Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone.  I hope you have a joyous day filled with friends & family.

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs and it seems especially poignant this year.

Dining Review: Biergarten

Biergarten

When we went up to visit Epcot the other week, we had lunch at Biergarten as part of the Candlelight Processional package.  We opted to do the package so we would not have to wait in line for over an hour to see the Processional.

In case you're unfamiliar with the package, here's how it works:  there are a limited amount of lunch and/or dinner packages at the restaurants in Epcot.  They are a fixed cost and give you an appetizer, entree, and dessert, as well as a soft drink...or in the case of Biergarten, a full buffet.  Most of these packages get snapped up pretty quickly regardless of their obscene prices.  Since we had decided only earlier in the week to do the Processional, our options were limited.  Biergarten was one of the selections, which worked out well for us since it was at the top of our list (a mere $35 per person for lunch instead of $60.  Yes, I'm serious.)  Biergarten normally runs about $25, so it wasn't a terrible deal - especially since $10 per person more meant we were guaranteed seats.  The package includes guaranteed seating at the Processional as well as a special place to watch Illuminations that evening.  We did not stay for Illuminations, so I can't comment on that.

Anniversary Trip: Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure

Since we had gotten our fill of tasty snacks at Food & Wine Festival the day before, we decided to head over to Universal for the last day of our trip instead.  Shake things up a bit.

We had done some research and knew that we would at least get Seasonal Passes to Universal - if you go twice in a year, it's worth it.  We decided that morning to get Geoff a full Annual Pass.  Mainly for the parking since we may go up just for lunch/dinner at City Walk.

After we had our passes in hand, our first stop was Harry Potter Land!

Islands of Adventure

Anniversary Trip, Food & Wine Booth Reviews

After our big breakfast, we hopped on the monorail and visited the Magic Kingdom.

Magic Kingdom

Unfortunately New Fantasyland was doing Cast Previews, so Geoff wasn't able to check it out.  We hit all of our favorites, and around 1pm were heading over to Food & Wine to hit up the booths.

Recipe: Cereal Niblets

One of the things we have always made at the holidays is Chex Mix.  But not just any Chex Mix!  The recipe we use is one my Nans (Great-Grandmother) wrote down off of the Chex box when they first printed it on the back...so to our knowledge this is the original Chex Mix.  On the recipe card I have, she calls it "Cereal Niblets," and here's how you make it...

It's super simple, you'll need the following:

For the cereal mixture, Pretzel Sticks, Cheerios, Rice Chex, Wheat Chex, and Cocktail Peanuts.  For seasoning, you'll need Garlic Salt, Celery Salt, Season Salt, Worcestershire Sauce, and butter.

Christmas at Epcot

Yesterday Geoff and I headed up to Epcot for a day full of Christmas cheer!

Epcot decorated for the Holidays

The plan for the day was to essentially enjoy the special Holiday entertainment around Epcot - no rides!  For anyone who is not familiar with what Epcot does at the holidays, they have Storytellers around the World Showcase that tell of the Holiday traditions in that country.

I called earlier in the week and made a reservation for Biergarten that included the Candlelight Processional package for the 5pm show.  We arrived at Epcot just before that and headed straight to the Biergarten for lunch.  I'll do a review on that meal soon.