Year: 2012

Dining with a Rat at Epcot’s Les Chefs de France

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Have I ever told you about dining with a rat at Disney World? And can I admit something to everyone? I loved it! Disney Parks are pretty much the only place in the world where everyone expects to see mice, big and small. In fact, we relish in the idea of seeing the Mouse, and all his friends. We even go so far as wanting to hug and take pictures with them.

While dining one fine afternoon at Les Chefs de France, and enjoying some of the world’s finest escargot, we happen to stumble upon an encounter with a particular rat. If you have seen the movie “Ratatouille!,” you might remember the lovable character Remy.

November 2010 Epcot Bon Appétit from Chef Remy

As we dined with our then 1.5 year old son, Bug, a server and his cart approached the table to show off some of his finest fruit and cheeses for sampling. When the lid of the tray was removed, there looking back at us was a RAT! Like typical fashion of being in the land of make believe, we somehow found this type of service totally acceptable, because, well, we were at Disney. Obviously anywhere else in the world, and we might have been heading for the hills.

Remy moved, and made noise, while entertaining each table and showing off the fine assortment of delicacies (hey some people have never tried a grape). After a minute or two, and several photo opportunities, the server carefully placed the lid back on the tray and proceeded to roll the cart to the next server.

One might expect that you teach a child to not want to go near a rat, for fear of the unexpected. However, Bug, proceeded to cry his heart out when the server covered up Remy. It was far from what we expected from our shy and timid little boy when it came to new experiences. Normally it takes him several minutes to warm up to a new situation and enjoy the moment. However, Remy instantly warmed his heart, and won him over.

As long as the server left the lid off the cart, Bug was fine. However, it was difficult to enjoy the rest of our meal as he had his eyes fixated on Remy as he meandered across the room. It was another moment that was unexpected and sits happily in the back of our minds.

Please refrain from sending any “rats” to our house, as we are now back to reality where their presence is unacceptable. 🙂

The Great Family Escape: You Don’t Have to Fly To Earn a Million Frequent Flyer Miles

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Back in early December, I stumbled upon a spectacular family blogging at The Great Family Escape. Justin’s (the dad from The Great Family Escape) journey with his family is tremendously inspirational to me, in that they are selling everything they own and embarking on an incredible journey to travel the world in less than a year from now.

I sometimes have a hard time putting together a bag of stuff for Goodwill. Or sometimes worse, I know the value of things all to well, and try selling everything instead for top dollar. Once my wife came along, my life changed for the better. Mrs. InACents is a thrower away of stuff and donates lots of stuff to charity. Coming from a “hoarder” type of family, it really helped me become unattached from material things. Then when our boys came along, I pretty much completely lost the desire to have much of anything material for my own enjoyment. However, to sell everything I own is a scary proposition. Especially when we just purchased our dream home recently. Maybe that is my problem of being too tied down with material things, and why I really am inspired by the bold steps Justin’s family is taking.

Today my article is being hosted at The Great Family Escape, which highlights some basics and guidance for users looking to get involved in the credit card game. I was honored when Justin contacted me several weeks ago to write a guest post for users interested in traveling the world. Without a doubt, the fastest way to build up your reward accounts, that are then used to travel the world for cheap or FREE, is through credit cards. For some reason when I talk to people about seeing the world for free, and explain the many advantages of opening credit cards for huge bonuses, they either do not get the concepts or are scared. In reality, there is not anything to be nervous about if you manage your credit responsibly. The article really should act as a great resource for people on steps and sites they can use to start earning rewards that can be used to fund your family adventures.

So please head over to The Great Family Escape and hopefully you can learn something new that inspires me. Thanks Justin for allowing us to share in your journey! If you have any questions, please feel free to comment on Justin’s post, or email either of us with any questions. Save Money, Travel More!

Audience Rewards Trivia Update for Free Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Rewards (2-8-12)

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Audience Rewards

Good Morning everyone! I am not a big fan when Audience Rewards (AR) does a double update in the same day, because I like spreading the questions out on different days of the week, but we also can not complain about the great service AR is providing to us. This morning we have another set of the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Audience Rewards questions to earn you free rewards.

Now, without further ado, we proudly present the trivia questions.

  • True or False? Whoopi Goldberg is one of the producers of Sister Act, The Musical. True
  • Who directed The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway? Harold Prince
  • Who directed the current revival of Chicago? Walter Bobbie
  • True or False? Louise Pitre has only been in one Broadway show. True
  • True or False? Godspell has no intermission. False
  • The playwright of Seminar also wrote all but which of the following plays? Chinglish

As a reminder, for all things Audience Rewards, including all the latest free points and miles from the Points Play trivia questions, see my Audience Rewards page.

Save Money, Travel More!