Disney Dream Dining: Serenity Bay Eats

Over on Disney’s Castaway Cay — a private Bahamian island reserved for use only by Disney cruise guests — there’s a little adults-only section called Serenity Bay. You have to take two trams to get there, but boy is it worth it!

Serenity Bay

Castaway Air Bar

Here you can rent floats and tubes for a lazy day in the crystal-blue waters of the bay, find a hammock for a mid-morning nap, or treat yourself to some Disney Cruise Line specialty drinks at eats at two locations.

Castaway Air Bar

First up — the Castaway Air Bar — a ramshackle building next to the [Read more…]

Disney Food Trends: Desserts + Fire

By AJ 9 Comments

Crepe Suzette at Bistro de Paris

I’ve been noticing some interesting trends at Disney area restaurants lately! I mentioned the gourmet Mac & Cheese trend a while back, but here’s an interesting one that has to do with dessert — flames!

Yep, that’s what I said. Fire. Right there at your table.

Flambeing is certainly nothing new, but to have it as a prevalent show at so many restaurants in the Disney area is pretty interesting. Here are some of the spots where we’ve seen it recently…

Bistro de Paris, Epcot
In the France pavilion of Disney World’s Epcot, Bistro de Paris offers high-end dining in a beautiful second-floor dining room. The view of [Read more…]

Disney Dream Dining: Animator’s Palate Review

By AJ 30 Comments

Let me say first — Animator’s Palate was one of my favorite Disney restaurants ever. Hands down.

This place was pure F-U-N! From the decor and themeing to the interaction with Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo, I had a blast — laughing throughout the evening and truly enjoying the meal. I can’t wait to tell you about it…

Atmosphere
Those of you who have cruised on the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic cruise ships will remember that Animator’s Palate slowly transforms throughout the evening from black and white to color. However, on the Dream and the Fantasy, there’s a slightly different model in [Read more…]

Review: New Downtown Disney Orlando AMC Theater Concession Stand

By Erin 21 Comments

Disney Food for Families columnist Erin Foster reports on the brand new concession stand in Orlando’s Downtown Disney AMC theaters!

Finding ourselves at Downtown Disney with time on our hands, my daughters and I decided to take in a film at the AMC theater there. I must confess that our secondary reason for this decision was the desire to see a film. The primary reason we decided to go there was to check out the AMC’s new concession situation.

Downtown Disney Orlando (c) Disney

I had read about the new snack set-up here on the Food Blog and we had a sneak peek at the incredible Coke Freestyle machine during a quick visit to the (gasp) Universal Studios counter service restaurant Richter’s Burgers, so we were excited to dive in.

Concession Stand Overhaul
The revamped food service concept at the AMC is different from anything I had previously encountered at a movie theater. Here you do not walk up to a counter, place your order, and have a clerk hand you items. Instead, [Read more…]

Build Your Own Pizza Added to Disney World’s Via Napoli Menu

By AJ 23 Comments

Well, it’s finally happened. After all of our complaining, we at-long-last have the option to add/subtract toppings from our pizzas at Via Napoli in Walt Disney World’s Epcot! (Can you believe you couldn’t add toppings of your choosing before?!)

Via Napoli New Menu Close-Up -- click for larger image

Learn About:Via Napoli

Epcot Restaurants
Disney World Restaurants

You can see the change in the menu above. The Margherita pizza has been moved off of the list of standard pizzas and given its own standing on the left side of the menu. It retains the 16/28/39 cost structure, but extra toppings are $2 each.

The other pizzas have been moved to the right hand side of the menu with [Read more…]

Disney Dream Dining: A Taste of Remy

By AJ 13 Comments

I was one of the lucky few on the Disney Dream Christening Cruise to have the opportunity to attend a tasting at Remy, the brand new adults-only restaurant on the ship — and boy was I excited!!! This restaurant is even more gorgeous than it was in the concept art!

To add a bit of Disney magic, the restaurant was inspired by the animated film Ratatouille (you’ll find numerous nods to the characters and food in the film throughout the restaurant and its menu), and the menu has been developed by superstar chefs from both sides of the pond. Chef Scott Hunnel from Walt Disney World’s Victoria & Albert’s collaborated with Chef Arnaud Lallement from L’Assiette Champenoise, a Michelin two-star restaurant located just outside Reims, France, to create a five-star menu, which Chef Patrick Albert, the on-site Executive Chef at Remy, will deliver to guests every evening.

Remy Main Dining Room

Remy Story -- click for larger image

Atmosphere

Decorated in an Art Nouveau style with a palette of greens, yellows, and rich red accents, Remy’s dining room is lush. Dark woods and plush carpeting are the background for [Read more…]

Disney Hires Patrick Callarec as Aulani Executive Chef

By AJ 2 Comments

Ama Ama Beachside Restaurant Concept Art

Aulani, Disney’s new Hawaiian resort, will open in late 2011 in Ko Olina, Oahu, with Chef Patrick Callarec at the helm of Aulani’s dining establishments.

Honolulu Magazine is reporting that the chef — trained in France and a veteran of the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton hotels — has worked [Read more…]

DIY Disney: Coconut Curry Chicken Soup from Boma

By AJ 23 Comments

Today, Chef Big Fat Panda’s DIY Disney Recipes column brings us a savory favorite from Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Boma! Take it away, Panda!

Hello Disney Food People! It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever. You look fantastic? Did you lose weight? I need to feed you something delicious, don’t I? Well, I have just the thing.

Today, I am going to recreate something from Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Boma restaurant called “Coconut Curry Chicken Soup.” Some Disney recipes call it a stew, and it is a hybrid of sorts as I will explain.

Ingredients

I make no secret of my Italian heritage, but what many people don’t know is that among all the pasta and tomato sauce type dishes my mom prepared as I grew up, she also made curry. My mom had [Read more…]

Review: The Pink, Blue, and White Cupcakes

By AJ 10 Comments

OK — you guys remember when I wondered “aloud” about the “Pink, Blue, and White cupcakes” in Disney Parks, right? I see them all the time — everywhere — but I’ve never tried them. Why? Because they look like they’re made out of plastic and can’t possibly taste good. But I promised I’d try them, so here’s the review…

As it happens, Disney was switching it up on my visit to the Studios in October! They had a swirly cupcake! I knew it was of the same ilk as the Pink, Blue, and White cupcakes, so I figured you guys would forgive me if I got that one instead. This way, I could have both blue AND red lips!

At first glance, the cupcake looks amazing, right? Huge swirls of frosting (and you know how much I LOVE frosting — cake is definitely an afterthought around here!) and pretty, eye-catching colors. But I have to say it — it still looks a little [Read more…]

Disney Dream Dining: Palo Review

By AJ 27 Comments

As you know, I had the wonderful opportunity to sail on the Disney Dream cruise ship’s Christening Cruise from January 19-21! What an incredible two days! I ate my way around the ship and had some amazing food, but I truly couldn’t wait to share this very special experience with you — dinner at Palo.

Atmosphere

One of two adults-only restaurants on the Disney Cruise Line’s brand new ship, the Dream, Palo can also be found on the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic cruise ships, but in a slightly different form. It will also be found on the Disney Fantasy, sailing in 2012; this version will [Read more…]

Looking for something?

STAY CONNECTED