Happy New Year!!! We can't believe 2019 is here already, but we're very excited for this year. We had a great travel year in 2018 visiting 7 states and over 20 different theme parks across the country! We finished the year up with one of our favorite places- Disneyland! We got to experience Disneyland during the holidays, which is always a magical time, and enjoy the Festival of Holidays at DCA! We had such a great time at this festival (and this trip in general) and we're so excited to share our highlights with you! 

Disney's California Adventure Park is showcasing 12 booths for the Festival of Holidays this year. This was our first time attending a festival in Disney California (hope we can make it to their Food and Wine event this year) so we weren't sure what to expect. We're so used to Disneyworld, we thought there was no way the offerings at Disneyland could compare. We were, of course, wrong!

We started off in the best possible way! The Brews and Bites booth featured one of our favorite dishes at the festival- Chorizo Queso Fundido! To be fair, we LOVE queso so it's not hard to please us when we see it on the menu- but this one was AWESOME!

This booth also features 11 different types of beers and 2 flights to choose from!

Another home run booth- the Holiday Ham Shanks with Brown Sugar Pineapple Glaze was one of Parker's all-time favorite items!

The booth also features Reuben Potato Tots with Russian Dressing and Rye Toast, Cranberry Sangria, and an Eggnog Cocktail with Whipped Cream and Nutmeg.

This booth offered a novelty item so you know we were all over it! We had to get the holiday Mickey and Minnie cookies for the photos alone!! I mean...come on

The cookies tasted good, but I think their looks probably outweighed their taste. And their priced outweighed both of those things. $7 for these two little guys. But, I'd do it again, because I'm a sucker for anything Mickey-shaped. 

This booth also features Curry Cauliflower Soup with Braised Lamb and Mintchurri, Shrimp and Grits with Andouille Sausage, Ballast Point Brewing Company IPA, and a Warm Peppermint Chocolate Float with Peppermint Hot Chocolate, Vanilla Ice Cream, Whipped Cream and Peppermint Crumbles.

I wish we had something to report about this booth because looking back over the menu, I could sure go for one of these sweets right about now. But, while in the midst of Disney vacationing and indulging in desserts NON-STOP (seriously non-stop) nothing on this menu sounded appealing in the moment. Although, to be fair, we were most likely eating a Mickey bar while walking by it, so that could explain it. 

This booth features Sweet Dreams and Milk which is a Horizon  Milk and Choice of Dessert. The dessert options include Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce, a White Chocolate Cranberry Blondie, an Eggnog Wreath Éclair with White Chocolate Icing, and Horchata Fudge. They also have a Warm Bourbon Cider with a Bourbon-infused Marshmallow, and S’mores Frozen Chocolate Milk with Toasted Marshmallow Whipped Cream, Graham Cracker Crumbles and Chocolate Drizzle.

This booth offers some fan favorites as well. The Hot Cocoa Marshmallow Macaron is a definite if you're looking to get some good photos for social media. And the Turkey and Stuffing Tamale is an interesting twist on a classic Mexican dish.
The booth also offers Lox and Everything Bagel Nachos and a Sparkling Wine Punch with Chandon Brut, Sparkling Wine and Lime Sherbet.

This is the Holiday Punch with Lime Sherbet and Sprite.
​It reminded me summer and childhood and I absolutely loved it!
​*Side note, the drink on its own is $6.50. With the souvenir tumbler it's $9.00.
​So, $2.50 for a cute souvenir cup seemed totally worth it to me.*

Although this wasn't our favorite booth for food options, we DID visit it twice to get the pomegranate lemonade. This non-alcoholic drink was AWESOME and definitely a festival fav!

This booth also features Pumpkin Soup with Maple Cashew Cream,
Chana Masala with Grilled Garlic Naan, and Vanilla and Cranberry Trifle.

One of our favorite sweets from the festival! The Black Forest Yule Log Cake.
​Not only is it photogenic- it also tasted great! 

This booth also features Pozole Rojo Beef with Polenta, Chicken-less Mole with Spanish Rice, Modela Negra, and a Michelada with Modela Negra and Brown Sugar.  

This booth is connected to the Twist on Traditions booth. Unfortunately, we were a bit let
​down with this one. We typically love spicy food, so we were pretty excited, but it was lacking
a bit for some reason. 

This is the Nashville Hot Fried Turkey with Dill Pickles. I had high hopes for this one because I typically love Nashville Hot Fried Chicken. But, the turkey was kind of dry and the sauce didn't have a bold enough flavor. Not a favorite. 

