Monthly Archives: March 2017

Knott’s Boysenberry Festival April 1st-23rd!

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Knott’s Boysenberry Festival

By Erin

It’s almost Boysenberry time! This unique berry is a cross between a loganberry, a red raspberry and a blackberry. Did you know Knott’s Berry Farm was at one time a berry farm established by Walter Knott and his family? Knott was the first to commercially cultivate the boysenberry in Southern California after transplanting the berry’s vines from the former Boysenberry farm. Mrs. Knott began making preserves, which made Knott’s Berry Farm famous. The popular purple little boysenberry put Knott’s Berry Farm on the road to being America’s first theme park. As the birthplace of the delectable boysenberry, Knott’s Berry Farm once again showcases the little berry that started it all with a spectacular 23-day food and beverage celebration. 

This year, the festival is over three weeks (April 1–April 23) featuring over 70 boysenberry inspired dishes, drinks and more. During these 23 days everyone can indulge in succulent eats and enjoy live entertainment, new shows, pie eating contests, meet the Easter Beagle and PEANUTS gang, make new friends at the new Old MacDonald petting zoo, mingle with the Ghost Town townsfolk, line dance, and join the nighttime dance party. Of course there is all the usual fun too because entrance to the Boysenberry festival is included with park admission. (Additional cost for tastings of food and drink).

There are so many boysenberry inspired food and drinks to choose from throughout Ghost Town that are both sweet and savory. Items include ribs, meatballs, chicken wings, BBQ dishes flavored with Knott’s very own Boysenberry BBQ Sauce, boysenberry cream soda, chocolate covered Boysenberry cheesecake, Boysenberry ICEE Floats, Boysenberry Latte, and the now super famous Fun Bun! The Fun Bun is a crowd favorite with its warm, sweet, gooey deliciousness. If you have not heard of the Fun Bun yet; it is a cinnamon roll, boysenberry and funnel cake rolled into one delicious bun of fun. New this year is the boysenberry pizza, boysenberry ravioli, and boysenberry fry bread! There is so much to enjoy, you will have to come back more than once to enjoy it all! 😉

Now, ready to get a sneak peek of all the Boysenberry goodness of some of my favorite picks? Here you go!

  • Fun Bun – Fried Cinnamon Roll with Boysenberry Cream Cheese Topping (also shown is the Fun Stick)

  • Fun Stick

  • Chocolate Covered Boysenberry Cheesecake on a stick

  • Boysenberry Nutella Crepes

  • Deep Fried Alligator & Fries with Boysenberry Aioli

  • Boysenberry Fry Bread

  • Boysenberry Pizza

  • Marinated Boysenberry Meatball on a Stick with Boysenberry BBQ Sauce

  • Boysenberry & Apricot Pulled Pork  Sandwich in a Boysenberry Bun Combo

  • Boysenberry BBQ Wings

  • Boysenberry Corn Dog

Boysenberry Festival Tasting Card*

One of the best ways to experience the Boysenberry Festival is with a Boysenberry Festival Tasting Card. For only $25, the tasting card includes generous portions of six delectable treats:

  1. Boysenberry Pizza at Wagon Wheel Pizza
  2. Boysenberry Ravioli at Spurs Chophouse
  3. Boysenberry Buffalo Wings at the Gold Trails Hotel
  4. Boysenberry BBQ Meatballs at the Bank of Calico
  5. Boysenberry Fry Bread at the Gourmet Churro Factory
  6. Boysenberry Pana Cotta at the Ghost Town Bakery

The Boysenberry Festival Tasting Card can be purchased online or at the following locations at the park: The California Store, Little Spurs, General Store, Ghost Town Candy, Gold Trails Hotel, Spurs Chophouse, Pemmican Pickle, Calico Saloon, Ghost Town Bakery, Sutter’s Grill, and Ghost Town Mix-it-up.

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Spring-a-Palooza at Great Wolf Lodge

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Spring-a-Palooza at Great Wolf Lodge

By Kyla
Spring-a-Palooza is in full bloom at Great Wolf Lodge and guests are sure to have a howling good time celebrating the return of spring to the resort. Now through April 16 Great Wolf Lodge is rolling out the colorful spring decorations and making the Grand Lobby Spring-a-Palooza Central. There is even a special character-themed garden for the kids to explore!

Spring-a-Palooza not only means the Great Wolf Lodge will be decked out in all things spring, it also means spring themed entertainment options for guests to enjoy. There will be special spring-inspired activities and events taking place daily. They include Spring Picnic, Bubble Dance Party, Spring-a-Palooza Story Time, Spring Scavenger Hunts, Character Themed Flower Gardens, Jelly Bean Guessing Game, and Spring Themed Crafts.

During the Spring Picnic you can grab a blanket, spread it on the floor, and join Violet for an afternoon picnic in the Grand Lobby. Sip on a complimentary glass of lemonade from Violet’s Lemonade Stand and play a round of “Take a Wiley Guess” card game.

Put on your guessing goggles and check out the gigantic jar filled to the tippy top with jelly beans that sits in the Grand Lobby. Make your best guess for the Jelly Bean Guessing Game with how many candies you think fill up that giant jar. The guests with the guesses closest to the correct number (without going over) will be entered to win a $25 Great Wolf Lodge gift card!

