Disney Dream Inaugural Videos and a Mac & Cheese Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 package/box elbow macaroni

2 sticks butter

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups half and half

1 cup velveeta cheese cut into small cubes

2 eggs lightly beaten

salt & pepper to taste




DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Lightly butter a deep 2-1/2 qt. casserole

Prepare the macaroni as directed on the package (e.g. boil until tender)

Drain well and return macaroni to the cooking pot

Metl the butter in a small saucepan

Stir about 2/3rds of the melted butter into the macaroni (save the rest for later)

Stir in the half-and-half, 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheese (save the rest for later), cubed velveeta, beaten eggs, salt & pepper

Mix well then transfer to the buttered casserole

Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top

Sprinkle the remaining melted butter on top

Bake for about 40 minutes or so (until it's bubbling around the edges)

Disney Dream Cruise Ship gets Christened

Christening highlights:


Full Christening Ceremony:


Celebrities enjoying the inaugural christening cruise:


D23 Disney Geek Disney Dream Edition:


Attractions Magazine Disney Dream Edition:


Highlights of the Dream reaching port Canaveral for the first time:






On Boarding Guest Welcome:


Whoopi!


Sailing Away Party:


Princesses:


Enchanted Art:




Animator's Palate:


Pirates of the Caribbean show:


Pirates Fireworks:


Magic Portholes:


Believe Stage Show:


Scenes from the Maiden Voyage(1st official cruise after the inaugural cruise)


More scenes from the maiden voyage:


And even more scenes from the maiden voyage (including Donald riding his AquaDuck!)


Behind the scenes with Shag, retro disney artist on the disney dream


Samantha Brown Interview with Bob Iger:


Click HERE for more on the Disney Dream (along with a lumpia recipe!)

Have a Blessed, Joyful & Very Merry Christmas!!!

Crock Pot Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

2 Tbls curry powder

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 can coconut milk

1 Tbls tomato paste

1/2 tsp tobasco sauce

5 cloves garlic minced

1 onion chopped

1 green bell pepper cut into bite sized chunks

1 eggplant chopped cut into bite sized chunks

1 sweet potato peeled and cut into bite sized chunks

6 skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized chunks

1 can garbanzo beans (drained)

Preparation

Combine curry powder, coriander, cumin, ginger, coconut milk, tomato paste, and tobasco sauce in the bottom of your crockpot

Stir in the chicken

Stir in the garbanzo beans

Stir in the rest of the vegetables

Cover and cook on low-medium for 6-8 hours

Stir carefully before serving

Holiday Tomales!!!

Merry Christmas!

Traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing & Disney's Holiday Season

We started using this recipe, which came from a Sunset Magazine Holiday Recipes book (circa 1960's, something found in my wife's parents house), when we made our very first turkey at our own house, and have been using it ever since. I've only tweaked it once to try it out w/ Chestnuts (like my Aunt's secret recipe) instead of slivered almonds...

Ingredients:

2 cups slivered almonds or...

or... 2 dozen chestnuts

2 medium onions minced

2 cups butter

2 cups celery thinly sliced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon marjoram

1 teaspoon savory

1 teaspoon sage

10 cups toasted bread cubes (stuffing)

Preparation:

If using chestnuts, cut a deep crisscross in each chestnut and boil them for 1 hour, then peel them, and cut each chestnut into quarters (or eighths)

In a humongous pot, saute minced onions in butter until it starts to turn a little golden in color

Remove from heat and stir in all other ingredients

Take a handful of the stuffing and squish it together. It if doesn't stick together when you open your hand, add a tablespoon of warm water and try again... repeat until it finally decides to stick together...

You can stuff the cavites of a Turkey with this and have it cook that way or... You can dump it in a casserole dish, or a couple of 9 X 13 pans, and bake @ 350 for 30 minutes.

That's it, Enjoy!!!

Disney Holiday Season stuff

Disney Small World Holiday Commercial


Disneyland Holiday Celebration:


Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Parade @ Walt Disney World:



Haunted Mansion Holiday:


Disney's A Christmas Carol






Mickey's Christmas Carol




Disney Hollywood Studios Osborne Christmas Lights


Decorating Disney Parks throughout the years




Disney Park Guest Holiday feedback:

Pecan Tarts and the Disney Dream float out

This is another recipe from one of my east coast aunts and is a favorite with our family. They used to reserve these for the "grown ups" during the holidays, when we were little. I think it's the crust that makes it so d-lish... Great stuff!





