Disneyland Snacks: Caramel Apples

I am big fan of apples, yet of all my year spent at Disneyland I have not tried one of their caramel apples. My parents rarely bought us snacks at the parks growing up and as an adult, I was just being frugal. Plus, they looked hard to eat. Recently, I was strolling through Downtown Disney when my co-creative mind twin Amy and I stopped to watch the chefs decorate fancy caramel apples. We were memorized because we love crafty stuff like this. Plus, it was nice to know that they use everyday products like Marshmallow Jets brand like we do. My friend Roger was so shock when he found out that I have yet to try one and so he bought one for Amy and I to share!

This is the Apple Pie Caramel Apple and it was so good! I always though these were too expensive, but it feeds two so that cuts down the price a lot. Amy and I were annoyed that the CM put the sticker on upside-down though.

I can't wait to try the other caramel apples now!

Mickey Mouse Caramel Apples (DIY)

Do you like caramel apples? Do you like the fancy (and quite expensive) ones available at specialty shops?

I am a fan of caramel apples! I have never made them before, but when I was at Downtown Disney and watched the awesome dessert chefs (there must be a name for them) at Marceline's Confectionary create these beautiful Disney-themed apples, I knew I had to go home and attempt to make one!

I was mesmerized by how these chefs worked with the apples and the designs and really wanted to attempt the simple Mickey design.

First I made sure I had all the ingredients:

-apples

-caramel squares (after scouring the supermarket candy aisles, I finally found some at Target!)

-chocolate chips

-large marshmallows

-wooden sticks

-red fine sanding sugar

-small yellow jelly beans (this is where candy shops come in handy... you can pick and choose which colored candies you need!)

*I made MANY mistakes during my first trial-and-error so if I included a "tip", it probably means that I am asking you to learn from my mistakes! Haha!*

First up, washed the apples (to remove wax) and stabbed a wooden take-out chopstick into each apple. I started with five because I know I will need back-ups in case I messed up. Then I unwrapped all the caramel candies and slowly melted them in a sturdy pot, adding only 2tbsp of water (or milk if you prefer). The caramel melted very slowly at first, but eventually quickened into a nice creamy texture. Holding the apple by the stick was difficult because the apple was really heavy! I managed to cover each apple with sticky caramel and laid them to rest on a waxed paper-covered cookie sheet. TIP: Make sure the caramel is nice and smooth (almost runny texture) before dipping apples because I was impatient and my caramel-covered apples were pretty lumpy. Also, if you want to stop here with the caramel apples, you can... just add chopped nuts or sprinkles!

After the caramel apples have slightly hardened, I placed two large marshmallows on each side for the "ears". TIP: Use melted chocolate as glue because caramel does not hold up marshmallows well. Also, another TIP: make sure the marshmallows flat circle side (base/top of the cylinder) is facing towards the front because the ears looks cuter this way. Leave the caramel apples with marshmallow ears in the refrigerator to stiffen. Tip: Be patient. I lost one of the caramel apples during this process because the marshmallows slid down. One down, four to go.

(One down, four to go)

Once the caramel and the marshmallows are firmly in place (and not stick anymore), you can cover them with chocolate! To melt chocolate, there are many ways, which includes using a microwave, the boiling water/bowl method, or just SLOWLY melting them in a pot, adding water and vegetable shortening when needed. You want the chocolate to melt all the way and having a runny consistency so it will be easy to pour over the apples. I covered the four caramel apples with marshmallow ears with the melted chocolate and let them sit in the fridge on waxed paper. TIP: This is where "gluing" your marshmallows is important-- apparently the hot chocolate caused the marshmallow ears to melt and slide down the apples. Sadness. Lost three more apples in this process so there is only one left.

(My sister secretly took this picture of my trying to peel the caramel apples from the wax paper)

(As you can see, the warm melted chocolate caused the marshmallows to melt and slowly slides down.)

After leaving the chocolate-covered caramel apples with marshmallow ears in the fridge overnight (again, be patient), you are ready to decorate! I copied the Mickey design from Marceline's Confectionery because it seemed to be the easiest (and cutest) to do!

(Ugh, three down, only one more left.)

Sadly, my only surviving apple had crooked ears.... oh well. I covered the bottom half of the apple with whipped vanilla icing, although I think any thin icing would work. Then I added two yellow (lemon) Jelly Belly jellybeans where Mickey's pants buttons are located. Let the jellybeans sit for a few minutes. Finally cover just the icing area with red fine sanding sugar. (I wish my sugar would have been more red than a translucent red.)

