a part where I can. I don't want to. I'm not going to stand there for an hour.
Scott:The part that is not going to change for me, I'm pretty sure, is the flow Is the sixth song. It may not be six, it may be five, it may be seven, I don't know for sure Right, but it's the same song, it's the same songs. I mean, can we hear some different songs? You got a lot of movies.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:I know. You know you get a lot of movies that are not represented in this. That are classic movies, yes, or at least some different versions. It is, epcot, right, you could do those songs like you did in Harmonious In other languages. Right, which I think would be cool.
Karen:Yes, now, the one thing I thought was super cool is that they Spaceship Earth lit up for part of this near the end. The first time they've done that, spaceship Earth actually was included in it. Usually it stayed off until the very end of the fireworks.
Scott:Then it came back. Yeah, I guess that's what it was, so okay, well, there's our luminous review for what it was.
Karen:Yes, so, and I was trying to do my best. The live stream, the gimbal, wasn't working the best, so I tried to do the best I could. Okay, I'm going to eat and Disney Springs has opened their doors on Monday, december 4th. Excuse me, that's the quick service. I guess it's a quick service.
Scott:I don't even know what it is. It's somebody who's on some TV show who opened a restaurant.
Karen:She has lots of restaurants all over the world. Yeah, I know that Right. So it's more of a kind of a quick service.
Scott:And it was like many or whatever. Yeah.
Karen:Yeah, so they open there, and it's down by Earl's Sandwich, between Earl's Sandwich and the Christmas Shop, right, the Christmas Store, so it's officially open.
Scott:Do you see, our friend John on Monday posted a picture in like early, early, of the frigging line outside that building like insane for a restaurant, I'm sorry, yeah, it's insane, nope. Yeah, I'll try it, we'll do you know, do a bunch of order or something.
Karen:Yeah, I'm not in a real hurry. It's not like we won't be going back On the Disney Eats. I guess website That'd be a good way of describing it Disney.
Scott:Park.
Karen:Eats website.
Scott:Yeah, and so it's on the Disney Parks blog under Disney Eats.
Karen:Right, they're providing five cookie recipes to celebrate what was National Cookie Day on December 4th. Mm-hmm. I think it's really cool that they actually give the actual recipe.
Scott:Yeah, so they have the chocolate peppermint cookie from the Contemporary Resort.
Karen:Which we have not tried yet.
Scott:No, the melted snowman sugar cookie from Pizza Rizzo. Uh-huh Snickerdoodle cookies from Epcot. International Festival of the Holidays presented by AdBen Health.
Karen:And that one has Snicker Bar pieces in it. Right.
Scott:The Bourbon Eggnog Snowflake Cookies from Jacqueline Z's Hangar Bar and the Snowman Shortbread Cookies from Disneyland Right Um the Melted Snowman Sugar Cookies I think we had that last year.
Karen:Yeah, it is really cute.
Scott:Yeah, I mean yeah, okay yeah.
Karen:But I just think it's not really getting the actual recipe. Yeah.
Scott:The Snicker Doodle Cookie I'm interested in, even though it's like a Snicker Doodle, like that's a thing. It's not something they came up with, but I mean they're cookies. It's not really something they came up with anyway, right?
Karen:So I don't know, but I just think it's neat.
Scott:But it is cool. The cookies are available at the Disney Parks Blog under Disney Eats.
Karen:Yes, and we can even put it in the show notes.
Scott:We can. If I can remember we will. We'll put it in the show notes.
Karen:Okay. Disney Plus subscriber perks announced for the holiday season, when she includes a Disney Treasure Cruise Sweepstakes, include some free Marvel comics, loungefly and Funko discounts.
Scott:Okay, that's interesting.
Karen:Yeah, so I tried to go register for the cruise and I could not because I logged in under my ID. Yeah, I still think it's kind of. Yeah, it's kind of neat. Okay.
Karen:All right. So this was announced today Pixar's Soul, luca and Turning Red are coming to theaters starting in January of 2024. As everyone knows, they were originally premiered on Disney Plus kind of during and post pandemic. So Soul is coming to theaters on January 12th, turning Red is going to be released on February 9th and Luca on March 22nd. Turning Red and Luca, so on. Turning Red and Luca will also have two little shorts Pixar shorts included. With those. Soul is the regular, just a full movie.
Scott:Well, I mean, they're all guaranteed to make money in the theater, right?
Karen:For this year anyway, because they've all been paid for. Exactly. So there we go.
Scott:I wonder why it's the Pixar ones. I don't know, because they're sitting on some Marvel movies, although I think that their concern is that everybody is tired of Marvel right now.
Karen:Maybe that's it Black.
Scott:Widow was in the theater for like I don't know a week or something, right, not very long. It was released at the same time on Disney Plus, so who went to see it? But True Black Widow's there Onward is a little surprising. I thought that was a really good movie.
Karen:I thought that was really good too. You know, I don't know.
Scott:It kind of ignored it. Yeah, you know, every year they got the whole big soul thing in the American Adventure and Turning Red merchandise is everywhere in the park.
Karen:And the Luca thing they had for DVC Remember they had one of the Prince was a Luca thing.
Scott:Right.
Karen:Little Prince they gave when you go tour.
Scott:Was it Luca? I guess it was.
Karen:Yeah, well, they had Luca, they had the Riviera one and then they had Luca. They had two different ones.
Scott:Gotcha yeah.
Karen:But nothing for Onward, which was All right. Walt Disney World annual pass holders received wrapping paper and gift tags over the past week or so, and it's nice wrapping paper.
Scott:Yeah, I've still haven't seen it.
Karen:I'll show it to you tomorrow when you get home.
