I recently took a trip to Disney with my wife and her family. There’s actually some pretty decent places to eat and good snacks to try if you know where to go. Below is a smattering of places and things we had along the way.
EPCOT
The first park we visited was Epcot. We hit a few rides in the futuristic area, and had some popcorn snacks:
But Epcot is known for its “world walk,” which showcases 11 countries and features aspects of their culture and cuisine. This is what we were most excited to do.
Mexico: We had a frozen avocado margarita at a tequila bar inside the pyramid that had tons of different tequilas, mezcals and sotols available. The drink didn’t taste much like avocado, but it was good nonetheless.
Norway: Here, we sampled some desserts and a shot of flavored aquavit from one of the shops. The buildings here are really cool.
The first dessert was a cinnamon roll-up sort of thing. Somewhat disappointing. The second was a troll horn, which was really good – similar to a cannoli but with a creamier filling. Only down side was that the filling didn’t go all the way down into the point of the horn.
The shot was good! It had hints of anise and cinnamon to take off the strong alcohol bite.
We also sampled a meatball that was covered in gravy and topped with cranberries. It was like a Thanksgiving Swedish meatball.
China: By now we were thirsty, so we grabbed a mango and green tea slushy. This was really great. The green tea cuts the sweetness so you aren’t running on a sugar high all day.
Germany: Germany offers good beer, tubed meat and pretzels. It is essentially a Bavarian Oktoberfest all year long here.
We tried the bratworst, paprika chips and some interesting shots – a honey whiskey and a corn flavored liquor. Both very good. The brat was nice and browned on the outside, not simply boiled. It had a good snap to it, and the meat was both sweet and savory.
The town here is full of cool stores for beer steins and mugs, as well as sweets like caramels.
Japan: This pavilion has some cool offerings, and awesome architecture.
We started with a shave ice, which was a bit too icy (not soft).
While there was no ramen, they did have a ramen shirt:
In one of the gift shops you could take a crack at finding pearls in oysters. We saw a few people score. But I wonder what they do with the oyster… I wanted to eat them.
Italy: We recharged a bit here with some espresso. One thing they do here is offer gelato with a shot of espresso floating on top!
We watched some crazy flag tossing show and took in the interesting sculpture and architecture.
Morocco: I would have liked to spend more time here. The architecture was very realistic and looked like a movie set. The food smelled delicious, and the gift shops were filled with cool shit. We had dinner coming up, so none of us wanted to spoil our appetites. Next time, I guess.
France: We had dinner reservations here, so we basically just walked around and took in some of the sights before eating at Monsieur Paul. Check the review if you want. Here is a photo dump of the other shit in the French pavilion:
We didn’t eat, drink or snack at the USA spot, and we basically just walked through the UK and Canada because we were heading to a fireworks show after dinner. Here are some shots of those areas:
UK:
Canada:
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
Our next day was at Hollywood Studios, formerly MGM. There’s a lot to do at this park, given Disney’s recent acquisition of the Star Wars franchise.
So we ended up having a snack before our main late afternoon meal at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe theme restaurant. They have turkey legs all over the place, and tons of snack and candy joints lining the roads. I didn’t eat much of that junk. The mediocre bites we had along the way were an appetizer sampler and buffalo chicken bites at the Sci Fi Snack Bar, a place that’s set up like an old 1950’s drive-in movie theater. You sit in cars and face a movie screen that plays old B- and C- quality sci-fi movies. Fun!
Our main meal was at 50’s Prime Time Cafe. This place is set up like the inside of a mid-century modern 1950’s or early 60’s home. Lots of round-screen tube television cabinets are playing clips of old shows from the era, and there are sea-foam green appliances and furniture, wood paneling, checkerboard floors, etc. I loved it.
Plus the food was pretty fucking great too. Everything is home-style cooking, like stuff that your grandma would cook for you. I ordered a smoked gouda stuffed pork chop. It was absolutely awesome. Juicy inside, crispy outside, good stuffing. I demolished it.
I also got to try the fried chicken. Same deal – crispy on the outside, juicy inside. A great thigh!
Their PB&J ice cream shake is incredible too. Not too heavy on the PB so that you get instantly full either, as the base is vanilla.
My wife had a great pork osso buco. While I liked my dish better, her dish was fall-apart tender and beautifully plated.
She also had a crazy soda concoction drink with a glowing ice cube, and they sang Happy Birthday to her and gave her a cupcake for dessert.
Check out the mixed plate, with chicken, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Not bad!
That night, we had some special desserts and snacks as we watched a fucking AWESOME Star Wars themed fireworks show. We came away with some funky Chewbacca steins, too.
The next day we relaxed. We took the day off to rest and regroup our aching feet, and that night we had a nice steak meal at the Yachtsman Steakhouse, which is located at the new(ish) Disney Yacht Club resort.
The following day we went to Universal Studios, which is Disney’s arch nemesis in Orlando. You can check out my commentary on that park’s eats and drinks HERE.
MAGIC KINGDOM
Our final Disney park visit was Magic Kingdom. This is where I finally broke down and grabbed a turkey leg. It was absolutely awesome. It was smoky, crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. It tasted like a good ham.
We picked the meat clean off the bone!!!
Nearby at Gaston’s, they used to sling a pork shank! I wanted so badly to walk around the park with a pig leg in my hand, but they no longer sell them. Instead we tried this slushy that was apple and cinnamon flavored, called LeFou’s Brew. Really delicious:
Dole Whip is also a must at Disney. It’s a soft serve pineapple ice cream thing, the same stuff we had in Hawaii. My wife got a “float” version, which has pineapple juice at the bottom of the cup.
Later on, we had a buffet dinner at Crystal Palace.
For $42 it is all-you-can-eat, and they even have some decent meat carving stations with roasted sirloin and turkey. The star, for me, was the achiote pork. I found a big chunk that was super moist in the middle. Yum.
They also had some good dessert here, in particular the small cube cakes. Key lime pie, cheesecake with Oreo crust, and a berry pie that had the same consistency as the key lime pie but with sweeter fruit and berry flavors. All great. Even the basic sugar cookie was pretty good. The ice cream, on the other hand, was too icy for soft serve.
Despite the pretty good desserts, I think the best part of this meal was that achiote pork, as I mentioned above. Either that, or getting a love-attack by Tigger!
We took pics with all four Pooh characters as they wandered around the restaurant: Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger. I won’t bore you with those. I will say that the people who wear the costumes must be very patient to deal with screaming kids every day.
All-in this was a pretty great food trip. We also had some good stuff (and bad) at Universal as well on the same trip, so check that out too.
