Disneyland Paris: Plaza Gardens

I will admit, we probably should have planned our dining options and times out better than we did. When it came to food, it was all just left up to chance, and that was our downfall.

World's Fair themed hallways

We got into the park at 10:15 am, fifteen minutes after it opened, and we sort of wandered down Main Street looking for food. That was the plan, but the problem was finding me gluten free food. At all the places along Main Street, yogurt was the only option and one thing of expensive yogurt was not going to fill me. So we searched on.













When we first walked past The Plaza Gardens, located exactly where the Plaza Inn is in Anaheim Disneyland, it was closed. We headed onto Tomorrowland, went on Space Mountain: Mission 2 and when we walked back by Plaza Gardens, it was open. With no other options, and by this time it was 11 and we were starving, we went in.

They oddly offered 2 dining options and prices. The cheaper one being the buffet but no drinks (not even water) and the about 5 Euros more price came with a drink. On this trip, both Kira and I had to buy expensive tickets twice so money was tight and we picked the cheapest option, which still wasn't all that cheap.

Going in, I was expecting the Plaza Gardens buffet to be exactly like the Plaza Inn buffet, but thankfully it wasn't. Here was our French food, and here was where my French culinary school knowledge began to pay off, sort of.

We wanted breakfast foods, as I learned on this trip, Kira is a fan of them, as am I, but Plaza Gardens was set for lunch. We tried to get breakfast foods first, but that didn't happen for me. My first round consisted of fish, some potatoes with sweet potato sauce, yogurt, and chips. It was all unusual combinations, but each element was delicious.

Second go, I got more yogurt and fruit salad, which Kira commented on how it was strange it was in the dessert section. I knew why. I knew exactly why, and why it was sweeter too- as she also pointed out.

The very first thing we made in my French basic patisserie course was fruit salad. Yes, it does come with various cut up fruit, but the French like to keep theirs in an infused simple syrup for freshness and...well, I don't know why else but that is why it is a dessert.

I got some of that too, it was very sweet but refreshing as well. And I had some chocolate pudding because I couldn't resist.

Their cheese selection was on par with the French standards I had built up in my head, as well. I was even able to educate Kira on some cheese taken directly from my cheese lesson. A very good selection of French cheeses that Anaheim Disneyland would not have. We were both thrilled.

Once our stomachs were on the verge of bursting, we decided it was time to go and enjoy our day at Disney. Luckily, the only thing that did burst was the clementine Kira took from the Plaza Gardens and kept in her bag all day.


-Charlotte

From a costume perspective, read here!
From a Halloween perspective: coming soon!

Disneyland Paris: Toad Hall Restaurant

It took one week of living in London to realize just how close I was to Disneyland Paris. If there ever was a perfect time to go, now was it. Looking at my school schedule, I saw I had a break over Halloween weekend. I contacted my friend who is studying in Cardiff and before we knew it, we were on our way.

Halloween isn't such a big thing in France as it is in America, so their Mickey's Halloween Party was only on Halloween night. That was our first night in Disneyland Paris. We took the Eurostar train from St. Pancras International to Chessy, France- directly to Disneyland Paris. The park is located about a half an hour train trip east of Paris and it is in its own circle surrounded by hotels. No really, if you look at a map, Disneyland Paris is in a circle.

We arrived a few hours to early to check into our hotel, which was just enough time to wander the Disney Village. The Disney Village is their Downtown Disney, with many of the same shops and restaurants.






































 


Once at our hotel, we rested a bit before changing into our costumes. Kira borrowed my Wendy Darling costume and I dawned my recently completed Colette Tatou costume (from Ratatouille). Then we were off!

After a stumble at the ticket booths that held us up a good hour, we went and got our wristbands at Disneyland then high tailed it over to the Walt Disney Studios park to head to the Ratatouille area.

Earlier this year, Disneyland Paris opened a Ratatouille area, which included a ride and a restaurant. The area looks like the square right out front of Gusteau's, with little rat touches here and there.

The ride shrinks you down to the size of a rat and it involves 3D as well as scents. I rather enjoyed the browning butter scent; after all, the top three ingredients in French cooking are butter, butter, and butter.

The restaurant is directly from the end of the Pixar film, Remy's restaurant: Chez Remy. It looks like the area where the rats ate, with large corks to sit on and large fairy lights to set the mood.

I desperately wanted to eat here. It was the number one thing I wanted to go to Disneyland Paris for. It is hard to put into words just how important I felt it was for me to dine here. I clearly love Disney, but especially Pixar. So much so, that my dream job is to work as a pastry chef at the Pixar Campus. Ratatouille is also all about loving food in many different shapes and sizes. From a rat to a top food critic to an angry French, female chef- so many people love food and this film epitomizes that. I love food. I love Ratatouille. I had to eat here.

