Best Disney World Restaurants 2023

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[1:07] Welcome back to another meeting of the Gold Key Adventurer Society.
My name is Dan Leonard. Hi, Dan.
And joining me this week in the studio is Hatter Strait.
Hiya. And Mr. Jeff Williams. Hey, that's me.
Still, after 177 episodes, but who's counting? I am, apparently.
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Well, now the dining plans are back at Walt Disney World. Woo-hoo! They are?
The Brock the Vegan. Oh. Or you sit that Alzheimer's because we don't remember last week's episode.
Oh man, somebody get grandpa his medicine. Well, anyway, it's time to start planning all the tasty meals you're going to use those dining credits on in 2024.
We're kicking off a bit of a summer of Disney dining this week with a look at our favorite underrated quick service and table service restaurants around Walt Disney World, as well as a few spots that we think might be totally overrated and not worth spending your precious meal credits on.
We also want to share with you a couple of new or newly updated spots that Heather and Jeff, think you really should check out on your next, the next time you visit Walt Disney World.

[2:29] Yeah, you can't really tell it's a look at me, but I do love to eat food.
That's true. I think all three of us do. and, There are plenty of spots, so many spots. We've undertaken a many years long challenge to try every bit of food and beverage at Walt Disney World just for you guys.
It's crazy too, and there's so many that I just wind up loving and continuing to go back to.
It's hard for me to try all the new places, or places that aren't even new, I just haven't gone to yet, because I keep going back to the ones I love.
How far along in that quest do you think you all are? Like what percentage of...
Oh, gosh eateries. Have you I'd say maybe 70% probably. Yeah, that's just a massive absolute, Out of nowhere ballpark. Yes, pretty accurate though.

[3:18] Carts and windows and No, I don't do a lot of window stuff. I tend to be a, eat till I Want to die in a big meal. I don't do a lot of snacking because I eat big meals I get it. I should do more snacking.
My problem is I eat big meals and then I like to do snacking. Drink.
Yeah. That's true.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, you can plan an entire trip around eating. Oh yeah. Yeah.

[3:50] So let's, should we take it park by park and kind of break it down that way?
Let's start at the big one, Magic Kingdom.
The Magical Kingdom. The Magical Kingdom. Should we say what's overrated at a job sort of the way that my notes, I jotted down, right?
I have overrated first, my over under, well, I guess we'll accommodate your needs, Jeff.
Go ahead. Well, thanks, Dan.
I think the most overrated thing personally, in my opinion, at Magical Kingdom Park is has got to be the be our guest restaurant.
It is the most hullabaloo-ridden, hard-to-get reservations, everyone makes the biggest stink over it, and boy is it not worth the effort.
I haven't been back since they changed the menu to the prefix formula that's been happening a lot of places. And that was the one thing I was going to say, have any of us tried that?
Maybe we need to give it a shot and reconsider. I'm not going to waste my time or dollars going in that place.
It had some it had a few good things, but, We had a bad experience the first time we went we could not get a steak cook properly No matter how many times we sent it back.

[5:09] After the time that all of us went when I actually it was the time I met Dan I think was, First time I went there and it was pretty new and I went to other times once for dinner and once for, no, three other times. Once for dinner, once for breakfast, once for lunch. It was mediocre at all times, but the dinners were the absolute worst.
Yeah.
I do wish I had gotten to experience the lunch.

[5:33] Well, not the greatest. It was a slight step up from lunch was better because it cost less. You ordered and they, I don't know, they kept playing with the setup of how you ordered and whatever, but dinner was so expensive and such a difficult reservation to get. And they just couldn't get it right. It was very, just so mediocre, just a waste of space. And it is beautifully themed.
It is a gorgeous restaurant, but it's cavernously loud in there. It's it.
The only cool thing about it is the window with the fake snow going.
It looks like, you know, you're looking outside. So it seemed gorgeous in there, but it's so loud and so full of screaming children and just yuck.
This is a hard pass for me.
They need some tapestries and they need to kick out the kids.
Yeah. everybody's expecting Beauty and the Beast, I don't know, to come waltzing through there, and just it's underwhelming in what little character interaction there was there, and the food was bad, and the service matched it. Yeah, I agree with Heather though. I'd be willing to try the menu just to see, maybe they'll fix things, maybe. That's true, it's been a long time.

[6:49] To be fair, and I would also say that I almost kind of think the kind of, I don't know if they're necessarily overrated, but I think that Magic Kingdom in general, as far as their table service restaurants, except for one spot that we probably all agree on is a little bit lacking.

[7:05] Yeah, Cinderella's royal table back in the day used to be Fantastic now, it's just okay. Yeah, it's it's not really worth the price and the hype, Yeah, I had never been As Heather had boys I had a boy and like it was just never one I ever did and I do love Character interaction. I like a princess. So actually Heather and I went just on a breakfast one time for a breakfast We found a last-minute thing and went it was super fun. The food was pretty good. Do you love the breakfast there?
There's a lot of that For I think for all three of our bang for the buck the table service thing that is, Flies under the radar a little bit still always easy to get a res is the skipper canteen hundred percent, I love the official name of that. It's something Disney long.

[7:52] Navigation Navigation company skipper canteen Disney presents the jungle navigation Yeah, there's gotta be a colon in there. That has great food. Yeah, it's the atmosphere is fun fun atmosphere if you get the right server, especially that yes gets into the, Role of the fun skipper with the jokes and the puns and all it's really fun and the food is exceptional, Really good. And here's one thing. I'll say it's kind of it's like a chance to get a little bit higher almost most fine dining level food, but more at kind of moderate levels.
Pretty affordable. Definitely. The kids menu is a lot of fun, really creative dessert.
So it's got approachable food for the kids.

[8:42] The main menu is kind of adventurous, kind of international, a lot of African, Asian, some South American influence in there. But it's nothing that's so out there or weird that you're not going to find something that, Yeah, they did simplify it a little bit the first I'd say year they were open the menu is really kind of out there and I think a lot of people were intimidated by the menu and, Had a hard time finding things that they, Thought they would like I think a lot of it was things people would like the descriptions and the look of it Maybe was intimidating. So they scaled it back a little bit and simplified but it's consistently good It used to be all a little on the babies or spicy or adventurous, Side of things they've scaled that back a little bit really.

