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Around the “Disney” World – China Pavilion

Sunday, July 31, 2011 Mike 2 Comments

China is one of the pavilions located over at Epcot, in the World Showcase. Located between Norway and Germany, China is home to Reflections of China, one of the Circle-Vision 360 shows that you will find at Epcot. Reflections of China is one of the movies that I like to see, as it gives me a picture of China that you don’t often see very often. That, in a nutshell, is what makes Epcot’s World Showcase such a great place to visit — for most of us, we aren’t going to be able to travel to China, or Japan, or Morocco, or even the UK, so being able to come to Epcot gives us some ideas on what life is like in those parts of the world. But I digress.

In addition to Reflections of China, the China Pavilion is also home to two dining locations: the Nine Dragons Restaurant and the Lotus Blossom Cafe. While I have heard mixed reviews about the Lotus Blossom Cafe, my friend Melissa found some reasons to check out Lotus Blossom over Nine Dragons. If you have eaten at either of these locations, please feel free to comment and let us know what you thought of them.

For our family, China is a quick getaway — a place to relax, take in a movie, but not spend a whole lot of time at. For those that love exploring every detail of the World Showcase, China has some wonderful art pieces to examine. Explore the Temple of Heaven before seeing the movie. Reflect a dreamy Disney day at the reflecting pool. Do some shopping at the House of Good Fortune, or just take a break from all of the hustle and bustle of a busy Epcot day. There is something for everyone at the China Pavilion.

Around the “Disney” World – Mexico Pavilion (chipandco.com)
Drink Around the World Showcase – China and the Joy of Tea (chipandco.com)
Exploring the Shows: Epcot (mydreamsofdisney.com)

Around the “Disney” World – Canada

Tuesday, July 26, 2011 Mike 4 Comments

When I think of Epcot’s World Showcase, there are a few things that spring to mind immediately: The Voices of Liberty over at The American Adventure; eating dinner at Biergarten in Germany; and watching O Canada! in the Canada Pavilion.

Canada is a wonderful pavilion, full of a lot of things to see, do, eat, and experience; I could easily spend a couple of hours exploring all of the areas that Canada has to offer, so let’s take a look at the things that you can enjoy when you travel to Canada!

When it comes to Canada, people usually think of one of two things: eating at Le Cellier, or taking in the movie O Canada! I’ll tell you what, O Canada! is probably my favorite show to see at Epcot. I’ve never eaten at Le Cellier, but a lot of people have, and I have heard that it is incredible! One year I will make a reservation to eat there, but until then, I’ll dream about it!

However, there is much more to discover at Canada. For starters, you can enjoy the music of Off Kilter, a celtic rock band that plays in front of the pavilion. We heard them a couple of years ago, and they were quite good! Additionally, you can look for great Canadian souvenirs by heading over to the Northwest Mercantile, and you can check out the Victoria Gardens, which are modeled after the famous Butchart Gardens in British Columbia.

The Disney Imagineers have done a wonderful job capturing the beauty of Canada, in my opinion, so if you haven’t been to Canada lately, you might want to schedule some time to check it out when you are next at Epcot!

Ask a Disney Question: Bag Security

Saturday, July 23, 2011 Mike 4 Comments

Image ©FAQOrlando.com

Today we have a question from Chuck, who writes:

When visiting the parks,is it always necessary to go through the “bag line” if you just have a small camera case?

Thanks for writing Chuck, let’s see if we can get your answer covered for you! Technically speaking, all bags that you are bringing to Walt Disney World are required to be checked by security upon entering the park. However, during our last vacation, I was taking my daughter and niece through security because we were running behind on getting to their appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and the three of us went through the “no bags” entrance. The security guard let us through with a hello and a smile. We were in such a hurry to get there, that it didn’t occur to me until we sat down after checking in that my niece had a small backpack — and the backpack hadn’t been checked.