Ta-da! Your very own Mickey Mouse Chocolate-covered Caramel Apple!

(Pretty proud of my first attempt with caramel apples!)

(Here are the failed apples: sliding marshmallows due to warm melted chocolate [left tray] and sliding marshmallows during initial caramel covering [right dish].)

I will definitely attempt this again in the future!

Ingredients: soft caramel square candies, large marshmallows, dark chocolate semi-sweet chips or dark brown/black candy melts, green tart apples, wooden sticks, dark red fine sanding sugars, small yellow jellybeans

Mickey Mouse Ornaments

First off, I want to give thanks to the *super* talented Desperate Mousewife of MouseWait. She is always posting incredibly cute ideas (most Disney-related) and I've been itching to try to mimic some of her crafts.

If you have recently walked through any Disney Stores at your local mall or World of Disney at Downtown Disney, you might noticed the beautiful Mickey ornaments on sale for the holidays. After admiring them, you will notice that these babies are not cheap. You can't get away with buying just one because who wants to put only one Mickey ornament on a tree?

DesperateMousewife (DMW) was kind enough to posted these pictures and instructions on the MouseWait lounge:

Directions (from DWM on MouseWait):

How to make a Mickey ornament. Buy plastic ornaments, one large and two smaller. Instructions top to bottom:

1) Measure and mark on each side the same distance that looks good for ear placement. I marked at 1" down. Remove the hook caps from the two smaller ornaments.

2) Use a high temp glue gun tip to press into the ornament to form a hole big enough for the top of the smaller balls.

3) Add some hot glue to the top of the smaller ball and then press inside the hole. Hold until secure. Repeat on other side.

4) Done! You can glue other embellishments on it as well.

This is the story of my attempts to try to recreate these Mickey Mouse Christmas ornaments:

The instructions given by DMW seemed so simple that I ran out to the nearest Dollar Tree and bought some beautiful matching small and medium size red ornaments. They didn't have much of a selection there and I settled for simple red ones.

I was so excited I came home, pulled out my ruler, sharper, mini glue gun, and ornaments to start working. After about 10 minutes of trying to burn a hole with the glue gun into the ornament, I realized I made a mistake-- I was using a low-temperature glue gun! Frustrated, I drove out to Michaels to pick up a high-temperature glue gun since I didn't own one. Luckily, I found a mini one for pretty cheap. (Mistake #1)

Drove home, got with my high-temp glue gun in hand, I was ready for some ornament creation time, but after about 15 minutes to began to realized that even my high-temp glue gun was not going to burn a hole through this shiny, stubborn ornament. Thinking I was just a complete failure (just kidding, but I was bummed and confused), I went back to DMW's post on the MouseWait Lounge and reread the instruction, I realized another mistake-- I had bought shiny, beautiful GLASS ornaments! I was supposed to pick up some plastic ones. Lesson learned: never to skim over instructions, no matter how simple things may look. (Mistake #2)

Because my Dollar Tree doesn't carry uniformed colored plastic ornaments, I had to search far and wide and finally stumbled upon some blue ones at the local dollar store (Viva Bargain is the name). I bought a set of blue (plain and glittered mixed) medium size ornaments and small ornaments, which came out to be only $2.00. Score!

After all that work and purchasing, I finally had some time in my busy Christmas schedule today to attempt to make these cute little guys (while watching old X-Men: Volume 1 episodes).

What do you think?

The first one I made was okay, but the ears were too low on each side.

(Too lazy to rotate picture: top is the initial Mickey ornament-- noticed that the ears are too low on each side; bottom ornament was on the second try)

After that initial try, the rest of the ornaments came out perfect, both the solid blues and the glittery ones!

Success!! Now what to do with them.... currently, they are all hanging out in the pretty Victoria's Secret bag, waiting. My tree is fully decorated and I already handed out gifts... Any suggestions?

Materials: medium plastic ornaments, small plastic ornaments, high-temperature glue gun, additional glue gun (with glue stick) in case you need extra adhesive for the ears, and puffy paint/stickers to decorate the ornament (optional)

Disneyland Snacks: Buttered Popcorn and Coke

If there is one thing you need to know about me when it comes to food, it is that I prefer savory over sweets. Strange huh? I kind of enjoy baking, love to decorate, but I do not like eating sweets! I create, then give away. Once in a while I have to satisfy my sweet tooth, but savory over sweets for me!

