A Frozen land was pitched in 2021 as a possible project for a proposed theme park expansion in the DisneylandForward plan presented to the city of Anaheim.

Arendelle village will serve as the centerpiece of the World of Frozen themed land opening Monday, Nov. 20 at Hong Kong Disneyland.

The backstory for the new World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland brings to life the Kingdom of Arendelle for a “summer snow day” celebration in a themed land featuring two rides, a show, a restaurant and two shops amid Nordic-inspired architecture.

The Frozen Ever After water ride at Hong Kong Disneyland updates a similar attraction that opened in 2016 at Epcot in Florida.

Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs becomes the latest peak to join the man-made mountains made by Walt Disney Imagineering at theme parks around the world. The sleigh-themed kiddie coaster features a dark ride-style show section along a 1,000-foot-long steel track that wraps around and through the Arendelle mountain.

The “Playhouse in the Woods” interactive theater experience features video projections, audio-animatronics and Arendelle citizens celebrating “summer snow day” with Elsa and Anna.

The new World of Frozen themed land at Hong Kong Disneyland also includes the Golden Crocus Inn restaurant serving Nordic-inspired meals, the Northern Delights sweets shop offering chocolates, ice cream and baked goods and the Tick Tock Toys and Collectibles gift shop at the exit of the water ride.

The DisneylandForward proposal seeks to update a 1990s Anaheim city plan to allow for a mix of theme park, hotel, retail, dining and entertainment on the eastern and western edges of the Disneyland resort.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland tightens pin trading rules to rein in ‘pin-sanity’

The long-term planning proposal dangled six possible projects based on “Frozen,” “Tangled,” “Peter Pan,” “Zootopia,” “Toy Story” and “Tron” as the types of lands and attractions Anaheim is missing out on under current city planning and zoning guidelines.

In addition to Hong Kong’s Arendelle village, Frozen themed lands are nearing completion at Disney theme parks in Japan and France.

The Frozen Kingdom will be part of Fantasy Springs, the newest port set to debut at Tokyo DisneySea in June 2024. The Tokyo Disneyland expansion will feature the Frozen boat ride along with an Arendelle castle restaurant and village shops.

The new lands and attractions coming to Tokyo DisneySea “could be the perfect inspiration for the future of Disneyland Park,” according to the DisneylandForward website.

The Kingdom of Arendelle — a third Frozen land — is under construction in Walt Disney Studios Park at the Disneyland Paris resort in France.

Florida’s Epcot theme park at the Walt Disney World resort is already home to the world’s first Frozen Ever After water ride and a meet-and-greet location where visitors can snap photos with Elsa and Anna in the Norway pavilion of World Showcase.

That will eventually leave only two Disney theme park resorts worldwide — in Anaheim and Shanghai, China — without a Frozen-themed land or area.

Shanghai Disneyland has a Frozen sing-along show — much like the film that once played in the Sunset Showcase Theater at Disney California Adventure that now screens “Mickey’s PhilharMagic.”

The Broadway-caliber “Frozen Live” show at the Hyperion Theater in Disney California Adventure closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t return with the reopening of the park.

Disney has announced that a “Frozen 3” sequel is in development.

A Taylor Swift themed cruise is setting sail in 2024. The fan sponsored event organized by Marvelous Mouse Travels will take Swifties on a Royal Caribbean cruise sailing from the port of Miami to Nassau, Bahamas. According to a post by event organizers in the Facebook group for the Taylor Swift themed cruise, because of limited capacity they are operating on a waitlist model, showcasing the impact a Swift theme can have on businesses.

This experience is a chance for Swifties to make the friendship bracelets yet again, connect with other fans and make memories to hold onto.

Related: ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ is one of the greatest concert films of all time

Here’s what you need to know:

When is it?

The 5 day/4 night cruise departs on Oct. 21, 2024 from Miami, Florida and returns on Oct. 25.

How much is it?

Originally, prices were advertised from $1,573-$1,967 depending on your room for the 4 night stay onboard the Allure of the Seas. However, Jessica Malerman, one of the event organizers, shared in the Facebook group that this price has changed because they got additional rooms from Royal Caribbean to accommodate the demand and that the new rates are slightly higher. There are three room options available; Interior, Boardwalk Balcony and Oceanview Balcony.

What’s included?

For meals, dinner is included in the main dining room, as well as some buffet and a la carte options on board. Entertainment such as stage shows, game shows and karaoke.

For an additional fee, there are premium add-ons guests can choose from including speciality dining, beverage packages, and excursions.

What is the itinerary for Swifties?