Scott:I think it's what we said last week when it came. Well. I still haven't seen it.
Karen:Yeah, it's on the dining room too. Yeah, I know, along with everything else. Yeah, but I've kind of kept it protected. I didn't want it to get. I have something to put on it and messed up because I want to use it, right, yeah, so the annual pass holders that may have missed the Oswald and figment magnets are now able to get them. If they're here December 6th through December 19th, they're available for pickup at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Scott:You know they did that this summer, right With all the other ones are spraying, or whenever it was Right. Where did they do it? In Animal Kingdom, I don't remember.
Karen:I believe it's at Chesters and Hesters, which I believe is the store.
Scott:Oh, that's in dinosaur land.
Karen:Right Between dinosaur land and dinosaur.
Scott:Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Karen:Right, okay, cool, yeah. So additionally, annual pass holders are able to pick up a complimentary wish poster for limited time at the Creation Shop in Epcot, also from December 6th through December 19th, I mean it's not a huge poster. It's small, but it's still kind of neat.
Scott:Remember when they used to do posters for the festivals. We have one hanging on our wall in our bedroom, signed by the artist. I know what do you think of that can do those.
Karen:I think they still do. They're just not doing them as big, they're making them small, yeah, maybe that's what it is.
Scott:I mean this is like a full-size, like you know 2 by 3 or whatever it is poster. Yeah, I think it's a 25th, sorry, I think it's like the 25th or something that we got. I don't remember. I don't remember. You know, when you hang something on your wall, you then proceed not to ever look at it again.
Karen:You're not wrong. I mean, it's like right by the bed.
Scott:I should look at it every time I get a bed.
Karen:I know.
Scott:Really don't. I have a wine glass on it, I know that, and some color.
Karen:There's a what.
Scott:A wine glass and like splashes of color. It's all like you're really right now of it.
Karen:It was Festival of the Arts, because it's on my side, yeah. I thought it was Food and Wine, but maybe it was, I don't know. I'll go back.
Scott:I'm telling you, once you put it on the wall, you're never look at it again.
Karen:And I literally walk by it three times a night.
Scott:There's a picture of our golf course from a hundred years ago literally a hundred years ago hanging over our fireplace, and I can't tell you right now what hole it is. I think it's number six, because that's the one we live on, but right now I can't tell you. It might be the clubhouse.
Karen:Yeah, I mean the original clubhouse. Okay, see, yeah, but we have the one that are hanging on our wall for eight years, eight years, yeah, yeah, I don't think ten might be ten.
Scott:I don't think it's ten because for a while we had that one with Jack and King's Island one hanging there, right. Right. But yeah Anyway.
Karen:Again, you just don't notice these things, yeah.
Scott:Yeah, and all of a sudden, you're never going to look at it again, so yeah, yeah. The only thing that I look at is when you spend huge amounts of money on artwork at. That's full of the arts. You want to forget all about it. Hang it on your wall because you'll never look at it again.
Karen:Right, and then it'll just appreciate in value.
Scott:Yeah or fade because of the UV light shining on it and disappear.
Karen:Yeah, that's what happened too. So new store maps have been installed at various places around World of Disney in Disney Springs to help guests navigate where items are inside the store.
Scott:I saw that it's a huge store. It's a huge store. I wish they'd do it at the Emporium. Yes, I don't get lost in World of Disney. I mean, I get separated from you, but you can pretty much see where things are in World of Disney, the Emporium. You never know Well, because, yeah, and every time something comes out new, they move four other items from where you thought they were. But Right, but that's cool.
Karen:Yeah, it's really good, especially for Please do it in the Emporium. Yes, you come in one entrance. You're like all I want to do. I just want to find the Christmas shirt and they have the, you know, and they haven't tried to have them color coded too. You know, like the things around it, so I thought it was a good idea. Yeah, yeah.
Scott:And this next one's no surprise. Yeah, I know.
Karen:Blizzard Beach is closed again today, wednesday, december 6th, and tomorrow, thursday, december 7th, due to cooler temperatures again.
Scott:It is not cooler temperatures. I am 160 miles south of you and easily 200 miles south of Disney, and it is going to be in the 40s here tomorrow.
Karen:I was freezing last night at Epcot.
Scott:It was so cold. The last three holes this morning. Yeah. Now we finished at nine o'clock. Okay, so we were early, you know Right, it was literally just got colder from the time we got there until the time we left. The high today on down here was only 72.
Karen:Yeah, the high here was like 65 or 66.
Scott:Now let's see. Tomorrow it is going to be in the morning 49.
Karen:It says yeah, let me see what mine says 49 at 3 am.
Scott:Guess what time I'm waking up 4 am, 3 am, Not 4 am in the morning. I mean I'm like 10 minutes away from the job. Right. But it was frigid.
Karen:Yeah, it's going to be 40. It's 5 am. It's going to be 43.
Scott:Yeah, nobody wants to be in the water room. It's that Nobody? So good, close it up.
Karen:Exactly because nobody needs to be in the water.
Scott:I don't know if they still do it. They used to close Adventure Island like November 1st until like March. Yeah, I thought it was open later this year.
Karen:I thought it was a little bit open a little bit later in November, because it was still warmer.
Scott:Yeah, it may be. Remember we also used to close the pool at the club, the pool bar at the club, Thanksgiving weekend until like February or March. Yeah, I know Everybody was like can we just buy like two heaters and not do that anymore? Exactly, it's 85. Yeah. No.
Scott:Yeah, so okay, they're closed again. But yeah, let's see Bay Lake, bay Lake on, and you know what? I think you should probably expect some more closures being announced. I just pulled up the next, like the 10 day forecast for Bay Lake Florida. Saturday and Sunday it's supposed to be 80 and 81. That's the only time it's gonna touch 75 in the next week and a half.
