#disboards

Hello Fellow Disney Fans,

I am back!

I know it's been a while but I have decided to return to the world of Tumblr.

And I am going to kick off my return by answering questions about the Disney College Program. ( I did it in 2013)

SOOOOO submit away and I will answer them as well as I can!

  Thanks

Sorry everyone The Sparrowman has been pretty busy with school and such! Anyways, I recently just went on a Disney Cruise! I am currently writing a trip report on Disboards.com if you want to find out more. But today I am going to talk about possible topics of discussion when you are meeting one of the famous Disney characters! Today I will discuss 3 different characters!

1) Princess Tiana

(Tiana and I at Disneyland, CA 2013)

So for those of you who aren't familiar with Princess and The Frog, Tiana is a hard working ordinary girl who turns into a frog, and ***SPOILER ALERT*** ends up falling in love with her carefree companion Prince Naveen! 

When meeting Tiana I love to talk about "Tiana's Palace" her restaurant. She will love it because her work is her life and she loves to talk about it. 

Another thing I enjoy discussing is Prince Naveen or Louis (when they aren't with her, it would be awkward if they were standing right there and you did that) Her two friends are not around most of the time, so try asking her what they are up to!

Finally try asking her about her secret Beignet recipe. I have met Tiana a few times so I know what it is... try to get it out of her!

2) Flynn Rider and Rapunzel

(Rapunzel, Flynn, My Mother and Me at Disneyland, CA 2013)

Rapunzel and Flynn are a great pair to meet!

I always feel like you have to ask Flynn to smolder with you! or At least have him show you it!

I also love to ask Rapunzel, how her day is going! Then I follow it up with what she has done that day! There is usually a long list...

Finally, the must do with these two is to ask Flynn what the contents of his satchel is. I think you might be surprised what is inside!

3) Tinkerbell and her friends

(My mother, Tinkerbell and Myself at Disneyland, CA 2013)

I love Tinkerbell... can't you tell... my name is The Sparrowman!

At both Disneyland and Disney World, Tink is joined by atleast one of her friends! I have personally met Terence, Rosetta, Periwinkle, Vidia and Iridessa. 

First thing, when ever meeting any fairy make sure you ask them what you have to do to be able to master their "Talent"... example: Asking Rosetta how to be a Garden Fairy!

When meeting Tinkerbell ask her how she feels about Terence, and vice versa when meeting Terence. If you want to ruffle some feathers ask Vidia about Tinkerbell!

Finally, it's fun to ask the Fairies (at Disney World) about the Fairy Portal... The fairy portal shrinks you down in order to meet our tiny friends. I tend to get a lot of "Oh the portal must be broken" because I am 6'4"...

Well thanks for reading!

Till next time...

So like I said I am all about the characters! One of my other favorite things is Disney Food. So lets throw that together! Character Dining! I am obsessed with Character Dining. At Walt Disney World there are __ character dining locations. They are Cinderella's Royal Table at Magic Kingdom (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner), 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian (Breakfast and Dinner), Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom (Breakfast Lunch and Dinner), 'Ohana at the Polynesian Resort (Breakfast), Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club Resort (Breakfast), Hollywood and Vine at Disney's Hollywood Studios (Breakfast and lunch), Tusker house at Disney's Animal Kingdom (Breakfast), Garden Grill at Epcot (Dinner), Chef Mickey's at The Contemporary Resort (Breakfast and Dinner) and Akershus at Epcot (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner). I have personally eaten at all of these restaurants except Hollywood and Vine (which I have only eaten dinner at). Additionally, last august on my trip to Disneyland, I ate at two of the Character experiences there. Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Resort (Dinner) and Plaza Inn at Disneyland Park (Breakfast). So I know a lot about Character Dining experiences!

