OOTL: Disneyland's Village Haus reopens

If you are a bit familiar with the Disneyland resort in California, you know that the Disneyland Park has got a copy of the "Pinocchio's Village Haus". Their version went under a fairly long refurbishemnt, and just reopened, with some new small additions and a new menu. Take a look:

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Refurbished Village Haus reopens at the Disneyland resort

Mickey Mouse helps Jon Storbeck and Matt Gray cut the ribbon to officially reopen the Village Haus.

On Jan. 12, the Village Haus reopened in Fantasyland with a ribbon cutting ceremony, held prior to park opening. Disneyland Park Vice President Jon Storbeck and Disneyland Park Food and Beverage General Manager Matt Gray were assisted by Mickey Mouse to kick off the celebration.

Jon Storbeck, who in 1983 began his Disney career in Fantasyland, shared his excitement for the reopening of Village Haus.

"One of the fabulous things about reopening a facility is that it gives us the opportunity to look at the menu and potentially change it," said Jon. "Our guests want to see new things. Just like they want to see new attractions and merchandise in our stores, they want to see new food products. Guests' tastes evolve over time and a menu change allows us to evolve with those tastes."

Re-opening Village Haus team photo 

The refurbishment that began last August required the efforts of Walt Disney Imagineering, Food and Beverage and Operations.

The story of this restaurant originates from the 1940 Disney animated classic "Pinocchio" and  the chefs used this  theme to  create the new menu.

"The fun part of designing a new menu is being creative and trying new things and making an impact not only on the restaurant but on the company as well," said Chef Sean Layne. "We were able to put new items out for the guests that they have never seen before;it's a step into the future."

Chef Sean Layne with one of the new Village Haus menu items.

One of the items creating a lot of buzz is the pastrami burger that was created by Chef Sean and his team.

"We wanted to make it a better product, higher quality food and keep it at an affordable price," said Chef Sean. "The pastrami burger is by far our all-star of the menu. We put in a lot of heart and effort into and it came out better than we expected. I think once the word gets out about this burger it will be what Disneyland Park is known for."

Village Haus exit sign

Did you know that….

Just over the Village Haus main entrance door is a painted image of Figaro pulling the exit sign. During construction, the sign was installed incorrectly. There was no time to go back to move the sign, replaster and paint, so Disney Imagineers created a humorous fresco of Figaro pulling the sign. 

The design solution proved so popular that when a similar restaurant was built at Disneyland Paris, an exit sign was placed in the correct spot with Figaro leaning against the exit sign with a "thumbs up" for a job well done.

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