Karen:Yeah, I would think Monday they're gonna be closed, with two more days in the 40s. Yeah.
Scott:So if you have plans, you might wanna like be looking at alternative.
Karen:Yeah, keep it on the weather.
Scott:Yeah, fall is here. Week after it'll probably be 90, but Probably.
Scott:Winter came early. It's been so. It's been like, really overcast and rainy this winter. The last time I was down here for this job that I'm doing right now, it was when it took us six hours to do what. So we did the golf course today, right? It started at 525 this morning on the first screen Okay, left there at left at 913. I just looked at my timesheet, which is how I know I'm doing timesheets for the guys, right? So the last time we were here, we didn't leave until like almost noon because of the rain. They had five inches that day of rain. Like we didn't have a day this summer down here that we had five inches of rain. So we're making up for it this winter, which means this can be cold and wet. Yeah.
Scott:Yeah, okay, dvc news, now that we've done the weather.
Karen:Yeah, no, I'm just looking at next, on the 17th, which is our Christmas party date. Now it shows that there's 60% of chance of rain. Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything this far out. I know I was just being funny, because it's always that way, yeah.
Scott:DVC news Okay, dvc news 2025. Dvc point charts have been released for all 16 of the Disney resorts for the third straight year. Virtually no changes to the seasons and point values for each accommodation, which makes sense because you have this many points and that's how it works.
Karen:Right and the number of seasons they have.
Scott:So the only way you can raise the studios is if you lower one or two or three bedrooms. Right, that doesn't make any sense. So there we go. Taxes applied to Disney Vacation Club's days of the Village of Disney. Yeah, villas at Disneyland Hotel will increase by a little over 3% in 2025. That's not a Disney thing. And opening of Blue Ribbon Corn Dogs has been delayed to 2024 on Disney's Boardwalk, which sounds horrifying, but it's three weeks, yeah, like it's three weeks, I know, but they don't say win in 2024.
Scott:I know, but my God, it's a.
Karen:It's a corn dog cart. It's a corn dog cart.
Scott:Right, it's a carnival booth. So that is the news. That is the news. Also, if you're staying at the Boardwalk or find yourself at the Boardwalk after dark, yeah, the street must fear is pretty awesome. It is pretty awesome. I was way more invested in those jump ropers than I should have been. I'm just saying.
Karen:We really were. We're waiting to see exactly what they were gonna do. We're like come on, you guys are dragging this out and I know it was intentional, but still, and I am really impressed that they do a show I don't know three or four shows a night, but like 637, 38, 39, 30.
Scott:And they're half hour shows, so they jump rope for a half hour and then they take a half hour off and do it again. So God bless them for being in shape. Exactly, I couldn't do it. Maybe I could, but I'm not trying Right, that ain't happening. So anyway, that's news, that is news. So we already talked about Luminous. We did.
Karen:I'm looking forward to it.
Scott:I hope that came across. I just would like to see some different music every once in a while, guys. Yes, I know it's easy and I know the popular songs.
Karen:But yes, I would like to see some different music, but yes, I would like to see, I would like to hear other music as well. I think, they did a very good job on the show, Right? Yes, I would like the More options as far as music. That's it more options. Yep.
Scott:Especially when they have the same songs. Anyway, right, you're gonna see the same songs you did the night before or the day after, so Anyway. We went on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Whatever day of the month, that was 24th.
Karen:I believe it was the 24th.
Scott:Yes, First day of the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays.
Karen:Correct.
Scott:And we tried some stuff. We did not. We were not one of those people who tried everything that day, for a couple of reasons. One is I didn't have that kind of commitment to being there that day, the second one being we had more than enough food with what we did try, with three of us walking around frying food, by the way, yes, yes. So we did not really need to go any further. We would have been uncomfortable. I believe we really were. We were full, yeah, and also I think we got lucky. We had really good stuff.
Karen:We did Well and we went okay. People are gonna get mad at us because of the direction we went. We knew that because it was the first day of the festival and all of the people are there. They're gonna go Mexico side because that's what everyone does, because everybody starts in Mexico.
Scott:Right, if you know anything about us, we don't start in Mexico For a variety of reasons, one being I get to the UK quicker and I can have a good beer Right.
Karen:Two the other one is that everybody goes to.
Scott:Mexico.
Karen:And there was no one in line.
Scott:No, so we rope dropped France for the festival. We did Like basically. I mean, I don't know we were there at like 1110 or something.
Karen:Actually. Well, hold on, I have the receipts here. Yeah, no, I can't find it. Yeah, would have been about 1110, 1115. We'll find the receipt. I'm finding it here. It is 1119. Okay, but that's when we paid. Yes.
Scott:So you know, by the time we I don't know it might have been 10 minutes in line, might have been five.
Karen:No, there was only like four people in line.
Scott:Yeah, but I mean it takes you know, it takes a couple of minutes, we didn't walk right up. It takes a couple of minutes to get through that line, so yeah. Yeah, there wasn't. It was not. The typical France line wrapped around that circle three times and we walked right over and had a table on the water.
Karen:Exactly.
Scott:So, which to me is like primo spot, I like to look over the water.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:What did we get there?
Karen:We got the. I gotta look here. Let me get you the actual names of everything Next. All right, we had the in our pronounce it, or T-dijambon sauce I'll just go to English Roasted ham with mushrooms, pearl onions, bacon, mustard sauce and roasted sweet potatoes.
Scott:Okay, so we teased this a little bit earlier. How much was that?
Karen:It was $7.75.
