NO BOYS ALLOWED! A F&W Extravaganza *5/7 EXCITING News!!*

[JessicaKnits]

Slightly off topic...but I used to be slightly obsessed (read: VERY obsessed) with Disney Movie Theme Nights. They are SUCH a fun way to get excited for any upcoming trips! Since I became an "I" instead of a "we" and had a "lot" more time on my hands, I have REALLY gotten into cooking as a hobby. I mean before I had pretty much mastered all the staples (Thank you,Betty Crocker Cookbook) but lately I have been branching out into more complex dishes. On my last PTR I posted loooooooots of pictures of my theme night adventures, but have recently decided to start a blog about it. Needless to say, my dishes from before were not "Blog" ready, so I will post what I did before, and as I re-create to make everything ready for its close up, I will share it here as well! So, just a fair warning that there will be a mini onslaught of a LOT of posts as I get all my pictures posted.

 

[JessicaKnits]

The first theme night I ever did was a Cars theme night, inspired by a plethora of Cars related merchandise at the Target $1 spot!

"Car" Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches

Tire Stacks...

Mater's Oil, aka Blackberry Lemonade

"Car" Ice Cream Sundaes

Everything together...

 

[JessicaKnits]

So, this theme night is one PETA probably would not have approved. It happened to coincide with us having a fish fry, which I termed "Cleo's Fish Sticks." Wrong. I know. I couldn't bring myself to actually post pictures of them, for fear I would offend someone. I did however make these delicious made from scratch Stromboli's...

 

[JessicaKnits]

Home made "Shells" and cheese

Ursula dogs on a bed of shells and cheese

Vanilla pudding/Swedish Fish parfaits w/ Nilla Wafer "sand" which I forgot about and had to put on top instead on the bottom

 

[JessicaKnits]

Homemade pizza with Dalmation "spots"

Caesar salad and homemade pasta salad on red and black plates...

 

[JessicaKnits]

Brats w/ Sauerkraut and brown mustard with German potato salad (not homemade)

Apple Pie (also not homemade) w/ vanilla bean ice cream

 

[JessicaKnits]

Pastries...

Tea Sandwiches

Tea...

 

[JessicaKnits]

Place Setting, all from Target and PLASTIC!

Hummus and Pita

Grilled Kabobs w/ Couscous and Grilled vegetables

Sangria with diced apples

Abu's "Monkey Bread"

For those of you that read my last PTR, you will recall how this was my first theme night after returning home from New York, and how I nearly burned the house down making it. I felt like a true New Yorker then...

 

[JessicaKnits]

Place setting...thank you Factory Card Outlet!

Grown up beverages (Malibu & Pineapple juice)

Terryaki marinated and grilled chicken...

Grilled ham and pineapple

 

[JessicaKnits]

Place Setting w/ Bread

Artichoke Dip (Homemade)

Homemade meatballs (sauce not homemade, but I'm working on it)

Sauce and meatballs over pasta

Nice white wine, an homage to my hometown...

Chocolate/Chai Mousse...again, not my finest hour

 

[JessicaKnits]

Chicken Fajitas/Tacos can't remember which it was...served with margarita

 

[JessicaKnits]

Place Settings and food (purchased from a local gyro shop)

Gyro Meat (It was supposed to serve four, it served us for about a week)

Lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cilantro and tzatziki

Pita

Baklava

 

[JessicaKnits]

Crepes filled with mushroom and swiss w/ hollondaise sauce

Crepe with Nutella, bananas and strawberries

Apple crepes with homemade caramel sauce

French onion soup...not my finest hour

 

[MissSabrinaLee]

It's really cool to see the "grown up" side of Disney Movie Nights!

 

[JessicaKnits]

It's really cool to see the "grown up" side of Disney Movie Nights!

Thank you! That's SO what I'm going for! I mean, I love kids, don't get me wrong, but grown-ups can have theme nights too!!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Trust us! Don't worry! We HAVE a plan!

No, really, this time we do!

There comes a time in every trip report, where all the little thoughts and ideas you have been envisioning in your mind finally start to take shape and look like a real trip. This morning was that morning!

So when we last left off, we were tossing up multiple resort ideas and configurations of travel plans, dining plans, etc.

I am quite pleased to report that all of that has been resolved, including a date change.

So, originally we had planned to go September 21st-29th. I immediately started stressing out when I realized that our ADR window opened up on the last morning of my upcoming trip to New York. I had vowed (many times) that I was going to go laptop-less on this trip. Not wanting to get up at the crack of dawn and make ADRs by phone, we decided to push our trip back by one week. So with a quick dusting of Disney's pixie dust, we were easily able to change our reservation dates to be September 28th - October 6th, which is a great thing as it will maximize our Food & Wine festival time!

