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EPCOT Festival of the Holidays

Tables in Wonderland: January 2012 Special Event

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Tables in Wonderland

has announced a special event for January 2012!

The Wave . . . of American Flavor’s Discovery Dinner

Location:

Disney’s Contemporary Resort; Meet at The Wave… of American Flavor’s Main Podium
Date: Thursday, January 19, 2012
Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Reception; 7:00 p.m. Dinner
Dress Code: Casual Evening Attire
Cost: $92 per person, includes tax and gratuity

Click for Larger Image

The Wave…of American Flavors Discovery Dinners continue in January by celebrating the Central Florida Strawberry season. The Farmer/Chef dinner will feature Lott Farms located just west of Plant City, Florida. Mike’s great strawberries are sold under the Classic label through C&D Produce Distributors.

Menu

Reception in The Wave . . . of American Flavors Lounge

Thompson Farm Pulled Pork Slider with Plant City Barbeque Sauce and Cypress Grove Sheep’s Milk Cheese
Strawberry Tea Poached Beef Short Rib with [Read more…]

Dining in Disneyland: ESPN Zone Review

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Heather Sievers is the Disney Food Blog’s Dining in Disneyland columnist. See more of her columns here!EDITOR’S UPDATE: Please note that ESPN Zone in the Downtown Disney District closed in June 2018 to make way for a new hotel coming to Disneyland Resort. 

Looking for somewhere to eat lunch; a friend of mine and my two boys decided on ESPN Zone. It had been forever since I’d eaten there, so I figured it was time to give it another chance.

ESPN Zone, Downtown Disney

One of the reasons I don’t like going there is because of the upstairs video arcade. The arcade is awesome! It’s state of the art and has realistic sports themed arcade games and a pretty cool rock wall. My problem: I hate being BEGGED by my kids to play games that cost a small fortune. SO, unless it is a special occasion, no games. On this visit, I established that this was a lunch only situation, don’t even bother to ask about playing the games. 😉

Atmosphere

The restaurant is a sports-lover’s dream, with tons of sports memorabilia and enough flat screen TVs to watch every single sports event taking place at the time.

Check in Area (Sports Arena aka arcade is located upstairs)

Sports Memorabilia Filled Lobby/Waiting Area with Stairs Leading to Arcade

There are indoor and outdoor dining areas, so you’re welcome to eat on the patio if you’d like. However, you’re then subject to the creepy face-moving sports players that adorn the outside of the ESPN Zone building.

They’ve freaked me out since the day I laid eyes on them years and years ago (AJ’s weirded out by them, too). I’ve included a video of these guys at the end of the post, so feel free to check ’em out!

Side Patio Seating with Creepy Head Moving Baseball Player

Indoor Dining Area Features Many Flat Screens

6 Seat Table Top

After checking in, I made my way to the bathroom so I could share something pretty awesomely hilarious with you. [Read more…]

Disney Food History: Wonder Bread College Pennant Stickers

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Every once in a while I come across some serious historical rad-ness when it comes to Disney Food. Remember when we found these awesome 1955 Disneyland restaurant ads? Or the 1962 Carnation Ice Cream Parlor menu? That was totally cool, right?

And it’s happened again! Thanks to my exploration over on Pinterest, I found Jason Liebig‘s collection of Disney “college pennant” stickers.

Wonder Bread Pennants

These classic pun-tastic illustrative stickers were part of a Wonder Bread campaign in the 1970s (you could find the stickers in your package of Wonder Bread)! There were 25 of them altogether.

My faves are “Mickey Can Skate” (Michigan State), “Minnie Soda” (Minnesota), and [Read more…]

Disney Food Year in Review: 2011

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Happy New Year, everyone! 2011 was a big year for food in Disney parks and resorts, and when there are this many changes it can be helpful to recap — especially if you’re headed to a Disney park or resort soon!

So come with us as we walk through 2011 and a few of those newsworthy highlights! What’s your favorite Disney Food news from 2011?? Share your experience with us in the comments below!

2011 Disney Food Year in Review

Check below to see 2011 updates from Disney World, Disneyland, and other Disney destinations as well as our additions and changes here on the Disney Food Blog!

Walt Disney World Year In Review

Restaurant Openings and Renovations

Although they haven’t enjoyed as many full-blown restaurant openings as they did in 2009 and 2010, Disney World has definitely had its share of restaurant renovations and updates.