Crust

3oz Cream Cheese

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

Filling

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup regular sugar

1/2 tablespoon flour

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup pecans

Preparation

mix crust ingredients

roll into 24 1-inch balls

form tart crusts into tart pan by flattening each ball and brining the dough up the sides.

mix filling ingredients

fill tart crusts

bake @ 325 degrees for 25 mins

that's it! ENJOY!

The Disney Dream Float Out, Papenburg, Germany

Cookie Crust Cheese Cake and more on the Disney Dream Cruise Ship

One of our east coast aunts use to make a killer cheesecake. This was not a New York style cheescake but more the creamy type. Other than the rich sweet creaminess, I think the thing that made it killer was the crust, which she made with Lorna Doone Shortbread Cookies and good 'ol artery enriching butter (haha... yeah!). The following is a varient of her original recipe.

Ingredients

1 regular sized pkg of cookies (e.g. Oreos, Lorna Doones, Oatmeal, Ginger Snaps, Vanilla Wafers, etc... any crunchy type variety, not the soft or chewy kinds)

1 cube Butter

16oz Cream Cheese (e.g. 2 pkgs)

1 cup Sugar

2 tsps Vanilla Extract

3 Eggs

1 cup Sour Cream

1 large pie plate (the size of one of those humungo costco pies)

To prepare the cookie crust

Crush the cookies into fine crumbs (with a hammer? food processor? fingers?) in a large bowl

Melt the butter then mix well into the cookie crumbs

With your fingers, pat down the cookie crust mixture onto the sides and bottom of the large pie plate

Preheat the oven to 350

To prepare the main filling

Soften the Cream Cheese in a large bowl

Mix in 3/4 cups of the sugar

Mix in 1 tsp of the vanilla extract

Add the eggs and mix until the whole mess is smooth

Spatula the filling mixture over the pie crust

Bake @ 350 for 20 mins

To Prepare the topping (while the crust & filling is baking)

In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the sour cream

Stir in the remaining 1 tsp of vanilla extract

After the filling has been baked for the 20 mins above, remove from oven and spoon the topping evenly over the top

Return to the oven and bake for another 10 mins

I think it tastes better cold... let it cool for 30 or so mins... then refrigerate for another hour... or two... or overnight...

you can use variations for the filling such as, if you're using oreos for the cookie crust, you might want to consider adding a bar of melted dark chocolate to the filling... be creative with the combos...

That's it! Enjoy!

AOL Travel takes a look behind the scenes of the Disney Dream

AOL Travel was given video access to see the work of creative and technical geniuses developing features for the latest Disney cruise ship. While the 4,000-passenger Disney Dream, it's first new ship in a decade, is being built at a shipyard in Germany, it's in Glendale where the magic begins. About 140 creative and techie types (Imagineers) are working on innovations for the Disney Dream and it's sister ship, Fantasy (which debuts in 2012). The following are some of the AOL Travel videos taken during their visit...

Disney Imagineering
The Walt Disney Imagineering campus is a place where trade secrets are carefully protected. AOL Travel was given exclusive video access to see the work of creative and technical geniuses developing features for the latest Disney cruise ship.


Enchanted Art
Disney Cruise Line will be premiering a new form of interactive storytelling on its soon-to-debut Disney Dream, and it's hidden in the ship's artwork.


Virtual Portholes
Windowless, inside staterooms on cruise ships are not particularly desirable to most cruisers, most often being snatched up by bargain-hunters looking for a deal. In a clever move, Disney is looking to change that on the new 4,000-passenger Disney Dream cruise ship, which debuts in late January.


Magic Play Floor
Remember when youth counselors used to have kids sit in a circle and listen to a book? Well that's probably not the option the kids will choose on the new 4,000-passenger Disney Dream.


The Animator's Palate Restaurant
"Fran, Have you ever spoken turtle before?" says surfer-dude sea turtle, Crush. I answer -- without stopping to think that I'm talking to an animated character, who referred to me by name.


The Remy Restaurant
In the kitchen of the award-winning Victoria & Albert's at Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Chef Scott Hunnel is carefully spooning caviar on top of paper thin crepes stuffed with king crab, giving AOL Travel an exclusive look at some of the culinary creations on the soon-to-debut Disney Dream.
In the kitchen of the award-winning Victoria & Albert's at Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Chef Scott Hunnel is carefully spooning caviar on top of paper thin crepes stuffed with king crab, giving AOL Travel an exclusive look at some of the culinary creations on the soon-to-debut Disney Dream.


