Orange Bird Bank

When I was growing up, everyone knew Orange Bird!  The Florida Citrus Commission hired the great team of singer Anita Bryant (“Paper Roses”) and the adorable Orange Bird to made TV commercials advertising genuine Florida orange juice.  Having missed Orange Bird’s first appearance in Walt Disney World (I didn’t first visit until 1990 and he was long gone), I was thrilled to see him come back a few years ago.  Immediately, I made a point of collecting all the Orange Bird Pins.  Of course Nick has Orange Bird in his Disney collection too, and he’s here today to tell us all about it.  Happy Saturday and Happy Spring, Disney Friends!

Orange Bird Bank

By Nick

I’ve been trying to get one of these Orange Bird Banks for a few months now, but the prices have been too high. Amazingly, I saw one at our local flea market last Summer, and it was even more expensive than I’ve seen on eBay!

I got this at a reasonable price off of eBay for a good reason.
It is missing it’s stopper.
But since I wasn’t looking to buy this as an investment, or to hold change, I was fine with that.

Copyright: Walt Disney Productions, but no indication of exact production year.

This very happy bird measures 5 inches high.

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Until next time, think orange thoughts!

This article originally appeared on Nick’s Disney Musings Blog.  You can also find Nick on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Nick, our friend David Hodges, and I host the Disney Exchange Podcast where you can listen to us argue about discuss all things Disney – New episodes come out every Sunday.

Biergarten in Epcot’s Germany Pavilion

Welcome to Saturdays With Nick!  This week Nick’s bringing us a review for Biergarten in Epcot’s World Showcase – a restaurant I’ve never visited, but have always wanted to try.  In fact, a few months ago, Raymond and I had a reservation at Biergarten, but changed it at the last minute in favor of a different un-tried restaurant instead (Morimoto Asia in Disney Springs).  Being half German and a fan of German food, I know I’ll love Biergarten…someday.  Have a great weekend and enjoy…Lisa

Biergarten in Epcot’s Germany Pavilion

By Nick

If there are 3 things I love, it’s food, beer and fun, and these 3 things can be found in abundance at the Biergarten Restaurant located in the Germany Pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase.

We’ve eaten there several times throughout the years, most recently last December. Christmas is a wonderful time to visit, as the normally lovely hall is even more picturesque decked out in holiday finery, and the band plays Carols.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then of course there is the food! There are several stations featuring a wide variety of options.

Cold items include several salads: potato, cucumber, tomato, cabbage, bean, sausage, pasta and mixed greens. Cold cuts and rolls can also be found here.

 

On to entrees, where you’ll find several sausage styles, oven roasted potatoes, a soup of the day, schnitzel, roasted chicken, fish, red cabbage, mac and cheese, meatballs, meat loaf, Spatzle, and ham.

 

 

Desserts include apple strudel, Black Forest cake, cheesecake, chocolate roll, and peach-almond cake, fruit, plus much more!

 

 

Beer selections include Schofferhofer, Schofferhofer Pink Grapefruit Hefeweizen, Altenmunster Octoberfest, and Warsteiner Dunkel. You can also get a flight with all 4.

Prost!

This article originally appeared on Nick’s Disney Musings Blog.  You can also find Nick on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Nick, our friend David Hodges, and I host the Disney Exchange Podcast where you can listen to us argue about discuss all things Disney – New episodes come out every Sunday.

Why You Must See Festival of Fantasy

Dale in Festival of Fantasy ParadeIf you’ve seen plenty of parades in the past, particularly if you’ve seen the 3-O’Clock parade in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, it might be tempting to skip it on your next visit.  How many characters-on-parade must one endure in the blazing hot Florida sun?  They’re all the same, right?  Classic characters smiling and waving to the sweaty masses.  It’d be a much better use of a steamy, sweltering afternoon to relax back at your resort – preferable poolside, am I right?  I hear you!  Anddddddd…you’re 100% wrong!  If you’ve not seen the parade’s latest version (new in 2014), listen to me…please!

Why You Must See Festival of Fantasy …Festival of Fantasy Parade

1.  This ain’t your parents’ parade!  Everything from the music to the float design, character costumes, and supporting cast is fresh, exciting and amazingly cutting-edge.  IMG_4088This is no ordinary parade – from the ground to the towering tops of each float, this spectacular attraction is a feast for the eyes (and ears)!  I’ve seen Festival of Fantasy several times now and always notice something new with each viewing.Festival of Fantasy Parade Ostrich

2.  The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  Yes, kids love seeing the likes of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Anna and Elsa, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, Tiana, and their princes.  They are fantastic.  But wait!  There’s more!Festival of Fantasy Parade FrozenDSCN3397Festival of Fantasy Parade Pinocchio

3.  Oh, the memories!  Characters from Fantasia, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid – my lifetime of Disney-movie-love is all wrapped up in this parade!RM-Festival-Of-Fantasy-Coral RM-FF-FantasiaThat’s what makes it such a must-do for me – the unusual, oft overlooked characters that I get to see in splendid detail.  If I’m lucky, they’ll even wave or pose for a picture!RM-FF-Hippo

