Tangierine Café in Epcot

This week’s Saturdays With Nick post is a restaurant review of a place our family has yet to try.  We’ve stopped in Epcot’s Morocco Pavilion plenty of times, but have yet to eat at any of the restaurants there – opting instead to shop or enjoy live music.  After reading this review, I’m adding Tangierine Café to my must-try list!  Have you eaten in Morocco?  Which restaurant would you recommend?

Tangierine Café in Epcot

By Nick

Like Flame Tree Barbecue at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, The Tangierine Café, located in Epcot’s Morocco Pavilion, is a quick service eatery that we don’t visit on every trip to Walt Disney World, despite it being one of our favorites.

We’ve visited on several visits to WDW, usually to meet with friends at their request.
The menu is on display outside to help you make a decision before entering.
Orders are made and picked up at the counter.

Seating is somewhat limited inside and out. The larger dining section is to be found in front of the counter.

There is also a smaller, more intimate seating area past the coffee/dessert counter.
October 2013 we ate with our friends Pam and Tom, and this is the section we dined in.

On that trip I had the Mediterranean Lamb Wrap, served with Tangierine couscous salad and lentil salad. Barbie had the Vegetarian Platter which is Tangierine couscous salad, hummus and tabouleh.

Both excellent.

In January 2014 we went with friends Claire, Laurie, and Angelo.

Angelo, Laurie, Claire, Barbie and me.
I look forward to stopping by this wonderful eatery on my next trip!
Tangierine Café’s menu can be found here.

To read more about Nick’s amazing Disney adventures, visit the Disney Musings Blog and follow him on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Pinterest.  You can also listen to Nick, our friend Dave, and me on The Disney Exchange Podcast where we talk about our love for all things Disney.

Disney-Pixar Eve and Wall-E Figures

Disney-Pixar Eve and Wall-E Figures

By Nick

These Wall-E and EVE figures may be small, measuring around 2″, but what they lack in size, they make up for in personality.

With almost no dialogue, the characters Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth Class) and EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) convey more emotion than some actors and actresses.

Here is EVE showing her lighting skills. Clearly, because of the greenery, this is after the revegetation of Earth has begun.

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Here Wall-E is dancing while listening to show tunes. If you are wondering what the little illustration is on his lunchbox, that is his cockroach friend, Hal. Now, I have a total phobia of cockroaches, but not this one, so that proves how much I love this movie.

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Made by Thinkway Toys for Disney Pixar.

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As I’ve previously mentioned, Wall-E is one of my favorite movies. Hmm, maybe Hal is a water beetle, now that I think of it! Even better!

To read more about Nick’s amazing Disneyana collection and all his Disney adventures, visit the Disney Musings Blog and follow him on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Pinterest.  You can also listen to Nick, our friend Dave, and me on The Disney Exchange Podcast where we talk about our love for all things Disney.

Animal Kingdom’s Earth Day Birthday

It’s Earth Day – and that means it’s also Animal Kingdom’s birthday!  Disney’s Animal Kingdom welcomed its first guests on April 22, 1998.  From that Earth Day Birthday to today, this fourth jewel in the Walt Disney World park crown has been near and dear to my heart for everything that it is (and also for what it is not).Animal Kingdom-Entrance

Animal Kingdom’s Earth Day Birthday

Even before I visited Animal Kingdom for the first time, I was fascinated by everything I’d heard and read about this unique Disney park – I could not wait to see how live animals, ultra-themed lands, and Disney magic would come together.  Once I saw it for myself, Animal Kingdom instantly became (with Magic Kingdom) one of my two favorite parks.  Where Magic Kingdom welcomes guests into whimsical lands full of charming make-believe characters, Animal Kingdom immerses visitors in exotic locations, both past and present, from around the world.MM-Animal Kingdom Everest

Back in 2014 on this very day, I posted 16 best things about Animal Kingdom.  They are each still part of what keeps me visiting this absolutely-a-full-day park again and again.  Since that time, Animal Kingdom has changed for the better – with even more new additions coming in the near future and beyond.Animal Kingdom Thirsty River

