FOOD: Nona Tap Bar

This past Saturday (7/23/11) was one of my fonder days of recent memories' past.

It began at 3:15am, an hour after when I was originally intended to wake up. By 4:30am, I was at Downtown Disney, in front of the World of Disney store, waiting for the Passholder Sale. In line, I met a mother & daughter from Tampa who were awake, perky, and somewhat covertly "conservative" as I picked up on their references to "Fox & Friends" plus the tone in which they encouragingly implied that someday I will get married [as in the traditional way] ... seriously, do I not put out the gay vibe? Anyways, between them and the attractive young Latin couple in front of us, 6:00am came quickly, and the madness was on.

Really, there weren't many great deals this time around, but I managed the following:

• Two full trays of Vinylmations (Toy Story and Have a Laugh),
• Four polo shirts with a Mickey on them (2 black, 2 orange),
• Four new outfits for Duffy Stitch (Australia, United Kingdom, China, and Buzz),
• Two awesome fabric, 40th anniversary jackets,
• Three girly scarves,
• Two Kermit Mickey ears, and
• One Disney kid's bank.

All-in-all, the damage came out to around $300 -- oh well, I was glad to have left the store in good spirits. Tired and depleted, I went over to Ghiradelli's and, per tradition, picked up a chocolate croissant and a small coffee -- a small breather before heading onto Event #2.

Next was the District 84 DEC Meeting at the Tupperware Headquarters. Registration at 9:30am, meeting to begin at 10:00am. I always enjoyed these meetings when I attended as an area governor last year. It was an opportunity to be part of a well-run, professional meeting. The difference this time was that I was there without any real responsibility, and there was a new generation of area governors -- it felt like I just stepped into a television spin-off. Anyways, I was there just to, during the breaks, distribute Club Ambassador forms and speak with each division to answer any questions and to get them excited about the program. The meeting was a really cool time, and I met a lot of people -- and many who I'd like to get to know better. At the meeting, I did get positive feedback from some of the district officers. I was appreciated for my energy and for taking pictures -- that communicated appreciation is what really fuels me and keeps me wanting to go back and do more.

That meeting ended about half-an-hour ahead of schedule. It was hot outside with the weather possibly changing. Instead of heading back west to the parks (dressed in slacks and a polo), I headed towards home, but not before stopping by the Lake Nona area to go exploring.

I'm a big Gowalla fanatic -- I recently reached over 2000 unique check-ins. Long story short, a Gowalla friend of mine who I never met had taken a picture, earlier in the week, while checking-in at a toll plaza, and made a comment.

His:

Rob Morris checked in at Boggy Creek Mainline Toll Plaza and took this photo.

5 days ago

• 
  Rob Morris: I tried to recreate Cedric's photo. I think I was pretty close to it.
  5 days ago
• 
  Cedric Ching: Nice timing! :) +1
  3 days ago

And here was my pic...

Mine:

Cedric Ching checked in at Boggy Creek Mainline Toll Plaza and took this photo.

3 months ago

Well, I then made it a mission for me to recreate one of his photos. I was going to pass by his area anyway, so let's have fun with it. The picture that caught my eye was one that he took of his Banana Bread Beer at the Nona Tap Room because it looked so delicious.

His (my goal):

Rob Morris checked in at Nona Tap Room and took this photo.

9 days ago

• 
  Eric Longstaff: Congrats! I keep forgetting to give my beer club card when I close my tab
  9 days ago
• 
  Cedric Ching: That looks so good.
  3 days ago

After the Toastmasters meeting, I drove over to Lake Nona and to the Nona Tap Room. As I walked up, a family was leaving. As I got to the bar and told the bartender my goal, my purpose, my mission, she told me that "yeah, he was just in here with his wife and daughter." I had given him a long look, but I didn't say anything other than "thank you." I might have wanted some recognition back... but then I remembered that my profile pic was of Stitch, and maybe 1 of my 1566 photos had me in it. Upon that realization, I felt like a stalker on one of those CBS procedurals.

Anyways, the beer turned out to be of the $15 variety... but it was my main purpose for being there, so alright. And I think that I did pretty good -- I had to get Stitch in there. What could've helped even more is if I had brought a print out to do side-by-side comparison, but perhaps that would've been even creepier.

Well, about an hour later, I receive notification of a comment on the pic, and it was Rob.