[9:32] Yeah, it's really flavorful kind of worldly really spicy noodle dish there that was Delicious. Yeah that.

[9:41] Charshoe pork. Oh, that's good. Mmm. Lamb shanks are delicious tastes like chicken because it is yeah Yeah, yeah.
Even the menus fun. There's lots of puns and stuff and yeah, really stuff on the menu and in the menu and a lot of neat stuff to look at.
If you get up to go to the restroom, take a pause and look at stuff on your way through the restaurant, go to the restroom. There is stuff for the Disney fan and the jungle cruise fan, especially all through that place.
Yeah. easter eggs even in the restrooms in the men's room there's uh some newspapers above the urinal that kind of help tell the story of jungle.

[10:23] Yeah but only look above your own urinal. As long as you're looking up and not down.
Eyes straight ahead boys.
I mean that really kind of covers it for the table service restaurants unless we've got any others that you secretly really like.
Yeah people keep telling me that Tony's Town Square has gotten much better.
I tried it years ago and it was absolutely awful.
It was like chef boyardee level.
I recently and I have had reservations there many times. And we just, it's one of those where once we're out of the parks, we never make it back.
And I have not tried it recently, maybe six months or so ago.
And the food was great.
It's very loud in there is the other, because there's not a lick of it's all Tiled floors and not a lick. It has kind of a.

[11:15] Cafetorium like school Cafetorium vibe to it there but the food was we enjoyed the food and that would that used to be a great spot when there was a nighttime parade because You could sit out on the patio and eat and see the parade But now that there's not a nighttime parade not at the top of my list, Yeah, I would say the Magic Kingdom in general is not a nighttime sit-down down dinner destination for me.
That's a place that just turns into diaper town USA, and I want out of there at night.
A lot of overtired children and not the ambience I want for dinner time.

[11:50] Yeah, at least for dinner time. I want to go back later once it's dark and I'm not, yeah, worried about eating, but yeah. So quick service there, I have heard that they've made some changes to, now I'm blanking on what it's called now. It used to be El Pirata y El Perico.
What is it called now? Tortuga Tavern. I've heard they've made some changes there and that it's a really great service spot. Is it sometimes open now? Yes, actually. That would be a change.
Yeah, let me look, I'm looking up the menu right now. Last time I was there, it was, or I looked in, oh, they've got a pulled pork sandwich. Yeah, they've gone sort of a barbecue route there instead of the burritos and such. Well, not too long ago, it was really just kind of snacks. Right now they've got a barbecue pork sandwich, a barbecue slaw dog, it's a hot dog topped with barbecue pulled pork and coleslaw. Okay. They have orange chicken strips.

[12:50] And this I think is what I saw the post about is peanut butter, Nutella, and banana sandwich.
Shut up right now. Yep. Excuse me, chocolate hazelnut spread. Sorry, that's, chocolate hazelnut spread. From the good people, but not who makes Nutella. I saw this post and thought, ooh, that's a place we could hit up for quick service because Owen, my picky son, would love that sandwich and the rest of us would love the barbecue slaw dog or the pulled pork sandwich. Are we guessing this is off-brand Nutella? I mean, maybe? I don't know, they normally don't shy away from putting brand names on their menu. Even the orange chicken sounds good and that's kind of a throwback to the kind of stuff that they used to have in Adventureland a long time ago. Yeah. There's a lot of citrus and a lot of Asian inspired. It was always a good spot.
I did like it when it was burritos and that was one of the spots that had the toppings bar that.
That's what they had outside was when it was burgers and whatever in there on the other side and then they swapped menus. Yeah. But it's a it's kind of a hidden a little hidden spot and And I'd say it's probably, I would like to go try the new menu.
It could be a nice underrated quick service spot there.

[14:07] Because for quick service in the Magic Kingdom, I don't really love any of the options in there other than the cheeseburger spring rolls.
Right.
Yeah. Maybe we should be making a list here in August. We should make a point of stopping at some of these places that say...
Yeah, absolutely.
We're interested in. Give them a try. Probably like Pinocchio's Tavern. No.
Whatever that garbage is. You're lying. You're lying.
Is it Pinocchio's village hoose? Yes.
For some delightful... I don't care if you go there the second they open the door after a thorough cleaning the night before, it always smells like pickle relish. Yes. Like what are they doing in there? Yeah, well and I don't know, especially because they don't sell anything with pickle relish. Yeah, absolutely. Boiled crowder, I don't know what's happening.

[14:58] And the thing, maybe they're putting a hint of chlorine from the right on the other side of the Yeah, I, maybe, I don't know, I also don't understand the ubiquitous Disney flatbread thing.
Yeah. I guess it's easy and cheap.
Yeah, they love a flatbread. You nailed it.
And that's what they've got here, and it's, I mean, I guess it's probably fine, but they're, not very good at regular pizza, so I don't know that I'm interested in a basically pizza.
It's school lunchroom pizza.
There's too many great places near the Magic Kingdom that you can hop on the monorail and get to even great.

[15:39] Better food hop on the monorail and go over to Captain Cook's for some quick service Captain Cook's Holly is sublime, List of hidden gem or the resorts of a Underrated I don't hear too many people talking about it too much, but a little pork nacho or something Yeah, instead of tortilla chips. Coconut, pork, meatballs. Oh, yeah. Those are yummy.

[16:11] I haven't had lunch yet and I'm starving. Yeah. So, ooh, I'm going to be at the Polynesian very briefly. You can stop into Captain Cook's. They have a really great noodle bowl there too. It's, It's a ramen and it's deceptively large.
It comes out in this bowl that makes you think it's a, comes out of this bowl that makes you think it's small, but it's actually a giant portion of really good.