Castaway Cay
Castaway Cay feels so perfect, you wonder if a sprinkling of magic pixie dust was involved in its creation. On a recent behind-the-scenes visit, AOL Travel discovered the "pixies" are actually Disney's creative geniuses, who have been busy upgrading the private island in preparation for the arrival of the Disney Dream.

Chocolate Rum Bundt Cake and a 1958 look at Disneyland

For those of you that like the liquor aftertaste of Rum Balls, this recipe is NOT for you. For those of you who like a rich deep chocolaty taste in a moist cake, read on...

The little bit of rum that you add to this recipe seems to bring out/enhance the chocolate and moist richness of this cake. It's another one of those desserts that would apply to Jack LaLanne's statement "if it tastes good, spit it out"...

Ingredients:

1 package devils food chocolate cake mix

1 package instant chocolate pudding

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup rum

1/4 cup water

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 package chocolate chips

Directions

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, oil, rum and water in large mixer bowl

Stir in nuts and chocolate chips

Pour into greased and floured Bundt pan

Bake at 350 degree for 50 minutes

Sprinkle top with powdered sugar

An Adventure in the Magic Kingdom

Join Tinkerbell and the "voice of Disneyland", Dick Wessel, on a black and white trip from the Disney Studios in Burbank to the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland, Anaheim. Then adventure into the trademark Disney lands as the public saw them in 1958. (One notably, "Holidayland")

Leche Flan Cake!

I remember the first time i tasted this @ a party, the person who brought it wouldn't give out her "secret recipe" for it. haha... so i google'd it... I've tried this recipe a couple of times already... and it's gooooood stuuuuufffff! hope you enjoy it as much as I do...

Caramel:

1 cup sugar

1 cup sweetened macapuno (optional)

Flan:

1 can evaporated milk

8 egg yolks

1 can condensed milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Cake:

3 1/4 cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil

6 egg yolks

1 1/4 cup egg whites

3/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
(or... haha... you can cheat and use a boxed yellow cake mix!!!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Caramelize 1 cup sugar in a 9 X 13 cake pan (e.g. slowly over the stove top)

Optionally arrange the sweetened macapuno over it and set aside

Blend the 8 egg yokes, condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla extract in a bowl

Pour the mixture into the caramelized 9X13 pan set aside

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and 3/4 cups sugar in another bowl

Mix in the oil, egg yolks and water until smooth

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form

Gradually add the other 3/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff

Fold this into the cake mixture
or...

prepare the cake batter as instructed on the box you cheating wimp...

Pour the batter slowly & evenly over the custard in the cake pan.
Note: do not stir... what's cool is, as the cake bakes, it magically keeps the custard, which sinks to the bottom, separated from the cake which floats to the top!

Place the 9 X 13 pan in a larger pan half-filled with water (i used a cookie sheet that had 1/2 inch sides).

Bake for 1 hour

this isn't necessary but... i'd recommend you let it cool and refrigerate over night

Using a butter knife, make sure the sides of the cake are separated from the pan sides... then...

Invert it on a serving platter or... some other type of tupperware thing to carry to your party or... potluck or... whatever...


That's it! Enjoy!!!

This Day in History - Walt Disney World Resort officially opens – Oct 1, 1971

Ferrari World in Abu Dahbi opening in late October 2010

Farrari World will have a roller coaster called the Formula Rossa which will be the fastest roller coaster in the world, going close to 150 MPH and pulling 1.7G's:

Dinuguan (Chocolate Meat!) and some Disney related blogs to check out

Dinuguan is another traditional Filipino dish. it's not really chocolate meat, that's only what we called it when we were kids because it looked like the meat was covered in chocolate. It's really a type of pork stew, with one of the main ingredients being pork blood... but... it tastes a lot better than it sounds. My grandma used to make big batches of this stuff and all of us, kids included, scarfed the stuff down (over hot rice... mmmmmm....). Haha... one time at my grandmothers, one of the kids found a container of raw pork blood in the refridgerator, thought it was grape juice, and started guzzling it down ...

Ingredients:

3 tbs cooking oil

2 lb pork butt roast (Pork Shoulder)chopped into bite size pieces

4 cloves garlic minced

1 medium onion chopped

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 bay leaves

1 tsp sugar

1 jalapeño pepper minced

1 cup pork blood

Directions:

In a big pot, heat the oil, add the pork, cover and let it cook on medium low heat for 10 minutes

Stir in the garlic and onions, cover and let cook for 10 minutes

Add the soy sauce, vinegar, chicken broth and bay leaves, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes

Stir in the sugar, jalapeños and pork blood, cover and let simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occassionally

Disney Related Blogs

Ever since the social networking activity started taking off, there's been an influx of Disney related blogs popping up. A lot of them are discoverable on twitter and I've gotten a lot of good new disney stuff intel just following some of the key disney tweaps but... out of all of 'em, a great place to go to get the official scoop on all things new happening in disney is Disney's own official blog site.

