My Star Wars Story or How I Came to Have a Rental in Black Spire Outpost

Like many other Star Wars fans, I was thrilled when The Walt Disney Company announced that they would be building a new land in both Anaheim and Orlando themed to Star Wars. When more information was released that the setting would be a new planet we had previously not been acquainted with, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. They didn't want people going in with preconceived notions and pre-set expectations, as would happen if they were to build Tattooine or Bespin or Endor or Coruscant or Naboo or Mustafar or Jakku or Crait. Instead, we were going to be introduced to the planet of Batuu, which once was a busy hub but is now a quieter outer rim planet. Black Spire Outpost has a contingent of First Order troopers as well as Kylo Ren himself, but there's a resistance camp in the nearby forest that includes Rey and Chewie. They wanted us to be able to step in and create our own stories in this world.

I wasn't sure about the "create your own story" part. To me, that was aimed at the cosplayers, which hasn't ever been my thing for any of the interests I have. But ok, I'm willing to see how that works.

Galaxy's Edge (the Disney theme park term for the land) aka Black Spire Outpost on Batuu opened at Disneyland on May 31, 2019. For the first three weeks after opening, reservations to enter the land were required and would give visitors a set block of time in which to explore and enjoy the land. I am blessed with many friends who also like Star Wars, and many were kind enough to include me on their reservations into Black Spire Outpost, so for those three weeks, I got to spend quite a bit of time on Batuu.

And from the first, I loved it. Sure, I mean, everyone's WOW moment is probably seeing the Millenium Falcon in person for the first time. I could stare at that thing for hours, imagining walking up the gangway, sitting in the cockpit, wandering around the ship.

But it's not just the Falcon. I love wandering around the marketplace, looking at all the decor and the different merchandise that's available.

I like visiting the sleeping loth cat, whose snores are quite loud during quieter times. I love looking up at the sky and stars through the latticework of the ceiling.

 

I love going to the Droid Depot and visiting the pit droids and K-2SO.

I've loved my visits to Oga's Cantina with different friends and even just strolling past and when the door is open, you can get a quick glimpse of DJ R3X inside and hear the sounds of people enjoying themselves.

 

 

I've loved wandering to the resistance camp, and I've even spent an hour late in the evening, standing outside the queue for Rise of the Resistance, listening to the radio transmissions of the resistance and hearing the sounds of the roaring creature (rancor?) in the cave as well as those rustling and stomping to the left of and behind the queue area. I've loved trying out all the new dishes at Docking Bay 7, and I love listening to the sounds while I'm sitting inside. There's something very soothing about it.

I love sitting at the tables by Ronto Roasters (sometimes enjoying a tasty ronto wrap), and on one side, you can hear the radio broadcast that also plays inside the restroom near the milk stand. I enjoy Smugglers Run but I don't always ride it when I'm in Black Spire Outpost. I've spent quite a bit of time in BSO by myself, and there's just something about being there, hearing the sounds, looking at the beautiful buildings and the small details. I've spent time there just reading, I've spent time there laughing and joking around with friends, and I've spent time there having fairly serious conversations with friends. It's home.

 

And as I spent quite a bit of time in BSO during its first few weeks, and having interacted with some of the Batuuans (and learning the local phrases and terms for things), I started wondering where they lived. Some commute in to work from outside BSO. I figured that like many other cities where the businesses are on the ground level and the dwellings are on the upper levels, I figured some must live on the second floor or higher in places like the marketplace. And with as much time as I was spending there, I started thinking it would be nice for me to have somewhere local to stay. And that idea took hold. I need an apartment on BSO. So, I started looking. I looked around the marketplace and by the speeders and by Savi's and in the First Order section, noting positives and negatives about each potential location.

 

This is next to where the speeders are parked, so this might be where some of the mechanics live. I could maybe rent just a room. It's a little bit away from the main part of town so it's a little quieter. And there's even a bridge that takes you directly to the main marketplace.

There's lodging above Savi's so that might work out to rent a room as well. It looks like nicer digs though, so it might be too expensive.

These apartments could be ok but they're really close to the cantina so it could be a bit loud. And it's close to the First Order square. I had been concerned about the blaster fire, but I'm learning there's remnants of blaster fire *everywhere*.

