In addition to our earlier announcement about the Avengers Campus Opening Date, we also have some SUPER news to share about the menu items at Pym Test Kitchen. Some of these dishes are really unique and we hope they turn out as good as they look in these preview photos! Here’s all the scoop, originally posted on Marvel.com
Avengers Campus brings together Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for the common good, and they’re calling all recruits to join the action: Team up with the Avengers and their allies; sling webs with Spider-Man and become part of a bigger universe. Kids and guests of all ages will find their powers as they unite with family and friends to take an active role alongside some of their favorite heroes, with a chance to live out their own heroic story. So at some point, you’re going to want to refuel. Thankfully, you won’t have to go far after your latest mission because Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort includes multiple spots to stop and grab some delicious food, drinks, and even something sweet before it’s time to assemble again.
The brand new land, opening on July 18, 2020, features one new quick-service restaurant for you and your family of heroes to taste-test inventive food and drinks, a tasting lab with alcoholic beverages, a shawarma cart
(yes, you read that right), and a new treats stand located by Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission — BREAKOUT!
We recently got to try some of the brand new food and beverage offerings coming to Avengers Campus, and it all looks good enough to eat — and share on social media. So after helping Spider-Man catch those pesky Spider-Bots and in between heroic encounters with the Avengers and their allies, here’s where you need to go to fuel up:
PYM TEST KITCHEN
“Super Heroes don’t normally open restaurants,” Jillian Pagan, Staff Writer, Walt Disney Imagineering explained during an early media day for Avengers Campus. But, that’s exactly what the Pyms have done.
“They would use their technology to help the world, right?” Pagan continued. “So that’s the story of our Pym Test Kitchen. In our story they are using their shrinking and growing technology to create new innovations in food science because, of course, you can feed many more people if you can run, say a normal-sized pretzel through this quantum tunnel machine, hit it with some Pym Particles, and make it grow to a giant size.”
“We’re here at Pym Test Kitchen, where we are shrinking problems and growing solutions,” John State, Culinary Director at the Disneyland Resort, explains. “Just imagine the guests walking through, pulling the handle of that door, walking into a laboratory, becoming part of the experience of Pym Technology.”
It’s one thing to talk about the Quantum tunnel, and it’s another thing to actually see it in action — The Pym Test Kitchen features one that will shrink and grow food right in front of your eyes!
There will be plenty of options for everyone, including plant-based options along with kid-sized items and taste for kids. Here’s a sampling of what you’ll be able to find inside, and mobile order will be available via the Disneyland app.
Experiment No. IP42: Quantum Pretzel
Feast your eyes on a giant pretzel that has been enlarged by the quantum tunnel and comes with a mustard sauce and a beer cheese dipping sauce (featuring California IPA, sharp cheddar, mozzarella, a hint of mustard).
Experiment No. EE10: PYM-ini
Looking to indulge in a giant panini? You can with the appropriately titled PYM-ini. The full sandwich is two feet long, and 9 inches wide after it comes out of the Quantum tunnel — and while it can be ordered family style, it can also be done in individual slices, too.
The PYM-ini features toasted focaccia with salami, rosemary ham, provolone, sun-dried tomato mayonnaise and arugula with marinara dipping sauce. There’s also a version for little Avengers, the Teeny Pym-ini, which is ham, provolone cheese, a touch of mayonnaise, and focaccia.
Experiment No. EE746: PB³ Superb Sandwich
The PB³ Superb Sandwich features peanut butter, banana, smoked bacon and strawberry jelly with a banana smoothie shot and vegetable dusted potato bites.
For kids, there’s a deconstructed version, which includes peanut butter (served in a Petri dish), strawberry jelly, a little paddle to spread it, and two slices of the Pym bread, fruit and a Dasani water or a Lowfat Milk.
Experiment No. EE90: Not So Little Chicken Sandwich
What happens when you shrink a bun but grow a chicken breast? That’s the Not So Little Chicken Sandwich, with a fried chicken breast topped with teriyaki and red chili sauces, pickled cabbage slaw and crispy vegetable dusted potato bites.
