Queen of Hearts Dining Hall at Tokyo Disneyland,

Queen of Hearts Dining Hall at Tokyo Disneyland
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Throughout the facility, guests can find all of the major characters from each vignette of the film, except for one. The titular monarch is conspicuously absent from her own Dining Hall. During development, Jon Georges said that “the OLC was always troubled by the Queen. They thought that she was too mean and they were concerned about her scaring away the youngest guests in Fantasyland. So, we removed her image from the main marquee. The only time we so show her, she’s smiling.�? The Queen can only be found in one place, joined with the King, greeting the guests into the servery.

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WDI have utilised virtually every conceivable opportunity to integrate the vast cast of Alice in Wonderland into this building. The restaurant is one of the best examples of WDI ingenuity and it is apparent that the imagineers had a ball creating this environment, despite the fact that the entire project took only 18 months, a remarkably short period for any WDI project. The restaurant debuted to guests on November 13 1998. However, it begs the question, are we likely to ever see any other classic Disney restaurants? The vast majority of TDL restaurants are virtually unchanged despite the passage of two decades. Most are functional, lacking the detailing and thematic experience that accompanies most of Tokyo DisneySea’s offerings next-door and those of Disneyland Paris. However, with 18 million guests who require feeding annually, it is crucial to provide an array of dishes at a variety of facilities. Queue times can be lengthy, but the Japanese will patiently wait their turn for a table. It is just in their nature and is certainly a virtue the rest of the world should adopt! The food itself is eclectic, offering rotisserie chicken, steak, pork (of course!) and pasta. The restaurant also serves a variety of starters from soups to salads. The desserts are plentiful and include the famous Unbirthday Cake!

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In the next issue, I hope to answer a question that I get asked often; which is the greatest luxury Disney hotel of them all? Having stayed at every Disney hotel, I’m sure my opinions will provoke discussion on the boards!

Discuss It!

-- Posted July 14, 2003
-- Story and pictures by Lee MacDonald and Lindsay Cave

 

 

 

 

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