My Year With The Mouse

Try not to fall out of your seats–it’s a new post!

Exactly one year ago today, our family and lives were made complete with the adoption of our daughter, Violet. This year we just had to do something special for “Violet Day,” the day we became a forever family. Doing something at Disneyland was a no-brainer, so we decided to eat at Goofy’s Kitchen, the character meal inside the Disneyland Hotel.

Here we are!

We were greeted at the door by the Goof himself.

Not our best family photo

Now there are two basic aspects of Goofy’s Kitchen–the characters and the food. This post I’m going to cover the characters–next will be the food.

The very first character we saw was Violet’s favorite princess, Snow White.

For real, I can never get everyone looking at the camera at the same time

After Snow White, Chip came by. Theo has now learned to tell Chip and Dale apart. I remember them because a reader pointed out to me that Chip has a small black nose like a chocolate chip, while Dale has a reddish-brownish bigger nose.

Also at Goofy’s Kitchen they wear aprons with their names conveniently embroidered on them.

Violet didn’t want to be torn away from her food here.

After Chip was the Pièce de résistance, Violet’s personal hero Minnie Mouse. This girl LOVES Minnie. I mean LOVES. She calls her “Mow Mow” (she’s got a speech delay and Minnie is one of the few words she has).

At first Theo is looking a little funny but you can see the adoration on Violet’s face.

You are my hero.

Then Violet got to share some one-on-one time with Minnie.

Big hug!

Holding hands

A sweet little kiss!

A great thing about Disney is that they don’t rush kids through the character experience. Violet loved every second of Minnie’s visit.

Next to come by was Aladdin. He playfully made fun of Violet’s “genie hair”.

Hey, that’s my ponytail!

And then Dale came by.

Theo is explaining that he knows Chip and Dale apart

And for one last character visit, Pluto came by. I told Violet to smile and instead she said, “Da da da” which is her rather ineffective version of “cheese.”

Da da da!

Much to Violet’s delight, Minnie took another swing through the room and shared another hug and kiss.

Mwah!

In short, Goofy’s Kitchen is awesome. It doesn’t require park admission, since it’s in the Disneyland Hotel itself, and it’s a great way to catch a few characters while enjoying a fantastic buffet (especially the desserts–stay tuned for those). They do brunch and dinner and I’ve had both. I probably prefer the brunch because I basically think that breakfast is the best meal of the day, if not the entire universe, but the dinner was great too. The characters vary, but my kids didn’t really care who showed up and were thrilled with everyone.

Back in Part 1 I told you all about getting into the club, dinner, Fantasmic!, and the restroom. Now we’re on to dessert.

It’s dotted with raspberry stuff–SIGN ME UP!

And as any good Disneyland fan knows, following Fantasmic! is…

FIREWORKS!!!

I didn’t bother going outside for these. I missed the audio, but I was still enjoying my meal and after the break we took for Fantasmic!, it really was time to enjoy the meal. Plus, you see that nearly empty wine glass in the forefront? Tragic.

At this point we realized that other people were taking pictures inside the restaurant, so as gauche as it may have seemed at the time, we just went ahead and took pictures. Starting with asking the server to take a picture of us.

The situation with the flash got weird

Not our best shot. Also, no more wine. Sad.

I made Kevin take pictures of the dining room because he’s a better photographer than I am.

I want this lighting fixture. Yes I do.

I also want every single exit sign in my life to look like this

Our bill arrived in a lovely Club 33 bill holder thingy. I totally wanted to steal this one too, but that would have been way obvious.

Lovely!

Back in the day, you got a commemorative matchbook with your meal. Now you get this.

Chocolate!

I was all excited about this chocolate until I bit into it. It’s mint chocolate. Just an FYI. I hate mint chocolate. It makes the chocolate taste cold. So that was a bit unpleasant, unfortunately.

Kevin had to use the restroom at this point, so of course I made him take the camera. Sadly, this is the only evidence he returned with:

He has more class than I do. Which apparently isn’t hard.

It was awesome just looking around at all the details of the club.

Walt eating at Club 33? Actually he died before he ever got the chance.

There was a telephone booth. I forgot to ask if the phone actually worked.

Menus and billfolds

Actually I recently broke a sconce at the cabin. I think this would be the perfect replacement, don’t you?

There’s also another room to Club 33, the Trophy Room. It’s pretty gorgeous.

Sort of a safari theme

Definitely going for that Jungle Cruise look

This vulture was the start of it all. It was actually intended by Walt to be an audioanimatronic bird like those in the Tiki Room, to listen in on people’s conversations and then respond.

Because how bizarre would that be? And by bizarre I mean awesome.

Also, an eagle

This duck, as far as I know, is completely innocuous.

