Ok, Quick! What do these drinks NOT have in common?
1. One is from the warmest climates
2. One is based on a cold climate
3. Happy Singing birds endorse one
4. A scary cold monster endorses the other.
Ok - so what DO they have in common?
1. They're Disney drinks!
2. Um YUM!
Welcome to our segway into January 2012 - our Disney food veganization month.. and the perfect start to the month - DRINKS ON NYE! Virgin of course, because I'm having my best veganizer to date help me out with these - remember Elena from
Dargon Wing Pizza? She's going to be our 'drink presentator' for the evening. We need background for this veganization because we're going to V-Log most of it! While I've got the recipes taken care of, she's going to make the warm winds and cold winds for us.. in other words, she's going to be the 'mood modulator' so to speak. She's going to put the 'aah' in the Pineapple New Whip and the bbrrr in the Happy New Yeti!
So, let's get started, shall we?
Our first veganization drink for the night will come on the heels of a one BEAUTIFULLY vintage based attraction 'The Enchanted Tiki Room' presented by Dole.
A little background on the Enchanted Tiki Room.
"The attraction opened on June 23, 1963 and was the first to feature Audio-Animatronics, a WED Enterprises patented invention. The attraction was sponsored by United Airlines for its first 12 years; in 1976, sponsorship passed over to Hawaii's Dole Food Company, which remains the sponsor to the present day. Dole also provides the unique Dole Whip soft-serve frozen dessert sold at a snack bar near the entrance.
The show was originally going to be a restaurant featuring Audio-Animatronic birds serenading guests as they ate and drank. The "magic fountain" at the room's center was originally planned as a coffee station (there is still a storage compartment within the base of the fountain) and the restaurant would have shared its kitchen with the now-defunct Tahitian Terrace in Adventureland and the Plaza Pavilion restaurant at the corner of Main Street, U.S.A. since all three are actually part of the same building. Since ownership of the attraction was separate from the rest of the park, a nominal admission charge of $0.75 was levied. Since computers have played a central role in the attraction since its inception, Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room was also Disneyland's first fully air-conditioned building.
The attraction opened in an era when all things Polynesian were popular and was an immediate hit. It houses a Hawaiian-themed musical show "hosted" by four lifelike macaws whose plumage matches their implied countries of origin. "José" is red, white and green and speaks with a Mexican accent, voiced by Wally Boag; "Michael" is white and green with an Irish brogue, voiced by Fulton Burley; "Pierre" is blue, white and red, and has a French accent courtesy of the voice talents of Ernie Newton while red, black and white "Fritz" has a German accent provided by Thurl Ravenscroft, who also voices Maori god Tangaroa near the attraction's entrance.
The main birds have changed color over the years. In 1965, the four host birds had almost identical plumage of white, green, yellow and blue. The four macaws as well as all the other birds are plumed with real feathers with the exception of chest plumage. The chests are covered in custom-woven cashmere which allows the figures to "breathe" in a lifelike manner. The choice came quite by accident; in a planning meeting, Harriet Burns noticed a cashmere sweater that Walt Disney was wearing which moved at the elbows exactly the way the engineers envisioned."
The Tiki Room is one of MY favorites, and one of the only places that you can get the famed 'Dole Whip'. And I do mean one of the ONLY PLACES. It was made for this attraction.. it was made for Disney. You cannot - (and I repeat, unless you're at WDW in the Polynesian Resort at Captain Cooks) get a Dole Whip anywhere outside of Disneyland or Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Until now... because I am going to make the Thierbach's swingin' virgin drinkin' New Year party a success with a VEGAN version of this classic. We'll see birds, we'll hear birds.. it's going to be warm when we make this drink.. we'll be so happy.. and we're even going to stick with the program and use only DOLE products to make it. :)
So, let's do the numbers for this cute lil drink now, shall we?
Original Disney Dole Whip Pinapple New Whip
Per Glass Per Glass
Calories 1092.5 280
Fat 66.5 g 2g
Cholesterol 244mg 0g
Sodium 74mg 3mg
Carbohydrates 130g 32g
Fiber 4.6g 0g
Protien 6g 1g
WW Pts 31 4
Oh my goodness!!! I'm surprised those birds in that Tiki Room aren't rollin' out the door. How do they stay up on those hangers? Oh, that's right, they're animatronic. (SURE THEY ARE! - I still believe in Disney magic, those birdies are REAL!)
