Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. We sold our loft in Chicago,
Speaker 1: moved into an RV, and now we're talking the country
Speaker 1: full time with our dog Finn, exploring America's national parks.
Speaker 1: And today we're really excited to bring to you our
Speaker 1: first episode of Traveling Eats with Matt. Yes, I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: So this is a little kind of mini bonus episode
Speaker 1: series inspired by you know, how obsessed and interested I
Speaker 1: am in restaurants and food. That's how I started as
Speaker 1: a professional writer, mostly with a food focus. So this
Speaker 1: has been something I've been at least interested in for
Speaker 1: a long time since I was in culinary school in Chicago.
Speaker 1: So it's an important piece for when we're traveling and
Speaker 1: wherever we are, for in a city, a town, around
Speaker 1: a national park. I always put a lot of effort
Speaker 1: into researching great local restaurants or check out bars, whether
Speaker 1: it's from a historical perspe active or just like getting
Speaker 1: a local taste of that culture of that region. So
Speaker 1: and I love reaping the benefits of this. Yeah, totally. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I can't think of a better topic to start
Speaker 1: with than Disney World, because not only do we talk
Speaker 1: about Disney World a ton and reference it on the podcast,
Speaker 1: but you and I are fresh off just about three
Speaker 1: months of staying right near Disney and spending a lot
Speaker 1: of time there. So we were there for the duration
Speaker 1: of Epcot Food and Wine. You were working at it,
Speaker 1: and that was from August through November. Good chunk of time.
Speaker 1: But we arrived before ours. Right now, we were there
Speaker 1: for like a hundred days. Yes, we're like a third
Speaker 1: of year, almost a yeah, fourth of year, over a
Speaker 1: fourth of a year, right, which is I mean, I
Speaker 1: can't think of a better place to spend that much
Speaker 1: time than Disney World. So at this point I have
Speaker 1: especially eaten my way around all the parks and beyond. Yes,
Speaker 1: I can definitely speak to it, and I want to
Speaker 1: start by clarifying that this is not about Orlando. Orlando
Speaker 1: and Disney World are they get lumped in together there
Speaker 1: frequently kind of synonymous, but they are totally different places.
Speaker 1: They're eight twenty miles apart. It's a thirty dollar lift
Speaker 1: ride to get from one to the other. I can
Speaker 1: attest to that because you've done it multiple times a week,
Speaker 1: because you wanted to try the differences between Disney World
Speaker 1: and Orlando and just experience the whole culture, and they're
Speaker 1: so different. In Orlando's dining seems incredible, So I don't
Speaker 1: want to blur them all together here. That's actually deserved
Speaker 1: to have itsone episode later. But this is all about
Speaker 1: Disney World, which contrary to what a lot of people
Speaker 1: might think, it's not all Mickey shaped pretzels and tiros
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. There are plenty of those, and
Speaker 1: they're delicious, but Disney World has so much to offer,
Speaker 1: and I was delighted by our experience here and the
Speaker 1: different restaurants and kind of food stall at the parks,
Speaker 1: and then Disney Springs and even some of the hotels
Speaker 1: have great dining options as well, which are all destination worthy.
Speaker 1: So I think it makes the most sense to divvy
Speaker 1: this little episode into the different parks, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot,
Speaker 1: Hollywood Studios, because that's obviously where we spent the bulk
Speaker 1: of our time, and then also adding in Disney Springs.
Speaker 1: We can't Yeah, that was a huge, pleasant surprise, obsessed
Speaker 1: to that place. But I want to talk about the
Speaker 1: best food options and highlights at each park, starting with
Speaker 1: the main the most iconic one Magic Kingdom, and I'm
Speaker 1: starting with that because it's my least favorite for food,
Speaker 1: so it's only going to go up for here Magic Kingdom.
Speaker 1: I have some issues. I love it, it's the most nostalgia.
Speaker 1: It's probably my favorite park for like rides in nostalgia.
