Towel Animals Extinct?

I love Disney's towel animals.  When my dad & I stayed at All Star Music in 2012, we had 2 towel ghosts with pipe cleaners and sticky eyes hanging in our window.  It was the cutest thing!  I have always appreciated this unnecessary gesture from "Mousekeeping."  I told Jim about the towel animals we'd get on his first trip with me last year, and all we got was the Mickey head on the bed (I think I posted a picture and wrote about the lack of towel animals in a previous post).  When we returned to Pop Century a couple weeks ago, we didn't even get the Mickey head!  Nary a towel animal was seen in our room the entire 7 days of our trip.  I was pretty upset.  I was thinking of leaving a note asking for one, but part of the magic was getting one out of nowhere, not having to ask for it.

Then I read this:   http://disboards.com/threads/no-more-towel-characters.3422508/

It's a discussion board about how towel animals are apparently no longer allowed to be made and left for guests because of a recent survey where people said they'd rather have cleaner rooms than towel animals.  Can't someone clean a room and then leave a towel animal?  I thought it was part of the Mousekeeper training, in addition to cleaning a room!  I'm very upset if this is how it continues.  We want our towel animals.  Maybe we can start a secret code to let Mousekeeping know it's okay to leave us towel animals, like those pins people wear that say "It's OK to wish me a Merry Christmas!"  If I knew how to make pins, I'd probably try that.  And we can leave them on our night stands.  But if the towel-makers are getting reprimanded for doing that, we still might not get our towels.

Dole Whip RIP?

Given all the choices of flavor combinations and floats at the Dole Whip stands in Walt Disney World, I have never been sure of what constitutes a real "Dole Whip."  Is it pineapple soft-serve?  By itself or on top of a cup of orange juice?  The Dole Whip air freshener my mom brought home for me last year for my car is a pineapple-vanilla twist in a cup--is that it?

Anyway, with the swapping of booths in Adventureland as some sort of preparation for the forthcoming Jungle Cruise-themed restaurant (which is a whole other story--is this something we want or have asked for?  Will the "skipper" waiters make puns of our orders?  What will the cuisine feature?), you can now only find pineapple soft-serve at one stand, and orange and vanilla at another.  I don't know about the floats.  But I do know that pineapple-vanilla twist did not find a new Magic Kingdom home in the shuffle.  It is gone.

Photo and great opinion piece from blog.wdwinfo.com.

When we asked about this, we were told that since Disneyland in CA did away with their pineapple-vanilla twist, WDW was required to follow suit.  This cast member added that the Polynesian resort serves it.  I don't understand why we now have to take a ferry over to the Polynesian just to get a treat that was always available in the park.  (There is a very in-depth article on the new Pineapple Lanai shop at the Polynesian from Disney Food Blog--you now have the option to purchase your whip in a souvenir cup or bowl!) 

Apparently you used to be able to make your own pineapple-vanilla soft serve towers at a restaurant in the Polynesian called Captain Cook's--I love this picture from the blog easywdw.com!  They used chopsticks to make a very impressive tower!

 I settled for an orange-vanilla twist and was sorely disappointed. At least this interaction kept us in the area long enough to realize that Rafiki had shown up for photos!  Is that new?  

BFFs!!

Still to come: Duffy, Dapper Day, Pirates of the Caribbean, cute merch, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2015 edition, Epcot Food & Wine, pins, Downtown Disney/Springs!

Dapper Day/Dining Reservations Catch 22

I made reservations for Be Our Guest Restaurant a long, long time ago for our upcoming October WDW trip (180 days in advance, and I set my alarm!) and was SO happy to snag a spot for quick-service lunch.  It's what I've been looking forward to this whole time besides our "Disney Trifecta" which I wrote about in my last post (Dapper Day, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and Epcot's Food and Wine Festival).

Jim and I wanted more freedom to decide which park we were going to each day, instead of being bound by lots of reservations (especially since we didn't buy ParkHopper).  So I thought, why not book it the day I know we'll be in Magic Kingdom, for Dapper Day!  We'll be in our nice outfits and have a fancy meal to look forward to and really enjoy ourselves.

