Cheapskate's Handbook

A Travel and Food Blog For the Have-Nots

Category : Guide To

Delicious Performances In The Golden Horseshoe

June 29th 2010 Posted at Disneyland Guide, Guide To, Guide to Anaheim
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Next time you visit Disneyland and want to take a break, why not stop by the Golden Horseshoe Cafe. Here you can enjoy massive desserts or whole meals while watching such great acts as Benny Hill and The Hillbillies. Be sure to arrive a little early to get through the line and get a table in time for the show.

When we went, I stood in line for food while the BF saved us a great table seat on the balcony and by the time I got through the line the show started. As for the food, we opted on only desert and decided to share a slice of the chocolate cake and the fudge sundae. The price was about average for Disneyland, but the portions were out of control. Either dessert would have been more than enough for the two of us to share and together we gorged ourselves and still had to throw away a massive amount of melted ice cream and soggy cake.

The flavors of the desserts were great. The cake was moist and the sundae was rich and chocolatey. I’d certainly recommend either –just not at the same time.

Before you leave, be certain to check out the only hidden Mickey in the entire cafe, a small little one hidden in the vents under the stage. It’s so inconspicuous that it’s probably one of the coolest in the park.

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The California Adventure Disney Food & Wine Festival

May 3rd 2010 Posted at Disneyland Guide, Guide To, Guide to Anaheim
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The Disney Food and Wine Festival that takes place in California Adventure every year is a marvelous experience, but to take part in most of the celebratory activities is actually rather cost prohibitive. Rather than spending $80 on wine tastings and $100 per plate on a few dinners, why not enjoy the festivities without shelling out the big bucks?

Here are a few tips on entertainment during the festival that won’t cost too much.

  • Catch the shows. A lot of the displays and shows can still be watched for free. They may be educational or entertaining, but they still aren’t worth a bundle of cash just for the privilege of sitting during the presentation.
  • Enjoy the freebies. There aren’t many freebies at the park, even during the festival, but if you see some, take advantage. Over by the bread and tortilla factory there is a booth offering taste samples of exquisite olive oils and vinegars with bread chunks to try them. If you’re so inclined to buy a few bottles, remember that you can often use a high-quality olive oil to dilute your fancy one without losing much flavor.
  • Try the Festiv-Ale. Over at the Karl Strauss beer truck, there is a special blend just for this occasion. At $6.75 per glass, it’s hardly more expensive than buying a good beer at a bar. As for the Festiv-Ale, it’s a quite nice blend, rather dark with a bit of a bite and sweet, berry accents to round out the finish. Their other beers are also quite good even if they don’t quite fit in with the theme. The IPA has the highest alcohol concentration and it has all the complexity and depth that a fine IPA should have.

Enjoying the Festiv-Ale

  • Try a few wine samples. While there are package wine samplings that are rather expensive, there are also wine stands throughout the park that allow you to try a few sips for not too much money.

If you’ve been and have any more tips on enjoying the festival, please leave them in the comments!

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Getting Free Parking At Disneyland

April 26th 2010 Posted at Disneyland Guide
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We all know how expensive Disneyland is, which is why getting free parking is such a popular subject for so many visitors -particularly when the lot now cost $14. Fortunately, there are legitimate ways to do so.

First off, let me start by saying that if you’re a regular visitor, you should simply get the year pass and when you buy your year pass, pay the extra $80 for your pass to get parking included. It is completely worth the extra fee to never have to worry about the costs of parking ever again, plus the passes give you discounts at restaurants and shops.

If you only want to prepare for one trip though, consider eating the character breakfast at the PCH Grill at the Paradise Peir hotel. It is around $30 per person, but it’s all you can eat and because you get to interact with your favorite characters, it’s a great option for the kiddos (a picture from our trip can be seen to the left). When you park in the hotel’s lot, you get free parking for 5 hours with validation. When your five hours are almost up, go back to the car and head out to get a cheap lunch or take a break at your hotel.

Next, park in the Downtown Disney lot and just be sure to leave before your three free hours are up. You can take the monorail in and out of the park to this lot, which definitely helps speed up the time table. If you miss out on getting out of the park on time, they charge in twenty minute increments, so your parking fees can add up quickly. There is a chance that if you wait until very late at night, that the staff will leave the parking booths and you can leave the lot for free, but this is risky and if it fails, you will end up paying a whole lot.

