The Disney Frontier Blog

My family contributed to the strong opening weekend of Enchanted much to my chagrin. I wasn’t too excited to go see a film about a princess staring Patrick Dempsy (screams chick flick). However, due to too much turkey and apple pie, I relented. Turns out the movie was better than bad, it was good.

It starts as a regular animated story of a princess finding true love’s kiss akin to a Sleeping Beauty mixed with the woodland creatures of Snow White. The animation seems rushed and maybe too computer aided, but it works because you know the whole movie isn’t going to be in 2D drawings. When the evil step-mother (Cinderella anybody?) decides that she doesn’t want anyone marrying her son and taking over her throne, she turns into an old hag and pushes the princess into the real world.

I was fully expecting this to be an innocent person lost in a strange city like Will Farrell in Elf, but it was more. The princess was able to retain her powers of likability - even with the woodland creatures (or in New York, rats). My favorite scene is when the princess busts into song in the park. Like all good animated movies, starting a song means everyone joins in and starts singing and dancing. Despite this being the real world, the same held true here. It was reminiscent of the duet between Simba and Nala at the beginning of the Lion King, but pulled off wonderfully with live actors.

I’m still not sure if this is a “go out and see it in the theatre” movie, but admittedly I find very few of those these days. However, if you are looking for a family or date movie, this is a good choice.

I’ve come to the realization that eating in the park isn’t “that” expensive. When we sit down to eat in the park and buy two adult meals and two kids meals, the price is consistently around $30. I’ve been paying attention here in Phoenix to our recent eating-out expenses. Most places we eat at the bill is between $20 and $30 for basically the same thing - two adult meals and two kids meals. I’m talking about casual dining like Red Robin, Macaroni Grill, and even Chuck E Cheese which I would say is comparable to the quality food you get at places like the French Market, Rancho del Zocalo, and Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port.Â

The biggest difference are beverages. This is where the bill will creep up on you if you’re not careful. The kids meals come with drinks, but due to price, we usually only purchase one adult drink to share. Typically, this is a bottle of water that is easy to take with us and we don’t have to worry about it spilling in the stroller. Also, we avoid buying snacks with our meals. Almost all the cashiers have cookies, rice krispy treats or some sugary snack at their station. Heath concerns aside, these are expensive. Plus, don’t go for the souvenir cups if trying to save on cash.

We also avoid the temptation of the snack stands throughout the park. Buying a snack for everyone can easily be half the price of a full meal. Plus the crash after the sugar wears off is hard to deal with.

When we go in a few weeks, we are going to see exactly much we can avoid eating in the park. I think this is more experimental than necessity. How do you deal with eating in the parks?Â