Disneyworld Redux (thanks to Hurricane Irma)

Disneyworld!! We have not been since last September. We were planning to go again this September, as a combination birthday/going off to college trip, but Hurricane Irma vetoed that idea. :(. So we rescheduled the trip to last weekend, when Marcus had a 3 day weekend. He brought a friend, Matthew, along for the trip. It was Matthew’s first trip, and it reminded us that there are certain rides we love because of the memories that don’t necessarily appeal as much to a teenage boy going for the very first time (can anyone say “It’s a Small World?”)


Because we had to reschedule the trip, the only place available for us to stay was the Four Seasons (it’s a hardship, but someone had to do it!). The rooms at the Four Seasons are much nicer and roomier than at even the high end Disney resorts, but there is, obviously, much less Disney theming and the system is not as tied in as at the Disney resorts. For example, while you can get Magic Bands at the Disney desk at the hotel, you cannot put park charges on it, and they don’t serve as keys to the room either. All of which makes perfect sense. And it’s a great add for Disney because there are certainly folks who would come and stay at the Four Seasons who would not stay at a Disney hotel. (We are not one of them, as you might have guessed.)
The new Pandora ride—“Flight of Passage”—the more popular of the two Pandora rides—is amazing. It’s a cross between Soarin’ and Star Tours and is an order of magnitude better than either. The premise is that you are flying on a banshee through the world of Pandora, so there’s a big screen like Soarin’, but you are on a contraption that mimics being on a banshee (a kind of giant flying bird). The banshee even breathes as it sits between your legs. It’s pretty mind-boggling and definitely a fantastic addition to the park. (Time to update the Disney tome!)

in the world of Pandora

We also visited Disney Springs (formerly known as Downtown Disney), which we have not been to for years. It, too, has grown and improved and is a nice place to visit in the evenings or whenever you want a little down time from the parks (as difficult a concept as that is to imagine).

Disney Springs

With the older one off to college, it gives the younger one an opportunity to catch up on the number of trips to Disneyworld count. This is Marcus’s 55th trip, so he has only a few more before he ties his sister. (Not that this is a competition or anything!)

Disneyworld and an 18th Birthday

In the category of “How to Make Me Feel Really Old” falls the 18th birthday of our daughter (I assume our son’s 18th birthday will fall into the category of “How to Make Me Feel Really Really Old.”)
Our daughter elected to celebrate this momentous occasion of being able to sign legally binding contracts by spending it in Disneyworld.  Fortunately, her birthday coincided with a school 3 day weekend, which made it perfect.
We managed to spend time in all 4 parks, although Magic Kingdom received the brunt of our attention.  It makes me feel all warm and gushy inside to know that this now 18 year old young woman still loves Disney and still loves the Magic Kingdom.  (She may still turn out to be a serial killer, but at least she’ll be a serial killer who loves Disney.)
We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, so we woke up each morning to the sight of giraffes, zebras, and other wildlife right outside our balcony.
High points of the trip include:
— being at Magic Kingdom when the park opened at 7:00 am

early morning at the Magic Kingdom

early morning at the Magic Kingdom

— getting a how-to-be-a-warrior lesson from Mulan in the China pavilion at Epcot

— being entertained by Dara Vamp at The Brown Derby

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— seeing the parks decorated for Christmas

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Happy 18th birthday, sweetie!!

Disneyworld & the Osborne Family Lights

We haven’t been to Disneyworld for the Christmas season in years, but when we learned that this would be the last year of the Osborne Family Lights at Hollywood Studios, a visit was a must do and off to Orlando we went on the first weekend of December.

We landed on Friday evening and headed straight for the lights. They were even more spectacular than I had remembered.

Osborne lights

Osborne lights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IMG_1562Saturday morning was the Wild Animal Trek, something we had never done before. (Shock!) It takes place at Animal Kingdom, and half the trek is done with a harness so that you go over bridges and look at hippos and crocodiles up close and personal. The other half of the trek is essentially a VIP version of the Safari ride. The ride was particularly memorable for two reasons: first, there was a baby rhino out and about and feeling particularly frisky, chasing zebras and running around (so adorable!); and two, we had a (successful) proposal in the group when we broke for lunch (also adorable).

baby rhino!

baby rhino!

wild animal trek

wild animal trek

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the trek, we resumed our normal Disney activities with multiple rides of various rollercoasters and other rides at the parks. We returned to Hollywood Studios, had dinner, and headed for the lights one last time on Saturday. <sad face>

It was a spectacular trip. We had forgotten how festive Disneyworld is for the holiday season, and it was a good reminder. As our daughter said, “I really wasn’t in the Christmas spirit until I saw the lights again.”

