Magical Memory: Ariel's Grotto

Hi Mousers!

I was able to go into the park for a few hours and was lucky enough to be able to get reservations at one of my most favorite places to eat.  Ariel's Grotto! (No surprise there, right?)  I haven't eaten there in years due to the price tag but for some reason, I just felt like going.  And in all honestly, do we really need a reason to want to go?
My original plans with a friend fell through but the outcome was one of the best times I've ever had.  I went with my sister and my little niece for a Princess Lunch! You know I totally would have gone to a Princess lunch even without a kid in tow... lets be real here, but sitting there with a little one made it even more special.

She takes after her Auntie 

For those of you who maybe haven't been able to have a Princess lunch, it basically involves ... well, the Princesses! They're in the restaurant as you're eating and get to come to your table to chat, take pictures, and/or sign autographs.

So lets get to it, the first thing you do is stand in line. Big surprise there.

The line leads you to the check in desk for the restaurant and soon you descend down a spiral staircase to meet the lovely Ariel!

(Check out my niece's outfit.  Fish scale Leggings... DIE of cuteness!)

I am such a goob 

look how amazing the carpet is - WANT!

It was my niece's first time meeting the Princesses so we were a little unsure of how she would react to them.  As my sister walked up to Ariel,  you could see the wheels turning in my niece's little head.  She stared at her for a little bit and then surprised all of us by throwing her hands out and literally diving into Ariel. HAHA! We think she recognized the hair - same color as yours truely - and thought it was me!

You know, I think I'm ok with my niece thinking Ariel was me.... hahahaha

action shot of the dive - Ariel didn't quite know what to do!

If you are seated inside the restaurant, here are some pictures of the inside.  I LOVE the decor.  I wish I could recreate a lot of the details at my house. 

Now this particular eatery has a set price, multiple courses, and you choose your main dish.  It's pretty cool because you get a little taste of everything.

 

Once you have decided your main entree, all the yummies start to arrive at your table...

Out comes the bread and appetizer plates.

fruit skewers, meats, cheeses, olives, and a really good salad 

During this time, before the main course arrives, each Princess is announced and she proceeds to make her rounds to all the guests.  They go pretty fast but I think thats so they can get to everyone before the main meal comes out.  I can imagine many many many sticky, saucy fingers reaching up to grab their beautiful dresses. 

Belle was the first to arrive and my niece, Annabelle, was priceless!  She also would NOT let go of poor Belle's gloves! haha she loved them. 

"No... I'm Belle!"

Next out was Snow White, and unfortunately Annabelle was way more excited about her string cheese than she was into meeting her.  Snow was beautiful though and very sweet to try to get her attention back.  Sorry, Snow! 

 Aurora also came out and greeted us, but I didn't get a good picture of her.  Next time!

Last but most certainly not least was my sister's favorite, Cinderella.  The interaction between her and Annabelle was absolutely priceless and melts my heart every time I look at this picture.  Pure Disney magic. (... minus the kid in the yellow shirt photobombing)

kissy faces with Cinderella 

Once the Princesses have made their rounds, the main course is brought out.  In our hunger we forgot to take pictures of our plates.  Blogger FAIL. But I can tell you that both the Chicken and the Beef courses are really really good! 

I did manage to snap a photo of my super exciting drink!

Clip on Ariel light

As well as remember to get a photo of the kids meal Annabelle got for free! Children under the age of 3 get to pick of a certain menu and are free of charge. 

**Note to all mommies, while the shell pasta is a great idea and fits the theme, make sure it's cut up for the little ones. The shells are too big and they can choke** 

And finally, the part we've all been waiting for... the DESSERT!  It consisted of a very rich chocolate lava cake, 2 kinds of cupcakes with a whipped cream fruit frosting, a chocolate chip cookie, and fresh berries.  Everything was delicious!! 

Everything about this lunch was so much fun.  The themed menu, the decor, the Princesses, the good times, the view... you name it.. it was awesome! 

I highly recommend eating here at least once.  It's about $50 a person (does not get you in the park - you need entry first) depending on if you get drinks or other menu items.  Discounts are available with Annual Passes or Castmember ID's.  

