A Guide to (More) Food in Disneyland

I'm back with all kinds of Disney yums.  And before we dive in, I want to remind you that 2 years ago I wrote the original Guide to Food In Disneyland, making this a Volume 2 (thus the "More" in the title)

So if you haven't read that post yet I suggest you do before you start reading this one and go "What the heck!!... where are the churros? Where's the corn dogs??"  because they're in the first post....so simmer down now.  I kid.

The first post I did was more about the staples that I get every time I go to Disneyland and trying one or two new things.  For the sake of blogging.....and not just because I love food and use vacation as an excuses to gorge myself until I gain 8lbs that then takes me 6 months to lose...no, no...for the sake of blogging I have tried even more Disney delicacies to share with you.  Now let's get to my second favorite thing besides eating food.....talking about food!

*All prices are from when we were there 6/ 9/14-6/11/14

In the first post you'll remember how I said our first food pit stop of the day is always a bowl of clam chowder in New Orleans Square.  Well after some deep deeeeeep conversation, The Boy and I decided to shake it up a little bit and hit up the Harbour Galley right off The Haunted Mansion along the water of the Mark Twain Riverboat

We got alll kinds of wild and crazy and ordered a Lobster Roll. For $13.99 you got the sandwich and chips that are dusted with some sort of yummy seasoning....maybe cajun?  I can't really remember but I loved them.

 

And while the price may seem a tad steep....your are in Disneyland....and they really load up on the lobster!  Had there been less maybe I would have felt ripped off...but there was a surprisingly good amount.  I loved how lemony the dressing was but there wasn't too much to overpower the lobster goodness.  It was all in good proportion and piled onto a nicely toasted roll. I would highly recommend it. 

But for the record....we ultimately decided we still NEEDED to start our day off with some clam chowder.  Luckily they also sell the chowder at the Harbour Gallery so we got one of each and split it between the two of us. It was necessary....gotta keep up the tradition right?

They sell Broccoli cheese soup here as well which is what my niece got and always does gets.  I took and bite and it is delicious!.....but I'll stick with my chowder...it has my heart. This was a good snack to get our Disney day rolling.  Snack??...you say.  Isn't that a full meal?  On a normal day...yes, it would be considered a meal....but not on a Disney day.  Disney days take eating to a whole new level.

Next up.....Dole Whips!

Last trip I had a Dole Whip for the very first time.....and my life was forever changed.  Before I was even finished eating said Dole Whip, I started dreaming of when I would try the float version.

See....I have this thing for floats.  Root beer, orange,...whatever.  I love me some ice cream and drank!  So I was super excited to get my dirty paws on a Dole Whip float....and this trip was my opportunity

Stroll on over to the stand just outside the Tiki Room and for $5.79 you get your float complete with little umbrella

But here's the crappy part.  I was so pumped up about and was so sure I'd love it....and I didn't.  Don't get me wrong, I liked it.....just didn't love it.  I think from now on I'll stick the to the traditional soft serve.  But you never know which you'll prefer until you try them both!

Moving on to the next......

This may come as a shock to you....but in all my 24 years I had never had a funnel cake before.  Crazy right?

So I decided Disneyland  was the perfect place to finally give it a try.  I totally forgot to make note of the price, but I got it at The Stage Door Cafe in Frontierland.  I went super traditional and got the powdered sugar topping as opposed to the strawberry or chocolate.  It was pretty much everything I wanted it to be.  Coming from a girl who used to basically deep fry her pancakes as a kid instead of "griddling" them....funnel cake was my dream come true.  Light and crispy and not overly greasy.  What's not to love about fried battery goodness?