Speaker 1: But the food it's just not nearly as kind of
Speaker 1: amazing as the other three. It's it seems a little
Speaker 1: dated or a lot dated. And the lack of bars
Speaker 1: is an issue. Right. They make it drink everywhere so
Speaker 1: difficult anywhere. They make it really hard, and unlike the
Speaker 1: other three parks, which like have alcohol everywhere like coffee
Speaker 1: shops have it and magicing, that makes it really like
Speaker 1: annoyingly difficult, which is aggravating because it's the most crowded
Speaker 1: and if I'm going to be like, you know, bouncing
Speaker 1: my way through a sea of strollers and waiting in
Speaker 1: line for two hours, like the least they could do
Speaker 1: is not make it impossible to get a beer exactly.
Speaker 1: But no, and not only that, but they have places
Speaker 1: with names that sound like bars, like guest On Tavern
Speaker 1: and the Enchanted Tiki Room that's sound like bars, but
Speaker 1: they're not so it's misleading. Um, So with that out
Speaker 1: of the way, way too much right now, right, there
Speaker 1: are some gems here. I think the best full service
Speaker 1: restaurant is Skipper's Canteen. The full name is Jungle Navigation
Speaker 1: Company Skipper's Canteen. It's the restaurant or by and inspired
Speaker 1: by the Jungle Cruise ride, which is great. We did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we had to wait for like an hour for a
Speaker 1: lunch seating, but it was worth it. The food is
Speaker 1: really good, and the full service restaurants at Magic Kingdom
Speaker 1: are also the only places where you can get alcohol,
Speaker 1: so keep that in mind. But this place was one
Speaker 1: to reply that had. It had a really fun, like
Speaker 1: jungle track vibe. The people who worked there were really
Speaker 1: into it, like NonStop jokes and like quirky jungle references
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. A lot of fun. And then
Speaker 1: the food is really adventurous, like you're like on a
Speaker 1: you know, jungle journey, with pretty eclectic dishes like corn
Speaker 1: pancakes with beer braised pork and pepper salsa and avocado cream.
Speaker 1: Loved they were kind of like open face sliders with
Speaker 1: corn pancakes. So good, absolutely delicious. Right, and then we
Speaker 1: had Brazilian cheese bread ye favorite, and then shrimp dumplings
Speaker 1: as well. I think there are pork and shrimp dumplings
Speaker 1: um So we had like an array of snacks and
Speaker 1: some line and it was really yummy. So I would
Speaker 1: recommend that make reservations for that one if you can,
Speaker 1: because it is popular. And then the other kind of
Speaker 1: main iconic dining destination and magic kingdom is b our Guest,
Speaker 1: which is the Beating the Beast restaurant. It's inside the
Speaker 1: Beating the Beast Castle in Fantasyland, and that was very
Speaker 1: hard to get into. It took me like two months
Speaker 1: to get a reservation for just me. And even when
Speaker 1: you have a reservation, you're waiting in line, like meandering
Speaker 1: through the castle making your order, finding a seat. And
Speaker 1: I think most of the charm here, for all the
Speaker 1: charm is the like just the ambiance because it's very
Speaker 1: theatrical and regal. Obviously you're in a castle in the
Speaker 1: dining rooms are gorgeous, so are Nate. There are three
Speaker 1: different dining spaces you can dine in, like the the
Speaker 1: like kind of West Wing or whatever. We're Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like dark and ominous with the rose and then there's
Speaker 1: like the ballroom and then there's the like main dining
Speaker 1: room where a bell gets serenaded in the movie, and
Speaker 1: I sat in the ballroom, which I thought was the
Speaker 1: prettiest and most lavish. The food is like French Ish.
Speaker 1: It's like French American because the movie takes place in France,
Speaker 1: even though no one speaks French in the movie. My
Speaker 1: favorite part though, was they have this cupcake basically it's
Speaker 1: like a chocolate cupcake and they call it the gray Stuff,
Speaker 1: like from the movie. Lumier's like, try the gray Stuff.
Speaker 1: It's delicious, and it's basically just like a gray colored
Speaker 1: butter cream frosting, which doesn't look great, like it's gray.
