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Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Brunch at Disneyland Review

October 1, 2024 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

I’ve just returned from another lovely solo Disneyland trip and this time I got to try the all new Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Brunch at Storytellers Cafe at the Grand Californian Hotel! So, if you are wondering if this pricey meal is worth it or not, keep reading!

Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Brunch

As I stated above, this is an all-new character meal offering at Disneyland. It’s a fall spin on the regular Storytellers Cafe character meal. Having previously done the regular Storytellers Cafe Character Breakfast last year and the Storytellers Cafe Character Brunch, I opted to do the brunch since I preferred that meal over breakfast last time. I also managed to book it on my Disney California Adventure day, since the hotel has its own entrance into the park.

The Characters

I’ll start with a look at the adorable new costumes the characters are wearing! Each one has a fall look that goes perfectly with the theme. I love how over the top with pumpkins Minnie’s outfit is! Mickey’s outfit is also amazing! It felt like the characters were ready to go to a pumpkin patch or apple orchard in their outfits. I liked that Pluto even got a new pumpkin shaped name tag on his collar. Overall, I was impressed with the costumes and it was a great way to kick off the fall season for me!

The Food

Last time I ate breakfast at this restaurant, I missed the additional options that eating brunch brings. So, I decided to return for brunch this time. Previously, when I ate brunch here, I was able to order some additional items from the kitchen in addition to visiting the buffet. This time, that wasn’t the case. Instead, the buffet was filled with both breakfast and lunch items.

Honestly, the food available was very similar to what I had last year at the regular meal. I was disappointed in the lack of seasonal items. Where’s the pumpkin or apple items? It seems like such a missed opportunity to do something special with the autumn theme and instead put out regular foods.

The food itself was fine. I know everyone says the food here is upgraded over Goofy’s Kitchen and it probably is. However, I also noticed a good bit of overlap between restaurants this time. The BBQ chicken tasted just like the BBQ chicken I had at Goofy’s Kitchen last year. Both restaurants had the beignets/donuts too. I enjoyed the fish and vegetables, but they were both available with slight variations at Goofy’s Kitchen this time too.

Overall, the food was fine. Nothing to get too excited over.

Is Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Brunch worth it?

This is a pricey meal. It’s $65/adult and $36/child. If you are looking for some fall foods, I’d say to look elsewhere. However, if you want to see the characters in some unique fall outfits, then this is the perfect meal for you. You are paying for the fall themed outfits here and not so much the food.

2024 Oogie Boogie Bash Review and Guide

September 25, 2024 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

I’ve just returned from a solo trip to California, where I had the pleasure of attending the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash at Disney’s California Adventure at Disneyland! So, I thought I would do a quick review/guide to the event!

2024 Oogie Boogie Bash

You may recall from my 2023 post on the party or my Disney Halloween Parties compared post that OBB is the separately ticketed Halloween event held at Disneyland. The bash is held at Disney’s California Adventure park. Here’s an overview of what you can expect at the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash!

Frightfully Fun Parade

I love the Frightfully Fun Parade at this party! In fact, this year it’s the only party exclusive entertainment. The parade is shown twice a night and is worth making the time to see. You can walk up along the parade route up until 15 minutes or so and get an ok view. Personally, I prefer the seated dessert party.

Dessert Party

I wrote a whole separate OBB Dessert Party Review last year. So, I won’t rehash everything here since this year’s was pretty similar. Although, we got a different set of treats! This year, we received a Chocolate Topped Stuffed Vanilla Cake, a Cookies & Cream Tart, a Salted Caramel Macaron, Gummy Candies, a Chocolate Marshmallow Crispy with White Chocolate Drizzle, Patchwork Sugar Cookie, and a Mini Cheesecake with Buttercream. I was surprised to discover that the stuffed cake was filled with an extremely tart lime sauce. It was easily my least favorite treat this year. I really enjoyed the caramel macaron though. The chocolate marshmallow crispy was ok, much better than last year’s cereal treat. The sugar cookie was pretty basic, but ok. The mini cheesecake would have been better with pumpkin or something. Overall, the desserts were just ok. However, I still like the idea of sitting in a chair with a plate of treats to watch the parade. It’s very nice. It’s expensive at $89/person, but very nice after a long day.

