I Live Out my Middle School Disney Romantic Ideals

The trifecta of movies known as the Disney Renaissance movies, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, came out during my middle school years. The idyllic romantic moments in each movie made quite an impression on my pre-teen and early teen romantic sensibilities. It came of course as an utter disappointment to me that middle school boys had no interest in twirling me around a ballroom or floating in a blue lagoon.  To be honest, boys pretty much had no interest in me until I got to college. In the end it all worked out. 

Now I’m a happily married adult, going to Disney World for my anniversary. I asked, and my husband agreed to help me live out my middle school Disney romantic ideals.

The Little Mermaid

I vividly remember seeing The Little Mermaid for the first time at a sleepover. 
This movie gets me, I thought as Ariel belted out Part of Your World. I immediately acquired a VHS copy and watched it almost every night during that summer.

Of course my favorite romantic moment is the Kiss the Girl scene. The fireflies, the singing fish spitting out little fountains; the secluded blue lagoon. It seemed the pinnacle of romance. I'm pretty sure the scene contributed to my lifelong adoration of blue water.  

Disney World did their best to recreate the scene in the Voyage of The Little Mermaid attraction. 

I was able to successfully kiss my husband while our clam shell glided through the blue lagoon. The problem is that the ride is extremely dark, and when you're cloistered in the clam shell, it is darker still, making the moment impossible to document. A generous park guest was happy to assist with a re-enactment of the moment in brighter circumstances.

Beauty and The Beast

I thought nothing could be as great as The Little Mermaid, then I saw Beauty and the Beast. Ariel got me, but Belle was me. Belle is still my favorite Disney Princess, and Beauty and The Beast is my favorite Disney animated movie (yes it does have a lot to do with that library). It is the movie I have seen the most times in a movie theater, seven. I still get goosebumps when The Beast and Belle float around the beautiful ballroom.

I was overjoyed when we finally procured a reservation at the Be Our Guest restaurant (having failed to do so during our previous trip). 

The ordering process at Be Our Guest is a mixture of fascinating and unsettling. You walk up to a touch screen, and tap, tap, tap, your order is complete; neat and convenient. You then take a seat and eventually your food magically appears. The servers are able to locate you via your magic band; just a little disconcerting.

The restaurant is a recreation of The Beast’s castle. 

The ballroom is spot on with golden chandeliers set against a ceiling mural, complete with winged putties (Thank you Mrs. Maines for teaching us that term). 

The enormous windows look out onto a perpetual winter landscape. Snow flakes fall gently to the ground. 

The details are marvelous. 

The one downside, the ballroom is vast, noisy, and busier than Grand Central Station. Servers are constantly pushing food carts, or feverishly clearing tables. Kids are scampering around, and adults are attempting to remember where they were told the silverware was located. Not quite the romantic location I envisioned. Certainly there was no way to take a twirl around the ballroom without either seriously injuring ourselves, or others. We had to settle for a quick picture, 

and decided to enjoy our lunch in the less frantic west wing.

The west wing is the coolest of the dining areas at Be Our Guest. Every so often there is thunder and lighting, and the ripped painting of Prince Adam flickers between Adam and the Beast.  

The West Wing is also where the Rose Gallery is located. Like the thunder, every so often, a petal falls from the rose. 

For our meals, I ordered the slow braised pork. 

Shannon got the roast beef sandwich. 

Both of our lunches were yummy, though the pork was on the salty side so might not be the best for people who have to watch their sodium intake. 

Of course we had to get The Master’s cupcake. It's topped with the “grey stuff”. Yes, it was indeed delicious.

Having lunch at Be Our Guest was everything my Beauty and the Beast loving middle- school- self wanted it to be.

Aladdin

I love Aladdin, but it didn’t capture my fancy enough to bump Beauty and The Beast from my number one spot. The romantic scene and the Whole New World song however, is my favorite romantic scene of the three movies.  Always having a love for adventure, even as a teen, how could I not be completely captivated over being able to travel and see the world on a woven common household object? 