I tried to call and make reservations, but it didn't work. I tried to have our hotel call and make reservations, that didn't work. Once in the park, we power walked to the restaurant. They were booked that night, so we made reservations for 6:30 pm the next night. The hostess printed out the reservation ticket, it glowed and there was a choir singing- or that might have been all in my head- as she placed it in my hand. I carefully put the ticket in my pocket and we went off to enjoy our night.



















We were in Disneyland's Fantasyland when we declared that we needed dinner. Looking on the map, I picked Toad Hall Restaurant, as it peaked my interest. I love the Wind in the Willows, and was happy to eat here.

This restaurant is the Mr. Toad equivalent of Village Haus, except their food of choice is fish and chips rather than burgers.



I had chips, salad, and hot tea.


It was here, we quickly realized that this Disneyland still lived on the theme park food traditions. The chips were sad even for theme park standards. Bland, boring, and just bad. The salad was a pre-packaged salad from somewhere not in the park. The tea was good though.



To make up for the food disappointments, we spent the rest of the evening enjoying all of the rides and entertainment. The Disney Dreams fireworks show, despite it being half in English half in French, was amazing. All the appropriate characters sung in French such as Lumiere singing 'Be Our Guest' and Quasimodo singing 'Out There'. And they had Genie's part in English, which meant Robin William's voice (always).

So the food at Toad Hall Restaurant leaves much to be desire, especially considering it is Disneyland and France. We'll just have to wait and see what other restaurants await our taste buds the next day.


-Charlotte





















From a costumed perspective, read here!
From a Halloween perspective: coming soon!

New Orleans Square: Blue Bayou [3]

Our other reservation for this 24 hour Disney Day, was for dinner at Blue Bayou. Both Brittany and I agree this is the best restaurant, only this time around, it was far from it.

After a long, exhausting day of fun-filled frolicking all around both parks, we were ready for a good meal to give us energy to do the last few things we wanted to do. At this point, we knew we couldn't last the full 24 hours, we desperately needed sleep, so we were going to have a power nap after dinner.

We had a lengthy wait in the waiting room before we were finally shown to our table. Fighting off the sleep, we ordered mint juleps and jambalaya. The mint juleps are still endless and the jambalaya still comes with your choice of salad or gumbo.

The salad was fine, but the jambalaya was not. They had changed it and not for the better. Last time, it was very salty, this time it was not as salty, but still not perfect on the seasoning. Then the shrimp, fish, and andouille were arranged in the middle of the dish in a fancy presentation. It was nice to look at, but defeated the purpose of jambalaya.

Jambalaya is essentially something you can throw together in a pot and cook until ready to get the flavours to combine together. These were cooked and arranged separately, so the rice on the bottom lacked the proper flavour. We weren't very happy with it.

The worst part: I was so tired when we left, I couldn't finish a full glass of mint julep!

After that, we went to meet Thor once more before going to nap. The cast members were hesistant to let me into Asgard, and when the narration talked about Loki, everyone looked at me then shifted away. I also had an amusing conversation with Thor.

Finally, we went back to our hotel and slept. When our alarms went off to go back into the park at 2 AM, we decided to continue to sleep. Our bodies simply did not want to get up.

I still enjoyed myself at Rock Your Disney Side, despite the odd Blue Bayou jambalaya.

And I am forever sorry, I left behind a mint julep.


-Charlotte

Paradise Pier: Ariel's Grotto [2]

I greatly enjoyed the experience and the food last time I ate at Ariel's Grotto, so this trip, I made reservations to dine there again. Curious about their breakfast options, I made the reservations for then.

Today was the 24 hour day- or the Rock Your Disney Side day- in the parks, which meant the Disneyland Resort and Disney California Adventure, opened at 6 AM. Brittany and I were up at 5 AM to get ready, and lacking sleep as we were up late watching an X-Men marathon and I was finishing my costume and some homework. Still, we managed to get dressed in our marvelous costumes, and were in the park at 6 AM.

There was no plan of attack for when we went in, just breakfast at 9:30 AM and Innoventions at 11 AM. So we went around both parks for three and a half hours. I was surprised by the lack of costumes and the lack of people. More people showed up later in the day, but this early in the morning, there weren't as many people as I thought there was going to be.

We checked in for our reservation, and it wasn't a long wait until we were able to go down and take photos with Ariel. She looked very awkward next to us; almost like she didn't know what to do or how to react. After that awkward experience, we were shown to our seats, which were outside and I was grateful for that. We didn't request to sit outside, it was just where they happened to place us, but I needed to be in the cool morning air because I was covered in layers of leather and metal.