 

While were on a sweets kick, here's the other sweet treat we got...a peanut butter sandwich

 

It's basically graham cracker topped with peanut butter stuff (filling? frosting? Does it really matter?) and covered in chocolate.  A peanut butter lovers dream.  It only set us back $3.99 at Pooh's Corner 

We've made it sort of a tradition to buy something out of the sweets case before we settle in for the Parade.  We almost always get toffee (it's one of my favorites!) and have gotten cupcakes and dipped pretzels before too.  Now we've added this to the list and I'm pretty sure it will become a regular for us

Continuing on....we had also never gotten popcorn before.  I think mostly because it's not that "special" in comparison to the other foods.  But after a few sweets, some salt sounded really good so we finally bought ourselves a box

 

And it was some damn good popcorn.  I can be pretty pick about it too....but it was the perfect amount of butter and salt.  You can't ask for much else

Last but not least for this trip....we finally ate at The Carnation Cafe on Main St.  We don't normally take away from precious ride time to eat at sit down restaurants in Disneyland, but considering we were there an extra day than normal we thought we could squeeze it in.

There were two major things that reeled us in: The PB&J soda, and the fried pickles.

Sadly, the PB&J soda had just recently been taken off the menu. Wah Waaah! But I do have high hopes that popular demand will bring it back someday and we can try it.  I'm gonna keep a positive outlook on this one

Luckily the fried pickles were still on the menu!  For a pickle lover like myself this was something I just had to have

For $5.99  you got nice panko crusted pickle spears with their House Sauce for dipping.  Not a bad start to the meal....not bad at all....

We also went all old timey and shared a Cherry Malt.  (cue 90s sitcom "Awwwwww" track)

I always thought I didn't like malts....but I guess I do.  Maybe the other ones I had were to malty before....or maybe everything just tastes better in Disneyland.  Either are entirely possible.

For another $5.99 we got to look super cute and coupley.  Except we only had one straw....so it actually wasn't that cute...but whatevs.

For the main course The Boy got The Main St. Cheeseburger for $12.99. Your typical cheeseburger fixings on a brioche bun along with that house sauce again.  He added bacon because..well.....why not?

This lady got herself a Sourdough Bacon Cheese Melt for $14.99

 

Pepperjack cheese, grilled onions, bacon, and spicy house sauce on toasty sourdough

The Boy liked the spicy sauce so much he asked the waiter to bring him a side of it for his burger.  We slathered that stuff on everything...dipped a few fries.  It was good eats

That sums up all the new eats we tried. It was fun to try some new things but at the same time I think it's created a biiiiiig problem for our next trip.  Instead of our usual 5, 6 things we have to hit....now we're gonna have to get like 30. But I think I can handle that problem....I gear up for months for this Disney food crawl.  I accept the challenge whole heartedly!

 Like I said at the beginning of the post, don't forget to check out Volume one of Disneyland food.  I also have posts on food in California Adventure so be sure to check those out too!

Peter Pan and Wendy Cosplay

After having done Mickey and Minnie and Carl and Ellie we decided on Peter Pan and Wendy for Day 3.  Of the 3 days I would say these were the least "costume-y" and more of the Disney bound style like you see all over Pinterest. Less in your face trying to look exactly like a character and more just inspired by them.....if what I'm saying makes any sense at all?

For Peter Pan I bought The Boy a lime green shirt from Walmart and ordered him a pair of green Dickies off the internet.He wore the same brown shoes he did for Carl and also Woody way back in the day.  That left his hat.  

I thought it would be cool to have it be an everyday modern style hate....just done to look like Peter's hat instead of him actually wearing one like the kind you buy at the park.

So this is what I came up with.  I found a white fedora at Walmart

And broke out the old Rit dye and dyed it dark green and then hot glued a red feather in place.  I forgot to take an after picture of the hat on its own.....but you can see it here.  (It was bright as CRAP so please excuse the terrible face shadows etc)

For Wendy Bird I bought a cheap white shirt and cheap white shorts and dyed them both light blue.  I went with white for both so I could dye them to the same shade to imitate her nightgown being all the same color instead of buying two different pieces that would be different shades of blue.  Which really isn't a big deal.....but for some reason I was stuck on them being the exact same.

Hindsight I wish I had left them in longer....but I was having some weird yellow spots appearing on parts of the clothes so I pulled them a little early for fear it would get worse.  And to finish my Wendy look I curled my hair that day and wore a darker blue bow in my hair. Oh and black shoes

 

While we were shopping I had to snap a picture of our inspirations

And here we are...........

