Disney World Blog Discussing Parks, Resorts, Discounts and Dining | Only WDWorld

Disney World Presents 36th Festival Of The Masters on November 11-13

2011-11-02T06:27:00.000-04:00

The Walt Disney World Resort will be hosting the 36th Festival of the Masters presented by Michaels® on November 11 - 13, 2011. This amazing open air festival located in the Downtown Disney area features more than 150 award-winning artists.

Artwork in a number of different mediums will be on display including: painting, photography, sculpture, jewelry and more. The Festival Of The Masters is ranked among the finest outdoor art festivals's in the United States.
Dates and Times
•Friday, November 11, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
•Saturday, November 12, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
•Sunday, November 13, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Festival Of The Masters Activities Featured activities include:
•Custom Framing: Explore the different ways you can showcase any great piece of art. Located at Downtown Disney West Side.

•MiDesign@Michaels™: Enjoy new ways to personalize—in an instant, online—with digital scrapbooking, photo books and more. Located at Downtown Disney West Side.

•Collaborative Painting: Join the Michaels Design Team and work together to fill a larger-than-life masterpiece. Located at Downtown Disney West Side.

•Design-Your-Own Friendship Bracelets: Commemorate your trip to Disney by creating customized friendship bracelets with colorful threads. Located in the Downtown Disney Pleasure Island area.

•Disney Wood-Framing Experience: Start with the basics—and walk away with your own picture frame decorated with fun Disney embellishments. Located at Downtown Disney Marketplace.

•Michaels at the Waterside Stage: Discover crafty ideas and tips for every age and interest. Come join Jo Pearson, Kate Gribbon, Kathy Kromer, Jennifer Mele and Paula Schweikhard on the Waterside Stage at the Marketplace.

Disney World Dining: Raglan Road

2011-08-27T13:00:00.000-04:00

When it comes to great dining experiences at the Walt Disney World Resort don't forget to look beyond the Theme Parks and Disney Resort Hotels to check out the restaurants at Downtown Disney. One great option is Raglan Road, an Irish Pub that is designed to make you feel you were transported to Ireland when you walk through the door.

Raglan Road
Raglan Road prides itself on bringing you the authentic Irish feeling by having Irish owners, an Irish Master Chef, Irish Entertainment, and even a large portion of the Pub itself is from Ireland. The bars are 130 years old and the stages for the Irish Dancers are 150 years old and come from Ireland also.

Once inside you will get the friendly feeling of the Irish Pub. There are several different rooms that you can be seated in, including the main area that includes the dancing stages and stage for the in-house band that plays 6 nights a week.

This is a family friendly place, but it is open late and is a great option for adults to visit to enjoy a pint and take in the great entertainment.

Raglan Road - The Food
Like all great restaurants, it has to have great food, and Raglan Road is no exception. Master Chef Kevin Dundon has designed a menu that has re-invented some Irish Classics and updated many Irish flavors to create this spectacular menu. The food uses only fresh ingrediants and even the fish is flown in daily from Boston for famous Fish and Chips.

The presentation of the food is just as impressive as the taste. You find yourself watching the waiters and waitresses walk by with each plate admiring the almost artistic creations.

During our recent visit, our party of four tried four different entrees to check out the offerings from the Raglan Road Dinner Menu. You will find the "tongue in cheek" names for the dishes to be interesting as well. It all emphasizes the fun that you are supposed to have during your dining experience.

Chieftain Chicken - Certainly not your ordinary chicken dish! This was a pan seared breast of chicken with roasted baby carrots, mashed potatoes, a port wine jus, and a mushroom spinach cream sauce. This was an incredbile dish and may have been the favorite for the table.

Meatballs a la liffey luv - A Irish take on "Spaghetti and Meatballs." Guinness meatballs & spaghetti in a red wine jus with tomatoes & shaved parmesan cheese. This was also a hit and would be a good choice for the less adventurous diner.

Pie In The Sky - You can't have Irish fare without trying one of their signature pies. Here is a chicken & wild mushroom pie served with a rocket lettuce salad. Call it "eclectic comfort food," another great choice to try.

Sod the Stew - This is a beef stew infused with a hint of Guinness and served with green beans. Although this was also good, it was our least favorite only because the others got such high marks.

Raglan Road Desserts
When you dine at Raglan Road you must save room for the desserts. After careful deliberation and input from our server, we choose two desserts for our table to share and we certainly not disappointed.

Dunbrody Kiss - This is Chef Dundon's gift to America. If you are a chocolate lover, you will certainly enjoy this dessert as we did. Highly recommended.

Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding - This was an amazing bread pudding! If you a fan at all of bread pudding you will absolutely love this.

We could not pick a favorite amongst these two desserts, so we recommend you try both!

Raglan Road Entertainment
The food and wonderful Irish Pub atmosphere are only part of the Raglan Road Experience. You should definitely make sure that you visit on Monday through Saturday to see the Irish House Band - Creel and the Irish Dancers. (They have different entertainment on Sunday evenings, so you won't be totally left out.

Creel - They start playing around 7:00 pm Monday through Saturday starting the evenings off with acoustic traditional irish music and then progressing into more electric charged music as they get later into the evenings.

Irish Dancers - Danielle, Ivor, and Amal are the award winning Irish Dancers that will entertain you with traditional Jigs and fast paced, newly composed Irish Reels. They do an incredible job and it is definitely worth it to wait a little longer to get a table in the center of the restaurant to get a good view.

Great Disney World Dining Experience
Raglan Road provides a great Disney World Dining Experience whether you are dining as a family, couple, or group of adults. The restaurant gets high marks for the authentic Irish Pub atmosphere, great food created by Master Chef Kevin Dundon, and wonderful entertainment. Like any great Pub it is also the place to get a pint of your favorite beverage (Black & Tan anyone?).

When you are making your choices for dining during your Disney World Vacation don't forget this gem found in Downtown Disney.

Downtown Disney Welcomes Splitsville This Fall

2011-07-26T22:00:00.000-04:00

Downtown Disney will continue to see changes as it transforms into a more family friendly dining, shopping, and entertainment center. This fall, construction will begin on Splitsville, a 50,000-square-foot upscale entertainment center that combines bowling with billiards, dining, music and nightlife. To make way for this experience, RIDEMAKERZ, currently located on the West Side, will move to the Marketplace.

The Walt Disney World Resort has been transforming the Downtown Disney Pleasure Island area from an adult themed nightspot to a location that features entertainment, shopping, and dining that is suitable for teh entire family.

Downtown Disney Getting New Waterfront District Called "Hyperion Wharf"

2010-11-19T20:45:00.000-05:00

In a Press Release Disney announced their plans for the transformation of the Pleasure Island area of Downtown Disney into the new "Hyperion Wharf" Waterfront District. The new area will feature additional shops, dining, and entertainment for the whole family. At night the Hyperion Wharf will become an electric wonderland filled with thousands of lights.

Here is the Press Release with all of the details (pictures shown are Disney Artist Renderings of "Hyperion Wharf" Waterfront Disntrict):

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Nov. 18, 2010) – Work will soon begin on a completely re-imagined Pleasure Island and other one-of-a-kind experiences as Walt Disney World Resort continues to bring new stories to life at Downtown Disney. Combined, the projects are expected to create an estimated 1,200 new jobs over the next three years.

“We have made great progress since first announcing our vision to bring new shopping, dining and entertainment experiences to Downtown Disney, many of which can’t be found anywhere else and have already become guest favorites,” said Keith Bradford, vice president of Downtown Disney. “We look forward to providing even more ways for our guests to enjoy Downtown Disney, while at the same time creating new jobs for Central Floridians.”

A nostalgic yet modern take on an early 20th century port city and amusement pier will evolve Pleasure Island into “Hyperion Wharf.” By day, the bustling port district will draw guests in with its stylish boutiques and innovative restaurants and by night, thousands of lights will transform the area into an electric wonderland.

Taking its name from Hyperion, the Greek god of light, as well as the street on which Walt Disney built his first major animation studio, the wharf district also will feature a relaxing lakeside park and enhanced pedestrian walkways. Its diverse eateries will expand dining availability at Downtown Disney by more than 25 percent.

“Hyperion Wharf will offer guests of all ages a vibrant atmosphere and new experiences that can be enjoyed by day or by night,” said Bradford. “Whether looking for a great place to dine with the whole family or a place to relax and enjoy live music, Hyperion Wharf will provide the perfect setting for guests to make new memories with us.”

In addition to the new wharf district, numerous other projects are underway at Downtown Disney, including:
an extensive renovation of Lego Imagination Center, which will increase its overall footprint by nearly 3,500 square-feet and add new Lego exterior models featuring scenes from classic Disney movies;
enhancements at AMC that will take the movie-going experience at Downtown Disney to the next level with new digital technology, a paradigm-shifting Concession Stand of the Future and Florida’s first Fork & Screen Theater; and
numerous new or renovated retail shops and merchandise vignettes, as well as additional atmosphere entertainment, throughout Downtown Disney.