I'd been looking at this next to the milk stand. I'm thinking it might be the dwelling for the family that runs the stand so I could maybe rent a room. But a friend says it looks more like a religious building so I need to investigate further.

After a while, I decided that I didn't need an entire apartment. Just renting a room would be fine, just somewhere I could rest and spend the night. And I came upon the perfect idea. I've been quite fascinated with the milk stand, which is run by Bubo Wamba Family Farms. I love the decor, and I do like both the blue and green milk there.

I noticed an entrance on the back side of the milk stand and decided I could rent a room in the back part. I liked the idea of the family farm and started to see what information I could find out about them to incorporate into my story but turns out, there was nothing. There are a few books due out in the next few months about BSO, which may or may not include any info about Bubo Wamba, but for the moment, it's a blank canvas that I can work with. Cool.

I decided that what made the most sense would be that I'd meet a member of the family who would facilitate my renting the room. And then I realized THAT was my Star Wars story. It wasn't about cosplay or creating another character for myself, but rather, about incorporating my time in BSO into my normal life. And, if I was going to have a Star Wars story, Robert definitely had to be part of it.

We lost Robert to lymphoma five years ago today. Robert was one of my best friends, and Disneyland and Star Wars were some of the interests that we shared. He was supposed to have gone to Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim in 2015 where they ended up announcing Star Wars land, but that didn't happen. Robert would have loved Black Spire Outpost and to be surrounded by so much Star Wars. He would have definitely built at least one droid in the Droid Depot.

So in working out the story of how I was able to rent a room at the milk stand, it made sense that I would have become friends with one of the members of the Wamba family. So Robert was the inspiration to create that character, in name and in some details and in backstory.

This is my Star Wars story:

I was sitting and reading a history book on Batuu one night, and one of the locals stopped to chat. Rojuin Wamba is the third offspring of the family that runs the milk stand in Black Spire Outpost. We've gotten to chatting a few times and have become friends. I happened to mention to Rojuin that I was looking for a place, and Rojuin said that they have a private room in the back of the milk stand. Rojuin checked with their family, and it's all set. There's an entrance into the building behind the milk stand, and my room is to the left of the door. You might see some of their employees using that door from time to time to bring supplies and such into the building. You'd think it might be a bit loud with all that machinery going, but it actually has a hypnotic rhythm and hum that's very soothing. And I might get a chance to learn about how they process the blue and green milk, so I'm excited!

I would have spent a lot of time with Robert in Black Spire Outpost, and sometimes when I'm there, I'm sad that we never got that chance. So I'll just have to create adventures with Rojuin instead.

Lamplight Lounge - dinner - June 25, 2018

While we didn't go very often, we were fans of Ariel's Grotto restaurant.  So we were intrigued when Disney announced that they were re-theming the restaurant to Pixar.  Lamplight Lounge - oh, how cute.  I'll admit I was baffled when I heard some people say they didn't understand why it was called that.  Ummm, hello, what's one of the iconic symbols of Pixar?  The lamp!

We were lucky enough to get a reservation for the downstairs dining area the Monday after opening weekend.  We know that normally, there are some growing pains when a new restaurant opens, but we were excited to try it.

The outside marquee for Lamplight Lounge, which is still unfinished.

 

This is my favorite picture, on the side of the restaurant.  Gorgeous.

This is the logo on the floor after you walk in to check in.

We checked in and then waited for our name to be called to be shown to our table.  The waiting area has beautiful concept drawings from various Pixar films.

Slinky Dog from Toy Story.

Merida from Brave.

Wall-E and Eve.

Hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the circular staircase is a gorgeous paper chandelier with lots of cool drawings.

Even the normal restaurant signs had a Pixar touch.

The exit sign includes a reference to Up.

The maximum occupancy sign is watched over by Wall-E and Eve.

After a while, we were called to our table and descended the stairs to the downstairs dining room.  It was fun to see the ball wall.  We'd seen a version of it at the D23 Expo but I don't think that version was illuminated.

After we were seated, we perused the menu.  One section had "bites", smaller items, and the other section had more entree-type selections.  There was also a separate extensive list of alcoholic beverages available.