Mine:

Cedric Ching checked in at Nona Tap Room and took this photo.“Howdy Rob, here's an attempt to copy one of your pics. :-)”

2 days ago

• 
  Rob Morris: Nice job Cedric! I think I might have passed you on my way out the door.
  2 days ago
• 
  Cedric Ching: Yes, thanks for holding the door for me.
  2 days ago

Side-by-Side:

I was proud and scared at the same time. Proud that I accomplished my goal. Scared that I was being creepy. I didn't mean to. After finishing up there -- the beer was good (not overpowering) and quite a bit (two of those glasses' worth) -- I continued on to try to complete his Local Nona Living trip (10 spots, need 5). I picked up some Walnut Shrimp from Mr. K Chinese Restaurant and a large unsweetened iced tea from Dunkin Donuts a couple doors down, but that's it. I couldn't manage any more food. I will have to accomplish his trip another time. I brought the foods over to Moss Park -- a bit of an exploration. It had a nice view of Lake Mary Jane... $3 admission, but it's going to a good cause. The break from the ordinary was nice, and it fed some of my Gowalla-ing obsession.

That's about it.

(I'm sure that I could really work to tighten up the Lake Nona visit description -- plus add more links -- but I'd rather get this stuff up sooner than too late.) *smiles*

DISNEY: Prime StuCot

The new icon of Studios?
This Friday's trip to the parks was a checkbox visit. I made the trip to Orlando in search of a laptop that wasn't there, and I made a trip over to the teahouse. I also made a roundabout trip to the Prime Outlets to check out the Character Warehouse's offerings.

I didn't go anywhere near the parks last week, and honestly I could've had another Melbourne weekend and be fine with it, but while I was there...
...
[I'm going to try something "different" and mix photos in with the report.]

Originally, I wanted to check out the new FP system at DAK but that'd be a first-thing-in-the-morning venture. Also, I wanted to take archival pictures of MK's Fantasyland and TTF/Pixie Hollow, but the sky was overcast and I want those pictures to be sunny. So instead, I headed over to DHS where there's always AIE shows to go to.

By the time I got there, it was around 4pm and wet from an afternoon rain.

Moist but still Disney
Anyways, as I enjoyed my inappropriate treat, I wandered over to Pixar Place where TSMM! was at 5 minutes!Stitch and I are ready
Also, I hadn't eaten anything since 10am. So the first thing I did was treat myself to a Frozen Banana from the vendor at the corner of Hollywood and Sunset. I turned to the tip boards and who do I see?... Kirk, my favorite DHS CM. (!!!) I've only seen him at guest relations a couple of times before, and his smile totally disarms me. I made up an excuse to talk to him -- I asked him if Luxo Jr. made any appearances today. I felt so giddy-shy and couldn't get shameless enough to ask for a picture. Maybe next time. Seeing him was the highlight of my trip already.

Magically 55 minutes' worth of people disappeared.
This was an obvious technical glitch but there was a small crowd that got overly-enthused. For that minute that the board showed wrong, the CMs had to tell people that the SB wait was actually 60-70 minutes. (ooh, drama and excitement!).

To finish up, I walked to the Streets of America, which always has something new to discover.

Has this signage always been there?
I completed the loop back around to Hollywood Blvd., then walked down Sunset. It's been a while since I've ridden ToT or RnR. ToT SB was 20 minutes and fine; I always wish that there were even more drops, but it's fun to get shaken now-and-again. RnR's SR had no line until we got to the alleyway, where there were a Lot of singles. The ride was good enough, but it messed up my non-product'd hair.

It was time for the 6:00pm AIE performance, the least-attended show because people would be at dinner and/or holding-out for the grand finale. Sure, why not? Mark warmed the crowd up: "Check the Mail! Check the Mail!" ("Don't do this at a club. No one will know what you're doing."). Jeanette hosted. Rainne(sp?), Carol, and David (the Australian) were the judges.


Mark, Jeanette, and David
The singers at this show were okay. The judges picked on a common lack-of-self-confidence. If they wanted to win it all, they have to believe in themselves and bring it! David said that one of the contestants "had as much emotion as in a botox clinic" to which Jeanette said, "there's plenty of emotion... you just can't see it" (ha!). I forgot who I voted for, but "Reflections" won the show.

6pm Winner: Sam Ceglarek
I made a beeline around the building to get into the grand finale, and surpringly when it was time, there wasn't a huge push to get into the auditorium -- granted, they opened the doors a few seconds before the cue.