This booth also features Jalapeño Latkes with Chipotle Crema, Chocolate Chipotle Pot de Crème, and a Pomegranate Margarita with a Chipotle Salt rim. 

What you need to know about this booth:
Wine. Mimosas. Wine. 
​That is all. Enjoy!!

White Wine Flights, Red Wine Flights, and Mimosa Flights.
​This deserves an extended "yaaaaas!"

At this point we were too full to move. So, we skipped it. But just to keep in the know, the booth features Braised Pork Belly Adobo with Garlic Fried Rice, Cornbread Cakes with Braised Collard Greens and Smoked Bacon Gravy, and a Blood Orange Ginger Mule.

And this takes us to our favorite booth- Winter Sliderland! They feature the best item (in our opinion) of the festival! The Holiday Stuffing Mac and Cheese!

I know it's not the most photogenic item, but TRUST ME, this stuff haunts our dreams! It was so good, cheesy, creamy, just all-around amazing. 

This booth also features a Roasted Turkey Slider with Cranberry Sauce, a Milk Chocolate Candy Cane Pot de Creme, a Frosty Frosé with Fleurs de Prairie Rosé, Blue Curacao, and White Cranberry Juice, and an Oskar Blues Brewery, Old Chub Scotch Ale.

And that's it for The Festival of Holidays! I'm so glad we got to check out this festival this year! It was the perfect size and had SO many delicious items! It was a very pleasant surprise.
The  only downside here was that we got so full at the festival, we could barely eat any other treats at California Adventure! Well, we ate a few other ​things, but not many as we
​normally would have. 

It felt wrong to write a blog post about California Adventure and not include a quick trip review of everything else we experienced. The festival was great, but we were also mind-blown by the new PIXAR PIER!!

This was our first time getting to see the newly renovated Pixar Pier area of California Adventure, and we fell in love! The theming, the subtle nods to movies and shorts, the lights, the foods, it was all amazing! We loved it so much, we had a blast exploring every shop and stand!

Greatest. Store. Ever!

Adorable midway games.

And of course, the newly themed, INCREDICOASTER!

We also made our way over to the DCA walls for some obligatory IG pics. We had to.
​They're just so cute!!

Overall, it was an awesome trip to Disney's California Adventure! We love Disneyland, but we jut don't get there as often as we do Disneyworld, so when we DO go, it always feels a bit more special <3 
​Thanks for dreaming up the happiest place on Earth, Walt!
​And to all of our readers- See ya real soon!

Hello everyone!! We're back! We apologize for being MIA for a bit there.
​We've had a lot going on which made it difficult to keep up with Ride or Dine, but I promise you we're back for good! And we're coming back with a post that's been a long time coming: our review of Disney's Hollywood Studios' new(ish) Toy Story Land!

Let me start by saying that the attention to detail in this land is nothing short of amazing.
The entire area went far beyond our expectations, we wish there was more of it!!
​If you're unfamiliar with the DHS expansion, the park added a new land which consists of two new rides to join the one existing Toy Story ride, a new quick service restaurant, new merch booths, character meet-and-greets, and of course, theming galore!

One of the new rides is the Alien Swirling Saucers. This new whip ride is fun and cute, but a little too short. The wait times are still a bit ridiculous in the new land, but hopefully eventually when it gets down to normal, the wait will feel a little more worth it for this one. 

The new star attraction is definitely Slinky Dog Dash, a new family-friendly roller coaster.
​This cute little Slinky Dog coaster also has had a pretty lengthy wait time, and even though this ride is also short, it felt a little more worth the wait to us. 

The queue was cute and felt really similar to Toy Story Mania. Thank the Disney Gods for blessing us with giant fans in the queue to combat that Orlando heat!!

Slinky Dog pulling into the station

The rides were obviously cute and we knew we'd love them (because any attraction addition is always welcome), but the biggest surprise was absolutely THE FOOD!!
We had no idea we would end up finding a new favorite quick service place in
Woody's Lunch Box. The restaurant offers sandwiches, soups, and a few other snack items,
​and it blew us away!

Yaaaas mobile ordering!

BBQ Brisket Melt. Sliced Smoked Brisket, Pickles and BBQ Sauce between melted Cheddar and Monterey Jack Cheeses on Grilled Sourdough. Okay, the sandwich was REALLY good. But, it was probably one of our least favorite things on the menu..but that is ONLY because everything else was SO awesome. If this was all we tried at Woody's Lunch Box we would be perfectly happy, but it wasn't, and we are thankful!

