Paradise Pier: Ariel's Grotto

When someone in your group is named Ariel, it really is a no-brainer that you should go to Ariel's Grotto, right? At least, that was our logic. Also, it was another character dining experience that we weren't going to pass up, especially since it was the princesses.

Everyone in our group (except me) are obsessed with the princesses, yes even the honourary male of the group, Adam- he likes Rapunzel. Anything with the princesses, anytime we saw the princesses, anything with the princesses on it, we were there. It was highly amusing.

Here is the breakdown of princess love:




Gaby loves Princess Aurora











Grace loves Princess Snow White












 Ariel loves Princess Ariel










Adam loves Princess Rapunzel

And I like Princess Tiana, but I wasn't as crazy about her as the others are. When we saw Tiana in New Orleans Square that morning, they immediately freaked out and made us get in line. They thought I was going to get as excited as them since she is my favourite but I don't think I am capable of getting as excited as they were. We got photos and had another amusing conversation about my name being Charlotte with Tiana.

Now, dining at Ariel's Grotto was to be expected and it was where we went for lunch on July 4th. Of course we had reservations and only waited a little bit before we were led down the stairs and took pictures with Princess Ariel before being seated.

I loved the decor in the restaurant; it felt like you were under the water. My favourtie things were the jellyfish lights that were above each table- I love jellyfish and really want a light like that. There was a lot of glass because that has the glossy underwater feel and lots of great sea life detailing.

It was yet another flat rate price type of dining and it comes with a three course meal. The first course is a tower with fruit, cheese and prosciutto, a salad, and a sourdough flower-which I am certain was provided by Boudin Bakery. Once more, I noticed how Disney dining is becoming more aware of dietary restrictions because when our waiter came to take our order for the second course, he first asked if anyone has a dietary restriction. We informed him of a gluten allergy and a gluten/soy allergy so he went and got one of the best chefs ever.

The chef came out and he explained what we could and could not have. Basically, they can make anything into gluten free, so whatever we wanted they could change things up for us. So Grace and I had a decent amount of choices. 

When first looking over the menu, I had to bring up the interesting issue of the seafood cuisine. It makes sense in a place with an under the ocean theme but that theme expands to being Ariel's Grotto. Ariel was a mermaid and made friends with all the creatures under the ocean (except that shark) so if you think about it, all of Ariel’s friends are on the menu, right?

Well, I love seafood so I didn't care, but I'm sure if you brought that up to other people like little kids, or Ariel, they would be disturbed.

The menu had a variety of seafood based dishes and I couldn't resist the temptation that was ciopinno. It is a tomato based soup with all matters of seafood from fish to lobster and mussels. Being from Northern California, I know ciopinno from San Francisco to Monterey Bay and I had to try Disney's version.

The food arrived and it was honestly both what I was expecting and what I wasn't expecting. In Fisherman's Wharf or in Moss Landing, you get a big, huge bowl full of soup- I know that seems redundant but that really is just how enormous the portion is. This was small, but I kind of was happy that it was or else I would have been there all afternoon eating it while the others waited, especially since we kept stopping to take pictures of the princesses.

All of the seafood in it was fresh and perfectly cooked, it was still moist and it had absorbed all of the flavour of the broth. I don't like lobster, but I liked this lobster because of the broth that went with it. They described it as slightly spicy, and ciopinno is spicy, but this was very mild, I would have liked it to have a bit more spice. My only complaint was that I wished there was more of the soup, as you can tell from the image it looked more like a sauce than a soup. It was really good but I still would rather have the original in San Francisco.

And now an intermission for the Princesses:

 

And with that, I have now officially met ALL of the Disney Princesses! I just needed Mulan and Belle.

Dessert!

 Back when the chef first came to our table, he talked to Grace and I about our options. The dessert they usually give out is a platter with cupcakes, cookies, chocolate cake, and some berries, in other words, close to nothing that we could eat. The chef informed us of other choices for those with dietary restrictions. They had a brownie, a cookie, and sorbet they could give us. The brownie did have soy in it so I couldn't eat it and he said the cookie “was a gluten free cookie and it tasted like it”. I love that he was honest about that and while others might not know, sometimes gluten free things have an off taste or are just crumbly because they don't have that gluten to hold it together. Immediately, Grace and I understood what he meant by 'tastes gluten free' and we stayed away from that.

