If I asked “Where is the most magical place on Earth?” I might get pretty good amount of interesting answers that I would love to visit. But, one of them would definitely the World Disney World (in my opinion, at least)! I have been to Disney Land in CA and also in Japan, but now that I think of it, I don’t think I have ever visited Disney World. I know, I know. I finally got the chance to visit the magical resort! You can also check out Eats in Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios too!
We went during the off season in January, but the resort was still embracing the holiday spirit. And with all the time, effort, and money that went into decorating the theme parks and resort, why not leave them up for as long as possible? I was very happy to see the holiday decorations everywhere. The first theme park we visited was of course the main one, Magic Kingdom! With our MagicBand on our wrist, loaded with FastPass+, we headed to the magical world bright and early!
We had two missions; getting on as many rides (that we like) as possible, and getting all the staple foods offered at Magic Kingdom. And since this is a food blog, I will tell you about all the food that we had at Magic Kingdom. The first stop was at Gaston’s Tavern. A water fountain statue of Gaston and LeFou welcomed us.
We were here for breakfast, and menu was quite simple. They do have special LeFou’s Brew in souvenir Stein, that is, if you are willing to carry it around the entire day… They had a small room to the left with dartboard on the wall. If you pay attention, it as a score board of Gaston vs. LeFou. You know who is winning. To the right is the main, large dining room with the iconic fireplace and the chair. Yes we did sit on the huge chair for some fun photos. The ambiance was great, if there was no other tourists, it was as if you really did walked into THE Gaston’s Tavern from the movie!
Now, the food. Again, we were on our mission to try out so many staple food items from this theme park, we had to keep it small…so that we can continue to eat throughout the day! We god the LeFou’s Brew ($5.79) without the souvenir Stein, Chocolate Croissant ($3.99), and Warm Cinnamon Roll ($5.29). I was not planning to get the Cinnamon Roll, until I saw someone else get it. It looked sooo good!
LeFou’s Brew is made with frozen apple juice with a hint of toasted marshmallow and topped with all-natural passion fruit mango foam. It was really good, tasty but quite sweet. Some say this is their version or similar to the Butterbeer, and I can see why. I had Frozen Butterbeer at Three Broomsticks, and Butterbeer Potted Cream at Leakey Cauldron in Universal Studios, and the flavor and texture reminded me of these. The mango foam was fun, and I enjoyed how it was like a slushy. It was great to share it with someone, as it would be too much sugar for one person.
Chocolate Croissant was a-ok, not fantastic but tasty enough. Flakey and with a good amount of chocolate filling and drizzle.
Warm Cinnamon Roll was huge! Rightfully so at Gaston, a good size for a big, strong man…or for some hungry foodies like us. Super soft and fluffy, moist with gooey drizzle of frosting… yum! This one was surprisingly good!
For lunch, we went to Be Our Guest. We had reservation, which is recommended if you are going there at busy time, especially if you are there during peak season. They had a staff in purple servant’s uniform at the entrance, guiding us and welcoming us.
We could see the Beast’s Castle, quite exciting! We walked towards the castle as the scary gargoyles watched us… During the peak season, the line to this restaurant can be quite long.
But lucky for us, we just walked right to the door! They had cute stained glass around the door frame. And a staff was here to welcome you to the castle as well.
Once inside, we had to stand in a short line in the hallway, alongside the armored guards. Wait, did that one just move? No he didn’t…maybe… There was a screen in the waiting area where it shows how to order food.
When you get to the front of the line, a staff will ask how many are in your party, and then instruct you to go to the numbered ordering station. This room was quite grand, have the Beauty and The Beast feel to it a bit.
We could see the main dining area in the next room, but we must order here first. Now, I thought this was more of a “real” restaurant, where you sit and order at the table with your server. But no… You order at the ordering station with touch pad, pay, and take the receipt with you, and choose your seat.
Even though I was disappointed with the un-formal setting at this castle, the WOW factor of the main Grand Ballroom was certainly there. It was quite beautiful! The super high ceiling, the unmistakable chandelier, and all the details were simply gorgeous and amazing. The windows are not real windows, but digital screens showing the night-scene in the cold Winter. It snowed outside while we were there…
My favorite part of this room was definitely the chandelier and the art on the ceiling. Perfection, really, to any Beauty and The Beast fans. I wish if I could bring my sister there who is a die-fan of the movie.
