Blog and Facebook linked

Hi, I think my blog and facebook are finally linked.  Let's see...

Shark!

In honor of Shark Week, here's a video I took while snorkeling with Blacktip Reef Sharks in Bora Bora.  We were just outside the lagune in about 45 feet of water.

You know you're crazy when you have to wait for the sharks to move out of the way so you can jump in the water!

Disney Cars at Art of Animation Resort

As I mentioned in my previous post, Disney has really outdone themselves with this new resort.  When we visited the resort recently thought the Cars section of the resort looked really fun and we hadn't even seen the movie yet.  How can I call myself a Disney fan!?!  Our experience at the resort compelled us to watch the movie so after we returned home we watched the movie.  Wow, looking at the photos from the resort make me feel like I was standing in the middle of Radiator Springs.  Here's what the Cars section of Art of Animation resort looks like:

Sheriff is hiding under the billboard waiting for speeders.

Doc Hudson

Mater

Wheel Well Motel

Sally and Lightning McQueen

Resort Pool with Cone Cabanas

Luigi and Guido

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

I had the opportunity to visit Disney's new resort last week.  Disney has outdone themselves again.  The attention to detail at the Art of Animation Resort is impressive.  You feel like you're part of the story.  The resort is located on one side of Hourglass Lake and consists of one main building that houses reception, business center, gift shop, arcade, and food court.  There are four separately themed sections of the resort that offer accommodations based on the movies Cars, Finding Nemo, Lion King, and Little Mermaid.  Standard room accommodations are available in the Little Mermaid section and family suites are available in the rest of the resort.

Animation Hall 

Includes the following:

·         Reception - for arrivals and departures, concierge, kid lounge, Disney animator on hand to discuss and demonstrate illustration.  The color scheme as you enter takes you from black and white to color to pixels and the digital age.  The sketches on the wall start from rough draft to finished drawings. 

·         Business Center - free internet access and printer, airline monitor for info on flights, ATM

·         Ink & Print Shop - The resort’s gift shop, includes a small section of necessity items next to the registers.   Other staple food items are available in Landscape of Flavors.

Entrance to Ink & Paint Shop as seen from the lobby

Necessities

Lots of gift choices

·         Arcade 

·         Landscape of Flavors - only quick service restaurant to use real plates and silverware minimizing the amount of trash generated making this the greenest restaurant in WDW.

Dining

Art of Animation dining is a quick service restaurant called Landscape of Flavors that at first glance looks like a food court. 

The food quality is excellent and diversity of choices is extensive. They have several different food stations: bakery, salads and sandwiches, International cuisine called World of Flavors (Chinese, Indian, etc.), pizza and pasta, and the grill for burgers and other hot sandwiches. There are a number of beverage coolers with bottles of soda, beer, wine, water, juices, vitamin water, milk, yogurts, packaged sliced apples and other fruits and snacks. I noticed many, many kid friendly food options. 

Some of the many menu items highlighted on these boards

Gives some ideas of kid friendly food available

Souvenir reusable drink cups and packaged snacks

Beverage cooler, Italian food and burger stations from the cash register

  Another great feature is you have a choice in how your food is prepared. They offer gluten free and vegetarian selections. They make your food fresh while you wait. In the World of Flavors section, they have a Mongolian grill which is a huge flat round cooking surface. I ordered the Mongolian grilled fish. They told me it would take about 10 minutes as they cook it fresh and gave me a pager. I had a choice of rice (basmati or wild rice with mixed vegetables) and one side dish (choices were dhal, spinach with paneer, cauliflower with a red sauce, or baked squash. I chose the spinach with paneer as I know what that's supposed to taste like according to my Indian friends. It was so delicious and fresh, it far exceeded my expectations.

Hours of operation are from 6:00 AM to Midnight.

Room Service

A small menu of pizza, appetizers, entrees, beverages, and desserts are available for in room delivery from 4:00 PM to Midnight.

Pools

·         The main and largest pool is right outside Animation Hall in the Finding Nemo section of the resort.  There’s a kids water/splash area near the anemone with Marlon and Nemo. 


Main pool at Finding Nemo



Kids splash area

Pool Bar at Finding Nemo pool offers snacks and refreshments

·         There is also a smaller pool at Cars (the cabana's are free and are first come first serve) and at Little Mermaid.  Lion King will not have a pool but is a short walk over to Nemo or Little Mermaid.



Cars pool

Cabanas are free

·         Pool areas are gated.  You need your room key to gain access to the pool area for extra security.

Key card access to pool

Rooms

We were able to see a Cars themed family suite.  

·         Layout – Dining Room, living room with kitchenette, bedroom, two bathrooms (one with tub/shower, the other with only a shower)

o   Dining Room – When you enter the unit the first room is the dining room.  There's a dining table with four chairs that converts easily into a double bed. 

Dining table converts into a double bed

o   Main bathroom - off the dining room that has a sink that can be separated from the toilet and bathtub/shower room.  From the dining room you can walk into the living room or the master bedroom. 

