Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney is a huge entertainment complex on the grounds of Walt Disney World. It is kind of like a huge outdoor mall only better! Not only are there tons of shops to purchase anything and everything Disney, there is also a movie theater, every kind of restaurant imaginable, a live show theater (Cirque Du Soleil) and Disney Quest which is a virtual world gaming arena. Since there are hundreds of different stores and such, I will only highlight some of my favorites.

THE STORES

This was a few years ago outside the Christmas Store

Don't you just love Christmas trees and shorts???

I love to kick off any trip to Downtown Disney with a stop at the Christmas Store. It is one of the first stores you come to after the Disney resort buses drop you off. It is always decorated for Christmas (duh!) and it gets me in the mood for the holidays, even if it is January and I am still in Christmas Recovery Mode. The ornaments are beautiful and you can have engraving and embroidery done to personalize your stuff.

My favorite store is World of Disney. Let me tell you, it's HUGE! You can find ANYTHING here. Clothes? Oh yes. Kitchen items? You betcha. Fine jewelry? But of course! Need to get a stuffed Mickey or a princess costume? This is the place. Need to look like a princess? The Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Boutique can transform you into the princess of your choice. It is all here! I swear I could wander for days in this place. Warning: only take as much money as you can afford to spend because this store makes it REAL easy to splurge.too.much! Not that I would know ANYTHING about that....

Have you noticed the trend our young ladies are sporting on their feet? You know, the whole miss matched socks? Well, there is a store here called Little MissMatched and this is where they get them. It is quite the store and quite the idea. They sell socks in a pack of 3 and they are not identical. They coordinate but are NOT the same.  My favorite socks are the flip flop socks. During the winter, I wear my flip flops in the house. My feet get cold but I am not a fan of shoes so I wear socks with my flip flops. (I am so not a fashionista!) These socks have a separate compartment for your big toe so you don't have to look stupid creasing your socks with your flip flops. As if wearing socks with flip flops isn't stupid enough! Okay, I don't wear them in public....usually.

Lego Land. Actually I have no idea what the name of this store is but we have always called it lego land so that is what it shall be. Do you like legos? Who doesn't?! I LOVE to play with them. This store has sets upon sets upon sets of legos to buy. Don't feel like spending money on them? Right outside the store is a play area that has bins full of legos for you to create your masterpieces with. My germ-a-phobia prevents me from playing with the contaminated little things but, if your packing some germ-x (and who isn't these days) I say live a little and build that castle.

If my favorite store is World of Disney then my next favorite is Basin. This is the store that my daughter and I plan to spend most of our spending money at. My husband and son usually get a snack and sit outside so we are free to explore at a nice leisurely pace (or until the snack runs out). This is the place for bath bombs, shampoo bars, salt/sugar scrubs, facial products (all natural), bath salts and the cutest bars of soaps. We always buy some bath bombs to use in the jacuzzi tub at the resort. They smell soooooo good and turn your bath water funky colors. My favorite is the Patchouli scented one. This store is so much fun to be a girl in!

THE FOOD

Once you have shopped till you dropped you need to refuel and Downtown Disney has some really great restaurants. You can get anything from quick sandwiches to gourmet meals. My kids 2 favorite places to eat are T-Rex and Rainforest Cafe. Both restaurants are themed very cleverly. Rainforest Cafe is filled with elephants, monkeys, birds, gorillas and such and every 20 minutes they have a "thunderstorm". The lights dim, the rain starts and the thunder roars. Very cool. T-Rex has themed rooms, our favorite being the Ice Age room. The walls are covered in "ice" and the lighting changes every few minutes. Just outside the dining room is a Build-A-Dino store just in case you have extra money burning a hole in your pocket.  The food at both of these restaurants is very good and they keep the kids entertained long enough for the adults to have a conversation.

Dino in the "ice wall" at T-Rex

Last year, we dined at Wolfgang Puck's. Oh.My.Goodness!!! It was the best dinner I have ever eaten.
Everything from the decor to the service to the food was outstanding. I highly recommend this restaurant!



Another favorite of ours is the House of Blues. Really good food (my fave is the rueben!)and the decor is so cool. They also have a Sunday Gospel Brunch that is very popular.