Well, it turns out Dapper Day is going to be at Hollywood Studios.  I was distraught!  So I used the Disney website chat people (who really couldn't tell me much) and the e-mail help to see if it was possible to purchase a ParkHopper for one day.

It is not, if you've purchased through Magic Your Way.  I also asked about the stand-by line to get in to Be Our Guest.  The chat guy said "it's a gamble" because of the restaurant's popularity.  The e-mail person said the stand-by is NO LONGER AVAILABLE.  Also, they are no longer offering the free quick-service lunch fastpass if you stay on Disney property.

So then came the question: which is more important?  Dapper Day or Be Our Guest Restaurant?

I reminded myself I'd been hoping to go to a Dapper Day for the past couple years and this may be my only opportunity.  But then I thought of that carved turkey sandwich on garlic bread from Be Our Guest.  And the grey stuff.  And those deep blue windows with the gently falling snow!  So Jim & I have decided that we will keep our reservations and, if we feel like milling about with a dapper crowd, we'll take the bus to Hollywood to look around at the entrance gates, and then walk down to the Dolphin & Swan for a sushi dinner with some karaoke!  Fancy people are sure to be around--maybe even people like us who made dining reservations at a different park!  And we can still get our own Memory Maker photos with the castle and all the other beautiful MK photo ops!  Problem solved!

Disney Planning 2015

Jim and I are back in the saddle of planning a Disney trip, which is always a very nice place to be.  We once again used the Magic Your Way package and booked Pop Century.  Even though we had a problem with Pop during our last visit (I'd written a review called "Mop Century" on the forum, as our floor was flooded by the door and window our entire stay, for which Disney offered to reimburse us in part and we were very glad for it), we figured the chances were low that we'd encounter the same problem, and besides, we didn't spend much time in the room.

We decided to go in October for what we've begun calling The Disney Trifecta: Dapper Day, Epcot's Food & Wine Festival, and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.  On my 2012 visit with my dad, we made it to the Food & Wine Festival and the Halloween party, but I wasn't yet aware of Dapper Day, an unofficial-to-the-parks meet-up of people who celebrate style by dressing in vintage or otherwise fancy outfits!  Some take it even further by "dapper bounding," which is a dapper take on Disneybounding!

Now that it's under 180 days until we arrive, I've been able to start making dining reservations.  However, we were restricted to certain parks each day of our visit last year because of all our dining plans, so this year we are taking it easy on the reservations.  The only one I woke up at 6am for on the 180th day prior to our trip was lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant.  We loved it last time, and since we stayed on property, they issued us a fast-pass for the quick-service lunch reservation.  I thought we'd have the same luck this visit, but after reading other Disney blogs and speaking with the chat people on the Disney website, I found out that they are no longer offering this perk.  Hence making my own reservation!  And we already know we'll be at Magic Kingdom our first full day for Dapper Day, so we'll be all fancy for our castle lunch!

I also recently found out that tickets are now available to purchase for MNSSHP, so I went ahead and got those, too.  The website said they sell out quickly so I recommend doing the same, tout-suite!

We are staying for a full week this time--Friday to Friday (of course we arrive after all the parks are closed our first night, but we will also spend some time in the parks before our flight on the last day), so we're hoping to be a little more relaxed on this trip (besides Jim's concerns of packing 2 different costumes for our events).  I'm hoping to have ample time to mill about Downtown Disney, which we missed out on our last trip.  Jim wants to spend more time pool-side, and we both want to order pizza to our room with those delicious caesar salads we miss so much!  It'll also be nice choosing which park to go to each morning!