Movie review: Inside Out

Once again, Pixar hits it out of the ballpark with a movie alternately funny and touching that appeals equally to kids and adults.

The nominal story is about an 11 year old girl, Riley, whose family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, and how she copes with this move. (Without detracting from the trauma of this movie, anyone who is lastingly upset about a move to the most fabulous city in the world is truly bonkers.)

The feelings in her head—Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust—all have a role in how Riley copes with the move. Without spoiling the movie (since we all know that Pixar never does happy endings), Joy discovers that as much as Sadness is truly a downer, it is Sadness that allows Riley to reach out for emotional support and cope with her circumstances.

I can’t imagine the pitch for this movie (“Uhh, we’d like to do a movie about what’s going on in an 11 year old girl’s head by animating her 5 main emotions”), but as with all Pixar movies, there is plenty of humor and pathos, triumph and tragedy.   Kids will enjoy this movie immensely, especially those who have gone through the process of uprooting and moving, and adults will enjoy an all-too-brief nostalgic glimpse into their childhood (imaginary friends, anyone?).

Pixar has demonstrated repeatedly that while the animation is important, the secret sauce is in the story. We enthusiastically give this movie a two thumbs up!

Movie Reviews: Big Hero 6 and The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

Two very different movies, and both equally good in their own ways. “Big Hero 6” is a Disney movie and contains the classic Disney elements: a traumatic event in the first 10 minutes of the movie, a hero in conflict, and a guardian angel (of sorts) to help him. There are strong secondary characters as well with lots of superhero action sequences and comedic scenes to lighten the tension. And, in the end, the hero has to find his own solution and to discover what is truly important to him. It’s a well-done, entertaining, and thoughtful movie in the best Disney tradition.

As with the best Disney movies, this one appeals well to the under 6 crowd, our action film-oriented 13 year old son, and our too-worldly-to-be-believed 16 year old daughter. We (the adults) liked it very much, too. The entire family gives this one two thumbs up.

 

The final installment of “The Hobbit” trilogy brought about some mixed feelings. I absolutely loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy and thought Peter Jackson did a fabulous job of getting the spirit of the trilogy right. (I’m not one who expects complete faithfulness to the books—these are movies, after all, and adaptation is necessary for such a different medium. Also, while I am a huge Tolkien fan, I don’t believe heresy was committed in adapting the books to film.) I am more ambivalent about his adaptation of “The Hobbit,” however. The book is a much more light-hearted romp into Middle-earth than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but the movies take a more epic and serious tone. The first movie of the trilogy (“The Unexpected Journey”) definitely dragged in parts, but the second (“The Desolation of Smaug”) was much better, and the barrel scene down the river has become one of my all-time favorite action sequences.

This final installment focuses much more on the action sequences than any narrative (which is hardly surprising, given that the book is only 300 pages and is being stretched into three movies).   Richard Armitage does an excellent job as Thorin Oakenshield and his transformation from being noble and kingly to being cursed with dragon-sickness and back again is convincing and heart-breaking. Martin Freeman is a highly underrated actor who is fabulous as Bilbo, a hobbit who keeps his humanity and moral compass when all around him have lost theirs.

And for the Benedict Cumberbatch fans (o daughter mine!), let’s just say that [spoiler alert here!] Smaug gets killed in the first 10 minutes of the movie.

Our 13 year old son absolutely loved the movie and can’t wait to see it again. I enjoyed it very much and will probably take him for a repeat viewing. That being said, I suspect that ten years from now, when we are looking back at these movies, the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films will have held up much better and be more highly regarded than The Hobbit trilogy.

Disneyworld…the ultimate Americana experience

We now have a third child (a temporary one, before you all get too excited about the news). Yinan is an exchange student from Beijing going to our kids’ school, and she is staying with us for the school year. She is a lovely person, and my only concern about her is how she could put up with our weird family for so long.

Anyway, we decided to celebrate Marcus’s 13th birthday by—you guessed it!—a weekend at Disneyworld. Naturally, Yinan came along (as well as one of Marcus’s best friends). You can’t get a more quintessential American experience than Disneyworld.

With the help of Disney’s guide service, we managed to get to all four parks—Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom—in two days. Even more impressively, we spent the first day entirely in Magic Kingdom and managed to hit the highlights of three remaining parks all on the second day.

