Tatania
Disney Foodie
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2007
- Messages
- 1,184
A lot of my friends are incredulous when I tell them that part of the appeal of Disney World for me are the many exciting dining options. I really am a big fan of Disney dining, have every single Disney cookbook that’s been published, have collected hundreds of other Disney recipes and use them all the time - especially when entertaining guests. That’s because they work and the results are generally delicious. I also keep up-to-date on Disney dining by reading the Disney Parks blog every day and various other Disney food blogs.
By way of background - I’ve been travelling the world since my early 20s and make sure to try the local cuisine. I’m lucky that I get to sample a lot of high quality cooking, in part, because I spend a lot of time on high in cruise lines (Regent, Seabourn, Crystal etc. where I speak about food. Do food is an important part of my travel experience.
At Disneyland I wasn’t so sure about the dining quality because the reviews I had read - especially regarding the Magic Kingdom, weren’t always stellar. So, this past weekend, when I spent two days at Disneyland, I decided to eat all my meals in the park and find out whether Disneyland was a dining wasteland or a wonderland. Here is my review of two days of Disney dining.
Day 1. Sunday. Magic Kingdom.
I was in Los Angeles on other business but decided I had to go to the Magic Kingdom for the 60th anniversary celebration. I drove in from downtown LA and managed to be in the park about an hour after opening. I got in a couple of rides, grabbed a fast pass and headed to the Jolly Holiday Bakery.
I had really wanted to try the Jolly Holiday Salad and one of the sandwiches but it was only 10.30 am and they weren’t serving them yet, so I followed my sweet tooth - as I tend to do - and decided to try the 60th Anniversary Cupcake with a Latte.
This meal-sized lemon cupcake is piled high with icing - just the way I like it – and beautifully decorated with white chocolate pearls and a chocolate D. I thought the icing would be cloyingly sweet, but it was actually the best part of the cupcake. According to the OC Register, it’s “white chocolate Champagne mousse” but I think there’s a lot of artistic license in that description. It tasted very much like vanilla buttercream frosting and I would not have guessed there was champagne in it - nor did it have the texture of a mousse. The rest of the cupcake was a disappointment for me. The lemon cake could have been a Duncan Hines mix and the strawberry filling was similar to an overly sweetened jam. I love desserts, but not the typical, overly-sweetened American kind. My favourite pastries are the ones you find in a good German konditorei - rich, flavorful and not tooth-shatteringly sweet. If I hadn’t been so full, I would have loved to try some of the other items on display…. But I had to save room for lunch.
I’m a huge fan of good New Orleans food, so the lunch menus that looked the most interesting were in New Orleans Square. However, I had a reservation for the Blue Bayou, so I tore myself away from the Café Orléans and the Monte Cristo sandwich I’ve been dying to try and headed to Rancho del Zocalo instead.
The outside of the restaurant is eye-catching with the red bougainvillea draped over the white adobe walls and the eating area consists of a pleasant outdoor courtyard. There's inside seating if the weather is bad. The enchilada/burrito queue moved quickly with three ladies working assembly-line style putting the orders together.
I went with the Burrito Guadalajara ($12.49) - which was shredded, slow-cooked pork, rice and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla. This was topped with Guajillo Sauce and served with a side of Mexican rice and refried beans. Together with a drink (you can refill as much as you want) and tax, this came to $17.04 and I think it was well worth it because the portions were substantial. The meat was tender and flavorful, and there was a good balance between the amount of meat and rice in the burrito. The Guajillo Sauce provided a flavorful and slightly spicy contrast to the burrito filling - though I always thought it was red and not green. The Mexican Rice on the side was overkill as far as rice went, but at least it’s authentic. Every meal I ever had in Central America consisted mainly of rice and beans.
By the afternoon, the park was starting to get very crowded but I used my fast pass to get on Hyper Space Mountain, followed by Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion. With my stomach still feeling a little queasy from Space Mountain, the thought of facing an early dinner (4.40 pm) wasn’t a happy one, but that was the only time I could get a reservation for the Paint the Night Dinner Package at the Blue Bayou. As it turned out, the parade started MUCH later than the 7 PM time I was given, and I wasn’t able to stay for it - so I ordered off the normal menu instead.
