Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party Review

First off, let me start by saying, Disney got this right. They got this SO right. We were absolutely impressed with the Spectacular! I felt like the Incredible's neighbor when it was all over:

If you haven't seen it yet, you are missing out! For real. And if you are a Star Wars fan at all, this is something you have to put on your "Must Do" list for your next trip. I loved it! All of it.

And if you want to make the most of your Galactic Spectacular, consider adding the dessert party to your day at Hollywood Studios. It's an extra ticketed event, so on top of your park admission, you will need to purchase tickets. Currently, the price per adult is $58.63 and $33.20 per kid (3-9). Here's what you get for that price:

1. Desserts. So many desserts! But not just desserts, there are also savory items as well as fresh fruits, AND a very nice assortment of drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. You can go back as many times as you like and take your food all around the Launch Bay. For a full menu, head over to AJ's blog and see what all is on offer. (The write up is old, but the menu is just about the same.) Even with my restricted diet, I was able to find desserts to enjoy!
2. The Launch Bay is open for you to enjoy. With all the Star Wars artifacts, the movie and the Chewbacca and Kylo Ren meet and greets, you could easily spend most of your time seeing all there is to see.
3. Wait times for Chewie and Kylo Ren were only 10 minutes or less. I definitely recommend using this time for meeting them.
4. Storm Troopers are patrolling the area. Our Storm Troopers were not in a photographic mood claiming they were not allowed to be photographed while on duty; although I have heard that at other parties they have been willing to pose with guests and be photographed.
5. Jawas are also roaming the party and willing to trade if you have something of value. Our 15 year old tried to complain that the droid he traded for had a bad motivator, but this Jawa wouldn't hear of it. 
   
6. Storm Troopers will escort you to the reserved viewing area for the Galactic Spectacular. It is PRIME viewing.
7. A souvenir Chewbacca stein and a bottle of water are waiting for you when you arrive for the Galactic Spectacular. We only had to wait 8 minutes once we arrived before the show began. And I can't say it enough: it was SPECTACULAR!

What you don't get:

The one downside we found (which Disney is clear about on their dining page) is that there are NO seats. And by 8 pm, our feet were tired and begging for a seat. Given the space, I am not sure how Disney would manage that; and if you use your time at the Launch Bay well, going to all the attractions, you don't really have a long time to stand around before you're headed out to see the show.

Was it worth it? For my money, this experience is totally worth it, at least once. We are bona fide Star Wars fans, we are crazy for Disney and we value our time in the parks; we would rather pay for the party than spend hours saving a place for the Galactic Spectacular. And bonus, it was on our eldest kid's 15th birthday. What could be better than that? 

Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Disney DIY Invitation to Cinderella's Royal Table

We love a good character meal and nothing beats Cinderella's Royal Table for us. Snagging a reservation can be tricky, but with some planning and flexibility (two essential items when Disney-ing), a good time can still be had by all. If you're trying to book for a large party, be sure to call exactly 180 days before your reservation. You can book for anytime during your reservation, but you have to wait until 180 days before the first day of your stay. Also, start calling a few minutes before 7 a.m. We also try and have at least two people calling at the same time. It's worked for us several times.

We are also fond of surprises and like to keep a few things from the kids until we are at the resort. This year, we managed to get a breakfast reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table for 14! But we kept the kids in the dark until the morning of our character meal. That morning Tinkerbell delivered special invitations to join Cinderella & her Fairy Godmother for breakfast. You should have seen how motivated they were to get out the door!

This castle card from Silhouette (design id #9356) was perfect for the invitation. It didn't take long at all to whip out one for each villa (there were 3 families on this trip). And those of us who are a scrapbookers have a cute, unique embellishment for our Royal Table spreads! (Quick tip about cutting very thick card stock - use the double cut option on the cut settings page. SOO much easier to pop out the pieces!)

If you are planning a trip to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, this would also be a fabulous way to invite your child to their magical experience, a la Tiffini Porter. Read her article over at Passporter.com on how she surprised her boys (yes, BOYS) with a special invitation to be knighted. So cool!

Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Disney DIY Flip Books: Ideas

One of my tactics for enjoying Walt Disney World is curtailing the complaining when it comes to waiting. Our kids seem to be particularly adept at complaining in "the happiest place on earth." Of course, there is a direct link from tired to whiny. (Something to thoughtfully consider when planning your fun.) In my vigilant attempt to keep the whining at bay, I created a flip book for our kids to use in the parks this year. It was a time-consuming project, but the prospect of happy children made it worth the effort.

Rapunzel at Cinderella's Castle declaring,
"These are awesome. Let's do one of these!"

When making these, there are several ways to use what is already out there on the Internet. I used these ideas to create pages for our trip. I simply made sure to print any images at the size I wanted (in my case, 5x7).

• Customized Bingo Cards - Use MAGIC instead of BINGO. I made a Bingo game for our Character Meal, but you could use it for anything you can dream up.
• Customized Word Search - put all your names in it plus your favorite characters, parks, etc.
• Coloring Pages - simply google "Disney coloring pages" and you'll have plenty to choose from.
• Puzzle Pages - my kids were always more interested in puzzles than coloring. If this is the case for your mouseketeers, google "Disney puzzle pages" for a huge selection.
• Sticker Sheets - keep an eye out in the dollar section of your favorite store for these.
• Mad Libs - you can make your own or find a related book. We happened to find a Star Wars book that was perfect for us.
• Jokes for the Laugh Floor & Monster Mouths - to be mentioned next time!
• Monorail Scratch-Off Scavenger Hunt - coming soon to this very blog!
• Boredom Buster Spinners - coming soon!
• Blank Pages - even my non-autograph-seeker was happy to use this book for autographs at character meals; anything to keep those characters around just a bit longer!

There are all sorts of things you can do to make these books special. I like to personalize them as much as possible for our travel crew and our trip. Since we were traveling in October, I tried to make these look a little like spell books, and of course, I included many Halloween-y pictures and activities.

When it came to binding them, I used a Zutter machine (which I already had), but you could just as easily take the elementary teacher's route and use 2 or 3 binder rings. It doesn't have to be expensive, just chock full of fun! And for the curious, my cover design was made using the Silhouette Fancy Label Set, design id #20334 and the font Beyond Wonderland. I created the Mickey head using the circle tool.

Many kids carry around autograph books; these are simply another way to stay occupied in-between the big fun. One last suggestion: these should in no way encumber you further as you comb the parks. Make it the responsibility of your child to carry (or find a safe place in the stroller) for his/her book.

Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Sometimes It Doesn't Go As Planned: Crystal Palace Lemon Square Recipe

The dirty little secret about a blog like this is that you often have to try things more than once. In fact, most things don't go as expected the first time out. Usually I can sprinkle a little fairy dust on it and make it just the way I like it. But every now and then, I have a complete flop; something that just isn't going to work no matter how many ways I try to salvage it. My most recent case in point: Crystal Palace Lemon Squares.

There are a lot of great sites out there with Disney recipes. And I am a huge fan of bringing a little Disney magic into the kitchen. And this lemon square recipe is ALL OVER the web. The same, exact recipe. The thing about it is, it's fatally flawed. The lemon curd part calls for a cup, A CUP, of butter. Most curds don't have any butter. I also calls for 1/2 an egg yolk; that's right, 1/2, whereas most recipes for lemon curd have several whole eggs. Not to mention the fact that there is no flour in it at all. I was skeptical about it, but I've never made these from scratch before, and butter is almost always better. Look at Paula Dean's recipes. But even as I was mixing it up, I knew it wasn't right.

My suspicions were confirmed. When it came out of the oven it was a liquid mess. The cookie crust was floating on a bubbling puddle of butter. It would never look (or taste) right, even after it cooled. And even Mr. Photos From The Parks couldn't salvage it. If HE can't make it work, then it's not going to. Period. Perhaps the most disappointing thing was the entire cottage's expectation for lemon bars, down the drain.

I do plan on asking for the recipe the next time we are at the Crystal Palace, just to see if it really is what they are giving out. (I desperately want to think that someone just transposed some ingredients or something.) If you happen to get there before I do and find the recipe, I'd love it if you'd pass it along to us. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!