Speaker 1: It's not an appealing flavor or a thing you want
Speaker 1: to eat, but it was great. It was my favorite
Speaker 1: part of the meal for sure, the Gray Stuff. It
Speaker 1: was delicious. And the other thing that I think I
Speaker 1: really enjoyed eating at Magic Kingdom was there they have
Speaker 1: this like spring roll stall, which when I was there
Speaker 1: was stationed kind of permanently right by the entrance to
Speaker 1: it entry land, and they do spring rolls filled with
Speaker 1: things like cheeseburger and pepperoni pizza and really yummy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you get to pre order and it's a good
Speaker 1: light on the go snack, and I thought it was
Speaker 1: shockingly good. I didn't try them until like we were
Speaker 1: already there for two months and I was like, what
Speaker 1: have I been wasting my time? My favorite meal? Magic
Speaker 1: Kingdom are still the Mickey Years? You still well Magic Kingdom.
Speaker 1: They don't set a very very far with foods, so
Speaker 1: years it's not the same for every part for me
Speaker 1: as well. So that's Magic Kingdom. We'll leave that there
Speaker 1: and then moving on to another kingdom, Animal Kingdom. It's
Speaker 1: a great park. It's beautifully designed. The ambiance in all
Speaker 1: the different sections like Africa and Asia and the dinosaur
Speaker 1: land phenomenal. It's all beautifully done. And the food and
Speaker 1: drinks I think match that as well that they put
Speaker 1: a lot of effort into it and it looks good,
Speaker 1: tastes great. So when you're going to ann walking them,
Speaker 1: the first thing you should do is make a bee
Speaker 1: line to Creature Comforts, which is basically a decked out Starbucks.
Speaker 1: It is a Starbucks but kind of wrapped to look
Speaker 1: like this individual like Jungly place. You've got to get
Speaker 1: your morning coffee, right, I gotta get coffee. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: do that first and then later in the day, I
Speaker 1: think for lunch. My favorite place is in the Pandora section,
Speaker 1: the newer section of the park where the Avatar ride is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm not sharpen. It' Sutulli Canteen. It's right outside
Speaker 1: like the main attraction. They're the main rid there multiple
Speaker 1: times to get loved it. It was so good. So
Speaker 1: it's like customizable balls. Essentially, you pick your base, pick
Speaker 1: your protein sauce, and then go from there where you
Speaker 1: get like a whole platter for sixty eight people for
Speaker 1: which is a great price when you think about it,
Speaker 1: because it has all of those different meats and proteins
Speaker 1: and you know all that. Yes, so you can get noodles,
Speaker 1: you can get rice. My favorite is getting the hardy
Speaker 1: salad as a base because it is it's like very nurishing,
Speaker 1: very hard to get, like broccoli and cauliflower and like
Speaker 1: leafy greens. And then weirdly they add boba, like popping
Speaker 1: boba pearls on top of it. Okay, but it kind
Speaker 1: of works, I guess. And then I like the wood
Speaker 1: grilled chicken because then they give you a lot of it.
Speaker 1: The portion is like very generous, and then pair that
Speaker 1: with one of their green beers. It's like green bluish
Speaker 1: and it's somewhat hoppy. It's kind of like an I
Speaker 1: p A, which is my favorite. So it basically their
Speaker 1: avatar beer. And that's so that restaurants and must and
Speaker 1: then for something like in the evening, the cocktails and
Speaker 1: snacks at the Nomad Lounge are fantastic. Love the Nomad
Speaker 1: around UM. That's where I first met Chef Al who
Speaker 1: was the Um executive chef for Tiffins and mad and uh,
Speaker 1: that's where our maple syrup was featured at burns Maywood Farms.
