Disney Globetrotter

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Easter Wonderland 2011: Desserts at Tokyo Disney Ambassador Hotel

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Hard to believe, but I still have two more food posts from the 2011 Easter Wonderland event that wrapped up at Tokyo Disneyland last week. For seasonal events, the Ambassador Hotel often offers special themed food and desserts.  Tokyo Disney has ended the dining pin promotion, but the desserts and special menus are still worth getting if you are visiting during a seasonal event.

For 2011, the Hyperion Lounge at the Tokyo Disney Ambassador Hotel had two desserts and beverages that were Easter themed. The main dessert was “Disney’s Easter Wonderland” Special Dessert set that was an Easter Peach Melba with Fresh Fruit Tart.  The design includes a more obscure character — Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  He became quite popular in Japan several years ago and made his first appearance as a float during the Easter celebration in 2010.  This dessert is actually a recreation of the float design and the Oswald merchandise offered this year.

The pastry chef who designs and executes the seasonal desserts is quite adept at putting together some of the most amazing creations event after event.  While this one may lack some of the precision chocolate work other desserts have in the past, there are a number of intricate details on this year’s that easily make up for it.  For a Spring themed dessert, the light texture and fruit flavors were a nice surprise.

Looking over the dessert as I was photographing, I continued to find little missed details, including things like a hidden Mickey on the chocolate Easter Egg.

The other dessert we ordered was one of the specials from the regular Cake menu.  It was Mickey Mouse shaped, complete with his 2011 Easter hat on.  The detail elements were constructed of both chocolate and fondant — a cute design but a bit pricey when compared to the Easter Wonderland dessert set for a similar cost.

For this year’s beverages, the alcoholic option was the “Ambassador Style” cocktail with cherry liqueur, Cointreau, Cassis Syrup, Cranberry Juice, Lemon Juice, and 7UP.  The non-alcoholic drink, “Easter Waltz”, included Orange Juice,  Melon Syrup, 7UP and Jelly Balls, and a dated souvenir glass.

In addition to the dessert offerings, the Ambassador Hotel had a few Easter decorations as well.

Other Easter Wonderland 2011 Posts:

Easter Wonderland 2011: Tokyo Disneyland Park Decorations

Easter Wonderland 2011: Easter Egg Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland

Easter Wonderland 2011: Seasonal Treats at Tokyo Disneyland

Easter Wonderland 2011: Seasonal Treats at Tokyo Disneyland

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This year’s Easter event at Tokyo Disneyland featured some fun goodies and treats, along with two new commemorative mugs and plate for 2011.  One of the things I look forward most to each Tokyo Disney event is the food theming and design.  The talented culinary staff goes beyond an expected Mickey head shape and works to bring the essence of the holiday in each restaurant menu and snack they create.  The creativity sparks delight in not just the children, but the adults who line up for 30 minutes to purchase the adorable seasonal goodies.

For me, the cuteness sparks happy childhood memories of dying Easter eggs with my Mom and Grandma, opening my basket with all sorts of Spring themed and brightly colored goodies.  And on a day like today — what would’ve been my Grandma’s Birthday — a stroll down memory lane is quite comforting, even if Easter did technically pass.

For Easter Wonderland 2011, the first seasonal snack we picked up was the Custard Mousse with Easter Wonderland Souvenir Cup (550 yen).  The design pays homage to Mickey and Minnie dressed as bunnies and even features them inside the mug after you remove the dessert.   Another awesome feature to note about Tokyo Disney desserts — they come in plastic cups that sit inside the mug so you don’t have to worry about clean up and carrying around a dirty souvenir mug all day.  They give you plastic bags for each item and sometimes a real nice CM may even bubble wrap them for you when you are shopping inside a store later on!   I am sure you can just ask as well, which is great for getting everything in your carry on for the flight home!

Back to the Easter desserts, there is also another souvenir cup that had the Easter Wonderland logo and more Minnie Mouse themed with the same custard mousse inside.

Another treat for this year’s Easter Wonderland event that is wrapping up next week is the Sweet Easter Egg with Mickey souvenir stand (600 yen).  This was like a mochi style cake ball.  You could choose from three different colors, but all were the same flavor/taste.

To get the matching Easter Wonderland plate, Tokyo Disneyland is offering a marshmallow chick that is almost too cute to eat!  Had flashbacks to my childhood terror of eating the head of the marshmallow Peeps!  The inside of this little guy had a sweet liquid that had a caramel like taste, but was much more thin and clear.

