Walt Disney World

We have been on vacation to Walt Disney World for the past week so blogging has been pretty quiet lately.  Do I dare say…yes, we've been eating our way through Disney World!  I bought the book The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2012 which we've been reading daily to plan our attack.  I mainly read all the stuff about where to eat and all the guides on Dining In and Around Walt Disney World which is actually a whole section of the book (Part Ten).  Plus, there is also tear-out pages in the back which lists all the places to eat at each park which you can incorporate into your touring plans.  I love traveling and exploring new eating establishments.  It's my favorite part of the vacation, as warped as that sounds.  But is pays off because we've eaten at some awesome places.  Like tonight for example, we ate at Epcot for our second time and chose the French place Les Chefs de France.

The aroma of buttery croissants fills the air, how can one resist!

We ate lunch on our first day at Epcot at Boulangerie Patisserie, a tucked-away spot in the French area, which is just a counter service bakery but excellent! 

I had a turkey and brie sandwich on French bread (of course) and a delicious pastry for dessert. So, we decided to save a dinner meal for a finer French restaurant when we returned in a couple days and it was worth the wait!  Les Chefs de France dishes are inspired by three of France's greatest chefs, for whom this restaurant is named, Paul Bocuse, the late Gaston Lenotre, and Roger Verge.  Jerome Bocuse, the son of Paul Bocuse, runs the restaurant, and his father still visits from time to time.  Executive chef Bruno Vrignon, who trained in Lyon with Bocuse, heads up the kitchen team, and the French servers make it an immersion experience.

The dessert chefs waiting for the next dessert order.

Bruce and I both chose the 3-course meal which included soup, entree and dessert. 

Bruce had Lobster Bisque and I had, none other than, French Onion topped with Gruyere.

Our entrees were the roasted chicken

and the short ribs with mushrooms and onions.

Dessert was as French as they come, Creme Brulee 

and cream puffs.

I should mention we also had a visit from Reny, the rodent star of Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille, who stopped at our table briefly.  We thought they were bringing some cheese and fruit to munch on. Reny popped up, an animatronic version, which Disney is so good at. 

You never know what to expect from Disney! This was by far our best meal of the trip. (Despite a rat in our cheese/fruit plate) We've mostly been eating out at restaurants for just one meal since we eat cereal/toast for breakfast in the condo, then snacks that we bring in our bags during the day. Then we are really hungry for a good dinner. 

Last night we were at Disney's Hollywood Studios and we picked a place that I was intrigued with called 50's Prime Time Cafe. It was like eating your meal in your own kitchen, 1950's-style. 

There was pastel laminate, gooseneck lamps, and black-and-white televisions that play vintage sitcoms the whole time.

Remember "The Adventures of Spin and Marty"?  Wow!  And the original Mickey Mouse Club?  If you've never been to Disney's Hollywood Studios, it's like Hollywood in it's Golden Era so everything is a throw-back to the 40's and 50's.  It's so cool!  We loved it.

The 50's Prime Time Cafe had food from the 50's, too, like pot roast, meat loaf, fried chicken, etc.  The servers were very friendly and nagged you just like your 50's mom like telling you to"take your elbows off the table" and "finish every last bite".  Very funny.  

Get those elbows off the table!

We ordered their two most popular, Golden Fried Chicken and Pot Roast, very homey dishes that hit the spot after a busy day of touring!  I splurged and also got an Old Fashioned Root Beer Float.

It was a very good place to stop for dinner if you're at Disney's Hollywood Studios, I highly recommend it!

If you're at Disney's Magic Kingdom I recommend The Liberty Tree Tavern in Liberty Square.  I don't have pictures because we were too darn hungry and we just started digging in but it's family style, so the menu is the same for everyone.  They just start bringing out bowls of food one after the other to your table.  And it's EXCELLENT food.  It's a Colonial-period restaurant with low, exposed-beam ceilings, very cozy and warm.  They brought out a huge basket of rolls, enough for the two of us to have four each!  What?  There's only two of us!  The salad was enough for three helpings but it's really good with fresh, mixed greens, red onions, etc. with a delicious oil/vinegar dressing, then the food starts coming…sliced turkey, roast beef and smoked pork loin with apple relish, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes (with butter and cream, might I add), the most delicious gravy, squash, green beans, etc.  We told our server to bring only one dessert which was an apple cake (very moist) with ice cream, of course, which the two of us could hardly finish.  

Disney's Animal Kingdom doesn't have very interesting restaurants but we did eat at the Rainforest Cafe which was entertaining with all the animatronic jungle animals and we loved that park, too.  All the parks are different in their own way and all make for a true vacation.

Going hungry is one thing we are not experiencing on this trip.  Good thing we are walking it all off with the touring of all four Disney Parks here and a little swimming in-between.