There isn’t much to say about Disneyworld that I haven’t already said, either in previous blog posts or in my travel tome about it. That being said, it was really an even more amazing experience to go with someone who had never gone before. Yinan was a great sport about it—tried every ride and food experience (as you know, with us, it is also about the food).

And Tarl, our guide, was fabulously super. Without him, there would have been no possible way to hit three parks in one day (plus lunch, of course).

Happy birthday, Marcus, and welcome to the United States, Yinan!

on Space Mountain

on Space Mountain

Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom)

Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom)

with our guide, Tarl

with our guide, Tarl

Be Our Guest restaurant (Disneyworld)

One of the newest restaurants in the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld is the Be Our Guest restaurant, located in the Beast’s castle in the new part of Fantasyland.  We were lucky enough to get a dinner reservation due to a cancellation when we were last there in March.  Dinner was quite the spectacular evening.

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To begin with, there are 3 dining halls to eat in.  There is one room resembling the Beast’s room in the castle, complete with a petal-dropping rose.

There is a second room that looks like the room Belle could have eaten her first meal in.

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And the third room is the main ballroom of the Beast’s castle.

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The dinner menu is surprisingly cosmopolitan for a Magic Kingdom restaurant (but, after all, this is France, and dinner is never second best).  We started off with appetizers consisting of the Assorted Cured Meats and Sausages.  The menu says it serves two, but the servings are so generous that the dish can easily serve four without a problem.

assorted charcuterie

assorted charcuterie

But we also added the seasonal salad trio, which consists of a roasted beet, gold raisin and orange salad, a tomato and roasted shallot salad and a watermelon, radish and mint salad.  The consensus around the table is that the watermelon, radish and mint salad was the best of the three, although all were good.

trio of salads

trio of salads

The boy ordered the grilled strip steak with garlic-herb butter and pommes frites and the rest of the family all had the braised pork served coq au vin style (eight hour slow cooked pork with mushrooms, onions, carrots and bacon served with pureed cauliflower and seasonal vegetables).  The steak and pomes frites expert pronounced the steak to be excellent, and the pork was flavorful and tender.  Again, serving portions were very generous.

braised pork

braised pork

And, finally, there is dessert.  Who could resist ordering the “grey stuff” when it’s offered on the menu and guaranteed to be delicious?  It turns out that the “grey stuff” is excellent buttercream frosting on top of a rich chocolate brownie.  We also ordered the chocolate cream puff for kicks, but the grey stuff was clearly the winner.

the grey stuff

the grey stuff

chocolate cream puff

chocolate cream puff

the grey stuff as solo act

the grey stuff as solo act

On top of that was Disney’s characteristic friendly service.  Our waitress was attentive, friendly, and chatty.  You can also have your picture taken with the Beast after your meal.

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The restaurant also has a kid friendly menu (it is Disney, after all).

If jamming as many rides as possible into a day is your goal when at the Magic Kingdom, eating here is probably not a good idea, as the experience is leisurely.  But for a delicious meal or for a Beauty and the Beast fan, this is a delightful dining experience.  We highly recommend it!

Movie review: Saving Mr. Banks

We were predisposed to like this film, as we are huge fans of all things Disney and enthusiastic fans of the movie “Mary Poppins.”  But this film surpassed our expectations.  The basic plot is the story of how Walt Disney convinced P.L. Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins series of books to let him make a movie from the books.  Clearly, we all know how the story ends, given the enduring popularity of the movie.

But “Saving Mr. Banks” is more than just how a Hollywood movie mogul convinced a children’s author to license the movie rights.  The movie delves into the traumatic childhood of P.L. Travers (her father was an alcoholic) and how she coped with his struggles.  Emma Thompson does a marvelous job creating a curmudgeonly author who is over-protective of her family (her books) and who adamantly opposes her books being made into either a musical or an animated movie.  She is gradually won over, less by Walt Disney, and more by the Sherman brothers and the scriptwriter, at least, until the climax of the movie.

Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney with a benign touch, although you see glimpses of the iron fist underneath the genial exterior.  But he, too, reveals his complexity of character, combining charm with a touch of manipulation and the revelation of his own difficult childhood.

Be sure and stay through the credits.  The movie plays the actual audiotapes of P.L. Travers discussing the script with the Disney folks.  (I think they do it just to be make sure you know they weren’t exaggerating her cantankerousness.)

