Disneyland has gotten pretty cute with its food, I must say. Who can resist a Mickey-shaped soft pretzel? Apparently not my family!
Last time, I shared the food (and drink!) we encountered at California Adventure — this time we’re across the plaza at the park that started it all.
For the first time in our history of visiting Disneyland, we actually made it to the entrance gate right when the park opened at 8 AM. We only had 30 minutes until our breakfast reservation at the Plaza Inn on Main Street USA, but at that hour we easily had time to walk right onto Star Tours and Autopia and FASTPASS Space Mountain for Mike and our son.
All right, we were a few minutes late for the reservation but it wasn’t a problem. 🙂 They took us to our table and the stream of characters began flowing through immediately. There’s a bit of a premium placed on these character breakfasts — it was $95 for the four of us — but the kids love hugging Winnie the Pooh, Goofy and everyone.
I asked the server behind the buffet line for “one of everything” so I could bring a selection for all of us to share back at our table. She smiled, then started loading up the Mickey waffles, bacon, sausage, eggs and fruit. THEN, she scooted over to the next station (what next station? I didn’t see that!) and piled on biscuits and gravy, chicken fried steak, hash browns, and ham. WHOA!
Not gonna lie, I really enjoyed that chicken fried steak. Actually, it was the chicken fried steak in combination with the gravy that I found irresistible. I would never have ordered it — and didn’t realize I had done so this time! — but yeah, it turns out battered and fried beef tastes really, indulgently delicious.
Battered and fried hot dogs and fish aren’t bad either! If I’m going to have one, maybe two corn dogs in a given year, it may as well be at Disneyland — they’re legendary. They’ve got just the right dog-to-batter ratio (about 1/4″ – 1/3″ cornbread thickness). We got ours at the Stage Door Café in Frontierland, but you can find them all over the park.
Mike had the fish and chips and said they were outstanding!
Dinner that night was at Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue in Frontierland. Once again, we’d made a reservation ahead of time so there wasn’t a wait. Seating was all outdoors at canopied picnic tables under a grove of trees, which was nice.
It’s a set menu at Big Thunder Ranch, served family style — we thought the food was all pretty good. It’s technically all-you-can-eat but, we didn’t come close to finishing what our server brought to the table. Chicken, ribs and sausage arrive in a bucket, along with sides of corn on the cob, cole slaw and sweet corn muffins. We might have benefited from a candle on the table — it was kind of dark in the evening — but otherwise it’s a fun, festive atmosphere, complete with country-western singers on stage.
Disneyland actually does allow you to bring your own food into the parks, but for our family exploring the park food is all part of the experience. We indulge a little in foods we don’t normally eat every day (and walk for hours in between) and enjoy the chance to relax and enjoy each other’s company. That’s all I really want from a vacation!