[16:39] Maybe we should stick them. Yeah, the quick service in the Magic Kingdom is just uninviting, really.
Yeah, it's also not super exciting.
You've got, let's see, the lunching pad that has a weird changing menu.
Is that the one that's like outside and you have to walk around the outside of it?
Yeah. I've never actually approached that. That's a great place for some snacks.
We often end up there to get a pretzel.
Yeah, they change up their menu often. Then there's the Cosmic Ray Starlight Café.
Yeah, that's the one I can never remember the...
Yeah. That one is okay, but it's like four different things and my family inevitably wants from four different places.
It's a passable theme park burger. Chicken is pretty good there.
I like their chicken.
They don't have any more. That used to be the place to go that was, everybody went there because you could get that half chicken meal.
Oh, yes. And feed half your family for, with one meal. Not there anymore.
But they don't have that anymore.
They don't have that anymore. Because I think there used to be a couple of places for that.
But other than that, the reason I go there is just for Sunny Eclipse. Yeah.
Otherwise. Yeah. The nostalgia. Yeah.

[17:58] Yeah. I call it space show biz. I used to be on the space street team for that place.
The pork shank is no longer at Gaston's.
That was a hit. What do they have there at Gaston's anymore?
Cinnamon rolls. I never go back in there. They still have that big cinnamon roll.
Grey Stuff Cupcake. And that, oh, they have a ham provolone and Swiss sandwich.
Okay, that sounds good.
Yeah, but mine is in a Gruyere.
Good point.
Got a budget here.
I, I do like to get a, get some cachos at the Fryer's Nook. Ooh, I was going to say Fryer's Nook has some good offerings from time to time.
They have some rotating fun stuff too.
They like to get something I like and then immediately change it.
Yeah. Right now they have brats topped with chopped, I'm sorry, tots, chopped.
This is a really hard phrase to say. So let me get there. Tots topped with brats?
Topped with chopped brats and curry ketchup. Oh yeah, that sounds good.
I want to think ahead of that.
That sounds, I'm excited about that right now. Maybe a little too excited.
Let's get on an airplane and go down there this weekend.
Okay, or in like three weeks. Okay.

[19:21] Yeah. If not, oh, here are two spots that I've always been a little curious about, but have never partaken in.
I'm curious about Columbia Harbor House. I like Columbia Harbor House.

[19:36] Mostly because I want to see the inside. I liked it when it was called Long John Silver.
I like, they have a tuna fish sandwich that is really good. I like it. And do they still have the lobster roll? Speaking of the smell of fried and vinegar. It does smell like fried. Oh, they do have the lobster roll and that's a good price for a lobster roll. And it's good. Tricky floors and fried vinegar. I kind of forgot about Columbia Harbor House. It was closed for so long because of COVID. Yeah and then they moved it to Tomorrowland. That was weird.
For a while. I forgot they did that. That was weird. They got rid of the tuna fish sandwich. Oh well then I'm out. They have one with a battered fish. They couldn't figure out how to fry it so they got rid of it. That was my favorite thing there because it was a really good tuna fish sandwich and it was not fried. I've just heard that like the inside is kind of cool with the theming and that you go upstairs and there's some good rooms. But it definitely smells like Long John Silver.
You're okay with that.

[20:41] I'm okay with that. It's a great little seafood place. I've also never eaten at Liberty Tree Tavern, which lots of people...
Oh, that's...
Yeah, I don't understand why... That is the second most overrated place on property.
Yeah, I always forget about it. I don't know why you want an entire Thanksgiving dinner.
The short answer is you do not. Right. Everybody thinks they do.
Well, it seems to be rather popular. It's true. It is popular.
It's very popular. It's like if you were having Thanksgiving dinner at your kid's middle school.
Yeah, it's that kind of garbage quality.
Let's see, diamond horseshoe is really even. Diamond horseshoe, I haven't tried it in a while.
It's pretty good, I think.
Isn't it open regularly? I feel like… It is now.
Yeah. It is now. It used to not be. It used to be kind of seasonal.
And, oh, it's a… I didn't realize that it was like a… It's family style, all-you-can-eat kind of thing.
It's like if you went to hope to do review and they're like tonight's show will be performed by no one But you're gonna hear this picnicky food. It's it's the menu from Liberty Tree, but they've got a different name for a couple of, It's all turkey and mashed potatoes and stuff. Now. It's roast turkey pot roast.

[21:49] Pork with mashed potatoes seasonal vegetables stuffing Okay, the last time I was there it was like ribs and chicken.
You can get a all you care to enjoy plant-based platter with a salad and meatloaf.
They just bring you a fern and an apple cake.
But yeah, no, there's, it's, and it makes sense, they probably wheel it over, they share a kitchen, so it's the same menu as the three churches.
Yeah, that does make sense. Isn't it upstairs, downstairs from each other?
No, they're next door. next time.

[22:23] There's like a building separates kind of that's just the kitchen.
Uh, sunshine tree terrace.
That's just a snack stand. And it's there's great snacks and magic kingdom.
Great snacks and skipper canteen.
And I'm happy. You know what I love?
I for whatever weird crystal palace. I've only been there once.
I've had breakfast there once.
I've not been back since the new menu changes. Since COVID. Oh, did they screw it up?
It's not a buffet since COVID. It's yeah, it is. Is it back to being a buffet? Okay.
After right after COVID, it was family style. They were served. They were, they reopened it and it was family style. It's back to being a buffet featuring, their partial listing includes ravioli, fried chicken, prime rib, shrimp, veal.
Are the characters back at Crystal Palace yet?
I believe so isn't it?

