Here We Go!!

So I am only one day away from making the longest roadtrip I have ever taken in my life. I hope everything will go right. I have all my bags pack and the oil in my car has been changed and everything is ready to go. I am so excited to be on the road and ready to go, the only set back is that I will unfortunately have to make this long journey all on my lonesome. My friend Leonard was originally going to come with but he has some family coming and then Brittany doesn't want to travel anywhere this summer so now its just me. 40 hours of just me , the road, and my tunes...

A Whole New World

So some news....I have been back at home from Disney for about 5 months now and being back at school has its ups and downs but its been a good semester. My person life is ok.... not great but not really that awful. But I recently returned from a fast weekend trip to the place where dreams come true for a job interview for an attractions position for the summer and I got the job!! So I will be returning to Disney World this time as a conductor on the Walt Disney World Railroad and PAC at the Magic Kingdom!! Im soo sooo soooooo very excited to be returning home to the Magic Kingdom.

Okotberfest All Year Long

So yesterday I was another day to continue my culinary tour around the world. This week's stop was in Germany at the Biergarten, where everyday is Oktoberfest. The Biergarten is set in the heart of a Bavarian Villiage and serves authentic German cuisine buffet style. The inside theme is very similar to that of the Blue Bayou. You are "outside" in this quite german village and all of a sudden you are bombarded with the sounds of a delightful, live German band as they welcome you to feast and celebrate oktoberfest.

So the first thing I decided to tear into was all the sausages and sauerkraut!!! It was really tasty, even the sauerkraut lol. They has a bunch of dipping sauces to go along with the sausages. They had a regular yellow mustard, a spicy brown mustard, and sweet mustard, and some other one that didnt sound appetizing to me so I didnt have any. The meat servings of the day were Rotisserie Chicken which was actually really moist and juicy needless to say I had a few helping of chicken. The Roast pork was the made in authentic german spices. It seemed like it had a familiar taste like something I have tasted before but i couldnt quite place it. It was ok not the best thing there and really the only thing that I was a little disappointed in. The Fish of the day was Salmon with a Butter Dill sauce. I loveddddd it!! It was my favorite dish!! It was so fresh, flaky, and flavorful it was awesome.

There were also great side dishes that added a lot to the German experience. The German potato salad was really good. This is coming from a guy that doesnt like regular potato salad but I liked this one. The Spaetzle was a different kind of side dish. Its like a german duppling which was good but I couldnt eat a lot of it. The Frikadelien was another one of the surprise dishes that I though were really delicious.

When it comes to desserts that Apple Strudel and the Bavarian Cheesecake were the highlights of an assortment of dessert dishes. These were the top two for me. I had two servings of the apple strudel. It was great!.

Coming soon

Ohana

A Food and Wine Festival

Drinking around the World

A Day in the Magic Kingdom

Future with Walt Disney Co.

Foods of the World

So I have tried to make it a priority to eat at a new restaurant each week when I get paid. So far I have eaten a lot of good things ranging from African cuisine to celebrating Oktoberfest with traditional German foods and ofcourse the beer!

So here is the list of some of the stuff that I have already eaten:

I have eaten a Dole Whip from Aloha Isle in Adventureland. Their is only 4 places in the world where you can get them. The first is in the Magic Kingdom, the Polynesian resort, the third in Disneyland, and is at the Dole plantation in Hawaii.

The first real culinary adventure I have been on since I have been down here was when I went to Sanaa at the Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The name of the restaurant (Sanaa) means beautiful artwork and there is plenty of it on the walls and around the grounds there. The theming of this place was amazing. You really felt so far away from the rest of the world like you were actually in a place in Africa but the images of hidden mickeys reminded you that you where in the Happiest Place On Earth. The meal started out with a sampling of Indian style bread service. They give you the choice of choosing three types of bread, Naan, Onion Kulcha, Paratha, Paneer Paratha. We ended up choosing the Naan bread, which is like a fluffy tortilla, the Onion Kulcha, a flattened pancake with onion baked in, and the Paneer Paratha, which is like the naan bread but with this paneer cheese baked on it. Along with the bread service you get to also chose three accompaniments. The choices were Red Chile Sambal, Cucumber Raita, Coriander Chutney, Mango Chutney, Garlic Pickle, Green Mango Pickle, Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus, Tamarind Chutney. Out of these choices the Red Chile Sambal, the Mango Chutney, and the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus were the winners. The breads were so good and so filling that they could have been a meal just by themselves. The Red Chile Sambal was the equivalent of an African hot sauce, but with more seasoning that actual heat. The Mango Chutney ended up being my favorite of the three it was sweet and had a fresh sort of flavor to it, the hummus was also pretty good and Im not really a fan of hummus.

With how good the breads and sauces turned out my expectations for the main courses were through the roof and they didn't disappoint. The title of this portion of the menus was called "Slow Cooked in Gravy, Simple and Well Seasoned" and rightfully so. The Shrimp with green curry sauce and the beef short ribs served with Basmati rice were some of the best food I had ever eaten. The shrimp were a plump and juicy and cooked just right and the curry had just the perfect amount of spice and saltiness that didn't make it overbearing. The part of this meal that really surprised me was the Beef short ribs. They had a fantastic blend of sweet and spice. The taste of these tender ribs was so familiar but I couldnt quite place where I had tasted such a thing. Upon asking the server what it was that the ribs were seasoned with I had discovered what that familiar taste was. CINNAMON the ribs were actually slow cooked in cinnamon. The other main couse that I had the pleasure of eating was Tandoori Chicken. It was wrapped in Naan Bread like a sort of giant sandwich. Minted greens and Tomato and cucumber-Yogurt Raita gave the giant african sandwich its sweet, fresh flavor.

