Nancy's Notes From Florida

Fort Wilderness Orlando
September 26, 2014

Fort Wilderness Resort at Disney World

We had visited Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort years ago and then only for the musical dinner show. So we were pleasantly surprised to find the entrance just beyond Golden Oaks on Vista Blvd., less than 15 minutes from our condo. You park at a visitor lot after checking in at the gatehouse (we always say we’re going to eat) by the Outpost registration building. Here you have to catch a bus to take you to the rest of the place. Guests either bring their own RV to the campgrounds or rent a log cabin, fully stocked with modern amenities and kitchen facilities. These sites are interspersed among a vast property filled with tall trees dripping with Spanish moss. It’s a lovely setting, like entering a nature park.

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Our first stop at the Settlement brought us to Trail’s End restaurant where we had lunch a la cart. I wasn’t thrilled with my vegetable flatbread. It seemed to consist mostly of arugula, diced tofu, and balsamic vinegar with other undefined chopped morsels. And it was too spicy for my taste. I’ve had better flatbreads at other places. The burger or a salad might be a better choice here. The cornbread side is a good item. There’s an adjacent tavern that presumably only opens at night. Other meals at Trail’s End are a buffet breakfast and buffet dinner, and reservations are recommended. The rustic atmosphere is fun and so is the overly cheerful waiter who greets you with a “Howdy.”

Trails End

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Located in this district also is the musical revue and a nighttime barbecue, both in separate locations. The revue is indoors while the BBQ has outdoor seating under a roof. Further along is a broad lake with a beach that has lounge chairs, fishing, boating, and playgrounds. It’s like being at a park.

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We took the bus next to Meadows Trading Post, a combo souvenir shop and grocery. Beyond is a big pool with water slide and nearby kids’ playground and tennis courts. We wandered around here looking for walking trails and got plenty of exercise strolling down the shady campground lanes.

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With all the activities, including carriage rides, horses, and a petting zoo, this would be a great place to stay with children. The only downside is the limited dining. You’d have to eat out at the other theme parks before returning to the campsite each night because you might not want the buffet more than once. Otherwise, this park is peaceful and rustic and a lovely place to enjoy the tranquility of nature.

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We would definitely return here for the scenic views and numerous walking paths.

 


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Epcot Food Festival, Day 2
September 25, 2014

Epcot Food Festival, Day 2

Today was overcast and hot so I couldn’t eat much in the heat. Only made it to two places again but the portions were generous and I wasn’t hungry after the hearty dish at France. We started off to the right past Puerto Rico. Next time, we’ll have to go in the other direction as Patagonia is new and a couple of things there sound good.

Puerto Rico
Braised beef with rice in vegetable sauce was very tasty and worth the wait in line.

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France
Wheat pasta gratin with mushrooms and Gruyere cheese very creamy and delicious. Also rather filling.

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Belgium
Our kids always like the Belgium waffle with strawberries and whipped cream.

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Eddie V’s
Another night on the Magical Dining menu found us ordering Lobster and Shrimp Bisque at Eddie V’s on Restaurant Row. It had chunks of lobster, fishy/salty taste, but I am more used to New England clam chowder.

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Excellent Scottish salmon with a few vegetable garnishes. We ordered a side dish of truffle mac and cheese, very tasty with crispy topping. Beef filet medallions very tender.

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Dessert choices: dark chocolate mousse with whipped cream and fresh berries, Crème Brulé and Bananas Foster cake with butter pecan ice cream. Elegant, modern upbeat interior and excellent service. I would return here.

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What are your favorite restaurants at Magical Dining Month? If you live elsewhere, does your community have something similar with fixed price meals?

Coming Next: Disney’s Fort Wilderness

 


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Epcot Food Festival Part One
September 24, 2014

Our first day at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, it was hot and stifling out with little breeze. A cloud cover helped shade us from the sun, and for that much we were grateful. But it was still a chore to trudge all the way around World Showcase. It wasn’t too busy yet being a Friday so we didn’t have to wait in any lines for long.

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We stopped by the Festival Marketplace to see the wares for sale. This building is next to Universe of Energy. A cooking demo was going on at the time. The Festival pavilion also hosts wine tastings and other events. There’s a section with chocolate sculptures hosted by Ghirardelli.

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Starting at the Canadian end on day one, I sampled the smoked salmon with sour cream and chives and potato pancakes from Scotland while my husband had the vegetarian haggis. My dish was oh so yummy that I’d gladly get it again.

