Backlot Express at Hollywood Studios

I ate at Backlot Express at Hollywood Studios. I have distinct memories of eating here as a kid, way back in the MGM Studios days of the park. I remember tuna salad sandwiches on hot dog buns. I'm sure menus have changed and that hasn't been an option for a really long time. On this visit, I had  the Teriyaki Chicken Bowl. The menu describes it as Seasoned Jasmine Rice, Teriyaki Chicken, Yuzu-pickled Edamame, Carrots, Cucumber, and Onions drizzled with House-made Lemon-Tahini-Chipotle Vinaigrette and Sesame Seeds. It was pretty good. Proportion wise, I would have preferred a little more of the toppings to go with the rice, but otherwise everything was tasty.
 

Tangierine Cafe at Epcot

I ate at Tangierine Cafe at Epcot in the Morocco Pavilion. It's been several years since I've been here, and the menu has changed. I remember lots of pitas filled with various items, specifically falafel. On today's visit, I learned that now they have kababs. I tried the Grilled Chermoula Chicken Kebab with Carrot-Chickpea Salad and Garlic Aïoli. Pretty tasty, but the portion was very small. Seemed like a Epcot festival size menu item rather than something in a restaurant. Would have preferred a falafel pita.
 

Magic Kingdom Food (Casey's Corner and Sunshine Tree Terrace)

It's been a while since I've had food at the Magic Kingdom. Since the last post on this blog was about Disneyland, why not write about the similar castle park in Florida.

Casey's Corner:

I've lived in Orlando most of my life and have been to the Magic Kingdom countless times, but somehow I had never been to Casey's Corner on Main Street. I've heard the restaurant hyped up quite often, so on my last visit to Magic Kingdom I finally had lunch there. I ordered the Chipotle Barbecue All-Beef Foot-long Hot Dog. It was a hot dog topped with pulled pork, coleslaw, and barbeque sauce. Good for Disney serving more than plain hot dogs. Toppings always make them more interesting.  This was fine. Not anything great that I'd go back for again though. As I write this, I'm realizing that this had very similar ingredients to the Ronto Wrap at Galaxy's Edge. Slightly different forms of the ingredients, but it was essentially the same thing.

Sunshine Tree Terrace:

I had the I Lava You Float. Orange Dole Whip topped with strawberry Fanta, passionfruit syrup, and Pop Rocks. This was a good dessert.

4R Cantina Food Truck at Disney Springs

4R Cantina Food Truck recently opened at Disney Springs. Similar to the other 4 Rivers locations, smoked meats were served here but with a Mexican twist. They had standard items including tacos, quesadillas, and nachos, but the one item everyone was talking about was the taco cone.

I had the Brisket Barbacoa Taco Cone. The cone was made from a deep fried tortilla spiraled into a cone shape. This was filled with shredded brisket, lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo, queso, cilantro, jalapeno, and lime. It was all very tasty and the cone shape made it mobile with the food truck's lack of seating. My complaint about the whole thing was the shape of cone and getting to the bottom. There was plenty of good stuff like guacamole and sour cream at the top, but it was hard to mix up those ingredients to the bottom since the cone got narrower and narrower. Regardless, I very much enjoyed my taco cone!

Planet Hollywood Observatory in Disney Springs

This was my first visit to this restaurant since they renovated from regular Planet Hollywood to Planet Hollywood Observatory. When Downtown Disney rebranded themselves as Disney Springs, I guess a giant globe filled with movie props didn't fit into the story of a small town built around a spring water bottling plant that Disney came up with. Instead, the globe was painted grey and it is now an observatory to view stars. In doing so, they ripped out all of the movie props that made the old version of the restaurant interesting and replaced the majority of them with video screens projected on the walls. Guy Fieri was brought in to provide the restaurant's new menu, but celebrity chef fame doesn't do much when the menu ended up as boring as it was. Looking over the menu, very little spoke to me and everything was generic and overpriced.

