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Best Disney World Restaurants for Fireworks Viewing: Part I

One of the most enjoyable ways to spend an evening is with dinner at a great restaurant followed by a beautiful Disney fireworks display. The best way to spend an enjoyable evening is to have the great dinner DURING the fireworks display!

There are several Disney restaurants from which you can see either Magic Kingdom’s Happily Ever After or Epcot’s Illuminations. Here in Part I of our “Restaurants for Fireworks Viewing” series, we’ll look at restaurants from which you can see Happily Ever After.

Happily Ever After is the Magic Kingdom’s nightly fireworks display. It usually takes place at 9:00PM, but it can be earlier or later depending on time of year and the MK’s schedule of special events. The Happily Ever After soundtrack is piped into the restaurants, so hearing the accompaniment to the fireworks will not be a problem.

Best Restaurants From Which to View Happily Ever After Fireworks

‘Ohana‘Ohana

, one of the two table-service restaurants at the Polynesian Village Resort, has arguably the best view of Happily Ever After from any restaurant. With a wall of windows facing the castle, directly across Seven Seas Lagoon from the Polynesian, the view of Happily Ever After is head-on — just as you’d see it on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom (only farther away).

See that blue spot in the middle? That’s the Castle from our ‘Ohana table.

The second picture isn’t the best — the castle looks a million miles away — but trust me that it’s a great show from ‘Ohana. Definitely worth booking. And speaking of booking, you’ll want to book a reservation about 30-45 minutes prior to the scheduled time for Happily Ever After. When you arrive at the podium, request a “Fireworks view” table. They cannot guarantee it, but they’ll do their best. If you happen to be seated in one of the few tables from which you can’t see the fireworks, you’re free to move during the show to stand in an area of the restaurant offering a better view.

Also, note that if you don’t get a reservation for around fireworks viewing time, the Polynesian Village Beach is another great spot to view Happily Ever After.

‘Ohana is a casual dining establishment; standard park-wear is acceptable here.

Narcoossee’s
Narcoossee’s, in the Grand Floridian Resort, sits over to the left-hand side of the Magic Kingdom. Several window tables offer a great view of the Happily Ever After fireworks show.

View of Castle From Narcoossee’s

Narcoossee’s also has an outdoor viewing area along the railing outside of the restaurant. This will offer a great view if you’ve not yet been seated at your table. Again, book a reservation about 30-45 minutes prior to the scheduled start time for Happily Ever After.

Narcoossee’s is a bit fancier than ‘Ohana; you might want to dress up a bit.

California Grill
California Grill, on the Contemporary Resort’s 15th floor, is often thought of as the quintessential Happily Ever After viewing spot. The restaurant offers its outdoor viewing deck in addition to the views from the wall of windows in the restaurant.

California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort

View of Castle from our California Grill Table

That said, California Grill isn’t my favorite location for Happily Ever After viewing, as the vantage point is strongly to the right of the castle. As a result, many of the fireworks launched from a mile or so behind the castle are skewed and don’t appear as they would when watching the show from directly in front. However, California Grill definitely has my vote for best food of the three!

Note that if you can’t book a reservation around fireworks time (these fill up fast) but get a reservation at some other time that evening, you are welcome to return to the 15th floor observation deck to view the fireworks at their scheduled time. Also, James comments below that the bar at California Grill has non-reservation seating, so you might get lucky with a seat at the bar if you hit the Contemporary at the right time. (This seating is first-come, first-served.)

California Grill is another Disney signature dining location, so it’s pricey…and dressy.

OTHER OPTIONS FOR RESTAURANT WISHES VIEWING

While these three are clearly the front-runners in dining reservations, you can also see glimpses of Happily Ever After from Magic Kingdom’s Plaza Restaurant, Crystal Palace, Casey’s Corner, and Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station.

Interesting “views” of Wishes can be had from Cinderella’s Royal Table in Cinderella Castle and Pinnochio’s Village Haus in Fantasyland. While the fireworks are exploding above your head (not necessarily in your view, of course), you can see the flares being released from the tops of Magic Kingdom buildings around you. You won’t be able to truly experience Happily Ever After, but it’s a unique view for anyone who has an interest in pyrotechnics, engineering, or fireworks in general.

