Your Help In World of Color, Fantasmic and other Favorite Restaurants

[disneyfan64]

I need some help!! We are going to Disneyland at the end of August and will be staying at Grand Californian for 5 nights. It will be my wife, our 8 year old son and myself. I use a power wheelchair so this needs to be placed into the factor. What we need help with is the dining options. We want to go for breakfast at Storytellers Café on our last day at the hotel, so that one is taken care of. We want to include if we can some of the benefits of eating at a restaurant and being able to get access to World of Color and Fantasmic. Back in December 2013, we saw World of Color (Frozen/Olaf) and loved it and would like to see it again, this way, we see the summer version. We never have seen Fantasmic (don’t judge us ) and would like to watch it. Start with California Adventure’s World of Color, what restaurant do you like and why? How does it work for this restaurant and what time do you recommend? Now Disneyland, do they only offer the Dessert Sampler? Where is this done at and what time do you suggest? Now for the rest of our time eating, what are some of your favorite places to go? We personally do not like Rainforest Café, bad service last December and time before that, so we will not go there. We like the atmosphere of the Blue Bayou but the service has not been getting rave reviews. We have done Goofy’s Kitchen and my son loved it. We done the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, it was OK our server was not very friendly so not sure if we really want to go there again. Harbour Galley is one of our “must go to”places, love the chowder bowls. The Little Red Wagon for corn dogs is another one of our “must go to” places for food. So please let us know, we have no food requirements other than great food and service. Thank you for all your help.

 

[Aladora]

I need some help!! We are going to Disneyland at the end of August and will be staying at Grand Californian for 5 nights. It will be my wife, our 8 year old son and myself. I use a power wheelchair so this needs to be placed into the factor. What we need help with is the dining options. We want to go for breakfast at Storytellers Café on our last day at the hotel, so that one is taken care of. We want to include if we can some of the benefits of eating at a restaurant and being able to get access to World of Color and Fantasmic. Back in December 2013, we saw World of Color (Frozen/Olaf) and loved it and would like to see it again, this way, we see the summer version. We never have seen Fantasmic (don’t judge us ) and would like to watch it. Start with California Adventure’s World of Color, what restaurant do you like and why? How does it work for this restaurant and what time do you recommend? Now Disneyland, do they only offer the Dessert Sampler? Where is this done at and what time do you suggest? Now for the rest of our time eating, what are some of your favorite places to go? We personally do not like Rainforest Café, bad service last December and time before that, so we will not go there. We like the atmosphere of the Blue Bayou but the service has not been getting rave reviews. We have done Goofy’s Kitchen and my son loved it. We done the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, it was OK our server was not very friendly so not sure if we really want to go there again. Harbour Galley is one of our “must go to”places, love the chowder bowls. The Little Red Wagon for corn dogs is another one of our “must go to” places for food. So please let us know, we have no food requirements other than great food and service. Thank you for all your help.

If you want to do the WOC dining, I would recommend Carthay above anywhere else in a heartbeat. We have done Wine Country twice and Carthay Circle twice and much prefer CC's food. I know that some people feel that the WOC dining is not worth it since you still have to get to your viewing spot early, but I like the viewing area you get with the dining package and have never found the wait to be onerous. We have a similar family makeup so if our son gets bored waiting, one of us takes him on a ride while the other one holds the spot. I like getting to the viewing area right when it opens up and we have always had a spot right at the railing. Since you are in a power chair, this might change since you will have access to a different viewing area potentially.

I agree with you on Rainforest Cafe, the food is mediocre and the service was not much better so we avoid it as well.

If you want to do a character meal, I would recommend the Minnie and Friends breakfast at Plaza Inn.

Fantasmic viewing is changing in December, so I would wait and see how it all evolves between then and when your trip is planned. And no judgements here, it took us until our 4th trip to finally see F!

The one "must go" meal for us is the fried chicken at either lunchtime or dinner time at Plaza Inn. DH and I always split one order and we don't leave hungry.

Our last trip in August we finally tried Bengal BBQ skewers and really enjoyed them. We don't tend to eat large meals but instead snack more often so the skewers were perfect. This is the same reason why we we not big fans of the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, it was a pricey meal for people who don't eat a lot!

 

[MouseEXP]

In reference to the World of Color dining package.
I tend to believe that you have to decide what is more important to you.

Eating the better food at Carthay Circle, or having the better view with the Wine Country Trattoria. They do not have the same viewing location and I prefer the Trattorias view much more.

Of course, this may change like it has in the past.

Fantasmic is wait and see right now.

 

[GrowUp2BaPrincess]

How does Ariel's viewing area compare to the other two?

 

[Jennafoo]

Be warned, I had one of the worst service experiences EVER at Carthay (though I was solo) and others have complained of poor service. My experience took almost two hours (that wasn't the problem) and a lot of that was sitting around waiting. Everyone around me got there before me or at the same time and left after.

If you choose CC, I would go early so that you have plenty of time to get to the area and see the show.