In any case, here's a list of Disney related blogs, both professional and personal ones, that are fun to read and/or to get the scoop (haha... aka 411) on all the new stuff coming out of Disney:

5 Kingdoms

A Dash of Pixie Dust

A Disney Mom's Daily Endeavors

A Taste of Disney

A Taste of Wonderland

A WORLD VIEW... Enjoying Walt Disney World

Adventures in Walt Disney World, FL

After the Mouse.com - The online Disney Cast Member Community

All Ears® Guest Blog

All Things Disney

AllEars.Net

AllThingsD

Anne's blog - Mouse Map

Anthony's Wonderful World of Disney

Attractions Magazine Blog

Be Our Guest WDW Podcast

BeOurGuestPodcast.com

BETAMOUSE

Blog Vinylmation Disney

Blue Sky Disney Blog

Cara Goldsbury's Luxury Walt Disney World and Orlando Blog

Chip and Company

Club D23

Cosmic Reid's Starlight Cafe - Magical Mouse Radio

Couponing to Disney

D-Report.Com

Dad's Guide to Disney World - The Blog

Daily on Twitter as discussed on the 'Rick Alvarez' list

Daveland Vintage and Current Disneyland Photos

Davelandblog

Deb's Digest

Designing Disney

Details Of Disney

DF'82

DiningWithTheMouse

DIS Unplugged Disney Blog

DisDates.Com - Online dating for Disney fans

DisFanReview

DisMarks

Disney (Unofficial) Blog

Disney and more

Disney at Work Blog

Disney Babies Blog

Disney Bella

Disney Bloggers Collection - New Every HOUR!

Disney Books blogs

Disney By Joe

Disney Contests and Sweepstakes

Disney Cruise Line « Disney Parks Blog

Disney Detectives - Discovering Disney News one site at a Time!

Disney Dispatch

Disney Diva Tips

Disney Done Right

Disney Dream Depot

Disney Dream Makers

Disney Every Day - We'll Take You to Disney Every Day!

Disney Family Man

Disney Fan Ramblings

Disney Guru

DISNEY HISTORY INSTITUTE

Disney History Today

Disney History

Disney In My Life

Disney InfoNet

Disney Main Street

Disney News Blog

DISNEY PARK ATTRACTION POSTERS

Disney Parks Blog

Disney Society - Disney Society- for fans of Disney television programs and movies. Catch up on

Disney Tales

Disney Top 10

Disney Travel Adventures

Disney Travel Examiner

Disney World - Orlando - Blog

Disney World Basics

Disney World Blog Discussing Parks, Resorts, Discounts and Dining - Only WDWorld

Disney World Update

Disney's Dream Maker Feature Story

Disney's Dream makers Site News

Disney's Folly

Disney, etc.

disney4dads

Disneyana World

DisneyBella

DisneyBiz

DisneyBooks blogs

DisneyDaddy

DisneyDreamDepot

DisneyFairyTales.com

DisneyFoodBlog

DisneyInMyLife

Disneyland News Live

Disneyland News Today

Disneyland Nomenclature

Disneyland Resort Newsroom- Home

Disneyland's Famous Dr. Lee!

disneylandmom.com

DisneyNews Daily paper.li

Disneyology

DisneyParks Official Disney Accounts Paper.Li

DisneyParks.com

DisneyPhotography.com

DisneyShawn

DisTECH - The Blog About Technology and Disney

DisTips - Walt Disney World Tips

DisZine

DLP.Info - Disneyland Resort Paris

DLRP Today

Doing Disney Seacrist Style

DoomBuggies.com - TellNoTales.com Official Weblog

Duckman's Blog

easy WDW

EPCOT Central

etckt.com

Everything Walt Disney World

Eye of the Passholder

Family Disney Vacations

Finding Mickey

Flexible Disney

For the Love of Disney

FunkiDivaGirl’s Disney Travel with Style

Global Disney Pinvestigation

Growing Up Disney

Grumpy's Hollow

Hidden DLRP

I Love WDW

Illuminating Epcot

Imagineering Disney

Imaginerding- Disney Books, links and more!

