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The Miscellaneous Thought Thread
- Thread starter mickEblu
- Start date
Disney Vault
Well-Known Member
I eat McDonald's like 1 or 2 times a year but never noticed an issue with the fries. Maybe just a one off? But I have noticed noticeable declines in the burgers and nuggets
I eat it much more often than 2x a year and I'm only mentioning it because I've noticed it three times in a row from different locations in a span of 2+ weeks. The Quarterpounders and double cheeseburgers have been better the last few years than they were say 5 years ago +. They never freeze the quarter pounders and recently I think they've made an attempt to serve softer buns on the cheeseburgers.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
I've found if you get the fries fresh they are better, but they've gone down hill since they switched to using seed oil back in the 90s. Its why I hardly ever get fries if I go to McD's.
I actually ordered them fresh today and they were still bitter. But I suspect they weren’t really fresh.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
Killed some time in DTD and the hotels today until our room was ready (prior to that, got some In-N-Out that hit the spot).
There was some sort of Talking Christmas Tree thing a la Push out in front of the old Rainforest Cafe. We didn't quite get the schtick but it seemed to be drawing a crowd anyway.
Apparently the Sketch Pad Cafe is not Disney-operated because they do not accept Disney Gift Cards. I suppose this shouldn't be surprising given that Disney outsourced the main restaurant space, but nonetheless caught me a bit off-guard. The contrast between the line for the food cart at Grand Californian (which we ultimately bailed on because it seemed allergic to movement) and the ability to walk right up to Sketch Pad was striking.
Why the heck were we at PPH? Christmas treats! The Gingerbread Whoopie Pie was fantastic, if not a bit dense and huge. The Christmas brownie was solid. The sugar cookie reminded me of the ones my grandmother used to make, albeit with less frosting.
Bing Bong was greeting in the lobby, something I don't think I've ever seen before. I still don't love the look of PPH inside, but the Christmas trees help warm up the lobby and are fun in a way that fits the resort.
My mother was hoping for Christmas pins, and there was really just a Christmas Day pin available, or one from Small World Holiday featuring a character she's not crazy about (the only other option weirdly had a festive-looking Mickey on a bunch of similar pins with country names on them that made us wonder if they were surplus Epcot pins that accidentally got shipped west). A bit disappointing for her. I will never understand why they have rows and rows of character pins but have so few pins that actually say Disneyland on them or Disneyland Christmas. They can swap out shirts for Christmas but can't do the same for a few more pins?
Ended our time on property today on a bit of a sour note. We parked at the Simba Lot and unintentionally got in line at a toll booth with a red light. Admittedly we should have paid better attention and not just got in line behind other cars, but it still seemed a bit uncalled for that the first words out of that CM's mouth were "did you know that the red light means this lane is closed?" On one hand, I get it, but on the other hand, we were not the first nor were we the last in his line. If you don't want people to get in your lane, put some cones out, call in reinforcements, something. It's not rocket science.
There was some sort of Talking Christmas Tree thing a la Push out in front of the old Rainforest Cafe. We didn't quite get the schtick but it seemed to be drawing a crowd anyway.
Apparently the Sketch Pad Cafe is not Disney-operated because they do not accept Disney Gift Cards. I suppose this shouldn't be surprising given that Disney outsourced the main restaurant space, but nonetheless caught me a bit off-guard. The contrast between the line for the food cart at Grand Californian (which we ultimately bailed on because it seemed allergic to movement) and the ability to walk right up to Sketch Pad was striking.
Why the heck were we at PPH? Christmas treats! The Gingerbread Whoopie Pie was fantastic, if not a bit dense and huge. The Christmas brownie was solid. The sugar cookie reminded me of the ones my grandmother used to make, albeit with less frosting.
Bing Bong was greeting in the lobby, something I don't think I've ever seen before. I still don't love the look of PPH inside, but the Christmas trees help warm up the lobby and are fun in a way that fits the resort.
My mother was hoping for Christmas pins, and there was really just a Christmas Day pin available, or one from Small World Holiday featuring a character she's not crazy about (the only other option weirdly had a festive-looking Mickey on a bunch of similar pins with country names on them that made us wonder if they were surplus Epcot pins that accidentally got shipped west). A bit disappointing for her. I will never understand why they have rows and rows of character pins but have so few pins that actually say Disneyland on them or Disneyland Christmas. They can swap out shirts for Christmas but can't do the same for a few more pins?