I’ve had several people ask me if the designs and desserts are the same each year, but no, they are not.  Tokyo Disney goes the extra mile in developing new stuff for each year’s events and the Easter Wonderland event is no exception.  Just to give you an idea, here are three of the Easter treats from the 2010 event — the ladybug roll is from the DisneySEA’s Spring Carnival Event that was previously held in conjunction with Easter Wonderland.  The Easter Cookie and Marshmallow and Peanut egg were from Disneyland and the Easter Wonderland event itself.

Have you tried any other Easter Wonderland treats during other year’s events? Would love to see photos or hear what other designs they have done in the past as well!

Other Easter Wonderland Posts:

Easter Wonderland 2011: Tokyo Disneyland Park Decorations

Easter Wonderland 2011: Easter Egg Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland

2011 Chinese New Year Menus and Treats at Hong Kong Disneyland

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Since the kick off of the 5th Anniversary celebration and Chinese New Year started on the same day, I was expecting the menus to be catered more towards the 5th Anniversary, but nearly every food outlet had Chinese New Year specials and menus.  We were told the Disneyland Hotel was featuring a special menu in the Crystal Lotus restaurant as well, but we did not have the opportunity to get over there on this short trip.

The bakery had a number of special Chinese New Year foods available for purchase, including “fortune” buns.  Several restaurants had new menus, and we had new dim sum from the Plaza Inn (not sure if the new items were just for Chinese New Year or not).

Here is a look at a few of the bakery items and pictures of the seasonal menus available through February 13, 2011.

Fortune Pineapple "Boomer" - Sweet Topping Bun with Red Bean
Lucky Custard Bun
Prosperous Year Fish -- Peach and Custard Bun

Gallery with more images of Chinese New Year menus and treats available at Hong Kong Disneyland:

Other Chinese New Year Hong Kong Disneyland posts:

Year of the Rabbit Merchandise at Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland Chinese New Year Celebration: Lucky Fortune Trail

Tokyo Disney Resort: Christmas Fantasy Dessert & Pin from Ambassador Hotel

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As part of the 10th Anniversary celebration at the Ambassador Hotel, several restaurants have been offering special commemorative dining pins in conjunction with seasonal entrees and desserts.  While some of the pins are only available from the nearly $200+ dinner sets, there are several locations that offer more reasonably priced options.

During Tokyo Disney Resort’s Christmas festivities this past month, the Hyperion Lounge featured a special “Christmas Fantasy” dessert and a seasonal beverage.

Christmas Fantasy offerings displayed at Hyperion Lounge entrance

Christmas Fantasy Special Dessert Set

For 1,950 JPY, the Hyperion Lounge was offering a Dark Chocolate Mousse, Yule Log-Style, with Raspberry-Anise Sorbet.  This also came with tea or coffee (hot or iced), and while available, a special Tinkerbell Christmas Fantasy pin.

The Hyperion Lounge desserts are incredible and definitely a must try during seasonal events.  It’s a little walk from the Parks if you are not staying there, but worth it!  It’s a nice quiet reprieve from the hectic atmosphere of the theme parks and the desserts are fantastic!

Here is a close up look at nearly every angle of the Tinkerbell masterpiece:

Aerial view of the Tinkerbell Christmas Fantasy dessert
Front of the Tinkerbell Christmas Fantasy Dessert

Attention to detail is one of the refreshing aspects of the Tokyo Disney Resort.  Note the detail work and the few “hidden Mickeys” on the plate.

Mickey makes an appearance on the holly leaf
Mickey also makes an appearance in the Christmas Fantasy lettering
Powdered sugar snowflakes all around the plate

Check out the toadstools on the plate too!

Little toadstools adorn the dessert as well!

The degree of difficulty on their desserts always amazes me, not to mention the obvious creativity.  I cannot image trying to come up with new themed desserts each season, let alone executing them so flawlessly.  The large Tinkerbell on the top is a paper thin wafer, making the challenge of attaching her to the base, and adding a snowflake to her hand, even more difficult.

Close up of Tinkerbell and her snowflake
Side view showing how thinly cut Tinkerbell is
The giant snowflake around the base of Tinkerbell had a meringue consistency

While you might think paying $22-$23 US for a dessert is a lot, this is definitely something that can be shared amongst two or more people.  Don’t forget it comes with the commemorative pin as well.