After we ordered, we were brought coasters for our drinks.  They all had the same picture on one side, with the Lamplight Lounge name and logo, but there were different pictures on the other side.

One side of all of the coasters is the same.

One of the coasters we got happened to have Mr. Incredible on the other side.

The husband and I each ordered an entree and we also ordered a smaller plate to share.


For our shared plate, we ordered the crab and tuna roll.  We both enjoyed this, though I mostly avoided the sauce on the bottom since I don't generally care for sauce on my sushi rolls.

Crab and tuna roll.

The husband ordered the salmon plt - a salmon sandwich with pancetta, lettuce and tomato, which comes with a side of fries.  He liked the sandwich.

Salmon plt - salmon with pancetta, lettuce and tomato.

I have in recent years become a huge fan of ratatouille, so I was excited to see it on the menu, so I did not hesitate to order that.  I was a little surprised at the presentation of the dish as I had come to expect ratatouille with sliced vegetables, so clearly, I didn't read the menu well enough to see that it was a ragout, but no matter, the ingredients are the same.  I was not, however, expecting the large hunk of cheese in the dish.  I've only had ratatouille on several occasions, but it's always just been the zucchini and eggplant and tomatoes and maybe a few other vegetables/squash, and after our dinner and I was doing a search for recipes, all the ones I found only included those ingredients and not cheese.  Again, I probably didn't read the menu very closely because I knew I wanted the ratatouille, but even if I'd paid attention that the dish included warm burrata cheese, it would not have occurred to me that it would be such a large portion of it, almost as if you were getting a protein-size portion of cheese.  One of the things I particularly like about ratatouille is that it's generally a very clean and light dish, since it's all vegetables and squash.  The burrata cheese, especially in such a huge portion, made the dish incredibly heavy, and I ended up leaving much of the cheese on the plate and trying to eat the vegetables around it.  I do have to say that I was pretty disappointed with this dish.

Ratatouille ragout with warm burrata cheese,

On a completely different note, because of the Pixarfest celebration at the Disneyland Resort this summer, there were many other Pixar-related food items available around the resort.  Cafe Orleans at Disneyland was offering a three-course prix fixe that included a cheese plate, ratatouille with shrimp, and dessert, so we had the chance to try that in July.  The ratatouille was so good in that instance, and even with the added protein of shrimp, it wasn't heavy, which it might have been if they'd added some other protein instead.  I was told that after Pixarfest, the prix fixe menu would be taken off but that the ratatouille would stay on the menu.  I'm really hoping that's true.  Here's a link to my Twitter post with pictures of the ratatouille at Cafe Orleans.




So being less than satisfied with my dinner was not the only negative experience I had at Lamplight Lounge.  When we were taken to our seats, we were actually taken to the extensive bar area that was added to the downstairs dining room.  I often like to sit at the bar in restaurants, and it's not what I had in mind in this case, but ok, no problem.  Except that for the seats they took us to, one of the seats was actually behind a pillar.  Ummm, really?  I told the hostess that those seats weren't going to work for us, and she suggested that we could move over if we wanted to.  It's not like the bar was packed that night - there were plenty of seats, and yet they felt the need to take us to seats where one was behind a pillar?  And really, who designs a bar so that two of the seats are facing a pillar?  I guess I could understand if the bar was totally packed and someone really wanted to eat there and was told that the seat was in front of a pillar and they wanted to sit there anyway, kind of like a "blocked view" seat at a stage show.

They originally told us to sit in the two seats next to where the husband is sitting.  We moved over one so that I wasn't sitting in front of a pillar.  You can clearly see that no one else was seated at the bar on that side at the time.

After we had ordered and were waiting for our food, we were looking around at the restaurant, and really, all of the seating was weird.  This is the outdoor section to the right of where I was sitting.

One of the other problems with the new ginormous bar is that it's open to the outside - one side of patrons at the bar are sitting inside while the other side of patrons (like the husband and me) were sitting outside).  That also means that during a certain portion of the day, the bartender who is serving us and anyone else sitting on that side is staring directly into the blinding sun.  Who thought this was a good idea to do to the bartenders?

The sun had gone down a little at this point but was still blinding for our bartender.

This was the rest of the bar to the left of us, and you can get an idea of how huge the bar area is.  The little outcropping "table" jutting out from the bar is not nearly long enough to make seating comfortable.  Let's say a group of 3 is sitting there, with one on the end and one on each side.  That's great - until you realize that it means the next seat at the bar is unusable because you can't possibly have someone sitting there because there's not enough room.  Again, design considerations that make no sense.

The side chairs on the outcropping block anyone from sitting at the bar at that spot.

I get that with the whole Pixar Pier reboot (which will presumably remain even after the end of the official Pixarfest after Labor Day), it made sense to re-theme the restaurant.  But the concept they came up with completely does not fit the area.  Even with the bar upstairs, the restaurant downstairs has had a family feel to it.  You know what would go with the family-themed Pixar Pier concept?  A hip and trendy gastropub!  Really?  Really.  In other reviews and things I've read, Lamplight Lounge has been referred to as a gastropub, which makes the limited menu and heavy alcoholic offerings and weird seating groupings make much more sense, but it's completely out of place in that setting.  Guests with children aren't going to be able to sit at the bar area, and some adults can't manage to sit at bar seating either.  Many of the tables are set up in a way that limits the amount of seating, which again makes no sense in that environment.  And none of these are a matter of "opening weekend" bugs.  The design of the restaurant isn't going to change.  The ginormous bar isn't going to magically get smaller.  I suppose the menu can change - I haven't paid attention to whether any changes have been made since our visit (as I'm writing this in mid-August).

I can tell you that while I'm very interested in the restaurants and other food offerings at the Disneyland Resort, I was decidedly not happy with our experience at Lamplight Lounge.  It's not a place I'd recommend to my friends or anyone asking for dining advice.  The menu (and the ratatouille) could be fixed, to some degree.  The design and seating issues cannot.




That being said, while there were clearly things I was not happy about, there were some non-design decor elements that I really liked - the whimsy that I'd have expected from a Pixar-themed restaurant.  Let's end on a happy note, shall we?

In the outdoor seating area, I love that the "don't feed the birds" sign is accompanied by a seagull from Finding Nemo.

The walkway area to the restrooms had some great designs and well-known phrases.

Beautiful "chalk" drawing of the restaurant logo.

This was my favorite bit since my favorite Pixar film is Monsters, Inc.

And this was one of the funniest things from Up.

Fin.

Star Wars and Disneyland

Today, we attended the panel at Star Wars Celebration, Orlando called "Star Wars and Disney Parks".  First up was discussion about Star Tours.  The guests were Disney Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald and actor Anthony Daniels.  Tom talked a bit about how the ride was developed, that he and fellow Imagineer Tony Baxter were asked to visit a company that made flight simulators who were interested in entering the entertainment industry.  When Imagineering was then subsequently in discussions with George Lucas about working on something together, George saw some information while at Imagineering about the flight simulator and asked what it was.  He then said it was the perfect tool to help create a Star Wars ride, and Imagineering and ILM starting working together on what would eventually be Star Tours.  Paul Reubens was chosen to voice Rex, the hapless robot who finds that his first flight ends up being more complicated than he'd imagined.  Tom said that George had wanted to make sure there was plenty of humour in the ride.

Anthony Daniels was asked to be part of the project because they wanted the iconic characters of R2-D2 and C-3PO to be involved in the pre-show in the queue.  Anthony came in to do the movements of 3PO, which he says were duplicated perfectly, so much so that when he stood in the queue watching the animatronic 3PO, he couldn't believe he wasn't inside the suit controlling the movements.  I laughed at the story, because it's one of my favorites, that Tom told that George had wanted more droids in the pre-show but they were so close to opening the ride, so they went to a nearby attraction, "America Sings" at the time, and stole two of the singing geese and turned them into droids for Star Tours, which is why they're referred to as the goose droids.

Discussion then turned into the changed, current version of Star Tours, billed as "The Adventures Continue".  In connection with the then-upcoming release of "The Force Awakens", a new scene on Jakku was added to the ride.  They purposely subtitled it "the Adventures Continue" so that it gave them a lot of leeway to do other things.  They announced that in connection with "The Last Jedi", a new scene would be added featuring Crait, the new planet revealed in the teaser trailer for "The Last Jedi".

And then, discussion turned to the new Star Wars lands being built in Disneyland in Anaheim and in Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando.  Several people from Imagineering and from Lucasfilm who are collaborating on the project came out to discuss the new land, which had previously been announced as opening in 2019.  Not much information has been released about the new land.  They did say that it's a remote frontier outpost on a planet with which we are not currently familiar.  The vision is to create not a set with facades but something real.  They said it wasn't a place that was being created for 2019 but rather, a place that already exists which we won't get to visit until 2019.  It will be a real town, with real characters, including an underworld, and real smells.

Both the Resistance and the First Order will have a presence in the outpost, but it will also be a place for bounty hunters and smugglers and those who don't wish to be found.  In designing the town, they looked at a lot of Star Wars concept drawings from famed artist Ralph McQuarrie.  Star Wars fans know how revered he is in being instrumental in helping to design the look and feel of Star Wars worlds.  They said that when they consider an element in the land, if it was something that Ralph McQuarrie wouldn't approve of, then maybe it would be best to leave it off.  Having the new town elements and look be influenced by Ralph McQuarrie's designs is indeed an encouraging thing for Star Wars fans to hear.

In designing the new town, it's not the same as designing a set because a set would be contained and controlled.  The new town they're designing has to look good in the daytime and the nighttime, and it has to be able to accommodate the weather elements in each locale.

The town will include many droids, some already familiar and some not.  Each will have their own story and their own personality.

There will also be various characters who inhabit the town, and guests will find themselves with the ability to help the Resistance, or support the First Order, or maybe even accept a side job from a smuggler or bounty hunter.  Guests will also be able to fly the Millenium Falcon to complete a mission with their chosen flight crew (spouse, sibling, third cousin twice removed, friend, etc).  It was stated that most guests would most likely accomplish their mission, but what kind of damage the Falcon or anything else might sustain in the process will be up to the guest and their crew.  However, if things go awry, there could be consequences and the guest might find themselves being paid a visit even after their mission is over or down the line.  Guests will in effect build a reputation based on their actions in this new town.

It was great to hear how excited everyone was in talking about this project.  All of the people working on the project are huge Star Wars fans, and they themselves are looking forward to fulfilling their own childhood dreams of being able to actually visit and spend time in a Star Wars world.  They said that they didn't just want guests to remember past adventures of other people, like having them visit Tatooine or Hoth.  They want guests to experience their own Star Wars stories in this town.

I was intrigued to hear that your history in the town could be maintained and used as an on-going story.  And I thought about how that could work.  Obviously, guests could be asked to scan their annual passes when they entered the town or flew the Falcon or visited the cantina, and that information could be tracked for future reference.  But, not everyone has an annual pass.  Some people might visit regularly but not by having an annual pass.  However, given that it's a town, I'm thinking visitors could be asked to have some kind of ID that would be issued to them.  As they interact with characters in the town, those interactions could be tracked by scanning the ID and the cumulative effect could result in more story variations, depending on what each guest in involved in.  And for those guests who don't visit as often or who would prefer to remain more anonymous during their visits, they wouldn't have to have their IDs scanned.

There is still one major concern that I have, a concern I've had since the project was first announced, heck, since the project was first rumoured.  From the very beginning, it had been indicated that the plan was to have it be a real place, a real town, with real citizens you can interact with.  That sounds great.  But a real town is going to be suffocating when 40 million people want to visit this town at the same time.  How are they going to control the guest population in this town?  Sure, they could restrict entry into the town, to control how many people enter at any given time.  However, unless they sweep the town of guests every two hours or so, which would be weird for a real town, they're going to end up having too many people staying and therefore limiting how many new guests could enter.  I can tell you right now that when I'm allowed to visit, as long as they have restrooms and refreshments, I could enter first thing in the morning and not leave until the town closes for the evening.  Heck, maybe I'll even sit at the base of an AT-AT and just people watch for a while.  I'm definitely going to explore every little detail, and I know I'm not the only one.  I'm sure they'll figure out a way to handle this.  I just can't think of what it could be.

I was excited to hear what the panelists had to say today.  I cannot even tell you how exciting I think it is, and two years is a long time away, but patience is definitely going to pay off.

Oh, and by the way, just an FYI to Imagineering and ILM, if you need people to test out visits to the new town, interactions with guests, taste tests of the local food, I'm totally available and happy to help!  I love traveling to new places!

Classic Afternoon Tea at the Disneyland Hotel - Steakhouse 55 - March 12, 2016

The Disneyland Resort had announced that classic afternoon tea would be served at the Steakhouse 55 restaurant inside the Disneyland Hotel, and I was interested in trying it.  I love tea, and I'm a fan of afternoon tea.  I still really miss the Practically Perfect Tea that used to be offered at what is now the Paradise Pier Hotel.

The husband and I attended the afternoon tea for a lunchtime seating on March 12, 2016.  I checked in at the podium, and then we waited for a few minutes in the lounge before being taken to our table.  The first time I went to breakfast at Steakhouse 55, I was surprised to note that the restaurant was well-lit, though I should have expected it.  I'd only previously been there for dinner, when the lights are dimmer to set the ambiance, but it made sense for the restaurant to be bright instead during breakfast, which was the same for afternoon tea.  We were taken to a two-person table towards the back, and the hostess said our server would be with us shortly.

The husband and I perused our menus in the meantime.

Menu choices for classic afternoon tea at Steakhouse 55 at the Disneyland Hotel.

Three choices are offered for tea service.  The classic tea party includes scones, tea sandwiches, dessert, and of course, tea, for $50 per person (AP discounts, and presumably cast member discounts, apply).

Classic Tea Party elements.

The premium tea party includes all the elements of the classic tea party as well as a glass of sparkling wine, a salad, and farewell truffles, and that costs $65 per person, before applicable discounts.

Premium Tea Party elements.

There is also a kids tea party offered, for $35 per child, before applicable discounts.

Kids tea party elements.

The husband and I both opted for the premium tea party.  We then perused the menu of available teas.  When our server came to greet us, she told us that we were of course welcome to try as many of the teas as we liked, but she did recommend that we have one pot at a time.  She also mentioned that the teas could be served hot or iced.  I was actually surprised at that since it would never occur to me to have iced tea at an afternoon tea, but I guess they were being accommodating to people's preferences.  I'm not generally a fan of flowery teas and fruit teas, and I tend to like my tea strong, so the tea that really caught my eye was the Perfect Afternoon.  When we told the server that's the one we wanted to start with, she mentioned that it was the strongest tea on the list.  Of course it was.

List of available teas.

There was also a list of other adult beverages that were available.

For an adult twist to tea.

We also asked for water, and after we'd ordered, we were ready for tea to start.  First, they brought out the sparkling wine.  The sparkling wine being served was Fairy Tale, which has been the signature sparkling wine at the Resort for some time, and which I love, but I hadn't realized that it was from Iron Horse.  Many years ago, at a wine dinner at Catal Restaurant in Downtown Disney, I'd discovered a riesling from Iron Horse that I'd really loved.

Table settings already in place for tea.  I love the clean, clear pattern.

Iron Horse Fairy Tale sparkling wine.

I liked the teapot that they were using for tea, but I did think it was very plain, with just the bone white.  I didn't want anything too flowery, but maybe some kind of subtle solid-color accent might have gone nicely with the pattern of the china.  It wasn't a very large teapot, which made sense if the intention is that you are going to try several of the teas in succession.  And, I have to admit, even though I wasn't planning on using the milk, I was disappointed that it was cold.  It would have been nice if it had been even a little warm, or even close to room temperature, as pouring cold milk into hot tea really dampens the temperature of the tea.  In this case, it wasn't even just the milk that was cold, but the container was as well, so we figured that meant the entire container had been in the refrigerator.  Serving warm or even room temperature milk is definitely more labor intensive than serving cold milk but it would have been a nice extra touch.

Pot of tea with milk on the side.

I really enjoyed the Perfect Afternoon tea.  It definitely had a bold tea flavor and was a good accompaniment to the menu items, especially the scones, since they're fairly sweet.

Beautiful color of the Perfect Afternoon tea.

In addition to milk, also brought to the table were sugar, sugar substitutes, honey and lemon.  I generally don't put anything in my hot tea, but it's nice to have the items available for people who do use them.

Sugar comes in the form of crystallized sugar sticks.

Honey and lemon for your tea, if you please.

Because we'd ordered the premium tea party, our first course was the salad.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was a rather nice salad, with romaine lettuce rather than iceberg, and a few different accompaniments on the lettuce as well and a nice dressing that didn't oversaturate the salad.  They also added fresh ground pepper upon request.  It was a nice and refreshing start to tea.

A nice salad to start with.

The main elements of the tea were brought in a stacked tower, with the scones on top, the tea sandwiches in the middle and the desserts on the bottom.  Accompaniments for the scones were on a separate plate.

Scones, sandwiches and dessert.

There were two kinds of scones, one was a black currant scone and one was a blueberry scone with lemon glaze.

Blueberry scones with lemon glaze and black currant scones.

The scone accompaniments were Devonshire cream, lemon curd and blueberry lemon preserve.  I did think it was kind of interesting that the blueberry and lemon themes were repeated in the scones and in the accompaniments.  The Devonshire cream was wonderful, as you'd expect.  I mostly put that on the scones.  I liked the lemon curd but I'll admit I wasn't sure how the tartness of that would work on the scones, so I didn't end up using any of it.  The blueberrry lemon preserve was quite nice, and I had some of it with the black currant scone.

Devonshire cream, lemon curd and blueberry lemon preserve.

The tea sandwiches consisted of cucumber and watercress, heirloom tomato and mozzarella (basically a caprese), egg salad, and smoked salmon.  I enjoyed all of the sandwiches.  They were all different enough from each other that you could enjoy the various flavors.

Tea sandwiches.

A different view of the tea sandwiches.

Dessert consisted of chocolate-dipped strawberries, mini fruit tarts, and four different flavors of macarons.  The flavors have apparently changed during the time that tea has been offered, but on this day, the flavors were pineapple chocolate, white and dark chocolate, pistachio maraschino, and raspberry chocolate.  I enjoyed the desserts, though I didn't have all of them because I was feeling that there was quite a bit of sugar overall during the meal, and that's without putting any sugar in my tea.  The scones were sweeter than I remember them normally being when I've had them elsewhere - perhaps the lemon glaze on the blueberry added to that.  For the mini fruit tart, I ate the fruit on top and left the rest of the tart.  I really enjoyed the chocolate-dipped strawberry (neither the husband nor I like white chocolate, so he scraped the white chocolate off and just ate the strawberry, while I was able to enjoy the milk chocolate one) because it was a perfectly ripe strawberry, not too sweet and not too sour, and the size of the strawberry was enough to evenly balance the sweetness of the chocolate.  Even though the macarons were smallish and were shared by two of us, having four of them seemed more than I'd have expected.  I probably would have preferred for there to be two of them and then maybe some additional fruit on the side instead of the other two macarons, maybe a couple slices of honeydew or cantaloupe, which are mild enough in flavor not to overpower the other desserts but wouldn't add as much to the sweet flavors.

Dessert.

I think part of the problem for me in feeling like the sweet factor of the meal was too high is that I didn't have as much tea to drink as I'd have liked.  We did finish our first pot of tea, and when we were ready to try our next tea, it took a while for us to get the attention of our server, who was helping other guests.  So we sat for a little while without any tea to drink, and I did end up having more of my water than I normally would during a meal where I also have tea.  When we finally were able to speak to our server, we ordered our next tea, and that seemed to take a while to come out as well.  So, at a meal advertised as afternoon tea, I spent too much of it without any tea.  If I'd had more tea available throughout the meal, I think it would have cleaned out my palate more from the scones, and having the tea with the desserts would probably also have presented a better balance.  At one point, I sat there for a while waiting to have some more of my dessert until I had tea to go with it.  Our initial pot of tea was brought out by someone other than our server, but otherwise, everything else we received and needed was handled by our server.  Maybe it would be better to have someone assist the server so that if someone needed another pot of the same tea or even a different tea, the other person could take care of that.  If someone needed assistance in picking out what tea to have, it would make sense for the server to handle that, but for people like us who have very definite ideas of what kinds of tea we like, who don't need the extra assistance and just need to make our tea request.  I'd wanted to also try the White Tip Darjeeling but didn't have time.  Towards the end of our meal, the husband actually asked if I wanted to order a pot of that, but I didn't want to wait the extra time to get it, as we'd already been there for a while.  If they don't want someone other than the server attending to the guests, perhaps they might give fewer tables to each server and have more servers so that the server isn't spread as thin among their various tables.  (For those who know me, yes, there was English Breakfast tea on the menu, and yes, I love that, but no, I wasn't going to order it because there were other teas I wanted to try.)


The other tea that we did request was the Russian Earl Grey, which initially intrigued me because while of course I was familiar with Earl Grey tea, I'd never heard of Russian Earl Grey before.  As I'd mentioned previously, I generally don't add anything to my hot tea, but I do enjoy lemon in my hot tea on the occasions when I have a cold.  I really enjoyed this tea, which had the flavor of lemon in it, but while I can't properly describe the flavor, having the lemon flavor infused into the tea gave it a much cleaner taste and flavor than adding lemon into the tea separately.  It was enough of a lemon flavor to give it the scent and taste but it wasn't too tart.  It was really a nice tea.

I asked the server about the teas that were offered with the meal, and she said that they were all loose leaf teas, fresh brewed, and they were from Tea Leaves and Twinings.  I'm a fan of Twinings, but I hadn't heard of Tea Leaves before.  At first, I didn't realize she was referencing a brand name and thought she just meant tea leaves, but as she was explaining that a rep from the company had come to explain the teas to the servers and staff, I realized that must be the name of the company.  And lo and behold, here's the Russian Earl Grey from Tea Leaves.  I'm amused that the story our server relayed to us about the tea is actually on the website, that tea was brought from China to Russia via the desert, and lemon was added to the tea to hide the dusty flavor.  I think I'm going to need to order some of that.  (And for those of you who know about me, buying tea, and the husband, yes, he knows I'm likely going to order it, and no, he didn't object.  Of course, he doesn't know that I've looked through the other teas available there, and I might be ordering more than just the Russian Earl Grey.  Shhhhhhh!!!!!)


Finally, the last item included in our premium tea party were truffles.  Inside the cute packaging were two truffles, Tahitian vanilla and salted caramel.  Yes, I was done with sugar by that point.  We saved them for later and shared them with friends.  I do love that the truffles come in a pretty and branded container which makes for a nice memento/souvenir.

Truffles to complete the premium tea experience.

A nice memento/souvenir of the afternoon.

Since there are two choices offered for tea (not including the kids tea), how would you decide which one to order?  Is $15 worth the extra price for a salad, a glass of sparkling wine and truffles?  Of course, it all depends on your preferences and budget.  If your entire family of 6 is attending, that's a lot of extra cost.  If you're not a fan of salad or don't partake in alcoholic beverages or are allergic to chocolate, the premium tea party might not work for you.  (I didn't ask if a non-alcoholic beverage could be substituted for the glass of sparkling wine.)  For us, we were glad we'd gotten the premium tea party.  Having the additional salad was definitely nice, and without it, the meal would have seemed even sweeter.  I did enjoy the sparkling wine, helped by the fact that it's a wine I already liked.  And while I didn't need the extra sugar of the truffles, it was nice to share them with friends, and I like having the souvenir to keep.  If you're going with other family members, some of you could order the classic tea party and some could order the premium tea party and just share the extra elements.  That could work among friends as well, as long as you agree ahead of time who gets what!

The restaurant was busy but not full when we were there, so it seems to be a popular offering.


Overall, I did enjoy the afternoon tea.  My experience might be a little jaded because I have a couple of local places that I can go to that have excellent afternoon teas, including one that's basically a proper English tea, and I really, REALLY miss the Practically Perfect Tea that I'd mentioned earlier.  This tea isn't something I'd likely attend on a regular basis (though I do have plans to return shortly, to enjoy it with friends), but I think it's a lovely offering for people who want to be able to enjoy the experience of tea and don't necessarily have a favorite place to already go to, or who want to try something different.  Whether for locals or tourists visiting Disneyland, it's a nice interlude during the day, and definitely a nice option to celebrate a holiday or an important milestone.  When we were there, we happened to overhear another party who were attending as a surprise retirement party for their mother.  What a wonderful idea!

A premium tea party adds enjoyment to any day.