Scott:Okay, it was a good portion. It was, it was a pretty good portion. Yes, probably equivalent to a cup of soup.
Karen:Sure.
Scott:Yeah, I mean different layout. So we kind of teased this before about presentation. It was delicious, it was very good, really delicious. It was not pretty. It looked like, you know, like when you see Oliver Twist and they're just slapping and grueling to the bowl, like it looked like that, like every sitcom you've ever seen, when they go through the line in the cafeteria. That's what the presentation was.
Karen:Yes, he's not wrong.
Scott:No, he's not wrong, but it was delicious, but it was delicious.
Karen:It was delicious. Now I had that again yesterday.
Scott:Don't buy the pictures yeah, don't buy the pictures. You are not going to get what's in the picture.
Karen:No, I bought it again yesterday when I was there. It looked much prettier in presentation yesterday.
Scott:Well, I know when I was looking online that day and the next day. You know when everybody started posting their reviews. Everybody's just looked like what you'd slap the pigs with. But it was delicious and I will get it again when we go back, as long as there's not a huge line in front.
Karen:Right. So then we also got the gingerbread Christmas log with milk chocolate and hazelnut ganache. Yeah, wow, that was pretty decadent Very good, it was a good thing we divided it in three.
Scott:Chocolate was delicious. It had like that hard chocolate shell kind of deal around it. Oh my God, yeah, it was fantastic. It's there, oh, there it is. Oh, that's the line, oh, there it is. Marsh and Tinoelle, here we go. Yep, yeah, we did not get the creme de salmone. Fume and whatever. No, because it's the cream of smoked salmon and house made dobro spread with a cucumber. We didn't get that.
Karen:No, it's fresh fish, but we did get la joie cocktail de noe it is vodka.
Scott:This is funny. The description is vodka, gray goose vodka, cold brew, coffee, sea salt, caramel, toffee and pepper. It was pretty fantabulous. It was Delicious, you know.
Karen:And lat yeah it was delicious.
Scott:I feel like if they did it with hot coffee it would have been probably just as good.
Karen:Yes, like last night, I did get the frozen hot chocolate routine. How was that Really good. It was delicious, it was gone really quick.
Scott:They do it well they do. They should do food well right.
Karen:Right, and the first one, yeah, and that is gray goose, vanilla, vodka, chocolate milk and whipped cream.
Scott:It's really funny Is what the chocolate milk Did. They do it with gray goose, vodka and vodka, like it's weird.
Karen:Well, it's gray goose vanilla vodka. It makes you think why would they not just do gray goose vodka Right?
Scott:That's what. I'm saying yeah, I don't know. Like did they put a splash of gray goose in and then fill the rest of it up with, like Mr Boston's premium vodka, or something like this? It's weird. Whatever they're doing, it was delicious.
Karen:Whatever it was, it was all delicious, absolutely delicious yeah.
Scott:All right, so we ran through the rest of the stuff here the chocolate ganache thing, chocolate ganache, that was $6.75. All right, and it was a good size dessert for one person and an excellent size dessert to cut in three pieces, knowing that you're going to another booth in like three minutes.
Karen:Exactly so. I mean, it was a good size, it wasn't a, you know, minuscule one. And then the Joelle cocktail was only $11.75, which is actually.
Scott:It was a good size drink, Like if you had ordered that at anywhere at Disney Springs. It was at least $15 to $18.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:Like seriously, it was a good size drink. Yes, it was.
Karen:How about the martini? The martini oh.
Scott:You don't know because you didn't save your receipt last night.
Karen:I did, it's just not in this book.
Scott:It's fine, that doesn't matter. Okay, I'll just take the whole martini thing out. Yeah, not that you had it, but that I asked you the price, right, right, so, okay, we left there. We started off at France, which was probably a good potentially been a huge mistake, because France is usually the highlight of any of the festivals, especially this one, super busy, and so we may have been setting ourselves up for major disappointment, but we weren't Spoiler alert. From there we went to Le Chaim, the holiday kitchen between Morocco and the France pavilions, and they have done for the last couple of festivals. It's basically for the last couple of festivals. It's basically been the Encanto booth. Yeah, right, but it's back to that. So the first thing we had was the pastrami on rye with housemaid pickles and deli mustard, and it was a full on half a sandwich, not like a finger sandwich. It was a half a sandwich and it was stuffed with the pastrami. Good pastrami, it was delicious, it really was. It was delicious.
Karen:How much was it $5.75.
Scott:So do yourself a favor, go and get two of them and make that much Yep, because I don't know that you're going to get a pastrami on rye. A better old sandwich for 1150. You are, I don't know. We haven't eaten an old sandwich in 100 years, but it was excellent, excellent. Yes, we also got the potato latkes right.
Karen:Well, actually Jason got that one. Right but we all ate it. But we all ate it, do you remember?
Scott:how much they were.
Karen:I believe they were $6. Maybe not Okay.
Scott:It's hard to believe they were more than the sandwich, but they could have been Right. We didn't have anything that was $10. No, I know that, other than beverages, oh wait, no, they were $4.
Karen:And then they offered them with salmon on them which ran a dollar more.
Scott:Yeah, I saw some people that had the one with salmon back to presentation. Mm-hmm. You know I'm not a salmon-ish guy, but they weren't beautiful looking. No, the potato latkes we had were better looking.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:They came with like a sour cream sauce.
Karen:It was a dill sauce.
Scott:Yeah, okay.
Karen:Sour cream dill sauce which, if I had known that, I would have asked them not to put it on it. To put it on the side, yeah, but I'm not a salmon-ish guy.
Scott:I know it's saying I know you like them with applesauce.
Karen:Well, either applesauce or sugar.