Ended our time on property today on a bit of a sour note. We parked at the Simba Lot and unintentionally got in line at a toll booth with a red light. Admittedly we should have paid better attention and not just got in line behind other cars, but it still seemed a bit uncalled for that the first words out of that CM's mouth were "did you know that the red light means this lane is closed?" On one hand, I get it, but on the other hand, we were not the first nor were we the last in his line. If you don't want people to get in your lane, put some cones out, call in reinforcements, something. It's not rocket science.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
What's different about it vs. the rest of the hotel?
waltography
Well-Known Member
Douglas Fir's an import from Disney Springs. I'm glad DVC sponsored something fun for the holidays in DTD.
My understanding is Great Maple also manages the cafe but I could be wrong. That cafe space is a great place to work from when I happen to take calls at the resort; plenty of tables and the coffee and pastries are much better than the ones from the Coffee House at DLH.
They must've run out of some of the designs! Off the top of my head I know of at least 2 pins from their Christmas line this year that included DLR on it (my favorite is the Mickey wreath one, shame it was only LE 2000):
That’s what I was wondering. I guess the fact that you have to walk around the pool?
Disney Vault
Well-Known Member
Orange County Register
GardenWalk developers ask city again for extensions on hotel construction deadlines https://share.google/3LGFQqcMxG2EYnbQU
Who has access to this article
GardenWalk developers ask city again for extensions on hotel construction deadlines https://share.google/3LGFQqcMxG2EYnbQU
Who has access to this article
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
That would make sense.
Someone left a voicemail today when I was at Knott's very earnestly asking if I was planning on keeping my upcoming reservation for Great Maple; made me feel a little bad when I decided to cancel instead. Hopefully they're doing ok.
See, those would have been perfect! Exactly the sort of thing we were looking for.
Maybe they'll get a few replenished over the next few days, especially given that there isn't a 2025 anywhere in sight? Probably not, but I'll keep my eye out just in case.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
Perhaps it's the unflattering approach? I know that eventually this turns out to be a star, but that's not really what it looks like on first glance to me. More like Mickey needs a few weeks in a rehab clinic.
Mr. Sullivan
Well-Known Member
Got all of my dining reservations locked in for the trip. We're gonna be staying at the Disneyland Hotel from the 2nd to the 10th, but only doing Disney from the 7th through the 9th, and the rest of the time will be spent doing other Cali things (Knotts, Warner Studio Tour, Academy Museum, San Diego Zoo Safari). But we're gonna be doing several on property meals even on non-Disney days that I'm looking forward to. Last time I went, I didn't eat a whole lot of places because I was so focused on other stuff so lots of first time meals on here.
All told we've got:
1. Great Maple (brunch; first time eating here)
2. Splitsville (dinner; been here before)
3. GCH Craftsman Bar (breakfast; first time eating here)
4. Hearthstone Lounge (dinner; first time eating here)
5. Naples (breakfast; first time eating here)
6. Cafe Orleans (lunch; first time eating here)
7. Carthay Circle Lounge (dinner; first time eating here)
8. Lamplight Lounge Boardwalk Dining (lunch; first time eating here)
9. Breakfast in the Park at Plaza Inn (did this last time, but this time, it's on the day of my 25th birthday).
We've got breakfast and lunch open for 2/3 park days and are gonna use quick service for that. Any quick service recommendations at either Disneyland or DCA for breakfast or lunch that we shouldn't miss?
All told we've got:
1. Great Maple (brunch; first time eating here)
2. Splitsville (dinner; been here before)
3. GCH Craftsman Bar (breakfast; first time eating here)
4. Hearthstone Lounge (dinner; first time eating here)
5. Naples (breakfast; first time eating here)
6. Cafe Orleans (lunch; first time eating here)
7. Carthay Circle Lounge (dinner; first time eating here)
8. Lamplight Lounge Boardwalk Dining (lunch; first time eating here)
9. Breakfast in the Park at Plaza Inn (did this last time, but this time, it's on the day of my 25th birthday).
We've got breakfast and lunch open for 2/3 park days and are gonna use quick service for that. Any quick service recommendations at either Disneyland or DCA for breakfast or lunch that we shouldn't miss?
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
I'm not entirely familiar with what you've accomplished in your previous visit, so feel free to ignore/disregard if you've done these things before.
