BklynChick
10-30-2010, 12:30 PM
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Me - 30something and a true Disney freak, ready for a long-overdue trip!
Mom - 60+, loves Disney, but content to let me do all the planning
(Note: I will not go into great detail about food in this report, as I will be posting a separate “Dining Trip Report” in the Dining Forum.)
Sunday was an event day - Sweet Sundays and MNSSHP! We were able to sleep a bit later than usual, as we did not have to be at Epcot until 10am. We left plenty of time for bus service and ended up getting there early. On our way to the Festival Center, I noticed that Test Track had a very short wait - and I knew that Single Rider would be even shorter. I literally walked on the ride with no stopping. This is one of my favorite rides in any Disney park, so the more rides, the better! After TT we went to the Festival Center and checked in for our event. We were given our table assignment (Apple) and waited about 10 minutes to be seated.
We were soon joined at our table by two other women. Naturally there was some small talk and the natural question:
Where are you from?
Brooklyn.
So am I! Where in Brooklyn?
(I gave my neighborhood)
So am I!
Turns out she lives 10 city blocks away from us! Yes, Mickey - it really is a Small World!
After some “neighborhood talk”, we lined up for the buffet. I was impressed with the food served, and I would have eaten more except that I wanted to leave room for our desserts. Since Martini is the sponsor of Sweet Sundays, we also had a nice Prosecco to go with the meal (to quote our host, Pam - “Wine before 9, makes the day fine!”). Midway through the meal, we were joined by two guys from Baltimore who were very nice and we had more pleasant conversation before our guest came out for the demonstration.
The chef today was Stanton Ho from Chocolates A La Carte in Valencia, CA. He looked vaguely familiar - Pam mentioned he had participated in a Food Network Challenge. He was previously the Executive Pastry Chef at the Las Vegas Hilton.
I really enjoyed the demonstration although it was a bit unorganized. The desserts were not served in the same order they were demonstrated, and there wasn’t enough time to demonstrate all of them. There was also an unfortunate typo in the recipe booklet where “add” was turned into another three letter word beginning with “a” that is not very Disney friendly (think lower part of the anatomy). The audience caught on before Pam and Stanton finally did (Pam said it was the first time she ever blushed on stage!). The desserts were amazing - I made sure to take photos of each one. They were also very rich and filling. By the time we left, I could not eat another bite.
I thought Sweet Sundays was a very nice event, and well worth the money we paid. I would gladly attend another event like this. I even got Stanton to autograph my recipe book at the end.
We staggered back to the buses for a return trip to POFQ - only a 5 minute wait for the bus (we found Epcot buses to be the most efficient). We spent the afternoon at the pool reading, relaxing and swimming (no lunch though - we were still too full). Then we headed back to our room to shower and rest a bit before MNSSHP.
I was again bouncing up and down as we headed through the tunnel into Town Square for this trip’s first look at Main Street and Cinderella Castle. Our last trip was during HCOE, and while I did enjoy the embellishments to the Castle, it was nice to see it in its “normal” state.
I stopped in Town Square to take a few photos of the Halloween decorations. I was so focused that I didn’t even notice that “Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It!” was starting just a few feet away (thanks Mom for yelling “Mickey!” to get my attention!). I had a clear shot of the floats as they came out from back stage, so snapped a few photos, even though we had plans to see it at the Hub later in the week. Once the street cleared, we headed over to Frontierland for dinner at Pecos Bill. It was our first time here and I thought the burgers were good (loved the toppings bar). Afterwards we grabbed some popcorn and waited for the party to start. At 7pm on the dot, we were on line for our first trick or treat stop.
For some reason, we attended MNSSHP in 2005 without trick or treating. I guess we didn’t realize that it was OK to trick or treat for adults not in costume (we learned that lesson at the Disneyland Resort version a few years ago). This time around we hit nearly every stop. Even so, we ended up with less candy than at the Disneyland party. Oh well. I also made sure we stopped at the special PhotoPass spots for the party (although somehow I missed the one in Liberty Square with the hitchhiking ghosts). It was nice to see the little games that were set up for kids to play, like hopscotch and ring toss (CMs handed out stickers to the “winners”).
We arrived back at Main Street Hub just as the 8:15pm parade was due to pass by. We decided not to fight the crowds and hung out in Tomorrowland until it passed. We found a spot in the Hub, sitting on the curb facing the Castle, so we could see the 8:50pm Villains stage show. We decided to stay there to watch the Happy Hallowishes fireworks. It was a unique perspective - some of the fireworks behind the Castle were a little blocked, but otherwise it was great. Afterwards, we decided to head further back to watch the 10:30pm Boo to You parade. I actually got to see the Headless Horseman this time (last time he flew by too fast). The parade was really great, especially the Grave Diggers. Again, we found they were a bit stingy with the candy after the parade (last time, they were giving handfuls away). It was nearly 11:30pm before we made it back to POFQ.
