Author: disneyfoodblog.com

Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom is officially open to the public and we’re back with more new updates!

There have been some changes to the way attractions and park entry is handled. Other than, that Animal Kingdom is just as WILD as we left it in March. We found a few new souvenirs while perusing the shops and discovered some interesting dining updates!

Animal Kingdom Food Update

Joffrey’s Coffee

Some of us are dependent on the Joffrey’s Coffee spot located outside the entrance in Animal Kingdom. It’s where we grab an iced latte before sprinting to Flight of Passage. The stand was open during Cast Member previews but was closed when we visited on opening day. So we will keep you updated on this Joffrey’s location!

The good news is you can still get your cup of morning magic once you’re inside the park. Earlier, we dropped the news that the infamous Pumpkin Spice Crème Brûlée Cold Brew is back at some Joffrey’s Coffee stands! Fall came early to Animal Kingdom too! You can get your pumpkin spice fix at Royal Anandapur Tea Company!

Click here to find out where you can find the Pumpkin Spice Crème Brûlée Cold Brew!

The sweet and spicy Korean BBQ Rib Tips and turkey legs were first introduced as specials on the Yak and Yeti Counter Service menu. They were later added to the permanent menu. They are still available but listed as specials once again. We’ll keep stopping by to see if they disappear from the specials or are here to stay.

Animal Kingdom Merchandise Update

Disney Mug Collectors are gonna love this one! We found a slew of brand new coffee cups featuring the Fab 5. The cute and cartoony cups show the adorable faces of Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald.

We love to see our favorite characters muggin’ it on these mugs! You can find all of them at Riverside Depot.

Check out the new character face mugs here!

The Lion King fans can work on their roar with the new Simba shirt we found! The comfy long-sleeve features the three besties, Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba.

It will work look great with the new Timon and Pumbaa MagicBand we spotted at Disney Springs too!

Get a closer look at the Simba shirt here!

Last, but certainly not least, is this AMAZING Pumbaa hat we discovered. For 24.99, you too can get in touch with your inner warthog and sport this glamourous accessory. We’ve never felt quite so stylish. Here’s hopin’ the Bugs n’ Grubs Cone makes a comeback so we can really fit the part!

That’s it for today! We’ll keep hopping around Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the other parks while try to spot new goodies and old-favorites. Keep following us as we keep tabs on Disney World updates!

Want to see what Animal Kingdom was like on opening day? Find our updates here!

What do you think of all the updates? Let us know!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: Animal Kingdom, Disney News, Featured, Walt Disney World, character coffee mugs, character mugs, cold brew, disney coffee, Disney World, donald mug, food updates, goofy mug, Joffrey’s, joffrey’s coffee, mickey mug, Minnie Mug, Mugs, new food, new merchandise, new mugs, pluto mug, Pumpkin Spice, pumpkin spice creme brulee cold brew, riverside depot, Royal Anadapur Tea Company, what’s new

We’re going to need to borrow Remy’s giant wooden spoon because our Spike the Bee Spork isn’t big enough for what we’ve got planned next!

Now that several Epcot 2020 Food and Wine food booths have soft-opened for a Disney World Cast Member preview today, we’re on our way to hit up one of our favorite food booths — France!

Bonjour from the World Showcase and future home (or should we say maison) of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure! The new attraction may not be available yet, but we’re très faim for some French-inspired Food and Wine festival eats and drinks!

Let’s take a look at this year’s offerings!

Menu

France has a bunch of returning classics from Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival which was unfortunately cut short this year! But never fear — France’s Fleur de Lys was one of our runners-up for our Best of the Fest food booth this year!

We’ll walk you through each of ’em so you can pretend like you’re with us right now on our Parisan-eating escapades!

Food

We started our visit today with dessert! The Tarte Tropezienne: Coulis Framboise originally made its debut a few months ago and features a small brioche cake filled with light pastry cream, served with a raspberry coulis sauce.

For $3, this treat is a bit of a one-bite wonder, but the flavors were good and we especially enjoyed the raspberry reduction which was tart, but plenty sweet at the same time. You might not want to share this one not only because it’s so small, but also because it’s THAT GOOD!

The Tarte aux Oignons Caramelises et Chévre for $5.50 has made its way back on the menu. This goat cheese tart was a big hit with us back in March and we’re so we’re happy its super flaky crust will be gracing our presences once more. The caramelized onions it has inside remind us that French onion soup flavor we’re always craving.

And fans of Fleur de Lys‘ Canard Confit à l’Orange will be excited to see its also returned for Food and Wine. The Braised Duck Confit à l’Orange is tender and juicy, served over a bed of mashed sweet potatoes for $6.25.

