>So, Where is Home?

>

As mentioned in previous posts, The Walt Disney Company believes that everything they do is a show. For this reason, their workers are called Cast Members. The Walt Disney World Cast Members are unbelievable people. In my many travels to Disney World, I have come in contact with probably thousands of Cast Members and 99.99999% of them have been wonderful people that made our trips Magical Experiences. I’m sure I’ve had one or two here and there over the years that I thought was having a bad day, but most of the time, actually almost all the time, you never know if they are having a bad day. On the whole, the Cast Members are really great at helping to

create the magic. People like Andy at the Boardwalk or Dallas at the Hoop De Doo Revue, are just a couple of examples of Cast Members that know what
the Magic is and actually make sure you Experience it.

Last year when we were eating in Le Cellier in the Canada Pavilion in Epcot, we were waited on by a very nice young lady that was from Nova Scotia. My son who is a big Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh Penguins fan, made a comment about Crosby being from Nova Scotia. Our waitress started talking hockey with us and actually told us she

not only knew Crosby, but is good friends with Marc-Andre Fleury, The Penguins goaltender. Then she shared with us her experience of when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup last year. If it weren’t for her name tag saying her name and where she was from, we would have missed out on a Very Special Experience.

That is today’s Unknown Magic. Every Cast Members’ name tag lists where they are from. This is pretty neat when you see people that are from your area of the country and also maybe from your state. We were in the Conservation Station (in Animal Kingdom) last summer, and it seemed like most of the Cast Members working there seemed to come from the Philadelphia/New Jersey Area. Being from New Jersey, we talked to a lot of these people about “home.”

When you are in Epcot’s World Showcase, you will notice that all the Cast Members working at the different pavilions are from those countries. A lot of them are part of the Disney International Program. Everyone of the Cast Members that we have come in contact with in Epcot, have always been very eager to talk about their home country, and share their culture with us. It is very neat to discuss with someone their home town, and ask questions about how Disney has designed the buildings and areas in Epcot, as compared to these hometowns.

These experiences can be had all over Walt Disney World, You can meet and talk to people from places that you know or just want to know more about. The Cast Members are normally friendly outgoing people, but when you start talking to them about their hometowns, they seem to be even more Excited and Talkative.

So, now you know, when you come in contact with a Cast Member, read where they are from, You might be in store for a Magical Experience you might never have seen coming.

>Food, Food, Food!

>

  

This is the first Tips from a Teenager Tuesday. My son John, is helping me with my Tuesday articles, so I figured what I would do is ask him some questions and then tell you about the things he mentions. For those of you that have a 15 year old, you will understand some of the answers, those of you that don’t; I will say these are his real answers.

The question I will pose every week is,“Tell me something you like about Disney World that everyone needs to know about.”

The answer this week was, “Food, Food, and Food!”

“What exactly do you like about the food?”

“It’s amazing. What more can I say?”

(At this point I tried a different tactic knowing it wasn’t going to get much better)

“What are your favorite places to eat in Disney World?”

“Le Cellier, ‘Ohana, and the Pepper Market.”

Le Cellier is the steak house in the Canada Pavilion in Epcot, ‘Ohana is in the Polynesian Resort and the Pepper Market is a quick serve/sit down place in the Coronado Springs Resort.

“What makes them your favorite?”

“The quality of the food and the atmosphere.”

“Of the three of them which would you choose if you could only go to one?”

“Le Cellier.”

“Why?”

“I love a good steak every now and then.”

“It had nothing to do with the fact the waitress we had knew Marc Andre Fleury?”

“Yes, that does have something to do with it.”

Let me fill in some background John’s favorite hockey team is the Pittsburgh Penguins and he really likes Sidney Crosby. The one time we ate at Le Cellier, the Waitress mentioned she was from Nova Scotia, which is where Sidney Crosby is from. When John made a comment about him, she asked if John only liked Crosby of did he also like the Penguins, when he told her the Penguins too, she told him about knowing Marc Andre Fluery, the goaltender for the Penguins. She told us all about how she was a friend and how when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup earlier that year she and her mom were in tears for “Marky”. I think it is still one of John’s favorite Disney memories.

“Favorite thing about Ohana?”

“All you can eat. There is a Lot to choose from- chicken, steak, veggies, and Polynesian noodles.”

‘Ohana is a family style restaurant, where they bring out long skewers with beef, chicken, shrimp and pork, which are cooked over an 18 foot oak fire pit. (‘Ohana is also home of the Best Friends Breakfast with Lilo & Stitch, a character breakfast.)