Combined, these projects are expected to create an estimated 600 construction jobs, 500 restaurant, retail and entertainment jobs and support 100 vendor and supplier jobs.

Other recent additions to Downtown Disney include:
new entertainment, such as the Characters in Flight tethered balloon ride, the ETX theater at AMC and an enhanced outdoor performance area;
unique shopping experiences like D Street, littlemissmatched, RIDEMAKERZ, Tren-D and Disney’s Design-a-Tee; and
immersive dining, like T-Rex: A Prehistoric Family Adventure, Paradiso 37 and the recently opened Pollo Campero and Fresh A-Peel, a new quick-service restaurant combining authentic Latin-style chicken and side dishes, as well as fresh, healthy creations such as salads, wraps and gluten-free desserts.

Disney World Dining: Portobello

2010-10-12T22:53:00.000-04:00

When you are looking for Italian Cuisine there are many choices at Disney World. One that gets overlooked that should be considered is Portobello located in Downtown Disney.

Portobello: Country - Italian - Trattoria
Portobello is located next to Fulton's Crab House in Downtown Disney. Recently my family decided to give it a try for lunch. It was not crowded. Although we could have been seated right away in the Dining Room, we opted to eat in the bar area instead.

The reason we chose the bar is because of the buzz that the Meatballs that they are serving in the bar have generated. I have read about them on serveral sites and heard a great podcast from Lou Mongello and WDW Radio discussing the new meatballs that are offered in the bar. They have even inscluded signage in teh bar area now referring to it as the "Meatball Bar."

We were pleased to find out that in the bar area we could not only order the meatballs that they featured, but we could also order anything on their Dining Room Lunch menu (pictured below.)

Each meal at Portobello starts out with their house made bread along with roasted garlic and olive oil (pictured below.) Again this was beyond what we expected to be served in the bar area. The roasted garlic was such that it spreadable on the bread and the taste was flavorful, but not overpowering. This was the first time that we had seen garlic served like this and we really enjoyed it.

Kat was our bartender/server and she did a great job recomending dishes and giving suggestions. Also like most Disney World Cast Members she was more than willing to take a picture for us.

Portobello Meatball Bar

There are four different types of meatballs that are offered at Portobello:

Beef & Veal with Parsley
Chicken with Sage
Spicy Pork
Salmon with Tarragon

Each meatball is hand made at Portobello and served with tomato sauce on a ciabatta roll. The Beef, Chicken, & Pork are $1.95 each and the Salmon is $2.95 each or mix and match any 3 for $5.00. The 3 for $5.00 is one of the best food deals at Disney World as 3 of these mini meatball sandwiches makes a pretty good lunch.

Both of my children opted for the 3 for $5.00 meatball deal and they enjoyed all of the meatballs. Between them they sampled all four types and did not have anything bad to say about any of them.

Although the picture above does not do it justice, the Gnocchi served with Nana's Sunday Pork Ragu was spectacular. The potato pasta (Gnocchi) was served with a pulled pork based sauce that was in a tomato/wine based sauce. The pulled pork in the sauce was something I have never experienced in an Italian dish and I absolutely loved it. At the lunch price of $11.95 this was a great deal. You can also get this on the Dinner menu , but the portion is larger and the cost goes up to $24.95.

My wife enjoyed the Chicken Farfalle (pictured above) with snow peas, asparagus, tomatoes, and parmigiano cream sauce. This is another entree that is available both on the lunch and the dinner menus.

The Portobello Dinner Menu offers the salads and pasta dishes the you can get at lunch and adds steak and seafood dishes as well. Everything that we saw being served while we were there looked great.

Dining At Portobello

We would definitely have to give dining at Portobello very high marks. It was one of the most enjoyable lunches that we have had at Disney World. The food was excellend and the little touches like the roasted garlic with the bread and olive oil made the experience even better.

I absolutely would recommend checking out the Meatball Bar. The atmosphere is such that you can bring your children or have a get together for adults. You cannot beat the 3 for $5.00 meatball deal. It makes a great lunch or snack.

Although Portobello is not included in the Disney Dining Plan it has been recently added to the Tables In Wonderland Discount which allows you to get 20% off you entire bill (alcoholic drinks also.)

The next time you are looking for Italian food at Disney World do not forget to include Portobello as one of your options.

