Cheapskate's Handbook

A Travel and Food Blog For the Have-Nots

Category : Guide to Anaheim

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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