I may be vegan, but this gigantic chicken sandwich with a tiny bun is hysterical…
There’s also a shrunken chicken sandwich, the Subatomic Sandwich for kids. It doesn’t have any sauce on it, leaving kids to customize it their own way at the condiment station.
Experiment No. EE45: Impossible™ Spoonful
For those looking for a plant-based option, the Impossible Spoonful features large and micro plant-based Impossible™ meat-balls, served in a super-sized spoon with a tiny fork, and two different sizes of pasta. They’ll be an option for kids, too, where the sauce will be on the milder side.
PYM TASTING LAB
Adjacent to the Pym Test Kitchen, an oversized beer can overhead signals that grown-up beverages are available at Pym Tasting Lab. Guests may order a craft beer, ranging from a blood orange hefeweizen to an amber lager. These are poured from a reverse draft system where, thanks to the food scientists, the glass fills from the bottom up. Those thirsting for a beer cocktail will have four to choose from, along with bite-sized snacks.
If you’re looking to try everything on the menu, there will also be beer flights available, along with souvenir Pym beaker cups.
X-Periment, Molecular Meltdown, Honey Buzz and Particle Fizz
X-Periment: Patron Silver Tequila, Lime Juice, Habanero, and Mango Syrup, garnished with Mango flavored Popping Pearls. Molecular Meltdown: Garage Brewing Marshmallow Milk Stout with Vanilla Ice Cream and topped with Mini Marshmallows. Honey Buzz: Plymouth Gin, Lemon Juice, Honey Premium Syrup, Elysian Space Dust, IPA and a Honey edible Straw.
PARTICLE FIZZ: Endless Summer, Hard Seltzer with Cherry flavored Pearls.
The Regulator
Patron Silver Tequila, Lime Juice, Habanero, and Mango Syrup, Golden Road Mango Cart Wheat Ale, garnished with Mango flavored Popping Pearls.
Snack Molecules
To complement any beverage selection, guests can also nosh on these Snack Molecules featuring popped sorghum with mini pretzels and honey roasted peanuts.
Proton PB&J Punch and Pingo Doce
The kid-friendly Proton PB&J features Odwalla® lemonade with flavors of strawberry and peanut butter, while Pingo Doce, the distinctly green beverage from Avengers lore, is a park-exclusive beverage featuring the flavors of lime, vanilla, and maybe some Gamma radiation.
SHAWARMA PALACE
After the Battle of New York, the Avengers fell in love with shawarma. So, it only makes sense for there to be a shawarma cart at Avengers Campus.
The cart will feature two items. New York’s Tastiest, which is a classic shawarma spiced chicken, with garlic sauce, a warm wrap and a dipping sauce featuring tahini, lemon, garlic, and a pickled vegetable.
There’s also the Impossible™ Victory Falafel. Falafel, Kalamata olives, mint, garlic sauce, hummus, crispy cauliflower, and a tofu dipping sauce. [We’re very excited for this along with the impossible meatball!]
TERRAN TREATS
Taneleer Tivan — also known as The Collector — is always looking for ways to lure more guests towards his towering building of collections. So what are guests constantly searching out? Sweet treats. Located over by Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission — BREAKOUT! here’s what you’ll find Taneleer serving, but everything might not be what it seems.
Sweet Spiral Ration
Why just have a churro when you can have a churro from The Collector? The Sweet Spiral Ration Churros will include unique, rotating flavors (and colors).
Cosmic Cream Orb
For a hand-held snack on the go, try the Cosmic Cream Orb. A crispy cream puff with whipped raspberry cheesecake mousse — and while you see it in a purple hue here, it might not always be that color.
We’re beyond excited to see these in person soon and test them out ourselves! The new Avengers Campus sounds like it’ll be quite the immersive area with all of these new additions including the new Web-Slingers: A Spiderman Adventure attraction. What are you most exited to experience at Avengers Campus? Stay tuned here for more news to come!
During a shareholders meeting this morning, Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced new details for the upcoming spider-man themed ride at the Avengers Campus, opening this summer.