The interior of the Blue Bayou is very dim - primarily lantern lit. The idea is that you’re sitting on banks of a bayou at twilight with moss laden trees & colonial houses adding to the ambience. There’s boats passing by all the time because it’s part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
My waiter was extremely friendly and there was nothing ‘southern and slow” about the service. There was also very little on the menu that said “Louisiana cooking” to me except for the Seafood Jambalaya ($35) - so I went with that. It came with a starter of New Orleans Gumbo which was smothered under a layer of rice. I told the waiter that I had never had gumbo anywhere in the South that had a thick layer of rice on it - and he agreed. However, underneath the rice, the gumbo was flavorful and thick.
The Jambalaya was so-so - especially for the price. The rice was not fluffy and the grains glommed together instead of holding their individual character. Plopped on top of the rice (not stirred in) was a decently spiced tomato-based sauce and the various toppings. The best of these was the andouille sausage which had a spicy, robust flavor. The worst was the mahi mahi - which had a fishy taste and did not work at all with the sausage. There were also large shrimp (at the edge of being undercooked), chicken pieces and small bits of ham, but the overwhelming taste came from the mahi mahi and sausage and it just wasn’t a very successful mix. I loved the bottomless Traditional Mint Julep ($4.00) and had way too much of it - no wonder, after a day of tromping in the sun. I sure paid for that with massive heartburn and a queasy feeling for hours after the meal.
Day 2. Monday. California Adventure Park
With less than 6 hours of sleep, I groggily left for the park and got there a half an hour after the opening. Along with most of the attendees, I headed straight to Cars Land and blundered around a bit before I found the fast pass machines for Radiator Springs Racers (they are in front of the Bugs Land). On a side note, get those fast passes early in the day because they were all gone by 2 o’clock. After taking a spin on Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, I headed to Flo’s V8 Café for breakfast.
I love the theme decor of this restaurant – ALL the theming in Cars Land is outstanding - and I could’ve listen to the Motown/R&B soundtrack all day. I ordered the American Breakfast ($8.49) along with a chocolate milkshake ($4.69). Don’t judge - milk is a wholesome breakfast food!
This was the worst meal I had and my advise would be to try elsewhere. The eggs were shaped like foam chips, had a texture like foam chips and managed to have almost no taste at all. The Breakfast Potatoes felt like they had been coated in a sort of plastic and didn’t have much of a flavour either. The bacon was OK and the biscuit might have been OK if they had offered a pat of butter or some jam with it. As it was, I could barely choke the bread down. Good thing I ordered that milkshake! It came out of an “ice cream” type machine - just like at McDonald’s - and it was similar to an McDonald’s chocolate shake.
There are so many interesting looking restaurants in California Adventure and I would love to have tried them all, however, by lunch time I found myself at the Pacific Wharf gasping for a drink. A margarita from Rita’s Baja Blenders sounded perfect and I ordered the strawberry flavoured one ($8.25).
Another disappointment. This is basically a red coloured slushy mix with a minuscule amount of alcohol. It tasted exactly like the cheaper margarita blends you get in bulk stores- the ones with the slightly metallic tinge and the obvious food colouring. I don’t think this margarita had met a strawberry in its life. Apparently there is alcohol in the drink, but don’t worry, it won’t have any effect whatsoever on you.
Right across from Rita’s is the Pacific Wharf Café. There was quite the queue to get in, but I didn’t feel like having Mexican again (Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill) and the menu at the Lucky Fortune Cookery was uninspiring.
I decided to go healthy and ordered the Chicken, Apple, & Walnut Salad ($10.99), which to my surprise was served in a lettuce lined Sourdough Bread Bowl. I had thought only the soup got served in that. Visually, this is not an appealing dish - looking like a pile of pale, white chunks of chicken, however it tasted better than it looked. The poached chicken is mixed with mayonnaise, and there’s a nice interplay between the crunch of the nuts, celery, apple, and walnut and the chicken. The menu says there is a honey lemon dressing but I couldn’t taste much honey or lemon in the mayonnaise. The craisin garnish was a nice touch, and I wouldn’t have minded a few more of those. The sourdough bread is great - chewy and sour - exactly how it should be. The little birds kept landing on the table wanting crumbs and the baby ducks were fighting over the crumbs of sourdough. Very cute.
Passing by the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, I had to take a look at the menu.
Lots of mouthwatering items on it but the one I couldn’t resist trying was the Sea Salt Caramel Banana Shake (small: $7.25).
I’m a milkshake aficionado and have to say that Ghirardelli’s is the real deal. It’s made fresh in a blender (unlike the one at Flo’s) with real ice cream and the taste and texture were fantastic. From the banana to the caramel, everything was perfectly balanced and delicious.