The cast was the same as the 6pm show except we had the female "Randy" and David changed his shirt (yes, I noticed). In the Grand Finale, there's usually only a couple really good singers, but tonight, all of the singers did amazingly well... 6 of the 7 singers got standing ovations, including Sam from 6pm (she improved)! The GF's top 2 were clearly the best; they also happened to have the best storylines (The lady who backed her car into her husband during this trip ironically singing "I Will Survive", and the guy whose little son gave him the nickname "Butt Crack Daddy"). My vote went to the guy I thought had the most charisma, someone who the judges said had a Hugh Jackman-esque quality. Overall, I was happy with how everything turned out. And I got to hear a couple new songs.
Runner-Up: I Will Survive
Winner: Butt Crack Daddy
DHS closed at 7pm, and I wondered if it'd be worth heading over to Epcot for IllumiNations. My head was heavy, but I decided to make a go for it anyways.

Bye-Four!
Instead of walking over via the Boardwalk, I took the car so I could make a hasty exit afterwards.

Still wet outside
When I got there, I was really hungry and needed food. There wasn't enough time to walk over to Japan, so I just picked up a bag of pretzels from one of the stores.

I made a stop by MouseGears, and they had some really cool character shirts.

Hallor!
Qak!
Cute!
On the way to the World Showcase, I stopped by the Kim Possible stations, where after there are no more available missions, the kiosks offer a "Mission Training" game, which were touch-screen fun.

These games need no supervision
Touch the villains. Touch them.
Earn those Nacos!
Anyways, for IllumiNations, I joined the crowd at the Showcase Plaza, directly across the World Showcase from the American Adventure. I miscalculated and ended up with a column blocking a big portion of my view. Oh well. It was still close to the action, and the experience should buy me a few more weeks before I have another fireworks hankering.

Where's the other half?
Yay! A good, clear pic!
Tada
Tonight, I managed to find 417 without getting lost, and the drive home was easy. And per recent tradition, I took 520.

Overall, the trip to the parks was good. There was nothing outstanding this time asides from talking to my DHS crush (so very much worth it).
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Here's what I did this visit:

DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS (STAGE 46) 4:00 PM
- Frozen Banana and tip board (Kirk!)
- Tower of Terror SB
- Rock N Rollercoaster SR
- 6:00pm American Idol Experience
    1. *Sam Ceglarek - "Reflection"
    2. Brandi Allen - "Hope You Dance"
    3. Ron Rolling - "Just Once"
- 7:00pm American Idol Experience Grand Finale show
    1. Cecilia Schudy - "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"
    2. Justin McLaughlin - "Amazed"
    3. Al Pagano - "Suspicious Minds"
    4. Danielle Harrington - "I Will Survive"
    5. Sam Ceglarek - "Reflection"
    6. *Nate Aikens - "100 Ways"
    7. Evan Zimmerman - "Go The Distance"

CAR to EPCOT CENTER (AMAZE 31)
- Pretzels
- IllumiNations

DISNEY: Passholder Preview of the Hall of Presidents

The primary purpose of today's trip to the Magic Kingdom was the Passholder preview of its newly-refurbished Hall of Presidents. The other reason was so I could make a stop by Disney's Central Lost & Found in the hopes of finding my Stitch I lost at Epcot the weekend before. And this trip was going to be a relatively short one since I had some extra time at the office to put in.
...
I knew that the HoP preview didn't start until 11:00am, but for some reason, I convinced myself that I had to get there really early for rope drop. Perhaps it was the tempting prospect of going to the Poly for some Tonga Toast beforehand. Perhaps it was because it would be the only way for me to get some extra magic time. Either way, it was early (up by 6:00am, out the door by 7:00am, at the TTC just after 8:00am).

I was on the first row at the TTC (Minnie 26!) and walked over to the monorail where I caught myself on a wet seat (A/C). Another person in the car told me "You didn't know you were riding Splash Monorail?!". Clever. No bother though. I wasn't wearing Corduroy.

Yeah, I had to wait a while for Rope Drop, but it happened, and it was fine. Afterwards, I somewhat resisted the urge to rush over to HoP. Instead, I went to the Emporium to buy a pen -- I chose a Woody Kooky pen (and I LOVE it) -- and some additional $50 gift cards (the ones with the bonus pins).