Scott:I will tell you, I had part of one without the sauce on it and it was an awesome hash brown. Yeah. Like an awesome hash brown With the sauce on them. They were good. Yeah, they were good, they were very good, so well done.
Karen:They had a good texture to them, they were firm enough. They were good. So, yeah, yeah.
Scott:And we just had a sweet drink and a dessert at France, so we did not get the regula, but I would assume that it was probably as good as everything else there.
Karen:I'm sure it was, but we did get oh the black and white cookie.
Scott:Yes, it was like three-something right $3.
Karen:Yeah, there you go $3. Like three-something. Pretty much all of the cookies on the cookie stroll were $3.
Scott:Keyword being three-something. It didn't disappoint. It's always a good cookie and it was still a good cookie.
Karen:And it's a huge cookie.
Scott:Yeah, yeah, I also got. While we were there, it was my turn to have a beverage. Right. I got the frozen New York whiskey sour featuring manifest whiskey and Manichevitz blackberry wine. I still can't say it without laughing.
Karen:Yeah, but it was funny that it's Manichevitz. But what did you think of it?
Scott:So I thought it was fantastic, it was great, it really was good. It really was good. It gave me a brain sneeze, but yeah. But someone out there will get that reference maybe.
Karen:I know yeah.
Scott:But it was very good, and Manichevitz usually tastes like your drinking syrup, but In this it was the whiskey. Cut it just fine. Yep, it was very good. I don't know that it wasI'm not exactly sure where the sour part was coming from. Yeah, because it kind of wasn't. But it was a very good drink. Yes, and another one that I feel like would be a very good drink if it was not frozen.
Karen:Right, that one ran $12.50. It was a little higher than I thought it was going to be. Yeah, it was whiskey. It was okay Because, yeah, it was still good. I thought it was very good.
Scott:We are in a world where whiskey is suddenly back to being popular, right, and especially with bourbons, although this is not one Everybody seems to be trying to out-expensive themselves. No, so whiskey is expensive, right? What smash would that mee be if broke? Actually, is this true? Maybe it is bourbon? No, it's not bourbon, say they make it in Tennessee, it's not bourbon. No. I was just licking it up. Right, they say they make quality bourbon in Tennessee.
Karen:Well guys, yeah, by definition yeah.
Scott:That's not how that works. It's like saying you make champagne in Tennessee, right, it was very good, like it was very tasty.
Karen:Yes, it was.
Scott:I can't keep up with all the new ones.
Karen:I know Okay.
Scott:Well now they say that they make it in Kentucky. So I don't know. Yeah, so weird. I don't know.
Karen:Belgium.
Scott:We did. We next went to Belgium. Yeah, let me see if I can find that, because they have everything listed by the name of the kitchen and not like just Belgium.
Karen:I can find it in the app.
Scott:There's an app for it. It gives the prices up Germany, port of Entry, disney Traders, mexico, china, japan.
Karen:In order. Wow, we didn't go to Hollywood.
Scott:We went to some of them alphabetically, but by the name of the kitchen, kitchen, so the holiday kitchen that was the one in Germany. That's Germany, but we went to Belgium.
Karen:Well, that's that. It's the one just beyond Germany. It's between Germany and Africa.
Scott:Well, that was German.
Karen:It's got the pork schnitzel, the cheese fondue and the bread.
Scott:Yeah, that's German. Maybe that's where we went.
Karen:I thought we went to Belgium, but Well, but that's where it's at is between those. Okay, all right.
Scott:Yeah, so we know we skipped. I know we skipped Italy.
Karen:Right and we skipped America because the line was too long and they didn't have they didn't have anything new in America. Right so.
Scott:America? Right, they didn't. It was all stuff they've had before, so it wasn't a priority to go to.
Karen:Right and.
Scott:We skipped. For the same reason, we skipped tangerine Injuring Right. And then we had a Cafe Right Nothing, there was nothing new. I will say there is nothing new, they had a cider flight, right, yeah, actually, we did get the cider.
Scott:I believe, we got the cider flight. You got a cider flight somewhere on it, was it there? Yeah, okay, but they had. They had the lamb capsa and the chicken and the. It was all different things. If you look at the name of the restaurant, everything may have for every single festival Like literally a same thing, right?
Karen:And then they had the cider flight Right, so you did get the flight there.
Scott:Yes, because I remember it, because I remember the guy when he was. Yeah, I remember the holiday snake bite, so yeah, yeah surprisingly good, because typically for me, ciders are like super sweet, right, and these were not as sweet. They were very tasty, but you didn't feel like like when you drink stuff that's like pure sugar, your my mouth like actually gets a little dry, you know, and I didn't get that feeling. So I was like yeah that's good yeah.
Karen:It was a very good flight.
Scott:And it was like 10 bucks Yep 10 to 25 actually the flights have gone up a little bit.
Karen:Okay, so then we went to the Bavaria Holiday.
Scott:Kitchen in the Germany pavilion. Yes, and I do have my receipt. I did find it and we got it all.
Karen:Pretty much. Yeah, we got the pork schnitzel with mushroom sauce spudzel and braised red cabbage.
Scott:So here is my interesting take on that, and it's interesting not because anybody might care, but because I thought it was interesting. The pork schnitzel was better there than a beer garden.
Karen:Really.
Scott:Yeah, the beer garden one tends to be a little thin and a little dry, so I usually skip it.
Karen:Okay.
Scott:This was not. And then you know the mushroom sauce and the spudzel and the cabbage all added to it. But the schnitzel had, you know it was I don't know, I don't wanna say juicy, because it's deep fried pork, but it was not dried out, which tends to happen at beer garden. It was very good. How much was it?
Karen:It was $6.50.