Titled ‘Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure,’ the ride will give guests their own web-slinging powers as they team with Spider-Man to take on an army of spider-bots on the loose.
Walt Disney Imagineering creative executive director Brent Strong reveals,
At WEB, young inventors like Peter Parker have been brought together by Tony Stark to help create technologies that allow everyday people like us to have powers just like the Avengers. When we get inside, we find out that they’re not quite as well funded as Stark Enterprises. They’re not quite as militaristic as SHIELD. In fact, they’re not all that organized at all. These are some kids that have some amazing power, right? Vibranium from Wakanda, Pym Particles from Ant-Man. They have arc reactors from Tony Stark. In fact, they probably have a little bit more power than they have responsibility.
In a ride similar to this, Toy Story Midway Mania, guests use a blaster triggered by pulling a cord to hit targets. Superpowers don’t work like this though, and the folks at WDI had to figure out a more natural and immersive way to perform tasks on this new attraction.
What you won’t see is people holding onto a blaster, people holding onto an interface. Believe it or not, with nothing in your hands, you get to reach out and you will sling webs on this ride. In order to do that we invented a brand new interface.
This is the first time we’ve ever shown this outside [of Imagineering]. This is a gesture recognition system that we have built into every slinger vehicle and sixty times a second, we are able to determine where a guest’s head is, their shoulders, their elbows, and even their wrists. We’re able to track the motion of your body so that when you reach out and sling a web, since we know where your eyes are, and we know where your hands are, we can render a virtual web coming right out of the palm of your hand, right out of your virtual web-shooters and into a virtual world.
Strong also said that there are no age or height requirements for the ride, making it more accessible to all families.
This is something where guests of all ages get to live out that epic action, which is wonderful.
The ride will feature Spider-Man himself, as voiced by Tom Holland, who will explain the situation before loading guests into the new ride vehicles, called ‘slinger vehicles.’
During a shareholders meeting this morning, Disney CEO Bob Chapek has announced that guests will be able to meet some of their favorite adventures beginning July 18th, 2020!
The Avengers Campus is the brand-new Marvel themed area expansion to Disney California Adventure, which replaces the former a bug’s land area. In this new land of the park, guests will be recruited by the Avengers to become the next generation of super heroes.
July 18th is the scheduled date for Phase One of the area’s completion. This includes the brand new Spider-Man experience, which is the first Disney-built ride-through attraction to feature the web-slinger himself. Guests can also enjoy the currently open Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT! attraction, as a part of the land’s adventures.
Phase Two of the land, which will include the new Avengers-themed E-ticket attraction is still yet to come.
Avengers Campus will also feature the Pym Test Kitchen, an Ant-Man and The Wasp themed dining location specializing in growing and shrinking every-day food with Pym Technology.
Stay tuned here for all the latest updates on the Avengers Campus, and all over Disney parks and resorts.
Disney California Adventure has had quite the history in its short 19 years of existence. February 8th saw DCA’s 19th birthday, so to celebrate we thought we’d venture Up the Waterfalland discuss all the crazy changes this young park has experienced over the years. It’s definitely had some…growing pains. Special thanks to Yesterland.com for all the incredible photos from California Adventure‘s opening days.
Personally, I did not get to enjoy Disney’s California Adventure in its original or even secondary “glory.” This was due to the fact that around the time it was built I was not only dealing with two kids under two, but I was still in California-is-a-foreign-country-I-may-never-get-to mode regarding Disneyland. (But once I did get to experience the Disneyland Difference, I fell head-over-heels in love!)
As a result of not visiting California Adventure for years, I missed a lot of the things we discuss in the beginning of the episode. Sure, I knew about Super Star Limo and the pun-filled Paradise Pier area, but that was sort of it. So this episode was really fun for me to discover some of these things for the first time too.
In this episode, we start out with the history of a second park on the west coast; where and what could have been. Next we chronicle how Disney’s California Adventure first came to be. We cover all of the strange design and attraction choices that existed at park opening in 2001. Followed by the little changes and the major changes that followed.
ARE Egg Rolls the fastest?
