Latest News: Epcot Food and Wine Festival Info, Taste of Africa, and a New Cookbook

Whew! There’s been a multitude of news items that have popped up in the Disney Food world, so I decided to devote a post to all of them this morning:

Bangkok Marketplace Booth

2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Booths

The Food and Wine Festival CMS website is now showing the 27 Epcot Food and Wine Festival International Marketplace Booths slated for the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival. As we know, these include new additions South Korea and Belgium, and returning booth Singapore. It also includes another new addition, Charcuterie and Cheese (perhaps replacing The Mouse Catch booth)!

Check out the 2009 Food and Wine Festival Booth menus and photos here for inspiration about what might be offered this year!

Food and Wine Festival Event General Info … and Cirque du Soleil News?

The same website also offers information on general timing for each of the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival seminars, demonstrations, and signature special events. While specific details (e.g. which Chefs will present on which days) have not yet been announced, this information can help with basic trip planning around the Festival:

Descriptions and Timing for Free and Low-Cost 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Demonstrations and Seminars
Descriptions and Timing for 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Special and Signature Events

Also exciting, it looks like Cirque du Soleil will be returning to the Food and Wine Festival’s Party for the Senses this year.

As always, stay tuned to the master 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Page, where we’ll link out to all of the latest news, details, and information.

Dawa Bar in Harambe Village

Taste of Africa Street Party News

A new culinary and cultural experience is coming to Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom this summer. The Taste of Africa street party will take place every evening from July 9th through July 24th in Harambe Village in Animal Kingdom’s Africa.

The party will begin right after Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade and will continue through closing time (even during Extra Magic Hours). Included will be food and beverage tastings, authentic African entertainment, unique merchandise, and more.

New Disney Cookbook on the Horizon

Pam Brandon, Disney’s food writer extraordinaire, will be releasing a new official Disney cookbook this Fall. Currently titled Treasures from the Vault & Delicious New Favorites, I’m eager to see what dishes made the cut! If you’re wondering about the other cookbooks available, check our our Disney Cookbooks post! (Thanks to Stitch Kingdom for the tip!)

Remember, because we’re reporting this news so far ahead of time, details are always subject to change.

Now, in addition to all of that awesomeness, stay tuned tomorrow for an exclusive guest review of the Ariel’s Grotto World of Color Prix Fixe menu!

Cirque du Soleil Returning to 2010 Party for the Senses?

By AJ 2 Comments

It looks like acrobatic group Cirque du Soleil will be returning to Disney World’s 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Party for the Senses events!

Cirque du Soleil La Nouba

While the troupe was one of the highlights of parties in the past, they were noticeably absent from 2009 parties. Now, Disney’s dedicated Food and Wine Festival website is claiming that the performers will return to the event once more!

This is great news for those spending $135 on top of Epcot’s admission price for entry into this extravagant evening of culinary adventures and outstanding entertainment.

As always, we’ll post more details as we have them. In the meantime, check out all of our information on the 2010 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.

Details are subject to change.

Taste of Africa Street Party

By AJ 4 Comments

Disney Food Blog newsletter subscribers heard this rumor last week, and the Taste of Africa is even more official now. According to wdwmagic.com, the event will take place in Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World.

This grand experience of the tastes and cultures of Africa will be officially called ‘The Taste of Africa Street Party.’ It will run from July 9 through July 24, 2010, and will take place nightly in Harambe Village in the Animal Kingdom. Beginning right after the daily Jammin’ Jungle Parade, the event will run through park close each night. On Extra Magic Hour evenings, the event will run through Extra Magic Hours.

Offerings at the Taste of Africa Street Party will include:

Food and Beverage offerings from outdoor vendors
Beer and Wine tastings at Tamu Tamu
A music/dance party with Harambe’s DJ Khalifa and performances from musical group, Wasslou
Unique merchandise
Animal Education experiences

Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe Review

By AJ 24 Comments

Today, we’re heading to one of my favorite quick-service spots in Disney World — Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. Tucked in between Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and Cinderella Castle, Cosmic Ray’s has one of the biggest, most diverse menus of all Disney World quick-service locations.

Atmosphere
Cosmic Ray’s is a giant, bright, semi-circular room situated around three food ordering “bays.” With each bay selling different types of food, be sure to check out the menus for all three before choosing your bay!

Bays at Cosmic Ray's

The theme is vintage space-age Tomorrowland, with lots of aquas and purples, trapezoids, and triangular furniture. There’s brushed chrome everywhere and signage in the same types of fonts you’d expect to find in early Space Mountain queue lines. Overall, if you loved the Jetsons and find the metal palm trees in Tomorrowland to be just about the coolest foliage ever — Cosmic Ray’s general decor will be ideal for you (and me).

Outdoor Seating

Pragmatically, what you need to know is [Read more…]

Gourmet Food Trucks Show Up in Disneyland

By AJ 4 Comments

Loukaniko Plate at Louks Gourmet Food Truck

Disney California Adventure guests are getting another option for quick-service dining in the park this summer: gourmet food trucks!

According to the OC Register’s Fast Food Maven, two trucks are currently serving guests each evening at the Glow Fest, an add-on Summer Nightastic dance event that debuted with World of Color.

For the first half of the event, Orange County’s own Louks Greek Gourmet truck and The Green Truck of Los Angeles are the featured food vans. Disney said park visitors can expect “more popular gourmet food trucks in Southern California” to join Glow Fest.