[23:23] That might be just That I've been lying to him it is Back there at all all didn't all meals. That's fantastic. How do y'all feel about the wieners at Casey's corner?
I like them. Yeah. Yeah, they're good. I don't get the appeal of the little, corn pups that everybody acts like you can't just buy a big bag of at Sam's Club.
Corn dog nuggets. Yeah.
Yeah. But I do, yeah, their hot dogs are good.
I do like that you can get a Chicago style dog there.
That, speaking of smelling like pickle relish at all times. And sauerkraut.
Plus it's that weird neon green relish, Chicago style, yeah.
They also have apparently frozen mint julep lemonade.
What? Oh, that sounds good. Yeah.
Yeah, mint julep, non-alcoholic version with... They added that one because it's popular out in... at Disneyland.
I absolutely love the American hot dog, so any hot dog place gets my vote.
Yeah, but I'm gonna be honest, if I had to choose, I'm not going to Casey Corner, I'm going out to Disney Springs to B.B. Wolf's.
No, I have not been. Just on its name alone.
Oh man, that's the place that has really fancy wieners. You would probably enjoy it.
They have a Hawaiian one with pineapple and stuff, and there's a pulled pork one there also.

[24:48] It was really good. The likelihood of me walking past one hot dog joint to take some sort of transportation all the way to Disney Springs to get to a different one is very slim.
Oh, that's fair, but… Well, maybe we should hop on the monorail and head over to Epcot.
We need to do a hot dog crawl.
Yeah, we've spent plenty of time in Magic Kingdom. Let's head over to Epcot.
And this is a big, I mean, we're going to have to, we'll save in-depth Epcot talk for another day.
I know we've got some plans for that, but so Epcot, what's overrated?
What do you not need to do at Epic?

[25:23] Space 220 is overrated for me. It sure is. The food was okay, but it's expensive.
The ambiance is cool, but it was not worth the hype and the price for me.
And the difficulty in getting a reservation.

[25:40] Yeah, I agree. I wanted to love it. I think they didn't go far enough with the ambiance and the theming.
Phenomenal.
Food was fine. Would be great somewhere else, but it didn't really go far enough to kind of fitting what the idea of the restaurant was. It didn't go far enough for how far the price went.
That too. That too. The food, I mean, yeah, I enjoy the food and drinks, but, you're taking me to outer space, give me the food and drinks.
Yeah. And honestly, if you wanted to try out Space 220, if you can do a walk-up and go, sit in the lounge, it's better because you don't have to do that pre-fix huge meal.
I'm real tired of pre-fix. So you can just try some of their stuff.
Yeah. That's garbage. Yeah.
It's rampant right now. Thanks to folks hoarding reservations.
It's unfortunate. And Disney cannot say no to someone instead of, I want to take up a reservation and just have a cup of coffee instead of saying no, they're just making me order three courses.
So six different people, we went with a group of four the other night and all four of us had to each order four different appetizers, four different entrees and four different desserts.
So yeah, that's California. Most people want to eat four separate on appetizers at a table for four.
What in the world? No one eats like that.

[27:03] So, so coral reef, Jeff wise, coral reef. Well, you know, it's fun to look at the fish and everything, but that's literally it, their food is all.
I've never had great food at coral reef, unfortunately. And I love seafood.
Yeah, I love seafood, but it's the most uninspired, basic, low-rent, frozen seafood.
It's just really bad.
Yeah, it doesn't... I'm looking at the menu and nothing on it sounds exciting.
Yeah, it's just like jaded fish.
On plate. Yes, just.
And for a seafood restaurant, they have exactly 1, 2, 3 entrees out of 6 are actually seafood.
Yeah. Yeah. Like, maybe it was too creative at some point. I don't know.

[27:53] I've been twice. It's, it is, like, it's really cool to have a giant, giant aquarium wall, for one of the entire walls of the thing. But that's it. The ambience is pretty neat, but it, it, the service was really bad and I don't know, it's just really not good food when there's so many much better places in Epcot with all of the world showcase food right there.
There's so many great international cuisine in there.
Why would you go really anywhere and anywhere, but world show place, but one that's hit or miss for me is less Lea.
I've had excellent meals there, and I've had some that are just okay.
Yeah, there's much better steak on property now.
Yeah, I hear that a lot, but still, it's got the fanboys that it's just, that is the be-all, end-all restaurant. The poutine is delicious.
I would go there for poutine.
I think Le Cellier is like, for people who've never had steak at really good places, you know?
Like people that thought sizzler was amazing back in the day and then tried that and were like whoa.

[29:04] And like the word just got around Like I don't know It's fine under underrated, This is a place that I recommend to everybody all the time, If you want a great value on a great lunch or if it's feeling a little peckish stop at that yorkshire, County shop for some fish and chips are good. Yeah, the fish is phenomenal nominal, you get a good size serving of fish and chips for $12.99, it's a great deal.
So that's one that I love. Yes, it's Hunter.
There's never a long line at it. It's just a walk up spot. I never think of there. It's really good, And they get me every time because I walk by and and they catch me with the smell and I just.

[29:51] I love that spice road table Yes over there on the out much under the ring of morocco. They took my, Marrakesh out of there, which I liked but the spice road table outer thing is good. And even when it's swelteringly hot at Epcot, which is every day, it's always pretty comfortable out there in the shade on the water at Spice Road Table. And they have really good, like, I guess it's not tapas because that's Spanish, but yeah, Moroccan tapas is a good way to do it.
You order several things, small plates and share. Really, really good food.
And some of it can be pretty spicy, so ask your server for help in that department if you're sensitive to spice, but tons of variety of kinds of foods there.
That sounds delicious. I've never eaten there either, but it sounds phenomenal.
It's a favorite and you can always walk up to that place. I've literally never walked up and asked for a seat and not been able to get in.
They have a very small interior part too if it's just too hot and you don't want to sit in but most probably 85% of the places outdoor covered patio seating right on the water.
What I end up doing at Epcot usually is snacking around the whatever festival is happening, which I love. Hold up. That's true. They do festivals at Epcot?
But places I tend to go back to a lot are either of the table service in Mexico.

[31:19] And the table service in Italy is also really good. Via Napoli's pizza is excellent.
I was just going to ask about that. I've never been there.
It's very loud in there, but the pizza is worth it. It really is good pizza.
It took me forever to go there, and I've still only been once.
It's really great. Delicious. They have a great... And it's like...