Disney World Dining - Wolfgang Puck Express

2010-05-09T22:03:00.141-04:00

Best Disney World Quick Service Restaurant For 2010
At the Walt Disney World Resort only one restaurant can be chosen as "Best Disney World Quick Service Restaurant." For 2010, Only WDWorld awards that lofty distinction to "Wolfgang Puck Express" located in the Marketplace section of Downtown Disney.

Wolfgang Puck Express
Wolfgang Puck Express, which was created by Wolfgang Puck himself, serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, offering a variety of tasty salads, sandwiches, pizzas, pasta dishes, and other signature creations.

The Wolfgang Puck philosophy towards his restaurants is that every meal will be a memorable event and a celebration of Wolfgang’s Eat, Love, Live™ (WELL). In keeping with WELL, whenever possible, Wolfgang Puck restaurants offer fresh, natural and organic products from local family farmers and purveyors who further sustainability and the humane treatment of animals.

Although this restaurant truly is a Quick Service restaurant where you order at the counter and you food is brought to your table, the quality of the food is well beyond your typical quick service dining experience. As a special bonus it only costs one Quick Service Dining Credit per person to eat here using the Disney Dining Plan.

The Menu

Every so often the menu changes, like it did in March of 2010, but the staples stay the same. They make wonderful salads, gourmet pizzas, tasty sandwiches, and Wolfgang Puck Signature Pasta and other dishes.

Pizzas

The pizzas at Wolfgang Puck Express are wonderful. They are prepared in a wood fired stone oven. The pizza pictured above is the Traditional Margherita with torn basil. After trying several different pizzas on the menu, there really isn't a bad choice.

Here are some of the pizzas you can get:

Traditional Margherita with torn basil
Pepperoni, Sopressata, Toscana Salami, and Chilies
Barbecued Chicken, Grilled Red Onion, Cilantro, and Smokey Barbecue Sauce
Roasted Seasonal Vegetables, Pesto, and Buffalo Mozzarella
Four Cheese Pesto, Mozzarella, Fontina, Parmesan, and Goat Cheese
Meatball & Peppers, House Made Meatballs, Mozzarella, Fontina, Tomato Basil-Garlic Sauce

Pasta Dishes

The Pasta Dishes are wonderful and the portion sizes are plenty large enough to have for Dinner. When using the Disney Dining Plan or the Quick Service Dining Plan this is a great option to come to for Dinner. It will be better than some of the Table Service meals that you have.

The menu includes:

Spaghetti Tomato-Basil-Garlic, with fresh Mozzarella
Spaghetti and Meatballs (pictured above), Tomato-Basil-Garlic Sauce and Fresh Herbs
Macaroni & Cheese (The best you will ever taste)
Pennette Chicken Alfredo (pictured below), Peas, Bacon, and Parmesan
Pennette Bolognese, Meat Sauce, Peas, and Parmesan

New Featured Items on the Menu

As mentioned above there are occasionally some menu changes. Although a couple of favorite pizza choices are no longer on the menu there are two new additions to the menu that we will mention here that are out of this world.

The first is the Oven Roasted Salmon (pictured below). The Salmon is prepared with fennnel, tomatoes, arugula, roasted potatoes, and horseradish cream (on the side). It not only looked great, but it tasted great also.

The next new dish was the Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf (pictured below). At first this did not get our attention, but when we saw the dish being served we were blown away. We had to come back later in the week to try it for ourselves.

When we tried it first hand, we were not disappointed. This may be the best Meatloaf meal ever created!

The thick slice of bacon wrapped meatloaf is first grilled. Then it is placed upon a generous serving of mashed potatoes. Gravy is added and then it is all topped off with french fried onions. One word to describe it - AMAZING!

I never thought I would be tempted to try one of the non-Pizza or Pasta dishes at Wolfgang Puck Express because I have enjoyed them so much, but this Meatloaf is incredible.

Dessert

No great meal is complete without dessert. At Wolfgang Puck Express the signature dessert is the Creme Brulee.

The Creme Brulee (pictured below) is very good and highly recommended. You can also get a large cookie or frozen yogurt with your choice of one topping.

Redefines Quick Service Dining

Wolfgang Puck Express redefines the Quick Service Dining Experience. Once you have dined here using the Disney Dining Plan, you will be trying to rearrange your schedule so that you can come back.

If you have never dined here before, you should strongly consider it for your next Disney World Vacation. You will not be disappointed.