“Saving Mr. Banks” is an extraordinarily touching movie about two very different people finding healing and closure in the making of the “Mary Poppins” movie.  The two main characters are well fleshed out and are complex characters.  The secondary characters are well-acted.  I can see why the movie has generated such a buzz.  I do think much of the complexity of the characters and the nuanced relationships between the characters went over the heads of our two kids, so while they liked the movie, it didn’t resonate with them as much as it did with us.  The grownups enthusiastically give the movie two excellent thumbs up, and the kids give the movie two very good thumbs up!

Movie review: Frozen

We all went to watch “Frozen” last night.  “Frozen” is the newest Disney animated movie and is roughly based on “The Snow Queen,” one of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales.

This is definitely one of Disney’s better animated movies (I’m excluding the Pixar movies from this comparison, as that wouldn’t be fair.)  The story is interesting and even has a bit of a plot twist.  The animation, especially of the ice castle, is stunning, and the music is impressive.  Elsa’s character is voiced by Idina Menzel, from the Broadway music, “Wicked.” The relationship between the two sisters, Elsa and Anna, is complex and loving.  Comic relief is provided by a snowman, Olaf, and a reindeer, Sven.  (It is Disney, after all, so look for stuffed Olafs and Svens in a Disney store near you.)

There is also the requisite romance, but since that part of the movie is part of the plot twist, I won’t say anything more.  It is interesting that the narrative arc, while consistent with all other Disney animated movies, is more complex and rich in this movie than is typical.

There is also the requisite tragedy (the death of Bambi’s mother still haunts me decades after seeing the film the first time).  Let’s just say that you shouldn’t get too attached to Elsa and Anna’s parents.

All in the family (including the teenage daughter and the tween son) enthusiastically give “Frozen” a thumbs up!  We highly recommend seeing it!

Asia-Lite Summer Vacation

What we did on our summer vacation:  we visited Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Honolulu—what I laughingly call our Asia-lite trip (anytime you go to Asia and you can drink the tap water, it’s not a true Asia trip).

The weather was hot and humid in both Hong Kong and Tokyo, but they were really fun trips.  Here’s a view from our hotel in Hotel Kong:

view from the Island Shangri-la Hotel

view from the Island Shangri-la Hotel

Hong Kong Disney was a blast, and we were fortunate the day we went because there was some cloud cover and a slight breeze.  Then, in true Hong Kong fashion, it poured during one of the parades where the characters spray you with water guns.  As the kids said, “We didn’t get wet from the water guns at all!”

Hong Kong Disney parade

Hong Kong Disney parade

We also discovered the Museum of Coastal Defence in Hong Kong.  (I know, the British spelling can be most disconcerting.)  They used one of the actual bunkers to create the museum, which is very well done.  Once again, the only quibble I have is the commentary about modern times.  (“Reunification has brought about a new solidarity and brotherhood of common defence.”  Or something along those lines.)

Tokyo was just a brief stop in order to participate in the US-Japan Leadership Program’s weekend activities.  It was lovely to see a lot of people whom we hadn’t seen in a while and catch up.  It was also nice to meet the new delegates and discover what an impressive group they are.  We had a tour of the Diet (the Japanese Parliament building), walked around the fish market, and toured the Nezo Museum, which has a small but excellent collection of Chinese antique bronzes.  (They have several other items of interest, but we love Chinese bronzes.)

Our final stop was Honolulu where we stayed at the Halekulani, our favorite hotel there.

Waikiki

Waikiki

The kids took surfing lessons every day; we visited the Bishop Museum, the Honolulu Art Museum, and the Plantation Life Museum.  For a bit of kitsch, we went to the Dole Plantation, where we went through the maze and, most importantly, ate some Dole Whip.  (I mean, yes, you can get fresh pineapple there, too, but what would be the fun in that?)  We had some fabulous dinners at Alan Wong’s, Morimoto, Town, and Sushi Sasabune.  More about the meals later.  Their magnificence deserves their own blog entries.  We also weathered Tropical Storm Flossie, which fortunately for us, only lightly touched Oahu.  I’ve included some photos showing the imminent arrival of the storm (and the view from our hotel room).

view upon arrival

view upon arrival

Tropical Storm Flossie approaching

Tropical Storm Flossie approaching

Tropical Storm Flossie

Tropical Storm Flossie

after Tropical Storm Flossie

after Tropical Storm Flossie

It was a relaxing and fun break, and we look forward to our next trip there!