Restaurants in the Magic Kingdom from which you can see very little — if any — of the Happily Ever After Fireworks display are: Liberty Tree Tavern, Tony’s Town Square, Columbia Harbour House, Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe, Tortuga Tavern, and Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Cafe.

Check out the other “Best Disney World Restaurants” in our series!

Disney Food Weekly Round-Up: July 12

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Some really interesting Disney food posts around the web this week! You’re gonna love ’em!

SoloFriendly Reviews Spoodles: This restaurant will be replaced by Cat Cora’s Kouzzina this fall, so make your reservations quickly! SoloFriendly writes a glowing review.

PRD3000’s Revenge at 50’s Prime Time Cafe: Finding a way to “fight back” after being stuck in the corner singing “I’m a Little Teapot” for putting elbows on the table. Talk about needing a fastpass for the bathroom… .

WatchMeEat Tries Out Lottawatta Lodge at Blizzard Beach: Most of this post is about Blizzard Beach (which many of you will find interesting, I’m sure), but if you just want to see food, scroll down for pics. Great review of Blizzard Beach, to boot!

Kevin Kidney Details the History of Disneyland’s Birthday Cake Room: While it may be a stretch to include on a food blog, this is a really interesting article for you Disney history nuts out there. At least it has “Birthday Cake” in the title.

Epcot’s Nine Dragons

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View from Nine Dragons

According to most accounts, Nine Dragons in Epcot doesn’t really require an advanced reservation. It’s also considered a very disappointing restaurant for many. This characterization might be somewhat accurate — it’s not a “Wow!” restaurant — but I’ve had a few good experiences there and wanted to share that perspective as well.

Nine Dragons was recently overhauled, and, I think, offers a decent dining experience. While most people are forced into this restaurant by sudden rainstorms and bad planning (i.e. all the other restaurants are full and they couldn’t find Marrakesh), the food is more than edible (sometimes even good!) and the atmosphere is rich. Yes, it’s a bit too expensive for what you actually get, but the service hasn’t been bad in our experience, and we do enjoy the food.

Decorative Glass Wall

Renovated Light Fixtures

The restaurant renovation was immediately apparent on our last visit. Gone was the garish, too-opulent decor of the old Nine Dragons. The warm dark woods and interesting colors worked well with the stark, clean table settings. I find atmosphere to be almost as important as food, so being seated in a room that was pleasing to the eye already had the restaurant ranking higher in my mind than previously. Plus, the fun “history of writing” on the place mats was interesting, and any Epcot restaurant gets extra points if I learn something while I’m there.

Dark Wood Decorative Screens

History of Writing Place Mats

We ordered the Chicken Consomme with Pork Dumplings, the Spit Roasted Beijing Chicken with Mashed Taro, and the Canton Pepper Beef with rice. Although the food wasn’t “signature restaurant” quality, it was as good as most neighborhood Chinese restaurants and a bit better than some.

Chicken Consomme with Pork Dumplings

Beijing Chicken with Mashed Taro

Canton Pepper Beef with Rice

Overall, we enjoyed a relaxing dinner, had decent service, and were pleased with the atmosphere (even if the tables were a bit too close together for our liking). There’s nothing wrong with this place, but if you don’t believe me, Marrakesh is at the back of the Morocco pavilion… . 😉

Carthay Circle Club…

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Artist Rendition of Carthay Circle Theater (c)Disney

…or Triple C. Rumor has it that this will be the Disney California Adventure cousin to New Orleans Square’s hidden treasure, Club 33.

Built inside the Carthay Theater on Buena Vista Street (and all part of the current DCA facelift project), the Carthay Circle Club will offer members a feel of the type of club Walt himself might have frequented. They will relax in an Animator’s Lounge while waiting for their table to be ready in the spanish-style dining room upstairs. An open show kitchen, displays of photographs and memorabilia dating back to Walt’s early days as an animator, and wide vista views of the park and scenery beyond offer a stunning backdrop to each meal.

Club members will have a variety of perks as well, as do Club 33’s members.

Word is that Club 33 wait listers will have first dibs on a Cathay Circle Club membership, but steady your bank account now: Club members will pay $10,450 up front and $3,275 annually in dues.