Disney World Dining: Cooke's Of Dublin

2010-04-23T12:05:00.004-04:00

The Walt Disney World Resort has many great Quick Service Dining locations throughout the resort when you are looking for something beyond hamburgers or pizza. Cooke’s Of Dublin located in Downtown Disney is one of the best.

Nestled on the back of the building that houses Raglan Road, Cooke’s Of Dublin does not get a lot of fanfare, but it should. This relatively small quick service dining location, participates on the Disney Dining Plan, has great food, and is certainly worth the effort to seek it out.

Cooke’s Of Dublin Mission Statement

For lack of a better term, Cooke’s Of Dublin places its Mission Statement on a large sign, front and center for all to see, above the counter where you place your order.

It declares that:

• We take the freshest of fish only. Daily. We coat it in our special light batter. A family secret for generations.

• Our potato-chips are natural and fresh-cut. The way that fries (chips) started out.

• We cook our ingredients in only the purest of oils to serve up what we believe to be the very best fish & chips you can buy.

• Our food is cooked almost-to-order. The way it should be. It may take a few moments longer, but we believe it is well worth the wait.

• We bake our famous Dublin-style pies from scratch daily.

• And we serve up our unique “Doh-Bars” - melted candy bars covered in our secret dough. You won’t find them anywhere else!

• We do things the same way we did back in the 1930’s. It is the Cooke family way. Highest standards. No Compromises. Ever.

Cooke’s Of Dublin Menu

Here is a look at the regular and the Kid’s menu:

On the menu you will find a variety of Fried Seafood Choices: Fish, Scallops, & Shrimp. They have their Dublin Style Pies in 3 varieties: Chicken and Field Mushroom, Beef and Lamb, & Fisherman's Pie. You will also find Irish Sausags, Chicken Tenders, Whiskey Chicken Wings, and fresh Salads.

For the Kid's Menu they feature the same items: Fish, Shrimp, Chicken tenders, and Sausages in smaller portions.

The Real Test - Tasting The Food

The signature dish is the “Original One & One” which is fish and chips (pictured below). During our recent visit we had to give it a try. The fish was incredible. It may very well be the best fish and chips I have ever had. The fish was hot and stayed that way throughout the meal. It was extremely tasty and the batter was perfect. They also feature a homemade tartar sauce to go with it.

I would highly recommend this to anyone!

My daughter decided to try one of their Dublin-style pies. She chose the Beef and Lamb Pie and was extremely happy that she did.

As you can see in the picture below the pie is covered in a pastry crust. Inside there was mashed potatoes, ground beef and lamb, and carrots. She thoroughly enjoyed it and again would not hesitate to recommend it to others.

For dessert we tried the Cooke’s of Dublin famous “Doh-Bars.” (pictured below) They were battered Snickers bars that were then deep fried. I wasn’t sure whether I would enjoy it or not, but I have to say that it was incredible. The melted, gooey mess that the chocolate and other parts of the Snickers bar had become inside the battered covering was wonderful.

You cannot believe how good it is until you try it for yourself.

Disney Dining Plan

Since Cooke’s of Dublin participates on the Disney Dining Plan, my family was able to have a thoroughly enjoyable meal for just one Quick Service Dining Credit each.

The variety of the menu, the quality of the food, and the unique dessert choice makes this one of the best Disney Dining Plan Quick Service locations in all of Disney World. It is definitely now in my top 5!

Strongly Recommend!

Although you do have to wait a little bit to get your order, the resulting fresh, hot food is more than worth the wait. It also gets crowded, but the lines move relatively quickly.

When Dining at Disney World, don’t settle for the ordinary theme park fare, take advantage of the great choices that are presented like Cooke’s of Dublin. We would highly recommend Cooke’s of Dublin as a Quick Service Dining choice. You will not be disappointed.

Downtown Disney To Add 2 New Shops And 3D Theater Technology

2010-03-02T22:11:00.001-05:00

Disney World has announced new additions coming to Downtown Disney starting on March 5th, 2010.

3D Theater Technology
Just in time for the debut of the new Alice in Wonderland movie on March 5th, AMC Entertainment is upgrading auditorium #1 to be the first Enhanced Theater Experience (ETX™) in the United States. The ETX auditorium will include a 20 percent larger, floor-to-ceiling screen, 3D technology, 12 channel audio and digital projection that delivers higher resolution than HD.

RIDEMAKERZ
Opening on March 25th will be a new retail addition to Downtown Disney's West Side. RIDEMAKERZ will integrate full-sized cars and a supercharged interactive experience that lets guests build, customize and trick out their very own radio-controlled vehicles. Kids of all ages will be able to satisfy their need for speed with over 649 million ways to create a mean machine.

