This post is for my special Disney friends. Disney people are special people - generous, sharing, welcoming, and fun. This is where it doesn’t matter where you‘re from - we‘re one Disney family who come together coast to coast - in California or in Florida. And I must give credit to the Passporter boards for introducing me to these special people. I also must credit my Disney friends for naming my Flip Flops and FABs blog - we‘re all about “flip flops and FABs (frozen adult beverages) - necessary to cool you down in that Florida humidity - lol!

Those who know me know that I grew up just eight miles from Disneyland and later made my way to living outside the gates of Walt Disney World (can you tell by my Mickey ears? lol). I worked briefly for WDW in the IT department, wrote for the Orlando Sentinel and published my first novel Real Women Wear Red - 3 things I proudly get to check off my “life list” - if I believed in such a thing - lol!

But what I really want to share here is how Disney inspires my writing.

One of the scenes in my novel Real Women Wear Red was inspired by a woman who ordered a "Pink Monorail" at the Trout Pass Bar at Wilderness Lodge at Disney World.

Working at the Cancer Center in Tampa, she often took weekend getaways to a Disney World resort to relieve some of the stress of her profession. Apparently, this drink used to be featured at the top of the Contemporary Resort at Disney World, but not anymore so she had her own copy of the recipe, which she gave to the bartender - a friendly British chap - so he could make the drink for her.

That experience stuck with me and I had to write that into my book - or something similar since the book is set on a cruise ship. Anyway, I put out a call on Passporter for the drink recipe. And lo and behold, a woman who goes by the name of “Pinkerbell” came up with the recipe. I had to share it here:

From Mickey's Gourmet Cookbook:  

PINK MONORAIL
Top of the World
Disney’s Contemporary Resort

1 1/4 ounces gin

1 1/4 ounces pineapple juice

1 1/4 ounces orange juice

1 ounce grenadine

1/2 ounce lemon bar mix

1 1/2 ounces heavy cream

3/4 cup crushed ice

orange slice

maraschino cherry

Mix gin, fruit juices, grenadine, lemon bar mix, and heavy cream in a blender with ice. Blend for 10 seconds. Pour into a tall glass. Garnish with orange slice and cherry.

I think we should bring back the Pink Monorail and order one whenever we‘re at Walt Disney World. But we might want to have our own copy of the recipe with us just in case the bartender doesn’t have one of his own.

Ah, how I miss those weekend getaways to Disney World myself.

The other Disney-inspired scene is from The Tom Jones Club . If you've read the book, you've met "Mr. Unobtrusive." I kinda mentioned this in my previous post but I wanted to include it here just for my Disney friends. So, here's the scoop:

I met the real Mr. Unobtrusive at the valet desk at the Animal Kingdom Lodge at WDW. While waiting for the valet to bring us our car after having a wonderful dinner at Jiko, a mysterious man scooted past me to pick up his bag and said, “Excuse me, but I try to be unobtrusive.” My head spun around so fast and my imagination was immediately caught up in this mystery. Who was this man and who says something like that? I really wanted to know his story - where was he from, what did he do, what was he doing at WDW - he didn’t seem like the usual guest.

Originally, this scene belonged to Copper - a WDW concierge who claimed she could figure out where a person was from just by looking at him. Copper then made it into The Tom Jones Club as Lucky’s new friend and I gave Mr. Unobtrusive to her and placed them all in Las Vegas. Instead of knowing where a man was from by looking at him, Lucky’s claim was knowing what kind of a man he was by what he drank.

I’ve posted a deleted scene on my web site and flip flops blog from the book where Millie meets Copper at a WDW resort and lures her to Las Vegas. The editor and I decided it was too much backstory at the beginning of the book and there didn’t seem to be the right place for it anywhere else, so it was deleted.  

A huge part of the satisfaction in writing for me is sharing my world with others, sharing with you something you recognize and then maybe introducing you to something that’s new to you. I hope that the next time you‘re at WDW, perhaps at the Trout Pass Bar, you’ll consider ordering a “Pink Monorail” or think about “Mr. Unobtrusive” when you‘re entering what’s now known as Jambo House at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Whatever you do, I hope you all have a fabulous time. And maybe you’ll  think of me, my books, and then smile. Pixie dust all around!

Thanks for reading!