4.  It’s more than the headliners that pack a punch.  Peter Pan’s Lost Boys are there!  Fantastic, magical sea creatures float along with Ariel.  Merida on giant bagpipes, RM-Festival-Of-Fantasy-Ariel2 RM-Festival-Of-Fantasy-ShellRM-Festival-Of-Fantasy-Brave-FloatRM-Festival-Of-Fantasy-Scottish-DancersAlice, the White Rabbit, Jiminy Cricket, the colors, the motion, the tiny Disney details – Best Parade EVER!  Characters from Tangled are especially entertaining – as is the Snuggly Duckling float.  See Flynn Rider smolder!RM-Festival-Of-Fantasy-Mime-From-TangledRM-Festival-Of-Fantasy-Snuggly-Duckling

5.  Okay, YES!  It’s the Steampunk Dragon!!!  Seriously – even if you loathe, detest, and despise parades, this one’s worth watching if for no other reason than there’s a giant FIRE BREATHING DRAGON!  And this mechanical wonder is beyond amazing!  RM-FF-Dragon-Knee RM-FF-Maleficent-Dragon RM-Festival-Of-Fantasy-Maleficent-DragonFrom her toes to knee caps, to her glorious tail and beautiful face – Maleficent in her magnificent dragon form is seriously breathtaking.  Even her entourage is cool.Festival of Fantasy Parade Bird

Promise me – if you haven’t see the Festival of Fantasy Parade yet, you won’t miss it!

If you’ve seen this incredible, sensational spectacle, what were your favorite parade moments?  Recommendations for first-timers?

Disney World Restaurant Review: Narcoossee’s

It’s finally the weekend!  And you know what that means…Saturday’s With Nick!  I love when Nick does reviews of restaurants I’ve reviewed so I can compare our experiences.  I also love when Nick reviews a Walt Disney World restaurant I’ve not yet tried, or in the case of today’s installment, tried so long ago (25 1/2 years to be exact) that I cannot recall much of anything about our meal – other than we enjoyed it, the service was good, and we ate something with alligator in it.  We are going to give Narcoossee’s another try and have an ADR (advance dining reservation) booked for late December.  I’ll be curious to see if things are as good as we remember and if our experience is similar to Nick and Barbie’s.  I’ll tell you this – If scallops are still on the menu, I’m going to order them!

Disney World Restaurant Review:  Narcoossee’s

by: Nick

Since becoming a blogger, I travel differently, keeping an eye out for interesting topics to write about.
Blogging also influences dining choices at restaurants. I usually try to choose different items than Barbie, so I have at least 2 menu selections to review.  This doesn’t always work out. When we visited the Yak and Yeti Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom on our trip in October of last year, we both ordered the Chicken Lo Mein. But at least I had other photos from previous trips to write about.
What I’m getting to is this, the review of Narcoossee’s is going to be slim in the food review portion, because we both ordered the exact same thing, and as this was our first visit, there’s nothing else to fall back on.  Also, I apologize for how dark the photos are, the lighting in the evening at Narcoossee’s is pretty intimate.

Narcoossee’s is located on the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon, at the end of the Grand Floridian transportation boat dock.

We gave our names at the podium, and were handed a pager. We decided to have a look at the menu, so headed for the bar area.

On the way, we passed the open kitchen and the wonderful staff. Be sure to say hello!

 
I was impressed with the beer menu, not overwhelming but a nice selection.

We asked the bartender for a food suggestion, and he said his favorite was the scallops.

As I perused the beer list, our pager went off. As we were being brought to our table, Barbie spotted a man wearing a vest covered in Disney pins. She approached him, and they spoke at length. He came over to introduce himself and his wife. They were locals, and they also suggested the scallops, as well as the calamari.

If you time it right, and have a table facing Cinderella Castle, you can see Wishes at the Magic Kingdom. I made our advanced dining reservation at 180 days out for 8:00 pm, thinking the fireworks would be at either 8:00 or 9:00 pm. They were at 10:00 pm that evening, and while I could have changed our ADR, we both agreed that was rather late for dinner.

The menu is somewhat limited.

As our bread was being set on the table, we asked our server for an entree suggestion, and weren’t really surprised when she said the scallops.

The bread was very crunchy with a soft center, almost a sourdough. I love butter with salt, and this was course, better yet!

We shared the  Crispy Rhoade Island Calamari with pepperoncini-olive relish and tomato coulis appetizer.

I thought it was very light and crispy yet tender, not chewy. The relish was just the right kick, and the tomato coulis was the perfect acidic addition. Barbie thought they were the best Calamari she’d ever had! With a salad, this could easily be an economical choice for an entrée.

For dinner, we both ordered the Pan-seared Georges Bank Day Boat Scallops with Trofie pasta with Sultana raisins, Marcona almonds, young string beans and herb creme with wild mushrooms, lemon-thyme-mustard au jus and arugula.

We both agreed these were the best scallops we’d ever had. They were perfectly prepared, and as good as they were, the pasta and mushrooms in the lemon-thyme-mustard au jus was even better. Shhhh, if you listen carefully, you can hear my stomach growling now as I write this!

We would have loved dessert, but were too full!

There is no doubt we will return to Narcoossee’s in the future, and we will try to choose different food selections, but it won’t be easy!

Be sure to follow Nick and Barbie on all their adventures (so you won’t miss a thing)!  You can find Disney Musings on your favorite social media sites:  Disney Musings Blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, On Instagram, On Pinterest.