In all honesty, the sorbet sounded like the best dessert they offered, both gluten and non-gluten, and that is what Grace and I both got.

The sorbet came in a frosted glass with a rim of sugar and the sorbets were lemon and raspberry with a slice of lemon, a few berries, and some mint leaves. It was creamy and tart yet with the sugar on the side it added the little bit of sweetness. I think this was the perfect dessert to go after the seafood dishes instead of all those cookies and cupcakes. It was light and really summed up the meal perfectly. So they can have their baked goods, I'll take my sorbet.

And we got all of that for about $40.

We then went and had fun for the rest of our Fourth of July:

Said 'hi' to some of my friends working in A Bug's Land.

My friend Chris always has a way to get me on her Red Car Trolly.

Found out that I was most like The Evil Queen from Snow White in Beast's Library.

Ate dinner at the Village Haus, which I reviewed already: here.

Watched Fantasmic. It lived up to its name.

Then watched the Fourth of July Fireworks. Last year, I watched them while sitting on my bed in my apartment while watching Captain America: The First Avenger.

And we ended our evening with Grace being the rebel spy.







I know this was a long one, but Ariel's Grotto really had great food!

-Charlotte

Disneyland Hotel: Goofy's Kitchen

Ever since I worked at Disneyland, I had wanted to go to Goofy's Kitchen, but every time I had friends going, I was working. This is another character dining experience and that means it is something where you should have a friend to go eat there with. Well, the time had come for me to finally eat there because my friend Gaby really did make reservations for all the character dining experiences possible.

Again, our breakfast reservation was for seven in the morning so we made it over to the Disneyland Hotel, with me leading the way, and we checked in and paid first this time. Because it is a character-dining buffet, it was a flat rate price of exactly $42.03, yes expensive but worth it.

After checking in, you then go in and take a picture with Goofy in his chef whites before being seated. Our party of six was sat in a sort of secluded room but still right next to the buffet.

A few characters stopped by before we went to get food, Dale particularly seemed to like our table, not sure why. And without fail, all of the characters liked our hats- we did have some pretty fabulous hats.

Our drinks arrived and I ordered some hot tea and was pleasantly surprised that I had more of a selection than just Nestle black tea. That isn’t a very good quality tea, but that is usually the option at Disneyland, but this time I was also offered breakfast tea and Earl Grey. After situating our drinks, we hit the buffet. There was a far greater option here than at PCH Grill and it was almost overwhelming how much more food there was. I had to resist the temptation to get the soft serve ice cream first thing and went to get a few healthier options before I came to ice cream. I ended up getting my usual when it comes to buffets: breakfast potatoes, melon, and a bowl of yogurt with fresh berries. They also have this dessert bar with pastries and cookies, puddings, and jello. Sadly, the only thing I could eat from there was the jello, and of course I got some.

For some reason this morning, I wasn't all that hungry and despite my rather small amount of breakfast, I was really full. I wanted to get more because I did really want some ice cream, but I felt like I didn’t have room for more so I didn't get up again.

This buffet did have more variety and it was amazingly good even with the limited amount of food that I could eat. I really wanted to eat my money's worth and it can be easily done, I just wasn't as hungry as I wanted to be. Everything looked delicious, especially all of those desserts, so if you ever go, make sure you are hungry because you're going to want to be.

I would also like to point out that on the day that we went, it was the Fourth of July, so Happy Independence Day America, and I got to spend the morning with Alice and the Hatter.

I had a conversation with Alice about my hat and how I made it. It is from my USO Girl costume and was the most patriotic thing I had besides wearing the actual costume. I reassured Alice that I wasn't Hatter's competition.

The Hatter came over and joined our tea party, three of us had tea, and we talked about tea. His favourite tea was part-tea and his least favourite tea is emp-tea.