(Myself and Dale at Plaza Inn at Disneyland Park, CA)

So first things first, reservations! At Disney World you can make your ADR (Advance Dining Reservations) 180 days before your trip! (Disneyland is different I think 60 days before the trip) Character dining tends to fill up fast, especially if it's Cinderella's Royal Table or Chef Mickey's. Although if you want some risk in your life or you can't get a reservation for your favorite place, you can try walk up. I have walked up to Garden Grill, Tusker House and Crystal Palace (Countless times). I also played the risk game with 1900 Park Fare once and Cinderella's Royal Table once for breakfast ( I know right!) If you are going to walk up to a very popular restaurant such as CRT, my tip is to go at the beginning of service. When we walked up to CRT we went to MK for park open and went straight back to the restaurant and we got in about 15 minutes later. And the time we walked up to 1900 we got there right at 4pm (when they started dinner service) and we were one of the first people seated.

(Snow White and I at Cinderella's Royal Table, Photo Courtesy of Jess)

So, now that you have your reservations. You can get your kids (or kids at heart) excited about their character experiences. Online you can find out the characters that tend to make appearances at the restaurants, but please don't promise your children that a certain character will be there. Example: At Chef Mickey's don't tell your child that Goofy definitely be there, rather say that Goofy might be there. This is because the characters have lives just like us, Goofy could have to spend sometime with Max so he wouldn't be able to make it to the restaurant that night.

(Belle and I at Goofy's Kitchen, Disneyland Resort, CA)

So, you have your reservation and your kids are super excited! Next all you have to do is wait for the reservation to come up! I suggest you get there early and check in with the cast member, because a lot of times they will let you in early. There are three types of character dining buffet, family style and ones that are traditional restaurant style. The buffet ones are Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, Cape May Cafe, Hollywood and Vine, 1900 Park Fare and Tusker House. The food is family style at Garden Grill and 'Ohana. At Cinderella's Royal Table they give you a menu and you pick what you want (for breakfast at least). At Akershus you order something from the menu, but they also have an appetizer buffet (for dinner atleast). So if you are not at a Buffet just sit tight and wait for characters and your food. If you are at a Buffet, look around, if there is a character near your table you might just want to wait to go up to the buffet until that character comes. 

(Me, Goofy and my Mom at Goofy's Kitchen, Disneyland Resort, CA)

So, when it comes to characters always remember, stay in your seat. The character will come to you... thats the point of character dining. The characters are on a rotation, they will get to you. If a character goes off stage, it's because they need a break or at chef Mickey's they have to check on the kitchen. They will be back! One way to help is to have your camera ready and your autograph book on the table open to a clean page. That will help with the efficiency.

Lets see, everyone is probably asking now "Sparrowman what are your favorite character meals?!"

5) Tusker House, Disney's Animal Kingdom (Breakfast)

(Me, Jess and Donald at Tusker House, DAK, Photo Courtesy of Jess)

Tusker house is a great character meal at Disney's animal kingdom!! The food is pretty much the classic breakfast foods! The cool part about it is all of the artifacts on the walls! It is a really cool restaurant to look around in. The characters who can normally be found there are Donald (He is out front if it's not raining as pictured above), Goofy, Mickey and Daisy. The juice is amazing! Overall its a great place to eat!

4) Chef Mickey's, Disney's Contemporary Resort (Dinner)

(Mickey and I at Chef Mickey's, Photo Courtesy of Jess)

Chef Mickey's is a classic. I feel like every Mouseketeer has to eat there sometime. It is at the Contemporary resort! The food is the classic disney dinner buffet food! The characters that are usually there are Mickey (obviously), Goofy, Pluto, Donald and Minnie. The thing I love about Chef Mickey's is the view out the windows. Bay Lake is beautiful! It's a great place to go!

3) Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom (Breakfast)

(Pooh and I at Crystal Palace, Photo Courtesy of Jess)

Crystal Palace is a good restaurant if you want to walk up! (Although sometimes it is busy) The food is the traditional Breakfast food, but they also have Puffed French Toast! That is amazing! OMG if you put strawberries on it... it's sooooooo amazing! Anyways at Crystal Palace everyday is Friendship day and Christopher Robbin's friends meet at this restaurant. Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet are usually all here. This is also a great place to people watch because it is in the center of The Magic Kingdom!

