Quick-service dining at Walt Disney World

If you've read last week's snacktastic post, you'll already know that the Disney Dining Plan was tagged on to our holiday booking this year and we took full advantage of all the delights it offered us.

We had 14 quick-service credits each to use up over the two weeks. A quick-service restaurant is usually a cafeteria-style or counter-service venue where you order or take the food items that you want, pay for your food then sit down to eat your meal. A quick-service meal for two can range from roughly $20 to $40.

14 quick-service credits for a fortnight might sound very manageable if you've never seen the size of the average quick-service portion... they're pretty big, even for me. Bearing in mind that we also had 14 table service credits to use during the two weeks, we had to do some serious meal planning! Luckily, food is always one of our highlights on every holiday which means we love meal planning and talking about where we're going to eat next.

Here's a photographic summary of the quick-service restaurants where we used our credits this year...

D-Luxe Burger in Disney Springs is one of our favourite quick-service restaurants which is why we ate here three times! You get a burger and a drink with your quick-service credit and we used snack credits for the chips. 

You really can't go wrong with an Earl of Sandwich and we ate here three times too. Although we should technically only have a sandwich/wrap and a drink with our credit according to DDP rules, Earl of Sandwich also throws in a snack (such as a fruit pot or a packet of crisps). 

Orange chicken from the Lotus Blossom Cafe in Epcot's China pavilion. Amazing quality! 

Quick-service credits are always useful when you want to eat a quick breakfast at your resort. Here's the amazing bacon and egg croissant from The Artist's Palette at Saratoga Springs! 

My standard breakfast at The Artist's Palette on our first and last day... I promise you that Mickey-shaped waffles taste better than normal-shaped waffles. 

Pepperoni flatbread from The Artist's Palette for lunch.

Our first meal at PizzeRizzo in Hollywood Studios. PizzeRizzo replaced Pizza Planet in 2016 but the pizzas in both restaurants are suspiciously similar!

We also ate at the Flame Tree Barbecue in Animal Kingdom but I didn't take a photo as we ate our meal outside and it was dark... I'm far too much of a perfectionist when it comes to my beloved food photos. 

In spite of our careful planning and excessive eating, we had two quick-service credits left at the end of the holiday. When this happens, you're given the option to exchange each quick-service credit for three snack credits. This enabled us to choose six big bags of Disney sweets to take home with us, free of charge. 

What's your favourite quick-service restaurant in Walt Disney World? I'll be blogging about table service restaurants next time so keep a look out for that! 

A-Z of Walt Disney World - Food and Drink!

After researching and writing my A-Z of Walt Disney World post, I realised that I had enough spare entries under each letter to write a separate post focused just on food/drink at Walt Disney World. I'm not sure what type of person that makes me... moving swiftly on!

I had to cheat with a few of the more difficult letters, but I'm proud of my huge range of food and drink photos for the most part. Enjoy!

A - ABC Commissary

B - Beaches and Cream

C - Churro

D - Dockside Margaritas

E - Earl of Sandwich

F - Forty Thirst Street Express

G - Ghirardelli

H - Hot Dog

I - Ice cube cocktails

J - Jumbo cinnamon roll

K - Karamell-Küche

L - Le Fou's Brew

M - Mickey Pretzel

N - Nine Dragons

O - Olivia's

P - Pina Colada Slush

Q - Queen of Strawberry Ice Cream

R - Refillable Mug

S - Shula's Steakhouse

T - Tony's

U - Unlimited free drinks

V - Vanilla Cheesecake

W - Waffle

X - Xtra Large Dessert

Y - Yum... those onion rings!

Z - piZZa

What's your favourite food at Walt Disney World? Will you be writing a similar gluttonous post? Send me your links if so!

Disneyland Paris... these are a few of my favourite things #1

We went to Disneyland Paris at the beginning of December and I can't believe I haven't blogged about it yet! It was a lovely break just before Christmas and I really enjoyed the experience of going on holiday in December. Having been to Florida's Walt Disney World twice, it was interesting to compare the two locations and to have a different Disney holiday slightly closer to home.

I don't think we'll ever to go Florida's Walt Disney World so close to Christmas as we like going there when it's hot. Consequently, I'm so glad I got to experience all the Christmas parades, decorations and so on in Disneyland Paris. Disney and Christmas really is a magical combination and I'm pretty obsessed with both!

Here are a few of my favourite things about Disneyland Paris... I decided to split my list into two posts as I wanted to share so many photos. Enjoy the first instalment!

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Sleeping Beauty's castle is the majestic showpiece of Paris' Disneyland Park and it really is a beautiful spectacle. I mostly love the fact that it's pink! It's surrounded by lots of greenery which adds to its fairytale aura, and the different levels and turrets are so immacutely detailed. You can even climb an internal staircase to the first level of the castle which gives you a lovely view of the park and a closer view of the castle's beautiful turrets. The castle also looks amazing once it gets dark... you really have to be there to appreciate its full beauty at night as photographs can't do it justice!

Space Mountain 

I love this ride in Florida's Magic Kingdom, and this version is even better! I screamed with sheer joy throughout this entire ride and we went on as many times as the queue would allow. The vast majority of this ride is conducted in darkness, as the name suggests... I think that might be why I love it so much. You just never know what's coming! It's full of sharp turns and drops and you do feel quite bruised at the end of it as a result of being bumped around so much, but I just love it. You absolutely HAVE to try it if you ever visit either Disneyland Paris or Walt Disney World. 

Disney Village

The Disney Village is a mini version of Florida's Downtown Disney and we spent lots of time here. It's conveniently located in between both parks so it was a nice place to wander to for lunch or for a break from the long queues. It was also a good place to run to during the heavy rain on our second day! The Disney Village is full of restaurants, shops and bars, including a MASSIVE Earl of Sandwich restaurant, a Rainforest Cafe, and several huge Disney Stores. It also had little huts scattered along the walkways which sold coffee, mulled wine, pretzels, doughnuts, muffins and so on. These added to the Christmassy atmosphere, particularly the mulled wine! 

Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy

The Ratatouille ride is the newest attraction in Disneyland Paris and is hugely popular. We ran for this ride as soon as the park opened so only had to queue for half an hour or so, but the queue was already up to nearly two hours by the time we'd finished on the ride. This Parisian area of the park is so well designed and it's very authentic. Ratatouille is one of my favourite Pixar films so I really loved this simulator ride. It's very unique, as well as being amazingly and intricately designed (like most things in any Disney park). It's a family friendly ride but I still screamed quite a lot... I think I just like screaming on rides to convey my joy. This ride doesn't exist in Florida so it was great to experience something totally new and innovative. Another ride you definitely shouldn't miss!  

Christmas parade 

I love Christmas and I love a good parade. As you'd expect from any Disney parade, this one was beautifully orchestrated with perfect details. There was even some fake snow! The parade featured lots of my favourite characters (including Eeyore!) and the music made me want to dance and jump around...  not much makes me want to dance and jump around in public, believe me. We just happened to stumble upon lots of crowds lining the main street in Disneyland Park one afternoon and realised that the parade was starting in ten minutes. Impeccable timing, and we even managed to get a brilliant standing spot. Disney Christmas parades are definitely the best parades. 

I hope you've enjoyed reading about a few of my favourite things in Disneyland Paris... look out for my follow-up post in a few days on another five favourite things!

Florida and food...

One of my favourite things about going on holiday is knowing that I can eat as much as I want without feeling guilty. I always make a big effort to eat healthily during the week when I'm at home, so it's nice to relax the rules when I'm on holiday. Calories don't count when you're abroad, right?

The food in Florida is absolutely immense and I couldn't even begin to describe all the meals I ate there... you'd probably think I was disgusting if I detailed everything I ate. Or you'd be very very jealous.

I thought I'd compile a list of my top five restaurants, then I realised that I couldn't really narrow it down to a top five because there are so many fantastic places to eat in Orlando. So... I've attempted to rank my favourite five restaurants, but I added a load of notable mentions too to make sure I didn't leave anything out. I didn't take many photos of my food unfortunately, but I can assure you that it was all amazing.

1. Portobello, Downtown Disney

We ate in Portobello on our last night, and we definitely saved the best until last. I had beef and veal meatballs in a tomato sauce to start, and spinach and ricotta ravioli for my main course. We were also given some bread rolls with olive oil and roasted garlic... I'm still drooling at the thoughts of this amazing meal. Words can't actually describe it. We didn't have room for dessert unfortunately, but we did splash out on a bottle of Pinot Grigio as it was our last night. This was also Neil's favourite meal of the holiday, and we'll definitely be returning at least once next time we go to Florida. 20 out of 10!

2. The Cheesecake Factory, Mall at Millenia

The Cheesecake Factory isn't actually in Disney World but it's an absolute must if you're ever visiting Orlando. It's located in Mall at Millenia, and it's definitely not just about the cheesecake... although that's pretty good too. Their menu is about 20 pages long, and you really do have to spend about fifteen minutes deciding what you want. I went for a grilled chicken and avocado sandwich for my main course and the Oreo cheesecake for my dessert. You might be thinking that a sandwich is just a sandwich, but this is definitely the best sandwich I've ever had in my life. Don't even get me started on the cheesecake... it was absolutely spectacular. I took it back to the resort with me and took three days to finish it!

3. The Rainforest Cafe, Downtown Disney

Again, this is a restaurant you absolutely have to visit if you're in the area. It's a very unique restaurant as the interior actually makes you feel as if you're in a rainforest... there are even fake earthquakes and volcano eruptions from time to time! I had an amazing Italian sausage and mozzarella pasta in a tomato sauce, and I definitely didn't need a starter or a dessert to go with this massive main course. They do lovely cocktails too!

4. Perkins, Crossroads

Perkins is situated just outside the gates to Walt Disney World and is hugely popular with tourists and locals alike. We went for breakfast at Perkins twice... I had a bacon, egg and cheese melt with hash browns the first time and strawberry pancakes the second time. I ate every bite of the bacon, egg and cheese melt as it was probably the best breakfast I've ever had. However, I only managed one and a half pancakes as my stomach doesn't seem to let me eat any more than that before getting full. This is very gutting for me as their pancakes are delicious!

5. Via Napoli, Epcot

Need I say any more after sharing this picture? This pepperoni pizza was big enough for both of us to share and is one of the best pizzas I've ever had. I know I keep saying that about all the food I eat in Florida, but it's so true! I also had lovely mozzarella and risotto balls to start in Via Napoli, but the starters are always slightly overshadowed (literally) by this immense pizza. The pizza dough was absolutely perfect, and the pepperoni was really tasty and wasn't dripping with grease. No other pizza will ever satisfy me!

Notable mentions:

Nine Dragons Restaurant, Epcot's World Showcase

We ate here three times!

Earl of Sandwich, Downtown Disney

Pictures will never do it justice.

Ghirardelli's, Downtown Disney

Might have eaten four of these during the holiday...

Be our Guest, Magic Kingdom

An amazing and authentic dining experience... and I met the Beast!

Karamell-Kuche, Epcot's World Showcase

I wanted EVERYTHING... I settled for some chocolate covered grapes. 

Good's Food to Go, Old Key West

Good old American food!

The Plaza, Magic Kingdom

Lovely burger and New York cheesecake... first meal after we got engaged :)

Churros and pretzels, everywhere!

Are you hungry yet? The big question is... how did I only put on 2lbs?!