I had a World of Color Dining Package at Ariel’s Grotto and was hoping, that this might be the place for my knockout Disney meal. The bright colored exterior is gaudy but fun and the interior is tastefully done with the Ariel mural and the underwater décor.
Service was fast and efficient, with a large portion of sourdough bread appearing on the table immediately. The Ultimate Long Island Ice Tea was one of the better versions of this drink that I’ve had, so things are off to a promising start. The World of Color Dining Package is a three-course fixed menu ($45.00) and the menu has changed completely from when it first offered. Apparently this new menu had just come into effect a couple of days ago and the chef was still fine-tuning it. Whatever he did, it worked for me.
I started with a salad which included pistachios, strawberries, manchego cheese and a dressing of Riesling vinaigrette. The ingredients worked extremely well together, and my only quibble is that I didn’t taste much of the dressing.
I went with the most popular main course - the Tri-tip and lobster. I’m always a little nervous when ordering lobster outside of New England area because I’ve had so many badly prepared ones. I have to give Ariel’s Grotto credit, however, because even though this is a busy restaurant, where 100s of dinners are churned out every night, the lobster was cooked to perfection. Tender, succulent, sweet and with an optional order of drawn butter on the side. The beef slices were thin, but they weren’t overdone. The sides were fantastic - especially the mashed potatoes. They didn’t taste like they came from a mix and I wish I had asked for the recipe because I have no idea what made the flavor so good. The asparagus had exactly the right amount of crunch to it – not too raw and not overcooked.
The high standard was maintained for the dessert trio - crème brûlée, s’mores tart, and chocolate covered strawberry. Crème brûlée is a standard dessert in Disney World and on all the cruise ships, but it’s still one of my favourites - especially when it’s as well-prepared as this one was. The S’mores tart had a shell that tasted like graham crackers, a filling of chocolate ganache and a marshmallow cream topping. It’s a great idea and worked extremely well. All in all, this was the best meal in two days at Disneyworld and reasonably priced I felt, considering it included a ringside spot for the show.
Before leaving the park, I stopped by Trolley Treats for some souvenir caramel candy apples to take home on the plane - the ones coated with nuts, the Mickey-themed ones with chocolate and an Olaf cake-pop. The ones with the caramel and nuts were outstanding, whereas, for me, the caramel covered in chocolate doesn’t work quite as well.
By way of background - I’ve been travelling the world since my early 20s and make sure to try the local cuisine. I’m lucky that I get to sample a lot of high quality cooking, in part, because I spend a lot of time on high in cruise lines (Regent, Seabourn, Crystal etc. where I speak about food. Do food is an important part of my travel experience.
At Disneyland I wasn’t so sure about the dining quality because the reviews I had read - especially regarding the Magic Kingdom, weren’t always stellar. So, this past weekend, when I spent two days at Disneyland, I decided to eat all my meals in the park and find out whether Disneyland was a dining wasteland or a wonderland. Here is my review of two days of Disney dining.
Day 1. Sunday. Magic Kingdom.
I was in Los Angeles on other business but decided I had to go to the Magic Kingdom for the 60th anniversary celebration. I drove in from downtown LA and managed to be in the park about an hour after opening. I got in a couple of rides, grabbed a fast pass and headed to the Jolly Holiday Bakery.
I had really wanted to try the Jolly Holiday Salad and one of the sandwiches but it was only 10.30 am and they weren’t serving them yet, so I followed my sweet tooth - as I tend to do - and decided to try the 60th Anniversary Cupcake with a Latte.
This meal-sized lemon cupcake is piled high with icing - just the way I like it – and beautifully decorated with white chocolate pearls and a chocolate D. I thought the icing would be cloyingly sweet, but it was actually the best part of the cupcake. According to the OC Register, it’s “white chocolate Champagne mousse” but I think there’s a lot of artistic license in that description. It tasted very much like vanilla buttercream frosting and I would not have guessed there was champagne in it - nor did it have the texture of a mousse. The rest of the cupcake was a disappointment for me. The lemon cake could have been a Duncan Hines mix and the strawberry filling was similar to an overly sweetened jam. I love desserts, but not the typical, overly-sweetened American kind. My favourite pastries are the ones you find in a good German konditorei - rich, flavorful and not tooth-shatteringly sweet. If I hadn’t been so full, I would have loved to try some of the other items on display…. But I had to save room for lunch.