As far as travel goes, after departing the Port of Miami on day one, the second day will be spent at Coco Cay which is Royal Caribbean’s private island. Day three is spent in Nassau, Bahamas. The fourth day is at sea before returning to the Port of Miami on day five.

Who is organizing it?

Marvelous Mouse Travels is organizing the “In My Cruise Era” event. The group began in 2014 and this year became a Disney Diamond Earmarked Agency. Additionally, it is a Preferred Universal Agency, Presidents Club at Travel Leaders Network, Mark Travel 500 Club, and a Preferred Sandals Agency. It is not endorsed or affiliated with TASRM or Taylor Swift.

The Taylor Swift Fan Cruise is being led by three travel agents, Jessica Malerman, Nicole Rivera and Shelby Reyes, who are also Taylor Swift fans.

Because of capacity restrictions, only those who book with Marvelous Mouse Travels are guaranteed to participate in the Eras-themed events the group is organizing.

Will Taylor Swift be there?

Taylor Swift is not affiliated with the cruise so it is unlikely that she will attend. However, if you want a chance to see her before the cruise sets sail, you could visit Miami a few days before. Swift is performing for three nights at the Hard Rock Stadium from Oct. 18-20.

Legoland California will open the new Dino Valley themed land in the spring and the Lego World parade in the summer, according to Legoland officials.

The new Dino Valley themed land where the past roars to life in Lego form will feature two new rides alongside the park’s 2004 Coastersauraus roller coaster that zips around Lego versions of a Brachiosaurus and Parasaurolophus.

Located near the park entrance, Dino Valley will include the Explorer River Quest and the Duplo Little Dino Trail rides, a dino-themed Lego brick build-and-play area, a reimagined Dino Dig fossil-finding sandbox and meet-and-greet opportunities with new prehistoric characters.

The boat ride will sail past Lego dinosaurs, including a T-Rex. Kids can use cameras to “capture” Lego dinos in a game of hide and seek on the Duplo safari ride.

The Lego World parade will make its North American debut at Legoland California. The world’s first Legoland parade was presented at Legoland Deutschland in Germany.

The Legoland California parade will include floats themed to Ninjago, Duplo, Lego City and Lego Friends along with dancers in colorful costumes.

The new parade weaving along the west side of the park will serve as the kiss goodnight finale to the day.

San Francisco International Airport was ranked No. 6 among large airports, the survey compiled and released by the Wall Street Journal determined.

“If you want to get where you’re going, there’s never been a better place to start, or end your journey than San Jose International Airport,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said in comments emailed to this news organization.

Here are the top 10 mid-sized airports in the nation, according to the Wall Street Journal’s research:

— 1. San Jose

— 2. San Antonio, Texas

— 3. Sacramento

— 4. Indianapolis

— 5. Houston

— 6. Portland, Oregon

— 7. Santa Ana (Orange County)

— 8. Oakland

— 9. Kahului, Maui, Hawaii

— 10. Tampa, Florida

“The 2023 U.S. Airport Rankings rate the 50 busiest airports in the country based on measures of reliability, value and convenience,” the Wall Street Journal stated. “Each airport is evaluated on 30 factors that span the trip, from buying a ticket to arriving at a final destination.”

Oakland Airport officials said they were proud to receive the high rating for mid-sized airports in the Wall Street Journal survey.

“We know that our passengers appreciate the convenience that comes with flying the East Bay Way,” said Craig Simon, the Port of Oaland’s interim aviation director. “Our team is dedicated to continuously evaluating and improving passenger experience at our facilities.”

The mayor of San Jose believes the airport rankings provide fresh evidence for what some city leaders believe is an upswing for the Bay Area’s largest city.

“San Jose has a lot of things to brag about,” Mahan said. “We are the safest city in the Bay Area, the most innovative place in the world, and have some of the best weather on the planet. And those who have visited us for one of those reasons know that we also have the most reliable, convenient airport in the nation.”

If last year’s winter holiday travel season felt costly or chaotic, this year’s might seem even more so.

That’s because half of Americans (50%) plan to spend money on flights or hotel stays this holiday season, according to a new NerdWallet survey conducted online by The Harris Poll. The survey was based on responses from 2,057 adults collected Sept. 5-7, 2023.

That 50% figure is higher than last year when 44% of Americans said they’d planned to spend money on travel.

When will crowds be the biggest? Probably the Sunday after Thanksgiving. That was the busiest travel day in 2019, 2021 and 2022, according to a NerdWallet analysis of Transportation Security Administration data showing the number of passengers screened at TSA checkpoints over the past four years. Travelers can expect 2023’s winter holiday travel season to follow suit.