Tortuga Tavern in the Magic Kingdom replaced the (also Pirate-themed) El Pirata y El Perico. Serving much the same menu, including Mexican and Tex-Mex options, Tortuga also added some fun and whimsical decor so that you don’t forget that you’re in Disney World.

Also in the Magic Kingdom, we saw Storybook Treats and Cheshire Cafe develop from their former counterparts.

The AMC Fork and Screen Theater opened in Downtown Disney in 2011, so you can save time by doing dinner and a movie together, then heading back out into the parks! Nothing like some serious multi-tasking in the World!

Katsura Grill replaced Yakitori House in Epcot’s Japan late in 2011. Much of the same food is offered, but you will find a slightly more “clean lines” layout and a few additional classic Japanese menu items.

The overhaul in Japan also included the addition of the Kabuki Cafe, which is basically a more formal Kaki Gori stand also serving a seasonal menu of Japanese snacks like Miso Soup, Sushi, and Edamame.

Japanese Pancake from Katsura Grill

Right between the two new spots? An outdoor Sake bar! We can highly recommend the lime sake cocktail!

Also in Epcot, the always-popular Le Cellier Steakhouse turned its dinner meal into a signature dining option in March, making this meal 2 credits on the Disney Dining Plan. Le Cellier is still a tough ticket to get, so I think the hope that this price increase would lessen demand for reservations might be dashed. It’s still a popular spot for both lunch and dinner.

Over in Animal Kingdom, the guest-favorite Tusker House Character breakfast has expanded to include a new character lunch as well! This has brought positive response from Disney character meal fans!

And Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge has introduced a brand new dining experience in 2011! Dine with an Animal Specialist at Sanaa offers guests [Read more…]

Disney Food Post Round-Up: January 1, 2012

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Complimentary Champagne Toast at Victoria and Albert's Chef's Table

Happy New Year, everyone!! We hope your year is filled with delicious treats and lovely toasts, but most of all, we hope your year has a little Disney in it!

To start things out right, here’s a recap of the Disney Food news that’s been happening over the past week while we were all stuffing ourselves with fudge, cookies, and egg nog (oh, wait, that was just me?). 😉 Believe it or not, there were a LOT of developments last week!

Brand New Disney Food News

For more delicious food news, stop by our Disney Food News Pin Board, where Disney Food News is updated on a regular basis!

And don’t forget to follow along on our 2011 Holiday Dining page!

On to the Round-Up!

Walt Disney World for Grown-Ups

hangs out at the Dawa Bar in the Animal Kingdom. Sigh — so relaxing!! One of my favorite places!

Tokyo Disneyland Club 33 Pins!

RocketNews24 shares six reasons Tokyo Disneyland’s secret restaurant Club 33 is awesome! I’m LOVING the pics in this one!

SamLand Disney takes a power lunch at The Brown Derby restaurant. Check out the vintage phones!

Gorillas Don’t Blog shares a vintage Disneyland photo of the Red Wagon Inn, Walt’s personal favorite restaurant in 1955.

AllEars.net celebrated 15 great years at the beginning of December, and did so with some delicious Disney food.

Main St. Gazette celebrates the season with some Pumpkin Fudge! Great pic, Ryan!

Disney Parks Blog shared recipes for two of Trader Sam’s holiday cocktails! If you can’t make it to Disneyland, make one at home!

2011 DFB Choice Award Winners!

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It’s time to announce the winners of the second annual DFB Choice Awards!!

The awards are 100% based on Disney Food Blog reader choices. Nominations and final winners are selected by DFB readers who participate in the process. Everyone is welcome to participate! If your favorites didn’t win this year, be sure to nominate and vote for them next year! 🙂

Thanks to those of you who took the time to nominate your favorites, and to vote for the winners!

Without further ado, here are this year’s DFB Choice Award winners!

[Read more…]

Guest Review: Street Food and Snacks at Disneyland Paris

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I’m excited to present a guest review all about fellow blogger Beth Chaney’s exploration of street food and snacks during her recent visit to the Disneyland Paris resort.

Hi DFB readers! I’m excited to share a bit of my experience at the Disneyland Paris (DLP) resort. As a long time Disney fan and Disney park goer, I had to add a day at Disneyland Paris to the itinerary of my recent trip to France. And one of the things I was most excited to see at DLP was how Imagineers had transformed the American park experience for a European audience — especially the food!

castle food

Food is such a part of the Disney park experience — from popcorn to Mickey Bars to rice krispie treats; but how would that be captured for an international audience? Especially for an audience that is supposed to be a bunch of foodies? And what better place to explore than along the streets of the Disneyland Park!

