5 Best Quick-Service Dining Plan Values

Wolfgang Puck Express

You heard about our Five Best “One-Credit” Table-Service Values last week, so I wanted to share what I believe to be the five best quick-service values today! These are my picks based on what you get for one quick-service credit on the Disney Dining Plan; they may not stand up as the best when we consider paying out of pocket.

Hopefully this will be useful to those of you heading down to the World for free dining this fall!

Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney (West Side and Marketplace)

With the famous (and delicious) rotisserie chicken ringing up at over $14 plus tax, it costs more than some table service meals. Some of the salads and sandwiches alone will cost [Read more…]

Party in the Magic Kingdom!

By AJ 5 Comments

One of our favorite bloggers, Leigh Caldwell of ThemeParkMom.com, was lucky enough to attend the Orlando International Pow Wow last week, which launched with a party at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom on Sunday evening! She’s put together a little review and shared with us some awesome pics of the delectable goodies available to attendees. Thanks, Leigh!

Have you ever wondered what it’s like inside the Magic Kingdom during one of those “The park will close early for a special event” nights? Now I can say that I know. I attended the International Pow Wow (a travel industry convention) in Orlando last week, and the opening night party was at the Magic Kingdom. I snapped plenty of pictures to try to show you the kinds of food available.

The first thing to note is the first thing I saw – beer! on Main Street U.S.A.! When we walked into the party, we were greeted by servers offering trays of beer and wine right on Main Street. And the usually forbidden alcohol continued to flow after that, with bar set-ups in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, where most of the party was centered.

But enough talk, you guys came here to see food pictures, right? It was quite dark throughout the park, so these aren’t the greatest, but I did my best:

First up was this cup of smoked tomato soup, accompanied by two tiny sandwiches — one smoked salmon, the other prosciutto. The sandwiches were threaded on a skewer.

Tomato Soup with Skewered Sandwiches

Shrimp gyros served cone style. I’m [Read more…]

Akershus Review: Princess Storybook Breakfast

By AJ 26 Comments

You are cordially invited to join your favorite Disney Princesses for a breakfast straight out of your favorite storybook at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall!

Atmosphere

Located in Epcot‘s Norway Pavilion, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall offers a magical escape from the heat and the crowds of the World Showcase.

A Princess character meal, you could encounter any combination of the following at your meal: Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Mulan, Cinderella, and/or Mary Poppins. Many Disney World guests consider Akershus’ Princess Storybook Breakfast a preferable [Read more…]

Disney Food Post Round-Up: May 23, 2010

By AJ 3 Comments

More Disney Food News than you can shake a stick at this week, folks. Here’s our weekly news round-up to start off:

Belgium, Singapore, and South Korea join the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Marketplaces
Disney adds new events to the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival schedule, including a 3D Dessert Party…

Hacienda de San Angel (the new name of Cantina de San Angel) and Via Napoli come out with exciting news, new cast member costumes, photos, and tastings this week!
Disney’s Newest Patent: Does This Mean the End of Refillable Mugs in Disney World?

Whew! Are you all news-ed up? Me, too. Now on to the Disney Food stories of the week from around the web. Sit back, relax, and enjoy…

DF 82 shares the trip of a lifetime, to Club 33, in a two-part post: Part I, Part II

Parkeology has a very cool look at an outdoor cafe in Epcot’s France, which isn’t quite as outdoor as it used to be…

Designing Disney shows us the imagineering behind Victoria’s Home Style Restaurant in Disneyland Resort Paris.

At About.com: Theme Parks, my good friend and theme park guru Arthur Levine showcases his video about some great Disney World restaurants.

The DVC Life hashes out the fair/unfair conundrum regarding DVC members and free dining.

Kati’s Kupcakes showcases her newest Disney-themed sweet treat: Princess Cupcakes. But if Tinkerbell is your favorite, check out…

Disney Everyday, where you’ll find the creation of a Tinkerbell cake and cupcakes!

disUnplugged shares a trip to Disneyland’s Downtown Disney restaurant, Catal, for breakfast.

Chip and Co discusses grocery delivery to WDW resort hotels, while the Disney Parks Blog gives details on grocery delivery offered for DVC members.

Also, Disney Parks Blog shares the secret to making their Minnie Mouse caramel apples:

Finally — don’t forget, this is your last full week to enjoy Disney’s California Food and Wine Festival! You can see our ever-evolving coverage along with a full schedule of events on our Disney’s California Food and Wine Festival Info Page.

The End of Refillable Mugs in Disney World?

By AJ 36 Comments

Beach Club Marketplace Refillable Mug Station

StitchKingdom is reporting that Disney has applied for a patent that could mean the end of the beloved refillable mugs in Disney Parks and Resorts…or at least the end of the free refills…

The new “Self-Service Beverage and Snack Dispensing Using Identity-Based Access Control” system would mean that your Key to the World card — or even potentially your fingerprint — could do more than just get you into the parks; it could determine your fate as to how many refills of that Orange Fanta you can get next time you’re at Pop Century’s Food Court!

