Adventures in the USA part 8 - Magic Kingdom, Disney World Florida

On our final day at the parks, we were at the Magic Kingdom.  The Magic Kingdom is usually the first park we visit, but this time, it was the last.  We visited the Magic Kingdom on Friday 17th July 2015, the day of the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Disneyland Resort in California, and also coincidentally my dad's 60th birthday.  Therefore, he was the one who wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom for his birthday.  My favourite of the Disney World theme parks has always been the Magic Kingdom.  There's Cinderella's Castle, so many Disney characters to meet, some of my favourite rides and attractions, and they have the spectacular firework display, Wishes Night-time  Spectacular, every night.  As a result, it's quite difficult to pick top 5s, but after some VERY careful thinking, I think I have my list of my top 5 rides and top 5 attractions at Disney's Magic Kingdom:

Top 5

• Mickey's Philar Magic - This attraction in the Fantasyland section of the Magic Kingdom is the only thing my family and I did twice (well, my brother didn't, but he was on Space Mountain at that time, and the rest of us don't like Space Mountain), and it's probably been an absolute favourite since we first went to Disney World Florida in August 2004.  Mickey's Philar Magic is a 3D spectacular that follows Donald Duck as he travels through scenes from classic Disney films such as Beauty and the Beast (Be Our Guest), Fantasia (The Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence), The Lion King (I Just Can't Wait to be King), The Little Mermaid (Part Of Your World), Peter Pan (You Can Fly!) and Aladdin (A Whole New World) in pursuit of Maestro Mickey's sorcerer hat after he touches the hat against Mickey's orders.  Expect pies, plates, champagne bottles, Flounder, jewels and flutes to be in very close proximity to your faces as the 3D effect brings everything to life!  Obviously, this isn't anywhere near as good as seeing it in person and isn't of the best quality, but if you want to see Mickey's Philar Magic outside of the park, I found a video of it to watch here!
• Tomorrowland Speedway - I may not be able to drive on real roads yet (although I am more than old enough, I'm only now about to try to start learning to drive again), I can just about manage a car on the speedway race track.  Well, slightly.  I find it difficult to steer around curves in the track, so it feels a bit bumpy, but it's less stressful than a real road.
• Splash Mountain - As someone who is definitely scared of heights (amongst many other things), Splash Mountain and its steep 50 foot drop is probably an interesting option to be on my top 5 list.  When I was 11 years old, I had my eyes squeezed shut when it came to the drop, so I look funny in the photograph we have from it.  However, while I'm still scared of heights, I can still tolerate Splash Mountain it has the lighting element that Space Mountain lacks (Space Mountain is very dark and has far too many sudden rises, drops and turns) and it also depicts animated segments from Song of the South, telling the story of Br'er Rabbit.  The drop represents Br'er Rabbit's fall into the Briar Patch.  Also, you'll get wet and also possibly soaked on this ride!



Cinderella's Castle



Cinderella's Castle from a bit closer.



A statue of Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse.

• It's A Small World - I think this is another ride to have changed in the past 5 years, and it now includes the famous It's A Small World song being sung in different languages as you see the puppets throughout the boat ride.
• Wishes Nighttime Spectacular - Normally, we see this from the actual Magic Kingdom, standing near the Walt Disney Railroad at the entrance to Main Street USA.  This time, we saw my favourite fireworks display ever from behind Cinderella's Castle, from our table at the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort.  Before now, we didn't realise how far behind the castle the fireworks were actually set off, and it was interesting to see it from a new and different angle.  We even had the restaurant lights dimmed and soundtrack to the display playing in the restaurant, so we could hear what viewers in the park itself could hear.  In fact, I stopped eating my starter at the restaurant to grab my camera and take 50 photos of the fireworks, my favourites of which are below!



Cinderella's Castle at night from the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort.







Wishes Night-time Spectacular.













In case that's difficult to see, it's a golden firework shower.

For my dad's birthday dinner, Mum tried to secretly make a reservation for the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort, which is only a short monorail ride away from the Magic Kingdom.  However, this reservation appeared on the My Disney Experience app that Dad had downloaded onto his smartphone (this app is useful for booking Fast Passes in advance), so it was no longer a secret.  Something I have discovered recently is that I find eating 3 course meals very difficult and I can get bad tummy ache.  Instead of having a heavy starter and a heavy main course, I opted for the House-Made Potato Gnocchi Salad for mains and the Artisan Romaine Salad for starters, for which I have recreated the recipe below!

