Review: Pizzafari

Disney’s Animal Kingdom has a dearth of dining establishments. It’s true; we all know it. But what they DO have is…beautiful. While food-wise, Pizzafari could be thought of as leaving much to be desired, exploring the place itself almost makes up for it!

Atmosphere
You’ll find Pizzafari on the path to Africa — just take a left at Discovery Island! And once again, Animal Kingdom comes out on top when it comes to themeing and imagineering decor.

Very rarely will the decor in any corner of the Animal Kingdom be random. Over at Flame Tree Barbecue, you’ve got the intriguing-yet-gross-if-you-think-about-it predator and prey theme. Here at Pizzafari, the theme is a bit more understated, but no less intriguing: [Read more…]

2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival: Touring Strategies

By AJ 21 Comments

I’ve been contacted by a lot of folks asking what my plan is for touring the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival as well as what the best touring strategies might be for particular situations. I figured that covering it all in a blog post might be helpful to those planning their F&W trips — and for those who don’t need any help, it might still be fun to read!

In this post, we’ll discuss Touring Strategies for Solos and Groups of Adults, Ideas for Touring the Festival as a Family, and AJ’s Picks — basically the stuff I would do if I had a limitless bank account! 😉

Before we begin, here are the resources you’ll need to know what I’m talking about:
1. Check out the Festival Guide and Map here.
2. Our 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Index Page has links to all of the major areas of the festival, so feel free to peruse and get your bearings.

Here we go!

If You’re Touring the Food and Wine Festival Solo or With a Small Group of Adults…

There’s nothing like touring the incredible Food and Wine Festival with close friends or on a solo expedition! If you’re headed in as an adult(s)-only group, here’s a suggested itinerary for a day at the Festival:

Tokyo, Japan Booth

Rope Drop: Get a Ticket To Ride
Head into Epcot when it opens and jump on a few of your favorite rides while the queues are still manageable. The Food and Wine Festival doesn’t head into full swing until after the World Showcase opens at 11am and none of the special events begin before 10am, so you’ll have some time to get your Future World on before “digging in” to the Festival.

If there isn’t anything you’d like to ride, head over to the Festival Center (usually located in the Wonders of Life Pavilion in Future World) to browse the bookshop, check out the wines for sale, look at the [Read more…]

Disney World Free Dining in 2011 Announced

By AJ 13 Comments

Disney World Free Dining has been announced for the following dates in 2011:

Jan 1 – 5 • 9 – 13 • Jan 21 – Feb 3 • Feb 11 – 17 • Feb 25 – Mar 3 • May 27 – Jun 2 • Aug 19 – Sept 29

While there are many blackout dates, there’s certainly more free dining available than ever before. The booking window for these promotions is through December 20, 2010 — so get on the horn! Call (407) 939-7926 and ask for booking code NL7 to book your room reservations. Then it’s time to plan your Disney World Advanced Dining Reservations!

Like this year, those staying at mods, deluxes, and deluxe villas will get the standard dining plan. Those staying at values will get the quick service dining plan.

See DisneyWorld.com for details!

For information and links to updated menus from every Disney World Table Service restaurant, visit our Disney World Restaurants Guide.

Review: Flying Fish Cafe

By AJ 11 Comments

During April’s 5 Stars to Mickey Bars event, I was very grateful to have the opportunity to dine with some incredible women at the Disney World Boardwalk’s Flying Fish Cafe!

Atmosphere
Flying Fish Cafe has a whimsy about it that you don’t find at many of Disney World’s signature restaurants. The ocean-side carnival theme — including massive and colorful murals on the walls — fits well into the Disney World Boardwalk area. Even a few of the columns in the restaurant look like they’re covered in gold fish scales.

Flying Fish Cafe Tables and Murals

And the flying fish dangling via parachutes from [Read more…]

Disney Food Post Round-Up: August 15, 2010

By AJ 7 Comments

It's Open It's Open!

But first…the news!

The Karamelle Kuche, or Caramel Kitchen, in Epcot’s Germany has a reported opening date!
Disney World’s Magic Kingdom will be expanding dining offerings during the summer and free dining seasons. This is your chance to see what some of those “never-open” counter service spots look like!
The Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resorts are introducing an annual Food and Wine Classic this year during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival! Check out the details for info on seminars and samplings as well as some great hotel rates.
Touring Plans tipped us off to a potential extension of Disney World Free Dining. Hopefully we’ll find out more soon.

AND… Disney Food Blog and WDW Foodie Fest t-shirts are now available! You can check them out over on www.Zazzle.com/DisneyFoodBlog. Remember, you can purchase any design on any size/style shirt, so feel free to mix and match. While the designs are different, the back of each shirt carries our acronym — DFB for Disney Food Blog — and tagline, “Food is a Theme Park!”

And now — on to the round-up!

Stuff From the Parks has a couple of posts showcasing photos from the Tahitian Terrace a la 1966 — check out Part I and Part II.

Pop Century Site explores unique food items at Disney’s Pop Century Resort.

Touring Plans‘ blogger Todd Perlmutter has a great homage to Saratoga Springs’ Turf Club Bar and Grill.

Chefs de France Mac and Cheese

Parkeology remembers the Disney Handwich (and scorns the up-and-coming copycats).

Theme Park Mom allowed yours truly to do a fun guest post on Character Meals in Disneyland! Thanks, Leigh!

Everything WDW has an in-depth review of Chefs de France in Epcot.

