What food items do you wish you could find at Disney Parks, but just aren’t there?
Does Epcot Need More Spanish Food...Permanently?
In other words,
What CAN’T you get to eat or drink in Disney parks?
I posed this question on facebook and twitter last week and got some really interesting answers.
Some folks wanted old-school items to return, like the cheese omelet from Electric Umbrella and those yummy character-shaped filled chocolate truffles (remember those? I liked the peanut butter ones.). But the rest of the answers were clamoring for things folks have been missing (or haven’t yet found) in Disney parks, like:
- Good Maryland-style crab
- Spanish food
- Sweet Tea
- Fondue
- Philly Cheesesteak
- A good gyro
- A make-your-own salad bar
- Good Italian food
- “Decent ribs”
- Mr. Pibb (only available at McDonald’s on property)
- Chic-fil-a 🙂
- Toblerone bars
- And…everyone’s most emphatic answer…GOOD PIZZA!
Now THAT'S a Cheesesteak
Personally, I’ve got my sights set on some good Buffalo Chicken Wings, though I’ve been told I can find those at the ESPN Club on WDW’s Boardwalk.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear:
Sometimes Hershey's Just Ain't Enough...
1. What favorite items do YOU wish you could find in the parks?
2. If you’ve got an idea where folks can find any of the items listed above, please chime in! I figure, between all of us, we’ve been to every restaurant and food stop in the Disney parks. If those items are available, someone who reads this blog will know about it!
Photo credits: Spain: Joe Shlabotnik, Toblerone: Ultra, Cheesesteak: Sauce Supreme
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Cherry Coke! One of the unfortunate things about living in Canada (and there aren’t that many), is the lack of Cherry Coke. One of the crazy things I look forward to when visiting Disney World is the access to Cherry Coke, not only in the can and bottle, but also in the soda fountains.
During my last trip to WDW in May, I was suprised to see the lack of Cherry Coke available in any of the soda fountains. Now, it may be because I was staying at the Boardwalk, where they don’t have self service soda fountains (unlike the Moderate and Value resorts). Still, I wish they offered it at the quick service restaurants in the park.
Can anyone help me?
When we stayed at All Star Movies last September they had a place to order salads and you could decide what all you wanted on it. They had quite the variety of toppings and two choices of greens. You didn’t fix it yourself, but you still got to choose what went on.
I’d like to find a good chocolate dessert that is non-dairy – one that is not a pre-packaged brownie. The pre-packaged non allergy desserts are also gluten free. Also, dairy free buns that are not gluten free. That would be fabulous! I’d love to have a hamburger on a real bun. Still, I can’t complain too much. It’s wonderful that they have options for those of us with intolerances/allergies!
I believe you can get Toblerone bars in Germany’s candy shop – the last time I was there in October, they had them in all sizes (albeit, they were overpriced.)
I would like to see some decent Mexican food – perhaps the street food trend will make its way over to the Mexico pavillion…
@James — I’m looking through pics of food courts and am NOT seeing Cherry Coke at the mug-filling stations at Values or Mods. My suggestion: go to Beaches and Cream and have them make you a cherry coke. It’s coke with cherry syrup and cherries! YUM!! Plus–free refills! (And if you stay at the Beach Club or Yacht Club, you can use your resort mug there and get REALLY free refills)
@Stephanie — Great to see you! I think I remember a salad station at Pop Century from this past February as well. Thanks for jogging my memory! Hopefully @RoraBorieAlice will stop by and see your comment (she was the one pining for a good make-your-own salad bar!) Also, agreed that Disney’s usually pretty good about meeting the needs of people with allergies/intolerances. I should do a blog about that…hmm… 😉
You also can’t buy chewing gum on property.
I seem to remember my brother getting Sweetened Raspberry Tea somewhere this weekend. For the life of me, I can’t remember where it was. I think it was Columbia Harbor House….
Hey AJ,
They must have been slowly phasing out Cherry Coke at the fountains. Port Orleans–Riverside had it on fountain back in the fall of 2007.
I believe 50’s Prime Time also makes there own Cherry Coke. I don’t mind the “homemade” versions, but nothing beats the “Real Thing” (sorry, couldn’t help but give the slogan. I used to be a Coca-cola collector.)
@Alison, I second your vote for better Mexican food. A lot of people like San Angel Inn, but I’m from Texas, so I think my standards are different!
