Living the Disney Life: Ice Ice Baby (11/17-11/19/06)
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Living the Disney Life
Ice, Ice Baby
November 17-19, 2006
Friday, November 17
Disney-MGM Studios may not be the greatest park in the world, but the by product
of that is there's always some special event going on - SuperSoap, Star
Wars Weekends, ESPN the Weekend, etc. Today there was a celebration of the 27th
Florida Classic - an annual football game between the black colleges Florida A&M
and Bethune-Cookman. Rebekah spotted this one on the calendar - she wanted to go
the park to see the battle of the bands and Danity Cane, a hip-hop girl group
she's followed on TV's Making the Band. We arrived, literally, just in time to
watch the two bands march down the parade route as only they can. It was quite
entertaining. Then we watched the Hollywood Holly-Day Parade and waited
around until Danity Cane took the stage. While we waited we were entertained by
the two teams' junior cheerleaders (they were so cute), some good natured
ribbing from the game announcers and other fun football related stuff. It
doesn't take a genius to realize the black population is probably the least
represented at Disney on any given day, so it's good to see Disney holding
events like this which, hopefully, help them reach a broader audience.
Battle of the bands and Danity Cane
Saturday, November 18
Lest ye think my life is all Disney all the time, today we went off campus
again to visit what has now become an annual tradition for us - Ice at the
Gaylord Palms (click
here for more info). Growing up in Southern California and having never
experienced a real snow fall, the 9 degrees of Ice is downright cold! But it
needs to be that cold to keep the enormous and beautiful ice sculptures in
shape. And that's exactly what Ice is - a series of ice sculptures, some of
which are large enough to slide down. It's not a very long exhibit, but at 9
degrees, you don't want it to be. It is, though, very interesting and a lot of
fun. The intro videos are extremely campy but that only adds to the experience.
And the best part is you get to wear a parka to stay warm. This year we bough a
"freezonal" pass so more Ice experiences await in the coming weeks (It
apparently is our goal to have an annual pass to every Central Florida
attraction).
The family (minus Rebekah - she took the picture) at
Ice
Sunday, November 19
This was one of those perfect Disney Sundays. We got an early start (if you can
call 11a early) with the intent of taking Christmas pictures on the Monorail
loop. Unfortunately, when we got there we realized the Christmas decorations
weren't yet up at the hotels. Only the great-smelling giant Gingerbread house at
the Grand Floridian was ready (where they sell great tasting gingerbread). So
after photographing it from every conceivable angle we resigned ourselves to
going home. But first we had to eat. The easy answer was to go down to the Grand
Floridian Cafe. But why? We'd planned on being out much of the day anyway, we
might as well do something fun.
The Grand Floridian Gingerbread House (and shop)
So we hopped on the Monorail, over to the TTC and over to Epcot.
Overhead while walking into
Epcot:
Two youngsters as they touch Leave a Legacy: Ouch! That's Hot!
Dad: That's the first attraction. On to the next!
We first tried the Garden Grill but they were booked solid, so we went to World Showcase and turned right to see what the world had to offer. We ducked into Le Cellier and what do you know? They could take us right away. Le Cellier is a true gem of Epcot. It's a small, quiet restaurant with low lighting and the nicest Cast Members in the world (aren't all Canadians?). The vegetarian dish on the menu was described as "Marinated Portobello Mushroom with seared Basmati Rice Cakes, Onion Beet Marmalade finished with Tomato Jam". Usually Portobello is only good on a sandwich so I wasn't too thrilled, but the Rice Cakes sounded interesting and if it wasn't good, there's always dessert. But this was an very yummy dish! I've only been to Le Cellier twice - both times for lunch - but based on those experiences it's a highly recommend restaurant. The experience also reminded me how World Showcase having Cast Members be natives of the respective countries is an attraction in and of itself. Don't forget to enjoy that aspect of WS next time you're there.
The Epcot Tree from the Monorail
Afterwards we leisurely wandered the rest of World Showcase taking more Christmas pictures and just enjoying the afternoon. Then it was a couple of Monorail rides back to the Grand Floridian and we were back home in time to finish watching my Cowboys upset the Colts. An absolutely perfect end to a practically perfect Disney day!
Discuss It
-- Doobie Moseley
-- Posted November 20, 2006