Pee Dee Foodie takes a look at the Main Street Confectionery in Walt Disney World.

Main St Gazette has pics of the Via Napoli bathrooms! (Oh, and the pizza, too. 🙂 )

Disney Parks Blog showcases their pastry creations (and pastry chefs!) in a cool video.

Swan and Dolphin Introduce the Food and Wine Classic, October 8-9

By AJ 3 Comments

I’ve got some great news! For those of you considering heading to Orlando to enjoy the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, now you’ve got an extra incentive to make your plans! The Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resorts have just announced their first Annual Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic, which will be taking place on October 8th and 9th, 2010! There are also some incredible hotel deals to go along with it. Here are the specs:

When:

Friday, Oct. 8 and Saturday, Oct. 9
4:30pm – 5:30pm = Beverage Seminars (Wine Blending, Riesling, Sake, Champagne, Beer, Mixology)
5:30pm – 9:30pm = Tasting Stations Open on Causeway (incredible tastes from the Swan and Dolphin’s famous restaurants)

Location, Location, Location:

For those who haven’t been there, the Swan and Dolphin resorts are located [Read more…]

Disney World Free Dining Extension Into 2011

By AJ 4 Comments

UPDATE: WDW Free Dining 2011 has been announced! Click here for details!

____________________________________

Len Testa over at the Touring Plans Blog is reporting the possibility of Disney World’s Free Dining promotion being extended into September 2011.

…[the] discount is an extension of free dining, through September 2011. This comes with a considerable number of blackout dates, including Spring Break, Easter and most of Summer 2011.

If the discount comes to pass, it will be announced this Monday, August 16th.

Touring Plans isn’t often wrong about things like this, so I’d set your alarm for “early” on Monday just in case.

Note: According to Mousesavers.com, 2011 Free Dining is already available for guests from the UK.

There are two other potential discounts in the rumor mill; read more about them on Touring Plans.

Dining Planning for Christmas in Disney

By AJ 15 Comments

The holidays in Disney Parks are an incredibly magical time, and because we’re well into the Disney World dining planning window for folks who are headed to Orlando during the holiday season I wanted to add a few resources to the planning sessions!

Where to Eat

Disney holiday menus

will always feature special treats! At the request of several readers, I did a quick poll of our facebook fans and twitter followers to determine the answer to this question, “If you could dine at one Disney World restaurant for your holiday dinner, where would you go?” I was quickly rewarded with some fantastic answers! Here are some of the most popular responses:

Liberty Tree Tavern
This location wins with our readers for Thanksgiving, and it was an overwhelmingly popular choice for Christmas as well. Most readers indicated that the cozy atmosphere at Liberty Tree Tavern and the traditional holiday dinner fare is what would bring them here.

Liberty Tree Tavern Pot Roast

‘Ohana
Mele Kalikimaka! ‘Ohana was tied for first place with Liberty Tree Tavern, so clearly DFB readers share my affinity for the islands! 🙂 After growing up in the snowy tundra of western New York State, Hawai’i sounds pretty good as a Christmas destination right about now! Plus, this location has [Read more…]

News! Germany’s Karamelle-Küche Opening Date Set

By AJ 7 Comments

Dipping Caramel Apples at Disney

According to WDWMagic, the brand new Werther’s caramel shop in Germany, Karamelle-Küche (or Caramel Kitchen) will open September 22, 2010!

You’ll recall, this is the shop that will be replacing the old Glas und Porzellan shop at the entrance to the Germany pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase.

The store will be branded with Werther’s, and will feature a show kitchen where cast members will be creating caramel popcorn and apples, caramel-covered strawberries, and more for guests to see!

The shop will also sell gourmet caramels, cookies, brownies, fudge, and cupcakes. This is the only free-standing shop in the world for Storck, the makers of Werther’s candies, so there will be some one-of-a-kind items there as well.

We’ll see you there!

Magic Kingdom Expands Restaurant Capacity During Free Dining in Disney World

By AJ 5 Comments

As we saw last year, several rarely (if ever) open restaurants will be serving steadily through the weeks when Disney World is offering its free dining promotion. Here are the details:

Tomorrowland Terrace Cafe Will Offer a Table-Service Buffet on Sunday Evenings
From 5:30pm to 9pm on Sundays, beginning August 22nd and running through September, Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland Terrace Cafe will offer a dinner buffet for guests. Pricing currently stands at: Adult: $37.28, Child: $19.17. The menu for the buffet will include beef and pasta dishes, vegetables, fried rice, rolls, and desserts. Booking is available on the DisneyWorld.com site.

Also, the Tomorrowland Terrace “Noodle Station” has changed up its menu to serve American classic fare (burgers and sandwiches, chicken nuggets, salads, etc.) for lunch and will switch to its Asian menu after 4pm.

El Pirata Y el Perico Restaurante Will Be Open for Lunch
This Adventureland location serving quick-service Mexican cuisine will be open for lunch from August 15th through September 4th, 2010.

Diamond Horseshoe Will be Open for Dinner
This Frontierland eatery will extend its hours through dinner time (5-9pm) from August 15th through the 28th, and from September 19th through October 2nd, serving a table-service style turkey dinner akin to what you’ll get at Liberty Tree Tavern next door (via WDWMagic; booking for September/October dates not available on Disney site at time of this writing). Counter-service lunch will still be available at the Diamond Horseshoe from 11am-3pm serving sandwiches and other grab and go items.

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