[31:41] What is it? It's an Italian mule drink, lemony, gingery, delicious.
And I've actually, I haven't been to the full service of little slightly fancier Italian in a really long time.
But when the one time I ate there, it was very good. And they have a cool little sort of wine cellar that you can walk up into that has some charcuterie and things like that. That's really quite good.
If you're a wine guy. As apparently I am now. You're a wine fella.
I really like the, uh, uh, both of the restaurants in France, which is surprising because I hate France itself, but I like that French food.
Mr. Paul is really good. They're proud of that food too, but it is, that is very, very good.
And pack your patience because that's a long meal. It is a long meal.
They're not playing around up there. You're going to be in there two plus hours. Yes.
Excited what's the new one Dan at Tokyo replacing Tokyo dining? A sushi with a very long name that I can't remember right now and I'd have something with a colon and Disney presents Epcot's yeah Disney presents Epcot's Japan's I'm yuck.
Yeah, that's on our August list already. Already on that list.

[33:11] That's just so much good dining at Epcot. Yeah, it's hard to go wrong.
And lots of great places to grab something quick. I know that very popular stop.

[33:21] You ever stop and grab something from the bakery whose name I'm not going to try to pronounce in France? Yes.
They have delicious baked items.
Yes. And I know that's always another hack for a great quick lunch that's not too expensive as everybody says go and get ham and cheese. Oh, yeah, I like to get it in Germany while, of their the big German what's the beer garden beer garden experience the whole sit down and the buffet and the show and the oompa band and that is a fun time the enormous beers but just to go grab a brat or a pretzel in Germany is awesome that's a heavy snack you think oh just I've got one broad, but my goodness, a broad on that roll is, that's heavy duty.
That and a 1200 calorie beer, I better sit down a minute. You're good for at least 20 minutes.
Yeah. Go do some laps around the world.
What's the, school bread in?

[34:20] Norway. Norway, that's good, it's very light. It's weird, but really good.
It's not very sweet, it's kind of just light and airy, but yummy, is that good and cold?
Shush is a little overrated for me But if you really if you have a little girl who really wants to see all the princesses, yep That's where you need to go. Just like they have bacon and eggs and then like, Dude, weird fish. Yeah, I would stick with the breakfast there personally because the lunch and dinner.

[34:53] Is not super kid-friendly. I mean, I'm sure you can get a chicken tender and some fries I definitely have nuggies and stuff that kids want, but then the Norwegian food is a little sus.
Swedish meatballs and such. And actually, they've kind of, it looks like they've kind of toned that down, looking at the menu.

[35:11] Yeah, breakfast is, they bring you family style, the traditional American, Mickey waffles, scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, that sort of thing. And then you go get your own pickled herring.
Yeah. I'm not even sure they have that stuff up there at breakfast anymore.
And it doesn't look like they have it at dinner anymore.
Dinner's a salad with lingonberry vinaigrette, got some bread, you've got Norwegian meatballs, But then you've got mashed potatoes, grilled salmon, green beans, mac and cheese, Norwegian chicken and dumplings, corn dog nuggets, and then the traditional Norwegian corn dog nugget.
Traditional chicken and dumplings from Norway.
Oh yes.
Norwegian corn dog. It's a solid character experience for Princess fans, however.
Yeah. The room is small, too, so you're up close and personal with the ladies.
All right, let's let's hop on that skyliner and head over to Hollywood Studios, And this one's a little bit of a dining in Hollywood Studios.

[36:16] It's not the standout. It's not although I do love the Hollywood Brown Derby and would Yeah, it's just perfectly rated People love it, and rightfully so.
It's delicious.
Yep. And it's kind of underrated as that patio outside. If you can't get a reservation inside.
It is a hidden gem. People think it's just part of the regular restaurant, but it's not. It's a suburbs.
That's right. The lounge, which is weird because they call it a lounge, but it's outside.
But it is an outdoor lounge, yes. And it's very good.
Let's see. dining I'd say that the Hollywood and Vine is probably on the overrated.
It's overrated. I don't like the buffet there. I have to, no, I have to pass.
I have been there too many times to count too because it's one of those like, well, I can't eat here because you can get a res, but boy is it whelming.
Yeah. Yeah.

[37:11] The one where they're rude to you, where the... 50s, 50s prime time.
Or 50s prime time. 50s prime time is great. I like that one.
I love that one. I love the ambience in there. The food is great. It's a lot of food and then they hassle you for not cleaning your plate, which is fun. Good old-fashioned, dumb American meat and potatoes. That's where I learned the trick of when someone hands you their phone to take a picture of them, you switch it around to selfie mode and, take a picture of yourself and hand it back to them so they just see a picture of you. But you do I do actually take one or two of them also.
That's a great trick. Yeah, they did it to me, and I was like, this is gold, and I do it every time now.
That's a fun place. Really good, consistent food. It's not exceptional.
It's the American diner comfort food.

[38:02] That's a good spot. The lounge is great too, I like the lounge. I think, yeah, where you can get that fancy...
Oh boy, that used to be kind of a hidden gem, the tune-in lounge, but boy, you can't find a seat.
It's busy in there now, yeah. And I think the main restaurant is definitely kind of underrated. I think people kind of avoid it because of what they've heard about the experience with the servers. Yeah, and it's not, I mean, it's not on the level of Ed DeBevick type of route. Yeah, I was gonna say, it's not like Dick's Last Resort. They're not gonna put you in the corner with a dunce cap. Right. It's just fun. I mean it's still Disney. It is fun and it kind of looks like you're eating in a kitchen, you know, 1950s kitchen with... I think that's much better than sci-fi dine-in theater. Sci-fi dine-in is a cool concept but you're sitting there with your back to the people you're with. Yes, because of the car situation. Food is not great. The theming is super I will say that.
It is really neat. Maybe we should try it once. Yeah.
Yeah, I like it. I like the theming. And also, I mean, they've got...
Most of the food's not great. They do have a... Or at least they used to have a...
The barbecue burger. Yeah, the food's alright.
And they have usually a rotating kind of like premium special burger.
Ooh, pork on pork burger.
That's my kind of action.