Scott:Yeah, it was a good portion too, Like all of these you know were pretty healthy portions for a festival.
Karen:Yes, I would agree with that 100%.
Scott:The cheese fondue and a bread bowl with steam, baby vegetables and marble potatoes.
Karen:They were good. It was very good. However, it was a little chilly out and a little rainy, so the cheese tends to cool down very quickly.
Scott:Yeah, it did, but it was still very, very good and the vegetables were really cooked well, even for being steamed, so enjoyed it.
Karen:That was, yes, $8.25, but that's always about the price of it, yeah, yeah. But I mean it's a big, big bread bowl and it's a lot of cheese and the presentation is good. It always looks cool. Yes, it does.
Scott:Then we had actually the picture on their website is the pork schnitzel and, to be honest with you, you can look at it in their picture and tell that it looks pretty good.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:It doesn't come out looking like that. Obviously Right, for one thing they show it on like a real plate. But yeah, I mean, they do, you know, I know.
Karen:I know.
Scott:It's just fun, not the cardboard, whatever that. You get it in Right. And then we got the lens or cookie. Yes, I mean, the cookie was a cookie, the jam or whatever that is inside it, whatever that filling is. I just want to buy a jar of that to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. No I will say it's so good.
Karen:I personally did not think the cookie was as good this year as it was last year.
Scott:No, I didn't think the cookie was as good. I thought the jam was good, yeah, and the cookie. Like I said, the cookie was just a cookie. It was a little bit dry.
Karen:Yeah, I think that's what it was. Usually they're not. It doesn't fall apart that as bad Something sense.
Scott:Right, I got, we got the beer flight. Yes, which is kind of a misnomer because the first thing on it was the Postman Pure Hard Apple Cider from Frankfurt, japan. Again, it was not sweet. Yeah, it was not overly sweet, it was really good.
Karen:It was very good.
Scott:I would buy that again and walk around and I've got with it Okay. They also had the Tank Brewing Company Prost Fest Beer from Miami Florida. That one was pretty good. It was definitely not a German beer, but it was okay and they sell that one every year. Right For this. And then the Kostritzer Schwarzbeer, bittberger, germany was really good. That was a German beer and it was very good.
Karen:And that one was new this year.
Scott:Sure.
Karen:I don't remember.
Scott:The Prost, I remember because of the name that they have it every year, right, but the other ones I couldn't tell you if they were new or not. Yeah, so we had all of that, and again 10.25 for the beer flight, three bucks for the cookie, correct? So we're three for three at that point, like enjoying ourselves. Really four for four because the cider flight was good.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:And we've got two cookies knocked out from our cookie stroll, exactly. So we are making progress, babe. Yeah, we are From Germany. We skipped Italy and, as we discussed last week, that may be a good thing, right, they're all proud of their food, but France just destroys them in these festivals. Yes, literally destroys them. They gotta step it up a little bit.
Karen:So we can go to China. I did wanna get something in China, but it's nothing new.
Scott:So it wasn't anything new there.
Karen:Right, the line was pretty long, so we skipped that one.
Scott:Yeah, and they had soup, which would have been really good based on the weather it was rainy and cold that day.
Karen:Yes, it was.
Scott:But it's also soup and it's hard to walk around with. So we didn't get it Right.
Karen:Then we hit Mexico.
Scott:Well, we stopped in Norway, oh no that was the next week.
Scott:Oh, we skipped. We skipped, but we did forget. Oh, I guess it was the next day, so we'll talk about it now too. Right, we forgot. While we were at Leheim, the Hanukkah storyteller came out and it was his first day at Disney. He had never been there before. Yes, really good, he was playing guitar. Typically, the guy that used to do it played the I don't know what you call it in Jewish music. I don't know if it's a fiddle or a violin, but usually that's what the guy plays, so it's a fiddle.
Karen:There you go.
Scott:This guy had a guitar, but he was really good with it. He was very good, told the story and I don't know for sure if it was all scripted. It sounded like he was telling personal stories of growing up doing Hanukkah. Yes, maybe not. He was a very good actor, but we bought it.
Karen:Yeah, when I walked by yesterday he was telling I heard the same part so it's probably scripted. But I think it's scripted for him. Yeah, right, right.
Scott:Right, so do not pass up the storytellers. They're awesome, all of them are awesome. Yes, and speaking of awesome, now we're in Norway, mm-hmm, and we got to see the mischievous Barn Elf, or Barn Santa, I think they changed his name this year. I think he suddenly barned Santa instead of Barn Elf, like he had been for years.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:It is such an entertaining story the way they do it with the two of them and it's really cute it really is.
Karen:It's cute, it's educational, but it's fun.
Scott:Always has a big crowd and it's like a great spot for a big crowd, right, right, they have that area. That's perfect. You can get a pretty good sized crowd there and not be in the way of everybody. Yes, so we always make sure to catch that when we are adept at during the holidays.
Karen:Yeah, and I think it was one of the first. I think it was actually one of the first shows too, because of the time of when it opened, so it may have been that first show.
Scott:Well, we saw it the second day, so it wasn't the first show.
Karen:Oh, I thought Jason was with us. No, we saw him.
Scott:Oh yes, it was the first day, Jason and Michelle were with us.
Karen:It was the first day, yeah.
Scott:Speaking of which, jumping back a bit, we were at the American Pavilion and we had just run into our friend John. Mm-hmm. And he had some kind of funnel cake. Yes, because, you know, god forbid, a food blogger skipped a booth, right, right. But I think that was actually for pleasure, because he had told us that they were skipping the US, because it was nothing new. But he did have a funnel cake.
Karen:Well, because the funnel cake was new.
Scott:Okay, but that wasn't at the booth.