I asked the cast member ringing me up if I could use the GCs at the Character Connection store at the outlets. She didn't know and paged her supervisor, who made some called to get the answer, which was "unfortunately no", but I thought the whole thing was amazing who they really did go above and beyond to find an answer to a seemingly innocent question. Good job Disney :)

Anyways, after that detour, I proceeded onto Liberty Square and to the Hall of Presidents, but there was no line; there was no crowd. I didn't want to be overly-fanatical, so I kept moving. Now I can go ride some rides!

Big Thunder Mountain was a walk-on. There was a grandmother riding with her teenage grandson. She had her arms up, and that was cute.

Next, I did Jungle Cruise, which was standard, but there was an infant boy that was fascinated with my Stitch, so I entertained him for most of the ride. Cute boy, cute mom, cute family.

By that time, it was 10:00am, and I got a call from Jack -- he had just arrived. And it was time to head back to HoP.

There was a three-person film crew underneath the lantern tree taping some ladies walking up to HoP. I was instantly jealous & giddy, then the feelings quickly passed.

I met up with Jack and recognized Matt from StudioCentral and saw people from WDWNews. A crowd was starting to form.

I took the opportunity to take a lot of pictures from around the scene and to talk with another passholder, a nice lady from Lakeland. I loved the energy.

The exterior of the building looked very clean and the trims were calmly-colored (like the chairs at the refurbed McD's). There were a number of knick-knacks in the windows -- lanterns, a gun, a ship, a doll -- and under the front of the entrance was a countdown-till-the-next-show clock, which was a good idea.

11:00am soon came, and we were let into the lobby. To the right were a couple of display cases of... something (I didn't really pay any attention to them). To the left, there was a large display of the dresses and novelty items of three First Ladies -- Elizabeth Monroe, Edith Roosevelt, and Nancy Reagan.

Before the doors to the theatre were opened, a cast member made the announcement that video-taping and photography of any type were prohibited in the theatre. This was not followed by everyone (NOTE: Jack and I abided).

Anyways, right from the beginning, you could sense the changes in the show. The visuals were super crisp & clear and the story was more structured & more-briskly paced.

This first show was a full house, and people around me were tearing up from the grandeur and nostalgia. Everyone applauded at Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and after Obama's speech about the American dream. The refurbishment was a definite hit (A+).

After this show, we were all hungry and made the short walk to the Columbia Harbour House, where I tried something different, Anchors Aweigh Sandwich -- "white tuna with lettuce and tomato on toasted multigrain bun" -- it sounded healthy. And it was quite tasty. While we ate, a rain came and went. Good timing.

After lunch, we went back for a second viewing of HoP. There were fewer people there, so I managed more pictures in the lobby. And this time, we sat closer to the front. The show was again impressive but I did come close to nodding off, so some of the original charm/essence of the attraction was still there.

Afterwards, Jack had to leave so that he could go home and finish his write-up for the event (it's a race!). I stuck around a little bit longer to catch a part of the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party.

I'm always impressed by the number of people they manage to get in the street dancing. It looks like a whole lot of fun.

Then I eased my way down Main Street U.S.A. and headed back to the TTC.

I got there early enough that I'd walk back to my car, and on the way, I made a stop by Disney's Central Lost & Found, my other primary objective. I told the cast member there about losing my Stitch at the parks the Saturday before, and a moment later, he came back with my buddy in hand! I really couldn't believe it.

That is the Disney Magic. And with that, I walked back to my car and started my drive back to Melbourne.

The trip to Disney was quite successful. The Hall of Presidents was definitely plussed -- I'll make a stop by there on my subsequent visits to the MK -- and I was reunited with my longtime traveling companion. It was a short visit but just the right amount.

Pictures from the Hall of Presidents preview and more can be found after the itinerary:
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Here's what I did this visit:

TICKET & TRANSPORTATION CENTER [MINNIE 36]

Resort MONORAIL (Light Blue)/"Splash Monorail" to MAGIC KINGDOM
- Rope Drop
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (no wait, grandma raising arms)
- Jungle Cruise (boy and Stitch)
- Hall of Presidents (applause, applause)
- Columbia Harbour House (#5 Anchors Aweigh Sandwich with HSM apple slices)
- Hall of Presidents (closer)
- Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party

Resort MONORAIL (pink) to TTC

DISNEY'S CENTRAL LOST & FOUND
- They had my Stitch! YAY!!!

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