[39:18] Okay, now. A grilled house-made pork patty topped with roasted pork belly.
Cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, and a Carolina mustard sauce.
Maybe we'll have to give it another look.
And you can always sit at the picnic tables if you don't want to actually face them. Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, but I don't even think you can get those specifically.
You might luck out with them, right?
I think if you ask really nicely when you check in, you might get it.
Yeah, because most people want the car.
And would prefer to sit in the car. I will say going around the corner to, well, actually, I think I know one that might be on Jeff's list just because it's new, I am ringing about it a lot, but baseline tap house is on your underrated list.
Yeah.
It's not really a full meal. They have a charcuterie board and a nice presto, but it's kind of for food.
But I do, back when I could drink beer, that was the spot.

[40:14] It is, it is more of a place to grab a cold beer. It's a great people watching spot.
And just a sit and chill kind of spot. Even when it's blisteringly hot, it's not bad in the shade.
And they have fans out there on the thing. So it's a terrific, I don't know what it is.
Weird stuff happens at that corner.
Well, here's cause you've got like families at sci-fi dine-in waiting to get in.
And you've got all the cranky kids, but then you also, that's a great spot, especially in the evenings when the local star Wars nerds are all coming to studios.
And the drunks are leaving.

[40:53] Costumes, and you can see some really good Star Wars cosplayers coming.
Yeah, I've seen people, drunk people, getting trespassed out of there multiple times.
I've seen it all. That's a good people-watching spot. And speaking of Star Wars nerds, for me, quick service in Hollywood studios has got to be the Ronto Wrap.
Yes. Oh my goodness. Yes. Oh, good. Get the Ronto Wrap.
The breakfast one and the regular lunch one are both amazing.
Delicious. I mean, we take a pork sausage and we top it with more pork and delicious sauce and coleslaw. Yes, please. That's a no-brainer. That sounds so good.
No-brainer. Yeah, that thing's good and there's hardly ever much of a line for that and you can pre-order, right, with the app? Mm-hmm. Or can.
Yeah. And you can also get the Ronto wraps inside Docking Bay 7, at least in the evening.
And then the food in Docking Bay 7 is pretty good too, actually.
I like it. Yeah, I like both of their quick service options are good.
Yes, that's definitely where I will tend to grab food, quick service at studios, although I do enjoy, and most people went to Woody's Lunchbox to get the Pop-Tarts and have never gone back.
I like the tots there, but also they have the breakfast bowl, which is tots with smoked Country gravy, scrambled eggs.

[42:20] All the food at Andy's Lunchbox is good. Yeah.
There's the barbecue brisket sandwich. It's just hard to order and get your food and get out of there and find anywhere to eat it and it's blisteringly hot.
Yeah. But the food is definitely good. It's excellent.
And those, though, you glossed over, the Pop-Tarts are really good.
Yeah, they are. They are and they have fun seasonal ones that they usually rotate through.
But yeah, those homemade Pop-Tarts are really good.
Right now they have a Pride one that is guava-filled with purple vanilla fondant on top, and sour ribbon candy.
ALICE They needed to do like a... Andy built an enormous kite to put over this whole thing for a shade structure instead of, I don't know what. It's so hot over there.
ZAC Well, they've been working on building a canopy for what feels like nine months now.
It's still being built and still being built and still being built.
Time I was there, I mean granted it's been a couple of months now, but it was.

[43:16] Still being built and eventually they're going to have a shade structure there, for you to sit on. I haven't tried it yet but they have the new Rodeo Roundup barbecue you got a chance to eat there didn't you Dan? Yeah and it was, phenomenal I loved it yeah I keep on seeing some reviews from barbecue snobs saying it was awful every single meat that I had was juicy and delicious and flavorful, and it was very good.
The sauces were good. The meat was good. The sides were great.
And there's a ton of food. I'm sure that I will like it.

[43:54] I think you will. It's fun, it's a little on the noisy side, because there's a lot of kids, but it's not bad. I will say… Yeah. Considering where it is and what it is, I'm sure it's good.
Yeah. I am really disappointed that Jerk Holes had to steal all of the giant pencils… I was just gonna bring that up.
What? Because you no longer get to sign… And now you're all so surprised.
No.
So, when they first opened they had these gigantic oversized pencils that they brought to you to sign your check with at the end… Oh. regular pencil inside it, so it was comically oversized.
How do you manage to steal this without being noticed? Shove it in your backpack.
Yeah. I don't know.
But so many got stolen. And then did you see the post?
There's a post on Facebook just recently that an owl stole one of the hobby horses and flew off with it. What? How does an owl get in the restaurant? They're very strong. Outside.
When you're, so when you check in for the restaurant, you wait outside. Okay.
And your server comes out to greet you and tell you kind of the ground rules of the place.
If you have children with you, they might bring out the hobby horse.
And the owl came and snatched the hobby horse out of the hands of the cast member. How weird. Yeah.
So, watch out for owls, Carol.

[45:10] I mean, and that kind of really does it for Hollywood Studios for us, I think.
You know, the, that whole area over near at the foot of tower of terror and near rock and rollercoaster, the there's several different food stalls and all they, there are several good eating options there, but that's another case of you get your food and you wander around for 35 minutes, trying to find some damn where to sit.
I hate that area, but then all the, there's several really good food options there.
And that's another place of, I don't know who thought of this, but you can't find anywhere to sit. It's very frustrating.
I mean, I know what they're going for, kind of like.

[45:52] Hollywood farmer, Hollywood market. Yeah, it's a cute looking thing, but it's just like they need someone expediting, Like they do now in Pecos bills. Where are you? I don't know I don't know what the answer is, but there's never anyone just anywhere to sit, I guess that leaves us with getting in the car or on a bus and going to the animal kingdom, Come on, if I'm traveling with you, you're calling a mini. Oh, we're driving a car. Yeah She's a driver.
I'm a driver now. I, too. She's a driver.

