“Sofia The First: The Curse of Princess Ivy” Premieres Sunday, November 23rd

NITELITE, FLAMBEAU, EVERBURN, PRINCESS RAPUNZEL, PRINCESS SOFIA, PRINCESS AMBER

This week on Disney Channel, “Sofia The First” episodes feature Disney Princesses!

Little girls across the country are tuning into Disney Channel this week to catch up on “Sofia The First” episodes featuring their favorite Disney Princesses.  Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan and Snow White have each guest starred on different “Sofia The First” episodes and each episode will be shown this week on Disney Channel.  The princess episode week is all in preparation of this weekend’s royal event.

Sunday, November 23rd at 7 pm on Disney Channel, a special family event featuring Princess Rapunzel will premiere! In the prime-time special titled, “Sofia The First: The Curse of Princess Ivy”, Mandy Moore reprises her role as Rapunzel, from Disney’s hit film “Tangled.”

You may be wondering why does the title mention Princess Ivy and not Rapunzel. Take a look at the video link below to find out.

Princess Amber discovers the secret of Sofia’s purple amulet and accidentally summons an evil princess by the name of Princess Ivy. With the help of Rapunzel, I have a hunch that Sofia and Amber can work together to save their kingdom.

Sofia

My daughter, Victoria, is so excited about Princess Sofia’s latest adventure.  She and I are busy planning a premiere party courtesy of Disney Junior and House Party. I’ve received a free party pack, including the beautifully illustrated book featured in the photo above.  Disney Junior and House Party gave it us to read to our premiere party guests in exchange for a post sharing all our fun with you.  I’m planning a simple Sofia the First craft idea, various Sofia-inspired snacks and of course story-time, all in preparation of “Sofia the First: The Curse of Princess Ivy!”

I can’t wait to share the fun with you this week!

Will your family be enjoying the special Sunday night event too?

Simple “Big Hero 6” Cupcakes

Big Hero 6 cupcakeThis past weekend my son, Gavin, and I saw Disney’s newest film, “Big Hero 6.” We loved it! Baymax was Gavin’s favorite hero. A funny robot with a kindness that’s pure with selflessness, Baymax has won my heart too.

When I mentioned to Gavin I’d like to make Baymax cupcakes, he jumped right into helping me. He and I created these simple Baymax-inspired cupcakes.  I’m proud to say that the design of the cupcakes came from Gavin’s suggestion and I think they came out adorable!

I started with a basic white cupcake in a Wilton white baking cup.

Baymax cupcakes  Next I applied white icing to each cupcake.

Baymax cupcakes

Using a spatula Gavin helped me smooth out the icing.

Baymax cupcakes

Using two brown M & M pieces and black licorice, we added Baymax’s eyes.

Baymax Cupcake

It’s that simple!  It took more time to divide the brown chocolate candies than to decorate the cupcakes!

 

 Did you see Disney’s “Big Hero 6” yet?  Which hero was your favorite?

Our Family’s Experience at Disneyland Hotel

Entrance to Disneyland Hotel from Downtown Disney

A few weeks ago my family and I vacationed at Disneyland Resort. The trip began with a five night stay at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, {you can read about it here}, followed by a magical two night stay at Disneyland Hotel. Our stay at Disneyland Hotel was a magical extension to our time spent inside Disneyland Park. From the moment we caught a glimpse of Yensid’s hat, we knew magic was ahead!

Disneyland Resort has three hotels, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel and Disneyland Hotel. Disneyland Hotel, which opened in 1955, is considered Disneyland’s original hotel. Walking through the lobby, and throughout the hotel, I quickly saw the hotel as a tribute to Walt Disney and the park’s history. In fact, all three towers of the hotel are named after three of the original five “lands”, Adventure Tower, Frontier Tower and Fantasy Tower.

The Fantasy Tower is home to the Front Desk and Guest Services. Guests can find Bell & Valet Services outside of the tower.  The whimsical main lobby showcases these fantastic teacup attraction-inspired chairs.  They look so much fun that I had wished my husband checked us “in”, so that I could have tested them out!

Lobby of Disneyland Hotel

Just around the corner from the lobby are the hotel’s two stores, Disney’s Fantasia Shop and “small world” Gifts & Sundries.  Disney’s Fantasia Shop sells a variety of Disney souvenirs and “small world” Gifts & Sundries is where you’ll find snacks, drinks and minor health & beauty supplies.  Since our room was located within Fantasy Tower, my family ventured into these happy little stores quite a few times during our short stay.

Would you like to take a look inside our room?

Vanity in Disneyland Hotel rooms  Mouse Ears Mom.com

Upon entering our room and looking to the right, we found a delightful little vanity area waiting to lend a helping Mickey hand!

vanity at Disneyland Hotel Mouse Ears Mom.com

As a mommy to an independent three-year-old, I appreciated the height of the sink.  Victoria was able to reach this sink, unlike the sink at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. As an added bonus, the sink and bathtub featured Mickey Mouse faucet handles!

