Tag: geek

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Where to eat in the Anaheim Resort District?

Disneyland may be its own world, but it’s at the center of the Anaheim Resort District, a swirling galaxy of hotels, restaurants, and shops. Which means that, even outside of the Park’s hedge-ringed atmosphere, there are a multitude of places to get something to eat.

Whether you’re attending an event at the Anaheim Convention Center (like Star Wars Celebration this weekend) or finishing up a day at the theme parks, I’ve gathered some suggestions to help you navigate nearby options and locate local flavor.

1. Downtown Disney and Disney Hotels

(or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Mouse)

While I’m always on the lookout for quirky independent eateries, there’s nothing wrong with embracing la vita Disney when you’re in Mickey’s backyard. Here are some noteworthy Disney Resort restaurants with no Park admission required.

In Disney Hotels:

In Downtown Disney:

  • House of Blues – Last time I was in Anaheim, we headed over here after a day of Disneyland with a bunch of relatives. It has an entire 2-level music hall inside. More pertinent to that particular moment, however, they serve alcohol.
  • Earl of Sandwich – Sarah’s pick for a quick bite.
  • Catal Restaurant – frequently recommended as one of the best restaurants in Downtown Disney.

Find character dining, menus, accessibility, hours, etc. on Disneyland Resort’s site.

2. Non-Disney Hotel Restaurants

The whole area is practically solid hotels and most (if not all) of them have a restaurant. Or two. Or their own food court.

  • Pizza Press at Carousel Inn & Suites – Paul Barrie of the Window to the Magic podcast recommended this place, which has a build-your-own-pizza concept that sounds similar to Fired Pie here in Phoenix.
  • Chambers Bar & Bistro at Hotel Indigo Anaheim features a “casual gourmet menu” with sandwiches, local produce, and seasonal desserts. (Full disclosure: Hotel Indigo will be putting us up but didn’t ask for this mention. The menu looks good, though, right?)
  • Anaheim Marriott on southwest side of Convention Center has a bar/restaurant called nFuse, a Starbucks, and a Pizza Hut.
  • Hilton Anaheim on west side of Convention Center:
    • Just Grillin’ Express – Burgers, salads, and fries (spicy or not) made from ingredients delivered daily. The main (and I believe only other) location is about 30 miles north in Alhambra.
    • Submarina – a Southern California based sub sandwich chain
    • Baja Fresh Express
    • Sbarro

3. Food trucks

During Star Wars Celebration, at least 15 chef-owned food trucks local to Southern California will be on the Convention Center’s Grand Plaza. They’ll be open until 9pm Thursday through Saturday and until 5:30p on Sunday. Here’s a sampling:

4. Anaheim Convention Center

While concessions are run by food service giant Aramark, the Convention Center takes its sourcing so seriously that it purchased its own herd of free-range, grass-fed cattle raised through Hearst Ranch and Jack Ranch. The result is local, hormone-free, antibiotic-free beef, certified by the Humane Farm Animal Care and Food Alliance.

Food and beverage may vary by event, but here’s what will be on offer during Star Wars Celebration (admission required):

Hearst Ranch Grill – All-beef hamburgers from the Convention Center’s herd (see above), salmon burgers, veggie burgers, and chicken burgers.

Lobby – ecoGrounds / Java City featuring Rain Forest Allianced Certified, USDA Organic, Fair Trade coffee and espresso drinks, along with all-natural fruit smoothies.

Hall A Food Court

  • In-house sausages and gourmet hot dogs
  • Fresh-baked pizzas and stromboli
  • Hearst Ranch prime rib sandwiches
  • Made-to-order sandwiches
  • “Grab-n-Go” stand: salads, sandwiches, fruit cups, yogurt parfaits, whole fruit, beverages, wraps, pastries, hot pretzels, churros, chips

Hall B

  • Moe’s Southwest Grill – burritos and taco salads.
  • Hearst Ranch Grill
  • “Grab-n-Go” stand – salads, sandwiches, fruit cups, yogurt parfaits, whole fruit, beverages, wraps, pastries, hot pretzels, churros, chips.

Exhibit Hall Courtyards

  • Gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches
  • Street taco stand – beef, chicken and pork tacos and burritos
  • Hearst Ranch barbecue stand

Portable stands throughout Halls

  • Soft serve ice cream stands
  • Urban Wok with flavorful rice bowls
  • Candy store – house-made giant cookies, chocolate, caramel-dipped apples and other sweet treats
  • Bars with local craft beers on tap

– More info –

Where do you like to eat in Anaheim?

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Star Wars Geeks Unite!

driving

Yes, we are really going to the Star Wars Celebration convention.

It’s held every 2-3 years-ish (bi-triennial? quasi-triennial?) This time it’s at the Anaheim Convention Center, so we’ll be right across from Disneyland without time to actually go to Disneyland. Maybe we’ll catch the fireworks.

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I will, of course, be focusing on the makers. And there are a lot of them. (At the Re:Make Conference, Chris Taylor said that most of the Star Wars fan community makes something.)

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Anyway, we may sneak in a tiny bit of sightseeing on the way there or back. Either way, I’m sure we’ll have interesting stories to tell you.