I ended up ordering the Championship Pulled Pork Sandwich. This had pulled pork, barbecue sauce, coleslaw, pickles, and onion straws. I know I was sort of dissing Planet Hollywood's menu, but this sandwich was okay. The pork was tender, and they kept it interesting by adding more than just meat and sauce on the sandwich. Fries and a pickle were served on the side.

My pulled pork sandwich was good enough, but I don't think I'll be rushing back to the Planet Hollywood Observatory soon. I might as well go to an Applebee's for an equivalent generic chain restaurant menu for half the price...

Leaning Palms at Typhoon Lagoon

I visited Typhoon Lagoon at Disney recently. In terms of Orlando water parks, Typhoon Lagoon is the park that I've been to the least. I believe this was the second time I've been there and it has been years since my last visit. Being that it was so long, I was surprisingly pleased with the quality of the oldest water park in Orlando.

While there, I had dinner at a restaurant called Leaning Palms. The menu was typical water park food, mostly consisting of burgers, hot dogs, etc. I ordered the one thing which seemed unique.

The Mojo Chicken was shredded chicken, served with rice, black beans, and plantains. The chicken appeared plain, but was really flavorful. The black beans had sausage mixed in, and the rice and plantains were as expected. I was pleased with my meal.

Food inside of Disney theme parks has been disappointing to me on my more recent visits to the parks. I'm glad this Mojo Chicken changed the trend!

Sassagoula Floatworks & Food Factory in Disney's Port Orleans

I ventured over to Disney's Port Orleans hotel for dinner on a recent evening. After wandering around the property looking at the different food options, I ended up at Sassagoula Floatworks & Food Factory in the French Quarter section of the hotel. The restaurant was set up food court style, with several different counters serving various menu options.

I tried the Jambalaya. It was served in a large bowl topped with a square of cornbread. As far as taste goes, the jambalaya was good, but it also sort of lacked something. It consisted of chicken, sausage, and rice, and that was about it. I'm used to seeing a little more in jambalaya too. Usually there's vegetables in there as well. Celery, green peppers, and onions seem pretty standard in the dish, but there was no trace of them here.

Someone else ordered the Shrimp and Grits. Definitely the better option. The large portion consisted of a large serving of grits topped with a freshly made serving of shrimp, various vegetables, and sauce. Sundried tomatoes aren't normally in here, but they were added upon request. It was really tasty and definitely outshined the relatively boring jambalaya.

Beignets were also ordered for dessert. Doughnuts topped with powdered sugar are always good, and these were better than other theme park beignets I've come across which are basically square funnel cakes. These were light and fluffy and had the proper beignet consistency.

Although my jambalaya was a little subpar, everything else I tried at Sassagoula Floatworks was good. I'd go back!

D-Luxe Burger in Disney Springs

D-Luxe Burger is one of the restaurants which recently opened in the new Town Center section of Disney Springs. The restaurant's theming was seemed to be modeled off a Florida cattle ranch, located alongside the new spring that has suddenly started to bubble up in what used to be a Downtown Disney parking lot.

The menu reminded me of a Shake Shack or a BurgerFi in both format and choices. I ordered the El Diablo Burger. The menu described this as a chorizo-and-signature blend patty, fried banana peppers, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and chipotle mayonnaise. A small box of fries was also ordered.

The chorizo did add a bit more flavor that isn't generally found in a plain beef burger. The meat itself didn't provide much spice, nor did the fried peppers, but the chipotle mayonnaise did have a nice kick. The main issue I had was with the burgers being served vertically. Gravity pulled all of the sauce down. This resulted in a sandwich where the top end was dry and bland. The bottom end had plenty of the tasty sauce, but was also really soggy with all the sauce pooling downwards.

Overall, the burger at D-Luxe was good enough. I wouldn't call myself a burger expert (I don't understand the gourmet burger trend that seems to be going on right now), but the burger here had more taste than just plain, bland ground beef and ketchup, so that's a good thing. They would have been better if the burgers were served flat though...

Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney, Lake Buena Vista, FL

I recently braved the massive construction at Downtown Disney as it is transformed into Disney Springs and ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. This is one of two Wolfgang Puck restaurants in Downtown Disney. This particular restaurant is located in the Marketplace section of Downtown Disney and is the lower priced of the two. Wolfgang Puck Express is a quick service restaurant and they seem to specialize in pizzas, pastas, and sandwiches. According to their menu, the ingredients used are organic and locally sourced.

There were three of us who ate here on this particular visit. We each ordered a different pizza and traded slices to compare. I ordered the Fennel Sausage Pizza. This consisted of crumbled sausage, pesto, roasted sweet peppers, and mozzarella. The pie was tasty, although the crust seemed to get very soggy underneath wherever the sausage was. The slices seemed to loose some of their structural integrity because of this.

Barbecued Chicken Pizza was another pie that was tried at our table. This was topped with chicken, grilled red onions, cilantro, roasted tomatoes, and barbeque sauce. I can't exactly pinpoint what it is, but variations of barbecue pizzas don't do much for me. This wasn't necessarily a bad pie, but I wouldn't order it on my own. Perhaps it the unexpected (even when it is expected) barbecue sauce rather than a more standard tomato sauce that catches me off guard.

Finally, I also tried the Four Cheese Pesto Pizza. This one was my personal favorite of the three pies. The four cheeses were mozzarella, goat cheese, parmesan, and fontina. It was topped with pesto, fresh tomatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes. Goat cheese should be put on pizza more often because it is delicious!

Overall, I enjoyed the pizza at Wolfgang Puck Express. I know there's a celebrity chef name attached to the restaurant, but this is still essentially food in a theme park's outdoor shopping mall. With that in mind, Wolfgang Puck Express sets a pretty high bar when it comes to pizza catering to the theme park demographic. The prices are relatively affordable as well. I'd return.

Captain Cook's Snack Company in Disney's Polynesian Resort

I visited with some relatives at the Polynesian Resort at Disney. While there, I decided to get a quick lunch from the hotel's main snack bar called Captain Cook's Snack Company. This quick-service restaurant mostly served sandwiches, salads, and flatbread pizzas alongside convenience store type items.

I ordered the Hawaiian Flatbread and a Dole Whip. The flatbread consisted of a rectangular pizza topped with tomato sauce, cheese, pineapple, ham, and red onions. The flatbread was good sized, slightly larger than I was expecting it to be with the corners hanging off the plate. It was tasty enough, especially since it was from a hotel snack bar. The pineapple didn't make everything else soggy on the pizza which is always a good thing on a Hawaiian pizza. My biggest complaint here was with the rectangular crust not being utilized. The corners of the flatbread were completely free of sauce, cheese, or any other toppings. Otherwise this was a good flatbread.

As for the Dole Whip, I don't quite understand those things. It's nothing more than pineapple flavored soft-serve ice cream. I've seen far too many Disney-centric food websites rave about the amazing qualities of Dole Whips. It's tasty ice cream, but nothing worth seeking out. If you do have a burning desire to seek out a Dole Whip though, at least get it inside the Magic Kingdom where you can get the Dole Whip Floats...

Monorail Bar Crawl

So there's this thing that happens just outside Magic Kingdom. It's something that Disney probably doesn't like to admit happens as not to tarnish their perfect family friendly image. This something is known as the Monorail Bar Crawl. Unlike drinking around the world at Epcot, which everyone knows happens, the Monorail Bar Crawl seems a bit less known. It basically involves parking at one of the Magic Kingdom hotels, drinking alcohol at a bar in the initial hotel, then riding the monorail to the next hotel and repeating the process. Although I really don't drink much, I do enjoy wandering around Disney hotels and monorails are one of my favorite forms of mass transit, so I've gone along as designated driver with people doing the Monorail Bar Crawl. The remainder of this post consists of alcoholic beverages that I didn't drink and food that I did eat...

