Disney Dining: Breakfast of Champions

If there's one thing you learn in Disney, it's that everything tastes better when it's Mickey shaped. Seriously. Mickey apples, Mickey bars, Mickey rice krispe treats, it's like the 3 circles are their own secret ingredient.

Normally when days are long we tend to skip the most important meal of the day, breakfast. My mentality is would I rather spend the time pouring and eating my cereal or sleeping? The answer is always sleeping. But, switch that with a Mickey waffle and you may just get me out of bed.

We used most of our Quick Service meals for the day in the morning for breakfast. Our hotel, All Star Movies, had a food court set up in the main building that had different stations for different options. They had various pastries, danishes and muffins you could grab from a case or you could get a hot breakfast from one of the griddles. You have the choices of pancakes or Mickey waffles and I went with the waffles!

 The Bounty Platter. Funny thing? I don't like eggs. I don't eat sausage. Basically I got this for the sole purpose of the potatoes, biscuit and bacon. The potatoes were worth it!

 One of the mornings I went with a big Mickey waffle and bacon. How do you eat your Mickey waffle, ears first?

While I believe you should always use a table service credit for at least 1 breakfast on your trip, you can still get away with a good breakfast with using a quick service for your breakfast to get you going!

Disney Dining: Take Your Family to Work Day

One of the greatest feelings about working for Disney is seeing something you've made out and about in the parks. I work for a bakery back at home where I bake for 31 grocery stores called ShopRite. You can go in any one and pick up a pie or cake that I've made as you shop. It's fun to go in to the store and walk past the case and show my mom what I made. And then after that we go to collect our tomatoes and cereal, nothing really exciting about a grocery shop. Unless my yogurt is on sale, then it's time to get excited!

But Disney World is something else. People save up their money of years to come here, some fly from around the world and some make extended road trips just to drive under the same gates that I drive under to get to work everyday. And when they get there they have to eat right? There's something about getting a plate in a Disney restaurant and knowing you made it.  Like wow, this is something I have physically contributed to a company that I love so much and guests from around the world are going to eat it too. Pretty cool huh?

I specifically wanted to take my mom and brother to the Rose & Crown Pub in the UK Pavilion of Epcot. Not only is it one of my favorite places to eat on property but we also bake their desserts! Fish & Chips is my comfort food so I had that set from the beginning but the main purpose was to use our 3 table service credits to get 3 desserts to sample at the end of the night. Luckily for my mom and I, my brother isn't a big dessert person so it was mostly more for us!

So put on your tailcoats and your fascinators ladies and gentleman, we are about to take a trip over to the UK! (which for those of you that don't know is England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Fun fact of the post!)

The Rose & Crown is a table service restaurant. The pub itself was built combining 3 different styles of pubs found in the UK: the street, waterfront and country pubs.

Waiting for dinner! Funny, when I came here 3 years ago with my best friends we sat in the exact same table!

 Sean's Dinner: Grilled New York Strip Steak

 Mom's Dinner: Rainbow Trout

 My Dinner: Fish n' Chips. You know it's legit when it's served in newspaper!

 

We all really loved our dinner. My mom got the trout thinking it's not everyday you get rainbow trout and she was so glad she did. My brother loved his dish too because he got his green beans AND it came with onion rings, score! The main purpose of this dinner was, dessert! All of these desserts and their components were made at work. We don't plate the desserts, that is all down in the heart of the house of the restaurant but we give them all the components to plate the desserts. 

 Mandy's Mess: Pound Cake, Berries and Ribena Syrup. Pound cake is simple but delicious. We bake the pound cakes and then brush them in a syrup. Sometimes simple is just as good, especially when paired with berries! I could tell them exactly who made the pound cakes at work!

 Sticky Toffee Pudding: A warm cake with chopped dates inside that is served with a toffee and custard sauce. My mom and I spooned all that sauce up and had the bowl clean, it is delicious! We sometimes break open a cake at work when they come out of the oven and it's one of my favorite things. I would happily eat a cup of that custard though!