After having our fill of delicious food, we walked through Downtown Disney and took the Monorail into Disneyland. A lot of people forget about that entrance, just like my friends did, but it gets you on another attraction and it puts you in Tomorrowland so you can avoid the park opening crowd at the gates and taking pictures at the front. If you are coming from Downtown Disney, it really is the only way to go in and it makes sense.

 

-Charlotte

Downtown Disney: Rainforest Cafe [2]

One of the many dinner reservations that my friend made was for the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. We had a friend flying down and she didn't have a ticket for that day so we hung out in Downtown Disney in the evening and they went shopping crazy. But first, as we were making our way back to the hotel to rest, and for me to turn in some homework, we took pictures of The Lone Ranger train outside the park.





Just the week before they had the world premiere for The Lone Ranger in Disney California Adventure at the Hypierion Theatre. I had a few friends that worked it and I was really jealous when I saw all their photos on Facebook of the premiere.





Then we met up with our friend, Grace, and headed to Downtown Disney for our reservations. It was only lightly crowded in Downtown Disney but it was still early in the evening; regardless, the Rainforest Cafe was still pretty crowded. Since we had reservations, we quickly were seated up by some gorillas and a waterfall.

Last time I was here, I got some shrimp skewers that had a sauce I believe to be the culprit as to why I wasn't feeling good afterwards so I stayed clear from that. This time around, I had another person who was allergic to gluten with me, my friend Grace. So I helped her with what we could eat throughout the trip and the Rainforest Cafe was yet another place where I didn't really know what else to get so I went to my back up and got a salad.

It was also another salad with spinach, goat cheese, pecans, strawberries, and a light vinaigrette. It was a very large salad and had a great balance between tang, cream, fresh, and crunch so it filled me up greatly and tasted delicious. It wasn't an amazing salad, but it was a good salad and it fed me for something around $10-$15 (I think).

Then we went shopping. The group I was with loved to shop, so the rest of the evening was spent in Build A Bear and World of Disney. I helped the girls name their animals (Darth Inga= a German rabbit that played the Stars Wars theme for Grace [I added the Darth part]; Hulasaur= a drag queen stegosaurus in a hula skirt for Ariel).








Build A Bear has dinosaurs!








In World Of Disney, I found some newly released mugs that were amazing. There were several of them with different classic characters drawn on them from Tinkerbell to Jiminy Cricket with quotes on. I got a Peter Pan one:

-Charlotte

Main Street U.S.A.: Jolly Holiday Bakery [9]

Is it really that surprising that on a trip to Disneyland I found my way back to this supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bakery? I cannot stress enough how fantasmic this bakery truly is!

That morning, we went and took pictures with Princess Merida.










And saw Mickey and the Magical Map.







While wandering around Disneyland all day, lunchtime was soon upon us and when in doubt, my friends asked me where to go so I immediately suggested Jolly Holiday Bakery and they were up for it. Knowing what I wanted before I even stepped into the bakery, I ordered first, which was good because this time I got to talk to one of the chefs. Sometimes when you say that you have an allergy, like when I asked for my caprese sandwich on a gluten free bun, they will go and get the chef to make sure that everything you asked for is okay for you to eat. So this time around, I got to meet the chef and she made sure that everything was okay and that is when she said there was something new to the sandwich. Before, it was the sandwich with a basil sauce and balsamic sauce on it but this time she said they also put an aioli on it. I got that on the side because I was uncertain if there was soybean oil in it, but I was happy to have the option to get it on the side.

This sandwich never disappoints and when in doubt, and if I am ever hungry at Disneyland, go buy one of these sandwiches because it is only around $8 and they are ever so delicious.

 Our friend Ariel with Mary Poppins.

Afterwards, we appropriately went and took pictures with Mary Poppins and then watched the musical chairs with Alice and the Mad Hatter.

-Charlotte

Paradise Pier Hotel: PCH Grill

My friend Gabby, who just graduated, loves Disney. When I worked there, it was non-stop questions that I didn't mind answering. She also really loves the characters that roam the parks, so she made reservations for as many character dining experiences as possible. This morning, we had reservations at seven in the morning, so I was up at six dawning my outfit for the day that resembled one of my favourite characters:

 

I lead the way to the Paradise Pier Hotel- I was sort of like a tour guide/leader as we marched through the parks, Downtown Disney, and the Hotels. As we arrived at the hotel, the fondest memory I had there was carrying a cake through the lobby and hallways shaped like the Candy Palace on Main Street for a class assignment back when I was in the Disney College Program.