Drinks

Getting reacquainted with France’s beverages, we noticed VeRy Raspberry has also reappeared! For $5.75, this refreshing blend of Rosé Wine with a natural raspberry flavor is sweeter than a regular rosé, but not too sweet for our palettes. If you like a sweet wine with a really dry finish, give this one a try!

And, no trip to France would be complete without the La Vie en Rose Frozen Slushy for $11.75! It’s made with vodka, Grey Goose l’Orange Vodka, St. Germain Liqueur, white and red cranberry juice. We couldn’t get enough of it during Flower and Garden, so we’re going to take full advantage of it now that its back at EPCOT!

Other drinks selections include Bordeaux, Merlot, and Cabernet Blend, Château Tarin for $6.00, or Kronenbourg 1664 Pale Lager Draft which is available in a 6oz. glass $4.75 or 12oz. glass for $8.75.

With so many of our favorite items returning from Epcot’s 2020 Flower and Garden Festival, the other food booths are going to have to put on quite the show to impress our esteemed panel of judges when we start handing out our 2020 Food and Wine Best of the Fest titles! Stay tuned for more reviews which will be coming soon!

Check out our full review of Mexico’s Food and Wine festival booth here! 

Are you excited to see so many Flower and Garden dishes have returned to France? Let us know what you’ll be picking up in the comments below!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: Counter-Service, Epcot, Featured, Snacks, Walt Disney World, 2020 food and wine festival, Canard Confit a L’Orange, Disney World, Epcot Food and Wine Festival, festival booth, Fleur de Lys, Flower and Garden Festival, food booth, France, La Vie en Rose Frozen Slushy, menu, Outdoor Kitchen, Remy topiary, review, Tarte aux Oignons Caramelises et Chévre, Tarte Tropezienne, VeRy Raspberry

Disney World has officially reopened, but things certainly aren’t back to normal.

We’re contending with all sorts of new health measures in the Disney World parks and concerns about the global health crisis are still very much a reality. In response to these concerns, Florida Orange County mayor Jerry Demings spoke about the reopening of Disney World in a press conference today.

Demings explained that he is optimistic about the Disney parks reopening, but if it comes down to it, the county would be willing to ask Disney World to reevaluate remaining opened.

When asked if a reclosure could happen for Disney World (like it has for Hong Kong Disneyland) Demings noted that if we reach a point where cases are exceeding hospital capacities or if Disney is linked to an outbreak, the county won’t hesitate to take action.

Overall though, Demings thinks that things are going well in terms of park reopenings. No outbreaks have been linked to any of the theme parks that opened prior to Disney World. “If there’s one place on Earth where we should be successful,” Demings said, “It’s Disney.”

Stay tuned to DFB for all of the news about reopenings.

Is Disney World safe and should YOU go? Click here for our thoughts.

Are you planning to head to a reopened Disney World? Tell us in the comments!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: Disney News, disney parks, Featured, Walt Disney World, Disney World reopening, Florida Orange County, Global health crisis, jerry demings, mayor jerry demings, orange county

We were treated to a surprise at the EPCOT Cast Member Preview today — some of the festival marketplaces for the upcoming A Taste of EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival were OPEN!

So, of course, we took advantage of the chance to snag all the festival eats we could get! After a hiatus, the Desserts and Champagne marketplace has made its way back to Food & Wine — and we couldn’t wait to taste all of the sweet treats they’re serving up!

Guests will find the Desserts and Champagne booth inside the World ShowPlace Pavilion.

In addition to Desserts and Champagne, the World ShowPlace Pavilion is also home to the Festival Favorites, Appleseed Orchard, and Mac & Cheese booths!

Here’s what you’ll find at the Desserts and Champagne booth this year!

Food

As the name suggests, the menu offers up cake pops, champagne, and a Frozen S’mores drink available with or without alcohol!

So, let’s start with the Liquid Nitro Chocolate Cake Pop! One thing we noticed right off the bat — it was SUPER rich! And that trend continued for the other flavors as well.

Of the three flavors, this one was our least favorite because it was more basic than the other options. But, at $4, we would say this dessert is still a pretty good deal!

Next, we tried the Liquid Nitro Chocolate Cake Pops with Crumbled Twix Chocolate Bars! This one is also priced at $4, and we liked the added flavor of the Twix bars!

And, of course, we also ordered the Liquid Nitro Chocolate Cake Pops with Crushed M&M’s Candies! This was our favorite of the three — we loved the crunchiness of the M&M’s! It’s also $4, so unless you’re looking for something more simple, we would suggest ordering one of the cake pops with a topping since they’re priced the same as the plain one!