[46:23] She's a winner. Yeah, so let's head over to the animal kingdom.
There's some good stuff in the animal kingdom to eat. Some really good stuff.
I'm gonna hit up Nomad Lounge. Yes.
Good food, good drinks, air conditioning. And Tiffin's is phenomenal.
Tiffin's is phenomenal. I had for the first time last November, and I would like to go back many times.
Yes.
So, so good. I guess I tried octopus and it was fine dining, I would say. Yes.
Yeah. Nomad Lounge is it's, is it related?
It's lounge? Kind of. It is connected. I guess they share a kitchen.
Yeah. And if you have a reservation and they have seats, you can go sit in Nomad Lounge.
Nomad Lounge has delicious small plates.
So a great place to eat, in my opinion. Yeah. And they share the bread service.
You can get the Tiffins. That's a hack that people love to share is you can get the Tiffin's bread service at the Nomad Lodge, which everybody raves about the bread service and I was kind of like okay, so it's just bread.

[47:25] It's really good. It's so good. So yeah, do actually get the bread service because it's delicious.
Bro, and if you think that's good, head over to Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
And then get the bread there. Uh huh. Oh. So yummy. Yeah, Tiffin's is awesome.
Did you have the charred octopus?
I did have the charred octopus. It was delicious. I also had the honey chili glazed pork belly.
Cheese biscuit and a post poached egg and some gravy and holy.

[47:55] They serve holy crap too.
The guy comes out to your table and says a little blessing over sprinkles it with some holy water.
Yeah. It's a whole thing.
Yeah.

[48:09] The thing is, we're getting into just, and that's fine. I'm perfectly fine with changing our concept as we go.
This has turned into just a list of our favorite spots. Yes. Yes.
Well, over and underrated. I will say overrated at Animal Kingdom is hard to find, because what does anyone even like there?
Yeah. Tusker House is a bit overrated.
That happens with a lot of characters.
It falls into the character dining, although the menu there is more interesting than most of the characters.
Much more interesting, that is true. Yeah. I actually really like Tusker House.
If I have to go to character spot, that's usually where I like going, because it's kind kind of like the what's the one over at animal kingdom lodge.
It's very similar menu to that.
I can't Boma Boma is similar to Boma's. I one time accidentally, because some friends we were traveling with were an hour and a half late meeting us for our breakfast, but you can guess who that is.

[49:10] So we were there for breakfast, but we got there right on the cusp.
So we had one round of breakfast at the buffet and then when we went back up, They had put lunch out and that was the greatest moment in my life.
I got to try the breakfast and the lunch menu at Tusker house.
That actually worked out really good. Cause I had all of the foods and, and what a good menu.
So, it is kind of overrated, but...
What's the other one Donald's suckasaurus experience back there? restaurantasaurus.

[49:43] Yak and yeti is a little bit underrated. I love yak and yeti and for quick service they have the, It's not called yak and yeti, but it's attached, And it's like quick service chinese. Yeah, local food. There it is. Yeah, it's, I gotta tell you what might have something to do with it. Maybe don't put yak in the name of your restaurant.
It's delicious. The food there is great and it's fun. It's a good ambiance in there and if you're looking for quick service and you are into Chinese food, the Yak and Yeti quick service is delicious. Animal Kingdom has a lot of Asian and a lot of, both of those things. Flame tree is pretty good. So good. Flame tree is delicious.
And a huge amount of food for your value for your buck. Yes. Yes, and if you're lucky you can see, Crane steal an entire rotisserie chicken. We didn't eat it.

[50:39] There and a bird big old sand hill crane swooped down and picked up a kid's whole rotisserie chicken and flew off with it And then ate it right in front of the kid. It's pretty special It was something.
I always recommend people go to Satuli Canteen in Andorra, because I like to recommend places that definitely can't get this food anywhere else ever.
And that fits the bill. Plus, it's delicious. It's interesting.
I never remember that one, but it is good.
They have a cheeseburger pod still. They're on the kids menu now, I believe.
They used to have an adult sized one, but now it's just the kids menu.
Those are delicious. Yeah, those are really good.
They're weird, but they're good. It tastes like quarter pounder with cheese.
It's like pre-digested cheeseburger. Yeah, you can get a steamed cheeseburger pot.

[51:35] It's so good. They also have now a hot dog wrapped in Parker-rolled dough, Parker House dough.
What? Yeah, it's a Parker House hot dog.
That sounds delicious. The hot dog is baked into the dough, baked into the dough there.
And then their main thing is they've got these bowls that you can put various proteins and accoutrements in, and they include things to make it like alien food, boba balls, or, Made the noodles blue, stuff like that, rainbow carrots and so it's just a fun out-of-this-world You.

[52:10] Kind of experience. I always send people because it's different.
And it all looks spacey and cool and fun, but it tastes like normal food.
But good. Right. Exactly. Which is, I mean, that's what you want.
That way you make sure that you're going to eat it.

[52:25] Let's real quick talk about Disney Springs and just kind of hit like over-underrated highlights.
My over, my most overrated food over there is Cracker Barrel.
I'm sorry, it's called Homecoming. Everybody loves...
I do not get the hubbub with that dang place.
Maybe that's because you live in the South, Jeff. Yeah, probably.
Yeah. But there's Cracker Barrel all over the country, and it's the same food.
It's no better than Cracker Barrel? They got these biscuits, and there's mac and cheese, and, yeah, same garbage.
I'll just go to T-Rex Cafe. Overrated. Overpriced.
Over it. Same with the rainforest. Definitely. Homecoming definitely is better than Cracker Barrel, but I just don't get the love for this place. Look, I can have a booze in a mason jar, y'all. I mean, maybe part of it is it's one of the few breakfast spots. Maybe. Yeah.

[53:21] Yeah. Underrated, for me, I had never dined there until, what, a week, two weeks ago? House of Blues.
Yeah. It was great. Yeah, weird. It's like, I don't know what I thought it was versus what it really is, but it's good food.
Were you expecting Hard Rock Cafe?
Yeah. But with blues decorations? Definitely. Yeah, it's not, and it's better, and I like that it feels a little evil and voodoo inside.
Yeah.
Plus, the food is definitely better than at Hard Rock. really good like shrimp and grits and like, I don't know, a little more soul food and a little more yeah, New Orleans-y voodoo. Yeah, and I think that's a place that, you know, at least I would kind of walk by just because of the way it's kind of a chain.