 

Funny story....ironically we were wearing these outfits as we stood in line for Peter Pan's Flight when I noticed a Smee in the  line with us.

I gave The Boy and nudge and pointed him out.  That's when we decided that as soon as we got closer to him in line we would ask to take a picture.  He happily obliged and then put on a grump face for the picture.

Let me warn you.  It is like a terrible, HORRIBLE picture of me.  It was toward the end of a June day spent out in the sun and I look like a sweaty disheveled mess and my curls have fallen out. I guess I got way to turnt at the House of Mouse. lol But here it is anyway........................................................................

A nasty Wendy, a cute Peter Pan, and a stranger Smee. What a scene!

Well that completes the outfits for this Disney Week....more Disney goods to come!

Young Ellie and Carl Cosplay

So as you saw yesterday we always have themed "costume" type outfits for our days in Disneyland.

Day 2's outfit came about in a different way than normal.  The Boy and I always start brainstorming a bunch of cosplay ideas for our Disney trips months and months in advance.  We normally have the 2 we really want and start hunting for clothes just based on those.....with maybe a back up idea if we end up not being able to find our first choices.

This trip was a little different for us because it was the first time ever that we went for 3 days.  We have always only gone for 2 before.  We instantly agreed on 2 costumes, but the third one was kind of up in the air....but I started the hunt anyway

I was at Ross looking for one of the particular outfits when I walked past a shirt on a rack.  I kept on walking at first but then was instantly drawn backward.  I swear if somebody had the footage it would have looked like I was being rewound on an old VHS. The shirt was perfect and I NEEDED it npw....and before that very moment I didn't even know I wanted it.

That one single shirt sparked an entire days outfit.....one that we had never even thought of as an option.

I was so pumped up about this damn shirt I ended up sending this text out to 2 of my sisters and niece

When they couldn't get it I kept adding hints

But I finally just ended up having to tell them it was Young Ellie from Up

Isn't the shirt perfect??  Yea it's not spot on....but it's pretty damn close! That same night at Ross I scored a pair of shortalls for the outfit too. Probably the only good reason for the 90s being back in right now (not a big fan of most 90s styles....it's a rough clothing time period in my opinion lol)  I know she wears regular overalls, but we were going in June so I welcomed the shorts version to keep a little cooler

With most of my outfit out of the way....it was time to focus on the Young Carl version for The Boy. 

 He already had khaki shorts and similar glasses. I bought him a cheap yellow Polo from Walmart and scored a brand new, tags on, Banana Republic brown sweater vest for 99c on ebay.  Not only was it a sweet deal, it was also my very first time to win an auction.  I always lose them or have to select the "Buy it now" option....so this was a huge excitement in my life for like over a week.  It's all about the little victories in life right?

That left the aviator hat....which I just couldn't find.  Bummer right? Oh well....maybe next time.  I still think the costume was really good....that would have just pushed it over the edge into full fledged awesome though.

That just left the small details ...like the bottle cap pins and bow for my hair.  I had originally planned to make both myself....but as it got down to the wire I ended up buying them to save time and some of my sanity.  Not only was this our vacation, but my sisters destination wedding....so you can imagine the sort of planning and chaos leading up to our departure...so yea.....I sucked it up and bought some stuff.  

I bought the pins off Etsy and the last minute and got them in the mail a mere 2 days before we left....but they were perfect!  Better and cheaper than I could have done myself so it was a better decision all around

 

And for my bow I just bought an already made one at Michael's and hot glued it to a headband.  Quick and easy

Ready to see the finished looks??

Don't you just love how overalls give you that awkward stomach pooch?  I've got enough of my own....I don't need any added help thank you!

And together.....

It was a fun one to do because it is a lot more obscure than any other outfits we've put together.  It's not quite as obvious and I'm sure plenty of people just thought I was some crazy broad with a babies bow in my hair.  Ya know....those babies that always have bows bigger than their whole damn head on everywhere they go. Haha!