We started at the Polynesian Resort. Once parked, we made our way to the Tambu Lounge, located next to the very popular Ohana. The drink of choice here was the Lapu Lapu. It was a stereotypical tropical drink served in a hollowed out pineapple, complete with paper umbrella.

After Tambu Lounge, we headed to the monorail station and took the ride to the Grand Floridian. The destination here was called Mizner's Lounge. Located right off the huge atrium that makes up the hotel's lobby, the big thrill here was the free bowls of nuts that were brought to every table.

The drink of choice at Mizner's Lounge was the Glowtini. It was basically a martini with an added LED 'icecube.' This allowed you to drink your alcohol in any color you'd like by sticking your fingers in the martini and pressing the button on the cube.

Once the light up martinis were finished at the Grand Floridian, we boarded the monorail once again and rode past the Magic Kingdom and into the Contemporary Resort. Here, we headed to the elevator that goes specifically up to the roof of the hotel to the California Grill. The California Grill normally requires reservations to eat at, but if you go to the desk downstairs and tell them you're going to the bar, they send you right up. Time it right and you'll be up on the roof of the hotel for the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Seeing them from above is my personal favorite way to watch Wishes. Here, the drink of choice is apparently called the Ray-Ray.

As a food blogger, I had to get some food at California Grill. While the majority of the menu at California Grill is rather pricy, their flatbread pizzas are relatively affordable and are enough food for a meal. We ordered a Heirloom Tomato BLT Flatbread and were served the wrong one. Topped with beef, mushrooms, and greens, the heirloom tomatoes were nowhere to be found.

They quickly corrected the mistake and brought out the Heirloom Tomato BLT. This thin flatbread was topped with marinated tomatoes, applewood smoked bacon, chiffonade romaine, and lemon mayonnaise. Getting a pizza topped with a range of colors from the typical to deep purple or yellow is very different. And very tasty.

And that's my experience being a designated driver during a Monorail Bar Crawl. Watching people drink, eating flatbread pizzas at fancy restaurants, and riding monorails. I'd gladly do it again!

Seashore Sweets' in Disney's Boardwalk Hotel

Yesterday was National Peanut Butter Cookie Day. I couldn't find how or why June 12 was assigned to peanut butter cookies, or why it is only national rather than international, but the holiday is a good reason to eat a cookie. I happened to be at Disney's Boardwalk Hotel and decided to find a peanut butter cookie to celebrate.

We tried the Boardwalk Bakery first. They had a nice cookie selection, but peanut butter was nowhere to be found. Not that easily defeated, we moved a few stores down to Seashore Sweets'. On the top shelf of their pastry case, they had a giant Mickey Mouse shaped peanut butter cookie. It was horribly expensive for a cookie at $5.49, but this was in a Disney hotel and it was a cookie holiday, so the cookie was purchased.

The cookie was huge, but it was also a bit disappointing. It was horribly dry in the part not covered in chocolate. The person who I shared it with described the cookie as being similar to eating a dog biscuit. Not sure how many dog biscuits she has eaten to know this, but I was expecting better from a Disney bakery. Our local supermarket chain has better peanut butter cookies.

Regardless of this cookie being really dry, it still served served the purpose of celebrating National Peanut Butter Cookie Day. I highly doubt I'd get one of these cookies again, but I hope the rest of the baked goods from Seashore Sweets' are better...

Food Quest in Downtown Disney

DisneyQuest is a virtual theme park in Downtown Disney. Back when they opened, Disney had big plans to expand this concept to cities all around the world. After one more failed attempt in Chicago, this is the one and only DisneyQuest.

The last time I was at DisneyQuest, they had a fast food version of the Cheesecake Factory that took up multiple counters, each serving a different foods. On this visit, the Cheesecake Factory was gone and was replaced with a Disney run snack bar. They only had one counter and the menu was pretty limited with stereotypical theme park food.

I wasn't feeling burgers or personal pizzas, so I went with the Chicken Caesar Wrap with fries. I've had similar wraps before elsewhere at Disney (Blizzard Beach). The wrap here was okay, but it definitely wasn't Epcot food. The chicken didn't have much flavor, but I suppose that's what the caesar dressing was for. Overall the food was pretty average. Disney can do better than the food served at Food Quest...

Some of the desserts, which I unfortunately didn't try, did look good though...

 

This doesn't have to do with the food, but I got a weird vibe from almost everyone working at DisneyQuest. Rather than the overly happy, stereotypical Disney Cast Member, most of the employees here were giving off the vibe that they hated their jobs. They seemed way more like Wal-Mart employees than Disney employees. Here's a food related example: It was taking a while to get the food. When ours was finally ready, there was someone else asking what happened to his order. The employee behind the counter looked at his receipt and responded with 'We must have lost your food.' He then walked away and went to take someone else's order instead of helping the complaining park guest. Very atypical of what I've seen at Disney in the past...

Cafe D'Antonio in Celebration, FL

It seems like I always end up at Celebration around the holidays. Perhaps the fake snow is a draw. Maybe it is the over the top Christmas lights synchronized to music. Whatever causes the magnetism to Disney's planned community at this time of year, food is generally involved in Celebration's downtown. This year's visit to Celebration happened on Christmas Eve and dinner was had at Cafe D'Antonio.

Celebration was packed and Cafe D'Antonio was booked solid all night. That is, except for at the bar. I've neglected to try any of the Antonio restaurants in the area until now, so we took those bar seats for our Christmas Eve Italian food. The meal started with a crusty bread dipped in olive oil, and the main course was served fairly quickly. I tried the Pappardelle al Salmone con Piselli e Mascarpone. This consisted of a bowl of wide noodles with salmon and peas in a brandy and mascarpone cheese. Wide noodles, salmon, and mascarpone was a different combination but it was very tasty.

I also split a Prosciutto Pizza with someone. The 14" pizza was topped with a thin slices of prosciutto with red onions. The pizza had a nice, thin crust with a good sauce/cheese ratio. This was a very respectable pizza in the land of theme parks.

Overall, I enjoyed my food at Cafe D'Antonio. The food was good and the menu was a bit more creative than the typical spaghetti & meatballs Italian restaurant. After the meal, the entire Celebration Christmas experience was had with getting covered in soap, watching people attempt to skate on teflon, and finding the obsessive home light shows. Relive with me in this video:

AMC Dine-In Theatres in Downtown Disney

I was invited to the media event for the opening of the new AMC Dine-In Theatres in Downtown Disney. AMC offered us bloggers and other media type people to come try their food and watch TRON Legacy for the complete dine-in theater experience.

The theater itself had extra wide rocking seats. There was a counter for the food in every row, although I personally thought it was too far away from the seat. I wasn't able to comfortably reach my food without sitting on the very edge of my seat which was especially distracting when the movie started. One cool little feature on each counter was the call button to summon your server for drink refills or whatever.

For food, we started out with two appetizers. The first appetizer was the Parmesan Fries. These were standard French fries with grated cheese on top.

Wings & Things Sampler: Came with buffalo wings, potato chips, onion rings, and mozzarella sticks.

Smoked Salmon BLT: For some reason I was really hoping for lox on here, but it was the more traditional type of smoked salmon on the sandwich. Big slab of fish on a bun with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a garlic basil sauce. More potato chips came served on the side.

Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizzetta: Pizza made with buffalo wing sauce rather than the more traditional tomato. Was topped with blue cheese and chicken.

AMC had tables set up in the lobby with many of their menu offerings on display. Here's a few of the foods I didn't get a chance to try:

Overall, I liked my food at the AMC Dine-In Theatres. The prices were good too, with some of the sandwiches being equivalent to what a large popcorn costs at other theaters. The Downtown Disney AMC was already one of my favorite theaters in Orlando, so now food makes them even better!