The busiest travel days this holiday season

While half of Americans will travel for at least one of the winter holidays (and some will travel for more than one), some holidays prompt more activity than others.

According to NerdWallet’s survey, which defines “travel” as staying away from home for at least one night, regardless of whether it includes flights or hotel stays as opposed to driving or staying overnight with family or friends:

• 40% of Americans plan to travel for the December holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa).
• 29% plan to travel for Thanksgiving.
• 19% plan to travel for New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

If more Americans say they intend to travel for the December holidays compared with Thanksgiving, why does the latter tend to set the travel records? It largely comes down to timing.

Thanksgiving takes place on the fourth Thursday in November every year. Travelers tend to have the same itinerary, departing the Wednesday before the holiday and returning the Sunday after, creating the two busiest days to fly around Thanksgiving.

With Christmas, trend lines are more opaque because the holiday is on a different day of the week every year. Christmas in 2023 falls on a Monday. So, while Tuesdays and Wednesdays tend to be the best days to fly (meaning lower costs and smaller crowds), this year Tuesday, Dec. 26, might be unusually busy.

In fact, Dec. 26 may be the most expensive day to return in the week after Christmas this year, according to the 2023 Holiday Travel Outlook from the travel booking site Hopper. As far as busy travel days ahead of the holiday, expect the preceding Friday (Dec. 22 this year) to be among the worst days to fly ahead of Christmas.

What about people who aren’t traveling?

While about 50% of Americans plan to spend money on flights or hotel stays this holiday season, 39% say they don’t plan to spend money on holiday travel and 11% are undecided, according to NerdWallet’s survey.

For some, the decision not to travel is pretty straightforward. For example, 39% of those not traveling say it’s because their friends and family are local, and 10% are hosting others for the holidays.

Of those not spending money on flights or hotel stays this holiday season, 24% say it’s because they can’t afford it.

Planning to travel at the same time as everyone else

Traveling on peak days alongside everyone else brings more challenges than just longer airport security lines or the increased likelihood of sitting in the middle seat.

With that in mind, budget more time to get to your destination. Boarding may take longer, and airport lounges might be busier, if not full. If the airline cancels your flight, expect to compete with more people to get on the next available flight.

Seek ways to bypass the lines. For example, holding TSA PreCheck can help get you in expedited security lines (and you might even be able to get TSA PreCheck for free). Earning airline elite status can mean access to VIP lanes for things like checking baggage, while hotel elite status might get you into expedited check-in lanes.

And if that all sounds like too much, consider opting out of holiday travel entirely. Those 39% of people who don’t plan to spend money on flights and hotel stays this holiday season might be onto something.

Erin El Issa contributed to this report.

The article Get Ready for an Even Busier Holiday Travel Season in 2023 originally appeared on NerdWallet.

These were all once nicknames for Petaluma, a charming little city in the agricultural bosom of Sonoma County. By the early 1900s, a booming poultry industry, driven by a locally designed egg incubator, saw the area producing 120 million eggs a year. There were Egg Day parades led by Egg Queens, the world’s only poultry pharmacy and more money on deposit in the banks, per capita, than any other place on earth.

But how chickeny is Petaluma… now?

To find out, my partner and I drive into the countryside under a misty sun that looks like a big egg yolk. We carry the determination of Cool Hand Luke to eat 50 eggs or explode trying. Entering Petaluma, evidence of its feathered past peeks out from every corner. Chickens are painted on fading shop walls, metal roosters stand outside a restaurant, and the fairground harbors a huge sculpture of a white hen. That last one requires occasional repairs, because the local children like to ride it like a horsey.

For breakfast, we stop at Stellina Pronto, an Italian bakery downtown that makes a stellar egg frittata. The owners used to run Osteria Stellina in Point Reyes; when that closed during the pandemic, they opened this casual place which serves pastries, sandwiches and third-wave coffee accompanied by Straus dairy. The counter is piled so high with fresh-baked treats, we have a brain fizzle – do we want a breakfast puff with Point Reyes Toma cheese … or tomato focaccia … or a hazelnut brutti ma buoni (a Piedmontese meringue whose name means “ugly but good”)?

Eggs. Eggs. Eggs. Get here before 11 a.m., if you want the best chance of snagging Stellina’s fluffy frittatas, which come with local Caggiano Italian sausage and Hobbs ham or fresh veggies with herbs and cheese. They’re slow-cooked in a cast-iron skillet with organic eggs from Coastal Hill Farm, a co-op west of town that gets Instagram raves like: “Your eggs r the best we have ever had in our lifetime! The color looks like yellow velvet and the taste is insane!”

