Good Eats - WDW Style

One of the best parts about a trip to Walt Disney World is all the food! There is lots of food there. And when you spend a week there it gives you plenty of opportunity to try many different foods. The theme parks, resorts, and Downtown Disney entertainment district all offer a variety of unique counter service and full service restaurants. Let me tell ya about some of the yummy stuff I ate while we were visiting a few weeks ago!

In our opinion, Character Dining is the way to go in Disney World. You get gourmet food in a buffet style that allows you to get yourself and the kids fed quickly, plus you get to visit with some Disney characters who walk around the restaurant and stop at each table for pictures, autographs, and some personal one-on-one time with each family. We always visit the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom where you get to dine with Winnie the Pooh and his buddies. The food is wonderful with everything from fresh fish and a carving station to great salads like Moroccan couscous, Romaine blue cheese salad, and a black bean and mango salad. It's all really good. Probably my favorite thing on the menu is the Fire Roasted Corn Spoonbread. Wow! It's good! I forgot to take a picture of it because I was too busy shoving it in my mouth, but here's the recipe for it if you wanna try it yourself. If you make it, call me and I'll come over and test it out for ya!

In Epcot's World Showcase, each of the countries represented has at least one spot where you can sample native dishes. My favorite is Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada. I've eaten there on every visit to Disney since I discovered the place about 10 years ago. The restaurant is kind of fancy if you can look past the people in shorts and Donald Duck tank tops. The food there is outrageous starting with their Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup. Wow-we-wow-wow! My friends, that is some good soup! It's so good a few years ago I bought the cookbook with the recipe for it and gave it to my wife's grandmother so she could make the soup for me. (Her grandmother is an excellent cook!) Instead of buying the book, I could have just looked here for it, but oh well.

Le Cellier is also the home of one of the best burgers I have eaten...and I've eaten quite a few! They have a Grilled Angus Chuck Burger that comes topped with bleu cheese and is served on a fresh made muffin. It is a delight!


Pictured here is a drink Elias had at Le Cellier, it's a sour apple soda that glowed! Pretty cool! It cost something like 7 or 8 bucks, Elias took two sips of it and wanted apple juice. The drink had enough sugar in it to kill a horse!

Let me also say that for dessert, their Maple Creme Brulee is like inviting Tinker Bell to dance on your tongue for the evening. Fantastic!



Chef Mickey's in yet another favorite spot for us. Here you get to have your meal with the big cheese himself, Mickey, along with Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and Minnie all inside the Contemporary Resort. Mickey serves up breakfast and dinner and both are fantastic. The dinner is home to one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth, Parmesan Mashed Potatoes. But this year, we went for breakfast which features a mountain of good food. Joey, here on the left, is showing off his plate of goodies. They have a breakfast pizza which is awesome, and a peanut butter and jelly pizza which is also out of this world. They have three types of scrambled eggs, veggie lasagna, cheese blintz, Mickey waffles, bacon and sausage, and Joey's favorite: all you can eat Krispie Kreeme donuts!

One of the nicest places we ate at during our week in Walt Disney World was at the highly coveted Cinderella's Royal Table. This is a dining room on the second level of the Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle and is literally the hardest spot to book a table. Reservations can be made up to 180 days in advance and every morning when a new day opens up for reservations the reservation call center is slammed with calls first thing in the morning until the entire day's worth of seating is filled up...I'm told usually in about 20 minutes. Beyond that, you just have to keep checking back for a cancellation and I was lucky enough to have a reservation agent that spotted a cancellation while I was on the phone booking other meals.

The appeal of Cinderella's Royal Table in that not only do you get to meet Cinderella but you also get to dine with an assortment of other Disney Princesses. In our case it was Snow White, Jasmine, and Belle. Of course, Tanner had no idea what was going on and Elias didn't want to talk to any of the princesses because "he's a boy, not a princess!" Anywho, the menu is pretty fancy. Above you can see pictured my Entree Royal Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Cabernet sauce served on a bed of Mustard Cheese Grits and topped with crispy onions. Needless to say, it was a meal fit for a King!

Check out the dessert Cinderella's chefs cooked up for us. Warm blueberry Buckle with Lemon ice cream & finished with creme fraiche. I don't know what creme fraiche really is, but let's just say I'd put it on almost anything! Also pictured is the kids dessert, a scoop of ice cream with Mickey sprinkles and a chocolate crown. Elias ate his crown and the rest of us fought over Tanner's!

So, there's some of our eating adventures in the Happiest Place on Earth! I could probably go on for another two or three hours if you'd like me to! Just ask!