Can you believe I’m blogging about what I ate? Well, people do it all the time (food blogging is a big deal!) and I thought it might be an interesting way to document our recent trip to Disneyland. I really got the idea from Steph on her personal blog and I thought it was a fun way to capture the unique experience of being on vacation.
I love that I don’t have to cook a single meal when we go to Disneyland, but the food has never been all that thrilling there. I’m happy to report that things have definitely improved and we had some good eats while we were there this time. Because my husband was working or at work-related dinners for most of the trip, the majority of the meals just involved me and my two teenagers. We kept it pretty simple and ate in the parks quite a bit so we could maximize our fun. We also were on vacation so I promise I don’t always eat like this – don’t judge me! lol!
After leaving Utah early on Monday morning, we made it to the California Adventure theme park in plenty of time for lunch. We ate outside (no other choice) in the rain. At least we had some umbrellas to sit under. We ate at the Boudin Bakery right after we went on a short tour to see how they make sourdough bread.
Jeff had vegetarian chili
Riley had corn chowder
Alex had a shrimp Louie without any dressing (he does not like sauces)
I had a chicken Waldorf salad without lettuce (I get sick when I eat lettuce)
We all enjoyed our lunches and the bread bowls were especially good!
When we made it over to Disneyland later that afternoon, we stopped for a Mickey Beignet (Jeff had popcorn instead) before we did Pirates and The Haunted Mansion. New Orleans Square is my favorite part of Disneyland. When we went to Disneyworld back in 2008, I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no New Orleans Square. It just didn’t seem right! To me, Disneyland needs that! The Beignets were tasty!
Our only night of dinner together as a family was spent at the new restaurant The Jolly Holiday which was themed on Mary Poppins. It was charming and yummy!
Alex had a turkey sandwich and the “most delicious potato chips” (his words).
Riley had the Jolly Holiday salad (cranberries, feta, spiced pecans, & greens) and she really liked it.
Jeff had a grilled vegetable & spelt salad – he’s a health nut so he was happy about this choice. He did wish the breadstick was whole grain instead of white.
I had the caprese sandwich with the chips (and they were delicious – Alex was right).
Tuesday was an early admission day to Disneyland for Disney resort guests so we decided to take advantage of that. It wasn’t hard to get up early because Jeff had been up since 6:30 getting ready for a breakfast meeting. We left the room about 8:45 a.m. and walked over to Disneyland (love how close the hotel is!) and ate breakfast at The Jolly Holiday. It was even more fun in the daylight.
Riley had the ham quiche (she didn’t like it) and fruit.
Alex and I both had blueberry muffins and they were tasty. Riley and I both had Abuelitas (Mexican hot chocolates) because those have no high fructose corn syrup in them. I would have been suspicious of the muffin, but I did some research and Disneyland’s baked goods are all prepared in a central kitchen that uses real ingredients like pure lemon juice for their lemon bars and no HFCS so I felt safe eating cookies and muffins in the park. lol!
We ate lunch at The Hungry Bear restaurant which had a new menu. We all had the Fried Green Tomato sandwich with jicama slaw. It was quite tasty but it was served on a multi-grain roll that had oats all over it (another food that makes me sick). I took off half the bread on mine, but I still had a problem with the oats and my tummy hurt later on. Alex didn’t really like the jicama slaw that much.
They did a nice job on the sandwich though and it was a fun place to eat because you could overlook the water where the riverboat sails.
Because it was Valentine’s Day, all the restaurants in Downtown Disney were booked so we just ate dinner in the California Adventure park. We tried the Lucky Fortune Cookery and it was just ok. Alex didn’t like his at all (too saucy) so I got him another Shrimp Louie salad from Boudin. The best part of the meal was the edamame and the mango slices.
Wednesday morning was chilly and the forecast said it would be rainy. Since we couldn’t figure out anywhere else to eat for breakfast, we decided to go to the Jolly Holiday again.
Riley had a Danish.
Alex and I went with the muffins again and he also had a croissant since he was pretty hungry (teenage boy you know!)
I love eating outside and I wish I could do that all the time!
We did everything we could in the morning because we could tell a storm was coming. We spent quite a bit of time in Innoventions waiting for the weather to improve, but we finally gave in and went back to Downtown Disney while it was pouring rain. Even though we purchased ponchos, it was just too cold and wet to go on.
We ate a very late lunch at The Jazz Kitchen. I had a pork quesadilla. I only ate about half of it because it was way too meaty. I’m pretty sure there are no vegetarians in New Orleans.
Riley had a pork sandwich and she only ate about half of it. She did really like the potato salad though.
Alex had a pasta carbonara dish without the cream sauce. He ate every last bit of it.
We were all still kind of hungry so we splurged and ordered dessert. Alex had the beignets which were messy but tasty.
I had the coconut cream pie which was yummy!
Riley had a peach praline waffle with ice cream and she loved it.
Riley and I could have skipped our entrees and been happy with dessert instead. lol!
We did eat a very late dinner that night, but it’s the one meal I forgot to take pictures of. I’ll skip Thursday’s breakfast since it wasn’t anything very blog-worthy. Lunch was a special treat that we looked forward to all week. Yes, we had reservations at The Blue Bayou (the restaurant inside Pirates) which is fun just for the awesome atmosphere.
It’s dark in the restaurant since you are right on the bayou. We did take pictures though and the waitress even snapped a photo of the 3 of us together.
I had the Monte Cristo but it really didn’t taste that good. I didn’t eat very much of it. I wish I would have had what Riley ordered.
Riley had a portabella mushroom and couscous dish that was very tasty.
Alex was very pleased with his crabcakes.
That night we made one more trip to the Jolly Holiday where we all just ate what we had the first night. My son really wanted to have those delicious potato chips one more time so he was pretty happy.
There’s our trip in food. This was a great way to keep track of what we did each day and a unique approach to documenting our Disney experience. Thanks to Steph for the idea and to my kids for letting me photograph their food at every meal before they ate – even when they were very hungry!
Have you ever thought about using food as the subject? It’s a common thread that we all share and it’s part of every single day, no matter where we spend it. So aim your camera at your next meal and capture an interesting moment in time!
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