‘Limited Time Magic’ With a ‘True Love’ Twist at Disney Parks

Another “Limited Time Magic” moment is on the way: this time, sweet dining menus just for Valentine’s week, February 11-17.

The chefs are having fun creating special dishes – both meals for families and special fixed-price dinners for two. Probably the most frivolously fun is the chocolate cupcake with raspberry mousse filling and dark chocolate mousse frosting that’s dipped in more chocolate, then garnished with more chocolate, strawberries and a sweet little rosebud. (These are priced at $4.99, so you’d better buy at least two so you don’t have to share.) The cupcake can be found at Surfside Lounge at Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel, the Disneyland Hotel Coffee House, Pacific Wharf Café and Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café at Disney California Adventure park, and Jolly Holiday Bakery Café at Disneyland park. And we also love the sweet and sour(dough) heart-shaped bread that’s another special at Pacific Wharf Café ($6.99).

For families playing in Disneyland park, how about strawberry and chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast at Carnation Café, and roasted garlic shrimp pasta for lunch? Or there’s spicy glazed salmon with chipotle pineapple glaze, roasted golden and red beets, and mushroom quinoa at Plaza Inn.

Fixed-price dinner for two is offered at both Café Orleans and Blue Bayou Restaurant – the café is doing a three-course “surf and turf to love,” and Blue Bayou’s three courses includes a pork chop stuffed with Boursin and collard greens served with housemade spaetzle. (Note: Blue Bayou is sold out for dinner on February 14.)

At Disney California Adventure park, the Wine Country Trattoria is offering two glasses of sparkling wine with chocolate-covered strawberries. And Carthay Circle Restaurant will feature a fixed-price dinner for two with either grilled filet mignon or sautéed wild petrale sole steamed with tangerine-almond-grape brown butter. (Both restaurants are sold out for dinner on February 14.)

In the resorts, Steakhouse 55 at the Disneyland Hotel has a fixed-price dinner for two with surf and turf – filet mignon and scallops with lobster mashed potatoes. And Napa Rose at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa will create a four-course St. Valentine’s Vintners Meal and also offer a special dinner just on February 14 – details not final for either, but we know Chef Andrew Sutton will delight and surprise his guests. (Both restaurants are sold out for dinner on Feb. 14.)

For reservations, call 714-781-DINE or email dining reservation requests to dine@disneyland.com.

At Walt Disney World Resort, you’ll find fixed-price “Dinner for Two” at several spots. At The Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, dinner starts with a colossal prawn stuffed with blue lump crab and continues with a filet mignon topped with Cabernet and shallot butter.

In the resorts, dinner at Artist Point offers a succulent Kumamoto oyster; heirloom beets; cedar plank roasted King salmon, filet mignon or crispy buttermilk-dipped chicken; and Valrhona Chocolate Indulgence with local strawberries. Yachtsman Steakhouse at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort gives you a choice of a New York strip steak, filet mignon, twin lobster tails, Long Island duck or butternut squash tortellini – and if you want a celebratory splash at the end, sip a glass of Champagne or chardonnay (extra cost).

The Wave… of American Flavors at Disney’s Contemporary Resort gives diners a taste of local farms with butter-poached lobster with Florida avocado-heirloom tomato salad; duck confit with Florida candied kumquats; rib-eye steak, and a sweet finish with a citrus-infused truffle torte. And Shutters at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is a trip to the islands with Caribbean conch chowder, seared rib-eye with plaintain and white sweet potato gratin, and a chocolate and strawberry sweetheart dessert.

For reservations, calls 407-WDW-DINE. Bon appetit!