Karen:That was like you know that was at the funnel cake.
Scott:Blocking haunts or whatever. Yeah, yeah yeah. So anyway, we had just run into him and we were getting ready to go our super ways and all of a sudden we heard Scott and Karen and Michelle was standing there.
Karen:I know that was so cool.
Scott:You didn't know she was here, yeah, you didn't expect it like at all. So we had to hang out with her a little bit, yeah, on that day, and then a lot more the next day.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:So that was super fun, it was super fun.
Karen:I'm so glad she got to enjoy. She got to watch the Barn Elf too.
Scott:Well, that was on her list. Yeah, that was basically why we I think why we ended up hanging out together was we were both headed that way and we had just a few minutes to get there. Right, Like 20 minutes or something to get over to Norway.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:I believe based on when it was starting. So yeah, we all went over there. Uh-huh. And then we went on to, I guess, Mexico.
Karen:Yeah, she went to her guardians, I think.
Scott:Yeah, and then she was park hopping.
Karen:Right.
Scott:She had big plans. So this was the last minute trip for her, so she had big plans, right right, being solo and all that. Yes, as one does, mm-hm. Our last stop, kind of, was Las Bolsadas Holiday Kitchen, in the Mexico pavilion. We got the giant tostada de chorizo, the giant tostada with chipotle, black bean puree, ground chorizo, salsa verde, queso, cacotilla, crema mexicana and pickled onions. Two thumbs up.
Karen:How much was that? That was a 10.79.
Scott:Okay, so we did spend 10 bucks on something that was food, well worth it. It was the size of a Mexican pizza like, maybe bigger, from Taco Bell.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:Good size, very good flavor. It was delicious. Super easy to break off part of the tostada and keep stuff on it. Yes, like it was just really good.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:We also had the tomale de barbacoa, the shredded barbacoa beef in a corn masa topped with mole, negro queso, cacotilla, crema mexicana and pickled onions. I thought it was really good tomale. You had never had a tomale before and so you were not interested. After that first bite.
Karen:Yeah, I tried it. Hey, I made the effort. I even tried a second bite because I didn't get quite enough meat and substance in the first bite. It just was not my cup of tea.
Scott:It was a pretty authentic tomale and tasted very good. It definitely needed the sauce. There wasn't quite as much flavor in the beef as I thought there should have been, but overall it was a very good tomale, or how much.
Karen:It was $7.98.
Scott:Yeah, it was worth that.
Karen:Their dollar amounts just cracked me up. I don't know why.
Scott:Yeah, I'm sure it's meant to work out to even numbers when you buy more than one thing. Right, we also had the dulce de leche chorro sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. We had that last year too, and I will say the same thing that I remember saying last year that is the best Disney chorro at Walt Disney World. Right, the dulce de leche chorro is injected with dulce de leche. Right, it's got a filling. So I love dulce de leche In general. Cake hit me, whatever Sunshine chorro, who are friends of ours and make fantastic chorros over at Disney Springs. Theirs they put like a dulce de leche on the top of the chorro and it's really good. But this one, it's in the middle of the chorro and it's just really good. It is by far the best Disney chorro I've had, not including third party chorros.
Karen:Yeah, that's a pretty strong statement.
Scott:Yeah Well, I'm kind of it's a low bar, but I mean it is.
Karen:Right.
Scott:Disney chorros aren't great, ok, you know. But Disney World chorros are not great, but these were pretty great, ok, and which means they can do it.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:They just need to do it Right. All the beverages were margaritas. Nope, two of the beverages were margaritas. We just didn't feel like getting that involved that day. Right, but we did have the holiday cerveza, which is a Mexican artisanal craft lager with black current liqueur. That description is not what the description was the day we ordered it. The day we ordered it literally said beer with black current liqueur.
Karen:It literally said that on the sign yes.
Scott:And I was like, barely, it's whatever beer we happen to pour into the glass and we'll pour this black current liqueur.
Karen:Well, and on the receipt, it's what is it? It's large mistletoe cerveza. That's the name.
Scott:Well, there we go. Yep, it was good, I liked it and I will do that one again too. The black current, current, whatever current really added something to it. It was good.
Karen:And that was $12.20. And the churro was $6.10.
Scott:Yeah, so totally worth it. Everything there was really good. Everything we had was good. The worst thing we had, probably the worst thing we had was the linseed cookie, and it wasn't bad. It was a cookie, for God's sake.
Karen:Right, and now we did go inside the odyssey.
Scott:Yeah, we did yes.
Karen:I actually have that here. There Got it Inside the odyssey.
Scott:We saw Santa Yep.
Karen:He was very good. I think it's the same Santa as last year. He's really good.
Scott:It was that day, it was not the next day. Right, we got the beer flight. Did we get the hot chocolate too?
Karen:Yes, yes, I got the candy cane.
Scott:And I guess we got the salted caramel spaceship Earth cookie. No, we did not here.
Karen:We got the red velvet mini bundt cake oh yeah, oh yeah, right. And then we got the pinwheel peppermint cookie. Peppermint pinwheel cookie oh yeah, okay, right. Those are the two desserts. And then we got the beer. Flight, that's four cookies. I know, and beer flight and the cocoa candy. What did they call it here? Yeah, it's a peppermint cocoa. On the receipt it's cocoa candy cane.
Scott:Okay, the peppermint cocoa was how much?
Karen:Peppermint cocoa was $12.50.
Scott:Okay, it was good, it was really good. Yeah, like a hot chocolate guy, it was really good.
Karen:Yeah, it was hot chocolate by Joffrey's with peppermint schnapps.