“What is it about the Pepper Market that you like?”

“The many different cultures represented there.”

The Pepper Market is a food court kind of eatery, where when you first walk in, you get a ticket. You walk around to the different areas, and choose your food. The servers then stamp your ticket and you pay for all of them as you are leaving. The food choices range from Mexican, to American with Pasta, Pizza and Stir-Fry as options. There is also a Bakery and Beverage area. It is a place where the whole family can aget something they like.

“What else would you like to tell anyone about the food in Disney World?”

“That there is a place for everyone and any taste; it’s nice to know that you will always find what you are craving no matter what. Since there is so much, there is always something new to try and experience.”

“What was your favorite new experience with food in Disney?”

“The Japanese place.”

The “Japanese Place” is Teppan Edo the Japanese restaurant in the Japan Pavilion, in Epcot. At this restaurant, the food is prepared for you on a stovetop table that you sit at. It is a really neat dining experience and I think this is where John tried Sushi for the first time.


So, what else would a 15 year old boy say everyone needs to know about in Walt Disney World, FOOD! Next week, I’ll try to feed him before I ask the question, and maybe we’ll hear about something that won’t add to our waistlines. We hope you enjoyed today’s tips.

“Thank you, John.”

“Sure Dad.”

>For the Puckheads.

>

My son fom Christmas years ago. Take note of the jersey.

 For years my wife and I have been laughing that we are bad parents. Not because of neglect or anything like that, we are bad parents because of sports. We live in the Philadelphia area. My wife is a huge Eagles Fan, I follow them, both my wife and I like the Flyers, and as a family, the Phils are our baseball team. If you noticed I said as a family we follow the Phillies. I didn’t say that about any of the other teams. This is how we are bad parents. Our son is a Kansas City Chiefs fan, which until this year was like saying he liked a high school football team, but the problem comes in with his hockey team. The young man, who claims to be our son, is a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. This does cause some problems from time to time, and it has elicited some dirty looks from people when we go to Penguins/Flyers games. But they say you should let your kids have their own thoughts and be their own people. Sometimes it is hard. Luckily, he is not just a Penguins Fan, like me, he is also a Hockey Fan. By that I mean he enjoys the game. He doesn’t only watch the Penguins, but likes to watch other teams as well (although he usually is rooting against the Flyers, no matter who is playing them- Bad parenting). For the Hockey Fans like us, Walt Disney World offers a few Unknown Magics.

The first and easiest way to get your Hockey on is to go to the Canada Pavilion in Epcot. They usually sell hockey shirts and sweaters (jerseys to us Americans) on a cart at the base of the steps that lead up to the Pavilion. I have seen team Canada Sweaters and also different NHL teams that are from Canada available here. If you are lucky enough, to get a meal in Le Cellier, you may also be lucky enough to have a server that knows some hockey players. When we were down three years ago, we started talking to our server about where she was from in Canada and she told us. Our son the Sidney Crosby fan said hey that’s where Sid is from. She then asked if he was a Crosby Fan, he said yes and the discussion turned to the Penguins. She shared with us that not only did she know Sidney Crosby, but she

was very good friends with Marc Andre Fluery the Penguins goaltender. I still don’t know how we got my son out of the restaurant that night I thought he was going to follow her home. It still ranks up there as one of his favorite Magical Experiences in Disney.

Another place where you can find some hockey is on Main Street USA. One of the shops connected to the Main Street Emporium is called the Hall of Champions. This store sells Disney themed Sports attire. They have in the past sold hockey jerseys, which had Disney Characters as the leaders of the teams; the Grumpy Miners, Donald’s Destroyers, Pluto’s Devil Dogs and Mickey’s All Stars have all been sold in the past (I know this because I have all except the Devil Dogs). They also used to sell hockey pucks with the Character teams on them also.

In Downtown Disney you may be able to find Hockey apparel, at Team Mickey. Team Mickey is a huge Disney store that sells sports Merchandise. Of course many of the items have Disney characters on them, but they also sell official team jerseys and clothing and also Official ESPN items. Most of the time, the merchandise that is on the floor goes with the sport s that are being played, so Hockey things may not be available all year around, but even in the summer I have seen a few hockey jerseys available.

To watch hockey games when you are in Walt Disney World, you can either go to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Grill or the ESPN Club at Disney’s Boardwalk. Both are great places to watch any sports, but on the big screens, Hockey is just that much better. And if the Boardwalk is too crowded you can walk down to the Big River Brew Pub, it is smaller and the TVs aren’t as big, but it is still available if you need to see a game.

