Candy Palace and Penny Arcade Refurb

 With the refurbishment of the 400 block of Main Street, that included the Candy Palace and the Penny Arcade. If you have ever tried to stop and grab a caramel apple or peanut clusters before you left the park, you know that it is always crowded and difficult to maneuver around the penny presses and gobs of fellow caramel apple lovers.

 In comparison to the candy kitchen in Marcelline's at Downtown Disney, this kitchen was microscopic, but they still managed to turn out lots of hand made scrumptiousness.  Now look at the difference!  In this area they were making something with gooey caramel.

 In this second section they were dipping pineapple wedges into dark chocolate.  What?  If I were a pineapple fan, let me tell you, I would be all over that!  Yum!

 Here is how they have changed the display cases and check out areas This used to be the end of the check out stand, but they have now move the check out to the back corner behind the Coca-cola Corner.  See it back there?

 And this very patriotic looking area used to be where all the penny presses and the Uncle Sam were located.  It has the coffees, boxed cookies, caramel corn, and packages of the fresh candies made on the premises.  See all of them in the display case in the center of the picture?  If the package says FRESH on the yellow sticker, then it was made at Disneyland.  If it has a blue Disneyland sticker on it, it was made who knows when back in WDW.  Yuck.  We have gotten too many rancid nuts that way.  Never buy those.

 Here is Mr. Diva checking out our stuff at the new check out stand in the back.

 Here are all of the yummy products along the back wall.

How Many Wishing Wells are in Disneyland?

 Of course, there is the iconic Snow White's Wishing Well in Snow White's Grotto to the right of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.  The money from this wishing well is collected periodically and it goes to the Children's Hospital of LA.

 Over in Toon Town, Minnie Mouse has her own wishing well.  Minnie posted a special message on the front of her wishing well that says,

Welcome to my backyard well,

A secret wish you now must tell,

My reply will echo clear,

To all my friends so near and dear!

Love, Minnie

 And the last wishing well (that I know of) is over in Critter Country near the fast pass distribution for Splash Mountain.  You really can't throw any coins into this wishing well, but it is really cute and it has this adorable statue of Brer Rabbit on it.  And I love all of the greenery around it.  Such a lovely little spot.

So there you have it!  Three wishing wells at Disneyland.  Just a silly little tidbit I felt like talking about.

Disneyland's Jolly Holiday Bakery

Disneyland is in the midst of refurbishing many of the things on Main Street, and in so doing, they have the Carnation Cafe and Blue Ribbon Bakery closed.  They needed another restaurant to replace them, so they turned this corner restaurant space from the AP Renewal office, back into a restaurant called the Jolly Holiday Bakery.

 

One of the interesting tidbits that I recently learned was that this custom Mary Poppins weathervane has two pennies in her carpetbag.  One has the date 1955 for the year the park opened and one is 2012 for the year the bakery opened.  

 

As you enter the bakery, you can see the lovely light fixture, the menu boards, and the display cases full of yummy looking things!

Here is a painting with many sayings and things from the movie.

Here is a display case in the queue with a figurine of Mary riding her carousel horse, and some birds and penguins.

Silhouettes of Mary, Jane and Michael. And a detailed silhouette of a child flying a kite.

This tile mosaic on the floor is supposed to mimic the chalk pictures Burt drew on the sidewalks.

Here is the menu served after 10:30 am. 

And the espresso and beverage menu that is served all day.  In case you were wondering, Abuelita (Spanish for grandma) is a Nestle brand of powdered chocolate for making Mexican Hot Cocoa.

Yum, right?  so many choices!!

Too many baked goods to choose from! 

Raspberry Cheesecakes and cupcakes.

Cookies, cupcakes, crispy treats, Matterhorn Macaroons, chocolate croissants, and muffins!

Banana nut loaf, danish, scones, cookies, and cinnamon rolls!

This is the grilled cheese sandwich that is part of the Jolly Holiday combo with tomato basil soup.

I'm not really sure how I even made a choice between these two!

Mr. Diva ordered the Roasted Turkey Sandwich and chips, $8.69.  He liked it!

I ordered the Cheese and Broccoli Quiche with house salad $6.29, blended mocha $4.39,  

and a lemon meringue (actually marshmallow fluff) bar $3.99.  

All very good!  Of course I had my salad dry, but it was still good.