I've been revisiting our last trip through Shutterfly--Jim & I haven't begun scrapbooking our last trip (something I'd been very excited over and he wants to help me with), so I spent my sick day and time waiting to visit the doctor by ordering all the prints we need for the scrapbook!  It definitely made me a little cheerier.  I don't know if you're familiar with Kellogg's rewards, but there are certain Kellogg's cereals with codes inside, and some are to enter for a free trip to Disney World!  That's why I started with the codes, but I also collect points towards other rewards, like Shutterfly.  I had 3 rewards I used on my Disney photos purchase today!  One was my birthday coupon for $20 off an order, another was a free reusable tote bag with a photo on it (for Earth Day), and the last was a free set of 2x2" magnets of your photos!  It was an excellent deal, and I saved about $80!  After adding on all my rewards, my prints order went down about $30!

More updates to come as our planning continues!

A Very Disney Christmas

I didn't go to Disney for Christmas this year (I never have, though it is a goal of mine!) but I did get a lot of Disney magic in the form of presents!  First of all, my brother and brother-in-law picked out the cutest Disney jewelry for me:

Mickey and Minnie earrings (too cute!!):

Mickey rhinestone and glass necklace filled with tiny gems, on a long gold chain:

They also got me other cute things, but this is strictly Disney today :)  My friend Jenny got me this adoooorable Mickey tea-for-one teapot!  She ordered it from JAPAN!  They don't have cute stuff like this over here, and I absolutely adore Tokyo Disney.  Sigh.  I'll be back some day!

She also got me these awesome Elsa socks!  Haha so cute:

Santa left a Winnie the Pooh Tsum-Tsum in my stocking, along with Frozen Band-Aids!

My parents got me this beautiful Alex+Ani bracelet that I saw on my last Disney trip and hadn't picked up for myself.  I checked online after returning from my trip and it wasn't available!  It was a park exclusive.  Well, since then it has become available on the website and my parents snagged it for me :)

They also got me this Chip mug since I became obsessed with Mrs. Potts after making those cookies of her a couple posts ago!

I got Silly Symphony and Toy Story Vinylmations:

And I gasped when I opened this one!  I had told my parents there was this really cute frame I liked in Hollywood Studios on my last visit, and I thought, "you don't need this."  Just like the Alex+Ani bracelet, I looked it up online but to no avail.  My dad found it on some Mouse Ears website and ordered it for me!  I have the perfect picture from that park to frame.  I'm so excited, and I was so touched!

And lastly, I got my dad tickets for us to go see The Little Mermaid at the White Plains Performing Arts Center!  It was last night, and it was wonderful!  I saw the Broadway production 5 years ago and this one was just as amazing!  Of course it was a smaller scale, but they did some great staging and production work.  The orchestra was wonderful, and the props and costumes were so colorful and fun! And of course all the performers had Broadway-quality voices!!  It is running till January 4 so if you live in or near Westchester, NY then I definitely recommend attending one of their last performances!!

Halloween Cupcakes and Nails

Disney was holding a "Haunt Your Disney Side" contest this October to win a midnight party at the Haunted Mansion in Disney World, and a one-night stay in Cinderella Castle!  The categories for entry were costumes, decorations, desserts and pumpkin carvings.  My entry didn't win, but I had fun making it!  I chose Mickey and Minnie Halloween Cupcakes, and this is how it went!

I started with some cute Halloween cupcake wrappers from Michaels:

Of course they weren't the foil kind so the oil bled through and the designs weren't very clear anymore. At least they were fun for me to look at while I baked!

I bought all the candy for decorating at Fuzziwig's--Jellybeans, sour candy tape, mini M&Ms, candy bones, and much more that I tried for ears, noses and eyes… but the candy I listed is all I ended up using!  Oh, and this TINY CONE with marshmallow that was just TOO CUTE not to buy… and I used it as a witch hat, as you'll see below :)  (Do you like my Frankenstein nails?  I have more Disney-ish nails at the end of this post!)

Now, if this were my cupcake blog, I'd go through many more steps with pictures, but it's more about the finished product here on my Disney blog, so here's Mickey (pre-vampire):

Oreo ears, mini M&Ms glued with frosting to vanilla jellybeans, a black licorice jellybean for his nose, sour candy tape cut into a tongue shape, and frosting.  There is no frosting around his face because the chocolate cupcake itself was the perfect color!