Scott:Yeah, not special Like hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps. Really good, delicious, dug it. The cookie was $3 again. Yep. The red velvet thing. How much was that?
Karen:$4.75.
Scott:There you go. All of them again, really good. So the beer flight they had the wicked weed brewing jackfrost IPA. The brew dog it's a cute stout. And the wicked weed brewing milk and cookies. Imperial milk stout. The jackfrost IPA as I say every about a week on this show, I don't really care for IPAs and it was an IPA, I'm sure. If you like IPAs, it's probably pretty good. Right? I just don't like orange flavored beer. I don't drink blue moon, I don't drink. Yeah, I just don't like orange flavored beer. Weird living in Florida where everything tastes like oranges. The wicked weed brewing milk and cookies. Imperial stout Just tasted like a milk stout. Yeah.
Scott:I didn't feel like it was anything. I didn't taste any milk and cookies in it. No, the brew dog. It's a cute stout From Columbus Ohio. It was the middle one in the flight Right. It was really good. That one was really good. I want more of that one. Yes, very, very happy with that one. That was our trip through a more of the festival than I thought. I don't remember where we got our fifth cookie.
Karen:Well, actually this is over a couple days. This is both Friday and Saturday.
Scott:It was. Yeah.
Karen:Our fifth? Well, we got our. Actually, that was three cookies, right, that was four, Okay. Well, we ended up getting, apparently ended up getting six, because oh, it's because I just wanted this cookie. It was the one at the. It's the booth kind of, when you come from the Odyssey, like you're going towards creation shop, and you come over the little bridge, there's that one booth. They call it. What is it? Noche Buena, Castina?
Scott:Right, I got a chocolate cookie, the spice chocolate cookie.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:I didn't have any of that. How was that? It was delicious. We started taking them. You had a.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:You had a different thing that you put them in, so I didn't try that one.
Karen:Yeah, you were out of town.
Scott:When you finally ate it.
Karen:Yes, yeah, when I finally ate it.
Scott:Yeah, that was our fifth cookie, so we did go get, we did get the wish cookie.
Karen:Yes, it was cute.
Scott:Yeah, I mean, it just looked like a nice cookie. I didn't Try it. It was pre -packaged yeah.
Karen:It was cute but we did get. When we did get the, they gave us a little milkshake or whatever. It was Right For finishing the, for finishing it.
Scott:Yeah, right, which they do.
Karen:Yes.
Scott:So how was that? I didn't try that either.
Karen:I had a bite and I couldn't eat anything else. I was too full, so I just I threw this stuff in there in the trash can and just cleaned it out.
Scott:Yeah, gotcha Was the bite good or not?
Karen:Yeah, I mean it was okay. It was. You know I don't really do ice cream.
Scott:So yeah, I mean it was, it was a free milkshake, so whatever it was.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:But we actually did better with these than I thought we did.
Karen:Yeah, we did end up getting an extra cookie on our thing when we went to go ride Sorin.
Scott:We went down to Because they had the one down there in sunshine seasons which is also on the cookie stroll.
Karen:Right. But I wanted it anyways because it was the M&M one Right, the little mini M&M's in it. That one was really good.
Scott:Yeah, the jingle sugar cookie made with M&M's chocolate candy. Yeah, there we go.
Karen:It was really good.
Scott:Connections Cafe has the holiday sugar cookies. The cafe is Starbucks. Yes, can't mobile order in there, nope, we're not going to wait in line for it, nope. So there is a rumor that potentially that cookie might end up in the connections eatery as well, but it isn't yet.
Karen:As far as we can tell, yeah, and you did try another beer at the refreshment port. It was the hard cider pumpkin, the one from Kiel.
Scott:Oh, I did, because Kiel and Curry is like five minutes from my work, right Like we drive by there a lot trying to get home. Yes, that was really good. Yeah, we actually joked about stopping by there on the way home and picking up some.
Karen:Yeah, because we physically drove by it.
Scott:We didn't this week, but we do a lot yeah.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:If there's any traffic coming into Tampa, we usually get off right there and go by there.
Karen:Right, and that was very good. Had a good flavor to it.
Scott:Yeah, it wasn't overly pumpkin spice, it just had like kind of a just a tint hinge. Yeah. Yeah, it was very good, got about that place.
Karen:Yeah.
Scott:So that was it.
Karen:Michelle got the, she got the sweet potato fried poutine or whatever it was.
Scott:Yes, right, right, and we had dinner that second night. We did. At Haleo. We did Now we'll talk about Haleo later. So that's going to do it for this week. Right.
Scott:That's 170 down. Yeah, yes, look at that, who knew? Thanks, again for everyone, every one of you that's listening to us. We appreciate it. Happy holidays Everyone. Yes, on social media you can find us on Instagram at Mickey file underscore podcast. The Facebook page, of course the Facebook group, is the Mickey file improvement district Podcast is available everywhere that you find podcasts, so you know Apple, spotify, whatever else Amazon audible. That was so weird to me.
Karen:We're on audible.
Scott:Yeah, all this, yeah, they're all on Amazon, music and audible, which is, I mean, kind of cool, cause you know yeah. I use audible a lot. I use Amazon music some. Mm, hmm. Not for podcasts, right. Best way to support the show is just like subscribe, follow whatever. Oh, we're available on YouTube now too. I don't know how you subscribe to that, but there it is. Okay, yeah. Like directly. Just pull the RSS feed so people who have YouTube music, you can check us out on YouTube music Cool.
Karen:Yeah, actually somebody asked me that yesterday and I didn't know. Oh yeah, we're there, Okay.
Scott:And if you want to get in touch with us, for whatever reason, drop us an email at mickeyfilepodcasts@gmailcom. Bye, thank you. Thank you.