The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (202 page)

Dining here is relatively expensive but worth every penny.  If you’re going to dine here, make the most of it.  Relax
and savor the leisurely pace of the meal.  Enjoy your food and your child’s interaction with the royals as the
Princesses
visit your table one by one.  All of the canonical
Disney Princesses
will drop by: 
Aurora
,
Belle
,
Cinderella
, and
Snow White
.

The
Princesses
are extremely gracious in their interaction with the children, and are able to draw out even very shy children and put them at ease.  Your children will enjoy speaking briefly with the royals and securing autographs and photos that they can treasure forever.  At some point during the meal, a fancily clad page appears and gives everyone a fun lesson in palace life, including royal cheers (“Huzzah!”), royal waves, and the ever-important curtsey.

Adults will appreciate that servers are polite, professional, warm
, and attentive.  You and your kids will be pampered as if you yourselves are royals.  The clever ocean theming is pervasive, even to the rolls and desserts molded in the shape of seashells.  Inside, the soothing décor tends to pale blues and sea foam greens.  Outside, the views of the bay are glorious, particularly at night when the boardwalk, coaster, and Ferris wheel are alive with multi-colored lights.

The tablecloths and napkins are linen and the service is high-class, but this is an experience geared toward children, so
Guests not used to kids should be forewarned:  There’s a lot of laughing and chattering and giggling and squeals, a kid-driven noise level that begins in the foyer. Seasoned parents and guardians will either enjoy or tune out the cacophony, but others in the party might need to reach for an Advil, or decamp to the more adult
Wine Country Trattoria
.

Adults in your party who aren’t fans of the
Disney Princesses
can be dispatched upstairs to the
Cove Bar
for snacks and drinks.  Or, better yet, send them ahead to get
FastPasses
for popular attractions like
California Screamin’
!  Teens who feel they’ve outgrown the
Princesses
can be sent on ahead to enjoy the fun of the
Pier
.

However you
organize it, if you have little ones in your party that love the
Princesses
, try to make this happen.  Remember to bring a camera and an autograph book or even a simple pad of paper.  The
Princesses
, like all
Disney
characters in the parks, are happy to sign any paper that you or your child presents.  Finally, be sure to call 714-781-DINE in advance to request
Priority Seating
for your visit. 
Priority Seating
isn’t a reservation, but it guarantees that you’ll be seated quickly within a particular time window.  You can also email
[email protected]
. 
Guests who don’t call ahead for
Priority Seating
can find themselves waiting an hour or more for a table.

World of Color
fans can enjoy lunches or dinners here accompanied by
World of Color
tickets (one per diner).  The cost is around $42 (plus tax and tip) per adult, and $22 per child.

I hope you and your little
princes and princesses are able to experience
Ariel’s Disney Princess Celebration
.  Your children will never forget this special meal.  And neither will you! 
Did You Know?
 
Disney Princesses
are
face characters
, which means they don’t wear masks and are allowed to speak with Guests. 
Masked Disney characters
like
Pinocchio
never speak (except for the new talking
Mickey
and
Minnie
!).  The
Disney Princesses
at the resort are cast not only for appearance but for their warmth and their ability to interact positively and engagingly with all Guests, and with children in particular. 
Disney
understands that meeting a
Princess
is often a once-in-a-lifetime, once-upon-a-dream experience for young Guests, a
magical
moment that never fades.
Did You Also Know?
Wondering why a princess-themed restaurant also houses a bar?  It does seem like an unlikely combination.  The reason is simple.  When it opened in 2001, the restaurant was a grown-up venue,
Wolfgang Puck’s Avalon Cove
.  The
Princesses
moved in after
Puck
moved out, but the attached
Cove Bar
was retained.
Did You Also Know?
 
The Little Mermaid:  Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
opened in 2011, just across the bridge from
Ariel’s Grotto
, great news for mer-maniacs.  Guests can dine at the grotto after enjoying the dark ride, or visit the dark ride after their grotto meal. 
Night Vision:
  Located right on
Paradise Bay
,
Ariel’s Grotto
offers excellent views of
World of Color
! 
Kid’s Eye View:
  It’s cool!  Shy kids, though, maybe shouldn’t go here, because there will be a lot of princesses visiting you.

Bayside Brews
(S)

[
FastView:
 
Beer and snacks served by the bay.
]

On July 1, 2011, a brand new snack restaurant opened on the shore of
Paradise Bay
, near the
Silly Symphony Swings
and
Goofy’s Sky School
.  Part of
Paradise Pier
’s elaborate new Victorian-themed outdoor dining area, little
Bayside Brews
serves up beer, sodas, and snacks.

The handsome stand is rendered in pale pastels with little red-and-white-striped awnings and popcorn lights.  Lines tend to be short, and with its limited menu this
brewhouse fills orders quickly.

All pretzels are $3.
69 each; buy one filled with cream cheese, or jalpeno cream cheese, or shaped like good old
Mickey Mouse
!  Cups of cheese cost an additional 89 cents.

