Homemade Hungry Bear YUM

So, it's no secret that one of my absolute FAVES is the fried green tomato sandwich at the Hungry Bear in Critter Country. The green tomatoes! The aioli! The jicama slaw!

I had a couple green tomatoes I needed to use, so I figured I'd try a semi-homemade version of perfection, just using what I could find around the kitchen.

It was pretty easy to fry the tomatoes up - slice, then dredge in 1) flour, 2) beaten egg, & 3) breadcrumbs, fry in butter/olive oil for a couple minutes on each side till they're browned and tasty. For slaw I just used what I had on hand, which was red bell peppers. Likewise with bread (King's Hawaiian rolls) and "spicy aioli" (thousand island dressing + hot sauce, haha!). 

Yeah, very on the fly. But guess what, it was super tasty and was a refreshing taste of "home." Yummy! 

I have made Disney foods at home quite a bit - with varying degrees of success. I'll try to keep up with posting all our food adventures. 

Oh So Dapper

Such a fan! (Dork.) I watched them probably twice a day on my trip.

Disney on Twitter

I find the @DisneylandToday and @DCAtoday twitter accounts both fun and helpful. When you're in the parks, make sure you get notifications from them because they'll have surprise giveaways of cookies, Fastpasses, buttons and more! I was happy to run in to them within a couple hours of arriving.
And if you don't have a Twitter, what are you even doing? GET ONE.

More Disney crafts

Here is Minnie admiring my Bert bag - made this out of a tote bag and ribbons (using Liquid Stitch) last May. Used it on my trip then and on my most recent trip - got tons of compliments from cast members, characters, and other guests! Of course the one day I met Bert I had a different purse, sigh.

Outlet mall haul

Well, not so much a "haul." Went to an outlet mall on my Oregon trip - of course had to check out the Disney Store! There were some decent deals and even some park merchandise, but all I ended up with was this mug. I own too many mugs, but how could I resist this one?? It's everything I love - turquoise, Donald, and DAISY. Also it was $5. So whatever!

Disney Crafts

I made this! I'll try to take pictures of all my Disney crafts - when I have the time to do them!
This is my Bert Bow. Made with ribbon leftover from my Bert Bag (I'll post about that another time). <3

my advice - DL during spring break, misc tips

***

Hey Erin,
So we're in SoCal and we're going to head to Disneyland and we were wondering if you have any tips. Ride strategy, best place to get tix, etc. We're only going for one day. What's the word on Main Street USA?

***

Hey!
Tix online are cheaper, usually...I don't remember if you've been recently or if you'll be there open-close, so forgive me if you already know some of this stuff or if any of it is irrelevant.
It's Spring Break so it's predicted to be pretty crowded all week.
According to the app I have, crowds are supposed to be 9 & 10 out of 10 every day this week - Fri & Sat are the 9s and Wed & Thurs are the 10s. Really not much difference...but I can't recommend the Touring Plans app enough. You can get real time Wait Time updates, which is really helpful.
Use single rider lines when available - you can get on rides way quicker. If you do Carsland, this is especially true for Radiator Springs Racers, which is a supercool new ride - standby line is usually 100+ minutes, but I never waited longer than 25 minutes for single rider. If its not clear, you can ask the cast member at the front of the queue about a single rider line.
Eat a Dole Whip. Eat a corn dog.
The Soundsational parade is my favorite, if you feel like a parade.
If you're there in the morning, Peter Pan first. ALWAYS FIRST. (This is true for most of Fantasyland; if you want to do those attractions, do it first thing in the morning)
Toy Story Midway Mania is always a 45 minute wait. It's worth it.
If you're trying to choose between fireworks and World of Color, do World of Color.
Thunder Mountain Railroad is closed right now, so you don't need to worry about that one.
If you're only going to ride one side of the Matterhorn, do the Tomorrowland side!
The Dapper Dans are my favorite.
If you're there at closing - get in a line a few minutes prior - if you're in line at closing, they have to let you get on the ride.
Good luck!
(Also if it seems overwhelmingly busy, ride the train around a couple times because its awesome, AND Haunted Mansion & Pirates always load fast and rarely have a crazy long wait.)

...Sorry if that's overwhelming. I'm a big Disney nerd. Basically, it's one day. You won't be able to do everything. When I have one day I just figure out what I really really want to do and stick with that. Realistic expectations.
Have a magical day! xoxo

***


Thought I'd post a message exchange with one of my old friends from yesterday/today. I'm planning on doing a more thorough tips/tricks post, but this is a good taste of what my Disney advice is like - past midnight after a night of Portlanding (MIKA show + drinks + food), haha.
(This is slightly edited - to take out my own blog reference, fix spelling, and condense superfluous info.)
I hope they have a freakin' awesome time! I did, in Portland - I <3 MIKA and that's one of the first non-Disney things I've said on my Disney blog!