Speaker 1: When we got to go there, that was my first
Speaker 1: time going to Disney. It was your first experience and
Speaker 1: it was and it was such one of those like
Speaker 1: immersive experiences. But they're just they have so many amazing
Speaker 1: things in Animal Kingdom. And ever since then, Chef l
Speaker 1: has been promoted to Food and Beverage Director over Upcot
Speaker 1: and he does all the things in up concluding food
Speaker 1: and wine and festivals and all that fun stuff, and
Speaker 1: so it's just really amazing too to see how you know,
Speaker 1: he was promoted within the company, but I know, this
Speaker 1: is a very large side track from what's really important.
Speaker 1: The food and cocktails at No Mad Lounge. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: they're definitely noteworthy. They have really solid drinks, really good food.
Speaker 1: We always get the like Brad service and it's like
Speaker 1: this tray impressed. Yeah, different Brads inspired by different countries
Speaker 1: across the world. They have like an Indian pancake, like
Speaker 1: flat Brad. The best is the pomegranate focaccia, so tasty,
Speaker 1: and then it's served with these different like chutneys and
Speaker 1: sauces and yogurts. So great. I could just go here
Speaker 1: have that in some cocktails. Yeah, that's spicy coriander yogurt
Speaker 1: is so good, especially when you mix it with that
Speaker 1: tomato chutney. Yeah, that's it's a good idea to mix
Speaker 1: and then like kind of customize each bite because why not.
Speaker 1: And then the cocktails are really good too. They're all
Speaker 1: like each They have different sections of the many. There's
Speaker 1: like the Asia section, there's cocktails inspired by Africa, so
Speaker 1: it kind of mimics the layout of the park too.
Speaker 1: And you have drinks like the Night Monkey, which has
Speaker 1: dark brom guava, pure coffee syrup, lime juice and cilantro.
Speaker 1: Kind of a wild mix of flavors there, but we're
Speaker 1: beautifully yeah, very good. And then right next door to
Speaker 1: the Nomad Lounge is the more formal, full service restaurant
Speaker 1: called Tiffins, So it's all kind of in the same building.
Speaker 1: Nomad Lounge is more casual bar side with a nice
Speaker 1: patiom or nice deck, and then Tiffins is where we
Speaker 1: most recently ate here on our anniversary. That's right. We
Speaker 1: did our anniversaries fully packed with multiple parks. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: park hopping. And then this is where we ended the
Speaker 1: day with dinner Tiffins. So you get kind of a
Speaker 1: more expanded version of the offerings that Nomad Lounge, and
Speaker 1: that's drink wise also food wise, so you have like
Speaker 1: really intricate, impressive dishes like falafel with mint pistachio pasto,
Speaker 1: and we had charted octopus with thereso and that right
Speaker 1: there was to die for. And the good thing is
Speaker 1: this is included on the Disney Dining Plan if you're
Speaker 1: going there on a vacation. We weren't. We weren't, but um,
Speaker 1: you know you can. You can definitely make reservations here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So Tiffin's excellent. If you want kind of the classy,
Speaker 1: full service dining experience, I think it's worth one of
Speaker 1: the past, and like all of Disney World, and then
Speaker 1: moving on from Animal Kingdom, there's Hollywood Studios, which is
Speaker 1: another place I hold near and dear to Minustalter Cart,
Speaker 1: I love it there and a few places is really
Speaker 1: capture that nostalgia and American e quite like the Hollywood
Speaker 1: Brown Derby, which so great. We went there. That was
Speaker 1: the very first thing we did when we got our
Speaker 1: like Disney passes. Yeah, we just went in the bottom
Speaker 1: were like, well we should just go right and it
Speaker 1: was like two hours before the park closed or three
Speaker 1: hours before the park closed, and it was perfect. We
Speaker 1: made a mad dash to the Brown Derby. It's just
Speaker 1: like gorgeous, like old, like I don't know, nineteen twenties
Speaker 1: Hollywood style restaurant with like framed photos or like they're
Speaker 1: probably fake photos because there's thousands of them here. And
Speaker 1: it's this big like dec in and dining room with
Speaker 1: great food. We have like Cobbs salads and scallops and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, and martinis, excellent martinis. You can get
Speaker 1: them into Flight Forward table side recommended. Yeah, Manhattan's solid,
Speaker 1: like really solid Manhattan's and it's wonderful, so do that.
