In the House of the Mouse

A quick weekend trip to Orlando to visit the Mouse was the plan this past weekend, and I have to say the Mouse did not disappoint. We arrived at the Marriott World Center which is basically a Vegas sized hotel near the parks with a zillion pool opportunities and an evening laser show which, quite frankly, pales in comparison to anything down the road in the Mouse House.

We of course found our favorite bar and bartenders in the middle of the hotel and were entertained nightly by two nice folks serving us cocktails. We explored cocktails at first but had to steer to wine after our Sazerac was quite simply, Sazerac Rye with a very nice square ice cube. No Absinthe and no bitters and not even an attempt to drop an orange slice in there. We were calm since we loved our bartender and being from NOLA, you just kind of put up with folks not quite knowing how to make our favorite southern drinks. We did enjoy the bartender "jibber jabber" and learned that Bill Marriott's son was coming for an inspection during our stay so the entire staff was running around in a fury of cleaning and polishing. Nope.....we never saw the Marriott guy the whole time.

The House of the Mouse, AKA Disneyworld, has undergone some much needed enhancements with regards to cocktails. There are numerous bars and, gasp, you can walk around with your cocktail in the parks just like we can on Bourbon Street. We spent a large amount of our time at Animal Kingdom and discovered our favorite bar at the base of the Everest Expedition. Fanciful cocktails now abound at the white tablecloth restaurants and in typical Disney fashion, come adorned with glowing ice cubes and glass decorations. As we navigated through "stroller derbies," one thing we noticed from the pre alcohol Disney days were the parents more at ease wandering the park with their younglings and relaxing with the adult beverages now available. Cheers to MIckey and Company!