Disney World Snacks, Sweet and Savory

Posted on April 30, 2015 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

I’m not sure there’s a more hotly debated food topic among Disney fans than which Disney World snacks are the best. For many years, I was not a big Disney vacation snacker. I chose instead to save room for the all important table-service meals. Then I started blogging. It’s pretty hard to blog about Disney and have no game where snacks are concerned. So I, as is my nature, embraced my new endeavor whole-heartedly. Needless to say, once I “researched” Disney snacking, there was no going back. Sadly, no matter how many miles you walk in a day at Walt Disney World, you cannot burn off all the calories you consume snacking with abandon. Trust me on this. I know.

What did I learn? That there seem to be many more sweet snack choices than savory ones. I must confess, I’ve never purchased or even tasted Disney World popcorn or a Citrus Swirl (Adventureland, Magic Kingdom). If you are a huge fan of either of those, I’m sorry I cannot include them in this post. My dislike of the wildly popular Dole Whip is unfortunate, but nevertheless factual and I cannot, with a clear conscience, bring myself to tell you to rush out to get one with a guarantee that you’ll love it. I will, as a gesture of good will, offer you this article on the Dole Whip versus the Citrus Swirl for your review.

My list is in no way all-inclusive – I simply wish to offer choices and recommendations based on my own personal experiences. In other words, I ate a heck of a lot more snacks than I’m talking about here. Bear in mind that I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and can literally go for weeks or months at a time with no cake, cookies, candy, ice cream or pie. I did, for you, kind readers, consume an unprecedented number of sweet treats at Walt Disney World in the past 12 months, just so I could tell you what snacks I found worth trying. With all disclosures made, I give to you…

Disney World Snacks, Sweet and Savory

Sweet Treats!

Croissant Doughnut (Refreshment Port, Epcot): Is it a croissant? Is it a doughnut? Who cares!?! It’s covered in cinnamon sugar and served warm. What’s not to like?

Chocolate Croissant (Sunshine Seasons, Epcot): I love the not-too-sweet attitude of this treat. Best as a second breakfast or mid-morning snack, in my opinion. Flaky, buttery goodness.

Espresso Gelato “Affogato” (Italy Pavilion, Epcot): It has to be the strong coffee flavor with the sweet, smooth gelato and the crunch of the cookies and coffee beans in this Italian delicacy that make it indescribably wonderful. Raymond and I shared one and thought it was perfect. Next time, I’m not sharing.

Cinnamon Glazed Almonds (Animal Kingdom): I love these! Crunchy, sweet, but not too sweet and served in a cute paper cone. Great for sharing and convenient for eating while strolling along and soaking up Animal Kingdom’s amazing atmosphere.

Churro (Various Locations): This is going to sound weird (you should be used to that about me by now) but I think churros that have been under the heat lamp in the snack cart for a while taste better than when they’re freshly made. I like them super crunchy and I think that extended heat lamp thing makes them extra crispy. Anyway they’re served, though, these are about as perfect a sweet snack as you’ll find. Easy to eat on the go, not too messy, not overly sugary.

Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar (Various Locations): It’s vanilla ice cream covered in a chocolate shell, shaped like Mickey’s head. There’s nothing not to love about that. On a warm day, you’ve got to eat fast or you’ll drip all over your shirt, but this does not detract from this snack’s simple goodness.

Cupcake (Starring Rolls Café, Disney’s Hollywood Studios): Butterfinger, red velvet, character-themed – doesn’t matter. These are good, if you like cake and icing. Big enough for sharing…or not.

Savory Snacks!

Classic Mickey Pretzel (Various Locations) – I like mine in Tomorrowland for a Magic Kingdom day snack break. I also like to enjoy one in the Studios with a beer. Salty, chewy, filling when your hungry, AND shaped like Mickey.

Jalapeno Cheese Pretzel (Animal Kingdom) – NOT shaped like Mickey, but these pretzels are excellent. They’re not too spicy, but there’s enough jalapeno flavor to not disappoint. A very nice choice when looking for something satisfying on the go. Also good with beer!

