First Review: Buena Vista Street Restaurants

Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café (menu)

Tom Bricker says:

“The menu seems very similar to Jolly Holiday in Disneyland Park, with the addition of Starbucks. The breakfast was better here than at the Cozy Cone Motel in Cars Land.”

• Quality: Good-Excellent
• Value: B
• Portion: Medium

Selections

Starbucks coffee, cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing, hot breakfast sandwiches, sandwiches (including roast beef and Cheddar, turkey reuben, and paneer and roasted vegetable), and soups (such as cream spinach, chicken tortilla, or meat stew)

Comments

This new quick-service eatery — named after both the Three Little Pigs and an imaginary songstress trio whose manufactured mementos hang inside — boasts a large open dining area in the Arts & Crafts style. You can get your morning jolt of Starbucks-brand joe (or a venti half-caff soy latte, if you prefer) and grab-and-go breakfast pastries here. Lunch and dinner selections spotlight soups and sandwiches.

 

Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream (menu)

• Quality: Good
• Value: C+
• Portion: Small-Medium

Selections

Ice cream

Comments

This ice cream parlor adjoining the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Café and Bakery serves hand-scooped Dreyer’s deserts from an old-fashioned soda fountain counter. Hand-dipped ice cream bars coated in sprinkles, chocolate, nuts, and pop rocks are available, along chocolate-dipped waffle cones. Go ahead and splurge on a second scoop, it’s only 50 cents extra.

Trolley Treats

• Quality: Fair-Good
• Value: C
• Portion: Small

Selections

Candy

Comments

This classic candy shop has an exposed kitchen where you can watch taffy, candy apples, marshmallows, fudge, and other sweets being made. Check out the Big Rock Candy Mountain model in the window, inspired by plans for a never-built Disneyland attraction.

Mortimer’s Market

• Quality: Fair-Good
• Value: C-
• Portion: Small-Medium

Selections

Cold drinks and fresh fruit

Comments

This grab-and-go location is the closest place to the park entrance to get a snack. The market is named after Walt’s original appellation for his animated mouse, until his wife urged him to make it Mickey.

All eyes in the theme park industry turn this week to the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, where the grand re-opening of Disney California Adventure is being celebrated in the high style befitting the finish line of a billion-dollar makeover marathon. Before this massive expansion officially opens to the public on June 15, invited media and paying sneak-preview participants will have already had their way with the new attractions of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street, and naturally the TouringPlans.com team is there on the scene. Touring Plans’ official photographer Tom Bricker, Unofficial Guide to Disneyland co-author Seth Kubersky, and new Touring Plans researcher Guy Selga, Jr. will all be on-property this week, documenting every detail to your touring advantage. Over the next few days, please check back on the blog for our hot-off-the-press first reviews direct from DCA, edited versions of which will appear in the 2013 edition of the Unofficial Guide.

All photos by Tom Bricker.