This will be the 6th U.S. location for RIDEMAKERZ. Current plans are for this Downtown Disney location to be temporary and only be around until Fall.

Having personally visited the RIDEMAKERZ located in Myrtle Beach, SC I have to admit that this is a pretty cool shop, where you make your own customized RC car by choosing from a wide variety of styles and options.

D Street
D Street will build upon the success of Trend-D in the Downtown Disney Marketplace. Different from Trend-D is the fact that D Street will have merchandise for both men and women. It will have urban inspired products mixed with a Disney creative flair.

The store will have edgy apparel, pop culture novelties, Vinylmation™ figures and collectibles, artwork, handbags, accessories, jewelry and more. Opening in April, the D Street will feature a raw, unfinished industrial look and provide a great venue to showcase Disney art created by local artists.

Exciting New Additions To Downtown Disney
Downtown Disney continues to be a place for entertainment, shopping, and dining while visiting the Walt Disney World Resort. These newly announced additions build upon the others recently added attractions like Characters In Flight, Paradiso 37, Trend-D, and the recently announced Pollo Campero.

Pollo Campero Is Bringing Its Latin Chicken To Downtown Disney

2010-02-06T11:52:00.002-05:00

Pollo Campero, in conjunction with franchisee Levy Campero, is opening up a new restaurant in the Downtown Disney Marketplace.

Pollo Campero is a Guatemalan based fast food restaurant that is very successful in Latin America. The chain now has over 300 restaurants in 12 countries, serving over 85 million customers annually. Pollo Campero is known for its chicken.

According to the company website: "Our Latin flavored chicken is hand-prepared every day, seasoned with our special herbs and spices, marinated slowly and served with a zest and passion for making our guests feel at home."

This new addition to Downtown Disney will be replacing the McDonald's currently found near the Lego Imagination Center. Construction is beginning soon for an expected opening in November of 2010.

From an interview of Pollo Campero President, Juan Jose Gutierrez by Prensa Libre, Only WDWorld has learned that:

Negotiations have been going on with Disney for 4 years in preparation for this restaurant.
"It represents great pride and satisfaction to have completed negotiations, both as a company and as a mark of Guatemala."
They expect 15 to 20 times more traffic than a typical Pollo Campero restaurant, so they had to redesign their logistics, equipment, and processes to be able to handle the increased number of customers.
This 10,000 sqft space is 5 times bigger than a typical Pollo Campero.

Expanded Menus
In addition to the great, flovorful chicken that they are known for, they will also offer tasty alternative dishes such as fried yucca, sweet plantains, and Latin drinks including horchata and tamarind. You will also find other healthy alternatives, such as salads added especially to this Downtown Disney location.

Great Addition To Downtown Disney
The addition of Pollo Campero continues the trend of Disney World partnering with outside firms to bring great international flavors and options to Downtown Disney. Add this to the list of current choices: Cooke's of Dublin, Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant, Portobello, & Paradisio 37 Street Foods Of The Americas.

We'll close with a (translated) quote from Pollo Campero President Juan Jose Gutierrez: "For decades, Walt Disney World has introduced its visitors to a rich cultural experience. We contribute to the cultural heritage of the park, helping visitors discover the unique flavors and the proximity of Latin-style family meals."

Characters In Flight Seen From Epcot

2009-11-23T06:34:00.003-05:00

Characters In Fight is one of the newest attractions at the Walt Disney World Resort. It is based at Downtown Disney, but was recently spotted from Epcot.

The Characters In Flight Balloon is 72 feet in diameter and is the world's largest tethered gas filled ballon.

It was built by Aérophile S.A, headquartered in Paris, France. It was made to be similar to an attraction created for Disneyland Paris.

Weather permitting, guests can board the balloon in Downtown Disney from 9 a.m. to midnight each day, for an 8 to 10 minute excursion to 400 feet in the air.

The balloon itself, called the Aéro30, is attached to a gondola that is 19 feet in diameter and holds up to 29 Guests and the pilot at a time. On a clear day the passsengers can see up to 10 miles away with a 360 degree view.

Ticket Prices:
•$16 Adult (tax included) - Guests ages 10 and up
•$10 Children (tax included) - Guests ages 3 - 9
•Guests under 12 years of age must be accompanied by an adult.
•Gondola is wheelchair accessible with assistance. Guests must transfer from an Electric Convenience Vehicle (ECV).