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Next stop was France and their braised beef short ribs in cabernet sauce with mashed potatoes, a goodly portion and very tasty.

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Since we’d eaten breakfast earlier at My French Café in Windermere, we got full easily. The food combined with the heat made us lose our appetites. We ducked into the Mexican pavilion and went on the ride to cool off. If you’re not familiar with this site, go inside Mexico and head all the way toward the back to your left. The ride entrance is there. It’s a leisurely boat ride like It’s A Small World with colorful Mexicans figures singing and dancing. Too tired to continue, plus it was raining by now, we headed back to our condo to relax.

Coming Next: Day Two at the Food and Wine Festival

What are some of the favorite foods you’ve tasted at the Food and Wine Festival?

 


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Dining in Orlando
September 23, 2014

Our drive via the Florida turnpike north to Orlando this past weekend encountered an unexpected hazard. Lovebugs flew at us from all directions. They splatted onto our windshield and car grill and beset upon us when we stopped for gas. We’d never seen them so thick and omnipresent. In case you’re unfamiliar with this plague of beasts, these tiny mating critters leave a sticky residue that’s difficult to scrub away. When we know it is lovebug season, we’ll spray the car grill with Pam before hitting the highway. We didn’t expect them on this trip and got assaulted.

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For our first night, we headed over to Bahama Breeze for drinks and appetizers to serve as a meal. We had coconut shrimp, chicken quesadillas and grilled salmon salad. A live musician sang Caribbean songs to steel drum music. Sitting outside, we enjoyed the tropical ambiance and the food.

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Our meal the next evening at Ocean Prime took advantage of Orlando’s Magical Dining Month. Held every September, this event heralds fixed price meals at various fancy restaurants where normally an entrée would cost at least the amount of the special pricing. After shopping at Mall at Millenia and Nordstrom Rack earlier in the day, we were ready to relax.

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The atmosphere at this restaurant on “Restaurant Row” at Orlando’s West Sand Lake Drive is modern and pleasant. The bar area is especially decorative and lively. But the hostess tried to seat us in a side section with no other patrons and not as nice a view. After I insisted we be seated in the main dining room, we got a decent table. Service was excellent. The waiter brought warm sourdough bread with butter while we perused the special menu. I had the house salad while the others in our party had the French onion soup. Both portions were quite large, and I was nearly full by the time our entrees arrived. My filet mignon was tender but had a bit of fat. A small amount of mashed potatoes and thin green beans were the accompaniments. We all had carrot cake for dessert and were so full that we took home a portion. This layered cake was too sweet and not as good as others. Overall impression? Lovely atmosphere but too high priced and not as good as The Capital Grille to warrant a return visit.

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Coming Next: Epcot Food & Wine Festival


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Blogging Made Perfect
September 12, 2014

So you want to write a blog. Or you already have a blog but want to increase your subscribers. What now? Here are tips on getting started and attracting followers.

Define Your Purpose.

Do you wish to share news about your work? Be recognized as an expert in your field? Build a community? Engage with readers? Have other writers look to you for advice? Share information relevant to a special interest?

Determine Your Goals.

Do you mean to increase book sales? Have a substantial number of followers? Get a number of comments on each blog? Have folks reblog your posts? Receive requests for guest posts?

Set Parameters.

How often do you intend to post? What days of the week are best? What time during the day will more people likely read your post? How long should each post be?

Brainstorm Topics.

When you’re writing a book, jot down blog topics related to your theme, research, and writing process. These will be useful either to show your story in progress or to provide fodder for blog tours when your new release comes out. Meanwhile, determine what readers want to know and address these topics. What information can you share with others that might be useful? How can your content add value to people’s lives? In what way can your personal anecdotes inspire others? Some authors set certain days for specific blog topics. For example, one day they might post recipes. Another day they might bring in a guest blogger. Excerpts, book reviews, or trivia related to a particular hobby or personal interest might fill in other slots. Or you might wing it, writing posts as they come to you. Just keep in mind the image or brand you wish to project.

Acquire a Site.

When you’re ready to start, register at WordPress.com or Blogger.com for a free site. Or add a blog to your website. Become familiar with the features and start posting.

Link Blog to Your Social Media Sites.