Take A Bite Out of….Mickey?

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Nobody knows branding quite like the Disney Company. When you visit a Disney establishment, not only do you see your favorite mouse in animated character form, you also see him in every other form imaginable…including those that are edible!

While you can consume Mr. Mouse as a pasta, a vegetable, an ice cream sundae, and even as a pancake, my favorite Mickey Mouse-shaped foods are those that follow:

1. Mickey Waffles: These seem to keep popping up in my blog, but they’re pretty quintessential Disney food, no? The Mickey Waffle can be found on just about every buffet breakfast and room service menu on property; it’s a staple Disney parks and resorts food, and with all the folks trying to duplicate it at home, why shouldn’t it be?

Mickey Waffles at Cape May Cafe Character Breakfast

2. The Mickey Bar: This has been an icon of Disney theme park food since…the beginning of Disney theme park food? (Seriously, if anyone has a good “history of the Mickey Bar” they can share, I’d be most obliged.) It’s simple and ubiquitous and can be enjoyed by adults and kids both.

Mickey Ice Cream Bars

Frozen Treats at the Magic Kingdom

3. Mickey Rice Krispies Treat (on or off a stick): Who knew such a simple recipe, first printed on the Rice Krispies box in 1941, would, with just a little re-shaping, become such a huge mega-seller in Disney theme parks? Sometimes dipped in chocolate, sometimes straight-up, Mickey Rice Krispies Treats are a great between-meal snack. And low-fat, right? (By they way, every once in a while you can find GIANT Mickey Rice Krispies treats — bigger than your head.)

Mickey Rice Krispies Treat

4. Chocolate-covered Mickey Pretzels: Again, simple, yet delicious. Grab a pretzel, dip it in chocolate, add some decoration, and sell it for an enormous profit. We’re happy, you’re happy.

Chocolate-Covered Mickey Pretzels

Now, my fifth favorite Mickey-shaped nom was not mentioned here, because I don’t believe it exists any longer (but I can hope!). If anyone out there has a photograph (or knowledge of its presence on Disney property) of the old sculpted Mickey butter that used to be served at the restaurants, I’d love to see it. A 3-dimensional sculpture of Mickey made out of butter. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Also, let me know YOUR favorite Mickey-shaped foods…there are many not mentioned here…

Disney Food Post Sunday Round-Up: July 5

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I’ve cheated a bit on the Sunday Round-up this week, folks. I found a couple of links that are NOT from this week, but I just had to include them; they were too good! The rest are legit and from this week; I didn’t fail you completely! Read on…

Theme Park Insider readers named Chefs de France best Theme Park restaurant for 2009.

Tasty Chomps visits Animal Kingdom’s Yak and Yeti for another close-up look and review

Yesterland remembers Boardwalk Betsy’s Strips, Dips & Chips: Boardwalk Betsy served deep-fried fish filets, deep-fried chicken strips, and deep-fried mozzarella strips — with deep-fried jumbo french fries — until Toy Story Mania drove her out in 2006. This is a great look back.

Lindsey Luscious shows us how to make a few Disney Favorites at Home: Missing your Dole Whip and Bengal Barbecue? Check this out for some great at-home recipes and photos (especially if you’re not willing to shell out the dough for Dole Whip mix…)

Clumbsy Cookie has figured out how to make Winnie the Pooh cookies and cakes quick and easy: This is perfect for the next 5th birthday party or summer picnic you might be planning.

Disney Food Menus and Maps Now on Official WDW Website

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While the Disney Website re-vamp gave a lot of us headaches for a while, I’m very pleased to see that they’ve added two planning tools to the dining section that have been sorely needed.

Menus
You’re not the only one who faithfully prints out the menus for all your ADR restaurants and pores over them for weeks deciding exactly what you’re going to order. Apparently, enough of us are obsessed enough with Disney food that Walt Disney World has seen fit to pander to our idiosyncrasies and finally post many of their restaurant menus on their website! What’s so great about that, you ask? Two things:

The menus are authoritative, so they’ll likely be up to date.
They’re PDFs of the actual menus used in the restaurants! That means there’s just that added bit if Disney Magic and themeing that you get to glimpse before your trip!