Main Street

Street Food

Street Food is big at Walt Disney World, and the same thing was true at DLP. Although not as numerous as at the Florida parks, there were lots of little carts on the street selling snacks and sweets. The most popular item? Candy apples, which seemed to be at just about every cart!

candy apples

After candy apples, the next most popular item at the street carts were “hot dogs.” But these aren’t American hot dogs (although those are available at Casey’s on Main Street — which just happens to be in the exact same spot as the outpost at WDW!). These are more foot long sausages baked into french bread and sometimes topped with cheese. So more of a sandwich than an American hot dog.

hot dog

Also popular at the street food stands — candy bars. Not Disney branded or labeled candy bars, but the [Read more…]

Cupcake Jewelry Now Available in Disney Parks

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What do you get when you combine our favorite sweet treat with fun accessories? Adorable jewelry! These earrings, necklaces and charms were spotted recently in the Magic Kingdom by DFB reader, Melissa James. Thanks for sharing, Melissa!

Cupcake Earrings

Your sweetie will love the bling on these cupcakes!

Cupcake Necklaces

For the girl that can’t choose just one kind of cupcake! Show your passion with wearable cupcake-cuties!

Cupcake Charms

Note the resemblance of some of the cupcakes to some certain vinylmation? Or even pajamas? 😉

Have you seen any fun Disney food merchandise lately? Let us know about your finds in the comments below!

Disney Food for Families: Disney Food Songs

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Because I like to annoy my daughters as much possible, I often sing in the car while chauffeuring them to their many activities. (Hey, when they’re driving me, then they can choose the entertainment.) On one recent trip, I belted out “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, then segued into “Les Poissons” from The Little Mermaid, and finished with “Rumbly In My Tumbly” from The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Can you tell I was hungry?

Classic lyrics: Les Poissons: Here's something for tempting the palate, prepared in the classic technique. First you pound the skin flat with a mallet. Then you slash through the skin, give the belly a slice. Then you rub some salt in, 'cause that makes it taste nice.

My impromptu medley of food-focused songs from Disney films got us wondering if there were other eating-related Disney songs we should add to the repertoire. The girls and I did some brainstorming and a bit of online research. We came up with the following list of Disney food songs:

Be Our Guest – Beauty and the Beast
Les Poissons – Little Mermaid
Rumbly in my Tumbly – Winne the Pooh
Spoonful of Sugar – Mary Poppins
Feed the Birds – Mary Poppins (birds get hungry)
Chow Down – Lion King on Broadway
Fish are Friends Not Food – Finding Nemo the Musical
Kanine Krunchies – 101 Dalmatians (dogs get hungry too)
Mad Tea Party Medley – Alice in Wonderland (the animated version)
Ice Cream Freeze – Hannah Montana
Hot Dog! – Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Soup or Salad, Biscuits or Fries – House of Mouse (sung to the tune of Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious)

Classic Lyrics: Be Our Guest: Soup du jour, hot hors d'oeuves. Why we only live to serve.

Of course there are some excellent snippets of food lyrics in non-food-centric songs. Among my favorites is [Read more…]

BabyCakes NYC Bakery Now Taking Cake Orders from Disney Dining Guests

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BabyCakes NYC

in Disney World’s Downtown Disney is now taking cake orders from Walt Disney World Resort Guests. Delivery will be right to your restaurant reservation!

This makes it even easier to celebrate your special occasion — especially if you or someone in your party follows a special diet. BabyCakes caters to special diets including refined sugar-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, soy-free, casein-free, egg-free, vegan, and Kosher items!

Two-layer, 6-inch cakes that serve 8-10 people can be ordered to coincide with your already booked Advance Dining Reservation at a Walt Disney World restaurant. Just call the bakery at 407-938-9044 with at least a week’s notice and have your restaurant confirmation number, date, and reservation time handy. Cakes will be served at the end of your meal.

To learn more about cake orders in Walt Disney World, check out our Disney Cake FAQ!

Babycakes NYC Cupcakes in Downtown Disney are perfect for many special diets

Don’t forget that BabyCakes has a variety of items available every day in their Downtown Disney Marketplace location. My favorite? The frosting-filled cookie sandwiches!

Stop in 9:30 a.m. until 11 p.m. and bring your sweet cravings!

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