We had a few people that would stare at us as we walked by.  Then maybe 20 seconds later after we kept walking we would here "Hey Ellie and Carl!!"  as they had finally put it all together and figured it out.  I loved it!  

While we were standing in line for Radiator Springs Racers, we had a couple tell us how much they loved our outfits and asked to take our picture.  Turns out they were on their honeymoon and had just had an Up themed wedding.....how cool is that?!?

Minus the bummer of not having the aviator hat I was really  happy with how it all turned out.  It was probably...scratch that....definitely....my favorite outfit from our trip.

That's it for this outfit.  See ya back here tomorrow for more Disney deets!

DIY Mickey and Minnie Cosplay

Welcome to Disney Week Volume 2! 

 A whole week of goodies for all my Disney peeps and freaks.  All from our trip to the House of Mouse back in June.  

Let's break it all in with the outfits we wore the first day...Mickey and Minnie of course! The greatest couple of all time

Last trip we also went as Mickey and Minnie the first day

 

And we wanted to do it again....just tweaked a tiny bit.  And by a tiny bit I mean I kept The Boy's outfit entirely the same and only redid mine

Does that make me a bad wife? Hopefully not......

I actually had a completely different Minnie Mouse outfit in mind. Next trip it'll happen so I'm gonna keep it under wraps until then.  But anyway.....point is I was on the  hunt for an entirely different outfit idea when I happened to come across this skirt

I was with my sisters scouring the earth for wedding shoes (seriously.....it was ridiculously hard to find appropriate wedges to wear for a beach wedding) when we made our way through Forever 21 

There it was....just hanging there in all it's Minnie Mouse perfection.  We oohed and awwed over it....but I was ready to keep walking because it wasn't what was in my head for this trips outfit.  See....once I get something in my head it can be next to impossible for me to shake it.

My sisters gave the "are you freakin kidding me???" speech along with the "I'm not letting you leave this store without this skirt" talk.

AND...it was super cheap. Like $8 or something crazy like that.  So I took their older sister wisdom and bought the skirt and began to wrap my head around tweaking my outfit again.

The top would be simple....I would just wear a black shirt.  For shoes I would need them to be yellow.

In the previous Minnie outfit I wore an old pair of painted Converse, but those were high tops and I wanted something low top to go with the skirt

So I dyed my own!  I have a full tutorial HERE . So I wore my new dyed shoes, and The Boy wore the ones I painted him last year. (the red shoes are my niece)

 

And just like that our outfits were complete.

The resemblance is simply uncanny right??

Stick around for more Disney posts all week!

Showerette

So what if I this party was back in May....and now I'm posting it in September.  It's whatevs.....

So here's the thing with my sisters wedding.  It was destination (San Diego) and the guest list was relatively small....about 60 people or so. I was talking with my sister Bree as we were beginning the planning process for her bridal shower.  In that conversation we realized that maybe having two parties wasn't necessary with such a small group....especially considering how many people were coming from out of town.

It was quite a bit of a different situation from my own wedding where we invited 200 and 150 showed.  In that case I had a ton of people who were invited to my bridal shower that weren't people I would necessarily invite to my bachelorette party....aunts, cousins grandmas etc.  I think I had 30ish people invited to my shower and 8 girls at my bachelorette. 

In the case of this smaller wedding we came to the realization that the two parties would include the exact same group of people.  She didn't have mass amounts of family members and people in town to invite besides her core group of friends and the two moms.  So we pitched the idea to her of combining the two parties together and calling it a "Showerette"  I was totally pinching my ass in the seconds waiting for her reaction because I was afraid she would hate it.  I didn't want her to feel cheated out of the whole bridal experience.....but luckily she loved it!  She liked the idea of  having one laid back sort of "hang out" party and calling it a day.  Plus she isn't a "Penis straw, penis necklace, penis tiara, go out to the club in a mini skirt" kinda gal anyway so she was good with not having a traditional bachelorette party.