Mickey Mouse handles at Disneyland Hotel Mouse Ears Mom.com

 Just beyond the vanity and storage closet was a small desk featuring a Mickey Mouse-accented lamp.

Disneyland Hotel with Mouse Ears Mom.com

The kids quickly pointed out that the magic of Mickey Mouse was everywhere in the room…even in the carpeting!

carpeting at Disneyland Hotel with Mouse Ears Mom.com

My family is a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) family. DVC rooms are known not only for their beauty, but also their convenience.  The amenities, such as kitchenette, we have become accustom to having on a vacation.  Disneyland Hotel is NOT a DVC property.  Although we missed having access to a microwave or toaster, our Disneyland Hotel room provided us with a miniature refrigerator. It was perfect for our two night stay.

Wondering where in this gorgeous room you’d find our water bottles hidden? The miniature refrigerator is tucked nicely in the right side of the dresser unit pictured in the below photo.

Mouse Ears Mom.com

The window to the right of the yellow arm-chair in the photo above, provides a view that takes up the width of the entire room! Here’s a look at our view.

Disneyland Hotel via Mouse Ears Mom.com

 The kids enjoyed looking out the window for quite some time each day.  Who wouldn’t, right?

From our room in Fantasy Tower, we were able to see the Adventure Tower, located on the left side of our view and the Frontier Tower located to the right.  The pools pictured in the above photo are called the E Ticket and D Ticket pools.  On the middle right side of the picture you can catch a glimpse of the super-cool Monorail Pool’s slide.

One of the reasons my children enjoyed peering out of the window was to watch Daddy or me run for morning coffee, tea, pastries and fruit! Looking at the photo above, below and to the right of the unique shaped roof are three dining options, Steakhouse 55 & Lounge (Table Service), Goofy’s Kitchen (Character Dining buffet) and The Coffee House. The Coffee House offers quick breakfast items, in addition to espresso, lattes and specialty coffees. This place was hopping each morning!  It opens early. When we visited they were open at 6 a.m. and closed at 11 a.m. If your family would like to eat a larger breakfast, Tangaroa Terrace offers a full breakfast menu.  In the above photo, you can see Tangaroa Terrace at the foot of Adventure Tower.  It has a roof that reminds me of Disney’s Polynesian Resort! This quick service dining option serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We chose The Coffee House each morning.  The Cast Members provided quick service and we were back at our room with food and drinks in a jiffy!

Who wouldn’t want to spend few more minutes in their room with beds like this?

Disneyland Hotel with Mouse Ears Mom.com

The light-up Sleeping Beauty Castle headboard is amazing! With a flip of the switch on the base of the light, music begins and a firework display becomes your nightlight!

Light-up Sleeping Beauty Castle Headboard at Disneyland Hotel www.mouseearsmom.com

The room’s decor hints back to the 1950’s with sharp, sleek lines and buttoned furniture, all saturated in hues of yellow and blue – colors popular to that era. From the sentimental photograph of Walt Disney on the wall, to the magical reminders of Mickey Mouse and Disneyland Park, I absolutely adored the room’s theming.

Disneyland Hotel captures the essence of Disney PERFECTLY.  It’s is my family’s favorite hotel of all three Disneyland Hotels. We loved staying in this magical room!

Have you stayed at a Disneyland Resort Hotel?  Which was your favorite experience?

 

Mickey Mouse Inspired Pumpkin Cupcakes

Mickey Mouse Pumpkin CupcakesHappy Halloween Week Everyone!

One of my favorite things about visiting a Disney Park during the holiday seasons is the festive cupcakes and treats that Disney sells.  While visiting Disneyland Resort I enjoyed seeing the Halloween creations made by Disney’s talented Cast Members and as usual, they did not disappoint.  Here’s a look at some of my favorites!

Halloween Treats at Disneyland ResortAnytime of the year you can find amazing character apples, but I think during the Halloween season the selection is Spooktacular!

Halloween Treats at Disneyland Resort

As soon as I saw Mickey Mummy treats I wanted to run home and make them!

Disneyland Halloween treats

However, first I decided to make my version of these adorable Mickey Mouse pumpkin cupcakes! They were so easy to make. It took less than a half hour for 20 cupcakes. Would you like to make some during this week of Halloween?

My simple version of Disneyland’s cupcakes have a marshmallow based icing. I used the “Super-Easy Marshmallow Icing” recipe by King Arthur Flour. You can check out the photo tutorial on how I made the cupcakes, including the icing below.

Gather your supplies. The icing recipe is for 24 cupcakes so that’s how many cupcakes I made.  However, I was only able to transform 20 cupcakes before running out of icing.

Mouse Ears Mom.com

You’ll need the recipe for the “Super-Easy Marshmallow Icing” and you can find it here:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/super-easy-marshmallow-icing-recipe .