Ceiling at House of Blues. Each square has the face of a famous musician.
 

This is a little better shot of the ceiling.

An oldie but a goodie is Fulton's Crabhouse. The food is okay but the ambience is what you will visit for. The restaurant is on the water and is fashioned like an old riverboat. Many, many years ago, it was called the Empress Tiger Lily. I can't remember what I had for lunch today but I can remember something from 20 years ago! Go figure!

One restaurant to avoid is Cap'n Jacks. Everytime we have eaten there, the food has been awful. The menu is tired and apparently so is the chef! Disney needs to revamp this one.

THE ENTERTAINMENT

Once you have refueled the old tank so to speak, it's time to have a little fun. There are so many things to do, it's hard to pick just a few to highlight. My favorite is the Cirque Du Soleil show called La Nouba. It is a high energy, acrobatic, high flying good time. I am simply amazed at what people can do with their bodies. The performers do everything from balancing stunts to flying over the audience. It is one show that will entertain and engage young and old alike.

We have never done this but they have a huge movie theater here and I believe they have food service while you watch the movie. How cool to see a Disney movie in Disney World!

The ultimate good time would be had at Disney Quest. Five floors of virtual reality fun. We have only been one time when our oldest kids were younger so I don't remember a whole lot but I do know that we all had a good time!

This has been a very brief overview of Downtown Disney. There is so much more than what I have talked about. I didn't mention Pleasure Island because it is the "bar" area and we don't go there. They do have live shows there occasionally and some shopping but I don't know a whole lot about it. For your own look at Downtown Disney, please vist Walt Disney World/Downtown Disney

It's Almost Vacation Time

Yes, my dear friends, it is almost vacation time for our family. One BIG perk of homeschooling is being able to pick up and go when it is convenient for hubby and his business instead of during the summer break when EVERYBODY is trying to get away. September is hubby's slow month so it is the best time for us to go somewhere. Our favorite family vacation getaway is Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. Growing up in Florida, only 3 hours south of Disney, meant we spent A LOT of time there. There were some years that we went 3-4 times but we always went at least 1-2 times a year once hubby and I got married.  When we moved to GA and the trip became 7 hours instead of 3, our Disney trips became a bit more infrequent. On my 40th birthday, we spent a week at Disney and bought into the Disney Vacation Club. We had previously belonged to it when we lived in FL but sold out when we moved to GA.  If you do not know what the DVC is, it is kind of like a time share but you don't have a specific time each year that you have to use it. You can go whenever you want and the resorts that are used for the DVC accomodations are outstanding. We usually stay at the Old Key West resort and almost always get a 2 bedroom condo (unless I am taking the kids by myself and we make do with a 1 bedroom). These DVC resorts are all on the Disney property so you can take advantage of all the goodies you get when you stay on property as opposed to staying in a non-Disney hotel. The condos all come with a full kitchen and laundry room which is great for us because we always eat at least one meal in the room and I HATE bringing home dirty laundry!

This trip was supposed to be a surprise for the twins but my mom accidentally gave it away. She was so upset about it because I had been planning it since February and had kept everything a complete secret from the twins. That is a big deal for me because I am lousy with secrets! I couldn't be too mad at her, though. I do still have some surprises for them concerning the trip.

The biggest surprise is that we will be seeing the Cirque Du Soleil show "La Nouba". I have wanted to take them to it for many years but we have never had the money for tickets until this year. Hubby and I went once, when I was pregnant with the twins, and were completely blown away by the show. It is amazing what the human body can do with proper training! If you have never seen this show, I cannot stress to you enough how awesome it is. You will NOT be disappointed!

Since Disney is the "Happiest Place on Earth" and my favorite place to be, I will be doing some posts on Disney Must Sees, Disney on a Dime and the benefits of the Disney Vacation Club.

Stay tuned!!!

The Pool Deck

Since we got a new pool last month, the need for a deck around it has been overwhelming. Hubby was going to hire someone to do it but that was just too much money so he decided we would do it ourselves. Kinda like how we do everything. It is a blessing and a curse to be married to someone who knows how to build ANYTHING. He can build it and WE are his work crew (whether willing or not)! We have done quite well if I do say so myself. Here are some photos of our progress.