Ingredients

4 large romaine lettuce hearts per person
croutons
sun-dried tomato pieces
roasted garlic dressing (recipe below)

Instructions

1. Wash and arrange the four lettuce hearts on each plate.
2. Scatter the sun-dried tomato pieces and croutons amongst the lettuce.
3. Drizzle with roasted garlic dressing and serve.

Roasted Garlic Dressing Ingredients (to make 1/2 cup of dressing)

1 large head or 2 small heads of garlic
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons balsamic or red-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/8th teaspoon salt
freshly-ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Rub off the excess papery skin from the garlic without separating the cloves.  Slice the tips of the head (or heads), exposing the ends of the cloves.
3. Place the garlic on a piece of foil, drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil and wrap into a package.
4. Put in a baking dish and bake for about 40 minutes to 1 hour until the garlic is very soft.  Unwrap and let the garlic cool slightly.
5. Squeeze the garlic pulp into a blender or food processor (discard the skins).
6. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt and pepper and blend or process until smooth.
7. Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Artisan Romaine Salad

This post marks the end of my Adventures in the USA series, so we'll be back to normal in the next few weeks.  This week, I've been volunteering with packing Team Bradford bags in preparation for Freshers week, so there's been a couple of achy arms and trying to avoid papercuts from putting all the paper into bags.  I'll be starting my final year of university on Monday (well, next week is Freshers week and lectures start the Monday after that, but I'm volunteering during Freshers week) and some other very exciting things will be happening this year as well, so stay tuned!

Adventures in the USA part 7 - Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney World Florida

Day number 8 (Thursday) of our 10 days in Florida actually started with my observation that my bow-drawing arm (my right arm, seeing as I'm right-handed) hurt.  To actually see if it was still aching at various points during the day, I actually positioned my arms as if I was holding a bow and drew my right arm back as if preparing to shoot an arrow at an imaginary target.  You can probably see how excited I was already to start properly going to archery at uni in September!  Anyway, although I didn't encounter any Disney character who was experienced in archery (such as Merida, Robin Hood or even Mulan) while I was there, my day at Disney Hollywood Studios was actually the first day that I'd really encountered characters in the parks (although I'd briefly seen Pluto while entering Epcot on Monday).  This was the day of many Frozen sing-alongs as various areas of the park were struck by Frozen fever!  In light of this, Frozen attractions will appear in my top 5 for Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Top 5

• For the First Time in Forever: A "Frozen" Sing-Along Celebration - Before seeing this show, my brother had managed to avoid seeing Frozen or really hearing the story of it.  Obviously, he'd heard Let It Go and Do You Want To Build A Snowman multiple times (like on the radio or from my iPod or from me just singing them), but for the times I'd seen it, he'd been a) at school when I first saw it in cinema (I saw it the day after finishing my first set of uni assessments in 1st year), at home while I saw it at my uni's student cinema with my friends, or just in another place in the house when I'd watched it on DVD at home.  He has now watched Frozen since coming home from Florida, but this 30 minute abridged version of the most recent film in the Disney Princess franchise was actually his first experience with it.  This version told the story of Frozen in 30 minutes using two narrators, the newly appointed historians of Arendelle, actors playing Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Elsa, and was punctuated with a screen that showed clips from the movie for each song and had the lyrics of the songs for the audience to sing along.  Of course, my brother was not happy to have me sitting next to him as I excitedly sang along to Let It Go, Love Is An Open Door and the other songs.  In the evening was "Coolest Summer Ever" Dance Party, a DJ-led mini disco which included Uptown Funk and YMCA, followed by the Frozen Fireworks Spectacular accompanied by even more singing along to the songs from Frozen!

Grass sculptures of Elsa and Anna.

• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular - This show based on Raiders of the Lost Ark invited volunteers from the audience to learn a few low-level stunts and participate in an Indiana Jones stunt show that included falling from building into soft beds, acrobatics from a Cairo marketplace set, staged fight sequences, a giant boulder chasing Indiana Jones, explosions, and fires.
• Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show - There are little changes to this ride between times of seeing it, but the premise stays the same - cars do stunts including flying through the air off a ramp, driving across the roof of a "fruit stand", high-speed car chases, cars changing behind the scenes (ssshhhh), motorbikes driving through a line of fire and the cyclist being extinguished, and a remote control being handed to a member of the audience so that they "control" a seemingly empty car.  On a previous visit, the well-known Disney car that visited in this show was Herbie (The Love Bug, Herbie Rides Again, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Herbie Goes Bananas, and Herbie Fully Loaded), but this time it was Lightning McQueen of the Disney Pixar film Cars.
• Walt Disney: One Man's Dream - I think this is a new attraction in the past 5 years, because I don't recall having seen it before.  It's an exhibition of both original and replica artefacts used by Walt Disney himself (including a school desk) or clips and items used in landmark Disney films, short films and television shows, including new camera and motion techniques, the development of Mickey Mouse from an earlier version of his appearance to the appearance that we know and love today, merchandise, the Mickey Mouse Club, and the promotional programmes surrounding the opening of the Disneyland Park in California (which celebrated its 60th birthday on 17th July 2015, while I was at the Magic Kingdom park in Florida instead).  The exhibition actually charts most of Walt Disney's life, as well as plans for the developments of the parks after his death (including the different parks at Disney World Florida, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, and Shanghai Disney Resort (due to open in 2016).
• Fantasmic! - This fireworks display is a story told through the colourful imagination of Mickey Mouse as the Sorceror's Apprentice (as seen in Fantasia).  The audience sees scenes from Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid through Mickey's imagination, but when Mickey encounters Disney villains including Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Cruella De Vil and Scar, his dreams quickly turn into a nightmare.  Disney's animations projected onto walls of water, fireworks and laser lights bring this show-stopping performance to life as Mickey fights against the villains of Disney films past.

It's very dark, but a statue of a 1930s movie director
 using the viewing scope on his camera.  More information here.

Long have I heard about smoothies or homemade juices with carrots in them, but I've not tried it in person before.  This may be about to change.  In the past year, you've probably seen me go from only drinking water (and the irregular cup of coffee or tea) to really getting into my smoothie recipes, which is thanks to Ally Sheehan and the smoothie bike at uni.  This time, I have found a smoothie recipe on the Disney Mickey Check website that I found while in Florida, and it's probably sure to leave you with plenty of orange energy as it has both carrots and oranges!

Ingredients (serves 2, but may only serve 1)

1 cup orange juice
2 cups strawberries
1/2 cup carrots
1 orange, peeled
1 medium banana

Instructions

1. Cut up strawberries, carrots, orange and banana.
2. Pour orange juice into the blender and then add the cut up fruit.
3. Blend until the smoothie reaches your desired consistency.

Adventures in the USA part 6 - Tie-Dyeing and Salad at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa

The second I discovered on the Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa activities schedule that there were tie-dyeing sessions, I decided that if we were going to take a day off, it had to be either Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday.  And so it was that the Wednesday after we arrived in Florida was spent at the hotel instead of at any of the parks.  My top two television and film experiences of tie-dyeing are Tie-Dye Girl from The Parent Trap and when Lizzie and Gordo tie-dyed the sheets in the Lizzie McGuire episode Pool Party.  In Pool Party, Lizzie and Miranda have been invited to Danny Kessler's pool party.  Unfortunately, Lizzie can't go because it's supposedly her grandmother's 80th birthday party, and Miranda chooses to go to the party without her.  Later on, it is revealed that Lizzie could have gone to the party, but it is too late.  However, Gordo comes to cheer up Lizzie by helping her to tie-dye some sheets.  Well, I got the best of both worlds - I went swimming at the hotel swimming pool just before lunch (I went to Danny Kessler's pool party, if you want), and then I tie-dyed a T-shirt just before tea (like Lizzie and Gordo)!

Instructions

1. Put on some rubber or plastic gloves and prepare the tie-dye solutions according to manufacturer's instructions, and a pot of water mixed with a cup of table salt (this can be used instead of soda ash as a solution to make the dyes "stick" to the fabric being tie-dyed).
2. From the middle of the shirt (make sure it is plain and white), make the T-shirt into a sausage-like shape using elastic to separate the shirt into about 10 different sections (depending on the size of the shirt).
3. Soak the shirt in the salt-water solution before starting to tie-dye.
4. Squirt the dye onto each section of the shirt.  For this shirt, I made each section a different colour and put the colours in rainbow order, starting with purple in the middle.  I then had a few sections left at the end which I dyed pink, purple and light blue.  However, you can also use just one colour and alternate between that colour and just leaving a section white.