When I finally got to visit DCA in 2011, it was full of construction walls and not much else. Really, just Paradise Pier and World of Color were the highlights for me. Certainly, when I returned in 2012, it was a whole new world. Cars Land, Buena Vista Street brought with it a new design standard. All the additions that came with those areas really improved the whole park, making it a must-see destination.
Rounding out the discussion, we share where we think the park will go in the future with the upcoming Avengers Campus. Above all, we ponder what will become of Disney California Adventure in the years to come. What do you think will happen?
We hope you enjoy this week’s episode of Up the Waterfall!
How to Listen to Up the Waterfall
You can listen anywhere you download and listen to podcasts, including:
(If there’s a podcast service where you can’t find our show, let us know and we’ll get it added there!)
How to Watch Up the Waterfall
Head to our Up the Waterfall YouTube Playlist– where you can see our opening sequence and some unique images of the Disney California Adventure over the years. Here’s the latest episode:
Feel free to comment below with your memories of Disney California Adventure, any questions or info you’d like to add, or if it’s easier, head to the Zannaland Facebook page and join the discussion there with fellow DCA fans!
How Can I Learn More About This Episode?
Here are some of the books we referenced for this episode (the links will go to the item on amazon.com and are affiliate links – meaning no extra cost for you but a small portion goes back to zannaland if you make a purchase – thank you for supporting our site!):
Zannaland and Up the Waterfall Community – Let’s Connect!
FOLLOW THE ZANNALAND FAMILY ON SOCIAL MEDIA, WATCH OUR VIDEOS, VLOGS AND PODCAST TOO:
Since the Christmas holiday season really starts at 12:01 on November 1st, we thought we’d jump right in and share the history of celebrating the Holidays at Disneyland on our latest Up the Waterfall podcast. There is SO much happening in all the Disney parks during the holidays these days, we wanted to take a look at how it all began and see how far the California parks have come in the last 64 years.
In this episode we’ll discuss the very first Christmas at Disneyland and what that meant for the park. We’ll see how that’s changed over the years, and even touch on New Years Eve history in Disneyland. Since the Disneyland Resort isn’t just one park anymore, we’ll showcase Disney California Adventure‘s holiday fun, and the resorts as well.
You can listen to the Up the Waterfall podcast (that link will show you many options or you can search wherever you listen), but as always, we encourage you to watch the YouTube video version as well for some fun visuals of what we’re discussing.
If you enjoyed the podcast, we’d love you to subscribe, give us a thumbs up or rate us on your podcasting platform of choice, click the notifications button so you know when a new episode or video has been uploaded, and as always, we’d love you to share us with a friend.
The more the merrier and we want to hear what your favorite holiday memories of Disneyland are, or if you haven’t been, what do you most want to experience over there? I’m sure we’ll cover other parks for the holidays in the future, but until then, thank you for joining us Up the Waterfall!
FOLLOW THE ZANNALAND TEAM ON SOCIAL MEDIA, WATCH OUR VIDEOS, VLOGS AND PODCAST TOO:
When Luigi’s Flying Tires closed a little over a year ago over in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, we all wondered what would replace the fun, albeit short-lived and plagued-with-issues attraction. Well wonder no more, because Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters is less than a month away from opening, and Erin Glover over at the Disney Parks Blog, has shared some fun news and a sneak peek of the ride. It looks adorable, and based on how much fun my family has on Tow Mater’s Junkyard Spin, I know this will be a big hit. While the ride looks simple and very kid-friendly, it seems to be very advanced in its technology and possible combinations for ride paths. I can’t wait to check it out myself (hopefully) soon!
Here’s more from Erin:
Luigi has invited his cousins from Carsoli, Italy, to Radiator Springs for a special celebration! In this all-new attraction, Luigi will turn the tire storage yard behind his Casa Della Tires into a dance floor! Cars Land guests will be able to ride along with Luigi’s cousins as they move and spin to upbeat Italian music, performing the traditional dances of their hometown village.
Each dancing car will have its own high-spirited personality and signature dance moves – making every ride unpredictable, as you won’t know which way they will turn and spin next! Take a look at how Walt Disney Imagineering created this carefully choreographed dance in this behind-the-scenes video:
Join the dance yourself when Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters opens March 7.