And here's Minnie, much the same except for her chocolate-sprinkles eyelashes (and pre-witch)!

Here is a side-view of Minnie (with her witch hat on) just to show you how funny it looked when it wasn't at just the right angle!

It was meticulous work making their faces--I used an offset spatula and vanilla frosting dyed to just the right color (some yellow, a teensy bit of red), and spread it on in the face shape.  As you can see, each "mouse" was actually 3 cupcakes.  So I didn't make more than the two I needed for my photo submission!  I made some fun Halloween-y "background" cupcakes with what frosting and sprinkles I had left:

So here it is, my submission for the "Haunt Your Disney Side" contest!  Like I said, I didn't win, but it was fun making this, and now I can put it in my scrapbook :)  Mickey has 2 little white-frosting fangs, a candy bone as his vampire bow tie, and sour candy tape as his vampire-cape collar!  Minnie has a frosted and sprinkled cone as her witch hat, with sour candy tape as the ribbon! 

And, as I promised, here is a picture of the nails I did for Halloween: poison apple nails!  All using nail polish and a dotting tool!  Hope you had a happily haunting Halloween!

Tony's Town Square is Perfect for Lady & The Tramp Lovers

Since this was Jim's first Disney trip, I wanted to fit in some extra special things.  He and I love Lady and the Tramp and watched the movie again before our trip.  We planned a dinner at Tony's Town Square at Magic Kingdom for our third night in Disney.

I'd never been there before, and I didn't quite know where it was!  Turns out I'd never even noticed it on all my trips to the Magic Kingdom!  It's right next to the bake shop (I probably never noticed because I'd always rushed there!), before all the little shops on Main Street, to the right as you enter.  (To the left of that building where you can meet Tinkerbell & Mickey.)  

The theme was absolutely everywhere.  Their reservation desk was adorable:

Their menus had Tony on them:

Even the bathrooms were adorable…

And we sat right next to the fountain!

The food was fantastic!!  I had the shrimp scampi (one of my favorite dishes anywhere we go) and Jim had the seasonal ravioli (this season was chicken marsala).  I also had Ariel's Punch (pink lemonade with Sprite, I think) which came in a cute plastic, lidded cup with a green, glowing Ariel clipped to the straw!  I kept it, obviously, and use it now as a flashlight for the interior of my purse :)

They brought us delicious focaccia bread and olive oil.  When our food arrived, all we did was shake our heads and smile after our first forkfuls.  It was beyond words.  

The only thing that made this not a perfect experience was the "celebration" aspect.  I had called over a month prior to our visit to add an anniversary celebration to our dinner.  I asked if they did anything special, and the woman on the phone said yes but she wasn't sure exactly what.  When we sat down, there was a ticket at our table that had "CELEBRATION" in all caps printed on the bottom.  I hadn't told Jim about my plans, and when our check arrived without any special recognition, I was sorely disappointed.  When Jim excused himself to use the men's room, I flagged down our waiter and asked him about it, saying it was supposed to be a surprise, and he said "We don't really do anything special for anniversaries.  A birthday, yes, we would sing and bring you ice cream.  I wished you a happy anniversary when I seated you.  But other than that…  You have to let them know beforehand."  I told him that I did let them know beforehand, and he said, "You need to remind them when you check in.  Maybe next year we can set the table for you with a tablecloth and wine."

Yeah.  Maybe next year.

So I guess if you are planning a celebration, let them know when you arrive.

Other than that, it is a great place to stop in for a delicious meal and great theming!  We didn't get any dessert (we were saving room for a Dole Whip anyway), but I did take a picture of this adorable plate one of the desserts came on (they were on display at the entrance--I wasn't hovering over someone else's table!):

And before we left, we made sure to look for Lady and the Tramp on a date in the back of the restaurant: