Dining Details - Disney's Hollywood Studios Edition

This post (and additional "Dining Details" posts) will follow a similar format to the last one - a short description and picture of each table service restaurant at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and, when available, reviews from the DISUnplugged podcast. Let's eat!

1. 50's Prime Time Cafe - Serves lunch and dinner and requires 1 dining plan table service credit. Located on Mickey Avenue. Meals are served a la carte and feature Mom's home cooking. This restaurant is heavily themed, making you feel as though you've entered a 1950s TV sitcom. The servers interact with guests here; cast members introduce themselves as "Aunt Thelma" or "Cousin Joe" and encourage you to clean your plate, eat your veggies, etc. I especially recommend the pot roast.




2. Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater - Serves lunch and dinner and requires 1 dining plan table service credit. Menu is a la carte. This restaurant is also heavily themed, this time to a drive-in theater. Patrons enjoy their meals in a parked "car," with two seats in front and two in back (no cozy conversation here). The menu is mostly burgers, chicken, and salads. Located on Commissary Lane.




3. Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano - Serves lunch and dinner and requires 1 dining plan table service credit. Diners enjoy both traditional and modern Italian food in a cozy, well-themed, rather low-lighted environment. Located behind Star Tours and the Muppet Vision 3-D attraction. Here's a review from Kevin:

Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano



4. Hollywood and Vine - Serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and requires 1 dining plan table service credit. Character meals are featured here, with Jo-Jo and Goliath and June and Leo from "Playhouse Disney" at breakfast and lunch. There are no characters at dinner. Food is served on a large buffet. This is a big place and it feels a bit like a cafeteria. Located by Echo Lake.




5. Hollywood Brown Derby - Serves lunch and dinner and requires 2 dining plan table service credits. This upscale, richly furnished restaurant is most appropriate for adults but is kid-friendly. Guests order a la carte and may choose from seafood and stake entrees or the famous (and tasty) Cobb salad. Located by the Animation Courtyard.





I'm starting to write like a guidebook author. Maybe because I read too many of them!

If anyone is interested, I can provide audio links to Kevin Klose's dining reviews. He has done more podcast reviews that written ones, and they're unfailingly entertaining.

Dining Details - Magic Kingdom Edition

In helping Holly with her upcoming vacation, I realized that planning these trips is awfully complicated. To reduce some of her research time, I am posting a few consecutive entries regarding the Dining Plan, and more specifically, the restaurants that accept it and a few pertinent details. Here we go!


1. Cinderella's Royal Table - Serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Includes characters such as Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother. Requires 2 Dining Plan table credits. Advance credit card payment is required. Guests order off a limited menu, except for breakfast, where each guest is given a pre-plated meal of traditional breakfast foods. Located inside Cinderella's Castle. Here's a link to Kevin Klose's (of the DISUnplugged) review:

Cinderella's Royal Table




2. The Crystal Palace - Serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffet-style. Includes Pooh and his friends. Requires 1 Dining Plan table service credit. Food selection is ample, varied, and fresh. Located between Main Street U.S.A. and Adventureland.




3. Liberty Tree Tavern - Serves lunch and dinner family-style (where platters of food are brought to your table and replenished as needed). Food is all-you-care-to-eat. Requires 1 Dining Plan table service credit. Meals are traditional, "Thanksgiving Dinner" foods. This restaurant no longer provides character meals. Located in Liberty Square.



4. The Plaza Restaurant - Serves lunch and dinner. Order off a limited menu featuring sandwiches, soups, salads, and other light fare. Requires 1 Dining Plan table service credit. Decor is charmingly Victorian, but this is a small restaurant. Located on Main Street, U.S.A.



5. Tony's Town Square Restaurant - Serves lunch and dinner. Food is traditional Italian, ordered off of a menu. Requires 1 Dining Plan table service credit. Restaurant is themed to "Lady and the Tramp" but does not have characters. Here's a link to another Kevin Klose review:

Tony's Town Square

Essential Guidebooks

Vacationing at Walt Disney World can be complicated, overwhelming, exhausting, and expensive. There are at least three ways to get the necessary information to alleviate all of those challenges: good guidebooks, informative podcasts, and easy-to-navigate websites. This post will focus on the guidebooks I've found most useful for my own use.

*My new favorite: Passporter's Walt Disney World 2009: The Unique Travel Guide, Planner, Organizer, Journal, and Keepsake by Jennifer, Dave, and Allison Marx. This guidebook can go with you everywhere at the World. It's very well-organized and includes ratings, descriptions, prices, details, and lists of additional resources (such as websites). Additionally, at the back of the book there are pocket pages to hold maps, receipts, etc. and an elastic band that holds the book closed, so you lose nothing. My only complaint? The pictures are all non-professional ones of the authors' family.



*An oldie-but-goodie: Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2009. This is the official guide of WDW, and it is very comprehensive. It's very weak on the touring plans, and offers no opinions or ratings. It does include good photographs and all activities provided at WDW. I've been reading this since the early 90s.



*For the extremely obsessed WDW traveler: The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2009 by Bob Sehlinger and Len Testa. This book is hundreds of pages long, and covers every possible angle of WDW - touring plans, crowd levels, ratings and readers' opinions, restaurants and hotels on and off property, etc. I enjoy reading it but wouldn't necessarily recommend it as your primary resource.