Not only should visitors be able to tweet and share your particular article around the Web, but your posts should be automatically tweeted and sent to your Facebook pages. Check your Settings for how to enable these features or ask your Web designer to add the proper Plug-In. Get Share Buttons at http://www.sharethis.com or http://www.addtoany.com Add your blog to Networked Blogs, http://www.networkedblogs.com. Some authors use Triberr to raise their visitors: http://triberr.com/landing/bloggers.

What Pages Should Your Blog Site Contain?

Keep in mind that visitors to your blog, if separate from your website, might not visit you elsewhere. So consider what tabs you’ll want to have. Here are some suggestions: Home; About (Bio); Appearances; Book Trailers; Books List; Contact (your email); Contests. In one sidebar, you can show your book covers. In lieu of this, you can use a rotating carousel or slide show from Amazon. Sidebars can also contain a Blog Roll, Search box, Subscribe button, Social Networking Icons, Live Twitter feed, and RSS feed button.

Include Photos in your posts.

Photos will draw more hits, but be careful of copyright issues. Upload your own photos. Buy photos at royalty-free sites or at least make sure you provide attribution. Many writers skirt this issue, but you do so at your own risk.

Tag your Posts.

Use tags and categories with keywords to drive traffic to your site. Tags are for individual posts while categories classify your topics.

Avoid Messy Code Issues.

Write your blog in Word or another word processing program to keep your files on your hard drive. Then copy and paste each blog to Notepad or Windows Live Writer. These eliminate messy code issues. Download Windows Essentials for free from Microsoft. This includes Windows Movie Maker (for DIY book trailers), Photo Gallery and Live Writer. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/essentials

Offer a Blog Roll.

Ask other authors for a cross-exchange of links. More links leads to more traffic.

How to Gain Followers

*Post often. Some people set themes, like “Recipe Monday” or “Guest Blogger Wednesday” or “Photo Friday.” Be consistent in your approach. If you prefer to blog randomly, still do so two or three times a week. Keep your material current.
*Have a clear and catchy headline.
*End your post with a question to stimulate discussion.
*Don’t use your blog solely to promote your books. You’re building a community of readers who want to get to know you, or else you are establishing yourself as an expert by offering useful material. Share new release info, reviews, contests and such sparingly.
*Comment on other people’s blogs.
*Invite guests who have a following.
*Always respond to comments and respect others’ opinions.
*Offer giveaways to commenters.
*Evaluate results. If you get a lot of comments on certain types of posts, steer your blog in that direction. Be responsive to readers. Note what engenders interest and what does not.
*Be careful what you put out there. This is a public post. Avoid politics, religion, and any mention of personal business or issues you don’t want to share.
*Always be respectful of other industry professionals.
*Link to other authors and favorite pages as appropriate to help spread the word about their sites.

Index Your Blog

When your blog is a few years old, you might want to reblog an article. Keeping records of the topics, categories, and dates will help you retrieve these files. I suggest you write your blog in Word and save the posts by month and year. It’s imperative to keep your own blogs on your computer so you don’t lose them if there’s an online snafu. Then keep a separate file that’s an index so you can quickly search topics.

Blog Hops

Blog Hops pool you with other authors. Study your listserves for these opportunities or get one going with your author friends yourself. What is it? Each author posts a blog about an agreed upon topic with links to all the other bloggers on a particular day. Offering a prize for commenters will bring people to your sites, and hopefully you’ll gain new readers from among these other authors’ fans. Participating in a blog hop will broaden your exposure.

Blog Tours

If you wish to do a blog tour, determine if you want to do guest posts, author interviews, or have the site offer a review or book blast. Then solicit hosts by asking other authors if you can guest on their site. Make sure you study their slant and offer an appropriate topic. Write your guest posts and assign each one to a host. To attract readers, offer a grand prize drawing from all commenters, a prize on each site or a Rafflecopter contest. Publish your tour schedule on your website and broadcast it on your social networks. Be sure to show up the day of the posting to answer comments. OR hire a virtual tour company if you don’t wish to DIY: Goddish Fish Promotions http://www.goddessfish.com, Great Escapes http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/great-escapes-virtual-book-tours/ (Free Cozy Mystery Tours), Bewitching Book Tours (Paranormal Romance), http://bewitchingbooktours.blogspot.com/, Buy the Book Tours http://www.buythebooktours.com/#axzz2OqJtoGjs , Partners in Crime http://www.partnersincrimetours.net/

What other tips would you add?

 


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