Come on Shake Your Body Baby Do the Tonga

It's still snowing.

Hubby was kind enough to stop on his way home from work for a few essentials.  The list included milk, eggs and a sled.   We legitimately needed the milk and eggs.  We were out of both. Still, I'm glad he went because I always feel like a lemming if I purchase milk, bread or eggs during or proceeding a snowstorm.  

If you live in a snowy climate you know what I mean. People flock to the supermarkets and convenience stores to raid the shelves of these items and I never understood why.  When was the last time you were trapped in your house and felt a dire urge to make french toast? Because in reality what else can you make with those three ingredients.

And since we are talking about french toast I shall now address a Disney favorite...of others.

Tonga Toast.

People love it.  They write about it on message boards.  They post photos of it.  They plan trips around it.  I'm not one of those people.  

Thick piece of carb-loaded bread: check

Deep fried: talk to me baby

Rolled in cinnamon and sugar: me likey me likey

Served with a mushy, yucky, warm banana in the middle: I'm OUT!

As a life-long banana-hater the concept nauseates me.  I'm saddened by the fact that someone could invent something so sinfully wonderful, drizzle it with syrup and serve it with a fine swine product and yet ruin it by stuffing it with potassium-rich nastiness.

Regardless of my personal tastes, I do recommend you try this.  It is served at Kona Cafe (table service) and Captain Cook's (counter service) in the Polynesian. Enough people go gaga for the stuff that it has to be good.  If you like bananas.

Oh What a Difference 1341.86 Miles Makes

Current Orlando weather:

Partly sunny and 72 degrees.

Current view out my kitchen window:

Why do I torture myself with checking the Florida weather reports when my trip is 3.5 months away?  Happy Snowy White New Year!

Oh, It's a Jolly Holiday With...

...this guy.

I'm not British so I technically shouldn't be allowed to say "holiday" and it was more lazy than jolly, but it was delightful all the same.

I think the boy and I are both getting a little too used to our life of leisure and wi

ll be in for a rude awakening when we return to our respective classrooms next week (me in front 3rd graders and him rocking the preschool scene).  Today we played an estimated 53 rounds of Guess Who, constructed an unidentifiable (but impressively large) Tinker Toy structure and  watched Mary Poppins...again.

We rented the movie a few weeks ago.  I was in search of some harmless entertainment, but wasn't sure how it would be received.  It had been at least 2 decades since I had seen it and I didn't know if it could compete with animated talking motor vehicles in search of a Piston Cup.  Much to my surprise it did.

He loved it and was devastated when the local video store called to tell us they wanted Mary (and the late fees that she accumulated) back.  Luckily, Grammy bought him his very own DVD for Christmas.  If you have young kiddos I highly recommend this one.  The music is great.  I forgot how many songs came from it.

Incidentally, I bought the hat in the photo above at Gymboree.  It was a complete impulse buy.  It was impractical and overpriced.  He hated it and refused to wear it.  That was of course until he realized that it made him look like a chimney sweep and now it 

is his accessory of choice.

Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho It's Off to NOWHERE I Go

That's right.

You can just scratch the word "work" from the lyrics to that catchy little Snow White ditty.

I am officially on vacation.  The PC term in the public school business is "winter break."

Christmas break...winter break...poe-TAY-toes...poe-TAH-toes.  

Either way you slice it I am in my pajamas and slippers with nowhere to go an nothing to do.  The chaos of Christmas is behind us and the week of laziness may now commence.  Let's just hope that my favorite little dwarf sidekick is more like Happy than Grumpy this week.

Heigh-Ho Heigh Ho it's off to play with Santa toys, scrapbook, drink coffee, organize the house, read books and not brush my hair or put on makeup for 7 days I go.

Samantha Brown vs. Me

This is Samantha Brown.  She is the blond. I am not.  She is perky.  The closest I come to ever being described as perky is post-Starbucks venti beverage, but even then I would classify my persona more as wired than perky.  Still there are similarities.  She is from the Northeast and so am I.  She has things she loves about Disney and so do I.

After viewing her Travel Channel special which highlighted her favorite Disney things, I decided to compare and contrast them to my own.  Below are the categories selected for the show and the Samantha Brown vs. Me selections:

#1 Favorite Ride

Sam: Tower of Terror

Me: Tower of Terror

#2 Favorite Character Interaction

Sam: Turtle Talk with Crush

Me: Chef Mickey's

Let's be honest.  My choice not only has character interaction, but also waffles.  Clearly I am correct on this one.  Think about it.  There is an entire section devoted to desserts...at 7 a.m.  Sorry Crush, but that is totally awesome dude!

#4 Parade

Sam: Parade of Dreams

Me: Trick question because I don't like parades.

I suppose if I had to pick a favorite parade I would go with the Christmas parade which is televised on ABC.  I don't have to stand shoulder to shoulder in the hot sun knowing that my time would be better spent enjoying shorter ride lines.  Instead I can enjoy the fun little floats from the comfort of my oversized sofa and through the magic of Tivo fast forward right through Regis Philbin.

#5 Favorite Way to Beat the Lines

Sam: The Single Rider Line

Me: Early Morning ADRs in the park

Sam suggests you get into the singe rider line.  This guarantees you a shorter wait, however you must then ride with a stranger.  I'm funny about this.  I won't go to the movies by myself.   My tip is to make an early ADR for before the park opens.  You can get some great pictures and be well ahead of the crowds at rope drop.  So perhaps you may not want to dine with the princesses and perhaps you are not sure how to pronounce Akershaus when calling for a reservation, but it sure does beat waiting in lines.