Treat Trails

One of the best parts of OBB is the Treat Trails! This year, they replaced Cruella with Hades! They also added Dr. Doofenschmirtz this year, but placed him in the building that used to house the Mickey’s Trick and Treat show. That show is now shown during the regular park day, which is good for regular park guests. However, I was disappointed by the lack of party exclusive entertainment this year.

The types of treats given out this year was a little different that last year as well. Gone are the Sunchips! However, we did receive some blueberry fig bars in their place! I managed to hit up all 12 treat trails this year and received around 4 pounds of goodies!

Villains Grove

I still adore Villains Grove. It’s so neat to walk around and see villain themed areas of the forest. Although, it did appear to be much the same as last year. I still consider it a must do when I attend the event due to the unique nature of the offering.

Character Meets

There were several special characters to meet as this party. However, I think it was mostly the same as last year’s party. I didn’t want to wait in long lines to meet any characters this year, but I appreciate the opportunity to do so.

Is Oogie Boogie Bash worth it?

While I think it’s a fun Halloween party, I’m not sure I will return if they don’t add more or different entertainment. It’s much cheaper and easier for me to attend Mickey’s Not So Scary in Florida, so I will probably return to doing that next year. However, I think this party is worth attending at least once.

Disney Parks Halloween Parties Compared

August 28, 2024 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

The Disney Parks Halloween Parties are very popular on both coasts. So, I thought I would do a post comparing the two options for anyone considering attending one of them.

Disney Parks Halloween Parties

Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World hold separately ticketed Halloween events every year. I’ve attended the one at Magic Kingdom several times and the one at Disney’s California Adventure once. So, I think I am qualified to discuss the two parties and their differences so you can decide which one is right for you.

Mickey’s Not So Scary

MNSSHP is held every fall at Magic Kingdom at Disney World. Tickets usually go on sale around halfway to Halloween with resort guests getting first dibs on tickets. It starts in early August with parties being held on Tuesdays and Fridays in August. As you get closer to Halloween, they add more nights. So, September has parties on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. By October, there’s parties on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays! The party officially kicks-off at 7 PM and ends at midnight, but you can enter the park at 4 PM. The parties have a history of selling out in advance in recent years, but not immediately. If you are looking for some general Mickey’s Not So Scary Tips, check out my guide to it.

Oogie Boogie Bash

Oogie Boogie is held at DCA in the fall. It starts in mid/late August and runs until Halloween. The party begins at 6 PM and runs until 11 PM, but you can enter the park at 3 PM. The party is pretty consistently held on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays for the whole season. Tickets went on sale on June 27, 2024 this year and most dates sold out quickly. However, a few dates remained over the weekend for purchase before selling out. There’s a passholder pre-sale that typically sells out very quickly. Basically, to attend this one, you need to know months in advance and keep an eye on Disneyland’s social media in June/July for ticket sales. You can read my review of the 2023 Oogie Boogie Bash for a deeper dive into what the party entails.

Ticket Differences

Thanks to pent up demand and social media, Oogie Boogie sells out quickly. So, you need to know when you plan to attend by June. Not So Scary doesn’t sell out as quickly, so you have some time to cement your plans before purchasing tickets.

Parties Entertainment Differences

Mickey’s Not So Scary has a good bit more entertainment than Oogie Boogie. Not So Scary has a parade, a stage show, and fireworks! Oogie Boogie just has the parade this year, with the removal of the party exclusive stage show and fireworks being held over in Disneyland park. Although, it also has the party exclusive Villains Grove that is super cool! Admittedly, unless additional entertainment is announced for Oogie Boogie, it appears to be lacking in the entertainment department.

Disney Character Differences

Both parties allow you to meet special characters. So, on the surface that sounds even. However, Oogie Boogie tends to rotate in a few new characters every year. Not So Scary rarely adds many new characters to the party. Additionally, a key difference here is the Treat Trails at Oogie Boogie. Both parties allow you to trick-or-treat regardless of age. However, Oogie Boogie gives you treats and allows you to interact with a villain as you walk by. It’s actually a really neat, unique experience.

