food IS a theme park
No one is hiding this truth — Disney World can be expensive!
Spaceship Earth in EPCOT
When you start calculating the flight cost, hotel reservation, and park tickets, you’ll quickly see how much money it can cost to visit Disney World. And that doesn’t even include the other expenses like dining. So, what can you do to help bring the cost down? Let’s talk about a very cheap lunch option in Disney World that could be a crowd-pleaser for your group!
EPCOT might just be our favorite Disney World park for one reason: the food!
EPCOT’s France Pavilion
Okay, you have some AMAZING table service restaurants like Le Cellier and Garden Grill. Then there is all the food at the seasonal festivals (and we’re currently enjoying eats from the EPCOT Festival of the Arts). EPCOT also has some great counter service locations, although we’ve got one that’s our favorite. Well, two of our favorite things to get for lunch just got…cheaper? You don’t hear that very often in Disney World!
Tell us if this has happened to you before — you’re rushing around a Disney World park at rope drop, hitting up all the rides on your list, and you’re completely content to keep hustling…until your stomach growls.
EPCOT
In your hurry to get to the park, you forgot all about breakfast, and now your body is revolting against you, DEMANDING that you get some food inside your stomach ASAP. If you don’t know exactly where to go or what to eat, don’t worry — we’re sharing our list of the best breakfast options in EPCOT!
This is an exciting time, my friends. The Watch and Wait Season has officially arrived for all things 2016 Epcot Food and Wine Festival!
What do I mean by that? Well, this is the time of the year when details begin to emerge for all of the events, menus, and more for our Favorite Event of the Year!
If you’re a festival fan, you’re gonna want to pay close attention in the upcoming weeks, as we provide you with all of the updates FIRST. Better yet — subscribe to the DFB Newsletter, and we’ll bring all the news directly to you!
In the meantime, as we await all of the latest as well as the start date — the festival will run from September 14 through November 14 — we love looking through some of the fun that we had last year.
Today, we’ll take a closer look at one of the NEW Special Events we attended in 2015 — French Family Meal Traditions. And I’m gonna get a little ahead of myself: this was so fabulous that we totally expect it to be back again this year.
There’s lots to see, so let’s get started!
The DFB Guide to the 2016 Epcot Food & Wine Festival e-Book is now available for pre-order! This 250+-page guide to the Festival offers insider tips and advice as well as all of the details you need to know to plan your best Festival visit ever.
Your purchase includes several bonus items as well — including a full daily schedule of events at the Festival and a printable World Showcase Booth Menu Checklist to carry with you as you Eat around the World!
Order your 2016 edition today and we’ll immediately send you the 2015 edition for FREE to get started on planning right away! Don’t miss a moment of the fun!
One of my favorite things about Special Events that take place in Epcot’s World Showcase Pavilions, versus events in World ShowPlace, is that you often get a chance to see inside a restaurant that you may not have experienced before. Both French Family Meal Traditions and The Parisian Afternoon: Sandwiches, Macarons, and Bubbles! take place at Monsieur Paul.
Monsieur Paul Entrance
If you haven’t had the chance to dine at Monsieur Paul, you may not be familiar with it. It’s the fine dining option in Epcot’s France Pavilion. You’ll find it by heading back through France as though you’re getting a Macaron Ice Cream Sammie at L’Artisan des Glaces. 🙂 But hang a left before you get to the boutique ice cream shop. Go through the door with the awning, past the hostess stand, and you’ll spy this beautiful art nouveau staircase leading up to the second floor restaurant. [Read more…]
Bonjour, Mes Amis!
We are heading to the City of Lights today for a luncheon at one of Epcot’s most iconic eateries, Les Chefs de France!
The bistro, located in the France Pavilion, has been a fixture of World Showcase since Epcot’s earliest days. It’s served thousands of meals to Epcot guests, and you’ll still find its tables full if you visit today.
Les Chefs de France has had the happy distinction for me of providing consistently decent food and friendly service — something that can’t always be said about Disney restaurants. Since I’ve had some truly fine meals here, I was ready to head back for lunch with AJ’s Mom and Dad (whom many of you know!).
The food has been good to great during every visit that I’ve made in recent years to Les Chefs de France — but that’s only part of the story. Because I would be in love with this restaurant based upon looks alone.
Menu and Place Setting
That’s because I personally think that Les Chefs de France represents some excellent restaurant themeing. If it weren’t for the kid in Mickey ears at the next table, it’s very possible that you’d forget you’re actually in Florida.
We visited during the day, but I just couldn’t help but show you this gorgeous view of Les Chefs de France at night.
Front of Les Chefs de France at Night -- My Favorite View!
It reminds me so much of my first trip to Paris that I wanted to share it with you.
And that’s the beauty of this restaurant. If you’ve had the pleasure of a trip to Paris, you will probably have eaten in (or at least seen) a spot that looks Just. Like. This.
Inside Les Chefs de France
Photos of the original “Les Chefs de France” team — Paul Bocuse, Gaston Lenotre, and Roger Vergé — line the walls. These days, Chef Bocuse’s son, Jerome Bocuse, runs the France Pavilion restaurant empire. (Check out the photo of Chef Bocuse on opening day in front of Les Chefs de France that hangs upstairs in Monsieur Paul. You can see it in our review here.)
Decor Featuring Photos of the Founding Chefs
The color palette in Les Chefs de France tends toward [Read more…]
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