What do you think? Are you excited to meet the cousins? I love that they all have names and personalities, and that the ride will be different pretty much every time.
Taking a running leap off of the enormous success of the runDisney community of races, runDisney has partnered with D23 for the 2013 Expo in Anaheim, and created a Fun Run for select participants. I know many of my running friends will be thrilled about this! Take a look at the official details and how to register below:
runDisney is excited to be at the start line of Disney’s D23 Expo and lead the way with the runDisney D2.3 Fun Run on Friday, August 9.
A limited number of D23 Members will get the opportunity to experience the magic of a runDisney event and take part in a 2.3-mile fun run. The experience will include signature runDisney elements like Disney characters and the opportunity to run through a theme park, Disney California Adventure. In addition, runners will receive a shirt for participating and enjoy a little extra pixie dust along the way.
“runDisney is committed to helping people live a healthy and active lifestyle by providing races of various distances so the entire family can participate,” said Faron Kelley, director of Marketing for Disney Sports. “It’s exciting to be part of the D23 Expo and to provide a memorablerunDisney experience for some of the most passionate Disney fans in the world.”
This experience will only be available to D23 Members and a Membership number will be required at the time of registration. Fans can join D23 atwww.D23.comand at www.DisneyStore.com/D23.Details on how to register to be selected for the runDisney D2.3 Fun Run will be available the week of July 22 on the Disney Parks Blog, Facebook (runDisney), @runDisney, and @DisneyD23.
About runDisney runDisney is a series of seven event weekends providing runners unique opportunities to run various distances through Disney theme parks. Race participants earn Disney-themed medals, experience legendary Disney entertainment and guest service, and ultimately celebrate their accomplishments with a Disney vacation. The original event in the series, the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend presented by Cigna, takes place in January followed by the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend in February, Expedition Everest Challenge in May, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler in October, and the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend in November. Disneyland hosts the Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend in January and the Disneyland Half Marathon in September during Labor Day Weekend.
More than 125,000 running enthusiasts participate in runDisney events each year. For more information, visit www.runDisney.com and follow us on Facebook (runDisney) and Twitter @runDisney.
The Sofia The First character will make her Disney Parks debut in the 29th Annual “Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade” airing nationwide on Christmas Day, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25 (10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., ET; check local listings) on the ABC Television Network. It was also recently announced that Sofia will be joining the Disney Junior – Live on Stage! show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney California Adventure in early 2013 – joining Doc McStuffins as a new addition.
Disney’s first little girl princess, Sofia was introduced in the music-filled animated television movie “Sofia the First: Once Upon A Princess” which debuted on November 18, 2012 and became the #1 cable telecast of all time in Kids 2-5 and Girls 2-5, and the #1 preschool cable TV telecast ever in Total Viewers and Women 18-49. A “Sofia the First” television series which continues Sofia’s journey as she learns how to adjust to royal life, premieres FRIDAY, JANUARY 11 on Disney Channel (9:30-10:00 a.m., ET/PT) and Disney Junior (5:30-6:00 p.m., ET/PT).
Those who know me online and off are aware of my established reputation as a coffee addict. If you checked my instagram and twitpic accounts, photos of me drinking coffee probably rank second only to castle photos, much to the dismay of those who follow my adventures and are tired of seeing my coffee shots, I’m sure.
I had my first cappuccino in Boston’s North End, the area known for its Italian residents and authentic restaurants and pastry shops. Growing up in New England, of course I was also brought up with a Dunkin Donuts on every corner. I had avoided Starbucks out of a panicked fear of what to order. That finally changed in 2004 when a friend wanted to meet me at a Starbucks. I looked at the menu board and almost passed out in confusion. I just told her to order me something, and she got me an iced peppermint white mocha. If any drink was the right one to start off my first Starbucks experience, that was it. It was SO good, a perfect mix of sweet and peppermint and coffee all in one. I was in heaven, and Starbucks had officially gained a new disciple.