  • Tootsie Rolls (Not Shown Below) are used for the pumpkin stem.
  • Chocolate wafer melts (Not Shown Below) are used for Mickey’s Ears.
  • Green icing- optional (Not Shown Below) is used to make the leaf.
  • The photo below shows you the ingredients I used to make the icing: Salt, Vanilla Extract, Heavy Cream, Powdered Sugar and Marshmallows.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/super-easy-marshmallow-icing-recipe ingredients

As the recipe states, make sure you continuously stir the ingredients while they are heating or the marshmallows will stick. It took a bit longer than I expected for the marshmallows to start to melt and then all of a sudden it started sticking at warp speed.

Mouse Ears Mom.com

Once the marshmallows, heavy cream, sugar, and salt have blended together this is what the icing looked like.Mouse Ears Mom.com

After I poured the mixture into a large mixer bowl, I added the vanilla AND equal amounts of red and yellow food coloring to create orange icing.

Mouse Ears Mom.com

As the recipe suggested, I covered the orange icing and refrigerated it overnight.

marshmallow icing

The next day I used my mixer to whip the icing into shape and I was ready to go!

www.mouseearsmom.com

I played around with different icing tips creating different kinds of pumpkin cupcakes.  I found that I liked the Wilton #12 tip’s results the best.  I piled icing in the center of each cupcake and covered the center by starting at the cake and meeting the icing at the top.

Pumpkin cupcake. Mouse Ears Mom.com

After covering the cupcake with icing I pushed an unwrapped Tootsie Roll through the center of the icing.

Mickey pumpkin cupcake

Add a two chocolate wafers for ears and you’re done!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Let’s Celebrate with Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Holiday Attraction and Brownie Pops!

Happy 21st Birthday “Nightmare Before Christmas!”

Haunted Mansion Holiday

On October 13th, 1993 “The Pumpkin King” was introduced to Americans.  “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas” was such a phenomenal success that The Walt Disney Company decided to thrill obsessed Jack Skellington fans by creating a special attraction overlay.  This overlay shows Disneyland guests how Jack would celebrate Christmas in The Haunted Mansion. On October 3rd 2001, Disneyland opened an amazingly transformed Haunted Mansion, with the help of Jack Skellington of course, and called it “Haunted Mansion Holiday.”

Haunted Mansion HolidayHaunted Mansion Holiday is a seasonal attraction offered exclusively to Disneyland guests from the end of September through early January each year.

On my recent trip to Disneyland I was able to experience this enchanted attraction. Walt Disney Imagineering did a mind-blowing job bringing Jack’s special touch to every corner of the Haunted Mansion.  Would you like to take a look?  I promise brownie pops at the end!

Haunted Mansion Holiday Overview

 Jack welcomes guests to explore the grounds outside the mansion where decorations adorn everything!  Walking through the queue is almost as entertaining as the attraction!

Haunted Mansion Holiday

This is a side view of The Haunted Mansion.  As you can see, pumpkins, garland, and candelabras add Jack’s festive touch to the otherwise gray mansion and gloomy grounds.Haunted Mansion Holiday

At the entrance to the mansion a giant clock counts down to Christmas…looks like Christmas has arrived!

Haunted Mansion Holiday

Upon entering, guests will immediately notice the difference between the original version of the attraction and this special festive overlay. There’s a reason the attraction closes for a few weeks to transform. This is not a minor refurbishment. It takes the attraction to a level worthy of FassPass!  If you’ve never had the opportunity to see Haunted Mansion Holiday, I won’t spoil it for you by telling you every single difference, but I will say that the stretching room is so cool!

My camera didn’t take the best photos inside of Haunted Mansion Holiday, but I thought you still might want to see a few peeks at the attraction.

Haunted Mansion Holiday

The photo featured above is of the Doom Buggie loading area.

Haunted Mansion Holiday

Guests travel through all of the same rooms as in the original attraction.  However, each room has been decorated for the holiday celebration.

Haunted Mansion Holiday

When comparing attractions available at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Park attractions, there are quite a few attractions offered at Disneyland Park that are not at Magic Kingdom. Haunted Mansion Holiday is by far my favorite! OUTSTANDINGLY detailed with animatronics and special effects from not only Disney Imagineering but also Garner Holt Productions.  If I could pick it up and take it to Walt Disney World I would in an instant!

In celebration of the 21st anniversary of “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas”, let’s enjoy a tasty treat!  So simple to make, using a box of brownie mix, a bit of white and chocolate icing, you could whip them up for this evening’s dessert.

Jack Skellington Brownie Pops by Mouse Ears Mom.com

If you’d like to see the step-by-step directions on how I made these “Brownie Kings”, here’s the direct link!

 http://www.mouseearsmom.com/2013/10/21/jack-skellington-brownie-pops/

Enjoy!