The PCH Grill had just opened at seven, so being one of the first groups in there, we only waited a short time before it was our time to take a picture with lifeguard Mickey. The theme in this restaurant is ‘the beach’, so Mickey and Minnie had lifeguard outfits on, Daisy was wearing her normal flora garbs but with hibiscus flower prints, Pluto had a starfish hanging from his collar, and Stitch was walking around with an appropriate Hawaiian lei around his neck.




Daisy giving Adam a kiss, or going in to eat his head, either way.













Pluto with the Graduation Girl, who is looking at a different camera.

Stitch creeping up on Adam. Stitch gave him a wet willy at one point, and was overall being a prankster towards Adam.







We were seated and a cast member took our drink order and delivered them with amazing curly, bendy straws. We interacted with the characters before getting up and getting food.

It was buffet style so all of the breakfast foods were displayed in hot plates and there were a lot of generic breakfast foods. One thing I was happy to see was chillaquilles, which is a Mexican breakfast dish that is my default breakfast at home, but that was something that needed to be fresh and not sitting in a hot plate so I skipped on that. Again, I had a hard time finding things to eat and I know that they offer gluten free pancakes and waffles, but I really didn't want those so I got some simple things.

Breakfast potatoes with peppers, some melon, and a cup of yogurt with berries and a dollop of whipped cream. I also had ice tea to go with everything because I need my morning tea, especially for Disneyland. Everything was fresh and good, not terribly filling but what can you do. I am picky when it comes to buffets and breakfast foods in addition to the fact that I can't eat a lot of breakfast foods because they are filled with gluten. I ate what I could and that was the important part.

Because it is character dining and a buffet, they have a fixed price of $40, I believe, at PCH Grill, so it is expensive, very expensive, but if you are hungry, very hungry, it could be worth it.

It was just a basic breakfast buffet probably just like one available at your hotel, but those don't have Disney Characters bothering you while you eat do they?

Afterwards, we made our way into Disneyland and went and took pictures at Pixie Hollow, after first going on Space Mountain:

  

Don't know this blue dressed fairy, so that was awkward.

And they gave Tinkerbell a new dress...?

-Charlotte

Down the Street: Mimi's Cafe

Located on Harbour and Manchester, Mimi's Cafe is a quaint little restaurant with a seemingly rustic French vineyard feel to it.

It was my friend’s graduation trip from Southern Oregon University and this trip had been, I think, a year in the making. We left our homes on July 2nd and drove down to Anaheim while blasting a various variety of Disney tunes, and I was in the back working on a script for homework.

Our hotel was just across the street from Disneyland, on Harbour, and we didn't want to drive anywhere for dinner, so we decided to embark on the short walk to Mimi's Cafe.

Being that it was later at night, it wasn't that busy and we were immediately seated. Their menu was simple, still following that French/Tuscany feel, but they also had a pretty amazing drink selection as well.

My friend, the graduation girl, got a strawberry banana shake that stood far above all others.

Another friend got a mojito, while I got a melon-tini. It was green, and I like green so that's a plus, and it was full of sweet flavour and the melon wasn't too overwhelming with a hint of lemon.

The dinner plates were of reasonable size, but there really wasn't much to eat in the gluten and soy free department so I reverted to the back up of salad. Many people might look down on salads and call it rabbit food, but when a salad is done right it can be quite tasty and just filling enough. I had a spinach salad with crisp greens, creamy goat cheese, crunchy pecans, and light vinaigrette- this was a good salad. It is a classic, yes, but a good classic that never fails. This particular night, I wasn't looking to try anything new, I just wanted food, and this didn't disappoint. Besides I had a drink that was new enough for me.

Overall, the food was full of flavour and it satisfied but it wasn't anything new, and I didn't mind that. It also wasn't that expensive, my drink and salad combined only cost around $14. And it gave me nourishment for the three days of Disney fun that was starting the very next day, bright and early.

-Charlotte