Here are a couple of screen shots of how you can get to the menus on the Disney website. You begin by searching “Dining,” and clicking on the restaurant for which you’d like details. From there, you’ll see a screen that looks like this:

Location of Menus on Disney World Website Restaurant Pages

Simply click on the menu for the meal you’re curious about, and out pops a cool PDF that looks exactly like the menu you’ll get in the restaurant in Disney World. Here’s Liberty Tree Tavern’s dinner menu:

Menu PDF Pulled Up When Choosing Menu Option From WDW Website

Unfortunately, Disney doesn’t yet have ALL menus available, but you’ll find that about 80%-90% of what you’re looking for is there. Remember that buffet menus change daily, so those are often not posted.

Maps
Disney has also added what many of us consider to be the quintessential planning tool, maps, to its individual restaurant pages.

Map Section of Disney Restaurant Web Pages

Simply click on the “map” icon; when the map is pulled up, scroll down the list to the left until you find the restaurant you’re looking for. Its location will be highlighted on the map!

This is a great planning tool to help you determine where you’ll need to be in your touring plan (e.g. what rides you’ll want to be scheduling for before and after lunch) around the time of your restaurant ADR.

Visual When Opening Map From Restaurant Page on WDW Website

Happy Planning!
The Disney World website is getting more and more user friendly, and the inclusion of these tools, along with the interaction of the Mom’s Panel and other informative additions, makes me optimistic that the site has the potential to be a truly useful planning tool–even for veteran Disneyphiles!

If you’ve seen or used other great Disney dining planning tools, I’d love to hear about them!

Crystal Palace: A Great Reason To Get Up Early

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Early Morning on Main Street

The Early-Morning Advance Dining Reservation (ADR)
One of the well-known tips among Disney enthusiasts is that you should always try to book a dining reservation for breakfast in a theme park before it opens. Why? Because this means you get in before the general masses. You get the golden opportunity to wander through a practically empty Disney park. It’s magic at its finest. (Plus, if you eat quickly enough, you can make it over to the Adventureland rope and be first in line for Splash Mountain…but I didn’t tell you that.)

Empty Tomorrowland

One of my favorite restaurants at which to snatch up one of these break-of-dawn reservations is Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom Theme park of Disney World. This is a character breakfast, so you get to share your noms with Pooh and the gang (usually Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet); it’s a buffet, so you pretty much dictate how long your breakfast lasts; and it’s HUGE, so you have a great chance of getting those elusive 8:05 AM time slots.

Nearly Empty Main Street

So with all that going for it, you’ve got to give it a try! And I didn’t even mention that many guests deem Crystal Palace eats to be some of the best buffet food at Disney, scout’s honor.

...And the Castle

Getting Into the Park for Your Reservation
While it may seem like a red tape nightmare to get into the park an hour early, it’s usually pretty streamlined. Bring your dining reservation confirmation number with you to the park and show up about 20 minutes before your scheduled time. You’ll simply enter through the turnstyles marked for the Breakfast crowd (usually all the way to the right, but this can change); a Cast Member might check off your name and confirmation number, and then you’re free to explore Main Street in all its empty glory. This is why I suggest arriving 20 minutes early; you get to take all of those fascinating photos. Don’t forget to make your reservation for a day without extra magic hours in the morning!

By the way, if you’re staying at a Disney resort and taking the bus to the Magic Kingdom, a “breakfast bus” usually begins running at least 30 minutes before the first reservation in any park. The monorail also starts running far enough in advance as well.

Time for Breakfast!

Checking In for Your Reservation
The Crystal Palace can be found between Main Street USA and Adventureland — it’s the huge, glass domed building to the left of the walkway. Simply head up the steps (past the throngs of people, most likely — the Magic Kingdom may seem empty, but almost everyone who IS in the park is at the same restaurant) and jump into line to check in for your reservation.

Once your party is called, you’ll head into the beautiful Crystal Palace restaurant and be greeted by…

The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers...

…some very familiar friends! Not to mention an absolutely stunning, light-filled atrium made entirely of clear and stained glass. For all of Disney’s signature dining restaurants designed by award-winning interior artists, I find Crystal Palace’s atrium to be one of the most gorgeous design aspects on property.