One of my favorite snacks at Disneyland is their regular buttered popcorn. There is something magical about Disneyland popcorn that I cannot recreate at home (almost as magical as movie theater popcorn, but that's besides the point). The price of popcorn has risen over the years and now sits at the expensive price of $3, or is it $3.50? Either way, it is expensive for a regular size popcorn. Don't even get me started with their delicious caramel popcorn or kettle corn...

What better way to wash down some buttery popcorn with an ice cold bottle of Coca Cola aka Coke? A coke also cost a hefty $3 or $3.50 at the parks, but at least it is a 20oz bottle, although I do prefer drinking my Cokes from an ice cold can.

Popcorn just got more popular at the parks due to two major holiday money-makers: adorable Mickey Mouse popcorn buckets!

This past October, Disneyland introduced the Mickey Ghost popcorn bucket and Mickey lovers everywhere went crazy over these guys! Due to unexpected popularity, these buckets sold out and quickly became the newest hot commodity! Disneyland cold not keep up with park-goers high demands. Luckily, I was able to snatch one up the minute they became available (and quickly unavailable) again. These things were $9 and came with regular popcorn.

Disneyland quickly realized how much money they can make from selling these things and when the winter holidays rolled around, so did Snowman Mickey popcorn buckets!

(insert pic)

Rumors of release dates began flying around and once the date was settled, I was ready to snatch a few up (one for myself and two for a friend). Got to Disneyland early and took these babies home with me. I have to admit, the Snowman ones are not as cute as the Ghost Mickeys, but I am a sucker for Disney trends. Selling for $11 each, Disney was well-prepared this time around. They seem to have ordered plenty and park-goers do not have to fear these little guys being sold out. Another start thing was that people can buy the Mickey buckets inside specific stores, not just at popcorn stands like previously done. When you buy your bucket in store, you get the empty bucket and a popcorn voucher so you can pick up the popcorn later. Great idea, Disney.

(Chilling inside the Emporium Store)

(Free popcorn voucher with bucket purchase if bought from a non-vendor)

Popcorn locations: regular buttered popcorn can be found at outdoor vendors through both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure parks; caramel and flavored popcorn are only available at DCA

Mickey popcorn buckets: can be both at outdoor popcorn vendors at both parks; can also be found inside Emporium store on Main St., U.S.A. inside Disneyland

Cafe Orleans at Disneyland Resort

One of my favorite places to eat at Disneyland is Cafe Orleans. Although this place is not as popular at Blue Bayou (the restaurant located inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), I do recommend making a reservation if you know you want to dine here ahead of time. You can call Disney Dining at (714) 781-3463 and their hours are from 7:00am-9:00pm. I usually just call the morning-- this saves me a lot of time!

The food here is fantastic! I have tried several main dishes already and I cannot complain about any of them! Although the entrées are delish, my sister and I would travel into Disneyland to have lunch because of one dish: pommes frites (garlic and Parmesan cheese fries). These are THE BEST fries ever made.

Featured here are the popular Monte Cristo sandwich and pommes frites:

We were planning on ordering desserts, but we were quite full after our meal so the gingerbread beignets will just have to wait (I am so excited to try those!).

Another plus about eating here is that you can people watch if you get seated in the patio area, which is the only place I've sat. Actually, I don't even know if an indoor seating area exist or not!

Prices: about $12-$15 per plate on average

Location: New Orleans Square, across from the Pieces of Eight store, POTC attraction exit inside Disneyland park

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 'Pirates Fans First' Event

Last week, I learned from Trent of Pink is the New Blog that I won the a pair of tickets to 'Pirates Fans First', a special event held at the Disneyland Resort on Monday, December 13, 2010. Fans who attend this event got an exclusive first look at the new trailer for Walt Disney Pictures "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" in 3D. Along with this special viewing, fans were allowed to enter Disneyland before opening hours, were sworn to the "Pirate's Oath" in a ceremony by the Columbia sailing ship, was first to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, and attended a special Pirates after-party where there were lots of pirates, food, prizes, gifts, and special guests. Being a huge Disneyland geek and a fan of the movies (and Captain Jack Sparrow), you can imagine my reaction when I found out I won this contest! Squealing, jumping, and bragging does not even cover how excited I felt! To make this experience 10x better, my Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow-loving sister was free to go with me since she finished her finals and medical rotations. Let the adventures begin!

