Mickey Cake is one of the highlights of the Pause Gourmande menu! Two small cakes shaped like the famous mouse
We weren’t expecting this!
Pause Gourmande is a kind of teatime treat that’s served between 3pm and 7pm. It’s essentially tea and cake but what you get depends on where you are in the park as different shops and kiosks serve different combinations.
The basic combinations are hot or soft drink plus cake or ice cream bar and will cost around 6€.
Half-board restaurants only
If you are staying in a hotel and have paid for half-board from standard upwards, you also get a free Pause Gourmande voucher.
These are great as they act as a pick-me-up depending on when you have your breakfast and tea – but can only be used at counter service restaurants. Why they can’t be used at outdoor kiosks I’m unsure as all you are doing is handing over a voucher that’s little bigger than a Euro note.
This limitation does makes obtaining your treat harder, especially if you are going after a Mickey Cake for a three-year-old!
In every case, the service at counter service restaurants was incredibly slow – see below.
Counter service restaurant service: be prepared to wait
The restaurants are designed for high capacities and quick turnover – Cafe Hyperion especially. But the reality was very different and it’s all thanks to the queueing system in place.
Two queues are served by one cashier.
And with people confused by the menus in front of them, the poor cashier is inundated with long queues moving very slowly.
They will serve one side then the other in turn.
Once you’ve ordered and paid you get a receipt which you then take to the counter to collect the food. The theory must be that the staff quickly assemble your meal so you come and go incredibly quickly.
Our experience was that they amble around to the point that the order goes cold or melts. For more on this, read about our visit to Cafe Hyperion – the one meal that really let us down during our visit.