So we moved forward with the plan of a poolside Showerette.  The only real theme we had was bright colors

Guests were greeted at the door by an "I Do" wreath

And given a choice of floppy hat to wear for the party (the favor)  You'll see pictures of them wearing them later.  I just really wanted a functional favor that went with the theme and a sunhat just seemed perfect

For food we had my sisters favorite....an assortment of "Pickies" as we call them.  Or appetizers in other peoples world

 

Sign made by the bride.  Yes...I totally had the bride making signs for her own party the weekend before.  Not my fault she has mad drawing and writing skills ;)

 

On the menu: Fruit,veggies, chips and guacamole, salsa,  and 7 layer dip. Shrimp cocktail, chicken tenders and dip, veggie pasta salad, 2 kinds of empanadas (potato chorizo and corn black bean) and aioli for dipping

The other bridesmaids (besides the 3 sisters) pitched in and brought some awesome desserts

And don't forget the booze station.  Complete with a jug o' sangria

As people mingled and ate I let them know that we were having a "tidy whities" decorating contest.  I had a station all set up for them complete with fabric markers and iron letters to make a sexy (or not) pair of undies for Brian to wear for Kinsey.

I had my niece make this sign and she was pretty mortified about the entire thing.  You want me to do WHAT???  "Draw a picture of your uncle in underwear...no biggie!!" (scoffs at the child)

My first idea for the comment bubble was for him to say "Make something hunky to hold my junky"  My sister Bree said..."Dear god somebody PLEASE think of something else!!"  I was all...whyy?  Too much??  So I came up with the "Make me a pair that will make her stare"  I'm still partial to the first one though.....

 

When they were done they hung them up and at the end of the party she chose a winner.  Can you guess which one she picked?

After that we played the name game.  I gave them all a sheet of paper (face down so they didn't know what it was until I explained....kinda like timed tests in elementary school)

I wrote her full name to be and gave them 6  minutes ( I chose 6 because she was getting married the 6th...5 minutes would do) to make as many words as they could out of her name.

Every word was worth 1 point except for one 10 point word because it was pretty uncommon.  I was really happy I decided to do that 10 pointer because two girls tied with 58 words but one had the 10 so she won with a score of 68.  Worked out nicely

Because we all know there is NOTHING more thrilling in this world then watching other people open gifts (are you sensing me sarcastic eyes?) ...I took the challenge and kicked it up a notch

That's right ladies.....Bridal Bingo!
(waits for screams and applause to subside before moving on)

You filled up your card with gifts you thought she might get.  Lingerie, a toaster....whatever.  

As she opened gifts you marked them off and the first to Bingo wins. 

 Depending on how many gifts you have to give away you can do more people....I know I did at least two...maybe 3? I can't remember. It was just a way to give people something else to do while she opened gifts

Oh and while we're at it....here's the outfit I gave her as a gift prior to the party

Since I was giving away bright colored sun hats as the favor I wanted hers to be white.  I also got her a white bikini and swimsuit cover up.  There's also a white garter with a pink bow under there

I bought the same cover up in yellow for fun

After the gifts I geared up for Bra Pong!  My sisters one request for the entire party.  

I wrote a whole separate post about it HERE with all the details.  Making the board, rules, playing....everything!

After the Bra Pong tournament we lounged by the pool.  It was the perfect time where all the "events" were done and people that needed to take off could but then a good amount of girls hung out by the pool with us for a while.  It was nice to just chat and relax and tell our bridesmaid dress drama to anyone who would listen lol

 And just to close this post out I just wanted to show some of the general decor

I made about a zillion tissue poms and hung them in the tent along with lanterns

And in the pool I had a ton of beach balls and floaties in all different colors since my only real theme to the whole party was the colors  It's too bad it was windy and I couldn't get a picture  of them scattered all over the pool....instead they're all pushed to one side.  Oh well....can't win em all

I was alllllll about these flamingos and put them everywhere.  I even gave one away as a prize

 Well I think that about covers it all. I highly recommend the "Showerette" if it fits in with your group.  Saves time, money, and quite a bit of sanity. Sanity is important