While waiting to be seated for our Carnation Cafe reservation at 1:00pm, I noticed my favorite
Disneyland Cast Member...Oscar Martinez. I told him that I was glad to see that he had come back after the Carnation Cafe remodel.
The last time I talked to him, he wasn't sure if he'd be coming back. His wife has cancer and it kind of depended upon how well she was doing health-wise. I asked him how his wife was doing and he said about the same, still going through treatments. He said he needed to leave for a moment, but would be back to say "Hi" and pose for a picture or two later.
We ended up waiting for about 20 minutes to be seated. I suppose this was due to having such a large party. I didn't need a menu, as I already knew what I wanted to order. The Loaded Baked Potato Soup is my must-have food item at Disneyland. MMMMM! When Sis38 ate here a month prior, she told me that they no longer offered the soup in a bowl...just a cup. When she asked why, they responded, "We can fit the same amount of soup in a cup." Unless they started using new cups that were significantly bigger than the old ones....whatever.
When our server came to take our order, I mentioned how much I enjoyed the soup, and asked whether it was possible to have it served in a bowl. She said, "Of course..." So I ordered my soup and a new-to-the-menu item...Fried Pickles with Dipping Sauce.
While we were waiting for our food to be served, Oscar came back as promised. I wondered if this might be the last time I would see him. If things go according to plan, my next trip to Disneyland will be in 3 years. He might be long gone by then.
I hope not, but I wouldn't be surprised. Sidenote: I just ordered my 2013 calendar from Snapfish. One of the month's spread of pictures contains 6 pictures of me and Oscar over the last few years. I visited him 6 of the last 7 times I've been to Disneyland. (The missing time was in April 2010. He was on vacation.)
What may be my last photo op with Oscar Martinez...
After chatting with me, he went down to the other end of the table to chat with Sis38. She pulled out her camera to show him pics she and her friend had taken with him during their C.C. lunch the month before.
On to the food! My favorite beverage at C.C. The Pomegranate Lemonade.
My husband's PB&J Soda...which apparently doesn't get ordered too often!
Our server actually stood there and waited for him to try it -- for 2 reasons. She said she wanted to see his face when he tasted it, and then she wanted to see if he would like to order a different beverage instead!
I tasted it, and I wasn't a fan. I couldn't ever taste the jelly flavor. I only tasted the peanut butter flavor. Love peanut butter, just not as a soda flavor. The peanut butter taste is what lingered. Not good.
My beloved soup (should soup ever be described as beloved?) was served. Disappointingly in a cup. This was all they would serve it in. (Where's a shaking-head/tsk tsk emoticon when I need one?) Big mistake to stop offering it in a bowl.
Maybe they can call it a bowl since there isn't a handle like a typical cup? Who knows...but it was way too small of a serving.
My Fried Pickles:
I had high hopes for these...and they were really good! DS9, who was being slightly pouty because he couldn't find anything on the menu that he wanted to eat, gobbled my husband's order of these right up. And DS9 doesn't even like pickles! Or so he says... It wasn't as if they didn't taste like pickles anymore, because they did. My mistake was letting too much time pass to let them cool off. They were on the room temperature side when I ate them, and I think they'd be better hot. It's just that Sis38 burned her mouth when she ate them the previous month -- in that too-hot hot chocolate sort of way when you feel the effects in your mouth for the next day or 2. I should have tested them earlier. But I was happy and would definitely order them again. Oh yeah... the picture.
My niece got the PB&J Palette, which isn't nearly as good as it was 3 years ago. It was served on a palette 3 years ago, with little cups of raisins, bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, pb and j, and 2 pieces of regular old white bread. This time it wasn't on a palette. There weren't as many choices for how to build your sandwich, and the bread was whole grain and fish-shaped. The bread seams like it could be a fine improvement, but the whole idea of a palette with little cups was so clever and now it was gone. Odd. It still had the name, but the palette was missing. Maybe just my niece's palette was missing, because it makes no sense to call it that anymore. At any rate, a man (C.C. cast member) came up and asked if we liked the new or old PB&J Palette best. I said the old one, and he said to let City Hall know. They must have had other comments. I'm wondering how he even knew I was familiar with the old one. He wasn't the person I commented to when checking in that I was glad to see it back on the menu.
My niece made a cute Mickey Head with her banana, peanut butter, and raisins.
One more cute thing. My other niece had overheard me telling some of our group that Oscar had been at Disneyland since 1956. She ended up finding a penny on the ground at the restaurant that was dated 1956! She decided to give it to me because she thought (or knew, rather) that it would be special to me. How sweet and thoughtful is that?!?
What a great day!! Wait...no rides on TSMM? 
You packed much into your day.
This was a great IHOP experience. Much better than our Denny's experiences. My mom said this was her best meal of the trip. I can't remember what she ordered. The restaurant is much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. I will definitely return here.
