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Chefs de France

Who doesn’t think of food when they think of France?  So of course, when deciding where to have dinner at Epcot, the “country” of France in World Showcase immediately leaps to mind.  During my first trip to Disney World in 2005, I had dinner at Chefs de France, which I was  a little nervous about (there’s no bartop dining here, and I wasn’t sure if the restaurant would be filled with couples and families).  As it turned out, it was one of the best solo dining experiences I had at Disney World, and the food was divine.

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This blog post will be short and none too sweet.  I’m all for fast, cheap food–but only if it’s fast, cheap, and food.  I find most of Disney’s counter service restaurants to be overpriced, with mediocre food.  This trip only reinforced that opinion. One day during my May trip to Disney World, I was exploring the Wilderness Lodge, taking pictures and checking the place out and decided to stop for lunch at Roaring Fork, their counter service restaurant. I was very unimpressed.

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No trip to Disney World is complete without a visit to the Boardwalk.  Which is why I didn’t feel that my 2005 trip was complete, because I never made it to the Boardwalk!  I had seven nights on this trip to rectify that error, and spent not just one, but two nights hanging out there.  After reviewing the Boardwalk’s list of available restaurants, I decided that the menu at Spoodles appealed to me the most, so I booked a reservation for Friday night.

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2008 Chew Chew Festival

I am heartbroken upon reading today’s Burlington Free Press article stating that this weekend’s 24th Green Mountain Chew Chew Festival will be the last. The Chew Chew has long been my favorite Burlington Festival. Tons of great food in a beautiful setting on the Burlington waterfront in the summertime–what’s not to love? Rainy days on Chew Chew weekend, that’s what.  I don’t go when it rains and apparently, neither does anyone else.  According to the article 2 out of the 3 festival days last year rained, causing a $20,000 loss. (Last year, if you recall, I went on one sunny day, and left when it started raining on the second day.)  When it rains, the grounds get really muddy and soggy out there in the field. They will scatter hay on the ground, but it doesn’t really help.

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Yak and Yeti

Could there possibly be a more unfortunately named restaurant than Animal Kingdom’s Yak & Yeti?  I mean, seriously, would you ever open a restaurant and deliberately associate it with the word “yak”?  Despite the unfortunate moniker, this table service restaurant is actually quite a treat. Animal Kingdom was badly in need of another sit-down restaurant besides Rainforest Cafe. They came up with a winner with this one.  I decided to give this newish restaurant a try for lunch during my recent trip to Disney World.  How would it measure up to other table service restaurants at Disney?  Read and find out. . . .

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Picture of me at the Magic Kingdom, thanks to a Photo Pass Photographer

There are far more positives to traveling solo than negatives, in my opinion, but one of the downsides of traveling solo is that quite often, my travel photos are missing a key ingredient:  Me.  Tens of thousands of solo travelers have compensated for this limitation by perfecting what is known as the “arm stretch method”–holding your camera as far away from your body as possible, pointed at yourself with some landmark behind you and hoping that the picture comes out okay so you can prove you “were there.”  I’m not very good at the arm stretch method.  Technology is also starting to pick up the slack here: The XShot is a tool which extends your camera away from you for self-portraits.  I still have not purchased the XShot.  Of course, you can always ask someone else to take your picture for you.  You want to be careful about this, since there are tourist destinations where thieves are more than happy to agree to take your picture with your camera. . . and then run off with it.  But I am sick of not having travel photos with me in them, so before my recent Disney trip, I promised myself I would ask people to take my picture for me.

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Exotic flowers

Before my recent trip to Disney World, I was asked what I was most looking forward to. The answer was spending an evening at the Polynesian Resort.  I had spent a brief period of time here one afternoon during my last trip four years ago.  That’s all it took to fall head over heels for this tropical-themed deluxe resort.  What’s not to love?  The lush, exotic flowers and trees, waterfalls and tiki torches made me feel like I was in Hawaii, not Florida.  It’s a monorail resort, which makes it very easy to get to the Magic Kingdom.  It’s located on beautiful Bay Lake, with a stunning view of the towering spires of Cinderella’s Castle across the lake.  And it’s got what are generally considered to be among the best Disney resort restaurants on site–Ohana and Kona Cafe.

Torchlighting Ceremony

Sadly, my budget could not afford the $400+ per night price tag of staying at the Polynesian Resort, so I decided the next best thing would be to spend an evening here.  I would go early enough to catch the Tiki Torch Lighting Ceremony at 6pm, explore the grounds taking photos, have a drink at the Tambu Lounge, dinner at Kona Cafe, and hang out until the Electric Water Pageant at 9pm.  To me, it sounded like an idyllic evening at Disney World.  Well, you know what they say about the best-laid plans….

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Coral Reef

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of dining in Epcot’s Coral Reef restaurant, located in the Living Seas section of Future World.  I chose to have lunch there for two reasons: The underwater aquarium view and a particular item on the menu that doesn’t appear to be served anywhere else on Disney property. As I was researching my dining choices online, I ran across tons of negative reviews for this restaurant. This made me a little nervous. But finally, I decided it was worth the risk, and I would just make up my own mind about it.

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Columbia Harbour House

So far, all my reviews from my trip to Disney World have been pretty positive.  But as we all know, nothing is perfect, not even Disney.  So I thought it was about time I examined something I found less than perfect on my trip.  I have mentioned before that I’m not a huge fan of Disney’s counter service restaurants, and this trip really didn’t change that opinion.  My first counter service meal was dinner at Columbia Harbour House at the Magic Kingdom.  I’d read the menu at Allears.net and decided the Lighthouse Sandwich sounded terrific (and healthy).  Here’s what I thought of the restaurant:

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As I mentioned in my last post, I discovered two favorite new restaurants during my recent Disney World trip, Sanaa at Kidani Village and Todd English’s Bluezoo at the Dolphin on the Boardwalk.  This post reviews my experience at Bluezoo.

Before I left on my trip, I was interacting with other Disney travelers on the DIS Boards and mentioned that I would be interested in meeting other visiting solos during that time period for a drink or meal.  (I enjoy my solo time, but I also like a little socializing time on my trips.)  A woman from the UK, Clare, emailed me and took me up on the offer, suggesting dinner at Bluezoo on Saturday night.

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