Disney Food Post Round-Up: April 11th, 2010

Chocolate Fondant With Praline from Remy - (c) Disney Cruise Line

Bonjour, my foodie friends! This weekwe heard about the Disney Dream’s exclusive adults-only restaurant — Remy! If you’re booked for a Disney Dream cruise, I’d love to hear if Remy will make the cut for your dining arrangements. (Check out the full press release and photos at StitchKingdom)

And don’t forget — Disneyland’s Food and Wine Festival starts THIS COMING WEEKEND! (Check out DisneyGeek’s cool pic of the Festival Showplace banners!) You know I’m gonna be there in just two short weeks to start my reporting, but in the meantime, check out all the exciting events that are scheduled to take place: Disney’s 2010 California Food and Wine Festival.

Finally, I want to take a moment to thank and “toast” a brilliant person, Alain Littaye, who has written one of my favorite Disney-related blogs, Disney and More, for three years. I’m sad to see the blog end, Alain, but I look forward to seeing your stamp on many Disney-related projects in the future. Thank you for sharing your immense knowledge of and interest in Disney with your readers.

And now, on with the Round-Up!

The WDW Today Podcast kindly brought me on as a guest last week to discuss Food Quality vs. Atmosphere in Disney World Restaurants. I clearly need to take some public speaking lessons, but the discussion is still very interesting!

Disney World Basics looks at one of Disney’s strategies to create healthier options for dining in the parks — Kids’ Picks!

Main Street Gazette heads over to the Rose and Crown Dining Room for a delicious dining review!

The DVC Life takes a look at whether Jiko in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is worth the $100+ price tag.

Chef Druck Musings shares some secrets about her favorite character meals in Disney World.

Thanks to Zannaland for posting this very cool interview about a fellow blogger! (Wink, wink) The ensuing comments about tart-n-tiny candy is my favorite part.

The Disney Blog reports the potential shuttering of the final Goodings Supermarket near Disney World.

Disney Parks Blog celebrates the top honors received in Orlando Magazine by several Walt Disney World restaurants.

The Disney Chick makes Gourmet Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies from the Main Street Bakery. Go on. You know you want to click. 😉

OC Register has a fun story about what Disneyland’s doing with the leftover fry oil from their kitchens! Here’s a hint: it has to do with Park transportation… .

Chip and Co shares some dessert options for people with Diabetes dining in Disney World restaurants.

DisUnplugged heads to Disneyland’s Plaza Inn for dinner!

A New Kind of Rice Krispies Treat Pops Up at Disney World

By AJ 20 Comments

Thanks to my blogger buddy, Suzannah (of Zannaland.com), for sending along this new Magic Kingdom treat! Apparently, Mickey Mouse-shaped Rice Krispies Treats (or Crisped Rice Treats) aren’t enough for Disney fans anymore! Disney’s introduced what look like Rice Krispies Balls!

These bite-sized treats are being sold by the bagged-up-bunch in the Main Street Confectionery! You can even buy them decorated and drizzled with chocolate — yum!

Chocolate Drizzeled

Plain

Looks like a GREAT way to share this yummy treat between family members without having to buy everyone their very own Rice Krispies Treat Mickey bar. Good for the wallet AND the waistline. ;-D

Have You Seen the Royal Feast?

By AJ 13 Comments

Every once in a while I’ll be wandering through the Disney parks when I stumble across a hidden gem — something that most guests will probably just walk right by, but that catches my food-obsessed eye.

On my last trip, I was browsing through The Sportsman’s Shoppe in Epcot’s United Kingdom pavilion. On my way out (headed to the pub across the street), I saw this. Click on any of the photos for larger images:

This gorgeous diorama sits in a short lobby leading to the outdoors, just outside the shop and just across from the Rose & Crown Restaurant. I’m not sure I’d ever seen it before, but I was spellbound. I stared for several minutes, first trying to determine the story in the scene and then trying to take in all of the unbelievable detail.

Clearly, what we’re looking at here is a Royal Feast: the King is seated next to his Queen and Royal guests, servants bustle about behind the table, and an entertainer is rolling a hoop in front of the Royal party. And that’s not all — Knights in Armor guard the table with glistening, bejeweled shields; musicians stand in the balconies ready to entertain at a moment’s notice; Royal crests bedeck the walls; and a huge stained glass window completes the scene.