Candy Differences

Mickey’s Not So Scary tends to have a good variety of candy available. However, I was surprised by the plethora of other items handed out at Oogie Boogie last year. Candy was handed out, but so were Goldfish treats, baby carrots, and Sunchips! I thought it was a nice change of pace to add some real food to the mix!

Disney Parks Halloween Parties Overall

While they both have characters, entertainment, and trick-or-treating, there are slight differences. It’s hard to say one is better than the other as it depends on what you want to experience at the party. If you want to see a variety of villains, then Oogie Boogie is better. If you like stage shows and fireworks, then Mickey’s Not So Scary is better. Also, I would wager that your distance from the parks is an important factor too.

So, which party do you prefer?

Walt Disney World vs Disneyland

July 31, 2024 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

Many people assume that the US Disney parks are the same, but there are many differences between Walt Disney World vs Disneyland. So, I thought I would do a post to help anyone starting to plan a trip to one of these destinations with experience visiting the other location.

Disney World vs Disneyland

While both are theme parks owned by Disney, they operate very differently. In fact, I sometimes struggle with planning for Land because I’m so used to visiting World. So, let’s jump into some basics.

Walt Disney World is located in Orlando, Florida. It consists of four theme parks and two water parks. There are 25+ resorts on property to choose from. This is a sprawling resort covering lots of land and there are several different free modes of transportation to travel across the property including: bus, boats, and Skyliner. It’s important to understand that the vast majority of people visiting WDW are traveling from somewhere else and not locals. So, the policies here tend to favor people staying on-site.

Disneyland is located in Anaheim, California. It’s the original Disney theme park and its construction was overseen by Walt Disney himself! It’s much more compact than World. In fact, there’s just two theme parks and they are across from each other. You can simply walk across the esplanade to visit the other park! There’s also three on-site resorts, but lots of off property ones nearby (as in walking distance). An important difference to know is that unlike in Florida, there are far more locals attending this park than people traveling to visit. So, their policies tend to favor passholders instead of hotel guests.

Advance Dining Reservation Differences

Disney World has an overwhelming number of dining options. However, one perk of staying on-site here is the ability to book advance dining reservations for the length of your trip 60 days out from the first day of your stay! Clearly, this policy favors people staying on-site instead of locals.

Disneyland, on the other hand, allows everyone to book dining reservations one day at a time, 60 days in advance. So, you will have to get up early multiple days in a row to get in demand restaurants. However, it also levels the playing field since everyone can make reservations beginning at the same time. This is the reverse of Disney World and allows the locals to grab in-demand reservations just as easily as people traveling to the resort.

Word of advice for both locations: keep checking for reservations to open up. Just because you don’t get a desired reservation 60 days out doesn’t mean you won’t get it. You can set up a reservation finder to notify you when something pops up and you can continue to check yourself up until the day of.

Hotel Differences

Walt Disney World has so many different resorts on property that they have different tiers: Value Resorts, Moderate Resorts, Deluxe Resorts and DVC (Disney’s timeshare or Disney Vacation Club). There are also off site properties, but those won’t come with free park transportation and you will need to account for that in your budget. However, the resort is so spread out that very few of the resorts are walking distance to a park. Also, you will have to get familiar with the various forms of transportation available at your specific resort.

Disneyland is much smaller. There’s only three official resorts: Pixar Place Hotel, Disneyland Hotel, and Grand Californian Hotel. All three are considered Deluxe or DVC Resorts. Additionally, all three are walking distance to the parks, but so are lots of other off-site hotels. The Grand Californian and Pixar Place have their own entrances to Disney’s California Adventure. Most people stay off-site when visiting Disneyland due to the high prices and compact layout.

Skip the Line Differences

Disney has struggled with their skip the line program since the pandemic. In fact, it just recently underwent some new changes in policies and naming, again. Suffice it to say, I encourage you to look up the most up to date policies when you plan your next trip. Currently, Walt Disney World allows you to book 3 experiences a week out but Disneyland does not.

Disney World vs Disneyland Special Events

Walt Disney World has a regular rotation of special events. There’s the festivals at Epcot, Halloween and Christmas parties at Magic Kingdom, and Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios. There’s also the After Hours events. Besides Jollywood Nights, there hasn’t been a new ticketed event in several years at Disney World.