Quack?

And other stuff in the room:

This amazing buffet, and the lone table of people eating in the room. That was awkward.

Obviously I need one of these

The plant totally completes the tableau

But finally, we could drag our feet no longer. There’s a set of Club 33 merchandise you can buy and I was DESPERATELY hoping to get Club 33 mouse ears, but the cast member said that they had completely sold out. Instead we got a commemorative wine glass and a keychain.

All in all, it was truly a magical night. What an amazing experience, with an amazing meal. I am so thankful to my reader (I don’t know if she wishes to be identified or not :)) for giving us this opportunity of the ultimate date night.

Did we want to take the elevator downstairs?

Yes.

Yes we did.

Bye-bye!

I’m afraid I’ve been very remiss in writing this entry, but it is finally here. I have loved this blog and all of the wonderful people I’ve met through it, but I never expected this blog to make one of my lifelong dreams come true.

What’s this?

That’s right–thanks to an incredibly generous and sweet blog reader, I finally got to eat at Club 33. This exclusive club is open to members only and I have coveted an opportunity to eat there. When one of my readers offered to sign me in as a guest, I just about wet my pants from excitement.

The happy couple

It really was ideal start to finish, especially with my mother-in-law wrangling the little Mouseketeers at home.

Ringing the special doorbell was a real trip. It was like knocking on the wardrobe leading to Narnia. In fact, the whole thing was rather surreal. It’s one of those things that you’ve dreamed about and waited so long to do that when you’re actually doing it, it barely seems real. Because it’s so awesome.

The table is set

Did you know that those placeholder plates are called “chargers”?

I did.

But I don’t know why.

I really really really really really really want one of these

Our seats were perfect. We were right against a window looking out over New Orleans Square to the Rivers of America (which would become important later).

Love the wrought-iron balcony

We were in the main dining room, which was not large, but grandiose.

Elbow not included

Also the menus were very classy. You had to order a minimum of $80–or the general equivalent of a park admission, since members are allowed to invite a certain number of guests into the park for free to dine at the Club. We conveniently had our annual passes, but decided it might be a little tacky to ask if they had an AP discount. Instead we both decided to order the prix fixe chef’s menu. What a fantastic choice.

The wine list was also quite satisfying and we found a nice bottle to share.

And I’m not gonna lie–this was back in May so I honestly don’t remember what it was that we ate. I’ll have to ask Kevin.

Wow, I was having a great hair day!

I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from the food. Everyone said the food was excellent, but I’ve found that I occasionally have different taste opinions than many others.

I’m delighted to say that everyone was right.

Duck appetizer. I love duck.

I think the Napa Rose in the Grand Californian serves some of the best food in town, and Club 33 was definitely of that quality.

These short ribs were amazing

It was at that point that we had to take a break in our dining, because Fantasmic! started and for realz, people–how often do you get the opportunity to watch Fantasmic! from your dinner table at Club 33 (well, probably often if you’re a member, but not often if you’re me).

Skinny balcony

At first I just scooted my chair over, but then I realized that people were going out on the balcony! Well, when in Rome…

Crowd view

The balcony is very skinny, no more than two people long. Wide? I mean the distance between the building and the rail–about two people or one chair. The other problem was that there was a giant tree directly in our view.

Obstructed view! I demand a discount!

The only way to get a good look at Fantasmic! was getting close to the floor of the balcony and peeking through the bars. And you know what? I’m not too proud to do that.

It did get a little chilly

It was amazing seeing the show from up there. Especially with the zoom lens.

As usual, the photography is not great, but I can’t convey how exciting it really was up there.

Afterwards we headed back inside to finish our meal. I couldn’t help but savor every minute. And then we decided to take a few pictures of the place.

The visible wine racks

Did you know that Club 33 is the only place you can buy alcohol in Disneyland Park?

Of course you did.

They do serve alcohol in CA Adventure though.

The gorgeous bar

And then…yep, I had to use the facilities. And yep…I brought my camera with me.

I mean seriously people, you’re talking about the person who parked her rear on the balcony to watch a show she’s seen several times already.

Like I’m going to pass on this experience.

The art on the way was fabulous. I completely want this:

Yo ho!

The ladies room had an entrance area, then a small vanity and two stalls. It was all quite lovely.

This was just regular Kleenex

Nice and private

The toilets had an old-fashioned feel. Actually they seemed a bit weird, but I got used to it once I realized that I was using the restroom in CLUB THIRTY-THREE.

They flushed normally though

Cheese!

I almost did take one of these, but what would I do with it?

And cool little decorations

And I hate to leave you in the restroom, but this entry is getting quite long, and we still haven’t covered dessert and the grand circle tour! Stay tuned…