ImagiNERDing

In Disney Style

Inside the Magic

It's A Disney World After All

Jeff's Worldwide Mouseathon

Jim Hill Media

Jungle is -101- - Disneyland's Jungle Cruise And Other Disneyland Stuff

Just Another Disney Blog

LaughingPlace.com Disney Articles

Laura and Jeanine's Salute to All things Disney but Mostly Disneyland

Love Those Disney Girls

Lunch - Only WDWorld

Magic Eye

Magical Kingdoms Disney Blog

Magical Mousecapades's Blog

MagicalMousecapades

MagicalMouseRadio.com

Main Street Gazette

MainStreetGazette

Marcio's Disney News

Meet the Magic

Meltdown Free Disney

MiceChat - Blogs

Mickey's Magical Trip Tips

MickeysMagicalTripTips

Military Disney Tips Blog

Monocle On The Mouse - Recent Blogs Posts - Blogs

Mouse Beat- Disney Blog about Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios

Mouse Magic HD Blogs

Mouse Magic in a Minute

Mouse Mentor

MouseInfo.com

Mouseketweeter

Mousekingdom Blog

MousePlanet

MouseRight

My Disney Blog

my disney collection blog

My Disney Mania

MyHiddenMickey

NCDisneyDad's Blog

News from Walt Disney World

Operation Pixie Dust

Our Cheap Disney Vacation

Page 626

Parkeology

Passamaquoddy

Passport to Dreams Old & New

personal Disney videos

Plan the Magic

Progress City, U.S.A.

Re-Imagineering

reedycreekradio.com-joomla-index.php

Running to Disney

SamLand's Disney Adventures

Scrapping the Magic

Screamscape

Shandy's Corner, A Disney Blog - Magical Mountain

So Disney!

StitchKingdom

Studios Central

Stuff from the Park

Take the Monorail

Tales from the Laughing Place

TalesFromTheLaughingPlace

Team AllEars® Running Blog

The Affordable Mouse

The art of telling tales

The Cousin Mickey Doesn't Talk About

The Daily Disney from OrlandoSentinel.com

The Daily Mickey

The DIS Unplugged Disney Blog

The Disney 50

The Disney Blog

The Disney Chick

The Disney College Blog

The Disney Dork Blog

The Disney Driven Life

the disney food blog

The Disney Frontier Blog

The Disney Gene

The Disney Obsession

The Disney Pins Blog

The Disney Wedding Blog

The disneynews Daily on Twitter

The DVC Life

The DVC Mom

The English Disney Blog

The Food Festival

The Magic in Pixels Disney Photo Blog

The Mouse Connection

The Mouse For Less - Disney News

The Muppet Newsflash

The Official Disney Blog

The official-disney-accounts Daily on Twitter

The Original Disneyland Hotel

The Tiki Room Morning Show -Under New Management-

The True Disney Fan

The Unknown Magic Within Walt Disney World

The Voice Of....

THE W.E.D. PAGE

The Walt Disney World Moms Panel

TheAffordableMouse

TheDisneyBlog

TheDisneyChick

TheDVCLife

TheFoodFestival

Think Disney

This Is Where the Magic Lives

Tinker Bell's Pixie Prints

Tinker Tell's Pixie Dust Express

Today In Disney History

Top 10 Disney - WDW to Disneyland

TouringPlans.com Blog

TravelsWithKids

Upcoming Pixar

Vintage Disney Alice in Wonderland

Vintage Disney Collectibles

Vintage Disneyland Goodies

Vintage Disneyland Tickets

Visions Fantastic

Walt Disney Company Daily News Digest

Walt Disney World Facts

Walt Disney World Resort News

Walt Disney World- It's Not Just for Kids

WALT'S BASEMENT- FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS DISNEY! - Message Board

Walt's Wide World

WDW Central

WDW Daily News - Disney News & Orlando Area Attraction Info

WDW Facts — All about Walt Disney World

WDW Fanatic Family - Just another WDW fan site…

WDW News Today

WDW Photography

WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello

WDW Twourists

wdwnews.com - Walt Disney World Resort

WDWNTube

WDWPRINCE

WDWRadio.com

WDWStevieBs Onederland

WEDWayRadio.com

Welcome, Foolish Mortals... to DoomBuggies - a Tribute to Disney's Haunted Mansion - Free email, fan forums, multimedia and more...

Wishes And Pixie Dust

Yet Another Disney Blog

ZannaLand

ZipaDeeDooDad