Even though this dining room is massive, they actually have two additional rooms. Off to the left of the Grand Ballroom was the West Wing, yes, the forbidden room with THE rose! This room was quite dark, I lightened the photos so you can see what it looks like, but it was dark in there…
And by the large window they had the rose in the glass case…well, digital version of it, at least. The outside the window is also night time here, and the digital screens sometimes show lightening and you can here thunder. If you are want to dine in a dark with mysterious, a bit freighting scene from the movie, this room will be it.
Off to the right of the Grand Ballroom was the Castle Gallery. This room had all the iconic scenes on the walls. Very cheery, a bit more traditional look.
And in the center of the room, larger-than-life figures of Belle and Beast are dancing under the moon light… The figures are sitting on a rotating base, so you can see them turn, or “dancing” as you eat.
As I mentioned, this is not a real sit down, order with your server kind of restaurant. With that, a lot of things are self-service, including getting your own beverages that you ordered. They had a counter alongside a wall with napkins, utensils, drink machines, etc., all at one spot. There is no assigned seat, so find a seat wherever you want. You won’t be giving a number or anything at the time of order, so make sure to have your receipt out and available for the staffs to see it. With that, the food delivery can be interesting… and tricky. They will come around with a tray of food that have been ordered, and then they have to find you. I know… They somehow knew the vicinity of where you are, so once they are near, they start asking everyone around there if the food they are delivering belongs to them.
They serve French-inspired dishes here. We ordered French Onion Soup ($7.99) and Croque Monsieur ($14.99). I must say, they didn’t really have much of enticing lunch menu…
French Onion Soup was surprisingly delicious! Melty cheese that goes and goes, with hot bread that soaked up all the goodness. A good amount of onion slices in there, but not too much. The soup had really great earthy flavor to it, so good!
Croque Monsieur is described as grilled sandwich of carved ham, gruyere, and béchamel with pommes frits. This one was not as good as the soup. It was more like ham sandwich with cheese sauce… Grain bread was nice but overall, it fell short of our expectations.
But, we were actually there for desserts more than anything. The first dessert of choice was Lemon Meringue Cupcake ($4.99). My hubby loves lemon meringue… This one was made with vanilla sponge cake, lemon custard filling, and flamed meringue icing. It was a-ok. If you are not careful, the meringue on top will slide off! It was basically a sponge cake with lemon custard cream in the inside, topped with torched meringue. It had a nice lemon flavor, sweet and fluffy. The meringue was quite sticky… it gets on everything! Wet-naps, anyone?
But, the main items we came here for… The “Grey Stuff”!!! You know, in the movie, Lumière says to Belle “try the grey stuff, it’s delicious!” Well, we are here to be a judge of that… And also find out what exactly is “grey stuff”?? It is called The Master’s Cupcake ($4.99), chocolate sponge cake topped with Lumiere’s grey stuff. Well, ok…
So, it is a chocolate sponge cake topped with cookies-and-cream mousse. Yes, it is made with chocolate cookie crumbles, cream, and a few other ingredients. Hence the grey color. Mystery solved! It was decorated with a few crisp pearls, making it extra fancy. Well, it looked nice, but nothing really special.
It was certainly special to have the experience of dining here, and trying the “grey stuff” in the castle! The staffs were nice and polite, always walking around, cleaning tables. Efficient! And another WOW factor was right at the exit. They had this beautiful stained-glass-looking art on the wall. Not made with glass, but in mosaic. Super pretty!
You don’t have to go to a restaurant to get some Disney Staple food. There are several confectionary and gift shops on main street, where you can get your hands on some. You can even watch them make the Micky or Minnie Candy Apple being made right in front of your eyes!
If you are too stuffed at the moment, but still want some kind of staple food? Not to worry, they have that covered too! They now have so many cute little plush toys, bags, magnets and other non-food items in the shape of their staple foods!
Now, a small number of them might have come from a delicious imagination… Or, maybe they are some food items that are offered at other Disney Land or Resort that Walt Disney World in Orland does not have… But regardless, they are just so darn cute!
We bought a collection of Disney food magnets and patches. How adorable and awesome are these??? We were very happy with our purchase!
