Castle Panic

Castle Panic

Review: Board Game

Ages: 10+

Players: 1-6

Price: $25

Play Time: about an hour

Release Date: 2009

Rating: ****

Amazon

            One gets their money’s worth with Castle Panic.

Theme

           Players work together to defend their kingdom against troll, goblin, and orcs.  Once the players run out of monster tokens, the players win.  However, if the castle towers are destroyed first, game over.

Difficulty

            The game took a while to understand, but once one has read through the pamphlet and played through it a tad, then the game is fairly simple.  The deck includes “game play” cards to remember the six steps to everyone’s turn, which helps beginners tremendously.  Though my teammate and I had to look back at the pamphlet a few times as we played, the game was still quite accessible.

            I even played with my 10-year-old cousin who was doing well with the game.  She struggled a little with sticking with the steps.

Age Appropriateness

            As I mentioned, my 10-year-old cousin seemed interested and was able to understand it alright.  Though it could be somewhat a challenge to discover technique, I think it is friendly for teens to young adults.  Older adults, depending on their personality, may not be interested in a such a fantasy game.  It may even get too simple for them.

Time

            The game takes about an hour to play.  In order to win the game, one has to kill off all of the monsters, and there are a lot of them.  However, if one wanted a quicker game, they can play with fewer monsters.  They can also twist the game a little by putting more monsters on than required. 

Alternate Versions

            Besides co-op, where everyone works together against the monsters, there are two other versions.  In one, a player controls the monsters and plays against the other players.  In another, one can play by themselves.  There are also ways to bring “more panic” to the game by adding various challenges.  These versions allow the player to get the most out of the game they purchased; they are able to try more out and hopefully never get bored.

            One can also buy an expansion pack, which comes with more playing cards, monster cards, and a tower!  This, of course, must be bought separately.

Conclusions

            Buyers can get the most out of their money with this game because of its variety and age appropriateness whether one person plays or eight.  The game is geared for the fantasy and strategy lovers, as one has to decide how to use their cards and what monster to attack too.  The game also encourages working together with others, a lesson appropriate for children, teens, and adults.

Disney's Be Our Guest restaurant

Be Our Guest Passes the Test

Review: Restaurant—

Location: Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, FL

Price: $$$ ($9-23 for entrees)

Serves: lunch, dinner, and dessert including sandwiches, cupcakes, cream puffs, and soup

Rating: *****

Disney's Be Our Guest

Atmosphere

                The restaurant is inside the beast’s castle from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  When one enters, he or she sees finally carved statues of animals, holding up the castle.  

Then one is escorted through a corridor with knights into a room with drapes where he or she will order his or her food at a touch screen location; there are multiple locations available.  Then there are three locations that one can eat at: the ballroom, the mysterious (and forbidden) west wing, and the library.

                On a side note, the west wing includes a rose, which many took pictures with, and the ballroom’s windows displayed fake falling snow.  Walking into this castle was like walking into the movie.  It was enriched with such specific and colorful details.

Service

                I went to this restaurant a few days after New Years for lunch and there was an estimated hour and a half wait.  However, my parents and I were able to eat within 45-minutes, so the service was rather quick.

                While we were ordering our food on the touch screen, there was a man helping us the whole time (and we had a lot of confusion).  He was patient and kind, giving us directions and mixing our mistakes

                Our food came about five minutes after we sat down.  Keep in mind, however, that I was there for lunch, which was a quick service.  It will probably take longer if one goes to dinner here.

Food

                Lunch

There were many sandwich options during this visit.  I ordered to Croque Monsieur sandwich, a ham and cheese sandwich with a side of green beans and French onion soup.  The soup was the best I had ever tasted, the green beans came with some other chopped vegetables and was flavorfully seasoned, and the sandwich was fair.

A turkey sandwich, roast beef sandwich, vegetable quiche, braised pork, etc are also offered.  These options range from $9-14.  The soups – French Onion and Potato Leak – are $5.

The drinks are mostly standard: Coke products, juices, teas, milk, hot chocolate, coffee, and bottled water.  These range from $2-3.

                Dinner

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/magic-kingdom/be-our-guest-restaurant/menus/dinner/

                Dessert

The dessert options for lunch included cream puffs and cupcakes.  I ordered the strawberry cream cheese cupcake, and it was also the best cupcake I ever had.  The cake was moist and flavorful, and the filling and frosting too were filling with rich, strong flavor.  The cupcake was topping with small, pink strawberry balls, which was unique but flavorful as well.

There was also a triple chocolate cupcake, lemon meringue cupcake, chocolate cream puff, passion fruit cream puff, and a lemon-raspberry cream puff.  These were $3.

                Kid’s Meal

The meals for lunch included meatloaf, a turkey sandwich, pulled pork, whole grain mac and cheese, and mahi-mahi for $7-8.

                 

Specials

                Reservations can be made for dinner. 

Conclusion

                Though the main meal cost more than the Applebee’s or the Arby’s, the taste and sites make it worth the penny for any Disney lover.