 My personal favorite? The Jaffa Cakes! In the UK there is a biscuit (their term for cookie) that is a an orange biscuit wrapped in chocolate. Chocolate and orange is one of my favorite flavor combinations. We make a cake, fill it with orange curd, and enrobe it in chocolate orange ganache. I got to tell my mom that I personally ganahced the cakes that were on our table, cool right!

It's so nice to see everything we make all put together!

And if you order tea you get your own little teapot! I just thought it was too cute, it made me feel so special. English Breakfast Tea with milk and sugar of course!

 

The Rose & Crown is right in the heart of the UK pavilion so you can work off that dinner by taking a walk around the shops. In addition to being a Disnerd, I am also a huge Whovian. This is a section of their DW wall, a section! Oh I was so happy!

 11 is my Doctor <3 <3

 Sean got a Guinness shirt in honor of our dog and posed near the phone booths outside. Sadly they no longer work!

 

Our second night of dinner was another success! It was rewarding to see the things we make underground be all plated and presented in their atmosphere. You kind of forget you're working in Disney sometimes when you're down there but it hits you when you see the things you and your fellow cast members were making earlier in the day plated in front of you in the restaurant. We all enjoyed our meal, our server was courteous as always, and this combined with Illuminations was a great ending to our first day in the parks!

 

 

Disney Dining: Be Our Guest...Again?

I loved Be Our Guest so much that I knew I had to take my mom there as well. My mom mentioned that she has always loved Belle so there was no question that this new restaurant in New Fanstasyland was the perfect place for our first lunch. While you need reservations for the table service dinner, you can walk in for a quick service lunch. Don't worry, they give you umbrellas and water if it's hot out!

It's the little things! He was made honorary umbrella holder since he's the tallest

 

Our wait wasn't too long though. That morning my mom and I had to pick something up which ate into our park time a little bit and since our dinner was early we ate an early lunch. You can read an in depth review and picture heavy post about my first trip to Be Our Guest here

We decided to eat in the ballroom and sat near the back windows where it snowed! It's a bit dimmer than the gallery room but not as dark as the West Wing but the ambiance overall is my favorite of the 3 rooms

Lunch in front of the windows with snow inside the ballroom

  

I pretty much ordered the same thing as last time since for me it's one of the only things I personally like on the menu. My mom had a hard time picking between the Croque Monsieur and the Carved Roast Beef while Sean was pretty easy. Also, we still got dessert for QS! I totally thought we were going to have to add those on as extras or use them as a snack but it included our entree and dessert as well, score! So what did we end up getting?

 The Cupcake Trio! Lemon Meringue, Strawberry Shortcake, and Triple Chocolate

 Sean's Meal: Braised Pork with Green Beans. His plate was emptied rather quick!

 Mom went with...the Carved Roast Beef

 I got the Carved Turkey sandwich again

 I originally ordered the Lemon Meringue, my mom ordered the Strawberry Shortcake and Sean got the Triple Chocolate. We all tasted each others and my mom actually ended up liking the Lemon and I liked the Strawberry! My mom and Sean thought the chocolate cupcake was a bit too chocolatey but as a chocoholic I wouldn't mind!

 Everyone had clean plates before leaving!

 The Ballroom during our lunch service

Ended the meal with the mosaic!

 

Lunch at Be Our Guest made 2/2 great dining experiences for our trip. It was great to show them some of the new parts of WDW since they haven't been here since 1998 and to also dine on some really delicious food. This is my 2nd time at Be Our Guest and I'll probably end up going sometime again before I leave. It is definitely one of my favorite places to dine in WDW!