I assumed I could realistically find myself in a lagoon, minus the singing fish of course. I certainly could visit a ballroom, but I doubted any of my junior high classmates were harboring an enchanted carpet in their lockers. The closest that I will ever come to actually flying on a magic carpet is The Magic Carpets of Aladdin attraction.

 I had to slightly adjust my imagination to envision that we were seeing the sights and wonders of the world and not just whizzing past the same few fabricated buildings over and over. 

It was actually a fun ride, and as the breeze ruffled my hair, I connected to the middle school girl who longed to see the world.

I had a great time re-enacting, to the best of my ability, the scenes that I thought were the utmost in romance when I was a young lady. A young lady who was just beginning to learn what romance was. More than floating in a fake lagoon, strolling through an ornate ballroom, or flying in the air on a carpet, perhaps the most romantic experience was actually having a husband who was willing to amuse me by allowing himself to be dragged around to all of these attractions. Someone willing to help me live out my middle school romantic ideals is truly my Prince.

Extra Note: While we were having our adventures that day, a sky writer flew over Disney World. What the plane wrote could not have been more perfect if we planned it. 

We find the "Ferrytale" Wishes Cruise Delightful

When I first saw the announcement for the Ferrytale Wishes Fireworks Cruise I was excited.  The maiden voyage was launching right before our trip, and there was a cruise available on the night of our anniversary. I made a reservation for the cruise, and cancelled our anniversary dinner reservation at The Hollywood Brown Derby.

The first few blog posts/reviews that rolled in after the initial Ferrytale cruises were not  positive. I started to get nervous.  Had I made a terrible mistake? Would we regret cancelling dinner at The Brown Derby? Would we end up spending several miserable hours trapped in the middle of a body of water on a ferry? 

I'm happy to say that we found the Ferrytale Wishes Cruise delightful.

Delight #1- Sweet Souvenirs 

At the check in we were handed a copy of the dessert menu and a cute map of the Seven Seas Lagoon. We also received an exclusive Ferrytale Wishes pin.  

A pin that could not be purchased. You can only obtain it by taking the cruise.  None of the reviews mentioned the pin. We thought it was pretty cool and we aren't even pin collectors.

Along with the pin, we received some initial information about our evening, then we were invited to hang out in the pop-up cocktail area. 

A couple of cast members floated around brandishing trays with glowing champagne flutes. The flutes were filled with sparkling apple cider. We decided to have a little anniversary toast. Champagne flutes=fun, but glowing champagne flutes= super fun.

Next a couple of cast members came around passing out light up necklaces. The necklaces actually  had settings so you could keep the lights still, have them flashing, or have them move slowly.  I was pretty much beside myself with joy at this point and we hadn't even boarded the boat,

though the boarding time came soon enough.

As we boarded the boat, we were handed special Ferrytale Cruise dessert plates.  They even had a little holder for the glow flutes.

Along with your plate, you could also pick up a glass of wine if you so desired.

There was a photographer going around during the cruise snapping photos.  We didn't have photopass, but I was excited to find out later that the digital copies of the pictures appeared to be part of the cruise.  I was happy to have a nice photo of us together on our anniversary. 

Delight #2- Delectable Desserts

The Cruise included an all- you- can- eat dessert buffet. I'm more of a savory eater, but I'm not going to pass up tables covered with desserts.  The tables were scattered around each level so everyone wasn't on top of each other trying to get to the goods.

All of the desserts were themed around the Seven Seas Lagoon. The cutest by far was Cinderella's Sugar Slipper with Orange Financier. Though you couldn't really eat the slipper,the little cake had a wonderful citrus flavor without being overly sweet. I also tried the Polynesian De-Constructed Pinapple Upside-Down Cake and The Grand Key Lime Tart. Both desserts were good, but the star of the night was the Contemporary Spiced Flourless Chocolate Cake. It had a texture somewhere between a cake and a mousse. It tasted like the best Mexican, cinnamon hot chocolate I've ever had.  If I wasn't so overloaded with sugar, I would have had another.  