The shirt, all tied up and ready to be dyed!



The three finger-like sections at the left are for Mickey Mouse's face and ears.

Time to squirt the green dye.






A second purple section.



The last section dyed light blue!



5. Make sure that the dye reaches as much of the material in that section as possible.  You'll have to separate the folds a little bit to reach some areas.  This will avoid an excess of white space on the finished shirt.
6. Roll the shirt in Clingfilm and wrap tightly.  Let it set for at least 24 hours, longer for more intense colours (we left it for nearly 72 hours).
7. Once the appropriate time as elapsed, remove your shirt from the Clingfilm, remove the elastic bands, and place it in the sink.  Run water over it to remove the excess dye until the water runs clear (or almost clear).
8. Wash your shirt in the washing machine.  Make sure to wash it ALONE (or with similarly coloured tie-dyed items).  Place a small amount of laundry detergent into the washing machine and set it to the hottest water setting possible (this seems awful for the environment though).
9. It is also a good idea to run and empty load or something non-critical (such as a load of old rags) after you have washed your tie-dyed shirt.
10. After the shirts have been washed, they can be put out to dry (washing line or dryer).
11. Once shirts (or other tie-dyed items have been washed and dried once, they can be washed with any article of clothing and the dye will not come out.

My finished Mickey Mouse tie-dye T-shirt.

On our first night in Florida, as in the evening we had the flight from Washington DC to Orlando, we obviously hadn't had the chance to go grocery shopping.  Therefore, just after we checked in at our hotel (Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa), we popped into their self-service café The Artist's Palette to find some dinner to take back to our hotel room.  My choice was the Saratoga Springs House Salad, a dish I recognised from a very old (Spring 2009) edition of Disney Files Magazine.  Disney Files Magazine has recipes so that readers can bring dishes served in Disney restaurants to their own homes.  So here's the recipe for the Saratoga Springs House Salad!

Saratoga Springs House Salad

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 cups gourmet salad mix (fancy lettuce)
4 tablespoons dried cranberries
2 tablespoons dried blueberries
1/2 unpeeled red apple, diced
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1/2 cup poppy seed dressing (see recipe below)

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently.  Serve with poppy seed dressing.

Poppy Seed Dressing Ingredients

1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon diced onion
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
6 tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Instructions

1. Combine first 5 ingredients (everything except for the canola oil and poppy seeds) in blender or food processor and process for 20 seconds.
2. With blender on a high setting, gradually add oil in a slow steady stream.  Stir in poppy seeds.
3. Once blender to your satisfaction, serve with the rest of the salad!

The lake at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa.

Ducks approaching ...

DUCKS!!!

Adventures in the USA part 5 - Epcot, Disney World Florida

On our 5th day in Florida (Monday), we were off to the second Disney theme park of the four main parks (we weren't visiting the water parks), Epcot.

Top 5

• Test Track - In a new and improved version of a ride I've visited in the past, you can design your "own" car to be driven around the test track.  You can choose what the strengths of your vehicle are, including its performance in adverse weather conditions, and its speed.  This information is then stored on your Disney Magic Band for use later in the ride.  When you board the test track car, you scan your Disney Magic Band for your chosen car's information to be loaded.  As you zoom around the track, your car then competes with the cars of the other passengers of your test track car in a series of tests measuring the performance and endurance of the cars.  Some cars may perform better in some tests than in others.  At the end of the ride, you enter a showroom full of Chevrolet cars (the Test Track ride is sponsored by Chevrolet), and you can, scanning your Magic Band again, design an advert for your car, choosing the music style, presenter's voice and the location of the advert, which you can then email to yourself.
• Soarin' - This is also one of my all-time favourite rides.  Board a "glider" and fasten your seatbelts for a virtual flight of a lifetime, as you take-off from the ground and whoosh over the landmarks, mountains and other sites of California.
• Living with the Land - a boat ride through greenhouses with real fruit and vegetables and fish tanks.
• Spaceship Earth - this ride seems to have been enhanced in the past 5 years, and each cabin now includes a touchscreen feature where riders answer questions and then at the end of the ride, the magical computers inside the ride build a little video about how your life would be in a futuristic world (including living under the sea).  During the ride itself, you learn about history, including the Ancient Egyptians, The Stone Age and eventually the age of movies and going into space.