Roasted Pork Shank (Gaston’s Tavern, Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom): If you know the nutritional facts about this snack, please, PLEASE do not tell me. It’s slow roasted pork, simply seasoned with salt and pepper. Fall-off-the-bone tender, our whole family loved it. I daydream about this snack. I must have it again.

Smoked Turkey Leg (Various Locations) – Even though I’m not a fan, I felt I needed to mention the Turkey Leg. While I may not understand the draw, Joseph loves them and this hunk o’ poultry has a huge and very loyal following. This bad boy’s nutritional info is enough to make me swoon – at about 1000 calories and 50 grams of fat, I just can’t justify its consumption. The pork shank probably has as many calories, but I don’t care (or want to know for sure).

A Little Bit of Everything!

Sweet & Spicy Chicken Waffle (Sleepy Hollow, Liberty Square, Magic Kingdom) – While I wished the waffle itself would have been be a little less soggy and a lot more crispy, this was an excellent snack! The chicken is surprisingly very spicy, which I found terrific with the coleslaw and the sweet syrup topping. It’s an amazing combination!

Which snacks are your favorites? Which ones have you tried? Are there any you don’t like? Which ones are on your to-try list?

More Love for Raglan Road

Posted on April 29, 2015 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

With all the new shops and restaurants opening in Disney Springs/Downtown Disney, it’d be easy for most people to pass up an old favorite and try someplace new, I suppose. Not for us, though. We’d have to put aside a many-years-long vacation tradition to visit Disney’s shopping and nighttime entertainment center and not stop at Raglan Road.

At first glance, Irish Pub and family friendly seem a strange and unlikely combination, but that’s the draw of Raglan Road to us. It really is a great place to enjoy excellent food and fantastic entertainment – for the whole family! If you’ve read my dining reviews before, you know I want a good place to sit, decent service (at a leisurely pace), and great food. Raglan road has never let us down on any of those criteria plus they have the added bonus of some fun and wonderful entertainment.

A couple of months ago, we visited Raglan Road once again and, to me, we had the best seats we’d every had. We got there early and stayed late – our only goal for the evening was to be back in the Magic Kingdom for Wishes and the Main Street Electrical Parade. Plenty of time with an early 5pm ADR (advance dining reservation) to relax, eat too much, and enjoy some excellent music and watch some fun and lively Irish Dancing.

We arrived to find we were a few minutes early and there was plenty of room open at the bar. We checked in at the reception desk first, picked up our pager, and selected a couple of beers to enjoy while we waited. In no time at all, we were being shown to our table…and an excellent table it was. To the right of the stage, we had excellent seats to see and hear the live music and dancing.

Our server arrived promptly and (let me just disclose now that we were hungry…very hungry) took our appetizer order. If you’ve never had the ribs at Raglan Road, I feel sad for you. “Heaven on Earth – Baby back ribs tossed in a Guinness glaze.” – they are both sweet and savory, tender and crispy, perfect bites of meaty goodness. We also enjoyed (we always do) the bread and dipping sauce. This sauce, like the ribs, makes use of a Guinness reduction. Words cannot describe, so trust me when I say, the hearty bread and the slightly sweet, dark sauce combine perfectly. If I could only duplicate it at home…wait, no, that would be bad and counterproductive to my weight management goals.

We ordered a salad to share. Did I say we were hungry? “Cashel Castle – Crumbled Cashel blue cheese, caramelized pecans, grape tomatoes, raspberries, pancetta crisps, crostini’s & raspberry vinaigrette.” You can add shrimp or chicken, but we just wanted the salad as is. The flavors sounded like a wonderful combination – and they were! Ribs, bread, salad, and still hungry. Time for the main course!

Raymond chose the ham and I chose the lamb. Honestly, I was totally shocked by my sweet, but kind of picky, husband’s decision to order something with cabbage in the description: “Kevin’s Heavenly Ham – Irish Mist glazed loin of bacon with savoy cabbage, colcannon potatoes, parsley cream sauce and a raisin cider jus.” Must have been the description of the ham that sealed the deal and, sure enough, he was quite pleased with his choice. Upon our server’s recommendation, I ordered the lamb – ” Lambo – Lamb shank braised in rosemary jus with mash, leeks, shitake mushrooms & baby carrots.” This absolutely yummy dish did not disappoint.