Grilled Three-Cheese Sandwich and Tomato-Basil Soup. The real showstopper. This dynamic duo is Melted Provolone and Cheddar Cheeses with a Cheddar Cream Cheese Spread on Garlic Buttered Grilled Artisan French Bread and perfectly paired tomato basil soup. 
This little combo right here blew our minds. Almost everyone has had grilled cheese and tomato soup, so we were expecting it to be good, but not THIS good. This combo haunts my dreams.

Lunch Box Tarts. Basically a hand-crafted pop-tart.
Woody's lunch box offers two flavors (now three for the holidays).
Photographed above is the Raspberry Lunch box tart stuffed with raspberry marmalade, coated in strawberry fondant, and topped with strawberry pearls and dried strawberries. Admittedly, we weren't big fans of this dessert. It was a little too sweet and lacking in the filling department. We were feeling unimpressed with the dessert offerings and almost didn't even try the others. But, we're glad we went for it because the chocolate hazelnut tart made up for it!

This Chocolate-Hazelnut stuffed Pastry is coated in Maple Fondant and Candied Bacon.

Woody's lunch box is also offering a seasonal tart.
​The Holiday Cinnamon Cran-Apple tart is cinnamon pastry stuffed with a cran-apple filling and coated in a vanilla fondant with Holiday decor.

In addition to the new rides and food, you can also meet Woody, Jessie, and Buzz in the new Toy Story Land. Plus, you can catch the Green Army men wandering around and performing little shows throughout the area!

So, needless to say, we loved our time in the new Toy Story Land. The theming was incredible and the food alone made endless trips to the area an absolute MUST!
Have you been to the new land in Hollywood Studios yet??
​If so, share your favorite parts with us in the comments! And if not, what are you most looking forward to trying when you finally make it there?

Until next time, space cadets!

Boo to you and you and you! This week we're so excited to continue on our Halloween adventure with one of our favorite places in the world: Disney World! Every year Magic Kingdom transforms overnight into a Halloween fantasy! And on select nights, the Kingdom closes early to park guests and offers an upgraded event called Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! Most of our readers are probably familiar with MNSSHP and have either already attended or plan to in the future, but we wanted to share with you some of our highlights from this year.

Mickey's not-so-scary varies in price depending on the night you choose to attend, but generally it gets more expensive the closer it gets to Halloween. The event offers exclusive shows, meet and greets with certain characters and villains, the Boo to You parade, trick-or-treating, and HALLOWISHES (the best firework show ever)! There are also exclusive spooky snack options across the park which you KNOW we were all over! Park guests also get pretty creative with their Halloween costumes. For a list of okay attire for the event check Disney's website here. 

So, why is Hallowishes so great? Honestly, I don't know how to answer that because there are so many reasons! For one, the show itself is entertaining and filled with all of your favorite villains and Disney characters. I mean, who doesn't want to hear Poor Unfortunate Souls while watching fire explode in the sky?! Secondly, the fireworks are HUGE and literally light up the entire sky over MK. I don't want to spoil too much because seeing Hallowishes for the first time without knowing just how big and unique they are is part of the magic. But, here's a video of Oogie Boogie's part because everyone loves Nightmare Before Christmas.

Here's a list of all of the characters you can meet at MNSSHP and where to find them:

There were a ton of great food offerings during the event.
​Some of these are offered during the day as well, but some are exclusive to MNSSHP.

There are several shows and dance parties to see and join in on while at MNSSHP. There's the Cadaver Dans Barber Shop Quartet which you can hear singing ghoulish medleys in Frontierland. There's the Storybook Circus Junior Jam Dance Party in Storybook Circus. There's the Monstrous Scream-O-Ween Dance Ball in Tomorrowland (video below) where you can dance along with your favorite monsters.

And then there's the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular! This show is the main event of the entertainment lineup and is SO much fun. The Sanderson sisters host the show and invite all of your favorite Disney villains along. Although I was a fan of the old villain show, this Hocus Pocus show BLOWS it out of the water!

In addition to the shows, parade, fireworks, and meet and greets, don't forget you can also enjoy trick-or-treating across the entire park, all of your favorite rides, and exclusive Halloween merch! Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party runs on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, and Tuesdays through October 31st starting at $99. Let us know in the comments if you've attended this year's Halloween party, or if you plan to! Until next time, Boo to You!