Spaceship Earth as viewed from the World Showcase Lagoon.

The Morocco Pavilion

The pagoda at the Japan Pavilion

• IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth - Epcot's fireworks show that showcases the wonders and cultures of the world.

Fireworks during Illuminations: Reflections of Earth at the World Showcase Lagoon.

While I was watching Disney Channel, I saw a programme promotional advert where they were making Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Waffles.  Nutritional information for this and for some of the meals served in Disney World restaurants could be found by visiting disneymickeycheck.com.  The meals listed were recipients of the Mickey Check and met Disney Nutrition Guidelines, developed by health experts to align with federal dietary guideline recommendations.  They had a page for recipes, so I decided to look through them for some fun and relatively easy recipes.  I've been looking for a while for a vegan-friendly version of sushi that all my family will like (and which is easy to make at home without having to go out and find nori wrap, etc, so the first recipe from this website to catch my eye was for Sandwich Sushi.  With the exception of one ingredient (alfalfa sprouts), we had bought all the ingredients required while at Winn Dixie, so I put it forward to my mum as a lunch or dinner suggestion.

Ingredients (to serve 4)

12 slices whole wheat sandwich bread, crusts removed
4 tablespoons hummus (you can use the recipe here)
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4" by 1/4" by 2" sticks
1/2 a cucumber, cut into 1/4" by 1/4" by 2" sticks
1 bell pepper, cut into 1/4" by 1/4" by 2" sticks
1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts

Instructions

1. Place crustless bread on a large cutting board.  Using a rolling pin, flatten the bread so it spreads slightly and is as flat as possible.
2. Spread each slice with a very thin layer of hummus, about 1 teaspoon's worth per slice.
3. Lay a piece of carrot, cucumber and bell pepper lengthwise on each piece of bread, staggering and stacking them slightly so they take up as little space as possible.
4. Top with a few alfalfa sprouts and then roll tightly into a spiral towards the opposite side.  Press on the seam to ensure that the bread sticks together.
5. Repeat with the remaining slices of bread.  Slice into 4 "sushi rolls" and serve.

Adventures in the USA part 3 - Animal Kingdom, Disney World Florida

Day 2 of exploring in Florida, and we're at Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Unfortunately, we went there on a day with shorter hours (closing at 5pm), so there are things I would have liked to have seen but I missed (things that I've seen in the past though).  I think that this time though, I had a larger appreciation for the wildlife aspect of this theme park, especially with the recent killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, the conservation and protection of such majestic and special creatures is even more important.  You may question if you should support Disney's Animal Kingdom or not out of concerns about animal welfare, but from what I can currently tell, the organisation takes good care of the animals, allowing animals to not be on display to the public if they seem distressed, keeping them at a safe distance from the public, and keeping the park's closing hours early to give the animals some peace and quiet.  If anyone reads this and disagrees about Disney's treatment of animals, please send me links to educate me in the comments.  Now, onwards to my top 5 of things to see and do at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park:

• Festival of the Lion King – This indoor attraction has been a family favourite for many years now. It’s a sing-along, acrobatic celebration of The Lion King.  In preparation for the show, audience members are invited to learn the sounds made by lions, giraffes and warthogs, and learn the Swahili names of the main performers.  As puppeteer-controlled moving platforms carrying Simba, Pumbaa, Timon and a giraffe move into the arena, the festival begins with the use of the previously-learned sounds to greet the animals.  With favourites such as The Circle of Life, Can You Feel The Love Tonight (with a dancer flying in the air as Nala) and Hakuna Matata (complete with a hand-jive from the acrobats), you'll be singing like one of Simba's pride in no time! 