Speaker 1: Also for something more casual, if you just wanted a
Speaker 1: drink and a snack or something, there's Baseline Tap House
Speaker 1: and they have all California inspired stuff. All they have
Speaker 1: an impressive roster of California beers on tap as well
Speaker 1: as California wines on tap. And then even a couple
Speaker 1: of cocktails, yes, like a margharita, and then those change
Speaker 1: and rotate, I think they all do, but it's mostly beer.
Speaker 1: They even have a cider, and then they have snacks
Speaker 1: like charcrudi in a pretzel. So not really a meal
Speaker 1: type place, but great to get a drink on the go.
Speaker 1: And then right next door to that, another like whimsical,
Speaker 1: wonderful place we went as well is the Sci Fi
Speaker 1: Dine in Theater. That was such an immersive experience and
Speaker 1: the experiences that you feel that all these are different.
Speaker 1: Like the Brown Derby, you feel royal and regal. You know,
Speaker 1: Baseline Tap it's just like cool and breezy like California.
Speaker 1: When you get to this one, you just you immerse
Speaker 1: him into a d in the Yeah, I felt like
Speaker 1: a kid again, because I remember going here as a kid.
Speaker 1: It's like this outdoor drive in theater vibe with like
Speaker 1: twinkling stars all over the ceiling and then black white movies.
Speaker 1: So I exactly like a child, except a child who
Speaker 1: drinks Pinot griccio because and by the bottle. Yeah right,
Speaker 1: it was great. So make a reservation there because they're
Speaker 1: all like little cars. You like literally sit in these
Speaker 1: like kind of fake cars, which totally as to the ambience,
Speaker 1: and those are popular, unsurprisingly, so they tend to fill up.
Speaker 1: And then the other highlight at Hollywood Studios more recently
Speaker 1: is the Star Wars section called um Galaxy's Edge that
Speaker 1: opened like a few days after we arrived to Disney World,
Speaker 1: so it's still knew. I went on opening day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're crazy. That was insane, big mistake, honestly, Like I
Speaker 1: thought it would be fun and like an experience to
Speaker 1: do that on an opening day and five lines. Twenty
Speaker 1: years from now, when you forget about the lines, you'll
Speaker 1: be like I was there on open and you'll brag
Speaker 1: about it, and it was fun. I did like very
Speaker 1: little things because I I can only wait in like
Speaker 1: one five hour line. I'm not going to do other things,
Speaker 1: but it was cool to see. They did a great
Speaker 1: job with the design of the land here. And in
Speaker 1: addition to the ride, they have some really interesting and
Speaker 1: inventive dining options like Milkstand. Milkstand, that's it. That's just
Speaker 1: like such a creamy, beautiful cocktail. So they're kind of
Speaker 1: like they're not milkshakes. They're more like rice, so it's
Speaker 1: dairy free. They're made with a rice milk base, and
Speaker 1: they're kind of like rice milk smoothies. One is green,
Speaker 1: one is blue. Those are the only two options on
Speaker 1: the menu. You can get the blue milk of the
Speaker 1: green milk one. I think the green is like more
Speaker 1: kind of tropical flavor. The blue has more of a
Speaker 1: coconut kind of creaminess. And ones with Raman Watche tequila,
Speaker 1: right you you can add that, yeah, and I would
Speaker 1: recommend that. And then across the way from Milkstand is
Speaker 1: the much more popular um bar that is difficult to
Speaker 1: get into because it's so popular. It's called Oga's Cantina. Yes,
Speaker 1: so great, it's really fun. It's um We did this
Speaker 1: on our anniversary. We did we started our day here.
Speaker 1: We went to the cantina and had rum cocktails at
Speaker 1: six thirty in the morning, because that's should we tell
Speaker 1: people that. I mean, I mean, that's just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but when you walk in, it feels like this party
Speaker 1: and you walk into this cave and then it's all
Speaker 1: dark and lively, like a canteena from the Star Wars movies,
Speaker 1: you know, bursting with life and energy, and there's like
Speaker 1: a DJ. There's a DJ. There's a DJ at six thirty.