 

Microblog Mondays

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Phillip’s Guide to Phoenix Comicon

Cactus Brick LEGO at PHXCC

I decided to try something new last summer: attend the annual Phoenix Comicon (PHXCC). I would like to invite you to experience it briefly with me today.

You may think, “I don’t like comic books or super heroes or science fiction, what’s in it for me?”

If there’s a theme to the Phoenix Comicon, it is that “everyone’s a geek, celebrate it!”

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What is PHXCC?

Phoenix Comicon started in 2002 with several hundred attendees as a way for comic book fans to gather in the Phoenix area to meet artists, buy and sell comic books, and have an excuse to dress up as their favorite comic book characters. Makes sense – “comicon” is short for comic convention!

But comic conventions have evolved beyond a focus on comic books to all things pop culture: science fiction, fantasy, horror, video games, board games, card games, anime, toys, filmmaking, etc. Even NASA has been coming for years to showcase their work and allow the public to interact with their newest projects.

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From its humble beginning of 400 attendees at a Best Western in Ahwatukee, it has exploded into one of the largest conventions in the country – last year’s attendance topped 77,000!

The event is held during Memorial Day weekend in May at the Phoenix Convention Center.

They have 4 days’ worth of programming that includes panels and events. Don’t think of this as a serious trade convention but rather a celebration!

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What to do?

Panels

Panels vary widely in topics and format. Here’s a sampling of some of the panels from last year:

  • Spirituality in Comics – comic artists discuss spirituality and religious imagery in comics.
  • Meet a Scientist – scientists from a variety of fields answer audience questions.
  • Justice League Arizona – hear how a team of adults from all walks of life construct their own costumes of Batman, Superman, the Flash, etc. and dress up as their characters at charitable events. Did you know that if you have Batman or Wonder Woman ask a group to donate to your charity, people get way more excited to give?!

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There are special panels (spotlights) with celebrity guests in the larger convention rooms that include a Q&A. Last year, some of the actors you could see were Cary Elwes (Wesley from the Princess Bride), Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver!), and Nathan Fillion (from Castle and Firefly).

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My favorite panel was the Phoenix Ultimate Geek Smackdown (PUGS). In the format of a game show, volunteer contestants get to debate such important topics as “Who was the most helpful Redheaded Doctor: Dr. Beverly Crusher from Star Trek or Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama?”

It is the audience who gets to judge the winner of each debate until the ultimate geek is crowned!

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Exhibition Hall

When you’re between panels, most people spend time in the exhibition hall which takes up the exhibition floor of the Phoenix Convention Center. This space is the size of several football fields and it’s a place where you can go to buy pop culture inspired artwork, meet artists, buy unique gifts and see displays, like an entire city built out of LEGO, including replicas of buildings in the Phoenix area brought in by local LEGO building club Cactus Brick.

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You could also spend time in a Star Wars village to meet R2-D2, Chewbacca, or share a drink with aliens at the Mos Eisley cantina.

You could easily spend hours perusing the tables here, but try to get out – there are more things to see!

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Parties/misc.

There are also many other activities:

  • If zombies are your thing, you can dress up like a zombie and do the zombie walk through downtown Phoenix.
  • Don’t forget the parties: there’s the Geek Prom, the Peter Pan Pirate Pool Party, and all kinds of other after-hours activities.
  • There are also film festivals, roller derby competitions, and car displays outside (including the A-team van, Back to the Future DeLorean, Ghostbusters’ car).

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What to expect

While there are many programmed activities, there’s much to expect that is not on the program.

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1. First and foremost, expect to get overwhelmed! There are lots of events and activities going on at any one time!

My word of advice here is to go online and view the events of the weekend or pick up the PHXCC programming guide as soon as you can. Thumbing through this can help you make sense of everything.

star-wars-cosplay

2. Next, there will be lots of people in costume! People spend many hours putting together costumes for this event. Some you’ll recognize: Star Wars characters, the Terminator, comic book characters, etc. Some you won’t: I later learned one of my coworkers went to PHXCC dressed as a character from an anime show I had never heard of.

It is in the costumes where passion is most obvious.

You’ll see some pretty awesome costumes, and people love being recognized for their work. Just remember, if you’re going to take a picture of someone in costume, make sure and ask for permission.

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3. Lastly you can expect to encounter people with passions for a wide variety of things – including some you didn’t even know existed!

A Place for All People of Passion

For me, going to PHXCC taught me about celebrating life and embracing who you are as a geek, a person with passions. I think I learned this best from a couple of kids.

We ran into a spunky 7-year-old girl equipped with a pink Disney princess backpack, a red lightsaber, and a big smile. Her wheelchair was outfitted to looked like an Imperial TIE fighter from the Star Wars movies! Her friend had a wheelchair made to look like the Millennium Falcon.

Everybody loved it, and the kids loved being the center of so much positive attention. For the three days of Phoenix Comicon, these kids weren’t simply scooting through life in a wheelchair, but flying through the stars.

milennium-falcon-tie-fighter

So whether you’re young or old, wheelchair bound or not, a Star Wars fan or a Star Trek fan, at PHXCC, you can celebrate that we’re all people of passion!

We are what we love; we’re all geeks!

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– More info –

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Thank you to Phoenix Comicon for providing media passes! 

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