IMO, for Disneyland, this is too much table service. It's not really the resort's strong suit; you're missing out on some of the better DTD options (Centrico, Din Tai Fung) in exchange for some stuff you could just as easily do at WDW (Splitsville, Naples is literally Via Napoli, the west coast version); any time spent at PPH if you're not actually staying there is time wasted IMO (though I'm sure Great Maple is fine on its own, and if you are truly dead-set on eating there, there's another location ~10 minutes away from the San Diego Zoo; look up Great Maple-Hillcrest); and one of the main reasons people do TS at WDW-to have an excuse to sit in A/C for a bit-isn't nearly as much of a factor at DL, especially right now (although if a lot of these are during days when you're staying at the Disneyland Hotel but not going to the parks-sure, I guess? But as I detail below, I have my own reservations on that. Stay tuned.) I also wouldn't do breakfast in the parks, because eating breakfast will inevitably stop you from doing attractions during the single most beneficial time to do attractions. If you're inside the parks ready to GO at 8 AM/7:30 EE, you can get so much done; it'd be a pity to waste any of that time to do something you could do much more quickly and cheaply from your hotel room.
Speaking of: I strongly encourage you to book non-Disney hotels for the days you're doing non-Disney things. It's great that you want to see some of the other amazing things in California, but always ALWAYS use split stays to do so. If you're trying to do everything from the Disneyland Hotel, you're adding hours of time in traffic that don't need to exist to stay at an overpriced hotel that offers you very little reason to do so, even for the days you're actually visiting Disneyland. It can take up to two hours one way to get to Warner Bros. from Disneyland with traffic-and there's always traffic, let alone for other destinations you want to experience. For Knott's, sure, you can do that from DLH, but you really should have a hotel in LA and a hotel in San Diego close to your destinations otherwise. It will save you a lot of time and eliminate a great deal of time spent sitting in traffic. I promise you that you do not actually need to eat at all of those Downtown Disney restaurants or be in the Disney bubble for that long. If you can afford to spend that many days at the Disneyland Hotel, you can certainly afford decent places in LA and San Diego that are actually close to the places you want to go.
A reminder that if you're counting on Disney Gift Cards to pay for meals that at Disneyland, the non-Disney restaurants won't take them. So that would affect Great Maple and all of the DTD restaurants listed.
As for quick service recommendations, it's a bit difficult to make precise recommendations for your specific dates because a lot of menus may shift over away from the Holiday menus on the 8th (or they may not-but know it's a possibility), but I find the Plaza Inn fried chicken dinner to be pretty consistent and reliable. Jolly Holliday is good for simple lunch sorts of options and has the best baked goods in the resort. At DCA (the slightly better food park IMO), Paradise Garden Grill tends to have good stuff, as does everything in San Fransokyo Square. DO NOT eat in Tomorrowland.
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Mr. Sullivan
Well-Known Member
I should have been more clear.
We are very familiar with the DTD restaurants as that is mostly what we are last time. Booking so much table service is the full intent because we want to experience them. We are going back to other DTD restaurants for meals that are not listed above (such as DTF), this is just our list of what is reserved. We specifically WANTED to overload on table service because we want to try them all.
As for this, I appreciate it truly but not doing the whole trip on property would be antithetical to our reasons for booking in the first place.
We are very familiar with staying on property the whole time at DLR and having to travel out and are not interested in a split stay. We did just fine traveling to San Diego and even further beyond from DLR last time with no complications, and have no interest in staying in LA or San Diego. Traffic and a bit of travel does not bother us a bit. In fact, we rather enjoy the driving as California is so scenically different than where we live.
To you the traveling the longer distance and potential traffic is seen as a negative. For us that is a desired part of our trip. We actively want to do the traveling and to not be close to everything we want to do. It is also important to us to have the Disney bubble be our home base of sorts.
I know we do not NEED to spend that much time in the bubble or at all of those places. We WANT to. It is the whole gist of the trip.
The purpose of this trip is to be in Disney the whole time with little day trips outside of it because it is an environment that we prefer and makes us happy. This is a splurge trip for both my 25th birthday and to celebrate my Mom’s return to health after she nearly died 3 separate times this year due to complications from severe surgeries as a result of a genetic condition. To split stay would really go against all of our wishes for the trip and remove important elements of it that matter a lot to us.
Thank you! I’ll make a note of all of these and we’ll look at the menu on the day of and see!
