oh mickey you're so fine...

When one thinks of Disney, the first thing that doesn’t come to mind is the culinary experiences (I usually think amusement park hotdogs and hamburgers!).  Not almond crusted cheesecakes, Polynesian noodles, and chocolate mousse!

The variety of food available at Disney was better than expected (albeit, still on the salty side...my shoes didn't fit at the end of our trip!).  However since we have fantastic restaurants where we live, we chose places that would give us the most experiences for the kids.  So every single meal we had was part of a character dining, or an experience in itself.


We ate with almost every Mickey Mouse friend, Princesses, Alice in Wonderland and other Disney characters (Princesses at "Akershaus Storybook" , more princesses at "Cinderella's Royal Table", Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter breakfast at "1900 Park Fare" in the Grand Floridian, breakfast with Lilo & Stitch at "Ohana" and Winnie the Pooh and friends at "Crystal Palace").

We also enjoyed places where the ambience was the entertainment.  The Polynesian family style dinner with fireworks view at "Ohana" was our favourite.  We also ate at a fun drive in style diner "The Sci-Fi Dine In", and took in a western show at "Hoop de Doo Revue (our least favourite show).

For the foodies in us, there were so many international restaurant options at the World Showcase at Epcot...some of the best (and least amount of salt/fried food...i.e. NOT hamburgers and fries) were found here.

Right before the Illuminations exhibit at Epcot (the fireworks and light show over the World Showcase), we went to the "San Angel Inn", the most  "adult" restaurant we ate at, that was founded in Mexico and was so popular, it was brought to Disney.

The replica of the Mayan ruins and volcano was interesting enough for the kids, and the setting was romantic enough for the adults to enjoy some peace and quiet from the Mickey Mouse crowd.

Although there were many "sophisticated establishments" to eat at, we chose restaurants that had more "character", so we didn't have to line up to see them at the parks (some of the line ups for the "meet and greets were astonishingly 90 minutes long!).  And after seeing the smiles on the kids faces...

...I think Mickey (and his crew) were just fine.

Mickey Mouse Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I used this recipe from a previous post {here}, and just added banana slices and chocolate chips.  Because this pancake recipe makes thick fluffy pancakes, the batter is thick enough to slowly pour onto the hot skillet.  Just make one large circle for the face, then slowly spoon a small amount of batter to make the ears.