The Beautiful Central Atrium

A Buffet With Character!
Once you’re seated in one of the two side rooms (these are beautiful, too — paneled with mirrors and filled with plants) you’re free to head up to the buffet.

There are two sides to the buffet, and these are mirror images of one another. The two sides culminate at the customize-your-own-omelet station in the center of the semi-circular buffet.

The Buffet

Hot Items are Identical on Both Sides of the Buffet

The Buffet

On the far ends of the buffet lines are cold items: yogurts, granola and other toppings, fruit, salmon, breads, etc. In the center you’ll find hot items: breakfast pizzas, breakfast meats, waffles, the famous puffed french toast, breakfast potatoes, and omelets.

Cereals

In the middle of the room you’ll find muffins, cereals, and Pooh’s famous breakfast lasagne.

Pooh's Breakfast Lasagne

Baked Items

The food is fairly similar to most of the other Disney breakfast buffets, which is actually quite good. Here are a few more close-up foods of some of our favorites. That Mickey Waffle might look familiar to some of you! It’s my avatar on Twitter!

Breakfast Pizza

Mickey Waffles

Puffed French Toast

Pooh and Friends
Once you have your food, it might be time for the first Character Parade! Hopefully you haven’t forgotten that some of your favorite friends are here, and they can’t wait to have a great time with you (and/or your kids…they’re good to go either way).

Piglet Leading the Parade!

While Character teams (Pooh and Piglet, and Tigger and Eeyore) take turns visiting tables on either side of the restaurant, some sort of Character Parade or Celebration occurs when it’s time for the teams to switch restaurant sides. This is when you should encourage your little ones to go find a character and follow along. Cast Members will be there to help move the parades forward.

There’s usually much singing and music; napkin “twirling” is a common activity during these functions. All in all, it’s a good time!

Eeyore Being Shy During the Parade

And then it’s back to signing autographs, taking photos, and making people smile for the characters (and back to eating for you!).

Tigger Signing Autographs...Sort Of...

And then, if you’re lucky, you pay the bill when the park is just about to open. I couldn’t resist posting this photo of a family following Alice (in Wonderland) as she hurried to “unlock” Fantasyland and her TeaCups ride right at opening time!

Alice is Very, Very Late in Opening the TeaCups Ride!

So you can see why Crystal Palace is one of my favorites for breakfast, but don’t forget that you can dine here for lunch and dinner as well! Both of those meals are buffets as well, and offer great food (in my opinion).

Enjoy!

California Grill: Spots Still Available for Independence Day Dinner July 4th!

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THE CALIFORNIA GRILL HAS AVAILABILITY FOR THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY DINNER ON JULY 4TH.California Grill has availability for their Independence Day Dinner, an exclusive dine-a-round Food and Beverage event with well bar. Guests can dine on Summer Lobster Rolls, fresh sushi, Boneless St. Louis style pork ribs, Black Angus Strip Steaks, sweet buttered corn, summer salads, a variety of desserts, and many more exquisite dishes. They will have characters, a DJ with dancing, strolling entertainment, fortune teller, and magician. This wonderful meal offers an incredible viewing location of the Magic Kingdom’s Disney’s Celebrate America! – A Fourth of July Concert in the Sky at 9:00pm and then the festivities continues with additional viewings of firework presentations at Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 10:00pm. This is one celebration no one should miss!

Adults and children are $220. The price includes tax and gratuity. Call 407-WDW-DINE or enter 6:30pm, July 4th into the reservation request for California Grill in Disney’s online system.

Good luck!

Wishes Fireworks Dessert Party Photos!

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THANK YOU to Zapperz at My Disney Mania for allowing me to use his stunning Wishes Dessert Party photos from this weekend. Stop by his blog and see more of his photos from his trip (including a few from the Museum of Pintiquities)!

The Wishes Fireworks Dessert Party is currently running from June 23 through August 28. (9/18 Update: The Wishes Dessert Party has been extended through January 2nd, 2010!) It includes exclusive viewing for Wishes fireworks and a self-service dessert buffet. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 407-WDW-DINE.

You can read more about the event on our previous Wishes Dessert Party blog post.