But the BEST purchase of the entire trip to Walt Disney World Resort was this mini backpack by Loungefly. Yes, it in beautiful deep blue, and yes, it has all the Disney staple snacks on it!!! OMG!!! Was this backpack made for me? Is this my backpack soulmate? I just had to have it, and my sweet hubby knew how to spoil me and make happy. Thank you my love!
Ok, back to real food. We visited Sleepy Hollow for some snacks. I wanted some kind of ice cream, and something a bit more filling. I found the best options from here, Ice Cream Churro Sandwich ($6.99) and Fresh Fruit Waffle Sandwich with Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread ($8.29). A nice big scoop of ice cream was placed gently between warm churro “buns” which in itself was like a sweet dream…but then, it kind of get the ice cream to kind of melts a bit faster than regular ice cream sandwich. So, don’t ogle at it for too long! It was quite sweet as you can imagine. The cinnamon sugar mixed with vanilla ice cream was precious. Fruit waffle sandwich might not look like much, but it also has gooey chocolate-hazelnut spread (like Nutella)! So it was like a Nutella and fruits crepe, but made with waffle! It was quite good too! The waffle had a slight crunchy texture on the edges, but still soft and moist in the middle. Sweet but not overly sweet. All the fruits were nice and ripe, sweet and juicy!
After enjoying few more rides, we made our way over to The Lunching Pad. The item we wanted from here was the Mickey Pretzel ($6.59). It was a pretty good size, not too large not small. And most of all, super cute!!! It came with cheese dip, but they have all the condiments like mustard nearby if you want other options. It was warm, fluffy, chewy and tasty! The cheese dip added additional substance to it, so it was a bit more filling than I thought.
It was getting dark, and about the time we got onto a few more rides, it was really dark. It is January, after all. One staple item we haven’t had was the Dole Whip. We went over to Aloha Isle Refreshments and got ourselves one Pineapple Float ($5.99). It is Dole Pineapple Juice, topped with Pineapple Dole Whip. I was a bit thirsty, so I wanted some liquid. So, we went with the float instead of getting just the Dole Whip. Besides, why just get a Dole Whip when you can get it on top of pineapple juice?! I’ve had Dole Whip at other spots outside Disney World, but I must say, Dole Whip here is THE best!!! It had small bits of pineapple in it, and so creamy and velvety, such a delight! The juice also enhanced the pineapple flavor. Super refreshing, perfect dessert!
Another thing I really wanted to have was the Mickey Crispy Treat ($5.49). I’ve always loved rice crispy treats, so I had to get at least one of them in the Micky shape… They were offered everywhere, so it was not hard to find. We finally got one from one of the shops in Main Street. They had several colors and flavors, we decided on this shiny blue one. It tasted like a blueberry chocolate. So good!
We stayed late to watch their magnificent firework show, Happily Ever After. It was really quite spectacular, and goes on for almost 20 minutes! it showed many of the classis Disney films projected onto the Cinderella Castle, really amazing! And yes, the fireworks lighting up the sky like there is no tomorrow. It was fantastic and very memorable.
About the time the firework show ends, most of all the shops and eateries close their doors. Most of the eateries actually closes much earlier. But, we found one spot that I had my eye on the entire day on Main Street that was still open! It was Casey’ Corner, in the good ole’ American Baseball theme. And with that, they offer baseball favorites such as hot dogs, corn dog nuggets and French fries.
I liked the old-fashioned interior here, really sets the mood. What it didn’t have was enough seating… They did have seating outside, but it was really dark out there so we were hoping to sit inside. Unfortunately, all the seats were taken and no one was moving. So we headed right outside, which was fine.
I wanted their Corn Dog Nugget. They offer this as a “meal” which includes fries. So, we got Corn Dog Nugget Meal ($8.99). It was the perfect comfort snack for a late night! I also wanted their foot-long chilly cheese dog that looked really tasty, but our stomach couldn’t handle it… I learned after we have already gotten our food that we could’ve upgraded our fries it to loaded fries for additional cost. We missed out on that…
And that is a wrap! We had so much fun here at Magic Kingdom, and consumed as much food as we could. It is always good to have someone to share it with, so that you can try few more food items than you can on your own. Not to mention the great memories you will be sharing together as well. I know Walt Disney World continue to change up their food offerings, so you can always get something new and different each time you visit. We will be back in a five years or so, and looking forward to tasting all sorts of great food and snacks again!
Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World – 1180 Seven Seas Dr, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830