Me - 30something and a true Disney freak, ready for a long-overdue trip!
Mom - 60+, loves Disney, but content to let me do all the planning
(Note: I will not go into great detail about food in this report, as I will be posting a separate “Dining Trip Report” in the Dining Forum.)
Sunday was an event day - Sweet Sundays and MNSSHP! We were able to sleep a bit later than usual, as we did not have to be at Epcot until 10am. We left plenty of time for bus service and ended up getting there early. On our way to the Festival Center, I noticed that Test Track had a very short wait - and I knew that Single Rider would be even shorter. I literally walked on the ride with no stopping. This is one of my favorite rides in any Disney park, so the more rides, the better! After TT we went to the Festival Center and checked in for our event. We were given our table assignment (Apple) and waited about 10 minutes to be seated.
We were soon joined at our table by two other women. Naturally there was some small talk and the natural question:
Where are you from?
Brooklyn.
So am I! Where in Brooklyn?
(I gave my neighborhood)
So am I!
Turns out she lives 10 city blocks away from us! Yes, Mickey - it really is a Small World!
After some “neighborhood talk”, we lined up for the buffet. I was impressed with the food served, and I would have eaten more except that I wanted to leave room for our desserts. Since Martini is the sponsor of Sweet Sundays, we also had a nice Prosecco to go with the meal (to quote our host, Pam - “Wine before 9, makes the day fine!”). Midway through the meal, we were joined by two guys from Baltimore who were very nice and we had more pleasant conversation before our guest came out for the demonstration.
The chef today was Stanton Ho from Chocolates A La Carte in Valencia, CA. He looked vaguely familiar - Pam mentioned he had participated in a Food Network Challenge. He was previously the Executive Pastry Chef at the Las Vegas Hilton.
I really enjoyed the demonstration although it was a bit unorganized. The desserts were not served in the same order they were demonstrated, and there wasn’t enough time to demonstrate all of them. There was also an unfortunate typo in the recipe booklet where “add” was turned into another three letter word beginning with “a” that is not very Disney friendly (think lower part of the anatomy). The audience caught on before Pam and Stanton finally did (Pam said it was the first time she ever blushed on stage!). The desserts were amazing - I made sure to take photos of each one. They were also very rich and filling. By the time we left, I could not eat another bite.
I thought Sweet Sundays was a very nice event, and well worth the money we paid. I would gladly attend another event like this. I even got Stanton to autograph my recipe book at the end.
We staggered back to the buses for a return trip to POFQ - only a 5 minute wait for the bus (we found Epcot buses to be the most efficient). We spent the afternoon at the pool reading, relaxing and swimming (no lunch though - we were still too full). Then we headed back to our room to shower and rest a bit before MNSSHP.
I was again bouncing up and down as we headed through the tunnel into Town Square for this trip’s first look at Main Street and Cinderella Castle. Our last trip was during HCOE, and while I did enjoy the embellishments to the Castle, it was nice to see it in its “normal” state.
I stopped in Town Square to take a few photos of the Halloween decorations. I was so focused that I didn’t even notice that “Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It!” was starting just a few feet away (thanks Mom for yelling “Mickey!” to get my attention!). I had a clear shot of the floats as they came out from back stage, so snapped a few photos, even though we had plans to see it at the Hub later in the week. Once the street cleared, we headed over to Frontierland for dinner at Pecos Bill. It was our first time here and I thought the burgers were good (loved the toppings bar). Afterwards we grabbed some popcorn and waited for the party to start. At 7pm on the dot, we were on line for our first trick or treat stop.
For some reason, we attended MNSSHP in 2005 without trick or treating. I guess we didn’t realize that it was OK to trick or treat for adults not in costume (we learned that lesson at the Disneyland Resort version a few years ago). This time around we hit nearly every stop. Even so, we ended up with less candy than at the Disneyland party. Oh well. I also made sure we stopped at the special PhotoPass spots for the party (although somehow I missed the one in Liberty Square with the hitchhiking ghosts). It was nice to see the little games that were set up for kids to play, like hopscotch and ring toss (CMs handed out stickers to the “winners”).
We arrived back at Main Street Hub just as the 8:15pm parade was due to pass by. We decided not to fight the crowds and hung out in Tomorrowland until it passed. We found a spot in the Hub, sitting on the curb facing the Castle, so we could see the 8:50pm Villains stage show. We decided to stay there to watch the Happy Hallowishes fireworks. It was a unique perspective - some of the fireworks behind the Castle were a little blocked, but otherwise it was great. Afterwards, we decided to head further back to watch the 10:30pm Boo to You parade. I actually got to see the Headless Horseman this time (last time he flew by too fast). The parade was really great, especially the Grave Diggers. Again, we found they were a bit stingy with the candy after the parade (last time, they were giving handfuls away). It was nearly 11:30pm before we made it back to POFQ.