However, due to Disneyland’s reliance on locals, they tend to have new events pretty regularly. Their Disneyland After Dark events are massively popular and seem to have new themes every year. Disneyland also gets new seasonal costumes for the characters, unlike Disney World. Basically, you can expect new stuff at Disneyland pretty often.

Special Event Ticket Differences

Once again, their individual special event ticket policies favor different groups. Walt Disney World typically puts special event tickets on sale to resort guests first. Disneyland on the other hand often has passholder pre-sales that allows passholders to purchase tickets before the general public. Although, Disney World will often give a minimal (~$10) passholder discount on the special event tickets.

Disneyland vs Walt Disney World

Shew. This is a long post. I debated splitting it up into multiple posts, but I wanted an overall guide. So, what do you think? Is this helpful?

Disneyland Character Dining Guide

February 8, 2024 By Lindsay

Over the course of two trips last year, I was able to experience almost all of the Disneyland character dining options! So, today I’m going to provide a guide to those meals!

Disneyland Character Dining

Avid Walt Disney World goers will be surprised to learn that there are only 4 character meals at Disneyland! Granted, several of those serve a couple of different meals. However, aside from different times and different food, it’s the same characters. Although that does make it easy to do a character dining guide since it’s only the four different restaurants to cover.

Minnie & Friends Breakfast in the Park

First up, it’s the only in-park character meal. The Minnie & Friends Breakfast in the Park is the Plaza Inn Character Breakfast that I reviewed last year at Disneyland park. It’s only available during breakfast hours as the restaurant becomes a quick service restaurant known for its fried chicken for lunch and dinner. The food here is basic breakfast items. However, it’s really a character-palooza! The only guaranteed character is Minnie Mouse. After that, it’s a random assortment of characters! It’s fun as you never know who you’re going to meet! I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys meeting characters. It’s where I met Max in the photo above. You can click to read my full review above.

Mickey’s Tales of Adventure Breakfast

DCA doesn’t currently have its own character dining experience. However, if you walk over to the Grand Californian Hotel, you can enjoy Mickey’s Tales of Adventure breakfast or brunch! I loved my Storytellers Cafe brunch in May of 2023. My mom and I had some fun at the character breakfast at Storytellers Cafe in September 2023. If you get to choose, I would go with brunch as the food is much better and more interesting. However, both meals provide a fun time with the characters! Unfortunately, dinner here is just the buffet without the characters. I’ve heard good things about the meal though.

Goofy’s Kitchen

You can enjoy breakfast or dinner with characters at Goofy’s Kitchen at Disneyland Hotel. The fun breakfast started my trip off on the right foot last May. Then, my mom and I enjoyed her birthday dinner here in September! I love the variety of foods found here at both meals. Plus, who doesn’t love waving a napkin in the air as characters dance by? It’s perfect for guests staying at the hotel. It might also be worth a walk over from the parks since it’s the only character meal option for dinner.

Disney Princess Breakfast Adventures

Lastly, there’s the uber fancy and expensive Disney Princess Breakfast Adventure at Napa Rose at the Grand Californian Hotel. This is the only character meal I haven’t yet experienced at Disneyland. However, it’s also the most expensive at $135/adult! Yikes! Granted, it’s a three course meal including a tower of appetizers, a main entree, and desserts. This is marketed as being more of an event than simply a meal. You get to spend more leisurely time with the princesses instead of having them rush around the restaurant to greet guests quickly. It sounds like it would make for a lovely, memorable experience.

Disneyland Character Dining

As I stated above, there’s only four restaurants offering a character meal currently. So, it’s pretty easy to summarize the options. Most of those options are for breakfast though, with only Goofy’s Kitchen available for dinner. Also, the princess breakfast sounds amazing but comes with a not so amazing price tag.

Which one should you pick? I think you should eat at the one that is wherever you are spending the day. If you are at DCA, then head over to Storytellers Cafe. If you are at Disneyland park, hit up Plaza Inn. If you are staying at Disneyland Hotel or want dinner, then Goofy’s Kitchen is the answer. So, which of these have you dined at?