Speaker 1: So if the DJs here were so with the cocktails.
Speaker 1: And that was the first time in my life, hopefully
Speaker 1: the last time that I had cocktails with oatmeal. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That was rough, that was but it was delicious. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna our our whole. Like breakfast meal was
Speaker 1: really expensive, very expensive. It was the most expensive breakfast
Speaker 1: and the weirdest breakfast. But we got tiki mugs and
Speaker 1: things like that. Yeah, the first edition. Yes, oh yeah.
Speaker 1: I was able to go back, like a month or
Speaker 1: two later and go here at a normal hour and
Speaker 1: have drinks when it's socially acceptable to do so. And
Speaker 1: when I did that, I got this really epic beer
Speaker 1: flight and you try I think it's four or five
Speaker 1: different beers and they're serving this gorgeous and really like
Speaker 1: elaborate wooden fixture with what's meant to be like alien
Speaker 1: teeth or something as the almost the glass work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so they used the two the teeth to pour the
Speaker 1: beer into and you drink out of that, and then
Speaker 1: it's a souvenir. You get to keep the whole thing.
Speaker 1: It weighs like thirty pounds. I mean it sound like
Speaker 1: it was cheap either you bought it. Now you've been
Speaker 1: listening to park Landia. We'll be right back after this break. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is Parklandia, and today
Speaker 1: we're talking about all the great food and drink at
Speaker 1: Disney World in Florida. So that's Hollywood Studios. And then
Speaker 1: the big one for dining of all the parks is
Speaker 1: absolutely Epcot. Yeah, this is the place where you dine
Speaker 1: around the world, drink around the world, and it's amazing
Speaker 1: and enthralling, and so many of the restaurants are legitimately wonderful.
Speaker 1: And spent eighty seven days here almost all of them there.
Speaker 1: And I got to go to a lot of like
Speaker 1: you know, for lunches. I went out and grabbed things
Speaker 1: and then we went back multiple times, but I would
Speaker 1: say that you went here more than any other part easily. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's just like probably my favorite part because as
Speaker 1: an adult they have much more things oriented for that
Speaker 1: and foods and culture, food history. So here are my
Speaker 1: like kind of quick hit favorites at Epcot for dining
Speaker 1: and drinking. There's a great buffet at Beer Garden restaurant
Speaker 1: in Germany, so much for you can go nuts. And
Speaker 1: then I would recommend getting full beer poores at Block
Speaker 1: and Hans. In the America section, yes, like my favorite
Speaker 1: Kentucky bourbon barrel ale beer. Yes, they also have I
Speaker 1: p A. Even they have Goose Island another options. It
Speaker 1: was meant for me, that whole thing. That's a good one.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm just plainly American. So that's the best
Speaker 1: thing for for beer, I think. And then the Mexico
Speaker 1: section is really solid. They have this place inside this
Speaker 1: big pyramid called La Cava del Tequila, so it's there
Speaker 1: like dark, cozy, little tequila cave, great mescal selection and tequila,
Speaker 1: and they have things like mescalin and grownies and a
Speaker 1: whole variety of margaritas, including like Avocada margarita is nice
Speaker 1: and creamy and a little sweet delicious, and then heaping
Speaker 1: platters of chips and sausa and guacamole. Very generous. Don't
Speaker 1: start here though, because you will you won't get a
Speaker 1: little bit buzzy yeah, because they are beautifully done heavy cocktails,
Speaker 1: so make sure to do that in the middle or
Speaker 1: towards the end of your trip, right. I would also
Speaker 1: recommend getting Scotch eggs and black and tans and or
Speaker 1: maybe fish and chips or something at the Rose and
Speaker 1: Crown Pub in the UK. Every time we had to
Speaker 1: go there. That place is just fantastic. I'm obsessed with
Speaker 1: the decor and everything in the UK section here. It's
Speaker 1: really wonderful. And then also we love getting charcouderie and
Speaker 1: cheese and wine flights at Tudou Gusto Wine Cellar in Italy.