Our thirst for albumen now lit, we head out in search of the real, raw deal. The countryside around Petaluma is peppered with farm stands that sell fresh eggs by the dozen. They’re usually more expensive than at grocery stores, but you’ll taste the difference in quality when whipping up something delicious at home.

We pull up at Hicks Mountain Hens, an unmanned stand that sells fresh eggs ($10 per dozen) and raw honey and that has a coin-operated machine for chicken feed. When we approach the machine, what previously was an empty nearby field becomes a sea of chickens – thousands of beaks and beady eyes and flapping wings pressing against the wire fence. A tourist family delights in the frenzy, with the little girl tossing feed into the hive-mass of poultry.

Up the road is Tenfold Farmstand, tucked in a historic two-room schoolhouse that dates back to 1895. Barn shelves are stocked with chard and eggplants and mini Juliet tomatoes, as well as organic vegetable starts for your garden. Inside are intricate floral arrangements, baskets of the season’s last strawberries – dark-red and deeply fragrant – and the treasure we seek: fresh eggs from Tara Firma Farms, with yolks like liquid gold ($15 a dozen).

Tenfold is something of a community hub. On Friday mornings, it has live farm music and Blooms End, a traveling bakery pop-up with a cult following. And the events lineup includes vintage-clothing sales, holiday fairs, kids’ book swaps and classes on making kokedama – Japanese-style balls of moss for growing ornamental plants.

While we now have eggs – which will later be transformed into sponge cake and fresh pasta – what we don’t have are answers. How did Petaluma get to be such a poultry town? We head to the free Petaluma Historical Library and Museum located downtown in a gorgeous Andrew Carnegie library, which has a permanent exhibit about the local chicken industry on its upper mezzanine.

There’s a 1950s egg-cleaning machine with long screws like some backwoods torture device, poultry lung and kidney removers and photos of one of the city’s many Egg Queens who marched in egg parades. This Queen’s wearing a feathered dress and posing on a chicken sculpture among her adoring retinue – a barnyard Venus de Milo.

It was around the 1870s, when a local dentist named Isaac Dias patented an artificial egg incubator, that the industry started taking off. The incubator sped up the process of hatching, allowing hens to skip nesting duty and lay more eggs. By 1925, Petaluma was the largest poultry center in the world with 2 million hens, and by the time World War II rolled around, it had hit peak production of 612 million eggs a year.

Dias was later joined in marketing his incubator by a fellow named Lyman Byce. When Dias died in a suspicious duck-hunting accident, Byce endeavored to take the credit for the invention and erase Dias’ name from history. At the museum, a portrait of Dias has his face blank because no photos of him exist anymore. Downtown there’s a mural of Byce by “his” incubator; hunched over and sporting a shady mustachio, he literally looks like he’s stealing eggs.

Petaluma eventually fell from poultry prominence due to a variety of reasons, including industry automation and lack of government subsidies. We study a USDA poster about egg quality – an AA egg means the “white is thick, stands high” – then head out for more eggs, this time in liquid form. Barber Lee Spirits is a craft distillery whose barrel-tasting room sports a mural of a fierce rooster. You can get flights of double gold-winning spirits such as single-malt rye, heirloom-corn bourbon, absinthe and moonshine, or cocktails as expertly made as anywhere in San Francisco.

At this point, we’ve become well-enough acquainted with eggs that we want to meet their grown-up relative, the chicken. Across the way is Easy Rider, a restaurant that opened last year whose chef, Jared Rogers, specializes in Low-Country cuisine from Appalachia and the Carolinas.

We grab a seat at the bar, where our server presents us with a glassy vitrine covering a smoky plate of steak tartare with muffuletta olives, house steak sauce and… a country egg ($18). Can’t avoid them! Then comes a platter-for-two of fried chicken marinated in Frank’s RedHot and served with collard greens, bacon-topped mac ‘n’ cheese and a silver tureen of herby-white bacon gravy ($35.50).

The meat is supremely juicy under its crackling, salty, paper-thin crust. The gravy seems like a hat on a hat, but that’s Southern cooking – we dip everything into it, with no regrets.

“What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Who knows: We’re just happy to enjoy it all here in the still-kicking poultry heartland of Petaluma.

If You Go

Stellina Pronto: Open 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday-Monday at 23 Kentucky St., Petaluma; stellinapronto.com.

Petaluma Historical Library & Museum: Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Sunday at 20 Fourth St., Petaluma; petalumamuseum.com.

