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Category Archives: In the kitchen
“Signature” Restaurants – Are They Worth It? Part 3
In the final part of this 3-part series (Check out Part 1 and Part 2!), I’m taking a look at the rest of Walt Disney World’s 2-Table Service Credit Dining Options to answer the question, Are They Worth It?
The Restaurants I am reveiwing this week aren’t *technically* Signature Restaurants, BUT they are unique, special experiences that are more expensive than your regular sit down restaurants, and they all will cost you 2 Table Service Credits on the Disney Dining Plan. One nice thing about these is that unlike other Signature Restaurants, with the 2-credit character meal and dinner shows, gratuities are included, which makes things even easier on you when it comes time to pay!
So, Here We Go:
Cinderella’s Royal Table – Dine in none other than Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom, where you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner and be treated like royalty! Cinderalla greets you as you enter the castle, and yout get to pose for a picture with her. Bonus – the picture package is included with the meal! Breakfast is an all you care to eat assortment of standard Disney breakfast items including pastries, eggs, meats, and french toast, while lunch and dinner include a prix fixe menu of options like prime rib, fish, and steak. While you eat, the princesses work the room for pictures and autographs. Reservations for this can be really hard to get, so I recommend that you are flexible when it comes to what time you want to dine at Cinderella’s Royal Table
Survey Says? If you have a Disney Princess fan in your party, I say book it! It’s a unique experience, I did it once and probably wouldn’t do it again, but it is fun and the food is high quality, plus once you go you can say you have been IN Cinderella’s Castle (which is pretty cool!)
Mickey’s Backyard BBQ – One of two Dinner Entertainment options at Fort Wilderness, this is your chance to party with Mickey, Minnie and friends as you dine on delicious (all you can eat!) picnic favorites like ribs, hamburgers and hot dogs, and corn on the cob. Enjoy live country western music, line dancing, and fun for kids, and you may even get a chance to dance with the Mouse himself! One difference to make note of for this character experience is that the characters don’t come around to all the tables, but rather they interact with guests on the dance floor. The BBQ is seasonal, and runs Thursday and Saturday nights from March – December, and is held outdoors
Survey Says? If you are a big fan of picnic food and fun, then you should look into joining the fun at Mickey’s Backyard BBQ! It’s a great time, but don’t expect the character interaction you would normally get at other character meals (since they don’t come around to all the tables)
Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show – Disney’s Polynesian Resort is the perfect setting for this luau-themed dinner show, which offers up all you care to eat fare like Polynesian-style rice, roast chicken, and best of all (at least for those of us over 21!) – unlimited beer and wine are included! The entertainment includes fire and knife dancers as well as music and dance, and the chance for your little ones to learn how to hula dance (I did it when I was little, it was a lot of fun!).
Survery Says: This is my favorite of the dinner show experiences, I love the food and the atmosphere, and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!
Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue – Head over to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground for this rousing Wild West themed show, which features comedy, song, dance, and even some audience participation! While you are laughing and clapping along to the music, enjoy all you can eat fried chicken, ribs, baked beans, strawberry shortcake, and once again – all you can drink beer/wine/sangria for those guests over 21.
Survey Says: This really is a fun, entertaining show, when I was a kid I didn’t much care for it, but it has grown on me in my adult years (perhaps it’s the free sangria that has helped with that?), the jokes are funny and it’s over the top for sure, but it’s a good time, and a great way to spend an evening
Hopefully these posts have inspired you to book some Advance Dining Reservations or ADR’s for some Signature or Dinner Show Dining Experiences. These are some of the best food, drink, and entertainment options available at Walt Disney World, so I highly recommend you check some of them out on your next trip to WDW
Related articles
- Signature Restaurants – Are They Worth It? Part 2 (chipandco.com)
- How Soon Should You Start Disney Planning? (chipandco.com)
In the Disney Kitchen – Starring Rolls Butterfinger Cupcakes
So Chip requested I recreate the Starring Rolls Butterfinger Cupcake…. here’s one of his pictures of it:
After googling pictures (and drooling over them for hours) I think the recipe I used was pretty spot on as here is my end result:
In any case, without further adieu, here is the recipe I ultimately deemed the best choice for recreating this at home, with my own images added to the step by step for some tasty pictorial help. You can find the original recipe post over on A Disney Mom’s Thoughts (which, by the way is the home blog of my Disney friend and fellow Chip & Co writer, Beth)!!
Starring Rolls Butterfinger Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 box Devil’s Food Cake mix, plus ingredients to make cake
1 batch butter cream frosting
1 can fudge frosting
4 cups chocolate chips
6 Tbsp canola oil
3 King Size Butterfingers (or a bag of miniatures)Quick Butter cream Frosting
4 cups chocolate chips
6 Tbsp canola oil
3 King Size Butterfingers (or a bag of miniatures)Quick Butter cream Frosting
18 Tbsp butter, softened
6 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
6 3/4 cups powdered sugar1. Prepare cupcakes as stated on the box. Let cupcakes cool completely. This is a good time to make your frosting since you will have approx an hour of baking and cooling!