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Sun Tacos: Changed Name=Changed Quality

March 7th 2010 Posted at Guide To San Diego, Reviews
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If you live in La Mesa, you may very well have enjoyed the little taco shop on Baltimore that was once known as Buenos Dias. Unfortunately, although the shop is still owned by the same people, the name change to Sun Tacos, which does not sound nearly as delightful to the ear, reflects a drop in both value and price.

While the menu options are the exact same, even the trademark Buenos Dias burrito with potatoes, beans and eggs, the prices have risen as much as a dollar per item. You can even see the old prices shining through the menu board, mocking you for having spent more than you really should have.

For me though, the real disappointment was the food. While the restaurant was once one of the rare taco shops that wasn’t too greasy and cooked everything to perfection, the food has taken a nosedive. The carne asada was chewy; the beans, flavorless and greasy; the tortillas, stale; and, worst of all the potatoes in my once-beloved Buenos Dias burrito were crunchy and undercooked.

If you had once enjoyed the restaurant, it’s best to leave your memories the way they were and simply avoid the location at all costs.

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Finding Fun Things To Do In SF

October 13th 2009 Posted at Guide to San Francisco
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San Francisco always has events going on, from concerts to symphonies to protests to gallery openings to charity races. It would be exceptionally hard to keep track of all of these goings on if it weren’t for the great selection of resources made available to the public -and all for free.
If you live in the Bay Area or are just visiting for a short while, it always helps to keep an eye on the upcoming events in the city to make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to check out a happening you are really into.

Check The Weekly Papers
The two local weekly papers in San Francisco always have an extensive listing of upcoming events, best of all, both are free both in the city and on the web. The San Francisco Bay Guardian has listings of upcoming political events and protests; theater shows; concerts; films; club happenings and other events that fail to fit in these categories. The SF Weekly has listings of concerts; movies; art gallery events; book-related happenings; museum exhibits; gay and lesbian meetings; theater shows and other events submitted to their publication.

Ask A City Guide
San Francisco City Guides provide free local tours of the city. These friendly residents are also very happy to help you answer any questions you have about the city, including what activities they may recommend doing during your trip.

The main City Guide booth is located at:
100 Larkin St

San Francisco, CA 94102

(415) 557-4266

www.sfcityguides.org

The List
If you’re looking to see what bands are in town, the best resource available is an extensive collection of Bay Area shows put together weekly by Steve Koepke and known simply as ‘The List.’ The list can be found in an easily accessible html version by visiting foopee.com and clicking on punk shows -note that the list is not limited to punk music though.

Visit SF Station
SFStation.com is a comprehensive website with listings all types of activities in the Bay Area. Here you can find upcoming events, top-rated restaurants, local band profiles, and more. This site check help you find just about anything related to shopping, eating or events.

Yelp It
Yelp.com is a great resource of reviews from cities across the globe. They started out of San Francisco though, so their listings here are some of the best. If you’re looking for upcoming events, you can check the forums and then take a look at the reviews of the location it is held at.
One great thing about Yelp is that you may avoid good events ruined by the venue. Even if you heard about the event from one of the other sources listed here, you can still check its location on Yelp to make sure it’s worth your time.

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The Delectable Dive Bar of Delis

September 10th 2009 Posted at Guide To San Diego
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The Lunch Bag Deli is exactly what a tiny local deli should be: cheap, uncrowded and delicious. It also has all the best characteristics of a good dive bar: full of empty space, yet decorated in a themeless mess of collectibles. Your sandwich maker could just as easily be pouring you a Jack and Coke as he could be loading up your pastrami on rye and his short bursts of conversation wouldn’t change either way. There’s an unused fan in the corner that is so dirty it would choke the whole establishment with dust if someone ever had the nerve to turn it on. On top of one of the refrigerators sits a dusty, antique display collection of fine oils and vinegars that will never touch one of the sandwiches on the menu. If a yuppie mother came in here, you could be certain she would be constantly hounding her children not to touch anything.

Fortunately for you, the fan’s not on, the oils and vinegars remain capped and you are not the child of a yuppie. Enjoy a meatball sub, a turkey cappicola, a tuna melt or an Italian sub, whatever you get, you’re sure to enjoy the fresh meat that’s piled high atop a delightfully soft roll. Best of all, the subs here are dirt cheap. Get stuffed to the gills on less than $5 and you’ll be thrilled to start filling your lunch bag exclusively with Lunch Bag Deli subs.