Tenfold Farmstand: Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday at 5300 Red Hill Road, Petaluma; tenfoldfarmstand.com.

Hicks Mountain Hens: 7590 Point Reyes-Petaluma Road, Novato; instagram.com/hicksmountainhens

Barber Lee Spirits: Open from 3 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at 120 Washington St., Petaluma; barberleespirits.com.

Easy Rider: Open daily from 4:30 p.m. at 190 Kentucky St., Petaluma; easyriderpetaluma.com.

Disneyland has updated its Guest Pin Trading Etiquette policy to help enhance the overall visitor experience, according to Disneyland officials.

“We regularly evaluate and adjust our policies and operations,” according to Disneyland officials. “Pin trading is a fun, magical activity for our guests and these updated guidelines will create a designated location near Westward Ho Trading Company in Disneyland park during specific times, which will enhance the overall guest experience at Disneyland resort.”

Pin trading displays are now permitted only in the “extremely limited” designated trading area near Westward Ho Trading Company in Disneyland.

Use of the Westward Ho pin trading area is restricted to specific times between park opening and 3 p.m. daily.

Pin traders are permitted to bring only one pin trading bag measuring 14 by 12 by 6 inches to the park and can’t use lights or signs.

Pin traders are prohibited from using park benches to display their pins. Disneyland has begun providing high-top tables for pin traders to use near the Westward Ho Trading Company.

Pins can’t be traded for money, gifts, vouchers or receipts. Visitors suspected of abusing the guidelines may be removed from the park, according to the Disneyland website.

ALSO SEE: 12 Disneyland Festival of Holidays foods ranked from best to worst

Pin trading using lanyards is still permitted throughout the parks at any time. Disneyland employees can still trade pins using display stands at select retail locations throughout the parks.

For years, pin traders have taken over the park benches near the Frontierland entrance with large binders and bags filled with collectible pins, according to MiceChat.

“While Disney has not discouraged ‘professional’ pin traders in the past, it has caused issues with guests not having any place to sit,” according to MiceChat. “Pin traders will have dedicated places to trade — a significant compromise that allows pin trading to happen without blocking the benches for other guests.”

The “long overdue” rules will discourage commercial pin traders and clean up the Frontierland entrance, according to MousePlanet.

“While some kept their activities within reason, others had basically set up shop inside Disneyland with displays that resembled a flea market,” according to MousePlanet.

In the past, hard core pin traders often packed strollers full of binders with thousands of collectible pins to display at the parks.

“You have no idea (of) the insanity,” pin trader Karin Bergmann told the Orange County Register in 2010. “We call it pin-sanity.”

Collectors regularly camped overnight for limited-edition pin release events at the theme park resort before Disneyland finally put a stop to the practice.

In 2009, obsessed pin traders dressed in camouflage and hid in Downtown Disney trash cans to be among the first to purchase new releases, according to the Register.

The Disney pin trading tradition was born after then-Disneyland Resort president George Kalogridis returned from the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan where pin-trading areas allowed visitors from around the world to interact and communicate without being able to speak the same language.

Kalogridis helped introduce pin trading in late 1999 at Disneyland and Disney World for the Disney Millennium Celebration. A decade later, Disney boasted an ever-changing selection of nearly 50,000 pin designs.

“The guests won’t let you stop it,” Kalogridis told the Register in 2010.

Several companies blamed the weather at least in part for disappointing financial results in 2023. Following a rainy spring, smoke from Canadian wildfires and the brutal heat of summer, enough people stayed home that the parks noticed their absence on their bottom lines.

Not every park suffered, however. The new Super Nintendo World pushed Universal Studios Hollywood to record attendance numbers this year, while the Disney100 celebrations and new attractions helped Disneyland put even more distance between itself and other local rivals. The success that Disney and Universal enjoyed this year showed that it is possible to build attractions whose popularity is resistant to outside challenges, including the weather.

Companies such SeaWorld and the soon-to-be combined Six Flags and Cedar Fair might hope that investors see this year’s bad weather as an unusual circumstance. But anyone who has been following the news about climate change has reason to fear that this year’s wild weather is more likely a step toward a new, harsher normal than some kind of one-off.

Even Disney and Universal are not immune from the weather. In Florida, the traditional afternoon thunderstorms failed to materialize for much of the summer this year, leaving visitors melting in brutal heat and humidity. In both Florida and Southern California, summer has lost its former status as the “high season” for theme parks, as more and more visitors choose instead to visit in the more temperate spring or fall.