So, while the answer is definitely “Yes, you need to go through the bag line”, it appears that the security guards are looking more closely at adults to see if they are carrying a bag rather than children. Oh, and for the record, if I had realized that Anna Jane had the backpack, I would have passed it on to my wife, who was taking her bag through the line.

I hope that this answers your question, Chuck, and that you have a wonderful trip on your next vacation to Walt Disney World or Disneyland! As always, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to submit them here!

Ask a Disney Question: E-Tickets (chipandco.com)
Ask a Disney Question: Where to rent a wheelchair? (chipandco.com)

Disney Food Confession – Bobotie

Saturday, July 23, 2011 Mike 1 Comment

Image ©DisneyFoodBlog

Where to Find it: At Boma, over at the Animal Kingdom Lodge

What is it: An authentic African dish consisting of a spiced, minced meat, which is usually pork or beef, and baked with an egg topping.

Why you’ve got to have it: Well, to be honest, I don’t really have any “got to have” dishes at Disney. However, listen to this, and maybe you will decide to try it. For those that don’t know, I absolutely detest eggs! I almost never get them unless my host offers them to me, and even then I only get a small portion. When I saw the Bobotie at Boma when we went, I really thought that the top coating was actually some sort of cornbread topping. The golden brown color, the thickness, the meat underneath, I really thought it was cornbread.So, as I grabbed a serving, and started eating it, it didn’t even occur to me — until I had eaten about half of it — that I wasn’t eating cornbread. I was eating eggs. But you know what? The dish tasted good. The only thing I wish it had was a little more spice to it, maybe a dash or two of Texas Pete — but then it probably wouldn’t be African cuisine.

Photo Credit: Special thanks to AJ at the Disney Food Blog for the photo!

Disney Food Confession: The Gigantic Smoked Turkey Leg (chipandco.com)
Disney Sites We Love – The Disney Food Blog (chipandco.com)

Ask a Disney Question: E-Tickets

Saturday, July 23, 2011 Mike 2 Comments

Today we have a question from Mark, who writes:

I heard people mention E-Ticket rides at Disney World? Other than park admission do we have to get additional tickets? I am confused what is an E-Ticket???

Mark, thank you for your question! I hope that I can help get rid of your confusion over what an E-Ticket is. For that, though, we need to look at a little Disney history.

When the Magic Kingdom first opened, on October 1st, 1971, you paid a certain amount to enter the park itself. The cost was $3.50 for an adult, $2.50 for a child aged 12-17, and $1.00 for a child aged 3-11. However, just paying to get into the park wouldn’t provide you access to many of the attractions. The Magic Kingdom also sold “Adventure Books”, which were a group of tickets that you could use to ride the attractions with. However, at Walt Disney World, then as well as today, there were different levels of attractions — everything from an A-Ticket attraction all the way up to an E-Ticket attraction.

The tamest attractions were the A-Ticket attractions, and if you used all your A-Tickets up, you would be able to buy more for a small fee. The most exciting attractions were the E-Ticket Attractions, and when you used all of them up, you could also buy more, but those tickets were more expensive.

Fortunately, Mark, today we don’t have to worry about separate tickets to ride the attractions. Now, when you purchase your Magic Your Way Ticket, you are provided entrance to the parks, and you can ride as many of the rides as you can fit into a day. A standard Magic Your Way ticket will provide you with entrance to one park per day, however, if you want to “hop” from one park to another, you can do so by purchasing the “Park Hopper” add-on to your ticket. This does cost a little extra, and the debate is endless over whether it is worth it or not (the current cost for the Park Hopper add-on is $55 per ticket, and covers all of the days you have on the ticket) — but I for one really like hopping from park to park.

Lastly, there are quite a few E-Ticket attractions at Walt Disney World. Here are what I would call the E-Ticket Attractions from each of the parks:

Magic Kingdom

Epcot

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

I might have left some out, but you get the idea. If any of you out there think I’ve missed some, please comment and let me know which ones I’ve missed.

Mark, I hope that this helps to answer your question. If you have any further questions, or if anyone else has a question, please do not hesitate to shoot us another email using our contact form.