#6 Character Tip

#7 Adult Drink

Sam: Grand Marnier Slush from the France Pavilion in EPCOT

Me: Yes please.

Sam is not traveling with children.  She has the ability to take a leisurely stroll through the World Showcase, wait in a line and pay $8.00 for a lovely frozen beverage.  I fall into the camp of people who spent the day waiting in 45 minute intervals for action packed rides on Dumbo and Peter Pan.  Any adult beverage is welcome.

Aw Shucks!

Typically I am bummed to find an attraction is "closed for my future enjoyment."  Let's see...during our stay at Port Orleans Riverside the food court was closed (for my future enjoyment).  Last spring the pool, hottub and kiddie pool (did I mention I have a 3 year old) was closed (for my future enjoyment).   We had a very close call last December when the Tea Cups closed for refurbishment, but luckily it was on the day we were flying home and the 3 year old had already rotated to his heart's content.

So far there is only one attraction listed as being closed during our next trip.

The Hall of Presidents.

or as I like to call it "The Torture Chamber."  I coined that name back in the late 80s around the same time I trudged through EPCOT chanting "BOOOORRRIIINNNGGG!" (If you ever want to hear just "how damn much a trip to Disney costs" then I highly suggest doing that in front of your father for several consecutive days in the hot Florida sun).

Anyhow, The Hall of Presidents is closed and I am delighted.  My husband LOVES these types of things and I am running out of excuses to avoid them.  

Disney can revamp a tired old foodcourt in a week and transform a pool into a Pirate Ship in a relatively short amount of time.  I'm not sure why it will take the better portion of a year to create an animatronic Obama, but far be it from me to complain.

Move Over Grand Floridian

There are some new gingerbread houses in town.

OK so our little village is actually constructed out of milk cartons and graham crackers.  And perhaps they are the size of one shingle from the Grand Floridian version, but they are charming in their own way.  

Truth be told I was not as impressed with the GF house as I thought I would be.  I'm assuming it was because of the fact that I had seen so many photos of it online.  I think Samantha Brown even spent some time in it during one of the Travel Channel documentaries.  It is beautiful and it is fairly amazing that a structure made of flour and sugar could house a sales clerk peddling gingerbread products to tourists.  Still, I think sometimes my obsession with Disney message boards and fan sites can cause some letdown because I don't get that "ooohhh look at that" moment. I would think this would be jaw-dropping if you didn't know about it ahead of time.

Oh well.  I can ooh and ahh over the little village created by my family.  Incidentally, my construction is the one on the left (and yes, I am humble enough to realize that alone means I should marvel at the Grand Floridian masterpiece because I obviously cannot do better).  It's small.  It's kooky.  But, it was made on a snowy New England evening by my little family and I am impressed that my 3 year old thought to add a gumdrop doorknob and a fruit loop wreath!

Tow Truck Profanity

I live with a Cars addict.  We played the DVD to the point of needing to replace said DVD with a new one.  Amazingly, it took 9 months and an estimated 5,903,527 viewings for my son to start inserting the phrase, "HOLY SHOOT!" into the appropriate situations.

We open the door to reveal a foot of snow: "Holy Shoot!"

He slips on the ice: "Holy Shoot!"

Did I mention he is 3 and therefore lacks perfect articulation?  One not familiar with the Pixar film would assume that he is saying the alternate phrase.

Thanks Mater!

Remy I am Not

Hubby has been working late all week so the boy and I have enjoyed dinner for 2 each night. The boy had been requesting crepes for dinner. This was a great idea for two reasons: 1. They are cheap. 2. They can be cooked on TOP of the stove and since our stove suffered an ill fate on Thanksgiving I've had to do some creative cooking.
The problem was that this is hubby's specialty and I have never before attempted to make crepes. Also, I can't even flip a pancake with minimal success.
The boy scurried around the kitchen gathering ingredients. It seemed he had store the recipe inside his 3 year old brain. This was a good thing because hubby's recipe (handwritten by my MIL) appeared to lack some details. What it did include was words like "dash" and a "sprinkle."

So with the coaching of the boy ("That's not the bowl daddy uses"..."That's not the pan daddy uses.") I did the best I could.

Mmmm...tell me this shouldn't be offered at Chefs de France:

I must say that my last attempt was an actual thing of beauty.

Well, if you insist...

As I mentioned in my "No Room at the Inn" post, reservations at any Disney resort are hard to come by for the week we must travel. We had been offered the Honeymoon Suite at the Wilderness Lodge. Had to pass.

I called back hoping that the Caribbean Beach Resort was available. We stayed there last April and loved it. The problem being that the main pool was closed for a major makeover. I wanted to reap the benefits of said makeover and was looking forward to a return stay this year. Nope.

Booked.

Entirely.

Not a room, villa, suite or janitor's closet with a sleeping bag to be had.

I tried later that night. Alas, there was one vacancy...at the Beach Club.

It was more than I wanted to spend, but not all that much more than I would have been paying for the Caribbean Beach had the 4/3 promo not been offered. Don't you just love how I justify the expense.

I've toured the Beach Club. We once had breakfast at the Cape May Cafe and the pool (aka Stormalong Bay) looks way too fun. I also love the location. We are early birds who love to get up and stroll with a coffee. The location for that is ideal.

When I initially booked it I figured I would just secure a room and call back in hopes of a moderate opening up. However, I'm excited about trying a new resort and so me thinks that I will stop obsessing.