• Kilimanjaro Safaris – It probably hasn't been my favourite part of the Animal Kingdom park before, but it certainly seems like it this time.  On this tour that takes about half an hour, you are driven with other visitors in a safari bus into the depths of the park, where you can see a wealth of animals from a safe but relatively close distance.  During our mini-safari, we saw elephants, giraffes, a hippo (completely out of the water, which is unusual for an animal that spends most of its time below the water's surface in order to stay cool), zebras, flamingos and lions, and although I am currently non-vegan (but still trying to cut back on my animal product intake), I did find myself looking at and taking photographs of these beautiful creatures and wondering why anyone would want to harm them and other animals. 

• Flights of Wonder

• Kali River Rapids – Kali River Rapids is a water ride where you sit in a circular raft complete with safety belts and a central compartment for the storage of bags and valuables during the ride. This was the first ride we had a Fast-Pass for, which made waiting time MUCH shorter. Fast-Passes can be organised through the My Disney Experience app available in the iTunes and Google Play stores. I’d suggest to ride on Kali River Rapids quite late in the day, as you WILL get wet!
• Maharajah Jungle Trek

If you've not already noticed, I find taking the time to eat breakfast every day very important - especially if you're going to school or university or work - to keep your mind and body nourished and energised for the day ahead, and a day at a theme park should be no different.  After all, you'll be running around to go on as many rides as possible and see the animals.  This recipe for a "banana breakfast dog" is one I found on disneymickeycheck.com, which identifies it as a nutritious option for kids.

Ingredients

whole grain hot dog bun
peanut butter (may use sunflower butter as nut alternative)
sunflower seeds (shelled)
banana
low-sugar jam

Instructions

1. Open the whole grain hot dog bun and spread peanut/sunflower butter on the bottom half.
2. Sprinkle sunflower seeds onto the spread half.
3. Peel a whole banana and place on the bun.
4. Add a small amount of low-sugar jam on top of the banana, add the top half of the bun, and enjoy!

Look back next week for part 4 of my Adventures in the USA series, in which I share my favourites from the Universal theme parks in Orlando!

Adventures in the USA part 2 - Downtown Disney, Walt Disney World Florida

The second stop on our adventure was Orlando, Florida, where we stayed at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa.  Our room had catering facilities, including a fridge/freezer, microwave, oven, dishwasher and washing machine, so we were able to cater for ourselves.  Following eating both breakfast and lunch at the hotel while in Washington DC (it was expensive, and we were practically spending almost $30 per person per day there, we really needed to save money on food while we were in Florida.  Therefore, on the first morning, we got a taxi to Winn Dixie, the nearest supermarket to the Disney World complex.  We needed enough food and drinks to cover 10 days of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks (although we did go out for dinner once for a special occasion), so we ended up filling two shopping trolleys with fruit, vegetables, water, pasta, bread, cereal, milk and meat.  We discovered that we could save money by having a Winn Dixie card, so although we wouldn't use it again while we're here, we got one and managed to save $32.  For most of the rest of our stay, we were probably spending $15 or less per person per day for food.

Downtown Disney is Disney World’s very own shopping and entertainment complex, with a variety of shops for Disney merchandise, as well as jewellery, food, bowling and even a circus. In the early days of being in Florida, we had a few hours to spare in the afternoon, so we caught a bus to Downtown Disney for some browsing of some very inviting Disney goodies. Here are my top 5 shops/cafés/restaurants to see while there:

• Rainforest Café – We did not been to this restaurant this year but in a previous year, but if you want to eat your dinner amongst the sounds of the rainforest and see and hear monkeys and elephants, swing over to Rainforest Café (there is also one at the Animal Kingdom). From memory, I ate an upside-down crushed Oreo cookie “mountain” topped (technically it was at the bottom) by vanilla ice cream “snow”. We also have a Rainforest Café glass that used to light up (this was nearly 10 years ago).
• Pin Traders – If you’ve ever heard of Disney Pin Trading Around The World, Pin Traders is possibly the largest collection of Disney pins I’ve seen around Disney World (including in the parks and hotels). There are character pins from a variety of Disney animated films as well as pins to commemorate particular rides at the parks, and pins to commemorate the year of your visit. You don’t need to trade pins (in which case, you simply choose and purchase a pin), but if you do, simply ask a cast member at the shop, or in any park if you can see their Disney pins, and if you see one that you like, you can ask them if you can trade/swap pins with each other.
• Basin – If you want bath products such as body scrubs, lip balm, solid perfumes, soaps or shampoo bars, head to Basin. I tried their “Love” shea body scrub, which I rubbed on my hands for about 30 seconds, and when I washed it off, my hands were super-soft. I asked the woman at the counter, and she said that the products sold are not tested on animals, and apart from a couple of products (including almond products – ask which ones specifically and they should tell you), they are free from milk and honey (I didn’t specifically ask if they were vegan though).
• Disney’s Days of Christmas – This store is full of Christmas baubles, decorations and toys of the Disney variety. There’s a Christmas-themed train set, Frozen merchandise and so much more, so if you want to deck your halls with Disney-themed Christmas decorations, Disney’s Days of Christmas will have everything you need. Christmas tree not included.
• Vivoli Il Gelato – When it’s summertime and quite hot, it’s important to stay cool, so slide into Vivoli Il Gelato for a 1-3 scoop cup or cone of ice cream. There’s rice to coffee to mango to orange to chocolate. I had a 3 scoop cup of Italian chocolate, lemon and salted caramel. The lemon was a bit tangy though …