So how can parks better weatherproof themselves? SeaWorld has introduced a weather guarantee that includes extreme heat for its parks. But that only helps visitors whose trips are interrupted by variable weather — it rains one day, but the sun comes out the next; it’s hot one day, but then turns pleasant. When the temperature blows past 95 degrees every day, without relief, a weather guarantee provides no comfort to tourists who must go home at the end of the week.

Parks will need capital design changes to provide the comfort that visitors need as once-pleasant destinations become hotter and harsher. Yet the answer is not to encase parks entirely indoors, as we are seeing the Middle East. People have biological and emotional needs for sunshine, especially when on vacation.

The next generation’s theme parks will need to minimize the walking space between attractions. That space will need to be filled with shady trees and cooling landscaping, not cheap concrete and tarmac. Waiting, dining and shopping areas will need to be indoors, or at least covered and cooled, but with natural light shining in, where thematically appropriate.

Most of all, rides and show will need to be so compelling — and comfortable — that people will be willing to come out and experience them. Bad weather is not an excuse for theme parks to dismiss. Bad weather is the design challenge that will determine the industry’s future.

The pandemic’s enforced period of no travel led an American couple to rethink their life and retire to sunny southern Italy.

Seventysomethings Glenda and Randy Tuminello from Spokane, Washington, retired in December 2022 to Polignano a Mare, a dazzling white, cliffside town in the Puglia region, renowned for its stunning beaches and turquoise waters.

The pandemic outbreak, they say, forced them to reconsider longterm life projects, and look for a tax-friendly spot where they could make the most of their Italian dream.

“We had originally planned [pre-Covid-19] to go spend a year in Italy, celebrating retirement. But then Covid struck and during those two ‘no travel’ years we began to rethink our original plans,” Glenda Tuminello, a, a former high school math teacher and home designer, tells CNN Travel.

“We decided to sell our home, our car and all superfluous possessions and make Italy our retirement home for good. We chose beautiful Polignano a Mare, it offered a flat tax rate of 7%” – introduced by the government to lure foreign retirees.

Other plus points were the town’s fantastic historic center, friendly residents, and coastal location with unique gorgeous views – as well as the very affordable lifestyle on offer.

“We don’t need a car here. It’s just a few minutes’ walk to the train station that could take us anywhere we want to go in Italy, as well as any European country that we want to visit,” she says.

The couple have made new friends, including other American residents, and adore Polignano’s festive vibe with celebrations and music always going on in the picturesque piazzas.

“Locals bring their lawn chairs out at night to the promenade area by the Adriatic to sit out and talk, visit, laugh into the late hours of the night. It is so lovely, so upbeat, so family-oriented. We never ever feel anything but safe here – [there’s] never a threat of danger walking the beautiful streets at night,” she says.

Retracing their roots

Randy Tuminello, a former consulting manager in architecture, had a further ancestry lure: his grandparents migrated to the US from the Sicilian fishing village of Cefalù in the early 1900s, settling in Louisiana.

“My roots have been a huge factor in picking Italy, it’s like coming home, and we feel more at home here than we ever felt in the US. Then again my wife is an Italian at heart and loves everything Italian,” he says.

The couple looked at different southern Italian regions offering a 7% flat tax for new immigrant retirees, before picking Puglia.

The house they rent, located in Polignano’s historic center, costs $1,200 a month. They saw the ad online and it was love at first sight. The home was perfect – right down to the finest detail. It came partly furnished, including the tableware.

“We were going to buy it at first, but now with the economy unsure, it was best to rent,” says Randy Tuminello. “It was a decision made at the right time as rentals are now skyrocketing, and homes on sale are quite expensive as there are few and most are taken as B&Bs.”

Living the dream

The two-bedroom house has an office, spacious dining room, balcony, front porch with a little garden, and another covered terrace area where the Tuminellos enjoy morning coffee.

It’s a typical white stone home tucked in a picturesque winding alley, with an arched portal entrance, vaulted ceilings, terracotta floors and thick walls dotted with jutting-out rocks.

Randy Tuminello says their “overriding desire” to relocate to Polignano a Mare came from their preference for Italian culture over American.

“The materialistic aspect is not as predominant in Polignano as in the US, and there’s more a sense of community – of family and friends,” he says.

Even though they’ve left behind at home kids and grandkids, the couple says their new life is comfy and lacks nothing. All they have to do is to make sure they have a good time every single day – as if they were on holiday. Going out for dinner and evening walks along the promenade overlooking the Adriatic are their preferred activities.

Despite living on the coast, the pair aren’t beachgoers. Despite spending nearly a year in Polignano, they have yet to go to the town’s little beach, which is enclosed by cliffs like a fjord, nor had the pleasure of a nice dip in the translucent sea – which the Tuminellos prefer to admire from afar.