[54:05] It's it's a good place as well stopping right across the street from there is the pale city poor house. Is that what it's called? He works.
He works. Yeah. City works eatery. And that you think, well, here's this big dumb sports bar, which it kind of is that and they have like 150 beers on tap, which I'm a fan of that, but they have awesome food.
It's good elevated pub kind of food.

[54:34] You can always get a reservation in either of those places or just walk in for the most part to either one of those restaurants, unless you have to watch if there's a concert happening at house of blues, you can't get near that place, but that's only one night a week or so that they do that kind of thing.
But that's both of those are easy spots. If you have a, especially if you have tickets to a show at the Cirque de Soleil right next store. Good spot to eat and then walk right next door to your show. You can always get in. I never noticed that House of Blues has a grab and go barbecue window. Oh, I still didn't know that till this house. Yeah, yeah, you can get a pulled pork sandwich, barbecue brisket, smoked turkey leg nachos. They're not awesome. It's the pulled pork nachos and Wyatt my son who is a nacho aficionado said those were the best nachos he'd ever had last year.

[55:28] They have really good ribs. Yeah, definitely. We mentioned briefly, B.B. Wolf is...
I still haven't tried it, but every time I walk by there, it smells great and I love the clever name.
My situation there is that it's a window, and so then I have to get this delicious oily sausage and then sit outside in the sun and eat it.
You're really selling it.
I know. But you're right. They always smell great.
There's only like two tables nearby and then you've got to go hunting for a spot to eat.
That is a problem. Yeah.
But I love sausages and hot dogs and stuff. What a great name for Big Bad Wolf. So smart.

[56:11] And one thing I like about them because I have a hard time choosing when there's lots of delicious things, you can get a combo that they cut because it's like a foot long dog and they'll cut it into three pieces and then you get one piece of each of the specialty, products that they do.
Oh. You can get one that's a Reuben. Oh, like the three pigs.
Yeah, it's a hot dog topped with corned beef and all the stuff that goes in a Reuben.
God, it's amazing. That's probably what I wanted that one to be on the Virgin Voyage, is it wasn't all that good. Right.

[56:42] Yeah, I mean that's a lot of the highlight there's so much it's insane. I'm looking at the map in the disney world app, I set it to filter to only dining and the number of forks and knives on disney sprints There's so many you've never been to morimoto asia. Do yourself a favor and go to that, And it's called asia just because they have all different brands of asian dining and japanese.

[57:05] So good that place is Incredible and chef Morimoto as one. He was an iron chef. He's a multi-time winner of that that place is, Fantastic and not all that expensive like entrees probably the most expensive entree There's like $35 or something. So and they have a street food window walk-up window outside But with also any of this I think my two favorite places in Disney Springs is Morimoto Asia and polite pig, And Enzo's hideaway was actually my underrated one because it's not that it's underrated that people, Rate it low, but it's kind of it's called the hideaway because it's actually kind of hidden It's down below Maria and Enzo's which is a big fancy, Restaurant, but it's down underneath it. It's a tiny little place, but it's usually easy to get reservations for seats Probably a hundred people maybe tops in those hideaway amazing Italian food huge portions easy to split an entree if you are trying to eat a little lighter but man is that good food and there they're back entrance goes right into the downstairs part of the Edison so pro-tip when you're done eating there leave and go like you're going to the bathroom and you're right in the Edison and the show starts and you're already on the lower floor of the Edison to see the jazz music and see the jazz music.
Drink the fancy drinks. Yeah.

[58:34] Yeah, that's definitely a good option. I like how a lot of the places to eat around Disney Springs, they all have a window and go version. So not all of them, but a lot of them have those options.
Wine Bar George has that. Oh, and I love Wine Bar George.
Don't they do like charcuterie baskets to go there? Yeah, they sure do.
They have little wine sippy cups. You can get all your stuff and frosé. They have a frosé window right there.
Right yeah so that's fun definitely there wow we haven't even gotten to the resort hotels we did mention captain cook's any special special mentions for something that you think is like totally underrated nobody goes to that you think you should that you think you should check out we just hit up the newly remodeled narcooses at grand freddian which was stuck in 1993 previously But they've had a full facelift and a complete menu, Redo and brought in a new executive chef. Do not sleep on this one guys. It is, So good lots of steaks lots of seafood.

[59:41] Tomahawk steaks and then they've got the what's the The amazing pork chops there like that. Oh, yeah, so good. I can't wait to go back shrimp and grits was my favorite. Oh, yummy, amazing and real nice atmosphere in there is right out on the water if you time it right you can see the water pageant go by and would love that I, always love the electrical water pageant holy crap are you kidding me any excuse to watch that and there's a new restaurant at the which is it the Swan or the dolphin? I never can remember.
The Rosa Mexicana.

[1:00:17] Music.

[1:00:45] Tried that are in resorts that are awesome. Yeah. Wasn't there another one, Amare? Amare, at the Swan Reserve, yes. Oh, Swan Reserve, yeah that was really good too. It's like southern.

[1:00:56] Music.

[1:01:11] It's not all super heavy, not like tomato sauce. Exactly. Yeah.
That's good. So many places I need to check out.
I was going to say with that being said, I think we have some spots on our list to check out.
It's a long list, I think. It's long and distinguished, just like, just like something else.
I'm going to say thanks for hanging out with us again this week.
You're welcome, Dan. Thank you, Dan. Oh, you meant to listen.

[1:01:42] Music.

[1:02:31] To ask a question or share your travel story, you can reach us by smoke signal, carrier pigeon or send an email to goldkeyadventures at gmail dot com.
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[1:03:11] Music.

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[1:03:29] Music.

[1:03:41] We'll see you next week for another meeting of the Gold Key Adventurer Society.
And until then, remember, life is short and the world is wide, So go have an adventure.