Christmas Fantasy Drink Specials

In addition to the dessert set, the Hyperion Lounge was also serving seasonal alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.  Since we were already at luggage capacity and pretty full (we ate lunch just prior to visiting the Hyperion Lounge), we opted to forgo the beverages this time around.  Here’s what they were offering:

Fantasy Stars – a non-alcoholic beverage consisting of cassis syrup, lemon juice, and 7-up, served in a collectible glass.

Ambassador Style Seasonal Flower Cocktail – called Cattleya, the drink includes Absolut Citron, cranberry juice, grapefruit syrup, and tonic water, and it came with a collectible glass marker.

Christmas Fantasy display at Hyperion Lounge

To see the seasonal desserts and treats available inside Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySEA, please see these posts:

2010 Christmas Treats at Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySEA

Duffy the Disney Bear and Shellie May Christmas Treats at Tokyo DisneySEA

2010 Christmas Treats at Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySEA

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For the 2010 Christmas festivities at the Tokyo Disney Resort, both Disneyland and DisneySEA featured some festive goodies in souvenir plates and cups.  These treats are quite popular with the local fans who will stand in some pretty lengthy lines to ensure they get at least one of the collectible plates or cups.  I am a diehard and figure if I am going to fly out for the holiday events, why not just get all the souvenir dishes!  As compared to other food items and theme park food prices in general, these are quite a deal at either 600 yen or 700 yen each.

Tokyo Disneyland 2010 Christmas Fantasy Holiday Desserts

As with other holidays, the two food stands surrounding the main holiday displays in Tokyo Disneyland sell desserts — one will usually sell the cup and the other the dessert.  This year, they offered a third holiday themed dessert as well!

The first and most popular dessert we tried was the soft cookies, shaped like gingerbread Mickey and Minnie, available for 350 yen.  We were at Disneyland on a Thursday night (12/16) and it was quite busy.  Of all the desserts, this one had the longest line as people were buying up cookies before the holiday fireworks began.

Mickey and Minnie soft cookies at Tokyo Disneyland for Christmas Fantasy 2010
A close up of the Mickey and Minnie soft cookies

For the souvenir cup, the dessert was a pear mousse with a little chocolate reindeer on top.  The mousse cup is 700 yen and sits inside the souvenir cup without getting it dirty.  As with all souvenir snacks, the Cast Member gives you a plastic bag to put your cup or plate in and you don’t need to waste time cleaning them as the food never makes contact with the dish!

A Christmas Fantasy pear mousse with chocolate reindeer for 2010
One side of the 2010 Christmas Fantasy souvenir cup
Other side of the Christmas Fantasy 2010 cup

To match the Christmas Fantasy cup, Disneyland was selling a strawberry cream puff, also with a little chocolate reindeer on top, for 600 yen.  Both the mousse and the cream puff were delicious and the perfect boost of sugar I needed to keep wandering and forget how cold it was outside!

Strawberry cream puff with souvenir plate for Christmas Fantasy 2010
Close up of the strawberry cream puff

Tokyo Disney is known for their attention to detail and these souvenir cups and plates are no exception.  Even the bottom of each are adorned and feature Christmas themed Disney characters.

Bottom detail of the 2010 Christmas Fantasy souvenir plate and cup

Tokyo DisneySEA Christmas Wishes 2010 Desserts

Both Disneyland and DisneySEA usually have a dessert plate and cup you can collect.  This year, Tokyo DisneySEA offered adorable dark blue plates and cups with the Christmas Wishes theme.  The souvenir cup featured a strawberry milk mousse topped with a chocolate holly leaf.  The cup is 700 yen and features Mickey and Minnie, along with gold silhouettes of Mickey and Minnie on the bottom.

Strawberry milk mousse for 2010 Christmas Wishes
Detail on 2010 Christmas Wishes souvenir cup from Tokyo DisneySEA
Other side of the 2010 Christmas Wishes souvenir cup from Tokyo DisneySEA

The souvenir plate at Tokyo DisneySEA has the Christmas Wishes design and features Chip and Dale on the bottom for 600 yen.  The dessert offered with the souvenir plate is a white chocolate mousse cake with green tea flavor.  Both of these holiday treats were available from the food stall near the S.S. Columbia in the American Waterfront.

White chocolate mousse cake with holly leaf for Christmas Wishes 2010
Detail on Christmas Wishes plate and cup for 2010
Detail on the bottom of the Christmas Wishes plate and cup

To see all the seasonal Duffy the Disney Bear treats that were available, please see the post: Duffy the Disney Bear and Shellie May Christmas Treats at Tokyo DisneySEA.