All three cake pops were super-rich, so we would say any of the flavors are sharable — especially if you plan to do a lot more eating around the festival!

The Spike the Bee Sipper and Spork are BACK for the 2020 Food & Wine Festival!

Drinks

In addition champagne, this booth also serves a Frozen S’mores drink that can be ordered without alcohol for $4.50, or with whipped cream vodka for $11. We decided to treat ourselves to the boozy version!

This drink was SOOO good — and also incredibly rich! It reminded us of an alcoholic milkshake! We really enjoyed the flavor, so we would order it again. But just like the cake pops, we would say this one is sharable too, unless you can handle all of that richness on your own!

Here’s the full menu from all of the booths at this year’s festival!

Overall

We liked everything that we tried at the Dessert and Champagne booth! If we had to describe the eats at this booth in one word, it would definitely be RICH! So, while we would order the cake pops and Frozen S’mores drink again, we would say these items are meant to be shared!

Check out our review of FOUR different types of mac & cheese from the Mac & Cheese booth!

Which of the menu items from the Desserts and Champagne booth do you want to try the most? Let us know in the comments!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: disney parks, Epcot, Featured, Food and Wine Festival, Snacks, Walt Disney World, 2020 epcot food and wine, 2020 epcot food and wine festival, 2020 Epcot Food and Wine Festival booths, Cake Pop, cake pops, Desserts and Champagne, desserts and champagne booth, epcot food and wine festival review, Epcot Food and Wine Festival Reviews, Food and Wine Review, frozen s’mores, liquid nitro cake pops

We’re BACK at EPCOT’S International Food and Wine Festival. We stopped by the Mexico Pavilion and had a downright fiesta trying all the dishes and drinks!

Tacos and margs on the rocks! What could possibly be better than that combo?! Tequila fans will love this booth and everything it’s dishing out.

Let’s start with the classic Ribeye Taco. The corn tortilla is filled with ribeye steak and topped with ranchera salsa, onions, chives, and a lime wedge. A solid taco choice! It had good tasting meat with a small spicy kick. The taco costs $6.95.

The Pork Tostada was actually our favorite dish from Mexico. The fried corn tortilla added a great flavor and crunch! The tostada costs $9.75 and comes topped with chipotle black beans, roasted pork, fresh salsa verde, onions, and cilantro. 

The meat was well cooked, the tortilla was crisp and the beans were slightly creamy. This whole thing worked REALLY well together.

We washed our classic taco down with a Clásica Margarita for $10.75. The margarita is made with tequila, chile poblano liqueur, lime juice, and agave nectar with a salt rim. The ingredients are pretty straight-forward, but the drink is pretty much perfection. The rim was a little too salty for us so we might get it without salt next time. It’s been a while since we had such a good Classic Margarita!

The two margs are tied for best! We loved the Mango Smoky Margarita as much as the Classic. The Mango Margarita costs $11.50 and is mixed with mango purée, mezcal, applejack, lime juice, and agave nectar with a tajín chile-lime rim. We just wish the mango was a little bit smokier. We’d really like to taste more of that Mezcal! (If you’re not a fan of the smokey spirit, you might think this is perfect though!)

We really liked the Passion Rose Sangria! It was a fun mix of red wine, rum, rose petal liqueur, passion fruit purée, and lime. Our only complaint is that rose is a little too strong. It started to taste a little perfume-y towards the end. The sangria costs $10.00.

When you order the small Mexican Craft Beer, it’s served in this cool little compostable cup! (Save the Earth AND get a good beer? Win-win!) The craft beer is actually a Tulum Artisnal Lager crafted with citrus notes and made with Mexican Caribbean seawater. Fancy! The beer was refreshing, but a little heavy for the hot sun. The 6oz is $5.00 and the 12oz is $9.50.

We’re big fans of the Mexico Pavilion! Everything we tasted was either a solid version of a classic food or a fun spin on an old favorite. Keep following us as we try everything at Food and Festival this year!

Check out ALL of the menus at this year’s Epcot International Food and Wine Festival here!

Do any of these dishes look good to you? Let us know if you’ll be stopping by Mexica for a tostada!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: disney dining tips, Disney News, Epcot, Featured, Food and Wine Festival, Snacks, Walt Disney World, 2020 epcot food and wine festival, 2020 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, 2020 food and wine festival, A Taste of Food and Wine, American Adventure, clasica margarita, Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, mango smoky margarita, mexican craft beer, Mexico, mexico food and wine, Mexico pavilion, passion rose sangria, pork tostada, Ribeye Taco, tulum, World Showcase