And he’s “rolling” in the true sense. The diorama is animatronic. You can watch the [Read more…]

Fresh Look at Disney World: A Disney Dining Trip Report

By AJ 10 Comments

Mark Weaver and his family had never been to Disney World together before their March 2010 trip, and that was Mark’s first time back to the “World” in 10 years! As I’m sure you’re getting used to my “frequent visitor” perspective on these restaurants, I’m honored to share with you this dining trip report from a foodie who’s looking at WDW with fresh eyes. Thanks, Mark! (When Mark’s not dining in Disney World, you can find him contributing awesome news articles and features over at DisZine.com)

Our dining experiences at WDW were amazing. Sadly we missed 2 of our ADRs (and went home early) thanks to everyone getting sick on the last 2 days of our trip; however, we still had a great time and ate a lot of great food. Here’s an overall review of where and what we ate!:

Disney’s Pop Century Food Court:
After we checked in, we headed here to get some food that didn’t come from the cooler in the back seat of our car (YAY!). Overall, it was pretty good. I had the Parmesan Chicken which was very well done. The chicken was fully cooked — very crunchy, and the pasta with alfredo sauce was pretty good as well. I was able to get extra sauce at no extra cost which went very well with the breadstick. Speaking of the breadstick, I was actually surprised that it was not just a plain breadstick. It was seasoned with herbs and matched well with the entire dish.

Pop Century Parmesan Crusted Chicken

My wife had the vegetarian lasagna, which she enjoyed more than [Read more…]

Remy: The Disney Cruise Line’s Most Exclusive Adults-Only Restaurant

By AJ 6 Comments

Incredible news has been announced about Remy, a brand new class of Disney Cruise Line restaurant debuting on the line’s newest ship, the Disney Dream.

Remy Concept Art, Copyright Disney

Billed as “An upscale restaurant exclusive to adults, Remy boasts the most luxurious dining experience available onboard.” (And this means it’s more luxurious than Palo, the ship’s other adults-only venue, which has sister restaurants on the Disney Wonder and the Disney Magic.) The Disney Cruise Line website goes on to say that Remy will offer the “finest in French-inspired cuisine for dinner.”

Atmosphere
Located on Deck 12 next to Palo, Remy will seat 80 in an Art Nouveau-style room decorated with greens, reds, and golds — think upscale “French Bistro” design. Of course, Ratatouille’s Remy the Rat will be integrated into the design!

A glass-walled wine room with marble flooring has seating for up to 16 guests amid more than 900 bottles of wine including a fine rare selection of Old World wines balanced with a solid selection of New World wines. Once dinner is booked and guests are on board, they are invited to meet with a sommelier in Remy’s wine room to taste and pre-select their wines for the evening.

Remy Concept Art, Copyright Disney

Eats
A chilled champagne cocktail made tableside will be the beginning of your dining experience at Remy. This will be followed by up to nine small courses with wine accompaniments. Polished touches at Remy include a tableside trolley for serving international cheeses, decanting stations for wines, and post-prandial coffee service including French press and grand crème.

The meal will include the special attention to detail [Read more…]

“You Won’t Believe This!” Snack: White Chocolate Chip Brownie

By AJ 25 Comments

We’re back with another delectable treat from Starring Rolls Cafe! I wish we had Smell-o-‘Puter, because these White Chocolate Chip Brownies are a-maz-ing.

This brownie is about the size of my fist (and I have monster giant hands), so the thing is massive — easily the size of two regular pan brownies. And while it’s not as “fancy schmancy” as some of the other “You Won’t Believe This!” Snacks, the pure chocolate taste will wow the dedicated chocoholics and sugar-fiends out there.

Once I carted the brownie out to the table at Starring Rolls, I had to [Read more…]

Guest Review: Inventions Sunday Brunch Buffet in Disneyland Paris

By AJ 19 Comments

I am delighted to bring you this guest review from veteran Disney World Moms Panelist Erin Foster of a recent visit to the Inventions Restaurant Sunday Brunch Buffet in the Disneyland Hotel in Disneyland Resort Paris. I, for one, have never experienced this restaurant, and now I can’t wait to go! Take it away, Erin!