A waitress came and took our drink order, I got hot tea, and we were allowed to peruse the menu while enjoying some breakfast breads and pastries. Well, I didn't, Brittany enjoyed them, I took a photo with them.

The menu for breakfast was a strange mixture of breakfast foods, but more up-scale ones. They offered both sweet and savoury dishes to please every pallete.

Our food orders were taken and that's when we heard the voice we never want to hear again. It was the singing announcer for the princesses. Each time a princess was coming out to greet the diners, he had to sing about it. Very Disney and very much geared for the kids. I knew this was going to happen when dining here, but honestly, it was about the food for us.

Still, we took pictures with the Princesses, and Belle was the only one who made a comment about who we were. Apparently, she is well read in Norse Mythology.

Our food soon arrived and I think one of the best parts of this meal were our waiters' reactions to Brittany and me in our costumes. They knew who we were and were very entertained by it. As our waiter placed my dish down in front of me, he said, "Loki eats frittata. Okay." Another waiter complimented us.

Anyway, yes, I had ordered the frittata, being the only thing meat and gluten free. I'm sure you can get a chef to come out and discuss your allergy friendly options, should you need it. I was happy with frittata because they are good, so no complaints from me.

I think it was a leek frittata, there was some green veg. mixed into the eggs, on hash-browns topped with avocado and tomatoes. It seemed small at first glance, but with everything else, it filled me up just the right amount.

It was all a touch on the bland side, but overall was very good. The frittata was creamy, which went well with the smooth avocados that brought a lightness to the everything. Then the hash-browns added crunsh and helped weigh things down and give you that fullness you need at Disneyland.

We were out of there with enough time to queue up for Innoventions opening. First we jumped in line to meet Thor. Where, while waiting, we fell asleep, along with the Hawkeye that was next to us. We journeyed to Asgard, met Thor, talked about our shiny-ness, then met Cap, talked about our shiny-ness, and got adorable photos of Brittany as Agent Carter with Steve Rogers.

If you are going to start your 24 hours at Disneyland off with some breakfast, that was a perfect way to start it. Minus the lack of sleep the night before. You're going to want sleep.

-Charlotte

Disneyland Hotel: Tangaroa Terrace [2]

When Disney first announced their 24 hour celebration of the beginning of summer, I knew I had to go. Not only were both parks open for 24 hours, but it was also a costumed event. If you haven't noticed from my previous posts, I like costumes: designing them, making them, wearing them- I am all in.

That weekend was also the weekend of a very big anime convention in Northern California, so instead of driving down, Brittany and I flew. This also meant I had the perfect Marvel costume to wear that I had been working on the past month.

We landed and dropped our luggage off at the hotel around lunchtime, so we headed over to Downtown Disney to shop and get some food.

After getting distracted at Build-a-Bear Workshop- I got Thor'bear' Odinson and Brittany almost got a Cap'bear' America, but ultimately decided not to- we ended up at the Disneyland Hotel and at the Tangaroa Terrace. Last time I ate here, the only things I could eat were the sides: sweet potato fries and green papaya salad. Well, the Tangaroa Terrace has made many changes since then.

Before when you walked in, you ordered on the touch screens that greet you as you walk in, then you paid at the cashier to your left. It sounds hi-tech, but it really wasn't. It was about the equivalent of self check-outs. This time, though, we were greeted by a cast member, standing in front of the machines, who directed us immediately to the cashier where we both ordered and paid.

The best change they made was to the menu. No longer just burgers with pineapple and sad sides, they changed everything around. More fish options, a few burgers, the sides were completely different, and more gluten free options.

I happily ordered the shrimp tacos. I love tacos and shrimp and these met my expectations and more. Placed inside a uni-tasker taco holder, were three tacos. Each had two layers of warm, white corn tortillas filled with shreaded cabbage, perfectly seasoned, pan-seared shrimp, a lime aioli, and garnished with a cilantro leaf. It also comes with a side of jicama, red and yellow bell pepper, and celery cole slaw in a sweet lime dressing. And some lime wedges for your squeezing and flavouring pleasure.

Words cannot describe how ecstatic I was when these arrived and I had that first bite. I've had many fish and shrimp tacos in my time and I've never had some like this. Everything was perfectly balanced between the spice and salt from the shrimp, and the creaminess of the aioli, cut with the splash of lime, and evened with the tortilla and crunch of cabbage. Even the simple cole slaw was perfect with crunch and not overdressed, with a great balance of sweet and sour.

I loved this dish so much, the next week, I re-made it at home, down to the aioli. It wasn't the same, but it quenched my cravings for these shrimp tacos for the time being.

I don't know why they made changes to The Tangaroa Terrace all of a sudden, but I am forever thankful that they did.

-Charlotte