Carsland: Flo's V8 Cafe [2]

I went to Flo's V8 Cafe again with my friends family and I wasn't very hungry so I got one to the specialty drinks: Mater's Iced Tea. It's a green iced tea with a tropical fruit foam. I don't know what it is, but Disney California Adventure really likes their foams on their drinks recently; they are always full of flavour so I don’t mind, it is just different.

And that is where the problem lies with this drink. The foam had so much flavour and the tea is tea so the foam flavour overpowered the tea. I had to stir the drink a bit to combine them, but after doing so it made it better. Overall, it was still very good and it was a nice change from a typical iced tea.

-Charlotte

Hollywoodland: Mad T Party [2]

Having gone to Mad T Party pretty much every night for the past week, I did try all the non-alcoholic beverages and here are the reviews for them.

 Mandarin Orange Slush. $4+
It has the slight bitter flavour of a real orange, which was a nice surprise. Some of the drinks are crazy sweet and this one wasn't and did very much taste like orange. Not my favourite but still quite delicious and lived up to the name and beyond.

Cotton Candy Lemonade. $3
This drink is confusing and I believe that the drink itself is confused. The name is properly named, no doubt about it, but that's where the problem lies.  The drink is sweet like cotton candy and tart like lemonade, but while drinking it, I found myself wishing it was just one or the other, either a cotton candy drink or a lemonade. It was refreshing and I can somewhat see where it fits with the Alice in Wonderland theme, but I am going to stick with the slushes.

Pear Slush. $4+
The Cozy Cones in Carsland sell a pear soda that I love a lot so I was hopeful for the pear flavoured slush but I was greatly disappointed. First thing that hit me was that it tasted like there was alcohol in it, I know there isn't, but it tasted like there was and it wasn't a good flavour. Once you get past that, you get the taste of the pear which is delicious but that first, off putting flavour is enough to not get it again.

And here are some more photos of the band:

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Charlotte

Hollywoodland: Mad T Party

Having replaced elecTRONica, Mad T Party is going strong every night from 7 till park closing. The band comes out and plays for twenty minutes on the hour then the White Rabbit DJ rules the sound stage for he remainder of the hour.

They also have more drinks available than elecTRONica did. Over by the house of cards, there is a truck that sells different slushes: green apple, cotton candy, and pear. I think those are the only flavours. I got the green apple and cotton candy mixed in one of the three souvenir cups because my friend suggested it and it was delicious. The tart of the apple and the sweet from the cotton candy complimented each other well, and I feel if I had gotten only one flavour it would have been too tart or too sweet for me depending on which I got.

The three different souvenir cups they have cost a little over $7 and the options are the teacups, which I got, the yard cup that is tall and crazy, and the generic Disneyland souvenir cup with the Burton Cheshire Cat on it.

Other drinks available are the cotton candy lemonade and various alcoholic beverages which are on sale at the Drink Me stand.

Now for the band. Some nights they're good and other nights, not so great. I've been four days in a row now and I think I have a good grasp on who I like and who I don't.

First the Mad Hatter: front man of the group and lead singer.

 This Hatter has particularly sexual movements, which are not Disney appropriate at times, but he gets away with it because he's pretty awesome.


Next, let's go to the Cheshire Cat on drums.

It is really hard to get a decent picture of him since he it sitting behind drums the entire time but in one photo you can see the Cheshire Cat face on his vest and his grin that matches it perfectly.


On keyboard we have the Caterpillar!

He probably has the most comfortable looking costume ever. They look like pyjamas almost, and if I could wear that to work all day I would be a happy camper...but I can't. He is also really good at the keyboard and I am jealous, but I like my piano more than my keyboard.


Now we have the March Hare on the bass!

The March Hare is amazing and does a great job staying in character and acting crazy all the time. Like him playing with his ear in that last photo.


Next is the Doormouse on guitar!

I love the boots, the purple, shorter ones are my favourite. If I could steal them I would. Anyway, the only confusing thing about this character is that in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, the Doormouse (Mallymkun) is female. I'm guessing they just wanted Alice to be the only female in the band.


Speaking of Alice, here she is.

She comes out after the first song then does a solo and is with the band till the end of the set. She has an okay voice, some nights it sounds pretty bad though.

That's Mad T Party. I know it was more of the band than the drinks but it's really the whole experience.

-Charlotte

Pacific Wharf: Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Shop [3]

 I come to this place a lot.

Here's all that I've have thus far just to make it easier to keep track:

The Gold Rush- peanut butter hot fudge sundae [twice]
The Intense Dark- mint bliss
The Haight AshBerry- very berry sundae
The Presidio Passion- vanilla ice cream, strawberries, hot fudge.[twice]
Caramel Quake Shake [twice]


After dinner at Carthay Circle Theatre, my friend and I didn't want to spend that much money on dessert so we went to Ghirardelli and split a sundae. We got the Gold Rush.

