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Portraits and Costumes at Be Our Guest Restaurant & Gaston’s Tavern in New Fantasyland

UPDATE: Read about the Opening Date for Be Our Guest Restaurant and Reservations Info!

A few new details popped up today from the most eagerly anticipated restaurants on the Disney World docket right now — Be Our Guest Restaurant and Gaston’s Tavern in Magic Kingdom’s New Fantasyland.

Be Our Guest Restaurant

This counter-service/table-service hybrid will be opening in time for the holidays in late 2012. Serving a menu of new twists on French classics, the restaurant will be situated at the base of Beast’s Castle in the Beauty and the Beast section of the New Fantasyland.

While dining in the three gorgeous dining rooms (the Library, the West Wing, and the Ballroom), guests will be enchanted with original artwork and theme elements like this incredible portrait of the Beast himself.

Portrait of The Beast at Be Our Guest Restaurant

Pretty, eh? In fact, it’s kind of beautiful. The first thing that strikes the onlooker is the focus on the Beast’s human eyes, foreshadowing the mystery of the story. Very cool, Imagineers, very cool.

Add this to the other incredible details in the restaurant and you’ve got a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. See more details of decor and other information here:

New Be Our Guest Restaurant Pictures from Disney World
News! Be Our Guest Restaurant Menu and Reservations Update in Fantasyland
Be Our Guest Restaurant Video — Another Look INSIDE!
Sneak Peek! Disney’s Be Our Guest Restaurant Ballroom!
Be Our Guest Restaurant to Open By The Holiday Season in Disney World
Disney World’s “Be Our Guest Restaurant” to Open in Late 2012

Gaston’s Tavern

Not much has been said about this counter-service spot, also in the Beauty and the Beast area of the New Fantasyland.

Gaston's Tavern Concept Art

Gaston's Tavern Model

But we have recently caught a glimpse of the [Read more…]

La Hacienda de San Angel Grand Opening and Food Pictures

By AJ 14 Comments

Living in Texas, I don’t have the opportunity to attend the openings of Disney’s restaurants; but boy did I get lucky on this one! Thank you to the WDW Today Podcast for allowing me to publish pics from their coverage. Check out their twitter stream to see more great pics from the Grand Opening at Epcot’s La Hacienda de San Angel!

Restaurant Info
The backstory behind La Hacienda de San Angel is that a Mexican family restored an old hacienda and wanted to open it to guests and serve food. The beautiful artwork and pottery throughout the hacienda are meant to be created by the house’s artistic owner. La Cantina de San Angel, the counter-service restaurant outside of the Hacienda, is part of the story as well — it was supposedly created to serve the overflow from the hacienda!

La Hacienda will be serving dinner from 4pm each night and will offer an incredible view of the Illuminations fireworks. During the day, it will serve as indoor seating for La Cantina de San Angel, which will serve lunch and dinner daily.

Main dining room

Just a reminder, La Hacienda de San Angel is now open for business for walk-in guests. You can also make reservations for dates after October 15th via Disney’s reservations system! You can see the the La Hacienda de San Angel Menu here. You can see La Cantina de San Angel’s menu here!

Grand Opening Celebration
Here are some incredible pictures from the Grand Opening Celebration:

Mickey and Donald Helped with the Ribbon Cutting

Margarita Bar

Tequila Scorpion

Shrimp Taco

More photos after the jump! [Read more…]

Disney Food Post Round Up: September 5, 2010

By AJ Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Disney Food Post Round-Up! Our favorite piece of news this week is that the tarps have come down from around La Hacienda de San Angel in Epcot’s Mexico!

Check out these gorgeous photos of La Hacienda de San Angel in Disney World’s Epcot. Also, check out this interior concept art!

The restaurant should be opening in mid-September (15th or 16th). Reservations will be available for dates after Oct. 15th. For more details and menus for La Hacienda de San Angel and La Cantina de San Angel, check out our La Hacienda de San Angel info page.

Also in the news — save some space for Orlando Magical Dining Month! $30, 3-course meals with part of the profits donated to charity! Take advantage all through September. AND, if you’re in northern Cali, head over to the Walt Disney Family Museum for a film and food tribute to the Bay Area!