6 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
6 3/4 cups powdered sugar1. Prepare cupcakes as stated on the box. Let cupcakes cool completely. This is a good time to make your frosting since you will have approx an hour of baking and cooling!
2. Using a sharp knife, cut a cone shape out on top of the cupcake. Make sure your cut goes about halfway into the cupcake. Remove the cake and fill the hole with fudge frosting. Add the cake you removed to the top of the cupcake, making sure that the pointy cone end is sticking up.
3. Ice your cupcakes. It may be easiest to use a piping bag for this. Let the frosting set up for 30 minutes. I used a piping bag for half of my cupcakes and a knife for the other half as it seemed to get easier as time passed.
4. While the frosting is setting up, use a food processor to crush up Butterfingers. It may be easiest to use frozen Butterfingers. If you do not have a food processor, use a meat tenderizers flat side while Butterfingers are still in their packaging! This worked great for me as a way to improvise! See photographical evidence below:
5. Combine chocolate chips and oil in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat on HIGH for 1 minute. Stir and continue to heat at 30 second intervals until completely melted. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before using. Dip the frosted cupcakes into the chocolate – I used a spoon to hold the frosting into place to make sure it didn’t fall off the cupcake. Immediately coat the cupcake with the pulverized Butterfingers – just smash it all over the chocolate. Repeat until all cupcakes are dipped and covered. I used these directions exactly and it worked great. Unfortunately they were tough to do while taking pictures so I didn’t take any!
6. Refrigerate approximately 1 hour to allow the chocolate to set up. Then ENJOY! 
Related articles
- Disney Food Confession-Butterfinger Cupcake with Recipe (chipandco.com)
- Top 3 Snacks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (chipandco.com)
In the Disney Kitchen – Honey Coriander Wings from Ohana
I found this recipe over on The Disney Chick‘s website. I followed her recipe pretty closely except for a few ingredients changes and the fact that I decided to make this the week after Superbowl and therefore couldn’t find wings so I made it with drumsticks.
Ingredients2-5 lbs chicken wings and drums
Wing seasoning:
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground paprika
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Coriander wing sauce:
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.2. Mix wing seasoning indredients in a small bowl.
3. Put the chicken and wing seasoning in a large bowl (original recipe only called for 2 tbsp of the seasoning but I used it all). Add enough oil to coat the chicken evenly and mix well. At this point I let my chicken marinade for about an hour but you can just continue if you are crunched for time.
4. Spread the seasoned chicken on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until fully cooked.
5. Mix all wing sauce ingredients in a large saute pan, and bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Stir until thickened.
6. Transfer the cooked wings into the sauce and serve… and voila! You are done! 
Related articles
- Enjoying ‘Ohana Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster Sauce at Home (disneyfoodreport.com)
In the Disney Kitchen – Mickey Makeover Your Cupcakes
While I had no recipe for this I just *had* to share with the fabulous “In the Kitchen” followers. I saw a pin on Pinterest that lead me only to a few bloggers who had tried it. I later on found the recipe on www.DisneyFamily.com but for what its worth these are super easy and cute!
Ingredients:
Cupcakes (any kind, baked and cooled)
Chocolate icing
Mini Oreos
Method:
- Ice your cupcakes with chocolate icing (as you can see from my pic vanilla was not a good choice)
- Crumble half of your oreos
- Dip the tops of your iced cupcakes into the crumbled oreos until they are coated with cookie crumb
- Scrape the icing off of a mini oreo that is still in tact (use a butter knife)
- Place into iced cupcake in “ear position”
- Share and enjoy!
Next up In the Disney Kitchen: Blue Bayou Monte Christo!
Related articles
- Disney Food Confession-Butterfinger Cupcake with Recipe (chipandco.com)
In the Disney Kitchen: Gingerbread Mice
On my last trip I picked up this mix. Tres cute, I know. Especially because it came with a Mickey shaped Gingerbread Cookie Cutter! It was worth the $10 alone of the cookie cutter (although it was rather cheap it still makes gingerbread men with Mickey Ears on)!
In any case, I wanted to share my exploits. The dough rose a little more than I would have liked but it was no real issue as I just trimmed the ones I didn’t like down.
I decorated with some cookie icing that was convienently on sale at the local grocery store.
And while I am pretty good with covering and frosting things in various forms I am not that artistic with tubes of cookie icing so my husband and I got a good laugh out of a few of these guys (before eating them to destroy the evidence of my mess ups). lol.
This was a great little package, the gingerbread was tasty and since I would have paid that much just for the cookie cutter I am very happy with my purchase.
Happy Holidays from my Disney Kitchen to yours! xo
Related articles
- In the Disney Kitchen – Star Wars Cookies (chipandco.com)
- Disney in Pictures: Victorian Gingerbread House at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa (chipandco.com)