If you want to make reservations, call Disney Dining at (714) 781-DINE

Thank you guys for following along with me on this great memorable day with my sister and niece.  I hope you check out Ariel's Grotto sometime soon and let me know how you enjoyed it! 

I'll leave you with one last picture of the bathroom! I want it!!

Hiiii! 

Disneyland's Soundsational Parade!

The newest parade at Disneyland Park was designed by the Illustrator team of Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily.  Both have an extensive amount of previous work that has been available at the park.  Besides the parade they've had a lot of acknowledgment for their sculptures of past Disneyland merchandise and attractions. The parade floats you'll see in the pictures below were designed first as paper sculptures! That's right... no clay, no plaster... only paper! Then obviously they were built to full size after "fine tuning" (haha!) everything.

The whole of the parade is based off of percussion instruments mostly. It kicks off with a drumline doing all kinds of tricks and beats as they walk down the route. Most of the performers in this part were actually in the film "Drumline" that came out a bit ago.  You can also see in the picture below that Mickey has a set of drums too! Disney hired professional musicians for a lot of this parade.

drumline, Mickey & Minnie

Aladdin comes up next, which is pretty much the typical float and belly dancers, I didn't get a very good shot of it. But the best part is the little monkey Abu who follows behind. He clashes his symbols in time to the music.  I don't think Abu has been a part of any Aladdin attractions before.

Abu

Then Ariel appears behind her floating sea creature dancers! Her float is so pretty with all the bright colors.  She actually spins around 360 degrees so everyone on each side can see her and what under the sea float would be without bubbles! The octopus has all sorts of movement up there on the top.

Ariel and Friends

This little guy was cracking me up! He was so random and was just chilling towards the back of the float haha I don't know if he has a counterpart on the other side or if there is a similar awkward type character but I had to show you guys.

Next up was a tribute to The Three Caballeros! They haven't been a part of a Disney attraction in a really long time. I love their costumes and little bubble butts with tail feathers! (is that weird? ... probably...)

Then came the token Princess float. The only real difference I saw in the float design was the addition of Rupunzel's tower.  But really, how many princess floats can one design before they all start to flow together? (I was always secretly glad Ariel gets her own float ;P)

Simba followed suit with his entourage of African dancers, Turk, and King Louie.  It was fairly simple in this section, but cool to see a throwback to the Lion King parade.  Simba's drum float is similar to the one you'll see Tinkerbell has in a bit.

Tiana and her showboat came right behind.  This one was pretty cool! The boat is modeled after the Mark Twain and included musical instruments in the architecture. The "water" reflected on the underside of the boat too.

Next up was Tinkerbell and some generic fairies.  Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Smee, and some pirates also danced around her float.  Tinkerbell, I'm pretty sure was a drummer too. She had some bongo type looking mushrooms at the top of her drum.

Last, but not least, comes my favorite float of them all! Which probably is exactly why its the big finale section.  Mary Poppins comes through with her gang of Chimney Sweeps and the most magnificently designed float I've ever seen.  It's so intricate and amazing.
The Chimney sweeps come through with their dance number and then Mary and Bert ride around on their carousel horses!

it's a BIKE!

Ok, now remember how at the beginning I told you guys that this was all originally designed with PAPER?

Here's the rest of Mary Poppins's float .....

It was so good!  Some parades are hit and miss (the ones you run to the attractions during) but this one definitely works for me.  I wouldn't mind standing and watching it more than once.

Now after all this, it makes me laugh about how many times uninformed people automatically think "books" when the word Illustrator comes up in conversation.  Now you can add "parade float design" to the list of examples to give them ;)

If you would like to see more pictures i took of the parade, here's a public link to the album on my facebook:
Soundsational Parade

Ariel's Undersea Adventure

Can I even explain how excited I am about this?!?  Not really! Only the fact that my favorite Disney movie ever finally has a permanent attraction at the Disneyland resort!

If you aren't, check out this video the Disney Blog just posted on the animatronic Ariel.



video from  Dateline Disneyland via MiceChat


If you didn't see the video I posted on facebook a while back (or if we're not friends haha) here's the previous video of Ursula being set up inside the attraction.



from the Disney Parks Blog

June 3rd cannot come fast enough!