Indoor attractions offer a warm welcome for Walt Disney World visitors braving the cold temperatures

By Heather Leigh Carroll-Landon

http://twitter.com/WDWTravelExam

There are many indoor activities to enjoy at Walt Disney World that will help keep guests warm as they suffer through the chilling temperature Central Florida is currently experiencing. Temperatures are dipping into the low 40s and even lower in some areas. Keeping warm sometimes becomes a mission while trying to enjoy the shorter lines and minimal crowds at the theme parks this time of year.

What are some of the best indoor attractions at Walt Disney World that will have the heat on for guests? Check some of them out below.

Magic Kingdom

There are many indoor shows to help warm up the blood while wandering through the Magic Kingdom Park. Warm shows include The Enchanted Tiki Room, The Hall of Presidents and Mickey's Philharmagic. If not interested in seeing some of the shows, check out the following indoor rides: Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Winnie the Pooh, it's a small world, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

Theme Park Warmth Tip #1: While at the Magic Kingdom Park (or any of the others) do not forget to drink lots of hot chocolate to warm up. Hot cocoa at Disney World is the best! (Click Read More)

Boma's Curry Butternut Soup Recipe and Review

By: Kristen Hoetzel of “Cooking with Mickey”

     Curry Butternut Soup from Boma at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Recipe found in Delicious Disney by Pam Brandon (2006). This item is served during lunch and dinner hours on their buffet and is located with about 4 or 5 other delicious soups.

     I recently spent an evening with a close friend of mine and her charming husband. Whenever we get together on a weeknight we tend to make something new and exciting for dinner. For us, it's like our own mini dinner party. Since it's fall and heading into the cold winter months I arrived at her house with the ingredients to make Curry Butternut Soup. Butternut squash is one of those comfort foods that I crave on a cold and cloudy, crisp day and I thought it would be something they'd enjoy.

     Boma's Curry Butternut Soup is a lot like other butternut squash soups. It's rich, smooth and creamy. The twist to this recipe from many others is that instead of the more traditional ingredients like nutmeg and cinnamon it calls for Thai red curry, cumin and coriander. Since there were three of us dining and the soup was to be our entree I tripled the recipe. If I had made it in the quantity that the recipe calls for it would have been enough for everyone to have one small bowl better suited for a starter than a meal. I really enjoyed this recipe and it did taste very similar to what I had tried over at Boma a couple of months earlier. As for the flavor, the curry in the soup adds a nice kick but isn't overpowering due to the cooling effects of the milk and sour cream. On word of advice, when chopping the butternut squash I recommend making the cubes small as the larger they are the longer it will take for them to cook.

     I highly recommend trying this recipe. Whether you'll be serving it as an appetizer or an entree this is a delicious soup.  One that would be perfect to start off a festive holiday meal like Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you will be drinking wine with this something light, white and with a hint of tropical fruit would be perfect.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tbs butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

Juice of 2 fresh lemons

2 tsp Thai red curry paste

1 lb butternut squash peeled, seeded and cut into chunks

2 cups vegetable stock

2 cups milk

4 tbs sour cream

Coarse salt and pepper, to taste

Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook about 5 minutes, until tender.

Add cumin, coriander, lemon juice and curry paste.

Add squash and vegetable stock. Simmer about 20 minutes, or until squash is easily pierced with a fork

Puree soup in batches until smooth. Add salt and pepper to tast.

Return to heat and add milk and sour cream. Do not boil.

Adjust seasoning, if necessary. Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.

Cilantro for garnish

Kristen Hoetzel of “Cooking with Mickey”

http://cookingwithmickey.blogspot.com/

http://www.twitter.com/cookin_w_mickey

Make sure if you enjoyed this review visit Kristen's Blog in the link above. And also make sure you add her to follow her on twitter. I follow her and so should you. 