See and Be Seen
The Characters In Flight balloon has a circumference of 240 feet, and a height of 105 feet, making it easy to spot from Epcot as we did in the earlier photos.

For those that are not afraid of heights this would be a great addition to your Disney World vacation, and a chance to see Disney World from a whole new perspective.

Festival Of The Masters Returns To Disney World Nov. 13 - 15th

2009-11-10T07:43:00.001-05:00

This weekend (November 13th -15th) a special event is taking place in the Downtown Disney area.

It is the 34th rendition of the Festival of the Masters presented by Sharpie®. The Festival of the Masters is a complimentary open-air art festival featuring nearly 150 award-winning artists.

Since its start at Disney World in 1975, millions of guests have enjoyed this world-renowned event. This art festival with the Disney touches has become an anticipated event for both the art lovers, as well as, the artists themselves.
Festival History
The Festival of the Masters ranks amongst the nation's top outdoor art festivals.

The Festival truly seeks out the Masters when it comes to artistic talent. To be included in the festival an artist must have earned a primary award at a juried art festival within the last 4 years. So all of the artists that you will see are truly award winning artists. It has also become a very desirable festival for the artists to be able to display their talents.
Festival Highlights

Besides being able to see some of the country's best artistic talent there are a host of activities going on in the Downtown Disney Area during the festival.

House of Blues Folk Art Festival — Delight in the 11th annual "Where the Art Meets the Soul" festival, featuring local and national folk artists, great music and captivating children's activities.

Central Florida Chalk Artists Association — Watch as more than 6,000 square feet of sidewalk at the Downtown Disney Marketplace are transformed into a giant canvas for talented chalk artists to showcase their masterpieces. And kids can create their own works of chalk art in a special area just for them!

Family Activities — Treat your family the world of art as they're taught by experts how to draw some of their favorite Disney characters outside DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive theme park. Families can take part in other art-related activities throughout the Downtown Disney area, and kids can boogie at a special DJ Dance Party at the Dock Stage every afternoon.

Meet the performers from Cirque du Soleil® La Nouba™ and enjoy face painting and balloons outside Cirque du Soleil®.

Additional Live Entertainment — Keep your groove going all weekend with live performances throughout the Downtown Disney area.

Unique "DIANA - The People's Princess" Exhibit is Coming To Downtown Disney

2009-06-19T12:56:00.007-04:00

In the former location of the Virgin Megastore in the West Side of Downtown Disney at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida comes a new temporary attraction - "DIANA - The People's Princess." The exhibit opens in July, 2009 and will run through Nov. 30th, 2009.

Here is the official press release for more information including the fees to view this exhibit:

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The People’s Princess Charitable Foundation, Inc. (PPCF) is bringing “DIANA–The People’s Princess” – a major new exhibit of royal artifacts – to Walt Disney World Resort. Opening in early July 2009, this limited-time experience showcases the life and story of Princess Diana, one of the most iconic and inspirational figures in recent history, including a sampling of the royal dresses Diana chose to auction for charity and hundreds of authentic artifacts relating to her life.

“DIANA–The People’s Princess” exhibit will be held in a 17,500-square-foot setting at Downtown Disney West Side adjacent to DisneyQuest. This unique exhibition is one of the largest collections of royal dresses and rare artifacts ever assembled for an American audience which provides an in-depth historical perspective of her life. The exhibit includes five rarely seen royal dresses worn by Princess Diana. As part of this unique experience, guests will come to understand:
• The stories of Diana’s own childhood and ancestry and how that lineage was influential in her selection as the future bride of HRH Charles, The Prince of Wales, the future King of England.
• Her magical royal wedding which was viewed by over 750 million people from around the globe; her favorite role as “mum” to princes William and Harry.
• Kensington Palace, the royal residence where Diana lived from the moment she became the Princess of Wales until her death and which today plays an active role in preserving her charitable legacy.
• The historical significance of her role as Princess of Wales and the impact she had through that role on the fashion industry and charitable landscape.
• How at the Christie’s “Sale of The Century,” 79 of Diana’s royal dresses were sold to benefit charities which helped position her as an astute philanthropist.
• Her untimely passing and the massive media and public interest in the tragedy.
• The charitable impact still being recognized through her gowns and personal effects.

