Hong Kong Disneyland: The Glutinous Pancake Returns

So, look: I just gave hullabaloo to HKDisneylandReview and in the course of that hullabaloo mentioned an item called Mickey's Seafood Glutinous Pancake. After a lame Godzilla joke, I thought I'd heard the last of the Glutinous Pancake.

But it stuck with me (as likely it would were I to eat one) and so I used the excuse of a slow Disney news day to learn more about the 'GlutCake'. My quest took me to MsPamCake (no relation), a foodie blog with a recent post by the owner, P. Lee, who just returned from Hong Kong Disneyland and a memorable encounter with the GlutCake at the park's Crystal Lotus restaurant.

The GlutCake looks almost exactly like the famed Mickey waffle, except that you wouldn't want to put syrup on it (they come with hot sauce, instead) and you ought to let small children know the difference. Lee decrees the GlutCake hard but cute.

In the remainder of her Crystal Lotus review ("Dim Sum Disney Style"), Lee comments on the other dishes she ate there and illustrates her points with pictures, including an interior shot of the Little Pigs Barbecued Pork Buns (the exterior of which is shown in the picture below this hullabaloo). For dessert Lee has a candid shot of the Creamy Custard Glutinous Ball, which she calls satisfying.

There's not much else on MsPamCake about Disney, but the Crystal Lotus review is worth the visit - and her other reviews are pretty good, too.

MORE: Ms Pam Cake (P. Lee)

Hong Kong Disneyland: Godzilla vs the Glutinous Pancake

I've never been to Hong Kong Disneyland. Given my dislike of flying, and my generally poor swimming skills, it's doubtful I'll get there soon, if ever, but of course I'm curious about the park.

The best fan site I've found (so far) is HKDisneylandReview. I like the site even though the owners don't identify themselves or provide an e-mail address. Why do some folks develop beautiful blogs and sites but then discourage contact with their audience?

(Rant over.)

The anonymous owner of HKDisneylandReview simply and neatly provides basic information about each attraction in the park, each restaurant, and current events, such as the upcoming Haunted Halloween parade with the promise of 'zombies dancing on the streets'.

It's interesting to read the restaurant menus with entries that reflect local tastes, such as Mock Shark Fin Soup and Mickey's Seafood Glutinous Pancake (named after one of Godzilla's lesser-known foes). My favorite, shown in the picture to your left, is the Little Pigs Barbecued Pork Buns. I guess you'd pull off the ears and eat them first before biting into the head.

Even if your immediate plans don't include a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland, it's fun to check out what you're missing.

MORE: HKDisneylandReview

Disney Postcards: A Royal Pain (Unless They're Vintage)

My mother was a postcard freak. Whenever we went to Disney World, the first thing we did was buy a bagful of postcards and then spend precious time deciding which oblivious relative would most enjoy which postcard.

Worse, I had to fill out the damn things. I didn't have to address them, though. My penmanship wasn't neat enough for that. God forbid a relative wouldn't get their postcard.

Anyway, I share that bit of family history to let you know that I'm a hard sell when it comes to appreciating a site like Ken Eslick's DisneylandPostcards. Ken has been collecting the nasty things for nearly ten years and owns over 2000 of them. Thanks to this site, however, I'm coming to terms with my postcard paranoia.

DisneylandPostcards features only a fraction of the postcards in Ken's collection, but he seems motivated to 'post' them all, sooner rather than later. The current crop show Big Thunder Railroad. Others show marching bands and park guests dressed in the fashions of yesteryear.

But the best thing about these postcards? I don't have to fill them out.

MORE: Disneyland Postcards (Ken Eslick)

Disney Addiction: Peyote in the Pixie Dust

Yesterday, I had a bit of fun with Marty Sklar's ten commandments for doing business like Disney. In fact, I've been playing fast and loose with commandments for quite awhile, and I don't mean just the Disney ones.

Disney is awash not only with commandments but also core business concepts that it provides through the Disney Institute via workshops and other executive programs. (A one-day workshop held at a Disneyland or Disney World resort costs about $500.) Bruce Jones, Programming Director for the Disney Institute, touches upon a few of those concepts in "Lessons from a Theme Park", an article he wrote today for the Singapore-based BusinessTimes.

His best example is how retail stores can make use of Disney's 'secondary guest' strategy. A retailer knows a child isn't going to spend money in the store, but catering to the child delights the person with the money, namely, the child's parent. Win over the child to conquer the parent. (And tomorrow, the planet!)

You see it in Disney theme parks all the time. Cast members are told to 'make it a magical day' for children because parents want to believe their money bought that magic for their children: "yeah, Junior, Mickey gave you a high-five, but I paid for it". It's a win-win for everyone.

And once addicted to the magic, they always come back.

Warning: BusinessTimes is one of those late-to-the-dance Internet concerns that hope to monetize their content through subscription fees. (That ship sailed long ago and sank.) BusinessTimes, however, surprised me with a Jekyll 'n Hide approach: they allow anyone to access their content for free during certain times of the day, then later lock it up unless you bought a subscription. Apparently, no one complains about it in Singapore because they're afraid of being caned. I only mention it in case you follow the link and wonder why I'm giving hullabaloo to a subscriber-only site.

MORE: Disney Institute (Bruce Jones)

Character Advice: Don't Ask Snow White to Holla Back

Daily I scout the digital world of Disney for cool, creative content that's easy to hullabaloo. A good source for such content is ImagineeringDisney, a site run by a group of volunteers each of whom has a compelling, sometimes off-kilter perspective toward Disney.

Volunteer Lilly Belle, a former Disney World performer, wrote last week on a topic that, until last week, seemed to me not in need of being a topic at all: how to make Disney characters happy.

Wait, you shout: aren't the Disney characters supposed to make me happy? Sure. It's their job. But if you want them to perform their job really well, maybe even score yourself some extra magic, you'll give back a little, too.

Lilly has ten tips for dealing successfully with Disney characters. Some are common-sense: don't give a nubby pencil to characters with hands the size of pancakes; others, brilliant: have your child prepare relevant questions in advance for the characters, preferably questions that show the kid actually knows something about a character, and chances are you'll get more meet 'n greet time than the dullards who just want a picture, pronto.

Most of the tips are pretty darn funny, too:: don't ask Snow White to 'holla back'. She won't do it. She doesn't want to hold your baby, either. Or hug your contagious kid. She probably just wants her shift over.

I don't consider most articles 'must-reads' before you leave for Disney. This one is.

ImagineeringDisney has gotten hullabaloo here before, most recently in the August 24 edition for Retro Disney Photos: Shots for Seniors of All Ages.

MORE: Imagineering Disney (Lilly Belle)