I’m a huge fan of good New Orleans food, so the lunch menus that looked the most interesting were in New Orleans Square. However, I had a reservation for the Blue Bayou, so I tore myself away from the Café Orléans and the Monte Cristo sandwich I’ve been dying to try and headed to Rancho del Zocalo instead.
The outside of the restaurant is eye-catching with the red bougainvillea draped over the white adobe walls and the eating area consists of a pleasant outdoor courtyard. There's inside seating if the weather is bad. The enchilada/burrito queue moved quickly with three ladies working assembly-line style putting the orders together.
I went with the Burrito Guadalajara ($12.49) - which was shredded, slow-cooked pork, rice and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla. This was topped with Guajillo Sauce and served with a side of Mexican rice and refried beans. Together with a drink (you can refill as much as you want) and tax, this came to $17.04 and I think it was well worth it because the portions were substantial. The meat was tender and flavorful, and there was a good balance between the amount of meat and rice in the burrito. The Guajillo Sauce provided a flavorful and slightly spicy contrast to the burrito filling - though I always thought it was red and not green. The Mexican Rice on the side was overkill as far as rice went, but at least it’s authentic. Every meal I ever had in Central America consisted mainly of rice and beans.
By the afternoon, the park was starting to get very crowded but I used my fast pass to get on Hyper Space Mountain, followed by Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion. With my stomach still feeling a little queasy from Space Mountain, the thought of facing an early dinner (4.40 pm) wasn’t a happy one, but that was the only time I could get a reservation for the Paint the Night Dinner Package at the Blue Bayou. As it turned out, the parade started MUCH later than the 7 PM time I was given, and I wasn’t able to stay for it - so I ordered off the normal menu instead.
The interior of the Blue Bayou is very dim - primarily lantern lit. The idea is that you’re sitting on banks of a bayou at twilight with moss laden trees & colonial houses adding to the ambience. There’s boats passing by all the time because it’s part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
My waiter was extremely friendly and there was nothing ‘southern and slow” about the service. There was also very little on the menu that said “Louisiana cooking” to me except for the Seafood Jambalaya ($35) - so I went with that. It came with a starter of New Orleans Gumbo which was smothered under a layer of rice. I told the waiter that I had never had gumbo anywhere in the South that had a thick layer of rice on it - and he agreed. However, underneath the rice, the gumbo was flavorful and thick.
The Jambalaya was so-so - especially for the price. The rice was not fluffy and the grains glommed together instead of holding their individual character. Plopped on top of the rice (not stirred in) was a decently spiced tomato-based sauce and the various toppings. The best of these was the andouille sausage which had a spicy, robust flavor. The worst was the mahi mahi - which had a fishy taste and did not work at all with the sausage. There were also large shrimp (at the edge of being undercooked), chicken pieces and small bits of ham, but the overwhelming taste came from the mahi mahi and sausage and it just wasn’t a very successful mix. I loved the bottomless Traditional Mint Julep ($4.00) and had way too much of it - no wonder, after a day of tromping in the sun. I sure paid for that with massive heartburn and a queasy feeling for hours after the meal.
Day 2. Monday. California Adventure Park
With less than 6 hours of sleep, I groggily left for the park and got there a half an hour after the opening. Along with most of the attendees, I headed straight to Cars Land and blundered around a bit before I found the fast pass machines for Radiator Springs Racers (they are in front of the Bugs Land). On a side note, get those fast passes early in the day because they were all gone by 2 o’clock. After taking a spin on Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, I headed to Flo’s V8 Café for breakfast.
I love the theme decor of this restaurant – ALL the theming in Cars Land is outstanding - and I could’ve listen to the Motown/R&B soundtrack all day. I ordered the American Breakfast ($8.49) along with a chocolate milkshake ($4.69). Don’t judge - milk is a wholesome breakfast food!
This was the worst meal I had and my advise would be to try elsewhere. The eggs were shaped like foam chips, had a texture like foam chips and managed to have almost no taste at all. The Breakfast Potatoes felt like they had been coated in a sort of plastic and didn’t have much of a flavour either. The bacon was OK and the biscuit might have been OK if they had offered a pat of butter or some jam with it. As it was, I could barely choke the bread down. Good thing I ordered that milkshake! It came out of an “ice cream” type machine - just like at McDonald’s - and it was similar to an McDonald’s chocolate shake.