Checking Into the Event

(Super early Monday morning at approximately 5:00am)

My sister and I are fortunate enough to live less than five minutes away from the Disneyland Resort so we did not have to get up earlier than necessary. We made our way to the Downtown Disney parking area and attached ourselves to the end of the line filled Pirate-fans. The early morning weather was cold and dark; luckily we were bundled up in our coats. Because we were planning to stay at the park after the festivities, we packed an extra set of clothing in the car so we can change into when the weather warms up later. Fans were allowed to attend this event dressed in pirate costumes, but Cindy and I opted for simple pieces that are associated to the pirate attire-- stripes and tall boots. Good thing I didn't bust out in my quasi-pirates costume because some of the attendees were decked out in the most amazing (and professional) costumes! Right behind us in line are a group of 18 professional pirates, who were invited to the event to help create the pirate atmosphere. They are the funniest and rowdiest group of people! It is amazing how they are able to stay in character the whole time!

(It's hard to see, but this is the line for the special event.)

(Professional pirates! They were right behind us for we were entertained while standing in line.)

While in line, we had fun watching all the press and media (KIIS FM, Yahoo, OC Register, KTLA, and various bloggers) run around interviewing people, videotaping fans, and taking pictures of the attendees in costume.

After checking into the table around 6:15, we received a special t-shirt and complementary hot drinks while we mingled with the Cast Members aka CM Pirates. I took this opportunity to take a lot of pictures with the fun props set up right outside of AMC 12 here at Downtown Disney.

(Posing with our event tags and complimentary shirt, and yes that is a size small.)

(My hot chocolate/decaf coffee was delish!)

It was still dark so my poor camera was not able to capture everything in detail. At about 6:30am, we were allowed find our seats inside one of the largest theaters at this AMC location. (I am going to leave out the complicated and truly unorganized manner in where they located, and later gave back, our cell phones and cameras.)

Viewing the Exclusive 3D Preview

While waiting in our seats, CM pirates kept us entertained with songs, joke, and good ol' pirate fun! My sister even spotted Director Rob Marshall walking around amongst fans, asking them why they are fans of POTC. He was a really nice guy and loves hearing what fans have to say. My sister had a fantastic question to ask him, but sadly she never got her chance.

Because I have no pictures from this moment, you can read about Rob Marshall and his unveiling the trailer from today's event. (Courtesy of Disney Parks Blog)

Manny from 102.7 KIIS FM was also there to give report to live to Ryan Seacrest's morning show. After a fun pirate costume contest, being aired live on KIIS FM, and words from Rob Marshall, we were finally going to be the first to watch the exclusive 3D trailer. It started off with a small behind-the-scenes introduction of Pirate-mania, which included clips of Walt Disney and his ideas behind building the POTC attraction, and the journey and success of Jack Sparrow through the first three movies. After this fantastic intro, 3D glasses were put on, I sat there in awe for 2:28 minutes because this movie looks so awesome! If you haven't seen the preview, you can view it on Yahoo's Blog. This movie takes Captain Jack on a whole new adventure with a slew of new characters, including mystical creatures such as zombies and mermaids. Because it is not connected to the previous three movies, I know that the plot of this movie will be original, clever, creative, and fun! It reminds me a lot of the first POTC movie. Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush are the returning stars from the previous movies, but who can not notice the beautiful newcomer to the crew, the talented Penelope Cruz. With this great of a cast, I am really stoke to see the movie, which is released May 20, 2011.

Pirate's Oath and Riding the POTC Attraction

After viewing the trailer, we made our way through Downtown Disney and into Disneyland. We all received complimentary one-day park hopper tickets so we can enjoy the park afterwards. Being Annual Passport holders, we wanted to focus more on the events than the park so we were in no rush to speed through everything just to get to the rest of the resort. As we made our way down Main Street towards the POTC attraction (and feeling quite important with my POTC tag), Cindy and I quickly grabbed fastpasses to the Indiana Jones attraction to save for later. Yes, we like to think in advance! I say smart-thinking on our part! (Disneyland Tip: Fastpasses do not expire. The 'Return Time' on the FP is a recommended time to come back, but you can use FPs anytime during the same day just as long as it is after the time listed.)

(Cindy standing in line to enter the park before it opens.)