Disney Dining: 'Ohana at Disney's Polynesian

My mom and brother first arrived on Wednesday 8/21. I still had work that day so while they were landing, I was clocking out. I quickly ran back to my apartment to change and made my journey not to the hotel but first, the Polynesian! What better way to start our vacation than stuffing our faces at an all you can eat restaurant? We used up our first table service credit at 'Ohana for dinner at about 6:45. While I wanted to show them Epcot and all the things I have been doing on this program, I still wanted to show them my home from last year since they didn't get to see it. I couldn't have pictured a greater start to the trip!

'Ohana is an all you can eat family style table service restaurant on the second floor of the Great Ceremonial House of the Polynesian. All you can eat means they will bring you out a serving to start and you can keep asking for more throughout your meal. Breakfast features character dining with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. Dinner focuses on the flavors of Hawaii while featuring coconut races and hula dances for the kids. The center of attention is of course, the fire pit right in the middle of the restaurant where Cast Members cook the skewers for dinner.

I worked for the Polynesian Resort last Spring as a baker and absolutely loved it. I did bread and plated desserts for Kona Cafe mostly but also did some work for 'Ohana. One of the things I remember from last year was when I was working the graveyard shift (3:30PM-12:00AM) and after the restaurant had closed, they let us eat some of the leftover food. I had never sat down to eat in 'Ohana so this was my chance! I loaded my plate with their noodles and shrimp and of course the bread pudding and I knew that I had to come back and eat here at some point.

Grab your grass skirt and ukulele because I'm taking you on a South Pacific tour of our first meal!

 Welcome Bread-Pineapple & Coconut Bread

 Mixed Green Salad

 You want a seal of approval? Not only my brother eating salad but asking for a refill means it is VERY good

 Appetizers include Pork Dumplings and Honey Glazed Wings. I didn't mind the wings too much, the glaze was delicious but I'm not a fan of bones. We ended up asking for a refill of just the dumplings which we nearly filled up on before the meal even started!

 Teriyaki Noodles and Vegetables.In the bakery we worked next to the hot apps line for 'Ohana so I smelled these and the dumplings and wings all day, such a tease!

 I tried taking a picture of the Spicy Grilled Peel-And-Eat Shrimp but they kept disappearing! Other entree options? Grilled Chicken, Char-Sui Pork Loin, and Marinated Sirloin Steak

 What's Hawaii without a bit of music?

 Sean and Mom enjoying our first meal back together!

 The fire pit where all of the main entree skewers are grilled. I actually knew the CMs behind the grill that night and they still remembered me!

 Be prepared for a pile of shrimp skins!

 Saving the best for last, Bread Pudding A La Mode with Banana Fosters Sauce. Just as delicious as I remembered!

Instead of clocking out of the Polynesian, I was nearly rolling out of the Polynesian instead. We were SO stuffed! We all thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm glad I got to experience it in the restaurant rather than the cast cafeteria. We were pretty tired that night with a long vacation ahead of us so I gave a quick tour before they headed to the resort and I headed to my apartment to grab my things.

Mahalo to all of our cousins at the Polynesian for such a great meal!

Tales of a Guest *picture and text heavy*

I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting my return, some of you probably wondered if I was still alive but rest assured, I am alive and well. It has been a rather busy busy few weeks so get ready for a massive truckload of posts!

As a Cast Member I spend most of my time being just that, a Cast Member. I go to work and play in the parks in my free time. While I play of course I am treated as a guest but it's still a fry cry from what a guest acts like. I can come and go as I please, if I see a wait for a ride is too long I tell myself I can come back tomorrow, or next week, or next month even. There's no rush to try and cram everything in, there's no waking up early and staying out late, there's no exhaustion.

Well, I got a taste of what our guests go through last month since I became a guest myself when my mom and brother came to visit me. I was a guest in 2010 but to be quite honest, I don't think we really took too much advantage of it, I sometimes wish I could go back and do more on that trip. My mom and brother hadn't been back to WDW since our first family trip there in 1998. I was 6 and my brother was 4. I remember bits and pieces of it so for my brother it was like him getting his first visit twice.

Hit read more to read about our vacation and see some pictures from each day! Restaurant posts are coming soon!