So, now you know, if you are a Hockey fan, you can find some things to keep your hockey passion alive when you are in Walt Disney World. You might be lucky enough to find someone to talk hockey with, or just be excited to pick up an authentic Canadian hockey sweater, because there are ways for Puckheads to have Magical Experiences in Disney.

>What’s in a Name?

>

In Mount Joy Pennsylvania, there is a bar called Bube’s Brewery. Part of the Bar is called the Catacombs Restaurant. From their website they state, “A costumed guide will greet you and lead you on a tour of the brewery on your way to dinner. You will descend 43 feet into the stone-lines vaults of the Catacombs. There you will find a unique fine dining experience, with a menu that includes a variety of traditional and gourmet dishes.” I couldn’t eat there when I went. It was too dungeon-like for me. But what a great name for a restaurant that is underground. There are some awesome names that are used throughout Walt Disney World. Today I present the Unknown Magic of Great Disney World Names.

In sticking with the underground theme the first place name we have to bring up is Le Cellier, which is French for The Cellar. If you have never eaten in Le Cellier, you do seem to walk down a slope as you are entering the dining room. And with the beams above your head, you do kind of get the feeling of being in a cellar, but not that far underground.

The other great name from this same area of Epcot is “O Canada!” This is a 360 degree film that is about Canada, hosted by Canadian actor Martin Short. I think the name itself is awesome, even if it makes me dizzy every time I go in it.

One of the best new names in Walt Disney World is the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. What a great name for a “spa” for little princesses. Where else would you take a little girl to get her hair, make-up, and clothes made over so that she could become a princess? I mean when you put them together- what do you got? Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo! So the name is just Magical!

In the Magic Kingdom, one of the great pun names is The Lunching Pad, in Tomorrowland. I love a good play on words and this is fun.

One of my Favorite names in all of the Walt Disney World Resort comes from the Polynesian Resort. It is ‘Ohana, the restaurant on the second floor of the Great Ceremonial House. For those who don’t know, ‘Ohana means family. As one of the “cousins” is seating you in this wonderful restaurant, they explain to you that the meal will be served “family style” and that you can also have as much of anything you want. Whenever we go to Disney, we make at least one trip to ‘Ohana and we

make sure to toast our wonderful family (and our Magical Experiences) – the way you need to when you are there- by raising our glasses and saying, “To a great Vacation and ‘Ohana!”

One of the toughest names to say three times fast is Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade. And if that isn’t bad enough, they change the name of it around the Christmas Holiday to Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade! I dare you to try and say those 5 times fast. You end up sounding like you have spent a great night at Raglan Road. Another great parade name is Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It! Just the name of this one makes you want to dance or something. It gets you all pumped up and makes you ready for a Magical Experience.

This takes us to the great names given to the night time entertainment in the parks. Wishes, IllumiNations, SpectroMagic, Fantasmic! What great words to make you want to stay after dark and see what they are going to present. You know if the show is half as interesting or as powerful as the words are, it’s going to be a great presentation.

Two great names in one area are based on a great backstory. The story is that there was a freak snow storm in Florida, the owners quickly built a ski resort, but the snow melted just as fast as it had come, and they kept it open as a water park. The water park became known as Blizzard Beach. Which is a great name and a lot of the parks attractions and rides have names that stay with the winter theme; Mt. Gushmore, Toboggan Racers, Slush Gusher, and Ski Patrol Training Camp are just a few. The other great name form right next to Blizzard Beach is Disney’s Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course. Winter Summerland, has two eighteen hole courses, one that is summer themed, with sand and surfing songs, and the other is winter themed with snowmen and hockey rinks and both of them feature Santa and his elves.

I think the most interesting name on the entire Disney property though is DisneyQuest. This name is great, but it doesn’t give a hint about what is inside the big greenish building that the name is written on. For those that have never been inside of it, it is a Multi-Floor Interactive Indoor Theme Park. Even that description is a little vague. What is inside this building are five floors of interactive games, video games, and virtual reality experiences. It is really something you have to experience once if you visit Walt Disney World.

So, now you know, there are some straight forward Disney names (even if they are in another language), some Magical Disney names, some names that come from a good backstory, and names that will get you all pumped for what is going to happen. But my favorites are the ones that not only create Magical Experiences, but also are family favorites.

If you are in Mount Joy area, go Check out Bube’s Brewery or online at: http://www.bubesbrewery.com/index.htm

>Adult Nite Out?