I appreciated that the buffet included a cheese and meat tray. It acted as a nice palate cleanser between plates of sugared treats.

Just when we thought that we couldn't stuff anymore into our faces, a cast member approached bearing icy treats.  Since I'm normally a Mickey Bar girl, I thought I would give an ice cream sandwich a try.

There were also unlimited alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. 

Delight #3- Sparkly Sights

We munched on desserts as the ferry glided around Seven Seas Lagoon. We got so close to the Grand Floridian, people on their balconies waved to us, and we waved back. Usually we end up watching the Electrical Water Pageant from a restaurant window, but this time we were close, really close. We were practically on top of the pageant.  It was super neat and my new favorite way to see the light pageant.

Of course the main reason, besides the desserts, to go on the cruise, is the fireworks. The ferry stopped and played the music for Wishes Nighttime Spectacular.  A lot of the blogs/reviews I read complained that they thought the ferry was too far away from the fireworks, but we saw the fireworks in the park the night before, and enjoyed seeing them from a different vantage point.

It was certainly more relaxing and peaceful watching the fireworks while floating on the calm water, a slight breeze blowing off of the lagoon. It was a little bit of romantic magic.

Delight #4- Thoughtful Transportation

After docking back at the transportation hub we were handed bags to carry all of our cruise swag. We were told that if we were staying at a Disney resort there was no need to head back to a park to catch a bus.  Buses were waiting right there at the ferry dock to take us back to our resorts.  It was an impressive touch.

Maybe we are just easily amused, or easily impressed, but we absolutely enjoyed the Ferrytale Wishes Cruise. It was fun, relaxing, and the drinks and desserts were yummy.It ended up being the perfect activity for our special anniversary evening. 

Extra Information

- Most of the people staked out spots on the seats. We claimed a spot on the life jacket container and it was perfect. Not only was it perhaps the best place for viewing the pageant and fireworks, the container acted as a handy table.

-Though there were kids on the cruise, they even had a special black light scavenger hunt for kids and adventurous adults, the cruise definitely had a more adult vibe, which being adults without kids, was appreciated. 

A Time Machine Worthy Meal at Blue Zoo

 Have you ever wished that you had a time machine just so that you could go back in time and enjoy a meal all over again? Or perhaps at the very least you could have a Star Trek replicator so that you could replicate a meal (although you know that replicated food is never as good as the original thing)?  That is precisely what I wish as I fondly remember the meal we had at Todd English's Blue Zoo.

 Located in the Dolphin Hotel, Blue Zoo was not on our original trip itinerary. It seemed maybe a little too fancy and expensive, but when I saw that it was included on the list of restaurants for Orlando restaurant month, we decided we should jump on the opportunity to give it a try.

After passing behind the waterfall wall the hostess greeted us and asked,

"Are you celebrating anything special this evening?"  Immediately I thought, do over.

“Yes”, I replied. I pointed to Shannon,

“It’s his birthday.”

“Happy Birthday,” said the hostess as she guided us to our table. 

 If you looked up the word swanky in the dictionary you might find a picture of Blue Zoo. They even have fancy towels in the bathrooms instead of hand blowers or paper towels.

 The atmosphere is supposed to make you feel as though you are dining underwater. The room is bathed in blue. 

 The massive chandeliers look like bubbles floating to the water’s surface.  

 It gives you the instant feeling that you are in for something special.  

 Shannon ordered one of the signature drinks. We starred in wonderment at the drink as smoke curled out of the glass. It was cool.