Full as can be, don’t ask me why, we got a little crazy. Must have been the music, but we decided to stay for dessert. We still had plenty of time to spare, so with dessert we ordered up a couple of Irish coffees. I’m so sad I could not do justice to my selection! The menu said, “Ger’s Bread & Butter Pudding Like no other pudding you have ever tried. Believe us.” – and the menu was right! Holy Moly – that concoction was nothing short of amazing!!! In fact, I took a picture of Raymond’s chocolaty plate, but I have absolutely no idea what he ordered. I wasn’t sharing mine, so I certainly wasn’t going to ask for a bite of his.

I’m not exaggerating when I say we could barely waddle out of Raglan Road that night, but we had an absolutely wonderful dinner. AND we made it back to Magic Kingdom in plenty of time to lower our overly-full selves down onto a Main Street curb in plenty of time to see both Wishes and the Electrical Parade.

Have you eaten at Raglan Road? What did you enjoy most about it?

More Disney Cruise Stateroom Door Décor

Posted on April 27, 2015 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

A long time ago I wrote this post about making stateroom door magnets for your first Disney cruise. There’s not much to it, but that post has been one of the most viewed I’ve ever written. Time for a do-over with more pictures this time. Earlier today, I was once again putting together some door magnets for our upcoming Disney cruise so I thought I’d share more tips for making door décor. If you’d rather watch than read or if you require a few more details than I’m including in this post, watch the video version of this tutorial here.

More Disney Cruise Stateroom Door Décor

If you’ve never taken a Disney cruise before, you should know that it’s a pretty common thing to decorate your stateroom door. You’ll feel left out if you don’t. You’ll also feel lost. Long, LONG hallways of nothing but identical stateroom doors – your family members had better be great at memorizing your room number, because all the staterooms look exactly alike from the outside. Unless you make yours unique by decorating it with your own personal touch. Decorations must be family-friendly and affixed to the door by magnets only (no adhesive allowed).

You’ll need:

Magnetic printer paper
Magnetic tape (or peel-and-stick flat magnets)
Foam Sheets
Scrapbooking (or other) themed stickers of your choice
Stick-on Letters
Stateroom Mickey Ears template (see below)
Printed photos of your choice

For small door magnets: I start by cutting some shapes out of the foam sheets to use as backgrounds and embellish those with the scrapbooking stickers. Then I cut pieces of self-stick magnet and put those on the reverse side. That’s IT! Add letters if you want and you’ll have some personalized magnets you can put up once or change out every day if you like.

For Mickey Ears (around the room number medallion on the door) – Follow the link at the bottom of this post to browse the fantastic selection of ear templates. Save and print your favorite set(s) of ears on magnetic printer paper then carefully (I’m scissor-challenged!) cut out the shapes and you’ll have another adorable addition to your door!

For large magnets – print big pictures on photo paper or magnetic printer paper. If you print on the magnetic paper, you’re finished. If you print as pictures, glue them on a foam sheet background (or a piece of cardboard) for stability, add some stick-on magnets to the back. You are now ready to set sail with a very attractive (and easy to spot) stateroom door.

Have you made magnets for your Disney Cruise Line stateroom? Please share your pictures over at Living a Disney Life on Facebook! I would love to see some new ideas!!!

The template For Stateroom Mickey Ears is available here for a small investment.

Ludwig Von Drake! (Walt Disney World Classics Collection)

Posted on April 25, 2015 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

Once more, Saturdays With Nick is all about an amazing Disney collectible. Ludwig Von Drake is a wonderful, underappreciated character and I, for one, adore this particular piece from Nick’s fantastic collection of Disneyana. What do you think about the adorable Mr. Von Drake?

Ludwig Von Drake! (Walt Disney World Classics Collection)

Imagine you’re in school, or you’re back in school, and you go to your geography class for the first time, and standing at the head of the class is a duck. That is a pretty wild imagination you have! But all things are possible in Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color!