Duffy the Disney Bear and Shellie May Christmas Treats at Tokyo DisneySEA

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Of course, no holiday celebration at the Tokyo Disney Resort would be complete without Duffy and Shellie May!  For Christmas 2010, Tokyo DisneySEA offered four Duffy the Disney Bear related snacks and desserts.  There were souvenir plates and cups for Duffy and Shellie May, a new popcorn basket, and even a Duffy shaped cookie!

Tokyo DisneySEA Duffy Cookie

There is a fun treat available now — soft cookies in the shape of Duffy’s head for 350 yen.  This is a new food stall (at least it was not there when I was at DisneySEA in September), so I am wondering if it is going to be a regular fixture in Cape Cod.

Duffy the Disney Bear cookie at Tokyo DisneySEA
Close up of Duffy the Disney Bear cookie
Duffy the Disney Bear food stall
Close up of sign and decorations on new food stall

Tokyo DisneySEA Duffy and Shellie May Christmas 2010 Souvenir Plates and Cups

For the seasonal Duffy and Shellie May plates and cups, some people are under the impression you have to go to the “My Friend Duffy” show in order to purchase them, but you do not.  They have two lines — one for those who want to purchase just food and the other long line is the one to purchase food and see the show.  To purchase the souvenir desserts, go to the line on the left and tell them you are just there for food.

Cute seasonal sign for Duffy and Shellie May souvenir desserts

Thankfully, I had my husband with me this trip so I did not look like a total pig ordering all four desserts!  When I was out in September, I was all alone (except for the Duffy Bears in tow of course) and felt completely self-conscious ordering four desserts and one drink!  I ended up eating only two and took the other two back to my hotel for breakfast the next two days!

For the 2010 Christmas event, Tokyo DisneySEA sold Salted Caramel Mousse for the souvenir cups (600 yen each) and Strawberry Custard Tarts with the souvenir plates (700 yen each).   Proof of Tokyo Disney’s attention to detail is further demonstrated in the desserts as each contains either a Shellie May or Duffy cookie on top — they do not skimp and feature just the Duffy Bear dessert they put on each plate or cup.  It’s the small touches like this that make me fall more in love with the Tokyo Disney Resort.

Shellie May Christmas 2010 plate detail
Front side of the 2010 Christmas Shellie May cup
Back side of the 2010 Christmas Shellie May cup
2010 Christmas Duffy the Disney Bear souvenir plate
Front side of Duffy the Disney Bear 2010 Christmas souvenir cup
Back side of Duffy the Disney Bear souvenir cup
Detail on the bottom of the Duffy and Shellie May souvenir cups and plates

As with all the desserts I’ve had at Tokyo Disney – these were excellent!  The salted caramel mousse was awesome – so light and just a perfect blend of sweet and savory.  The strawberry custard tarts were moist and flavorful, without being overly sweet.

Shellie May salted caramel mousse cup
Shellie May strawberry custard tart
Duffy the Disney Bear salted caramel mousse
Duffy the Disney Bear strawberry custard tart

Duffy Seasonal Popcorn Bucket

The popcorn stand near Aunt Peg’s in Cape Cod still had the Duffy seasonal popcorn basket when we were there.  I had already seen photos online and was a little disappointed to find Shellie May was absent from the bucket.  Really kicking myself for not getting the Halloween one when I was there since they were both on it!  The Duffy popcorn buckets are not cheap, yet the lines rival those to get into Aunt Peg’s during a Duffy release.  The buckets are 2,600 yen, which includes milk tea popcorn, and if you want the matching shoulder strap, the price is 3,200 total.

Duffy sign on the popcorn cart
Duffy the Disney Bear popcorn cart seasonal signs and decorations

While the price for the popcorn bucket is high, the quality is high and they are quite detailed.  The handles are removable and they even include “plugs” to give them a finished look if you are using the strap.  I was never really into collecting popcorn buckets, but they are quite popular in Japan and I now have two Duffy ones and several seasonal ones as well.

Detail on 2010 Duffy the Disney Bear popcorn bucket
Detail on strap you can purchase with your Duffy the Disney Bear popcorn bucket
Close up detail on cap to put on bucket if you take handles off
Detail wording on the Duffy popcorn bucket

Which is your favorite Duffy and Shellie May seasonal treat?