Walt Disney Time Travel "Wonders of Life"

By: Stratofariusbr on Twitter

The year is 1990. You are just getting to EPCOT Center. As you enter the park, you pick up a map, and discuss what pavillion will be the first one you'll visit. Horizons? No. World of Motion? No. Living Seas? No. You are going to Wonders of Life.
Wonders of Life opened in 1989. It was the last Future World pavillion to be opened, pratically one of the firsts to receive permanent rehabs (such as Seas with Nemo), and was sponsored by Metropolitan Life. Metropolitan Life is a company that did just what the pavillion theme was - Health and Life.*** Wonders of Life was a big golden ball and used a simple concept, the ride-watch-see. This was used in lots of other pavillions. Wonders of Life originally contained two theaters: one for The Making of Me and another one for Cranium Command,a simulator for Body Wars. Wonders of Life also has two food bars and lots of healthy exhibits.
The pavillion only opened on 1989 because the Imagineers couldn't find the right technology to make those concepts come true and there was no one to sponsor it. When it opened, it surprised everyone. I mean, Horizons opened on 1983, and Living Seas on 1984, but 1989? That was in the verge of the 90's! Disney wanted to do something that made people scream: "This is from the future!". They did that, a bit.
The two attractions are Body Wars and Cranium Command.How about let's talk about Cranium Command first.

Cranium Command was a show that was builded like it was inside of someone's head. The story of the ride is as follows: You are another Cranium Cadet who joined the Cranium Command team. These are little guys who control people's heads. As you enter the pre-show theater, you meet two of the most iconic characters of EPCOT Center. First, is General Knowledge who is a strong and angry general. Then you meet Buzzy. Buzzy is a young cadet who wants to be a Cranium Commander. General Knowledge decides that Buzzy should drive an adolescent boy so he could see if Buzzy deserved to be in the team. He then ordered the audience (delivering his best line: Where do you think you are, Disney World?) to follow Buzzy and see how he works. The audience then moved to the main theater and watched as Buzzy tried to control the boy's brain and deal with all the other organs in the body, who always talked with him.



The other attraction was Body Wars,a simulator much like the one in Star Tours. There is one difference, instead of travelling to Endor, you travel inside the human body. The attraction has a backstory. It is that you are travelling with MET (which matched the sponsor's name), an enterprise whose speciality was making medical operations from inside the body and turning "spaceships" into mini-"spaceships".The min-spaceships are beamed into the body. Things go wrong as you have some... technical problems.

Wonders of Life was received with acclaim. People loved it and it filled quicker than Horizons or Imagination.Things didn't go all well. On 2001, MetLife dropped sponsorship. Wonders of Life remained open until 2004. This was a surprise since the most expected thing was a rehab (example: Horizons, Universe of Energy and Living Seas).
On 2004, It started to become a seasonal pavillion. It opened when the WDW management wanted it to open. On 2006, Wonders of Life opened its doors as Wonders of Life for the last time. The big DNA which stood outside the pavillion was removed and since that year, Wonders of Life only re-opens as a pavillion for the International Food & Wine Festival.
The question is: will Wonders of Life get back to its brains or stay on its feet?
Only the Imagineers and time can tell.

Make sure you check out @Stratofariusbr on Twitter or his blog at http://stratwitter.wordpress.com/

Top 10 Restaurants in WDW

I had so many fans reply to this poll. It was supposed to be a Top 5 but with over 500 responses I had to make it a Top 10. I know myself I have ate at most of Walt Disney World's Restaurants and enjoy the wonderful tasty meals that they have served me. But there are always a few that always stand out. And here are some of your Walt Disney World Favorites that made the Top 10.

10. Shula's ( Dolphin Resort)
9. Yak and Yeti (Animal Kingdom ) (Tie)
9. Narcoossee's (Grand Floridian) (Tie)
8. Teppan Edo (Epcot Japan)
7. Sanaa (Animal Kingdom Villa's)
6. Flying Fish (Boardwalk)
5. Hollywood Brown Derby (Hollywood Studio's)
4. Victoria and Albert's (Grand Floridian)
3. 'Ohana (Polynesian)
2. California Grill (Contemporary)
1. Le Cellier (Epcot Canada)

I hope everyone enjoy's looking at the Top 10 Rated Restaurants in all of Walt Disney World. And soon you I will be posting the Top 10 Rated Counter Service Restaurants. If you have a favorite Counter Service Restaurant let us know. Send us a Tweet on Twitter or Email us at wdwfacts@gmail.com. Thanks for all your responses and have a Magical Day.