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Ok - from the warm breezes of Adventureland... we'll sail into our second drink veganization - which originally is made with vodka.. but we're making this with a very cold blast of 'bubble water' instead!
Come with me, if you dare - to a place full of snow.. and a a tale.. a tale of a Yeti monster.
That's right - off to the mountains of Everest!
In the warm breezes of the Florida sun, there's a mountain so high, and so scary intense that only the bravest of the brave will try and attempt it.. (Yes, I am amongst those, I've attempted - I've met the Yeti.)
Expedition Everest
Look at that beautiful shot there?
The Yeti lurks in that mountain. He's ripped off part of the track of your train so that you have to take the long way home.. the long way makes you barely escape his clutches, and shoots you down a hill so steep you think you're going to die.. not to mention, that darn Yeti, he pushed you backwards.. (which made me think "I" was going to die!).
This is a fairly new attraction, and it's at Disney's Animal Kingdom in WDW. Want to hear a little more about it? Suuuree you do!
"Expedition Everest is often compared to the 1959 Matterhorn Bobsleds roller coaster at Disneyland, which also features a snowy mountain setting and an "abominable snowman" figure throughout the ride. Expedition Everest is the tallest of the artificial mountains at Walt Disney World Resort, joining Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mount Gushmore, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Mount Mayday on the list of Disney-built peaks. According to Imagineering, it is Disney's 18th mountain-themed attraction.
Although moderate in height and length by contemporary roller coaster standards, Expedition Everest is unique for having its trains travel forward and backward as a result of the yeti's interference with the journey. This is accomplished through two sets of track switches before and after the backwards segment. In its publicity material, Disney pointedly has described the attraction as a family thrill ride. This was the first Disney roller coaster to have a backwards section on it, but it was the second Disney roller coaster proposed with a backwards section: The planned runaway mine train roller coaster at the Magic Kingdom's never built Western River Expedition would have had a backwards section before it was shelved in 1972. The plans for the mine train roller coaster eventually evolved into Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
The artificial mountain is not a reproduction of Mount Everest; it is the fictional "forbidden mountain" guarded by the yeti in the attraction story created by Walt Disney Imagineering. Everest is represented by the barren background peak on the far right, which is meant to suggest it is far in the distance (an example of forced perspective). The attraction's concept is that the roller coaster is a passenger train offering a speedy route through the Himalayas to the base of Mount Everest. According to Disney, the attraction occupies 6.2 acres (25,000 m2) in the park's Asia section and the mountain itself is just shy of 1-acre (4,000 m2).
Expedition Everest celebrated its grand opening on April 7, 2006 in ceremonies led by Disney CEO Bob Iger and theme parks chairman Jay Rasulo. The attraction first was announced publicly on April 22, 2003, during an event to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Disney's Animal Kingdom."
*Shudder*. For the record, honestly this is something I'll probably never ride again. But wouldn't cha know it? They made a DRINK for it! (Ohh, those crazy Disney Imagineers!)
Of course it's not vegan. It's filled with a snowfall of whipped cream! So what's a girl to do? VEGANIZE IT!
So out of the sun and into the cold, my little veganizer assistant and I are planning to put on our coats for this one, trek up that mountain, find the yeti, get his picture and ask him his secrets to make this drink a vegan success story! And, yeah, take a look at what we're going to find while we're up there - you don't want to be us! (His eyes will sizzle us!)
So let's do the numbers on THIS one!
The Expedition Everest Happy New Yeti
Per Glass Per Glass
Calories 233 116
Fat 13g 1g
Cholesterol 45mg 0g
Sodium 78mg 3mg
Carbohydrates 46g 24g
Fiber 0g 0g
Protien 2g 1g
WW Pts 9 3
So how does a fat drunken Yeti scare the crap outta peoples? I have no idea!! But there's not going to be one fat drunken Yeti at our party - nosiree!
It's just the start of the best month of veganizations we'll have to date.
So pull up a chair with us... and join us on a show of all shows.. Disney style! Ring in the new year with your favorite veganizer and the best vegan drinks this side of a Disney park!
Don't be scared... sing a lil song!
Whistle while you work!
It's time to roll in 2012 the Disney way - of course!
Music enjoyed while writing this blog:
Disney's Subsonic Radio 5K baby - all the way!
Current Craving:
"beef tips" and noodles!
Current Motivation:
Birds and Beasts.. all animatronic of course!