This week Animal Kingdom has been in the news a good bit – and not all of the press was positive.  Rivers of Light has been delayed indefinitely (replaced in the meantime with a Jungle Book themed show) and other nighttime attractions and shows are set to premier later than originally hoped.  I realize that for many Disney fans with upcoming vacations, this is a huge disappointment.  Let’s focus today instead on the many positive and exciting aspects of this incredible park – I’m convinced that delays only mean that all the kinks will be worked out in due time and the final product will be well worth waiting for!Animal Kingdom Animal Carvings

Happy Birthday, Animal Kingdom!  I love everything you are, everything you aren’t and everything you are about to become.  Best wishes for many happy returns of the day!

Are you an Animal Kingdom fan?  What are you most looking forward to in this park’s future?Maharajah Jungle Trek Artistic Details

 

 

Thoughts on Jungle Book-Live Action Version

Jungle Book Ticket StubRaymond and I had a double date on Saturday afternoon for a movie and late lunch with Joseph and his girlfriend, Lyndsey.  I’d been looking forward to seeing the new live-action Jungle Book for what seems like YEARS – having been captivated by the trailers.  Star-studded, action packed, amazingly detailed CGI effects…all of those things put this movie on my must-see list.  Luckily, the rest of the group was agreeable, so we hit the first 3D matinee of the day and settled down with our popcorn, sodas and 3D glasses.

Thoughts on Jungle Book-Live Action Version

This is NOT a spoiler-free post, so if you’ve not yet seen this movie and don’t want to know what makes this version of Jungle Book unique, stop reading – go see the movie – come back and share your thoughts later.  If you have seen Jungle Book (or don’t care about spoilers), please read on then share your thoughts about the movie.Jungle Book - Joseph & Lyndsey

I understand there’s a pretty big group of Disney fans who do not like these live-action remakes of popular movie classics.  The thing is, they’re doing well in theaters and while I’ve yet to see one I liked as much as say, Zootopia, I did enjoy seeing characters like Maleficent and Cinderella come to life with gorgeous cinematography and pretty good CGI effects.

This movie had plenty of familiar moments to keep an old Jungle Book fan like me happy.  What really makes this new version stand out is the incredible CGI characters.  From Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) to the wolf pack, to Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), Baloo (Bill Murray), and King Louie (Christopher Walken) – I couldn’t stop marveling at the precision of the minute details – hair, skin, eyes, movements…I was in awe.  The single character that stood out to me as less spectacular than the others was Shere Khan (Idris Elba).  At times it felt to me as if his face was less clearly detailed than the faces of the other animals and his movements were less natural.  Anybody else notice this?

Mowgli (Neel Sethi) could not have been better in this role.  This mancub was perfect for the part and did not disappoint.  The jungle animals, so accepting of Mowgli as one of their own (except for Shere Khan, of course), realize that his use of “tricks” would make him more human than animal and this seems to some a curse and others a great fortune.  I thought this one element of the story was the most important in setting this Jungle Book apart from its animated predecessor.  Mowgli alone must choose to remain safely with the animals by abiding by their rules and rejecting what would make him human or embracing the part of him he’d been taught to deny in order to save himself and others.  Lots of lessons here, if you’re looking.

This is not a movie for very young children.  Because we were at the Saturday matinee, the theater was packed with families.  It became clear that children younger than 7 or 8 did not care for the dark, scary scenes at all.  The little boy in front of us demanded to know (in a frightened voice), “Is this ACTUAL??!?!”  It was clearly difficult for the younger kids to determine real from make-believe in this movie.  There is death, although delicately handled (think Lion King), and no shortage of frightening moments.

All in all, this film is visually stunning, suspenseful, action packed, and recreates enough of the animated Jungle Book’s lovable moments to please most fans.  It has a lot of heart and a happy ending.  It also has the most interesting treatment of the credits at the end – worth staying to watch.  Finally, if you (like me) hear the name Christopher Walken and immediately think about this sketch from SNL, there’s a little something in Jungle Book just for us.

Have you seen Jungle Book yet?  What did you think?