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! 

Beautifully Disney Make Up Collection!

Happy happy weekend!!

Hope you guys have had a great week! If you haven't already and are a fan of ABC's show Once Upon A Time, go check out my previous post about a special Q&A session I was able to attend this past Sunday!

Something else exciting happened this last week! Disney launched their own high end make up line at the resorts! It's called Beautifully Disney and features products with both princesses and villains.

This past Saturday the store Vault Disney located in Downtown Disney was holding make over sessions using the products from the line "Wickedly Beautiful". They had a DJ out to dance to and girls, both young and old, were able to get their nails done or have their make up done inside.
The display featured below was located in The World of Disney store where I purchased some goodies. Vault Disney also had a display inside but it wasn't the same as the main advertising campaign.

So what's in the line?

Disney really worked hard on bringing us a new high end product line for big kids haha. They've had such success with collaborations such as Mac, Urban Decay, Sephora and E.L.F., it's about time they came up with their own.

"Wickedly Beautiful"

In this debut collection, named "Wickedly Beautiful", we see two 4-shadow eye pallets, a princess and a villain line of lip glosses, and a matching line of princess/villain nail polishes. They also had several sizes of cosmetic bags available as well with matching patterns. Lastly, a very uniquely designed compact featuring both Snow White and the Queen.
The Princesses featured in this line, which is seasonal, are Ariel, Cinderella, Belle, and Snow White. On Team Villain we have Ursula, the Evil Queen, Maleficent, and Lady Tremaine.

The main color schemes are very feminine and are able to appeal to the adult masses.  Sometimes make up lines featuring princesses tend to look like they're geared towards little girls and juvenile, but this line is completely beautiful. The patterns have a Baroque feel with pinks, purples, reds and blacks and while they're similar, each bag has its own unique pattern. Very pretty.

Display case

I, of course, went straight for the Ariel themed merchandise!! You know I'll be rushing to buy when Sephora launches their Ariel collection.

I walked out with a green sparkly nail polish "Ocean Mist", a deep purple nail polish "Diva of the Deep", and a peachy nude lip gloss "Mysterious Mermaid".  I was very impressed with the nail polish! I'm pretty rough on my nails and they lasted from Saturday night to Wednesday before any chips happened. That's 4 full days!! That's insane for me! Haha, I actually might go back and get more.  The polish jars have little icons on top of the lid that coordinate with the character it's named after.  "Diva of the Deep" is obviously a nod to Ursula and it had her shell necklace icon on the top.  "Ocean Mist" for Ariel, had a single shell icon of her shell bra :)

This collection will be out through the end of March and then the summer line, "Unlock the Spell" debuts in May. After that we have "Fiery Spirit" in the works.  Disney announced there is a Winter line being finalized but a name has not.

I for one am super excited about all of these. I was impressed with the color range in all the items and I would have purchased more but I currently have too much make up to get through! Haha! I'm very curious if foundations or other face powders will make their way into the collections.
There were a few things I wish had been different but they're just my personal preference. I wish the cosmetic bags had the option to get just the princesses or just the villains on some. I personally would rather have just the princesses instead of both. Another thing was that the names of the polishes were stickers that easily come off on the bottom. I'd like to see them permanently on the bottle because that's part of the fun!

Be sure to get the bag when you check out!

If you haven't checked out the make up line, and are able to get yourself down to the parks (It's at Walt Disney World too!), go take a look!  Everything is super fun and since it is a limited line, it will be gone at the end of the month.

Did any of you guys get a chance to look?  Buy anything?



Hope you all have a great weekend!! Check back for another awesome post coming up, I was able to get my paws on some Disney history!

Once Upon A TIme Q&A Panel!

Hey Mousers!


I had a very exciting weekend I'm still recovering from.  I was very fortunate to be invited to a Q&A session for the ABC show "Once Upon A Time".
If you haven't' ever seen it, it's basically a mash up of fairytales gone wrong both in their make-believe land and in present day.  It's cleverly written and produced by the same people as LOST, another one of my favorite shows. The first season is out on DVD as well as on Netflix, so now's your chance to check it out! No excuses! ;)

The Q&A was heavily sponsored by Hulu plus and is part of Paleyfest at the Sabon Theater in Beverly Hills.  It features special previews for different hit shows, a panel of the cast and insight into the next season as well as questions from the audience at the end.

this theater was so pretty!