With every bite I could feel myself slipping into a food coma. The final part of the meal was dessert. Chocolate cake, was ok pretty standard I would say but the Passion fruit Kulfi and the Chai Cream were so tasty and delicious. Im really glad I was able to enjoy the wonderful offering from Sanaa and I recommend it to anyone who is looking to try something new and take their taste buds on a wild roller coaster of the strange and succulent.

Yo ho A pirates life for me

Once Upon a TIme Is Now!!

So it has begun. I have been here in Orlando for a about a week and half now. It's been soooo awesome. Our arrival date was August 18th so on the 16th I went to Fresno to pick up Kevin and we drove down to John Wayne International in Santa Ana that night. We left good ol' California behind at about 9:30 at night.

The flight over was definitely entertaining we could play trivia games and watch satellite television on the plane( how cool is that!). We got to Atlanta at about 4:50 in the morning and let me tell you as soon as I walked off the plane the humidity hit me right in the face. The air felt so thick that I could almost swim in it. Of course by the time we landed in Atlanta I had worked up a giant appetite. The only thing open was a Chick-fil-A so I got fried chicken and biscuits for breakfast. It was pretty tasty but I would much rather have had something else. I was able to catch 10 mins of sleep in the airport before we took off to finish our trip to Orlando.

The journey to Orlando from Atlanta was pretty quick it only took about an hour and 10mins of flight time. We made our way to our hotel only to find that ALL of the rooms had been book so we took up all of our stuff and went to a hotel about half a mile away. It was seriously the hottest half mile ever!!! Especially with having to carry all of my bags and junk. SO at the new hotel they did have rooms available but they were like 80 bucks a night, so thats when I called the G-PA. My grandpa being the master negotiator that he is was able to haggle down the price to 67 bucks I still have no idea how he did that. SO we stayed our first night there.

After taking what turned out to be a 5 hour nap I woke up and we ventured out to Pop century resort for a pre-arrival meet and greet to meet some of the other people that were starting their college programs on the same day. I met a bunch of new people and people that I have been chatting with on facebook for months but just now meeting face to face for the first time. After dinner some of us went to this place called the Orlando Ale House. It was ladies night so all the girls got to drink for free so they all had fun but the rest of us that had to pay had an ok time. The best thing about Ale House was their cheese fries gosh they were sooooo delicious!! After Ale house I made my way back to the hotel and crashed out for the night. I had a very early and busy day the next day.

The World Is A Carosel of Color

So this weekend was America's 234th birthday and I celebrated it in the best place possible the Disneyland Resort! I went to Disneyland with my friend Sara and her family. The first day was just getting there. It was a fun 2 hour drive down to Anaheim. We played I Spy it was that fun hahaha and that was pretty much the only exciting part of the fist day.

Saturday Part 1- The beginning of the saga. The weather was nice and breezy very different from the hot 100 degree weather that've been having to get used to. Walking up to the main gate of Disneyland is my favorite part. I like humming the tunes and strolling the the esplanade. Main street looked absolutely amazing as it was when Walt first welcomed guest into his magic kingdom. As I strolled down the street the aromas of fresh popped popcorn, candy apples, and corn dogs filled the air and made each breath delicious. We went on every ride probably twice before 8pm rolled around. I was really surprised I had expected that everyone wanted to be at Disneyland for 4th of July weekend. It got hotter during the day and their was no better way to cool off than enjoying two of my favorite treats in Disneyland a Mickey bar and Mint Julep.



The the last thing we did on Saturday was head over to California Adventure to view the all new nighttime spectacular Walt Disney Presents World of Color. World of color was absolutely amazing. We got in the Yellow section, which was the middle of Paradise Park, this provides a great view. It was a little confusing though. We were told to meet back over by Redwood Creek challenge trail to be led over to the viewing area by cast members before the show. However the when we got there we found that you actually didn't need to report to the check in area you can just go pick out a spot luckily we got there pretty early and found a good spot.

The show was awesome from intro to end! The favorite part of the show for me was the villians scene. From Pirates to the Stampede , I was on the edge of my toes. All the fire lit up the night. The heat form the fire warmed our faces even though we were a pretty good distance away. The Chernabog scene right now is actually better than I thought it was going to be. The show brought out a range of emotions which something Disney does better than anyone else. I was excited before the show, happiness washed over me when I looked on and saw Buzz and Woody, sadness during the Lion King scene and anger at the end because it was over.
The water effects were crisp and clear and all done very well.

The most interesting scene was the finale. After a certain cat makes his appearence, it bascially shows you what you've seen in the show. A very well done finale. The show was really a world of color and it showcased all of the movies that Walt himself loved and ones that all of us today identify as the classics. From the Little Mermaid to Wall E and everyone in between. I was happy to see that Tiana and Naveen in the the finale scene and Dr. Facilier in the villains scene. I rather enjoyed the show and it is definitely worth staying out at DCA to see. (there were 3 showings when I was there).

Here are some tips for if your planning to see the show.
1. Go get a fastpass for the show by Grizzly River Run or by California Screamin. It is the FIRST THING you should do when you get into the park.

2. Be sure to stick around for the exit music. The fountains remain on until the exit music ends. It's a great way to view the water effects if you're not close enough during the show.


Part 2 tomorrow!