I had the great good fortune to make a trip to Paris with my family last week. Because no true Disney devotee could get less than an hour away from an as-yet-unexperienced Disney theme park, we decided to visit Disneyland Paris and the Disney Studios Paris. We stayed for two nights at the magnificent Disneyland Hotel, which is literally a handful of steps away from the Main Gate of the Disneyland Paris park.

Disneyland Paris was the first stop on our vacation. We went directly there from Charles de Galle airport after an overnight flight, customs, baggage gathering, and a 45-minute taxi ride, but no meal. Suffice it to say that we were tired, hungry, and more than a little cranky. Our room was about an hour from being ready and we needed to eat and get our bearing. The front desk cast member suggested that we go upstairs to the Inventions restaurant, which was serving a character lunch buffet.

Atmosphere
Inventions is one of two restaurants at the Disneyland Hotel. The other is called California Grill. The California Grill is a top-of-line spot, which only serves dinner, much like the Contemporary Resort’s California Grill at Walt Disney World (though the menus are entirely different). There is no quick-serve option at the hotel.

We walked right into Inventions with no reservation and no wait. (Try doing that at Chef Mickey’s.) We had no idea what to expect, but immediately were put at ease when we saw characters working the room, just like at “home.” There did not seem to be any theme to the characters that came out. During the course of our meal we saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Pinocchio, Scrooge McDuck, and Alice’s White Rabbit.

Erin's Daughters With Scrooge McDuck

Erin's Daughters With the White Rabbit

The restaurant has two spacious dining rooms, connected by a long, wide hallway that houses the buffet line. From the windows of the room, you have lovely views of the park, including the Main Gate, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and Space Mountain: Mission 2. Hung on the ceiling [Read more…]

2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Website Being Updated

By AJ 1 Comment

Every year, the Epcot Food & Wine Festival creates a content management website, which is separate from the main DisneyWorld.com Food & Wine Festival page. It looks like this year, for the 15th Anniversary of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, there are going to be some changes to the design as you can see below!

Stay tuned for more, but remember to check out our 2010 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival Page for all the details and information you’ll need about the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival:
2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival International Marketplaces
2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Free and Low-Cost Attractions and Seminars
2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Eat to the Beat Concerts
2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Special Events
2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Party For the Senses

New CMS Site Design for 2010 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival

Pardon Our Dust Notice

You can watch for updates to the website here… . You know I will be!

Hawaii Disney Vacation Club Restaurant: Artist Rendering

By AJ 4 Comments

Just wanted to share a quick view of the artist rendering for one of Aulani’s new table-service restaurants. This looks like it will be a true beach-side paradise. Still not sure on names, or the location of the other table-service restaurant in the resort. Looking forward to details if you’ve got ’em!:

Disney Hawaii Restaurant concept art

It looks like this table-service space will take up the lower right-hand corner of the map we speculated about earlier:

Map of Aulani with beachside Restaurant marked

Seems like this will be just the place to relax after a long day of surfing! I hope I get the chance to check out the place someday!

Dinner at ‘Ohana

By AJ 50 Comments

Today, my friends, we’re headed to Disney World’s Polynesian Resort to visit one of my favorite places — and yours — ‘Ohana. Those of you versed in Lilo and Stitch, or those of you who have been lucky enough to visit the beautiful islands of Hawai’i, know that “‘Ohana” means “Family,” and at this restaurant, they drive the point home.

Food is served family style, everyone in the restaurant — including you — are “cousins,” and the Hawaiian entertainment is aimed at bringing everyone together to participate in common activities. It’s a restaurant like none other in the Disney realm, and its high points are what keeps ‘Ohana a tough reservation to get.

Atmosphere
You’re greeted at ‘Ohana by “cousins” at the podium who take your name, give you a buzzer, and send you out into the Polynesian Resort to explore. Trust me, this is one of those rare restaurants where you hope you have 15-20 minutes to wait until you’re seated — there’s so much to do! Here are my favorite diversions while waiting for my buzzer to go off at ‘Ohana:

Have a Drink: Grab yourself a giant wicker chair in the Tambu Lounge just past the ‘Ohana podium. Knowledgeable bartenders and friendly servers will cater to your whims as you relax and wait for your table. (One of my favorites is the Lapu Lapu…a drink served IN a pineapple!)

Lapu Lapu

Listen to the Islands: ‘Ohana often provides a very talented [Read more…]

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