There are so many interesting looking restaurants in California Adventure and I would love to have tried them all, however, by lunch time I found myself at the Pacific Wharf gasping for a drink. A margarita from Rita’s Baja Blenders sounded perfect and I ordered the strawberry flavoured one ($8.25).
Another disappointment. This is basically a red coloured slushy mix with a minuscule amount of alcohol. It tasted exactly like the cheaper margarita blends you get in bulk stores- the ones with the slightly metallic tinge and the obvious food colouring. I don’t think this margarita had met a strawberry in its life. Apparently there is alcohol in the drink, but don’t worry, it won’t have any effect whatsoever on you.
Right across from Rita’s is the Pacific Wharf Café. There was quite the queue to get in, but I didn’t feel like having Mexican again (Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill) and the menu at the Lucky Fortune Cookery was uninspiring.
I decided to go healthy and ordered the Chicken, Apple, & Walnut Salad ($10.99), which to my surprise was served in a lettuce lined Sourdough Bread Bowl. I had thought only the soup got served in that. Visually, this is not an appealing dish - looking like a pile of pale, white chunks of chicken, however it tasted better than it looked. The poached chicken is mixed with mayonnaise, and there’s a nice interplay between the crunch of the nuts, celery, apple, and walnut and the chicken. The menu says there is a honey lemon dressing but I couldn’t taste much honey or lemon in the mayonnaise. The craisin garnish was a nice touch, and I wouldn’t have minded a few more of those. The sourdough bread is great - chewy and sour - exactly how it should be. The little birds kept landing on the table wanting crumbs and the baby ducks were fighting over the crumbs of sourdough. Very cute.
Passing by the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, I had to take a look at the menu.
Lots of mouthwatering items on it but the one I couldn’t resist trying was the Sea Salt Caramel Banana Shake (small: $7.25).
I’m a milkshake aficionado and have to say that Ghirardelli’s is the real deal. It’s made fresh in a blender (unlike the one at Flo’s) with real ice cream and the taste and texture were fantastic. From the banana to the caramel, everything was perfectly balanced and delicious.
I had a World of Color Dining Package at Ariel’s Grotto and was hoping, that this might be the place for my knockout Disney meal. The bright colored exterior is gaudy but fun and the interior is tastefully done with the Ariel mural and the underwater décor.
Service was fast and efficient, with a large portion of sourdough bread appearing on the table immediately. The Ultimate Long Island Ice Tea was one of the better versions of this drink that I’ve had, so things are off to a promising start. The World of Color Dining Package is a three-course fixed menu ($45.00) and the menu has changed completely from when it first offered. Apparently this new menu had just come into effect a couple of days ago and the chef was still fine-tuning it. Whatever he did, it worked for me.
I started with a salad which included pistachios, strawberries, manchego cheese and a dressing of Riesling vinaigrette. The ingredients worked extremely well together, and my only quibble is that I didn’t taste much of the dressing.
I went with the most popular main course - the Tri-tip and lobster. I’m always a little nervous when ordering lobster outside of New England area because I’ve had so many badly prepared ones. I have to give Ariel’s Grotto credit, however, because even though this is a busy restaurant, where 100s of dinners are churned out every night, the lobster was cooked to perfection. Tender, succulent, sweet and with an optional order of drawn butter on the side. The beef slices were thin, but they weren’t overdone. The sides were fantastic - especially the mashed potatoes. They didn’t taste like they came from a mix and I wish I had asked for the recipe because I have no idea what made the flavor so good. The asparagus had exactly the right amount of crunch to it – not too raw and not overcooked.
The high standard was maintained for the dessert trio - crème brûlée, s’mores tart, and chocolate covered strawberry. Crème brûlée is a standard dessert in Disney World and on all the cruise ships, but it’s still one of my favourites - especially when it’s as well-prepared as this one was. The S’mores tart had a shell that tasted like graham crackers, a filling of chocolate ganache and a marshmallow cream topping. It’s a great idea and worked extremely well. All in all, this was the best meal in two days at Disneyworld and reasonably priced I felt, considering it included a ringside spot for the show.
Before leaving the park, I stopped by Trolley Treats for some souvenir caramel candy apples to take home on the plane - the ones coated with nuts, the Mickey-themed ones with chocolate and an Olaf cake-pop. The ones with the caramel and nuts were outstanding, whereas, for me, the caramel covered in chocolate doesn’t work quite as well.
