To finish up the last our my West Coast Disney food trip, our last morning in Disneyland we woke up to it pouring down rain.
So glad it didn't rain like this the other two days, but it was a bummer because we were supposed to spend the rest of the day at Huntington Beach as we have never seen the Pacific Ocean. Well, we decided to cancel our beach day and I called about getting a late check out, which we were granted until noon. Brunch it is!
We walked over to the Fantasy Tower to see if there was any availability at Goofy's Kitchen.
After a short wait in line they said they could take us with no reservation. They did something here that I loved. We paid in advance before we were seated. They took off 10% for DVC and added the tax and gratuity and we paid at the check-in counter. This was great because once you are ready to leave, you can just bounce rather then waiting for your server to bring the check, waiting for them to pick up your card and then waiting for them to bring it back, which can sometimes take awhile. Love this system! The only downside to this was that our server was garbage and I would have left a very small tip, but I'll pay extra for the convenience of paying ahead.
We were seated and after our server took our drink orders we hit the large brunch buffet.
Had to start with their famous Peanut Butter & Jelly Pizza.
They had a huge dessert selection!
Chicken nuggets, Mickey pancakes, French toast and Mickey waffles.
Not the best pictures, but I forgot my camera and only had my phone.
My first plate was ham, monkey bread, breakfast potatoes, peanut butter and jelly pizza, Mickey pancake and bacon.
Everything was really good! I loved the monkey bread! The PB&J pizza was interesting and tasted exactly how you would think it would taste. This is a cool treat for kids and adults.
Chip stopped by for a visit!
Dale came over as I was getting my second plate and never came back which was a bummer.
My second plate was more money bread and my own chicken and waffles with chicken nuggets and a Mickey waffle.
I was waiting and waiting and waiting on Minnie as I had all my Minnie attire on and it took forever for her to get to us and the picture of me with Minnie that my mom took was awful. I did get a cute pic of her with my mom though.
I wanted a selfie too, but she ran off pretty quickly.
My next plate was more on the lunch side of brunch and I got carne asada and pesto chicken pasta.
This was really really good! I loved the pasta. In fact I liked it so much that my last plate was more pats and gooey chocolate cake.
The cake was really good! I wish I had more room for other dessert options as they had an excellent looking selection.
Our server never came back with drink refills this whole time. He said he was taking a break and told the person taking over to refill for us and they were on their way. That person came over and asked what we wanted about 20 minutes later and then came back only with drinks for the table next to us which they spilled all over their table. Are asked again and still nothing. We never even saw him again. So we had a pile of dirty plates and no drinks. It was really not good for a buffet service.
With the characters we only saw Chip and briefly Minnie and missed Dale. I could not figure out any pattern to how they were stopping at tables and each stop was so brief from what I could see. We never got to see Goofy as he left his photo op up front as was coming around. We never saw Pluto either. And we were there for quite awhile. I have never had that type of experience at WDW character meals. I always see every character once if not twice and I'm there for less time. I was a little bummed.
Overall, this was enjoyable, but there was a lot of room for improvement with the service and character experience. I loved the atmosphere, how close it was to our room and the food. Better service and a little more interaction with the characters would have put this over the top for me.
After brunch we explored the lobby a little but more and looked at all the cool displays. They had a massive display of old Disney merch that was really cool.
These chairs in the lobby are just to die for.
The magic you guys! It's so here in this hotel.
After they we said goodbye to our room!
And goodbye to Mickey and Minnie!
And so ends our super magical Disneyland vacation. I didn't get the feeling of immediate homesickness that I do when leaving WDW, but the magic of this place stayed with me and really has me wanting to go back again soon. I think in 2020 I will be back. If you haven't done DLR or if it has been a long time, like it was for me, go back! It's so different from WDW, but in great ways. I miss it already.
And just to round out the rest of my West Coast trip, since we had to cancel our beach day we came back to Vegas and watched Tangled and made dinner together. Then the next morning we hit one of my bucket list spots, the Hoover Dam!
"Where can I get some dam bait?" Vegas Vacation anyone?
In two states at once!
Then we checked out Lake Mead.
We even hiked around Lake Mead for a bit and found the most amazing spring in the middle of the desert.
Naturally, this full day worked up some hunger so we had to stop at my final fast food must-do of the trip. Del Taco!
You guys, this was my fav spot! Del Taco is a must! I got the carne asada wet burrito plato with rice and refried beans.
This was so good and so fresh.
It also came with chips and salsa.
They had tons of different sauce packets on every table, so I tried them all.
I also got a churro and a Cherry Coke.
How cute is that packaging on the churro?
And then I got caramel cheesecake bites for later.
These were just little pockets of heaven.
I got the burrito plato, chips, drink and churro for less than $10! And it was all so good and the portions were huge. This is my new favorite spot. I wish there was one near me at home. Guys, Del Taco. Do it.
The next morning we left at 6:00am for the airport and said goodbye to our mom and had a super easy flight back to Philly and the cold where there is no Del Taco.
Thanks for sharing in my West Coast trip! Now back to what you came here for, Disney World foodies!