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!