And now, on to the round-up!

Orlando Sentinel‘s Daily Disney blog posted info about our very own upcoming WDW Foodie Fest! Check it out! We’re famous! (Thanks to “A Mom and the Mouse” writer, Kristin Ford!)

Cakewrecks has takes another look at Disney cakes gone wrong!

WDW Character Hunt shares the rumor that Special Agent Oso (a la Playhouse Disney) will be replacing Jo Jo at Hollywood and Vine’s Play and Dine Character meal.

Main St. Gazette takes us to Tusker House for dinner!

BritMick laments the lack of a good cuppa on Disney property — and gives her solution to the problem.

The Givens Chronicles is posting one recipe per week from the 2009 Epcot Food and Wine Festival all this month! This week’s recipe? Mango Lassi from India!

A Taste of Wonderland follows Disney World’s Chef TJ to his new digs — the Grand Floridian’s 1900 Park Fare!

Eating Around the World reviews Coral Reef Restaurant in Epcot.

Samland’s Disney Adventures takes a look at Disneyland’s Roastie-Toasties!

Vintage Disneyland Tickets has a Spring 1970 copy of the Disney News, which includes this great historical find — find out how Disneyland feeds “those enormous appetites” of the guests!

Cooking With Mickey celebrates her anniversary at Club 33 in Disneyland!

Makin’ Memories brings us to Disney World’s ‘Ohana for breakfast!

Deb’s Digest, Deb Wills’ personal blog on AllEars.net, showcases Jim, the fun-loving Casey’s Corner pianist.

Touring Plans Blog‘s Tom Bricker has a food photo face-off, while blogger Kristen Helmstetter brings us to Epcot’s Via Napoli!

Eating (and Drinking) Around the World has some pics of the new Epcot F&W Festival pins!

WDW Magic has some news about menu changes at Animal Kingdom’s Restaurantosaurus.

Thanks to Global Disney Pinvestigation for sending Hacienda pics!

Disney Food Post Round-Up: August 29, 2010

By AJ Leave a Comment

Grilled Pineapple Vanilla Gazpacho from a 2009 F&W Demo

As always, let’s start this round-up with the latest Disney food news:

The 2010 WDW Foodie Fest location revealed
Booking is now open for low-cost seminars and demonstrations at the 2010 Epcot Food & Wine Festival
Chef Mickey’s is offering character lunches for a limited time
Trail’s End Restaurant lunch has switched from a buffet to an a la carte menu beginning today
Tables in Wonderland has added four new restaurants to it’s list of participating eateries
Don’t forget: September is Magical Dining Month in Orlando!

And now, on to the round-up!

Global Disney Pinvestigation previews the holiday Gingerbread pins for us! Can’t wait to see the depicted Gingerbread structures built in the resorts!

Daveland has some incredible vintage shots of Disneyland’s Plaza Inn.

Disney Turkey Leg

All’s Fare Food Blog has an account of her turkey leg experience!

Kevin Kidney reprints a piece where Mickey, Goofy, and Donald help you with your summer cook-out.

Babes in Disneyland takes a look at the Disneyland picnic area — great suggestion for a birthday party!

Disney Every Day takes us on a photo tour of Epcot’s Via Napoli! (More bathrooms!)

A Taste of Disney shares a video and recipe for a Liberty Tree Tavern favorite.

Main Street Gazette threatens my diet with these Chocolate-chip Peanut Butter Mickey Mouse cookies.

Touring Plans‘ blogger Ryan K. delves into doing the Dining Plan with kids.

Pee Dee Foodie shares a story about a special postcard at the Polynesian Resort.

Disney Parks Blog has a list of Moms Panelists’ favorite coffee spots in Disney World.

Have a great week, all!

2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Fisherman’s Stew

By AJ 7 Comments

Disney’s showcasing another menu item from the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival — the Lobster and Scallop Fisherman’s Stew from the Ireland Booth!

Lobster and Scallop Fisherman's Pie

Also on the menu in Ireland this year are:
Kerrygold® Cheese Selection (click here for photo)
Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Baileys Irish Cream Ganache (click here for photo)
Guinness Draught
Bunratty Honey Meade Wine (click here for photo)

Click here to see more 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Menus and photos!

