Buena Vista Street: Carthay Circle Theatre (Restaurant) [2]

I am now, no longer a cast member.

It was the day before I moved away from Disneyland and my parents came down to help me move but we had to spend one last day in the parks. They were excited to see Buena Vista Street and Carsland, and we did end up spending most of our time there than in Disneyland.

Because they had read about my dining experience at Carthay Circle Theatre Restaurant on my blog, and I told them about it, when it came time for dinner my dad decided that we should dine there. We didn't make a reservation so we had a wait of 15-20 minutes, but because of this we decided to look around the bar and lobby area and came across these:

Having done a speech on John Lasseter for a class, I had known that he had his own vineyard and made and sold his own wine. I didn't know that they served his wines at Carthay Circle but it makes sense that they do. These were just some bottles they had on display by the bar with Pixar labels.

They also serve other Disney related families' wine:

 

 Here is a picture of some of the menu:

I rather enjoyed the rose soda last time, but I had to resist and forced myself to try something else that had caught me eye. I ordered the other specialty drink that they had and it was a wild berry lemonade with a berry foam. It was delicious and the foam was nice, but I would have been content without it. I am starting to get tired of this strange foam trend.

For an appetizer, I had the watermelon salad. It had radish, watermelon, a fruit gel of some sort, mixed greens, peppers, and on the bottom was a lime mascarpone. It was a small portion but full of flavours and had very interesting textures going throughout it.

My mum ordered the halibut ceviche that came with a cilantro and lime sauce and plantain chips. I thought this was better than my salad. It was fresh and light with great textures going on with the crunch from the chip and the smoothness of the fish and the tangy flavour of the sauce- it was perfect.

My parents couldn't resist and got a bottle of Lasseter's wine. They said it was good.

For dinner, I decided to get the bacon wrapped shrimp. It came with a creamy corn sauce with fresh corn. The bacon was crispy and perfect and added some flavour to the shrimp but didn't overpower it too much. The corn was a nice touch though it was hard to get it all together in one bite. It was still very tasty and didn't weigh me down so I was ready to continue on with my California Adventure after dinner.

Once again, I did skip the dessert and we went to Ghirardelli to get sundaes. Which were amazing as per usual.

So a second dinner at Carthay Circle and overall we were very pleased with it. My parents loved it, as did my brother. Again service isn't as speedy as you would like it to be, but if you have good company with you then you don't really notice.

-Charlotte

P.S. Yes, that is the end of my dining at Disney and around Disney while I was living in the area. I am now back at school but I will post to this blog as often as I can and see fit. My next trip to Disneyland is next weekend so I shall be posting soon.

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