The downsides of paradise

But southern Italy’s charm comes with challenges – like when they had to fix the air conditioner one sultry summer day.

The unexpected rising temperatures in southern Italy are too much even for Louisiana natives. This past summer the heat kept them from moving around and carrying out daily plans – they had to go out early in morning when it was still bearable.

And they miss some American foods, like barbecue sauce, peanut butter and lemon curd – though they’ve found a place in Polignano where they can get some US condiments.

One positive that the Tuminellos have noted are the incredible driving skills of southern Italians who always “stop on a dime.”

Glenda Tuminello says moving to Italy was simply “one of those no-brainers that you better pounce on while you can!”

That’s because the couple was supported throughout the entire relocation process and by Finding La Dolce Vita, an Italy-based firm that assists would-be expats.

“There is a great amount of work that goes into the legal preparations in Italy if you want to actually live there,” says Glenda Tuminello.

The pair applied for the elective residence visa, which requires a passive income of 38,000 euros ($40,700) per couple. There were plenty of hoops to jump through.

“It took almost one year to complete all the required background paperwork needed. We wanted to get it right the first time,” she says.

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The Disney Festival of Holidays began Friday, Nov. 10 and runs through Jan. 7 at Disney California Adventure.

The 2023 Festival of Holidays returns with eight festival marketplace booths offering small plates highlighting winter holiday eats and drinks. DCA eateries and food stands as well as Downtown Disney restaurants will also serve festival fare.

Sip and Savor passes ($61 for general visitors, $56 for Magic Keyholders) are back again this year that allow visitors to purchase a prepaid card with eight tabs good for individual items at food and beverage stands throughout the event.

Here’s a rundown of our 12 favorite bites from the Disney Festival of Holidays marketplace booths ranked from best to worst.

1) Mad Santa Macaron

Favorite Things marketplace booth$7.50

OMG. Disney does sugar better than anybody. And the Mad Santa Macaron at this year’s Festival of Holidays food fest is a sterling example of that sugary excellency.

My expectations were high for this one and somehow the Disney pastry chefs managed to exceed them.

The Mad Santa Macaron is a chocolate lover’s dream come true with a peanut butter mousse surprise in the middle.

The sensible and courteous thing to do would be to share this hockey puck-sized dessert. But tell your friends and loved ones to go get their own macaron filled with chocolate ganache goodness. You and they will both thank me.

2) Braised Pork Belly Adobo

Favorite Things marketplace booth$8.50

The Braised Pork Belly Adobo had the best flavors I tasted at the Festival of Holiday food fest. And I wasn’t alone in my assessment. The Favorite Things marketplace booth serving the Pork Belly Adobo — along with the Mad Santa Macaron — had the longest line of the food festival.

I’d order the adobo again and recommend it to anybody heading out to the festival. It was the best cut of meat I ate all day.

My favorite thing about the dish was finding little bits of garlic inside the garlic rise. The chicharrones added a surprising crunch every few bites.

3) Savory Kugel Mac & Cheese

A Twist on Tradition marketplace booth$8.50

What I love about a food festival is trying new takes on old standbys. The Kugel Mac & Cheese fits that bill at this year’s Festival of Holidays.

If you like mac and cheese — like I do — and exploring new twists on classic favorites — like I do — then you will love the Kugel Mac and Cheese. A kugel is a traditional Jewish baked casserole — and the perfect platform for mac and cheese exploration.

The Kugel Mac and Cheese was creamy, light and delicate — and the best of the three mac and cheese dishes on the menu at this year’s festival marketplace booths.

I was still picking the herb breadcrumbs out of my teeth as I prepared to move onto the next dish — even though I couldn’t stop thinking about the last one.

4) Impossible Chorizo Queso Fundido

Brews & Bites marketplace booth$7.50

The cheesy fundido was one of the best things I tried at the Festival of Holidays food booths. It was easy to share, not super filling and one of those dishes you just can’t stop eating.

I found myself using the crumbs of the house-made tortilla chips to scrape the last of the fundido out of the bottom of the bowl — a true sign of a good dish.

Dropping the “shredded chorizo” into the cheese dip turned out to be an excellent way to hide the Impossible meat. You think about the fakeness less when it’s slathered in cheese.

5) Esquites Carnitas Mac & Cheese

Holiday Duets marketplace booth$9

There’s lots of carnitas piled on top of this dish if that’s what you’re craving. This was the most satisfying of the three mac and cheese dishes at the festival booths.