The two Spring Scavenger Hunts will require your best detective skills to find all the items so you can claim your prizes! The “I Spy Spring” scavenger hunt will have you searching the entire Grand Lobby to find a dozen hidden objects. Once you’ve conquered that hunt, then the “Spring Sprint” scavenger hunt has ten clues for you to solve that will take you on a journey through the lodge and ends with a sweet prize!

Even the food is celebrating during Spring-a-Palooza! The new spring menu items features fresh and delicious spring vegetables, delicious honey glazed backed salmon, wild mushroom risotto, and stuffed chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and goat cheese. If you thought you were going to get chicken nuggets and french fries, you were sorely mistaken! Executive Chef Hany Ali has so much more planned for your palates and tummies!

Along with the Spring-a-Palooza beginning in March, Great Wolf Lodge Southern California also celebrate its first birthday!!! To commemorate this exciting occasion artist Linda Mihara was commissioned to create the world’s largest origami birthday cake! Standing 9 feet tall and taking more than 2 weeks to create, this work of art is topped with what else – a howling wolf!!!

General Manager Phillip Cunningham shared his gratitude for the Southern California community for making the Great Wolf Lodge’s first year such a success. He treated those in attendance to delicious cupcakes and the beautiful origami birthday cake. An origami cake was chosen because the first anniversary gift is supposed to be paper and what says paper better than a giant paper cake!

 There are so many fun things happening at Great Wolf Lodge during Spring-a-Palooza – you will definitely want to take your family to enjoy all spring fun the resort has waiting for you! It’s only here until April 10th, so grab your swimming suits, pack your bags, and spend your spring break at the Great Wolf Lodge.

Kyla Armstrong is the creator and writer of the Orange County crafty lifestyle blog Funky PolkaDot Giraffe. When she isn’t writing for her site, you can find her busy crafting, baking, juggling three kids, and trying to steal a moment for herself in the pages of a good book. You can keep up with her Southern California adventures on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Beauty and the Beast

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Beauty and the Beast

By Erin

The day that’s been long-awaited is finally here. The classic tale of “Beauty and the Beast” – and its empowering message that true beauty comes from within – dates back to 18th century France and the first published version of the fairy tale, “La Belle et la Bête,” by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. Today the story continues to enthrall storytellers, resulting in countless interpretations across all forms of media. One of Disney’s most treasured titles, this new live-action adaptation version is just as spellbindingly romantic as it is comedic and tells the unforgettable tale of love and friendship that transports readers to a magical fairy tale world where good triumphs over evil.

Enchanting audiences once again, and Emma Watson says it nicely, “Any time I hear music from ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ it connects me with that childlike feeling that everything is going to be okay and that there’s hope in the world, and it just gives me this sense that everything’s fine.”

By now I think most of us have seen the animated version of the film, so you already know what to expect and what will ultimately happen so I want to leave you with some fun facts about this new version and what new things to look out for.

*New songs!* The live-action version of Beauty and the Beast will still have the songs you know and love, but  there are a few new tunes as well. Composer Alan Menken, who worked on the original Beauty and the Beast with the late Howard Ashman, penned three new songs for the movie with composer Tim Rice. So look for these new numbers, “How Does a Moment Last Forever,” “For Evermore,” and “Days in the Sun.” Some of the original lyrics written by Howard Ashman for the songs “Gaston” and “Beauty and the Beast” that were not used in the animated film have been added to the live-action adaptation.

*So many Red Roses!* Approximately 1,500 red roses were grown or purchased during production for use as research or set decoration.

*Horse Doubles?*  Philippe, Belle (Emma Watson) and Maurice’s (Kevin Kline) horse, is played by three different horses, two of which had to be painted on a daily basis.

*The Enchanted Forest* Surrounds the Beast’s castle and features real trees, hedges, a frozen lake and 20,000 icicles, took 15 weeks to complete.

*The Ballroom Floor* Beast’s castle has a ballroom floor made from 12,000 square feet of faux marble and its design is based on a pattern found on the ceiling of the Benedictine Abbey in Braunau, Germany. The 10 glass chandeliers in the ballroom – each measuring 14 feet by 7 feet – are based on actual chandeliers from Versailles which were then frosted, covered in fabric and candlelit.

*Over 8,700 candles (or 104,400 inches of wax) were used as set decoration during production.

*Belle’s Dress*  Approximately 180 feet of feather light satin organza was used to create Belle’s yellow dress. The dress, which required 3,000 feet of thread and took over 12,000 hours to create, was accentuated with 2,160 Swarovski crystals.

*Emma Watson (Belle), Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts), Luke Evans (Gaston) and Nathan Mack (Chip) all share the same birthday, April 14, which was also the date of the cast read through.

*Froufrou, the dog belonging to Madame de Garderobe (Audra McDonald) and Maestro Cadenza (Stanley Tucci), is played by Gizmo, a rescue from one of the U.K.’s oldest and most famous animal rescue centers.

*The coat of arms in the Beast’s castle is a lion and a boar with a WD anagram (the WD is meant to represent a fictional character, William Devereaux, but could also stand for Walt Disney).

Beauty and the Beast is a beautiful movie filled with some catchy tunes both new and old. Audiences of all ages can enjoy this beloved classic. Be sure to go see it now! I know you’ll love it just as much as I do! Follow the magic at #BeautyAndTheBeast and #BeOurGuest.

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