Shower curtains are for sale at gift shop

o   Kitchenette - is located in the living room.  It consists of a small typical hotel sized fridge (larger that a dorm fridge), coffee maker, microwave, and a bar sink.  The kitchenette is stocked at check-in with plastic ware, paper towels, paper plates and bowls.  The coffee maker will make one or two cups of coffee at a time. 

o   Living room - has a flat screen TV on a dresser table with six drawers of storage space.  The couch pulls out into a double bed. 



Lots of storage in TV stand, extra pillows under the coat rack

o   Master bedroom - separate room with a door, TV, queen sized bed ( ?) and its own bathroom with a walk in shower, no tub.  Small soap, shampoo, conditioner are provided.

Master bathroom

·         Quality of rooms - Brand new and very clean!  Great use of space.  You don’t feel like you’re sleeping on top of each other.  Noise is not an issue in this resort.  Disney exceeded the hurricane rating by adding the hurricane proofing to all the walls including the interior of the building. 

·         Kid friendly décor - Each floor outside the elevators have paintings of scenes from that theme's movie.  Disney realized that kids these days are more visual and know the movies well.  By placing these paintings on each floor and making the entire resort more visual, kids have an easier time finding their way around and back to their rooms.  Last month, the lost kid count went from 23 to 1.  Parents went to security to report a missing kid and were asked if they checked their room.  The parents said “no” so security calls their room and 22 times the "lost" kid answers the phone in their room.

Jogging Trail - a short walk from any of the rooms in this resort

Jogging path is a paved, one mile loop around Hourglass Lake

Park Transportation

·         The buses are located outside of Animation Hall, closest to Finding Nemo and Lion King buildings but still a short walk from Cars and Little Mermaid.


Buses stop here, outside Animation Hall

This is a small glimpse of this new resort.  Just let me know if you would like more information.

Yellow Dragon Cave

I read that there was a Yellow Dragon Cave in a park on the other side of the hill from the Shangri-La Hotel in Hangzhou.  I was intrigued by the possibility of exploring a cave.  I was staying with friends on this trip to Hangzhou and their apartment was a little northwest of where the cave was supposed to be located.  When I told them about the cave they said it was just a park called Yellow Dragon Park, no cave.  But this couldn't be, I read about a cave so it must be there.  Now I really needed to go investigate this place.   My tour guide for the morning was Chen Ming, the teenage daughter of my friend's housekeeper.  She's learning English in school and wanted to practice with me.  Her English is much better than my Chinese.  We had a lot of laughs. 

We headed out for the park first thing in the morning.  The walk to Yellow Dragon Park was much shorter than I thought.  After passing the dragon poles, we found several woman dancing.  I love these little surprises.

Park Entrance

Then we walked a little further and came upon an opera performance at an open air pavillion.  Opera seems to be still enjoyed by the older generations but Chen Ming wasn't very interested in watching it.  When I've had discussions about Chinese opera with other friends they usually said opera is something their parents watch and enjoy.  I found that once I got used to the different sounds of the musical instruments and performers singing, opera is a very interesting art form in itself.

Chinese Opera performance in the park pavillion

How fabulous is this picture below of the people playing cards in the park.  Can you believe this is the same park!?!

Playing cards

Then a little further into the park we find the Yellow Dragon.  Its a waterfall and the water flows out of the dragons mouth.  But its not a cave, trust me I checked.

After finding all these wonderful things in the park we just had to keep exploring.  That cave has to be here somewhere.   The next thing we came upon was the Wish Realizing Terrace.

And then a little further down the path, there it was, the entrance to the Yellow Dragon Cave.  The quality of the photo isn't very good but there it was.  It does exist and we found it.  It was closed off as you can see but that didn't matter.  We found it!

If you're ever in Hangzhou, Yellow Dragon Park is worth the time to visit. 

Boarding Pass Artwork

It's been a while since my last post because we were in Asbury Park, New Jersey on holiday at The Shore visiting family and friends.  I think that's exit 7 for those in the know.  It's always good to catch up with everyone.  While we were there I was telling my partner's brother what it's like going through security at the airport these days.

Before you get in line the security line you have to show your ID and boarding pass, then again at the other end of the queue just before the x-ray and full body scan you present your ID and boarding pass to another TSA agent seated at a podium.  The agent shines a neon looking flashlight over your ID, waves your boarding pass over a little window on the podium, then proceeds to scribble nonsense all over it.  Then they initial it as if they've just created a work of art.  This sounds like I'm prone to hyperbole, right?  Not at all.

Then we check into the Newark Airport for our flight home and get in line for security.  The TSA agent, pen at the ready, did exactly as I described above.  She circled some information and put a line through other details.  Great, now I have to check the monitor to see which gate because the number is obscured by the "artwork".  Then she initials it and hands it back to me.  My partner went through right after me and the TSA agent barely touched her pen to her pass.  What's up with that?

Today, we're at the airport again.  This time I've got the paper boarding pass and my partner used her mobile to display the boarding pass and she went through first.  She presented her ID and a quick wave of the mobile over the little window and she was done.  Then I step up and hand the agent my ID and boarding pass.  The TSA agent grabbed her pen and as if making up for lost scribbling went to town on my boarding pass.  And then she initialed it.  Now I have three boarding pass works of art within the last week.  I'm thinking a couple more and I'll frame them and maybe have a showing at a gallery.