Here is the pool right after it was finished and filled. It sits about 8 feet from our existing porch.

This is the extension deck that is currently underway.

We had 2 steps made out of brick that had been crumbling so we thought they would be easy to take out so we could put in a support beam. WRONG! It took 4 people, 3 hours and 2 sledge hammers to get those stupid bricks and concrete blocks out!

This picture shows the floor joists all the way to the pool. We're cooking now!

This is where we are right now. We have enough decking done so that we can walk outside and get to the backyard and pool without having to act like an Olympic hurdler! We are about 1/4 of the way done with the decking and 3/4 of the way done with all the support beams. We had to stop building those because we ran out of boards. Hubs forgot to double a number or he added wrong when he was figuring up his materials list. The work has gone pretty well considering one of the days was so hot that we only worked for about 4 hours and another rained off and on all day. What is in these pictures is about 3 days worth of work. Not too shabby.
We will be doing some more remodeling to the back of the house once the deck is done. Can't wait to share those plans with you!

Sharing at The Prairie Homestead

Stuffed Meatball Subs

Something weird has been happening to my taste buds lately. They're changing. Why? I don't know but they are definitely different. I know this because my son has been eating a lot of my sandwiches lately. What does that have to do with my taste buds? I'll tell you. For some reason, every time I make a sandwich that I really think I want, I take one bite and it is NOT something I want. The whole taste makes me sick. Really. One day I made 3 different sandwiches, thinking I just didn't like that particular sandwich. Nope, I couldn't stomach any of them. So the boy ate them. ALL of them. He's 12, eats anything that isn't nailed down and still only weighs 155 lbs. I really dislike his ability to do that. But I digress. The point is that previously loved sandwiches make me ill now so I have to find something else to fill that midday meal requirement.

Enter...The stuffed sub. Oh yeah, baby. This sandwich rocks! But it is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for those who only eat like birds. No, this is a MAN sandwich. Except us girls loved it too!

Okay, this first thing I did was mix up a batch of my french bread dough. I let it do its first rise. While it was rising, I took Pioneer Woman's Comfort Meatballs out of the fridge (I had defrosted them the other day and needed to use them up). I stuck them in a large ziplock with a little flour, shook em up and dumped them into a hot skillet to cook em up a bit. I cooked them a little more through for this recipe than I do when I follow Pioneer Woman's recipe because these won't cook in the oven as long. So once I got the meatballs all done, I took my bread dough, punched it down and divided it into 4 pieces simply because I was feeding 4 people. Each piece made about a foot long sub. I took a piece of dough and rolled it out into a flat rectangle. I then took some sauce (a can of tomato sauce, a small can of tomato paste and a can of diced tomatoes simmered for a little while with whatever spices you have handy)and spooned it on to the dough right down the center. I didn't use a ton, probably a bit less than 1/4 cup. Then I took a 4th of the meatballs and put them over the sauce and put a hardy sprinkling of shredded mozzarella over that. Then I pulled the dough up over the cheese and pinched the seams together and put it on a  parchment lined baking sheet, seam side down. I baked them at 350 for about 25 minutes, just until the dough was nice and browned. I served them with the left over sauce so we could do some dippin' and, man o man, they were sensational!

I'm getting hungry just looking at this picture!

Sharing at The Praire Homestead

This Morning...