All the fans and press/media gathered in front of the POTC attraction, where we found the Columbia sailing ship has been invaded by jolly pirates. After some song and dance, we were asked to raise out left hand and take the Pirate's Oath, which was a fun idea. Cindy and I decided to make another "smart" move: since everyone was standing facing towards the Columbia ship on the Rivers of America, we made sure to stand at the very back of the crowd are the first to ride the POTC attraction. I will never wait more than 15 minutes for this ride because I am a spoiled AP-holder.

(Cindy is not sworn into the pirates ways of life.)

(Fun group of CM pirates singing and dancing away.)

(Just a few of the media and press.)

After a fun group photo and interviews by Sam Rubenstein from KTLA (can you spot us crazy fans in this interview?), they allowed us to ride POTC before the rest of the park. As a child, I used to LOVE this ride because I was a big chicken and the two waterfalls were considered thrill rides for me. I dearly remember going on this over with my parents and sister during our annual Disneyland trips and there were times my sister and I would ride POTC four or five times in a row while waiting for Fantasmic to start. Ah, the memories. Cindy and I managed to pushed our way through the crowds and got on one of the first boats for POTC. We screamed at the top of our lungs during the waterfalls, squealed when the cannonballs splashes water on us, giggled at Jack Sparrow sightings, and sang loudly along with the merry pirates (although my best POTC as to be with large groups of MWers... good times).

(Super gorgeous and really tall CM Pirate!)

(Glad to be one of the first to ride POTC among the group.)

"Pirates Fans First" After-Party

Again, with our Disneyland knowledge, after POTC, we quickly ran to Splash Mountain to grab some more FPs for later use, then joined the Pirates after party, which was located in the "festival" area behind Big Thunder Ranch. These area brings back memories of the old "Festival of Fools" show from back in the day. I have to say I am VERY impress with the pirate-themed decor!

When I walked into the after party, I felt giddy, hungry, and excited all at once! The place was decked out in pirate decor, delicious foods and drinks were available (all-you-can-eat... yes!), and pirates were roaming around everywhere!

My sister and I were starving by now (approximately 9:00am) and joined the breakfast buffet line, which included a variety of pastries, assorted fruits (I went for the strawberries and pineapples while Cindy is more of a melon girl), scrambled eggs, bacon (yum!), sausages (eh), and potatoes (loved!). We had the choice of hot drinks, juices, and water, which were all set-up and served in a fancy-schmancy manner. No soda, boo. Haha. I love event planning and the whole set-up of this after party was festive, greatly themed and decorates, and organized! The staff and Cast Members were constantly removing empty plates from our tables, refilling our drinks, bringing out fresh trays of foods, and entertaining up with one-on-one pirate conversations, dances, and song!

(I spy Pirate Sam Rubenstein from KTLA 5.)

There was one pirate that Cindy and I have been waiting to meet: Captain Jack Sparrow.

(Cindy, Captain Jack, and myself)

This ability to imitate Jack Sparrow was very close to perfection (although my favorite was at Magic Kingdom in WDW... the Project Runway guy). Charming, flamboyant, cunning, and smoldering (my new favorite word because of Flynn Rider from Tangled), I thought Jack Sparrow was wonderful at the event and was definitely the highlight of the party!

(Cindy with her #1 pirate!)

After overeating, we decided to ham it up for the camera and had some fun with the amazing props and decor around the arena.

(Commemorative pin... and guess what? I'm a Pin-Trader! Score!)

After the After-Party Fun @ the Parks

The event ended at 10:00am, which we headed out and enjoyed the rest of the day at Disneyland and Disney California Adventures. Some fun includes riding Monster's Inc., Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones (my favorite ride), Astro Blasters aka Buzz Lightyear ride (got my all-time high at 120k), Big Thunder, and the always dependable Monorail for taking us to and from our car for outfit changes throughout the day. Also took pictures with several characters, saw my favorite show of all-time, Aladdin the Musical Spectacular (Aladdin: so-so, Jasmine: on point, Genie: fab, and Jafar: thumbs WAY down). Here are some quick highlights from the rest of our fantastic day:

(The Incredibles is my favorite Pixar movie.)

(Pooh actually posed in this photo for us!)

(Lisa & Cindy aka Chip & Dale)

Overall, great bonding experience with my best friend, my sister Cindy. It was truly an amazing event and I was so glad to be a part of it. Thank you so much Trent for allowing me the opportunity to attend this! Don't hesitate if you need to send someone out for future events! Haha!

Sources: PITNB, Yahoo Blogs, KTLA, KIIS FM, and Disneyland Blogs