Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.

-Chaim Potok

Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort is always a fun season to visit the parks. The Disneyland Hotel started hosting a Halloween-themed tea a few years back, which is a nice twist on their popular Classic Afternoon Tea.

I thoroughly enjoyed my last Disneyland afternoon tea. I had heard that this year’s Halloween theme showcased the Disney Villains and couldn’t wait to see what little details were added.

So, my friends and I dressed up in our Fall Finest and headed on down to the Disneyland Hotel for our Saturday reservation.

“Trick or Tea” is hosted at Steakhouse 55, which is one of the restaurants located inside of the Disneyland Hotel. On this trip, I learned that you can park in the guest parking lot of the hotel and get your ticket validated at the tea, which guarantees you 3 hours of complimentary parking.

While most of the decor in Steakhouse 55 remained relatively the same, I noticed that each table had their own Villain-themed floral arrangement and the music was a bit on the spooky side.

The pricing for the “Trick or Tea” is the same as the Classic Afternoon Tea: Classic ($50), Premium ($65) and a Kids Tea ($35).

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The tea selection had expanded since my last visit. Our server, Jonathan, mentioned that the Apple Pie tea and the Herbal Spiced Chai tea were seasonal flavors, and the Tea Infused Cocktails were a new addition to the menu.

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Naturally, as soon as Jonathan mentioned that the Apple Pie tea was seasonal, I knew that was the tea I was going to choose. I chose the Premium tea option and I was able to substitute the sparkling wine with a rosè wine.

Our tea and wine came out at the same time. The Apple Pie tea was some of the best I have ever tasted. It smelt like you were walking through an apple orchard and I found that I didn’t need to add any sugar as it was a naturally sweet tea already. I was told that I could order the tea from tealeaves.com (if anyone wants to try some).

As we were starting to really settle in and enjoy our tea, the first course of our meal arrived: a salad inspired by Cruella DeVille.

Spring Greens aren’t my first pick to use in a salad (the pieces are long and lanky and fall into the “first date lettuce” category) but visually and thematically I understand the appeal. As a character, Cruella DeVille is someone who is all about esthetic so spring greens are a perfect choice for a salad inspired by her. The dressing was slightly sweet and I wish there was a bit more of it. The candied pecans were a nice surprise crunch and the coloring of the strawberries and dragon-fruit play are a nice touch to the red gloves and lipstick that Cruella wears and her obsession with making a spotted coat.

After we finished our salads, the tea tiers were brought to our table.

The scones that Steakhouse 55 makes are some of the best scones I have ever had, mostly because they err on the more on the side of a fluffy biscuit texture than your traditional crumbly scone. The flavors of the scones for “Trick or Tea” were chocolate chip and maple pecan.

I devoured the chocolate chip one before I remembered that I didn’t take a picture (oops!). There was an abundance of chocolate chips and the flavors paired well with the raspberry jam and clotted cream that was also brought out with our tea tiers. The maple pecan one was decorated to look like candy corn but it smelt like maple syrup and tasted like a Fall Harvest party in my mouth. The pecan bits added a nice occasional crunch and the flavor paired well with the raspberry jam and lemon curd.

The second tier of sandwiches continued the Disney Villains theme which I adored.

Maleficent’s Avocado Toast was the tiniest of the bunch consisting of avocado edamame, bacon and ruby red radishes on top to represent the thorny branches of Maleficent’s curse.

The softness of the bread seemed like it wanted to collapse under the weight of the avocado edamame mixture but it held up throughout the two bites it took to finish this petite sandwich. The avocado edamame was a bit bland, like a guacamole mix that needed some flavoring, but the bacon bites and dried radishes made up for the difference in flavor and added a slight crunch.

Visually, Ursula’s Deviled Egg was my favorite of the group. The egg itself was dyed black and beets were added to the egg filling to pay homage to Ursula’s coloring. The egg was topped with caviar and dried seaweed.

Beet-flavored anything is always an interesting taste but it wasn’t an overpowering flavor here. Everything mixed together to create a unique deviled egg and the seaweed was a nice addition.

Scar’s Pride Rock was my favorite sandwich and not just because of my love of all things Lion King related. The sandwich was made up of orange-colored hummus and serrano ham. The hummus overflowed onto the side of the sandwich and was covered with black sesame seeds to create the look of Pride Rock.

I’m a sucker for anything with cured meats so the serrano ham was wonderfully flavorful. Although the bread was a little dry, the abundance of the hummus made up for it and combined well with the ham.

Rounding out the sandwiches was Gaston’s Roast Beef, made up of roast prime rib, a dash of horseradish sauce and pickled relish on top. The sandwich is a fun play on Gaston’s persona.

One of the surprising aspects of this sandwich was the toasted bread, which I wasn’t expecting from a tea sandwich. There was just enough horseradish sauce to add a little kick; there wasn’t a lot of it covering the bread, which I enjoyed as horseradish is not my favorite sauce. The roast beef was tender and the relish on top added a nice flavor.

We finally moved on to the dessert tier, which was also themed around more Disney Villains.

We all started out trying to figure out the best way to eat the pumpkin cupcake inspired by Cruella Deville. While we were figuring out what to order, the couple sitting at the table next to us warned us about the aftereffects of the cupcake while sporting lips that had been dyed black from the frosting.

Nate opted to just pop the whole thing in his mouth. I wanted to savor the pumpkin flavor as long as possible, so I risked taking a bite and ended up with black lips. By the end of the experience, our tongues were dyed a grey-black and we had all dissolved into giggles.

The rest of the dessert weren’t a color-changing but still really good. There were four different flavors of macaroons (lemon raspberry, chocolate raspberry, pistachio and salted caramel) that we split. I have seen other posts about “Treat or Tea” where Guests got a chocolate-covered strawberry decorated like Oogie Boogie but I was satisfied with the macaroons.

The poison apple dessert was a tart that was beautifully decorated like an apple that was slowly being consumed by poison; inside there was a Bavarian mousse with salted caramel and small apple pieces, similar to a miniature apple pie.

Lastly there was a voodoo doll gingerbread man inspired by Dr. Facilier, a great villain from vastly under-rated The Princess and the Frog. The gingerbread man was cute and chewy like most gingerbread men.

While the cupcake was one of the most fun desserts to eat, flavor-wise I think I liked the poison apple the best. The Premium Tea also comes with two Farewell Truffles (both chocolate flavored) in a cute little travel box.

The “Trick or Tea” was a lovely experience. I wasn’t overly stuffed from the food and tea, as other tea experiences sometimes serve too many sandwiches, and I enjoyed the little Disney details from having a tea that was Villains-themed.

Like the Classic Afternoon Tea, “Trick or Tea” is served from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM, usually during Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in September and Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in October).

We have tried to get reservations for “Trick or Tea” for the past few years. They tend to sell out pretty quickly but the easiest way to make a reservation or check to see if there is a available opening because of a cancellation is to call Disney Dining at (714) 781-DINE or (714) 781-3463.

I know that Halloween Time is almost over but I would definitely recommend putting this on your to-do list for next season!

Have you had a chance to experience “Treat or Tea”? Comment below with your thoughts and experiences.

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Thanks for reading!