There are an assortment of sodas, juices
, and powerades, priced between $3 and $4.

But the stars of this stand are the brews: 
Bud Light
for $5.75;
Pacifico Cerveza
for $6.75; and
Blue Moon Belgian White
,
Karl Strauss Seasonal
,
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
, or
Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA
for $7 each.  (Beer fans should also check out the craft beers at the
Sonoma Terrace Beer Garden
.)

More of a wine
aficionado?  That’s OK–
Bayside Brews
also serves wine: 
Bogle Chardonnay
($8),
Casa Grande Pinot Grigio
($9),
Ca Di Sante Spumante
($10),
Sterling Cabernet Sauvignon
($10), and
Vin Ruspo Rosato Di Carmignano
($9).

Word to the wise: 
You might want to go easy on the suds before boarding your
Silly Symphony Swing
or soaring into the clouds on
Goofy’s Sky School
!

Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta
(Formerly
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
) (L, D, S)

[
FastView:
 
The name says it all—pizza and pasta near the boardwalk.  The food is tasty—pasta is freshly prepared before your eyes—and seating is more than plentiful in the lovely
Paradise Bay Gardens
.
]

I wasn’t the first to notice or comment on the connection: 
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
was the
Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port
of
DCA
, but with a surfing rather than outer space theme.  If Guests were craving pizza or pasta at
DCA
, they headed to
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
on the southwest edge of
Paradise Pier
.  During peak days (weekends, summer, and holidays) they encountered long lines and confusion, although not on the frustrating scale that you’ll usually find at
Redd
’s.

Pizza Oom Mow Mow
was a large structure, a steroidal “surf shack” on the southwestern edge of
Paradise Pier
.  It celebrated California’s surfers and Hawaiian and South Pacific inspirations and influences on California surf culture.  Even if you didn’t eat at
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
, if you were in that vicinity you might have strolled past to observe the imaginative touches of its exterior, like the colorful longboards and the bicycle parked on the roof.  If you’ve seen the 2013
Disney Channel
flick
Teen Beach Movie
, you can picture
Big Momma’s Snack Shack
, the beachy, casual teen hangout with the thatched roof.  That’s what
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
looked like.

Guests queued inside where there were multiple registers.  This was one of the
Disneyland Resort
restaurants where cashiers alternate between taking orders from Guests on the left and right sides of the register.  That is, if you arrived and saw everyone queued on the right side of the register, and you queued on the left, you were the next to have your order taken!  You paid the cashier immediately upon placing your order, and then proceeded with your receipt to the order pick-up area straight ahead.

While waiting, you and your little ones could peruse the many license plates and signs that adorned the interior, the type of casual, quirky décor you’ll find at real eateries along California beaches–Venice and Santa Monica Pier, for instance–but
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
lifted the style to a hyperreal level.  Once you received your food, you could nab a table inside the high-ceilinged, spacious restaurant or, if the weather was fine, on the patio outside.

A frequent Guest complaint about
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
was that the food was overpriced. 
Disneyland Resort Guests
expect to pay a pretty penny for most on-property meals, but they expect to receive delicious food in return. 
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
’s food was acceptable but nothing special.  Large pizzas for over $30?  Single pizza slices priced at $7?  It seemed like an awful lot, especially considering that you can buy a large Little Caesars Pizza for $6!  The most economical choices at
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
weren’t pizzas at all, but the pastas and salads.

There was a shuttered burger joint next door to
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
.  You knew it was a burger joint because of the gargantuan hamburger sculpture that dominated its roofline for years after the restaurant closed, and the giant
Burger Invasion
sign.  This was the site of
DCA
’s McDonald’s restaurant, where the prices were out-of-this-world and the service was glacially slow and completely disorganized.

McDonald’s left both parks on September 2, 2008, apparently part of the resort’s commitment to
increase its healthier meal options.  Interestingly, the timing coincided (roughly) with the end of the
Disney
-McDonald’s ten-year promotional contract at the close of 2006.  As of January 1, 2007,
Disney
and
Disney-Pixar
toys no longer appeared in McDonald’s Happy Meals.  Some credit
Steve Jobs
’ influence for the severing of ties, as Jobs has been both a
Pixar
and
Disney
board member.

By early 2010 the
Paradise Pier
Burger Invasion
property had been slated for conversion into a new restaurant called the
Paradise Garden Grill
. 
Pizza Oom Mow Mow
was transformed into
Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta
.

Both refurbished eateries are part of
Paradise Bay Gardens
, an elegant
al fresco
dining area with Victorian and Mediterranean motifs.  The location opened on July 1, 2011, offering seating for hundreds of Guests among pergolas and palm trees, under the sun, or the stars, or beneath little rooftops.  There’s a charming bandstand where live music plays.  It is, truly, a slice of paradise where it was once mere asphalt and concrete and kitsch.