Starbucks became my new friend, and whenever I was near one, I went in and tried something new. It wasn’t only the coffee itself, but the act of getting the coffee, the cup, the whole ritual. I am actually an enigma to the baristas wherever I go, because I do not have a regular drink. I like to switch it up and though I will go through phases, I don’t have any one favorite drink. Baristas like to know your drink order if you are a regular. Ideally, once they see you walk in, they grab a cup, write up your drink, and have your total before you can even reach the counter. And that is fostered and encouraged by management. So I’m messing with that system a little, but it’s okay. Despite the reputation Starbucks and its baristas sometimes have for being snobby, they really are just concerned with making great coffee and giving exceptional service. Sound like any other company we know?
Me in barista form, circa 2007
Back in 2006, I found myself with some free time on my hands, as both of my oldest children were now in school. I had befriended a barista and she encouraged me to work with her part-time. So I did, and it was perhaps the best thing I’d done in a long, long time. Making coffee was actually fun and the customers who ordered it were seemingly just as excited about it as I was. I took pride in my position and in everything I made, and soon was tapped to be a trainer for the store.
There is a reason why Starbucks as a company has such a wonderful reputation, and why their service is always so amazing when you go there. They do not automatically hire someone just because they know how to pour a cup of coffee. They look for people, or partners, who are passionate about coffee and giving great service. Once on board, partners receive extensive training – before they even get near the coffee they learn where it comes from, why they roast it the way they do, and how it gets to the stores. Employees are also instantly stockholders in the company, making their success and the company’s success one in the same.
It was an honor to wear the green apron every day and go the extra mile whenever possible to make people’s days that much brighter. Until I’d worked at both Disney and Starbucks, I didn’t realize how similar they were, in the act of making people happy and ensuring needs and expectations are met and exceeded. Even now, I find myself still picking up trash I may see on the ground in the Parks, or helping out a guest with a question even though I haven’t worked there in 16 years. Similarly, I find myself defending Starbucks to strangers and friends, and educating them on what each drink contains and what they might like. What can I say? When you find your passions, they never really leave you.
Because of that love of coffee and knowledge of how Starbucks works, I was thrilled and excited to hear about their partnership with Disney Parks. I’d walk through the parks and think, “all that’s missing is a Starbucks” (okay and maybe Horizons and the original Journey into Imagination and World of Motion, while you’re at it). And now it’s finally happening. Would it be the same if another national coffee chain were brought into the parks? I don’t believe so. I truly feel that the training and allegiance Starbucks has to its product and its people is unparallelled. Dare I say, even greater than that of the Walt Disney Company. Starbucks took something as simple as coffee beans and water and elevated it just enough to make it an experience and a luxury rather than a necessity. It made coffee something the average person felt they had to have, pay more for, and come back again and again.
Starbucks, at least every store I’ve encountered, has well-trained, knowledgeable staff who are committed to making you exactly what you want. Granted, that level of training and service is concentrated into one niche and defined set of tasks versus the 60,000+ Cast Members who work in varied roles across Walt Disney World alone. That said, I do hope the devotion to training and service established by Starbucks is kept up by Disney. If anything, walking into a Starbucks at at Disney Park should be the ultimate guest service experience, given the reputation of both companies. The key here will be consistency and dedication to the products being served. I know it’s hard in some Food and Beverage roles to be passionate about slinging scrambled eggs or french fries for their entire shift. Making several hundred Frappuccinos a day is no different, but the reputation for hand-crafted drinks made to your specifications precedes the ‘hourly Cast Member working Food & Beverage’ stereotype that may exist.