For more info: Just stop by 4085 Pacific Hwy., San Diego, CA 92110, or call (619) 295-3484

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Free Birthday Meals In San Diego

June 14th 2009 Posted at Freebies, Guide To San Diego
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2552746558_939642c44fLet’s face it, your family doesn’t want to spend all kinds of money taking you out to dinner on your birthday. They want to go somewhere and eat some good food and they already bought you presents, but why make them pay an additional $10-$20? And after the family and friends dinners, wouldn’t you be happy to have a few free meals to go? Here’s a few places in San Diego that offer free food for birthday diners:

The day of:

-Onami: This is a great, all you can eat sushi and Japanese food restaurant, meaning it is a little pricey usually. On the bright side, if you eat there on your actual birthday, you get a coupon to come back again for free.

-Ihop: While participation varies by location, many Ihop’s will give you a free meal just for coming in on your birthday. Call ahead for details.

-Disneyland: So it’s not in San Diego and it’s not a restaurant, but you can save yourself a $70 admission fee for visiting on your birthday. It’s a great deal that can leave you with fantastic memories. Also note, the registration is not mandatory, it merely makes admission faster.

On a set day of the month:

-The Boathouse: This upscale restaurant selects one day of the month to offer a free prime rib meal with the purchase of another meal for all people born on a particular month.

Emails for near-birthday coupons:

-Rubios: When you sign up for their Beach Club, you get a free taco automatically. When your birthday rolls around, they give you a free meal worth up to $7. No other purchase is necessary.

-Mimi’s Cafe: Sign up for Mimi’s eclub and you’ll receive a coupon for a free breakfast worth up to $10. For your birthday, they’ll send you a coupon for $10 off you next meal over $20.

-Black Angus: If you want a steak for your birthday, sign up for their Prime Club and receive a buy one get one free meal coupon for your birthday.  Your meal can be worth up to $19.99.

-Red Robin: Get a free birthday burger when you register at their website…best of all, there’s no other purchase necessary.

-HomeTown Buffet: When you sign up here, you can get one free buffet dinner when you purchase another buffet dinner. You’ll recieve another coupon like this for your birthday.

-Coldstone: Get a free like-it size ice cream for your birthday when you register at their site.

Know any other freebies? Let me know in the comments!

Photo Via Aloha Orangeneko [Flickr]

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Free Burger Shot

March 10th 2009 Posted at Freebies, Guide to San Francisco
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If you’ve been itching to try the new BK burger shots (I have, and they’re actually quite good) now’s your chance. On Saturday, 3/14 Burger King is giving away free burger shots between 11 AM to 2 PM. I’m not sure if “one” means one shot or one pack, but either way, one free tiny burger is yours if you stop by your local BK this Saturday.

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Call For Bigger Boobs

March 10th 2009 Posted at Guide to San Francisco, Saving Money
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I am highly skeptical of a new Japanese trend that promises bigger breasts merely by using a new ring tone. In fact, I normally dismiss the concept of breast enlargement unless it involves cosmetic surgery.

The breast enlargement pills seem to be a fraud and they have some potentially dangerous side effects.

On the other hand, I’m not too quick to dismiss the concept of this cell phone ring tone that may grow women’s breast sizes by mentally reminding them of crying babies. The inventor isn’t a quack -he’s actually highly regarded in the Japanese scientific community. The logic behind his invention is somewhat reasonable as well. Women respond both physically and emotionally when they hear crying babies. Is it really that unbelievable that a ringtone that uses the same tones as a baby may stimulate a woman’s breast growth?

As I said, I’m highly skeptical, but the great thing is that this product is highly cheap and practically harmless to a woman’s health -so it’s a winning gamble to check it out. If you do, let me know if it works, because I think everyone would like a non-surgical option to breast enlargement.

If you just want to hear the ringtone, here it is.

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Free Trip to the San Diego Zoo Tomorrow

October 5th 2008 Posted at Guide To San Diego
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Admission for the San Diego Zoo is waived on October 6, for Founder’s Day. If you’re anywhere around the area, I recommend stopping by. It really is an amazing place.

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