That’s right, Disney’s proposing using RFID technology to put an end to endless refills — unless you’re [Read more…]

Hacienda de San Angel Photos and Updates

By AJ 12 Comments

Whew! News-heavy week here at the Food Blog! Today, let’s look at some newly released info about Hacienda de San Angel, the newly renovated restaurant opening in September in Epcot’s Mexico Pavilion! Here are some great pics of the Hacienda de San Angel slide presentation given at the D23 Flowers and Fireworks event this past weekend. These were taken and donated by Lori Abramson — Thanks, Lori!

Hacienda de San Angel Intro Slide

Hacienda de San Angel will be opening with a bang in September 2010! What’s the “bang,” you ask? Illuminations, of course! The restaurant is ideally situated to offer incredible (and coveted!) views of Epcot’s nightly Illuminations: Reflections of Earth fireworks show. And with the addition of the table-service part of the restaurant, those ADRs might be tougher to get than Le Cellier for around 8:00pm every night!

Here’s an aerial image of what the restaurant looks like, under construction, right now. You can see how fantastic that view is going to be once it’s finished! Check out that outdoor, circular patio!

Aerial View of Hacienda de San Angel

The restaurant will have a whole new “backstory,” and a new service structure, which will allow the restaurant to operate as [Read more…]

2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Sneak Peek and New Additions

By AJ 13 Comments

More news is trickling in about the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival! Here are some great pics of the Food and Wine Festival slide presentation given at the D23 Flowers and Fireworks event this past weekend. These were taken and donated by Lori Abramson — Thanks, Lori!

New for the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival:

Belgium, South Korea, and Singapore Join the Festival Marketplace

First of all, the most important news (to me, anyway) is that not only are Belgium and South Korea going to be new booths in the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Marketplace, but Singapore will be introduced on the World Showcase Promenade as well!

Looks like Belgium will feature steamed mussels, South Korea will feature “Bo Ssam” — lettuce wraps with a roast pork and kimchee slaw, and Singapore will feature shrimp cake with Singapore noodles!

Belgium, Singapore, and South Korea join the Festival Marketplaces

2010 Food and Wine Festival Food Passports

And while you’re visiting those new marketplaces, you’ll now be able to keep track of what you’ve tried! The festival this year will introduce [Read more…]

Via Napoli Tasting and More! Foodie Review of the D23 Flowers and Fireworks Event

By AJ 8 Comments

Three Disney Food Blog friends and readers have graciously shared their experiences, insights, and photos with us from the recent D23 Flowers and Fireworks Event, which included some sneak peek information about Via Napoli, Hacienda de San Angel, and the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival! I’ll be presenting their reports in several posts throughout the day, so stay tuned! In this first installment, Disney fans Sarah Holodick and Matthew DeGrandis share some great photos and details of their weekend, including pics and reviews of dishes from upcoming Epcot Italian restaurant, Via Napoli! (Psst…I’ve also snuck in a few D23 Via Napoli presentation pics taken by Lori Abramson — you’ll see more pics from her later today.) Take it away, Sarah and Matt!

Over the weekend, my boyfriend Matt and I attended D23’s Flowers and Fireworks Event. Check-in for the event was between 9am and 5pm at the Grand Floridian, with the dinner and presentations beginning at 7:30pm. After check-in, we received some goodies to take along, and we had the day to spend as we wanted. We decided on heading over to the Magic Kingdom.

D23 Gifts

We headed back to the Grand Floridian as it neared event time, and there were many people already there. We explored the set up, had our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie in their beach attire, then filled up [Read more…]

Butter Beer Pudding From the WDW Swan and Dolphin

By AJ 9 Comments

Just got this cool recipe in the mail from the Swan and Dolphin Resorts, just in time for the opening of Harry Potter’s Wizarding World at Universal Studios, Florida! Thought you might like…

BUTTER BEER PUDDING

Ingredients
1 Tsp. Gelatin Powder
3/4 Cup Milk
1 1/2 Cup Cream
3 Tbsp. Sugar
3 Tbsp. Molasses
3 Tbsp. Malted Milk Powder
1 Ea. Cinamon Stick
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Grated Orange Peel

Method [Read more…]

The Best Hot Dogs in Disney World

By AJ 32 Comments

Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog! I am sooo excited to finally have pictures of all of my favorite hot dogs in Disney World! How excited, you ask? So excited, that I decided to do a blog post about it.

Now, some of you might not think that hot dogs (or “hotted dogs,” as Michael Crawford would say) are that big a deal. “So what?” you say. “A hot dog’s a hot dog.”

Not so, my friends. My mother is a hot dog enthusiast, and I must have gotten some of her hot-dog-lovin’ genes. Not every dog tastes the same, and Disney World has a few that are outstanding (in spite of their new beef/chicken-ness*). Below are my favorites, in no particular order…

Casey’s Corner

is synonymous with hot dogs. There’s just no getting around the fact that they’re the epitome of the Disney Hot Dog Empire, so we must begin with them. Sitting at the end of Main Street, right in sight-view of every parade, firework, and Castle show that happens in Disney World, Casey’s also provides [Read more…]

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