 It was amazing! It was extra creamy from the peanut butter, but the rich chocolate helped cut through it and then the vanilla ice cream added some lightness. It is very rich though and thick.

Then my friends came down to visit that weekend and Saturday night we shared the Gold Rush and the Presidio Passion before we had dinner at the Blue Bayou.

Then Sunday night we shared the Mint Bliss sundae while rocking out at Mad T Party.

Just so you know you can't go wrong with these sundaes. You do need a friend to help you eat them, but that is the only down side. They are delicious and have just the right amount of everything.

-Charlotte

Buena Vista Street: Carthay Circle Theatre (Restaurant)

The center point in Buena Vista Street is without a doubt, Carthay Circle Theatre. It is at the end of the street and looks like a church. The top can be seen from almost all over Disney California Adventure.

It is a replica of the original Carthay Circle Theatre where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had its world premiere, complete with blue carpet.

Here in Disney California Adventure, though, it is not a theatre but a lavish restaurant complete with bar and lounge that is ready for the stars.

The second level is the dining area and it is just as magnificent, if not more so, then the first floor.

The place setting. There are two 'C's in the middle of the plate.

The menu cover with a painting of the original theatre.

Ceiling with a mural of Snow White's forest.

The food is fine dining and the prices are around $30+ per person, but it is ridiculously delicious and worth every penny. They have menu items that no other theme parks would even dare to have and it is nothing ever seen at Disneyland before.

To drink, they had several specialty drinks and one of them was the rose petal soda. I like the flavour of rose and it was also intriguing so I ordered that. It came with a sugared rose petal, which is a weakness of mine, and the soda itself was light and floral. This is how I described it to my friend who was with me- and frankly, it was the same way she described it- "It tastes like rose, but it's pretty good".

The flavour of the rose wasn't too over powering it was just enough that you know you are drinking rose but it wasn't like you were drinking perfume or soap.

Even the bread and butter before the meal was elegant. Usually they have bread and butter balls but the butter came out in a slice on a small plate so that you tell that it did actually come from a stick of butter. That made me happy even though I couldn't eat the bread.

My friend and I shared the summer strawberry salad and it was amazing. It had mandarin oranges, chicken, jicama, and strawberries with some mixed greens. The only complaint was that for it being a strawberry salad there weren't that many strawberries, but I didn't mind. The chicken was well cooked and shredded, and there was a basic dressing on it but on the bottom of the plate there was this sauce, I don't know what was in it, but it complimented the chicken perfectly.

For the main course, both of us got the quail because it just sounded amazing and I've always wanted to try quail. The plate had two quails stuffed with bacon wrapped apricot with a side of green beans on top of a puree that tasted like cheesy grits but didn't have the texture so I have no clue what the puree was.

The quail was perfectly cooked and the skin was crispy. The sweetness of the apricot and the salty from the bacon helped bring out the tartness that was in the sauce underneath. And since you get two of them you do get your money's worth.

The side of green beans and puree was addicting and heavenly. The green beans were sautéed and cooked through and then there is that puree that I saved for the end because I wanted the best for last. If I could I would eat bowls of that stuff I would.

Overall, I was extremely happy with my experience at the Carthay Circle Theatre. Where I wish I would be able to go in there and watch Snow White, the food definitely made up for it. I will be returning in the future...when I have the money to do so.

-Charlotte

Carsland: Cozy Cone Motel [2]

I took that photo on June 15th, and yes, it was very crowded.

That night, my friends got Big Red's Apple Freeze from the Conecoction cone (the one selling little pretzel bites) and I got to try some. There is this foam on top that I've heard mixed reviews about, but I liked it and thought it was something different and unique. The rest of the drink is an apple cider slush. Not like the apple slush from the Bug's Land Juice Box, this one tastes like apple cider as opposed to apple juice.

The only problem they had was that it was just too sweet, so that's why I got to finish it off. Between the three of us, we were able to finish it but one person alone would not be able to handle that much sweetness.


The other drink I've had a few times now, is Ramone's 'Pear-of-dice' soda. It comes from the Churro cone that sells chorro bites and a cinnamon chocolate sauce.

Because it's purple, I've had a friend swear it was a berry soda, but from the name and the flavour I'm getting, it's a pear soda that just happens to be purple in colour. My guess is that it is purple because Ramone is purple. It is really good and really unique, it isn't anything you've tasted before, which is one reason I like it so much. The other reason is because it's just so darn tasty. It does taste like pear, but is also light and not too sweet.

 

-Charlotte