Also, what about Vietnamese food? That would be excellent.
@Allison Thanks for the info on the toblerone bars! And good point on needing some great Mexican food. I LOVE the street food idea.
@Kelly SO TRUE. At least they’ve lifted the ban on chewing gum sales at MCO airport!! Thanks for the tip on sweet tea.
@James Really? 50’s Prime Time does that, too!? What have I been doing getting regular cokes there??? (Also, guessing Cherry Coke is being replaced with Coke Zero…)
@Shayne Yep — San Angel has some decent options, but it’s not the GREATEST Mexican food I’ve tried.
I disagree with the folks who say there’s no good pizza on property. The trick is you don’t get *Disney* pizza. Instead, head over to Downtown Disney and grab a pizza from Wolfgang Puck Express. We did that as takeout to head back to the hotel room and it was fantastic.
Ha ha! Good point JulFromMD! The Wolfgang Puck Express pizza ain’t so bad! I also love their mashed potatoes!
I’m also going to disagree with ‘good’ Italian at Disney. Tutto has been a winner for us every time we’ve gone and we are VERY picky New Jersey Italians 😉 A little expensive for some people but that’s ‘normal’ price in our area. I’ve also heard Il Mulino is very good but have yet to get over there.
As for other foods I’d like to see? hmm…I’ll have to get back to you on that one! 🙂 I do love the idea of a non-Americanized Mexican restaurant. That would be fabulous!
Jenn — I’ve heard great things about Il Mulino as well. Let me know when you try it out (No room on my upcoming trip!! Probably no room on yours either!!) — AJ
@Stephanie- thank you so much for the salad bar recomendation!!! I will be staying there in January and plan on checking it out!!!!
I could have sworn that I have seen Toblerone in the Germany pavilion in Epcot. I don’t have any pictures of it myself, but I did find this trip report from 2007 that has a picture of a family and the Toblerone (http://www.candacestucki.com/blog/orlando-trip/).
Thank you, Ryan! I’m gonna go me some Toblerone next time I’m in World Showcase. I love that I can get Cadbury’s in the UK pavilion, too…
Chinese Cheese Dogs. You used to could buy them in Adventureland at MK in WDW. They were in an egg roll kiosk type cart near Jungle Cruise. No one seems to know what happened to them.
Wow. Those sound delicious! Wish I’d had a chance to try them!
I seem to remember Toblerones being available in the tea shop in the UK, but perhaps I’m mixing it up with Germany as Allison said above. You can definitely get Aero bars in the UK pavilion, but this trip, they didn’t have the mint ones.
The All-Stars have awesome raspberry Nestea (so not the same as what you can buy in bottles from the grocery store), and the most incredible butter… I’ve forgotten what it’s called, but it’s either partially butter and partially margarine, or just a really tasty margarine. I think the word “sun” is in the name.
Hands down, the best unsweetened iced tea is at the fish and chips shop in the UK, and what I miss the most is El Pirata Y El Perico in the Magic Kingdom. They say it’s open seasonally, but it hasn’t been properly open for any of our visits in about 5 years. They had the best empanadas, which have been removed from the menu totally. 🙁
I also miss when Disney made their own desserts. They used to have the best chocolate cake at Flame Tree BBQ, now all they have is mediocre made-off-site stuff. Although, the mango pie at Yak & Yeti proves that not all pre-packaged food is mediocre!
Hey WordVixen! I haven’t had El Pirata Y El Perico in ages!! And I’ll have to grab some mango pie at Y&Y — is that at the quick service location or in the restaurant?
Hey AJ,
We know this is an old post to be looking through but every now and then we like to look into history to see what people were talking about. We see a lot of calls for better Mexican food here. Made us think… Last time we were in Disney (about 10 days ago) we tried a new creation from Mexico’s QS… the Torte de Barbecoa was the highlight of our trip! (that is for the short amount of time before we ate something else and fell in love with it) In all seriousness though… it was incredible! We don’t think we have seen any posts on this delicious treat (I read everyday but maybe I missed it somehow) and we urge anyone who might read this comment to head over and give the torte a try. Oh… and don’t forget those scrumptious little churros and caramel dipping sauce. Now we are hungry. I guess we will just have to go back in a couple weeks (YES).
-Johnny and Annette-
Disneyland Resort still has Cherry Coke available. Actually, there was more availability in October when I last went then there had been on previous trips.