*For visual interest and absorbing trivia: The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World 2008 by Julie and Mike Neal. Beautiful photographs and interesting facts make this book the best for casual reading and skimming. It does include all that a guidebook would in terms of prices, attractions, maps and the like, but gives very little guidance regarding efficient touring, saving money, etc. Still, very much worth the money.



Many of these guidebooks (albeit in older editions) may be available through your local library or via a site like www.half.com. No matter which you choose, be sure you have at least one as you plan your trip (or dream about it, at least!).

Grim Grinning Ghosts!

Ten Reasons You Just Might Like Walt Disney World

For Holly, and anyone else who may be considering a future trip:

1. Cinderella Castle - Obviously a popular iconic figure and an instant visual cue, this structure is also beautiful and unexpectedly detailed (i.e., the five murals featuring more than 500 million pieces of Venetian glass in the castle's archway).



2. The Monorail - Almost the best ride in all of WDW. Riding the monorail between Epcot and the Ticket and Transportation Center really emphasizes the space and scope of WDW's size. It's relaxing, it's easy, and has beautiful views in every direction.



3. "Soarin' Over California" at Epcot's Future World - This deceptively simple ride lifts you (and a few dozen of your best buddies) several feet off the floor, places you in front of an enormous IMAX screen, and through scent, sound, and gentle motion, make you feel like you actually are soaring over the state of California. It's unbelievable, really.



4. The Tomorrowland Transit Authority - This ride, located in the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland, is often overlooked, as it is not a headliner attraction. It is relaxing, cool, quiet, and never, ever crowded. I have never seen a line here, and it's often possible to ride continuously, without getting out of your ride vehicle. It's an elevated train, basically, but more technologically complex - it uses linear induction motors and emits no pollution whatsoever. Because it's elevated you enjoy gorgeous views of Tomorrowland, and it takes you through many of the Tomorrowland attractions, specifically Space Mountain. One of my must-dos.




5. The Atrium at the Polynesian Resort - Hop off the monorail sometime and just walk around this resort. The atrium features...well, just look at the picture. Enough said.




6. The Innoventions Plaza music at Epcot's Future World - Actually, I could say that this goes for all music played throughout WDW. I really create memories through sound and, thus, I have good emotions attached to this music in particular. Since I have no photos of the music, you'll have to go to www.mouseworldradio.com to find it.

7. The boat ride from Port Orleans Riverside resort to Downtown Disney - Again, one of the best rides in the park, and it requires no theme park admission OR money! It's more or less a boat shuttle, but the captains are friendly and informative, and the ride down the Sassagoula river is pleasant and just long enough to be satisfying. There are some choice views of the Treehouse Villas (now being renovated as part of the Saratoga Springs resort) as well as views of the Saratoga Springs Resort proper. Especially satisfying at night.



8. Cleanliness/Friendliness - Once more, I have no picture that can encompass this topic, but it can't be overstated. Hard as it is to achieve on my own at home, I have such an appreciation for clean surroundings, manicured gardens, and order. I also appreciate the overwhelming percentage of both cast members and guests who seem to be on their "Christmas season" behavior all the time at WDW.

9. Dole Whips - Yum.



10. Spaceship Earth - This is the icon of Epcot. However, it is unique in its technology and its ride experience. This ride moves you, slowly, towards the top of the structure's interior while tracing the history of communication. It was recently renovated and now features Judi Dench as a narrator - I would have plumped for Julie Andrews, if we must have a female voice. Anyway, it is an enjoyable ride for all ages and a nice way to relax in air-conditioned comfort on a hot Florida day. Don't miss it!

The Evolution of an Obsession

After much encouragement, and a commitment to sink more time into blogging (!), I've decided to begin my "specialty" blog about Walt Disney World, "The World With Beth."

My interest in Disney World and other Disney-related subjects began, as it does with most of us, in my childhood. After a particularly frightening medical procedure at 5 years old, my mother fixed me a snack and let me watch "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too" in our Beta VCR player. We had a couple of trips to WDW as young children (pre-5) which I enjoyed, and later wished I could remember more about. I enjoyed various Disney movies, especially during the late 1980s/early 1990's resurgence under Michael Eisner. But the real fun started when I made a trip to WDW at 12 years old with my mom, aunt Christina, and sister Andrea. Mom and Christina decided to go off on their own one evening and left Andrea and I to decide where we'd like to go. We ended up taking the bus to Epcot, where there was palpable excitement and no lines! We were free, essentially "adult," at ages 15 and 12. It was wonderful, and at the time, it was one of the few moments where we DIDN'T argue.

For me, WDW is a place of freedom, where the perfectly created "Disney" reality BECOMES my own reality. You are taken care of, entertained, fed, and befriended by cast members and other visitors alike. It is beautiful, clean, happy, safe, and detailed in ways casual guests would never realize. Although you pay for the privilege, you come away realizing that no detail was too small to be perfected and polished, and you believe it was done just for you.

You can choose what kind of experience you want: Are you single and you want to enjoy the clubs? Do you have young children who are dying to hug Pluto? Are you a "foodie" who wants to experience international cuisine without a passport? Are you a senior who is concerned about mobility and safety? This is the place.

Here's where I ask for help: Blog topics. I could use some. Because no more than half a dozen people will ever read this, I can personalize it to what you want or need to know. No question is too obscure, no challenge too great!

See you in the World!