Thanks to Stitch Kingdom for the heads up!

Sweet Starts: Belgian Waffle Preview for 2010 Epcot Food & Wine Festival

By AJ 10 Comments

The brand new Belgium Booth at the 2010 Epcot Food & Wine Festival will offer freshly baked waffles with berry compote and whipped cream paired with Godiva chocolate iced coffee.

Belgian Waffle From New Belgium Kiosk at F&W Festival

Head over to our Belgium Booth page to see a pic of the Godiva chocolate iced coffee!

The United States pavilion also showcases a delicious new dish this year: a sampling of heirloom tomatoes with Oregon blue cheese, red onions and fresh basil. Click here for photo: [Read more…]

First Look! Epcot Via Napoli Pictures

By AJ 14 Comments

Hey all! As we reported, Monday was Via Napoli‘s first day open to walk-in guests, and — lucky us — we got some pics from some wonderful DFB readers! Check out these fantastic photos:

First, a few external shots. You can see that Via Napoli has a completely different “look and feel” from the rest of the Italy pavilion. It’s much more “movie-set” than what you see to the right and left.

How Via Napoli Fits In With The Rest of Italy

A Close Up Shot of the Exterior

Lots of Folks In and Out of Italy Today

Heading inside, you’re greeted by a large lobby and a massive check-in desk. You can see the whole restaurant through the windows of the lobby, and the decor and themeing are colorful as well as light and “airy.” It feels somewhat more like “farmhouse” Italy with a contemporary twist; the brightness of the restaurants, high ceilings, and accent colors remind me a lot of Naples in Disneyland, a sister restaurant to Via Napoli run by the same company — The Patina Group.

Check In Area

Lobby Chandelier

Lobby Tile

Lobby Tile Close Up

Servers

From here, you enter into the expanse of the restaurant proper. To your right, you’ll find a room covered in an “aged” fresco depicting nature scenes, trees, grasses, and blue sky. In the center of this part of the restaurant, you’ll find acqua fresca containers holding strawberry, lemon, and blood orange flavors. Outside some double doors is an [Read more…]

Getting It Your Way

By admin Leave a Comment

Disney is on a customization kick. You can get customized t-shirts, customized park tickets, customized dining plans…you can even customize your Mickey Ear Hats now!

So this is why I insist I should be able to customize my meals as well! I’m one of those picky eaters who never orders directly off the menu. I’m always adding here, substituting there…it’s likely very annoying, yet oddly commonplace for the restaurant waitstaff to have to deal with vacationers like me.

The Perfect Sundae

But Disney CMs overall are well-trained to endure crazies like myself, and make me feel entirely comfortable to customize my meals willy-nilly. One of my favorite places to do this is Beaches and Cream, where they’ll gladly create for me my very own dessert creation! This is a ginormous brownie topped with ice cream, hot fudge, and peanut butter. C’mon. You know you want it!

Beaches and Cream Counter

Beaches and Cream is located at Disney’s Beach Club resort, in the Epcot resort area. There are only a few tables in this ice cream parlor (which also serves burgers, hot dogs, and the like), and they don’t take reservations, so arrive during off-hours to cut your wait. Open 11am-11pm.

And don’t forget to order the famous Kitchen Sink, made with every flavor of ice cream, topping, and candy they have in the joint and topped with a whole can of whipped cream!

Kitchen Sink (c Rough Guides)

Butterscotch Sundae

Disney + Food = Happiness

By admin Leave a Comment

We all love pictures, so I’ll post as many as I can. PLEASE send in yours as well–[email protected]–and be sure to let me know how to credit your work in the blog!

My favorite thing to do in Disney World is eat. And you should admit right now that you love it, too. I don’t know about you, but my Disney Vacation starts with restaurant planning, and I’ll take any opinions I can get (especially if there are pictures attached to the opinions!).

'Ohana Barbeque

Here’s hoping that this blog will give you a little “taste” of what’s available for your tummies at Walt Disney World. Whether you’re eating table-service (where a waiter brings your food) or counter service (as in: fast food), there are high-brow, low-brow, hoity toity, and down home options. Whatever type of food you want, you can likely get it (or something close to it) at Disney World.