>

So, when we went to Disney last week, we went with friends of ours, who we met through our sons. They are 13 and 14 years old are so much alike that they could be brothers and are both really great kids. They also have a little girl that just turned one. She was wonderful during the trip and even enjoyed the Spirit of Aloha Luau, with us. But she is only one. And not thinking about her being with us, before we left, I made some late evening Dining Reservations at Le Cellier Steakhouse and ‘Ohana. This probably would have been a little bit of a problem (even as wonderful as she is) she probably would have started getting fussy after her bedtime. But there is an Unknown Magic that we used, well they used, which made our dinners great and still took care of the little one. This would be the Unknown Magic of the Babysitting service. Disney does not take care of this in house they use a company called Kid’s Nite Out.

Kid’s Nite Out offers two different services. They offer a service of Mother or Father’s Helper where one of their people will accompany your family throughout the day as you are in the parks and wherever else you go. They also offer the service our friends took advantage of, an In-room Babysitting Service. The rates aren’t bad- $16/hour with a 4 hour minimum. And all the sitters are over 18 and have been trained in CPR and first aid. And as they say on their website:

“Each caregiver is thoroughly assessed with an application process, interviews, background checks, and reference checks. Equally as prioritized, the caregiver must fully comprehend child safety, know what children like in order to have fun, and genuinely love children. Once approved, each caregiver goes through specialized Kid’s Nite Out training and Disney Orientation. All services are followed through with stringent security procedures.”

And as we discussed when we were there, Disney would not recommend anyone that would do anything to diminish their guests expriences, so they must do a good job.

Well they did do a great job. The first night they utilized the service, they found the sitter to be great. The baby was asleep 10 minutes after we left and there weren’t any problems. Our friends, who are very cautious parents, were so impressed that when we got back that night, they booked her for later in our trip also. It worked out wonderfully and made for Magical Experiences at both meals, as we didn’t have to cut anything short and no one had to worry about a fussy baby.

So, now you know, if you have a little one and you want an adults night out, you can have one by using the Unknown Magic of Kid’s Nite out come and babysit for you. This could create Magical Experiences for you and maybe the kids too! 

For information on Kid’s Nite out, you can check out: http://www.kidsniteout.com/svcs_sitter.aspx or call1-800-696-8105

>So, Where is Home?

>As mentioned in previous posts, The Walt Disney Company believes that everything they do is a show. For this reason, their workers are called Cast Members. The Walt Disney World Cast Members are unbelievable people. In my many travels to Disney World, I have come in contact with probably thousands of Cast Members and 99.99999% of them have been wonderful people that made our trips Magical Experiences. I’m sure I’ve had one or two here and there over the years that I thought was having a bad day, but most of the time, actually almost all the time, you never know if they are having a bad day. On the whole, the Cast Members are really great at helping to create the magic. People like Andy at the Boardwalk or Dallas at the Hoop De Doo Revue, are just a couple of examples of Cast Members that know what the Magic is and actually make sure you Experience it.

Last year when we were eating in Le Cellier in the Canada Pavilion in Epcot, we were waited on by a very nice young lady that was from Nova Scotia. My son who is a big Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh Penguins fan, made a comment about Crosby being from Nova Scotia. Our waitress started talking hockey with us and actually told us she not only knew Crosby, but is good friends with Marc-Andre Fleury, The Penguins goaltender. Then she shared with us her experience of when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup last year. If it weren’t for her name tag saying her name and where she was from, we would have missed out on a Very Special Experience.

That is today’s Unknown Magic. Every Cast Members’ name tag lists where they are from. This is pretty neat when you see people that are from your area of the country and also maybe from your state. We were in the Conservation Station (in Animal Kingdom) last summer, and it seemed like most of the Cast Members working there seemed to come from the Philadelphia/New Jersey Area. Being from New Jersey, we talked to a lot of these people about “home.”

When you are in Epcot’s World Showcase, you will notice that all the Cast Members working at the different pavilions are from those countries. A lot of them are part of the Disney International Program. Everyone of the Cast Members that we have come in contact with in Epcot, have always been very eager to talk about their home country, and share their culture with us. It is very neat to discuss with someone their home town, and ask questions about how Disney has designed the buildings and areas in Epcot, as compared to these hometowns.

These experiences can be had all over Walt Disney World, You can meet and talk to people from places that you know or just want to know more about. The Cast Members are normally friendly outgoing people, but when you start talking to them about their hometowns, they seem to be even more Excited and Talkative.

So, now you know, when you come in contact with a Cast Member, read where they are from, You might be in store for a Magical Experience you might never have seen coming.