Airfare continues to be a bit of a pain point for us. I really am not a fan of the flight times out of Green Bay. I REALLY hate them. Flying out of Green Bay is a significantly cheaper option, but the flights don't arrive until 9PM and leave at 7 AM, essentially wasting two days of vacation. On the other hand, flying out of O'hare offers much better (and of course significantly more expensive) flight times. Not to mention flying out of O'hare for us is quite the production. There is the 3 hour drive (each way) and the added cost of having to park your car somewhere while you're gone. It makes no sense to me of course, since flying out of Green Bay, we have no choice but to connect through O'hare. You would think that a shorter flight = a lower price. You would think wrong. So, we're going to table the airfare for a while.

So, where or where have we decided to stay...?

After MUCH deliberation...seriously there were pie charts, graphs, pros and cons list. Ok, not really, just a lengthy pros v. cons list. We finally settled on...

Of course, as always, subject to change. There still aren't any fall discounts out yet (seriously, WHAT are they waiting for?), and if my bank account can swing it, I wouldn't mind upgrading to either the Contemporary (hands down my dream resort) or any of the Boardwalk area resorts for easy access to Epcot.

We are booked in a...

Little Mermaid room. Little Mermaid holds a special place in both mine and Megan's hearts, as it is the very first Disney movie either of us has a clear memory of watching.

In case you are wondering, Bambi was the 2nd one that I remember. My Dad is an avid deer hunter, and I remember tearfully asking my dad if he was going to kill Bambi's mom. He responded that of course he wasn't. He was after Bambi's Dad. Nice, Dad.

We are sticking with the deluxe dining plan, and I feel that this may be the very first time ever, that I use all my snack credits up, without having to use them to buy fudge to give as gifts for everyone on the last morning. Food & Wine booths, look out! We're headed for ya.

With the added savings by staying at a value resort, we are pretty sure that we are going to rent a car while we are there. My very first trip, we stayed at Pop Century and thought their buses were positively fantastic. Second trip at Coronado, was absolutely horrendous as far as buses were concerned. We have decided that we will take the Magical Express to the hotel, because I think that riding the Magical Express and seeing the movie is THE ONLY way to kick off a trip. We will most likely reserve through the WDW Car Care Center (National or Alamo) since they have a shuttle that will pick you up from any WDW resort.

Now that we have dates and a resort, we can FINALLY start laying our ADR and touring plans frame work!!

 

[rachel09985]

Oh my gosh I haven't been following up on this forever! I didn't even realize you got rid of your other PTR.

I absolutely love your movie theme nights. You must be an amazing cook because all of that food looks so good and is so clever!

You will love AoA. Although I have heard that the LM rooms aren't going to be part of the fall discounts.

I need to make sure to subscribe to this as I have always loved your Food reports and was following along to your other PTR.

You can fly out of Minneapolis and park your car at our apartment. Lol we only live about 15 min from the airport.

 

[DrMomof3]

Hi Jessica!
We're going to get along great. 1st my daughter is named Jessica. 2nd I live in NY (just outside NYC but I work in the Bronx). 3rd my youngest child is obsessed with Ariel. He wants to marry her!

Amanda

 

[JessicaKnits]

Oh my gosh I haven't been following up on this forever! I didn't even realize you got rid of your other PTR.

I absolutely love your movie theme nights. You must be an amazing cook because all of that food looks so good and is so clever!

You will love AoA. Although I have heard that the LM rooms aren't going to be part of the fall discounts.

I need to make sure to subscribe to this as I have always loved your Food reports and was following along to your other PTR.

You can fly out of Minneapolis and park your car at our apartment. Lol we only live about 15 min from the airport.

Hey Rachel! So glad you stopped over, I have been catching up on your trip reports!

I am really working on starting a theme night blog! I have this whole week off work so it sounds like a good time to get started! My problem is that a lot of "recipes" I have are just in my head, so trying to organize and put them all on paper has been really challenging.

You are so sweet to offer to let us park by you guys! Unfortunately MSP is about an extra hour and a half further than Chicago is from us.

Hi Jessica!
We're going to get along great. 1st my daughter is named Jessica. 2nd I live in NY (just outside NYC but I work in the Bronx). 3rd my youngest child is obsessed with Ariel. He wants to marry her!

Amanda

Yay! I love New Yorkers! How's the weather by you guys? I heard it snowed a little yesterday. I'm hoping that it warms up soon since I will be there this Friday for a long weekend!

 

[DrMomof3]

We had a dusting of snow. It's cold today!!!!


Amanda