Magical Blogorail Green: Favorite Character Dining Experience

Welcome to those of you joining me from Disney Living and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the 2nd stop on our Magical Blogorail.

My favorite character dining experience is Chef Mickey's at Disney's Contemporary Resort. 

Chef Mickey's offers a great character dining experience for both breakfast and dinner with all of the classic Disney characters we all love so much - Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, Goofy & the Chipmunks (at least those were all the characters I met when I was little and used to go for their breakfast). 

When I went most recently for dinner I only saw Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald & Goofy. As an adult at Chef Mickey's I feel like a kid again. I think any character dining experience at the Disney Parks can easily transform any adult back to a kid (I still get giddy when I see them and take a picture with them). My favorite part is watching how the kids at the restaurant react. It brings back my childhood memories in an instant, but then again I haven't grown up all that much thanks to Disney!

The key to enjoying Chef Mickey's is to go hungry! It's an all you care to enjoy buffet style with all the yummy Disney food you can imagine! 

The only downfall to Chef Mickey's is that it is quite a pricey character dining experience. For breakfast adults pay $36 and for dinner it's now gone up to $60. And a new policy as of October 2011 now makes you hold the reservation with a credit card and gives you up to one day prior to cancel. This new policy will probably make getting a reservation much easier than it used to be (it was nearly impossible), but since it was only 2 of us we were able to walk in and be seated. Although pricey, I highly recommend this character dining experience for anyone both young and old! 

Below are some pictures of my most recent trip (I tried to find the ones from when I was 4, but would have had to have gone through hundreds of my mom's photo albums). 

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is A Disney Mom’s Thoughts. 

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Disney Living

2nd Stop ~ Adventures of a Disney Princess

3rd Stop ~ A Disney Mom’s Thoughts

4th Stop ~ The CanaDisney Blog
Final Stop ~ Your Highway in the Sky

Disney Dining - Spirit of Aloha Show

For a couple of years now I had been trying to get a dining reservation at Disney's Spirit of Aloha Show at the Polynesian Resort. Every time we went to book it though it was either too last minute and there was no availability, or we couldn't fit it into our schedule. Two weeks ago on one of our trips to Disney we were able to get a reservation, which worked out perfectly because it also happened to be my boyfriend's birthday.

Spirit of Aloha is an all you care to enjoy dinner show. I must say the food was absolutely delicious, my favorite part was the appetizer that included a pineapple bread and a salad with a mango dressing and mandarin oranges. I also loved the chocolate "mouse" volcano for dessert and the presentation on how it came out was great! Another plus to the buffet style menu is the fact that us adults can enjoy unlimited wine and beer (included in the price). If you feel like having something more tropical and islandy to go with the show a full drink menu is available (and at pretty decent prices at that - they weren't as pricey as you would think).

The show aspect of  Spirit of Aloha combines a non-traditional skit that takes place in the island of Hawaii and incorporates the traditional Polynesian dancers and fire performers. Once you've seen one luau you've pretty much seen them all, and after experiencing a truly traditional luau on my trip to Maui a few years back I must say my favorite part was the non traditional skit, but I always enjoy the dances!

Below are some pictures from our night at the show.

Disney Dining - Whispering Canyon Cafe

One of my absolute favorite places to dine, whether for breakfast before hitting the parks or dinner after a long day at the parks, is the Whispering Canyon Cafe at Disney's Wilderness Lodge.

This is a fun dining place regardless of your age and takes you back to a time of  rustic, less-civilized dining. No need to watch your manners when dining at this place!

If you ask for a straw you may get 20 thrown on your table or if you ask for a refill on a soft drink you just might get a lot more than you asked for!

Giant jar of water with an extra long straw!

When dining at the Whispering Canyon Cafe, I recommend going with their all you care to enjoy skillets for either breakfast or lunch/dinner! It's a great value and you get to taste all of their delicious offerings.

Disney Dining: La Hacienda de San Angel

On our New Year's trip to Disney last weekend we finally had the opportunity to eat at La Hacienda de San Angel, Disney's newest restaurant in the Mexico pavilion at Epcot. After a couple of months of trying to get dining reservations there, we were finally able to do so on New Year's Day!

I couldn't contain my excitement!

I for one love authentic Mexican food (and non-authentic as well), and La Hacienda de San Angel serves just that. You won't find just beef tacos and quesadillas on their menu. In fact the only tacos found on the menu are as appetizers and in the kids menu.

They start off by putting chips and salsa at your table (as do most Mexican restaurants). As an appetizer, my boyfriend and I ordered  the queso fundido. It was absolutely amazing! I strongly recommend going with this appetizer. As our main course we ordered "La Hacienda" Parrillada (serves 2 people for $49.95), which was a great deal and endless amount of delicious food. "La Hacienda"  is served on an cast iron platter and brings flank steak, chicken al pastor, chorizo and vegetables. It is served with beans and rice on the side.

Although all the meats in the platter were to die for, my favorites were the chicken al pastor and the chorizo (both were served in a chutney glaze).

So if you like authentic Mexican food, then La Hacienda de San Angel is just the place for you to dine at while at Epcot. Make sure to make dining reservations in advance as it fills up quickly and it is only open for dinner (starting at 4pm). If you'd like to look at their complete dinner menu you can do so here.