Can you believe it's already been a YEAR since we posted about EPCOT's International Food and Wine Festival?? Where does the time go? 2018's Food and Wine Festival was just as marvelous as prior years. However, we did remind ourselves of a very harsh truth. Orlando is just TOO hot in the summer. For anyone who doesn't know, Parker and I used to live in Orlando while working for SeaWorld and Disney. One of the contributing factors to us leaving was the brutal heat and humidity. It wasn't the deciding factor, but it made the list of cons for sure. We thought we'd be okay doing a trip in mid-September, but, alas, we were wrong. Henceforth, we'll be planning our trips from October-March. (Obviously so we won't miss any of the EPCOT fests).

This isn't going to be a full review of all of EPCOT's Food and Wine offerings like we've done in the past. The honest truth is there is just SO much to try and SO much to review. So, we thought we'd just make a post highlighting some of our favorites from this year's festival. Of course, there are still tons of other booths and items, but here's our top list from 2018:

The Roasted Irish Sausage with Colcannon Potatoes and Onion Gravy is always good. This year we were very pleasantly surprised by the Guinness Baileys Shake. 

We could've probably ordered two more of the shakes. 

The Warm Irish Cheddar Cheese and Stout Dip with Irish Brown Bread gets an honorable mention because it isn't our favorite, but it's still pretty good.

Honestly, I feel like we could write a blog post entirely of how much we love the Canada booth at Food and Wine. Every year they deliver amazingly tender filet and of course CHEESE SOUP! They know the way to our hearts.

Canadian Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Soup served with a Pretzel Roll & Le Cellier Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle-Butter Sauce. (And a gorgeous Canadian backdrop).

10 out of 10 would recommend NOT skipping Canada.

On the top of our desserts list was the Maple Bourbon Boursin Cheesecake with Maple Bourbon Cream, Caramel and Pecan Crunch from the Cheese Studio. This cheesecake WAS SO GOOD. I am a huge fan of cheesecake, so I feel like no matter what I would've loved it. But, Parker is not so much and he really enjoyed this one, so you know it's good!

Another good repeat from last year was the Loaded Mac ‘n’ Cheese with Nueske’s® Pepper Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Peppers and Green Onions.

One of Parker's all-time favorites.

This year's festival also brought back the Coastal Eats booth with all of the same food offerings. We enjoyed all three last year and decided to get all three again this year.
Although the crab cake was not as good as we remembered, the scampi and scallops were still some of our favorite items.

Baked Shrimp Scampi Dip with Sourdough Baguette, 
Lump Crab Cake with Napa Cabbage Slaw and Avocado-lemongrass Cream,
Seared Scallops with Roasted Corn, Butterbean Succotash and Chili-chipotle Butter Sauce.

Last year we really enjoyed the piggy wings and the Smoked Corned Beef. This year we just sprung for the corned beef. It's a top 15 item at the festival for us. 

The Light Lab is one of our favorite additions from last year's festival for four reasons. 
1) It's inside.
2) It's got tasty drinks and fun experiments.
3) It's got cool black lights and the colors overhead are constantly changing.
4) It's inside.

This year we tried the Phosphorescent Phlight which featured 3 unique slushies. Each was a different color with a different glow cube in it, and you had to guess what flavor each color was. Although we thought the guessing would be a bit more challenging, the slush was good and exactly what we needed to combat the Orlando heat.

And this pretty drink is what happens when you mix blue and purple.

The number of pictures we took in and of the Light Lab should tell you how long we spent inside their AC.

Of course Italy is always a favorite booth. There's always at least one item that ends up being a top 5. This year is was the rigatoni pasta.

Trust me when I say that this photo does not do this dish justice. 
​Mezzi Rigatoni- Vodka Sauce, Crispy Pancetta and Parmesan Cheese.

And although the pizza is not technically part of Food and Wine, we had to try it because it's new! The Italy pavilion in EPCOT now has the Via Napoli Pizza Window! The window currently offers three types of pizza, a couple of appetizers, and some beer, wine, and cocktails. 
This pizza is very different than the pizza served at the sit-down version of Via Napoli,
​but we enjoyed it all the same.

So, those were just a few of our favorites at the 2018 EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival! There were plenty of other things we tried and wanted to try, but there just isn't enough time! (or room in our stomachs)

We'll close by, of course, asking to hear from everyone what their favorites were of this year's festival! Or, if you have plans to attend later in the year, what are you most looking forward to?  You still have plenty of time left to enjoy 2018's Food and Wine Fest!
We will also share a few construction photos of the new Ratatouille attraction and the Disney Skyliner we took while at EPCOT between Sep 12-15.

See you next year, Food and Wine!