The carnitas was juicy, delicious and plentiful. The dried pepper salsa macha gave the dish a bite that will surprise you.

As you’ll see in the next dish on the list, mac and cheese made up a quarter of the 12 food menu items at the festival booths.

Is it time for Disney to throw a cheese-centric food fest? I’d be first in line.

6) Southern Mac & Cheese

Merry Mashups marketplace booth$9

This is your standard issue mac and cheese with elbow noodles that you simply can’t stop eating.

It was a little smoky and very creamy with just a tiny hint of heat from the andouille sausage and spiced panko crunch. What I like to call Disney spice — just enough heat to make you take notice without offending the most conservative taste buds.

The Southern Mac & Cheese typified the menu at this year’s Festival of the Holidays marketplace booths – a familiar and reliable mix of good old fashion, down home comfort food.

7) Pumpkin Layered Cheesecake

Making Spirits Bright marketplace booth$6.50

I’m not a pumpkin fan — so I wasn’t looking forward to this one.

Low expectations usually work in my favor — and they did once again this time around.

There’s just the right amount of gooey pumpkin cake here on top of the New York-style cheesecake.

The spiced chantilly and graham cracker add just the right combination of cream and crunch to complete this delightfully dreamy dessert.

8) Barbacoa Tamal de Res

Grandma’s Recipes marketplace booth$9

If you’re not at the food festival to try something new, then you should get the barbacoa tamale.

While barbacoa is the “it” meat preparation of the moment, this tamale tastes exactly what you would expect a tamale to taste like. The tomatillo salsa adds a little tang to every bite and the Oaxaca cheese and crema completes the classic presentation.

The Barbacoa Tamal de Res is certainly one of the best values at the festival — stuffed with more meat than most tamales.

Don’t expect any twists, mash-ups or surprises here. This is just a tasty tamale that will fill you up and remind you of grandma’s house during the holidays. And there’s nothing wrong with that — and nothing to complain about and nothing to write home about either.

9) Beef Brisket Slider

Winter Sliderland marketplace booth$9

I had high expectations for the Beef Brisket Slider, but it let me down big time. The meat looked and tasted more like roast beef than barbecued brisket — more chewy than beefy.

Ketchup — or in this case horseradish ketchup — is not my jam. Especially when I’m looking for that barbecue sweetness to go with the brisket. All the ketchup did was make the whole sandwich sloppy and the meat slimy.

I appreciate the Disney chefs throwing in a twist to the traditional Beef Brisket Slider, but this one just did not work for me.

The pretzel bun was outstanding, but you never want to be looking for the bread to save a sandwich when everything else is a disappointment.

10) Togarashi Karaage Chicken Slider

Winter Sliderland marketplace booth$9

The tangy furikake mayo slaw was the star of the show with this slider when the fried chicken tender should have been front and center.

The Hawaiian roll was a great way to slop up the excess slaw that toppled from the slider as I ate. But I came for the chicken and left unimpressed.

But this is what I enjoy about a food fest. Even when the thing you’re sure you’re going to love lets you down, you still go away happy because there are plenty of other bites on the menu to satisfy and surprise you.

11) Impossible Chicken Curry Bites

Making Spirits Bright marketplace booth$7.50

But I couldn’t get past the fact that I was basically eating Chicken McNuggets at twice the cost of McDonald’s.

The flavors were fun and tasty, but the fake chicken nuggets looked a little too flat and uniform to be mistaken for real chicken tenders.

Faking it is a big part of the Impossible food pitch. The fake out is supposed to be so convincing that you don’t even think about the fact that it’s not real chicken. The more I thought about the “chickeness” of the nuggets, the less I liked the consistency of the fake meat.

This would be a great way for a first timer to try curry, but I wouldn’t recommend it to any families looking to satisfy finicky kids with some chicken nuggets. There’s enough curry flavor here to make them turn up their noses and push the tray away.

12) Chocolate Tart

Holiday Duets marketplace booth$7.50

Talk about complete and utter disappointment. I was expecting this tart to be at the top of my list when I walked into the festival. Instead it ended up at the very bottom.

Chocolate mousse and caramel plus Twix candy bar pieces? What could possibly go wrong?

I love chocolate. The only thing better is double or triple chocolate. But somehow this was just an unsatisfying end to an otherwise enjoyable festival feast.

I pretty much got a mouthful of chocolate mousse with a bit of dry and crumbly crust and was underwhelmed. The Twix pieces were nowhere to be found. It was just not what I wanted with everything else on the menu.

Maybe I was full. Maybe my taste buds were spent. But this Chocolate Tart just didn’t do it for me.