A hint at some of the items on display:
• Royal Doulton figurine of Diana in her wedding dress – Made in 1981 at the time of the royal wedding, the doll is wearing an exact replica of the famous wedding dress.
• The Black Velvet “V” Neck (pictured above)– Designed by Bruce Oldfield and worn by Diana for her official royal portrait in 1985.
• Wedding Breakfast booklet – Contains guest names and two tickets to observe the bride and bridegroom before and following the wedding ceremony in the quadrangle at Buckingham Palace and Clarence House.
• Three-foot doll of Diana as a young girl – Released by the Great American Doll Company in 1998 as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales. “The late Princess used her globally renowned platform brilliantly,” commented Maureen Rorech Dunkel, founder of PPCF. “She understood that the many different experiences she had in her life, both positive and negative, made her more relatable to the public. She used this quality to connect to the common masses and in doing so became known as ‘The People’s Princess.’ She used her compassion to bring support to all those in need and is still to this date, almost 12 years after her tragic passing, regarded as one of the most influential humanitarians of all time." “We look forward to The People’s Princess Charitable Foundation bringing this unique experience to our Downtown Disney guests,” said Kevin Lansberry, vice president of Downtown Disney. “We remain committed to offering guests new and exciting experiences they can only have at the Walt Disney World Resort.”

Tickets may be purchased at the exhibit – $14.50 (ages 10 and above), $5 (ages 3-9). The exhibition will be through Nov. 30, 2009. Hours are 11 a.m.-11 p.m. daily.

Tren-D Creates New Shopping Experience at Downtown Disney

2009-05-01T06:07:00.003-04:00

One of the newest shopping experiences to be added to Downtown Disney at the Walt Disney World Resort is called Tren-D.

The 2,500 sqft boutique is an urban-inspired, hip destination for fashion-conscious shoppers seeking trendy apparel and novel accessories. The new store combines designer items with Disney art, apparel, and accessories. Some of the designers represented in the store include: Kidada Jones, Tarina Tarantino and Roxy.

Here is a video clip from Disney showing you around Tren-D:

Most of the merchandise that you will see here is not offered anywhere else.

According to Mark Perrotta, director of Product Development and Design, "Tren-D speaks to what is happening today with a blend of vintage and hip with stylized Disney influences.”

This is the place to find stylish items that you would not previously find at Disney World. Where else would you find embroidered handbags and jeweled sunglasses, along with unique Disney artwork and trendy assessories?

Tren-D is located in the Downtown Disney Marketplace area between Pin Traders, and Once Upon A Toy.

For those of you yearning for a different Disney shopping experience that is trendier than the usual Disney fare that you would find in the World of Disney, Tren-D may be the place or you. Why don’t you check it out during your next vacation? You may find just the item you have been looking for.

Exciting New Attraction Coming to Downtown Disney Soon

2009-03-08T21:05:00.004-04:00

A new iconic attraction will be coming to Downtown Disney this summer. It is a tethered hot air balloon from the Aerophile corporation that will take guests 300 feet into the air for a panoramic view of Disney World.

Here is an excerpt from the Aerophile website:

Downtown Disney® in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., will get its own iconic attraction, in the form of a giant tethered balloon that will take guests 300 feet into the air to view the vistas of Walt Disney World® Resort starting next spring. The balloon will give visitors keen for thrills the chance to ascend to the skies above Downtown Disney® for a six-minute trip, by day or night. It will give up to 30 guests at a time an unparalleled, 360-degree view of up to 10 miles. The balloon is the newest and largest of the company's Aero30 model, with a volume of 210,000 cubic feet, a 72-foot diameter, a circumference of 240 feet, and a height of 105 feet. It has a quick 8 points mooring system and a landing platform on the lake designed especially for Downtown Disney®.

Aerophile has worked with Disney previously, providing a similar attraction for Disneyland Paris in 2005.

This will definitely provide a new exciting feature for Downtown Disney.

T-Rex Comes to Downtown Disney

2008-10-16T05:49:00.003-04:00

A T-REX has invaded Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney marketplace. A T-REX Cafe that is.

On Tuesday October 14th the restaurant opened and I must say it rates high on the cool factor. The restaurant is operated by Landry's Restaurants Inc, which also operates the Rain Forest Cafe.

The outside of the buidling is very impressive and it gets your attention right away with the giant dinosaur skeleton and the mountain facade.

Although I didn't get a chance to go inside I could see the animatronic T-Rex among other Dinosaurs inside. The retail shopping area also includes a Build-A-Dinosaur shop from Build-A-Bear.

The menu has a good selection, but I think the entertainment factor alone is enough to want to be able to visit this new restaurant. I am sure that this will soon be one of the most popular destinations in Downtown Disney.

Enjoy the pictures!