In attendance for the panel was Colin O'Donoghue (Hook) - who was limping from a broken leg *sad panda* , Emilie De Ravin (Belle), Robert Carlyle (Rumpelstiltskin), Lana Parrilla (Evil Queen), Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow), Josh Dallas (Charming), Jennifer Morrison (Emma) and last but not least creators Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis.

We got to view the sunday nights episode (this was in the afternoon before it aired) on a huge theater screen and then got to see the first act of next weeks! In next weeks episode we get to see a little more about the Evil Queen's mother, Cora who's played by Rose McGowan!

After that they introduced the panel one by one and thats when the fun began!  It was so cool to see each actors individual personality and watch them interact.  You don't get that in other interviews or photo ops.

Some new things we discovered in the Q&A:

Robert Carlyle talked about Rumple's relationship with his son, Bae, and how we still don't know if he has learned his lesson about magic vs family.  He gave up his son to stay in the magical world and when talking to Bae in NY - after spending a lifetime searching for him, he told him he could change back time to start over.... meaning using magic again.  We also learned about the Seer's message regarding Henry and his "undo'ing". We don't know if magic will win over the love for his grandson.... OR if the undo'ing is actually a bad thing...
*those guys are such a tease!*

Lana Parrilla talked about the Evil Queen giving up on being good for now.  She related that she believes the Queen is still the heartbroken girl suffering from the loss of her beloved Daniel but she's pushing that way down deep.  "The Queen's Redemption Tour has been postponed!"
She finished that up with this statement and a little half smile, "I'm sure some of you miss the Evil Queen..... Me too! Should we bring her back?!"

On Episode 17 "Welcome to Storybrook"
We'll be viewing the first week of the curse, the very beginning of Storybrook when all the characters have alternate identities.  There will more insight into the time frame, 1983, in the modern world and how the evil queen figures things out.
We will be seeing the huntsman again! YAY! As well as Pinocchio/August! and Billy the Mechanic
This is the big episode that leads into the 2-part finale.

No plans for Jefferson to return anytime soon as the Mad Hatter.   They're not recasting anyone but his schedule has not allowed him to return to his character.

Big Belle episode coming up! Belle is going to have another identity AGAIN!  Right now she's been hit with a magical amnesia and when she "remembers", almost like David/Charming last season, she will have another personality: "Lacey".  Everyone hinted that she might live up the the "racy Lacey" nickname and that things are going to get a bit interesting with Mr. Gold! haha Can't wait!

Questions came up regarding visiting other lands in the future episodes.  Answer... YES!

Star Wars also became a topic in regards to the strangers ringtone.  Many internet sites had been buzzing about the Lucasfilm tie-in and Disney's recent purchase.  Rumors of Star Wars coming to Storybook are plentiful.  Unfortunately, the franchise will not be making an appearance outside of a few shout outs from the creators.  They're huge fans and happened to be able to fit it in there just for fun.

Final 2 episode titles...
"Second Star to the Right..."
"And straight on til' morning!"
- which means the new Land is NEVERLAND!  - but we won't get to meet any significant characters from there until Season 3.



Some of my favorite moments
- Lana saying she's ready for Snow to "Bring It!"
- when asked if Disney had any restrictions on characters as far as showing a different darker side to the good two-shoes, the answer was "We can pretty much do what we want!"
- Robert Carlyle after being shushed by Eddie on a character development question on Rumple, "That's what's hard about coming to these things to do these interviews and talk about stuff because you can't actually talk about anything!!"
- Emilie's accidental LOST comparison of Belle (OUAT) and Claire (LOST).
- Lana turning Robert into a punching bag when he makes faces about taking his character's grandson, Henry, down.
- Questioning Colin if his guyliner was the same brand as Richard Alpert - who was a fictional character on LOST
- the continuous side glances
- Robert's explanation of the "Bowl of Soup" joke
- Joking Capt Hook's Storybrook identity would have been a Sushi Chef!
- in general, Eddie and Adam's ability to answer a question without actually answering the question!
- creating the hashtag #lovinglincoln

Again, it was so much fun being able to sit in on this.  As you can see, we weren't in with all the cool media and hard core fans, so the pictures aren't the best quality but it was so worth it!
If you would like to watch the entire panel, it is available on huluplus as well as through TVlive here

Thanks so much for following along!

I'll leave  you with one last picture - my kitten was thoroughly entertained with the video feed while I was getting this all together.  :)

Check back later this week for some more posts on fun Disney things!

Have a great week!