  

 The woman sitting next to us ordered an entree that was set before her. Then the server ladled a smoking sauce over top. It was not harsh fire smoke but more like a beautiful wispy dancing mist. The woman asked the server to stop for a moment so she could take out her phone to get a picture of the ladle in action.  I wanted to get a picture too, but we were sitting pretty close to them and I thought it would seem too awkward. It’s one thing to take a photo of your own food, but quite another to take a picture of your neighbor’s.

 I have to digress for a moment regarding our neighbors. They were from Florida though what part of Florida was unclear. She played an instrument in an orchestra and she was apparently always late because James the conductor gave her a tongue lashing for her tardiness. They were  at Disney World for a few days  celebrating their anniversary. They were staying at the Swan Hotel next door. They were trying to decide where they wanted to eat the following evening. The wife was campaigning for Monsieur Paul’s in the France pavilion.  To persuade her husband she read aloud a blog post of someone who had recently visited Monsieur Paul’s.  Due to our close proximity we got to hear the blog post too.  When she was finished her husband exclaimed,

“Pfft, bloggers.” By the tone of his voice I am certain that he rolled his eyes as well. 

 Shannon smirked and I tried hard not to want to stab him with my fork. They probably thought that we were some sad unhappily married couple because we talked very little during the meal. We were having too much fun listening to them. They never did make a decision about where to eat the following evening. 

Our meal started with a bread basket. It was filled with an assortment of breads accompanied by fresh butter. 

It’s the type of bread basket where your mind says, don’t fill up on bread, don’t fill up on bread…. but your hand doesn't listen and keeps plucking pieces from the basket.

Since the restaurant month pre-fixe meal affords you three courses, we both started out with the tomato salad.

 You might be looking at the picture and asking,

Is that popcorn on that plate? Yes, yes it is.  I think the purpose of the freshly popped popcorn was to act as croutons.  I would have never thought of doing that, but it was very good.  The best part of the salad was the tomato tart.  It was creamy and tangy and the crust melted in your mouth.  I ate it in tiny nibbles because I didn't want it to end.

Shannon got the steak with a chimichurri sauce for his entree.  He said it was yummy.

I ordered the octopus Bolognese. 

I love octopus, but it’s one of those things like lamb. If you order it somewhere where they know how to cook it, it is wonderful. Octopus should be tender melt in your mouth and not fishy tasting. If it’s cooked on a grill then the suction cups on the tentacles turn into little delightful crispies.  If you get it somewhere that does not know how to cook it, then the octopus can turn out tough and fishy.

I trusted Blue Zoo and was not disappointed. It was some of the best octopus I've had. The sauce was tasty and the pasta was so fresh I was convinced that someone must have made it just before throwing it into the water to boil.

Our server was remarkable. She was friendly and attentive and although she had many other tables, she treated us as if we were the only patrons in the restaurant.  When she brought our deserts she had a special little birthday plate made up.

Shannon got the plate of assorted chocolate desserts. 

I liked his bumpy bubble plate.

I got the assortment of berry desserts.

The desserts were heavenly.  They were the kind of desserts that make a little piece of your soul float out of your head for a second. We ate them slowly trying to savor every bite.  

Once our desserts were consumed, we figured  our meal was finished, so we were surprised when our server arrived with a plate of complimentary happy birthday chocolates. 

They were delicious. To make it fair we took a knife and cut each piece in half so we each had a taste of all of the chocolates.  

Blue Zoo more than made up for the unbirthday disappointment the evening before. It is a meal we will not soon forget and ended up being our favorite meal of the trip. It ranked up there along with The California Grill as one of our favorite meals at Disney thus far.

If you are a foodie, I highly recommend having dinner at Blue Zoo at least once. If you can time it in September for restaurant week then it won’t burn a hole in your pocket, and if you happen to have an extra time machine laying around, I’d love to borrow it for just a few hours so I could back and have our Blue Zoo meal all over again.

Extra Note-If you drove to Blue Zoo, just tell your server that you drove and parked in the parking lot and you will get a free parking pass. It worked out for us because it ended up being an entire free day of parking.