Speaker 1: That was charming and just really really fun. It's snacks beautiful,
Speaker 1: and I also love the Nigerian meat pies, which is
Speaker 1: from this like Africa section in the park. They didn't
Speaker 1: have like a full service restaurant there, but it's like
Speaker 1: this casual walk up counter where you can get Nigerian
Speaker 1: meat pies. They also have like a dessert of some
Speaker 1: sort At the time it was a lion king themed pancotta.
Speaker 1: But I wasn't really feeling that I missed food and wine.
Speaker 1: I know, so food and wine that I mean, that's
Speaker 1: a whole thing in and of itself. It's just like
Speaker 1: nearly three month long festival where it's Epcot, just like
Speaker 1: times a hundred because they bring in like thirty eight
Speaker 1: additional boost for food and snacks and they're all like
Speaker 1: snack like bites at like prais like five average. But
Speaker 1: it's good because like each you and the other person
Speaker 1: that you're with, hopefully um you can eat you like
Speaker 1: get a good bite and like good taste of that.
Speaker 1: It's a really good place to go share things. Right.
Speaker 1: So in addition to all this wonderful stuff that's there
Speaker 1: year round, all these restaurants, they add all these other
Speaker 1: countries with these many kind of smaller stands, everything from
Speaker 1: like Australia to Thailand to what like Brazil, Belgium. It's
Speaker 1: a it's a lot all are and it's they're kind
Speaker 1: of situaated scattered all over the global the World Pavilion here,
Speaker 1: World Showcase. And my favorites from Food and Wine were
Speaker 1: the chicken tkaraakey boal bunds from the Japan, the Brazilian
Speaker 1: cheese bread from Brazil the I love. There's the charcuterie
Speaker 1: and like cheese cones from Spain. Great and I just
Speaker 1: did not get a chance to trick. There was Escargo
Speaker 1: croissans from France, which also gets points for being the craziest,
Speaker 1: but it was good. It was like garlicy. They had
Speaker 1: like this or pesto thing on topple for it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Then boozy mangolosses from India and they spiked that with
Speaker 1: Chila core which is so yummy and creamy and just
Speaker 1: the perfect amount of spice. And then Hummus fries from Morocco,
Speaker 1: which was really interesting as well. They really are. Those
Speaker 1: were beautiful and they're like thick fries almost like cheese takes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were. They were like more like but French fries. Beautiful.
Speaker 1: So that's Opcot. That's Epcot Food and Wine. And then,
Speaker 1: like we mentioned, the real surprise stunner here of all
Speaker 1: this is Disney Springs, which I had not done prior
Speaker 1: to going here this time. And this is not one
Speaker 1: of the parts. It's part of Disney World. It's more
Speaker 1: of like the shopping, dining, retail place with like a
Speaker 1: movie theater and bowling alley. It's near Act. They used
Speaker 1: to be called Downtown Disney and now it's Disney Springs
Speaker 1: because it is. It's it's more uplifted, a lot more
Speaker 1: great like restaurants and coffinomenal, a lot of our friends,
Speaker 1: Chef Art Smith, Rick bayliss Um, these amazing Chicago based
Speaker 1: chefs and restaurants are here. So good. Yeah, and it's huge.
Speaker 1: It's the sprawling shopping and dining complex. And we've been
Speaker 1: multiple times and didn't even go to like a quarter
Speaker 1: of the places here, probably, but it's wonderful and we
Speaker 1: loved so much of it. We we I think our
Speaker 1: favorite is probably Homecoming, which was Art Smith. We've been
Speaker 1: there five times. You just leave there with your soul full. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's like Southern comfort, deliciousness in a really beautiful building.