I have now experienced the first Starbucks within a Disney Park (the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Café at Disney California Adventure) several times, during two separate trips. Apart from the drink choices and the competitive prices, it definitely did not feel like a regular Starbucks experience, due to the nature of the set-up. I had to actually seek out the “Starbucks” sign, it isn’t the focal point of the space, inside or out. The café features Disney theming first, and Starbucks products second. Because of the popularity when it first opened, cast members were stationed with digital ordering devices to expedite the vast line. My first visit was the longest time I’d ever waited for a drink, but I expected it, and because of my personal addiction to Starbucks, it was totally worth it to me. I’d have waited in the Radiator Springs Fastpass line to get an iced Caramel Macchiatto with no complaint. However, knowing what it takes time-wise to make each drink served on the menu, I couldn’t help but play armchair barista and wonder if there was a better way to get drinks out in a timely manner. Iced lattes are one of the easiest drinks to make and should not take more than a few minutes if you have a person dedicated to that type of drink vs. trying to create Frappuccinos, hot drinks, and iced drinks all at the same time.
By the very nature of a theme park location, the interactions and service will be different. With the exception of a few locals perhaps, there won’t be recognized regulars and because of the fast-paced busy location, the interaction between guest and barista will probably be minimal as a rule. However, that does not mean that the traditional Starbucks experience must be lost in the shuffle. My hope is that the Cast Members set in those roles and the Starbucks trainers that guide them, will share their passion with each cup that passes across the counter in a Disney Park, making it one of the best partnerships to date.
Just Got Happier!
There may be grumblings about Starbucks going into the Main Street Bakery, but as was pointed out in the Disney Parks Blog update, the items folks were concerned about being missing are available in other areas of the Magic Kingdom, and the Bakery will keep its name. Walt Disney’s first park, Disneyland, was founded with partnerships like Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Carnation, as were all the additional theme parks. Starbucks is a logical choice for a stable, established partner with a bevy of loyal and addicted fans. And have you seen their baked goods and treats?? I am ridiculously excited to be able to walk around multiple Disney Parks holding a delicious, fresh espresso drink. I’m also curious to see how the Starbucks concept fits into the Future World of Epcot in Fountain View Ice Cream, since the other two locations are set in a vintage time period. And if by chance you are not a coffee fan, Starbucks has some fabulous non-coffee drinks as well like iced teas, green tea options, and non-coffee Frappuccinos and hot chocolates too. My passions are aligning, and I like it. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Starbucks partnership, let me know what you think in the comments below.
During my first-ever visit to Disneyland in August of 2011, my friend and I kept seeing people wearing these adorable tiny top hats. We finally stopped someone and asked where they got theirs. The Mad Hatter, we were told. So we headed directly there and purchased matching Tinker Bell tiny hats. And wore them ALL.DAY. It was a wonderful memory and we thought we were being so cool by getting something that only existed in Disneyland. Well, come to find out, thanks to Twitter, Walt Disney World had the same hats. Wah wah. Oh well. We still had so much fun wearing them and all I have to do is look at that hat in my room and smile.
Since then, tiny hats have sort of exploded in Disney Parks. They now compete with Mouse Ear Hats and Mouse Ear Bands as the most popular headpiece to see around the parks. So far I’ve seen our Tinker Bell hat, a Cheshire Cat striped one, a Mad Hatter hat, and now a few more from the Mad T party in Disney California Adventure. Last night at Downtown Disney’s World of Disney here in Walt Disney World, I saw three new hats, all villain-themed. In addition, another kind of hat [I’m sure it has a name, but I am unsure of its official title – a fascinator? cocktail hat?] has appeared in the Parks. I saw the Ariel version, complete with tiny Dinglehopper in California Adventure in September, and again last night. A Mulan style hat was there too, with a tiny fan as its little accessory. Super cute.
;
Here are photos from last night:
Cruella DeVil tiny hat
;
Queen of Hearts tiny hat
;
Maleficent tiny hat
;
Villains tiny hats and bags – I love the bags too, sparkly and a good size!
;
Ariel fascinator
;
Mulan fascinator
;
And also while I was in California in September, I saw these fun and fancy animal print Ear Hats – which I still haven’t seen in Walt Disney World yet. Also pictured is the Haunted Mansion bowler hat which has been around for a month or so and also super cute. (Please forgive my hamming it up, I was just being silly but didn’t get photos of the hats by themselves so there you go :P)
Animal print Mouse Ear Hats and Haunted Mansion bowler hat
;
What do you think of these tiny top hats and ear hats? Would you wear them in the Parks (or at home?) 😉