I was coming off the high of yesterday's first day back at homeschooling going off without a hitch when the universe decided to conspire against my family. It all started about 4:30 this morning. I got up to...ya know...relieve myself and when I got back into bed, I thought I heard a car horn. So I drug my half asleep self to the door to see if anything was going on outside. Nothing, but something felt a little off. Couldn't put my finger on what so I went back to bed but didn't fall back asleep until after 5:30. When the alarm went off at 6, I was not a happy person so I stayed in bed until hubby got showered and dressed. In one of those moods, I went about getting myself ready. Hubby's office is on the property so he doesn't have a very long commute to work so I was wondering why he was already calling me from the office. Our conversation went something like this: Me: Hello? Him: Flood, bring towels and anything to soak up water! Me: crap! I am not in a talkative mood when I'm sleepy.
So I get the kids and all the towels I can find and head next door to the office which is also my laundry room. The significance of that little fact will be revealed now. Remember when I said that something didn't feel right when I got up to check on that horn? Well, last night I set the washer on delay so that it would have the towels washed before I got up so I could start them drying first thing this morning. It would have been washing about 4:30 this morning. Apparently, the valve that connects the hoses to the water line got a pinhole in it and was spraying water all.over.the.office! Well, not all over the whole office. Just all over my dad's desk, phone books, maps, computer, phone, notes, paper. I might add that his desk is made of plywood that hubby built and backs up to my washer. The walls are covered in pine boards that we got locally and the floor has laminate wood flooring where the desks are and carpet where the washer and dryer are. This was NOT what I wanted to wake up to. I didn't even get a cup of coffee until after the bulk of the clean up was done. We moved everything out that could be moved and cut out the carpet that was ruined. Fortunately, dad's desk was ok because hubby sealed it when he built it and I hung up his books and papers in front of a fan to help dry them. The wood floor will have to be pulled up. It was already buckling when hubby walked in. He was so cute (pathetic) when he told me that he was walking up to the door when he saw all this water in front of the door. He thought we got some rain last night until he realized that the water was coming from under the door ON THE INSIDE! So, we got all of that cleaned up so they could work and about an hour later, hubby comes to the kitchen and gets a bottle of whiskey out of the pantry. That can only mean one thing. What ELSE happened??? He was sitting in his office chair and heard a pop. The thing always makes weird noises so he didn't think too much of it until the chair threw him out onto the floor. He had just finished telling the boys "I don't know how else today could get much worse". You know God was sitting there giggling as He showed him how it could get worse! Needless to say, today did not get off to a great start. But you know what? I finally did get that coffee. That ugly carpet in the office will finally get replaced and now we have some motivation to move stuff around in there so we can fit the new guy hubby is hiring. So, I guess things aren't quite as bad as they seem before coffee. I am certainly NOT going to ask how they could get worse! Thank you Lord for helping me see the positive instead of focusing so much on the negative.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Review-Homestead Blessings-The Art of Crafting

*sniff* This is the last dvd in the series that I have to review. Yes, sad day :(
However, I do have to say that this video got my creative juices flowing. That is really saying something because I am not all that creative!
My favorite part of this dvd was the potpourri tutorial. Now, I do not have potpourri in my house, nor do I buy it but I'll be doggoned if their "recipe" wasn't so extrememly simple and gorgeous that I may just have to make this and use it for our homemade Christmas this year! They take everyday things that you would find on a walk in the woods or even your own garden and turn it in to something beautiful and useful. I love projects like that.
There are so many good ideas in this dvd. Hand printed napkins, bird feeders, dipped pine cones, and so much more. Like I said, I am NOT creative but, if I see something, I can replicate it. I just can't come up with it on my own. This video gave me PLENTY of ideas of things to make for myself and others. I will be watching this one several times!

So, I hope you have enjoyed the reviews for the Homestead Blessings series. I know I have enjoyed watching (and yes rewatching) these dvd's and they have been a 'blessing' to me. I hope they will be a blessing to you as well. Thanks for reading!

Review-Homestead Blessings-The Art of Soapmaking

In the blogging world, soapmaking is a HUGE topic. Everyone is making their own hand soap, dish soap, body wash, etc. This dvd shows you several different soaps from everyday soaps to decorative soaps to soap balls and hand milled soaps. The only thing about the soaps that keeps nagging at me is the fact that they use lye in their basic soap recipe. Now, I know years ago, lye was used in just about all the soap. However, I have seen some articles about the dangers of lye and it makes me think twice about wanting to use it in my soap. I will have to do more research on that before I make these soaps. Now I do have to say that Vicki's decorative soaps are adorable. They would make fine gifts for friends and family or you could make them to sell at craft fairs or farmers markets for a little extra cash.  Ka-ching!!!
This was a very informative video and they show you every step you need to know to make this yourself. If it wasn't for the lye aspect, I would be making all these soaps pronto! Christmas is coming and homemade is the theme this year!