I think my favourite of the three flavours was salted caramel. If you looked so far back to almost the beginning of my blogging journey, you’d find a recipe I found for salted caramel cheesecake following my experience of it at Colours Ball 2014. As with most of the posts I do now, I tried to find a vegan-friendly version of salted caramel ice cream (note that I am currently not a vegan, but hope to go vegan someday, and I want my blog to be a kind of cookbook compilation for myself). A quick Google search for “vegan salted caramel ice cream” came up with the following recipe from 40 Aprons, the author of which tells of her husband’s adoration of this salted caramel ice cream recipe.

Ingredients (serves 6)

Salted caramel sauce:
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons water, divided
1 cup cashews
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons vegan margarine, such as Earth Balance or Pure
2 teaspoons flake sea salt

Ice cream:
1 x 14oz can full-fat coconut milk (NOT light)
1 cup cashews, soaked at least 6 hours
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2 cups salted caramel sauce, divided

Instructions

1. Make your "heavy cream" by blending 1/2 cup almond milk, 2 tablespoons water, and 1 cup cashews in a high-speed blender until very, very smooth.  Sieve or press through a nut milk bag for the smoothest texture.
2. Make your salted caramel sauce: Stir sugar and 1/2 cup water in heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves.  Increase heat and boil without stirring until syrup turns golden (don't wait until it turns amber, as that usually means it's burnt), occasionally brushing down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped into water and swirl in the pan for about 12 minutes.  Remove from the heat.  Whisk in Earth Balance or other vegan margarine, then very gradually add cream (mixture will bubble vigorously).  Stir over low heat until smooth, then add 2 teaspoons of sea salt.  This will make about 2 cups of salted caramel sauce.
3. Combine coconut milk, 1 cup soaked cashews, coconut oil, and 1 1/2 cups caramel sauce in a high-speed blender and blend until very smooth.  Transfer to an air-tight container and refrigerate until very cold.  Once the mixture is cold, churn according to ice cream maker instructions.
4. Once churned, the ice cream will have the texture of frozen yoghurt.  Gently swirl in the remaining 1/2 cup of salted caramel sauce and place in the freezer for at least 2-3 hours.

Stay tuned for the part 3 of my adventures in the USA, where I'll reveal my favourite things to see at Disney's Animal Kingdom!

Saratoga Springs Ice Cream

Back in August 2010, my family spent about ten days staying at the Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa at Disney World Florida.  Amongst a busy schedule of activities for teenagers during the evening and plenty of things for kids as well (including watching Disney films by the hotel's swimming pool), I found an event for making ice cream.  On the day, Mum and I had been shopping in the Downtown Disney shopping district, so we had to rush to get a bus back to the hotel to make this soft, creamy ice cream, which we then ate back in our hotel room.

Ingredients

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons vanilla essence or 1 packet of hot chocolate mix

Instructions

1. Place the ingredients into a pint-size zip-lock bag.  Make sure the bag is tightly sealed.
2. Cover the bottom of a large plastic bag with ice.
3. Add about a cup of salt (more needed if there are more ice cream bags).
4. Place zip-lock bag of ice cream mix on top of the ice and salt.
5. Shake large plastic bag for about 5-10 minutes or until ice cream is firm.