Trucker Sauce Served with Mother Trucker Vegan Burgers: The Green Truck

To date, the Greek (menu) and Green (menu) Trucks are the only gourmet trucks serving at Glow Fest, which runs from 6pm until park closing each night through August 22nd, 2010. A Spanish Tapas truck has confirmed to the OC Register that it will begin serving at Glow Fest on July 15th, 2010.

For more info and commentary: Source

Global Gummies

By AJ 22 Comments

Whether you like them or not, by now everyone’s at least sampled some gummi candy. In addition to the ubiquitous Gummi Bears, you’ve also got gummi worms, sour gummi staws, gummi vitamins, and even giant gummies.

Because the candy is taking the world by storm, Disney has jumped on the gummi bandwagon. They now sell a variety of gummi candy in their parks and resorts, and are even marketing their own Goofy’s Candy Company gummi brand.

So, while I’m sure that many of you are familiar with the standard gummi bear, how many of you have sampled gummi Salty Licorice Fish? How about Fruity Pasta gummi candy? Well, guess what — you can sample all of these, and more, in your favorite vacation destinations. Imagine that: rides, attractions, and a global selection of gummies in all in one place! One of the many reasons [Read more…]

“The Best Thing I Ever Ate at Disney!”: Breakfast

By AJ 86 Comments

We’re headed back to our “Best Thing I Ever Ate at Disney!” series today

I did a post a couple of weeks back titled The Five Best Things I Ate In Disneyland, which sparked a fun series based on the Food Network’s (very cool) show, The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Based on some keen suggestions from readers, we’ll be splitting our series up into different sections: breakfast, appetizers & side dishes, snacks, entrees (lunch and dinner), and desserts & drinks.

Today, let’s talk breakfast! I’ve done my favorite brand of informal polling (i.e. posted questions on twitter and facebook 😉 ) to find out others’ experiences of the Best Thing They Ever Ate for breakfast at Disney. I must say, the conclusions aren’t all that shocking, but they are delicious! Here’s what we’ve all come up with:

Mickey Waffles

Ah, the glorious little Mickey Waffle! I have no idea why these little guys taste as wonderful as they do, but it’s like melt-in-your-mouth happiness as soon as you bite into one (you think I’m being overly dramatic, but I promise, they’re delicious).

Multi Grain Mickey Waffles from The Wave!

Luckily, you can get them all over Disney World (I have a partial list here) — book a breakfast buffet and you’re almost sure to see them. If you’d rather not deal with locking off time for a full meal, head to [Read more…]

Disney Food Post Round-Up: June 20th, 2010

By AJ 3 Comments

Happy Sunday, all! Did you catch the big Disney food news this week? Disney World has announced that Epcot Food & Wine Festival event reservations will open on July 20th, 2010, at 7am! They’ve also mentioned another new event for this year! As always keep up with the latest information on our Epcot Food and Wine Festival page! It’s updated every time a new bit of info is released.

Now, on to the round-up!

Family.com has some adorable Toy Story 3 recipes: Jessie’s Cowgirl Hat Cookies, Woody’s Sheriff Badge Cookies, Mr. Pricklepants Cupcakes, Hamm Cake Pops, and more!! (Special thanks to Between the Pages for the tip on these recipes!)

The Unofficial Wilderness Lodge Tribute Website reviews the controversial Whispering Canyon Cafe.

About.com Theme Parks does a mini-review of Cafe Orleans in Disneyland. (Yum…frites!!)

Main Street Gazette wins best blog post title ever with “Sack of Sugar, Pinch of Mystery.” You’re going to have to click to see what it’s about… 😉

A World View gives some great tips and resources for how to save some cash when it comes to your Disney World dining. This is part of a multi-part series on saving for and on your WDW vacation.

Disney Every Day checks out the Diamond Horseshoe in the Magic Kingdom.

The Disney Blog talks Perry the Platypus and cake!

Shredheads stages a healthy food smackdown between Disney World and Disneyland.

Chip and Co discusses eating gluten-free in Disney World.

Disney Parks Blog covers their favorite quick-service dining in the parks.

And, again, not Disney, but still cool:

Orlando Sentinel has a Butterbeer Report!

Also, Scott Joseph has an awesome Three Broomsticks video!!

5th Disney Blog Carnival is Up!

By AJ Leave a Comment

DisMarks.com Logo

Congratulations to DisMarks for posting the Fifth Edition of the Disney Blog Carnival!

For those of you who enjoyed the first , second, third, and fourth Disney Blog Carnivals, the fifth has now been published!

This time around, over 30 (!!!) Disney-related blogs and websites contributed some incredible articles covering a range of topics. There are posts about Disney food (yay!), the most popular Pop Century icons, why Stephanie Tanner didn’t know which way Splash Mountain was when Full House visited Disney World (for you 80’s kids), favorite Disney villains, Toy Story 3, and more! 🙂

Just head over to DisMarks to see dozens of articles about Disney from your favorite new and veteran Disney bloggers 🙂

I think it’s [Read more…]

Epcot Food and Wine Festival News: Taste, Shake, and Indulge — and more!

By AJ 1 Comment

Disney’s tempting us with new bits of information about the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.

It seems there will be another new event series called Taste, Shake, and Indulge, which will include a Grand Marnier Tasting seminar and possibly other events.

They’ve also let us know that July 20th at 7AM EST is when the phones will open for us to book our chosen events!

You can find everything you need to know about the Festival on our 2010 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival page — NEW events for this year are highlighted in red.

Hopefully the full list of events will be released before the July 20th deadline. Guests can call 407/WDW-FEST (939-3378) for information and to make reservations for special events and programs. Festival details should be available at www.disneyworld.com/foodandwine by mid-July and, don’t forget, booking begins at 7:00AM July 20th.

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