And who could pass up a meal in this setting?  You can watch tons of people, enjoy the view of the castle and the Matterhorn, listen to the Main Street music and enjoy a good meal.  I would definitely recommend the Jolly Holiday Bakery for a quick service meal on your next trip.

Here is a little video done by the folks at Disney about the Jolly Holiday Bakery:

Main Street USA - Little Known Facts

Main Street USA! Every visitor's first taste of Disney magic. It starts with this amazing view of the trains station. If that doesn't say welcome, I don't know what does!

Main Street USA was inspired by Walt's home town of Marcelline, Missouri. When he started planning Disneyland, Imagineer Harper Goff showed Walt some pictures of his home town of Fort Collins, Colorado around the turn of the 19th century, and Walt like it. So Main Street USA is part Marcelline, part Fort Collins, and a lot of Harper Goff's and Walt Disney's imaginations.


These cannons in the main hub were actually used by the French Army in the 1800's but were never used in battle.


In the Opera House, which houses Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, also showcases this amazing caenstone sculpture by French artist George Lloyd. He sculpted it in 1932 and gave it to Walt Disney in 1962. It was placed in the Opera House in 1965 with the opening of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

Walt Disney had an apartment built above the Firehouse on Main Street. Whenever he was in the park, he turned on a light to let employees know he was present. A light now burns in the window all the time as a tribute to Walt.


The gas lamps on Main Street are antique gas burning lamps from the 1800's. Most of the lamps were purchased by imagineer Emile Kuri from Baltimore, Maryland and installed them in the park in 1955.

This cigar store indian harkens back to a time when trade stores were recognized by a symbol - barber shop poles, scissor for tailors and Native Americans were associated with tobacco products since they were given credit for introducing tobacco to Europeans. When Disneyland first opened, the stores that are now music stores actually sold tobacco, and since Main Street is supposed to represent an all-American town around the turn of the 20th century, the cigar store indian was set out front as a symbol. It's still there, even through the tobacco store is long gone.

The Plaza Inn is one of our favorite places to eat. The building has some interesting things about it -- It is one of the original restaurants from the opening of Disneyland in 1955, and was originally called the Red Wagon Inn. It was one of Walt's favorite restaurants in the park. It has some actual antique furnishings and decorations from the 1800's and the stained glass ceiling and woodwork from the old St. James home in Los Angeles. It is said that Lillian Disney had a big part in the decor of the Plaza Inn. She loved antiques!Probably one of the icons of Main Street is the Partners statue, sculpted by Blaine Gibson and was originally installed in WDW, but this copy was installed in main hub in Disneyland in 2001. It is a lovely addition to the central passage way of Disneyland and epitomizes the feeling of Walt when he said, "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."

Carnation Cafe and a chef named Oscar.

The Carnation Cafe is certainly one of our favorite places to eat in Disneyland. We love their breakfast and lunch menus. Below are some pictures of our favorite meals and our favorite places to sit in the cafe.


This is the Oscar Special and it is one of our favorites for breakfast.

This is Chef Oscar. He has been working at the Disneyland Resort for 55 years!! He has some great stories to tell too.

Mr. Diva and Oscar chatted quite a bit on our last trip to Disneyland. We were sitting in one of our favorite little corner spots by the double doors. Chef Oscar told us that when they expand the cafe next year that he may be retiring. If that if true, it will be a very sad day for us!!

This is another favorite breakfast, the Breakfast Croissant with an Iced Coconut Latte.

And we are sitting at our favorite spot next to the window in the back. I love sitting by that window. In September when we came in to the cafe for lunch, it was empty but for one couple and they seated us here. Then we noticed that one of the other two people in the cafe was DICK VAN DYKE! I didn't take a picture or stalk him, but it was a huge thrill!

Now for lunch, Mr. Diva likes the French Dip Sandwich and fruit.

I like the Loaded Baked Potato Soup with fruit and of course...and Iced Coconut Latte.


That's right, we score our favorite spot again!

Now tell me you aren't going to order the Loaded Baked Potato Soup and an Iced Coconut Latte the next time you're there. It looks scrumptious doesn't it??


Chef Oscar can ususally be found hanging out on the weekends.
As you can see -- I never veer from something that is a winnner!

If you ask nicely, Chef will sign a copy of the Loaded Baked Potato Soup recipe for you.
This was on a girls day at the parks and he sat down with us and chatted for about a half an hour and then signed our recipes.
We love the Carnation Cafe and Chef Oscar!!