Speaker 1: And Chef Art he used to be Oprah's um private
Speaker 1: chef and so now he knows what he's bringing that
Speaker 1: good food to the world and it's just a really
Speaker 1: inspiring place to go. Um and there's we went. When
Speaker 1: so many people people came Intomtown, we said we got
Speaker 1: to go here here getting fried chicken, deviled eggs, and
Speaker 1: hummingbird cake, all of it. That was a good one.
Speaker 1: I also loved this like wild place called the Addis
Speaker 1: in this like sprawling two story restaurant and bar that's
Speaker 1: like has a steampunk vibe and it's just insane. They
Speaker 1: have like theatrical components and people doing acrobatics from the
Speaker 1: ceiling and then like employees here just randomly walking around
Speaker 1: on stilts. For it was such a wonderful experience to
Speaker 1: go there. It is great cocktails, yes, innovative for innovative cocktails,
Speaker 1: which are right up our alley, so good for that.
Speaker 1: And then we also loved this place called the Polite Pig,
Speaker 1: which is more casual. It gets it gets hopping like
Speaker 1: later in the evening, so go for lunch or like
Speaker 1: an early dinner. So it's barbecue and they have great
Speaker 1: like pulled pork and brisket and like barbecue glaze, fried
Speaker 1: chicken sandwiches and stuff like that. But the real winner
Speaker 1: is probably the best Manhattan cocktail we had a Disney
Speaker 1: World was solid and delicious, and I would go there
Speaker 1: just to sit at the bar and have absolutely snack
Speaker 1: on some fried chicken sliders or some like that. That's
Speaker 1: a good way to go. And then I think the
Speaker 1: last one to shout out that was noteworthy that we
Speaker 1: loved was this place called Enzo's Hideaway. This like tunnel
Speaker 1: they called a tunnel bar. It's this kind of under
Speaker 1: quasi underground Italian speakeasy or you know, it kind of
Speaker 1: looks like if Olive Garden was to speakeasy, but like
Speaker 1: the food the way better, like negrons and the wine,
Speaker 1: grape wine selection, cheeseboards, stuff like that, but again wildly popular.
Speaker 1: We tried to go back with my sister and they
Speaker 1: were like it'll be two hours. We're like, never mind,
Speaker 1: And did you mention from taro? Oh yeah, bay cannot
Speaker 1: forget Rick Bayless's restaurant. And what's really cool is when
Speaker 1: I was working in Farmers Market to Chicago and when
Speaker 1: we were going to different restaurants, you know, we really
Speaker 1: met Greg and Leah gunthorpe Um and they actually provide
Speaker 1: Rick with their terso um the special trees are made
Speaker 1: for Rick and it's it's one of the best appetite
Speaker 1: just on that menu. So you definitely have to jump
Speaker 1: by there and enjoy all the delicious foods that Rick has. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's these are some highlights from here. I was like,
Speaker 1: as you can see, I could just go on and
Speaker 1: on and on and make really a whole podcast about this.
Speaker 1: But Disney World has so much not only to do
Speaker 1: ride wise and attraction wise, but the food at all
Speaker 1: the parks at Disney Springs is phenomenal and it's come
Speaker 1: a long way since. I'm sure like when I went
Speaker 1: there as a kid, not that I was like paying
Speaker 1: much attention to that, but it's become really like an
Speaker 1: attraction in and of itself, the dining scene and the
Speaker 1: drinking scene at Disney World. And absolutely, yes, you should
Speaker 1: definitely go here and branch out from the Mickey Pretzels.
Speaker 1: Treat yourself now again, but like branch out because there's
Speaker 1: a there's a whole Disney World of flavor to to explore.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to park Landia, a show about national parks.
Speaker 1: Parkland is the production of My Heart Radio, created by
Speaker 1: Matt Carouac, Brad Carouac, and Christopher has the otis producer
Speaker 1: and edited by Mike John's. Our executive producer is Christopher
Speaker 1: has the otis our researcher. It's Jescelyn Shield. A special
Speaker 1: thanks goes out to Gabrielle Collins, Chrystal Waters and the
Speaker 1: rest of the Parklandia crew and Hey listeners. If you're
Speaker 1: enjoying the show, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
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