2) 1900 Park Fare, Disney's Grand Floridian (Breakfast and Dinner)

(Anastasia and I at 1900 Park Fare, Photo Courtesy of Jess)

1900 Park Fare is almost my favorite character meal! This is a great place to get some pretty rare characters. For Breakfast it is a very merry meal with Mary Poppins. So usually Mary Poppins is there with Alice, The Mad Hatter, Tigger and Pooh. It is an amazing alternative to Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner. It is less crowded and cheaper. The characters that usually meet there are Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella. Additionally I have also seen Fairy Godmother, Suzy and Perla there sometimes, although that is very rare. The food is great... the one thing I am obsessed with is the Strawberry Soup. It is served for Breakfast and Dinner. It is sooooooo good!

1) Garden Grill, Epcot (Dinner)(Me, Jess and Chip at Garden Grill, Photo Courtesy of Jess)

This is by far my favorite character dining meal! It is so cool, lets start with the food! It is served family style. The food is sooooo good because it is soooo fresh. For those of you who might not know Garden Grill is in "The Land" building and this is were the green houses are where they grow vegetables. The Broccoli is soooo fresh! It is fantastic. Next the Atmosphere! This is a circular restaurant that looks out over the "Living with the Land" ride! The coolest part is that this restaurant slowly turns as you eat! so you constantly get a new view while eating. Finally the characters, usually you get Mickey, Pluto and Chip n Dale. It's an amazing restaurant!

Well I hope this was helpful! If you have any questions make sure you ask them! Until next time

So, if you are tuning in I am assuming you like disney! Well seeing as I just started this I don't have any questions yet so I decided to write a post. I know a lot of people really want to get the most out of their park hopper so I am here to inform you of the ultimate way to get the best bang for your buck. Four words "Four Parks One Day"! 

Some of you are probably saying, "That's impossible!" Others are probably like "That's super easy I do that all the time" Well ambiguous first person I am here to tell you that it's not impossible. And second person if you do it wrong you can fail! 

So my friend Jess and I accomplished this in the Spring of 2013. We felt accomplished. So first I will tell you that when I say go to 4 parks in one day I don't mean, walk into the park and walk out. Jess and I said that in order to call it a park visit we have to go on at least 2 park attractions. You can go on more but the most important thing to remember is that the parks have closing times. With that in mind we will start at... 

(Photo Courtesy of Forbes.com)

DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM!

This obviously because it is the park that closes the earliest! (I am writing this on Wednesday November 13 and It closes at 5pm). On the day that we went it was also a 5pm close at Animal Kingdom! So we arrived at DAK for open which was 9 am. We went to my favorite ride, the Safaris. If you are planning on doing all the parks, and you don't arrive at open the safari isn't a good idea because it's like 30-45 minutes long, plus the line. We then walked past Everest and the line wasn't long so we went on that. Well that's two, on to the next park! We then went to...

(Courtesy of Orlandovacation.com)

DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

This makes sense because it closes next. We rode Toy Story Mania and Star Tours! Toy Story Mania was a risky choice but we decided to do that one because it is one of my favorites. That was a quick trip but we did our ride and it was off to the next park.

(Courtesy of Diszine.com)

Epcot. This was a day where Epcot closed at 9 and it was actually almost 5 pm. Between the time that we spent at DAK and DHS plus travel time our day was almost over. Well we were hungry so we went to eat! (We counted that as an attraction) and then we went on the Norway troll ride i think (It was a while ago). So by that time it was time for illuminations so we headed out because I am sure everyone knows of the river of people that rushes to the exit after the show. So we went onto the last park!!!!

(Courtesy of wikitravel.org)

THE MAGIC KINGDOM! My personal favorite! We got celebration buttons that said "4 Parks 1 Day". We had the rest of the night (The park closed at 11 or 12) We rode space mountain, met some characters! It was the best!

Obviously there are other ways to do it (The order of the parks I mean) but this seems to be the easiest.

So like it says in the description on the main page, I will answer questions. or if you just have an Idea for a topic send it to me on Disboards, Twitter, Instagram or as a question on here (The info is in the description).

Thanks for reading

Signed