food IS a theme park
Today we’re bringing you a guest review from our DFB pal Jennifer Elliott, who attended the new Rose & Crown Tea Experience in Epcot’s World Showcase! This weekend, I had the privilege to attend The Rose & Crown’s brand new Tea Experience. It began promptly at 9:45 am, so make sure to allow plenty of time to walk to the United Kingdom Pavilion.
Tea Experience at Rose & Crown Pub and Dining Room
You know your friends at the DFB recommend making Advance Dining Reservations before you depart for your fabulous Walt Disney World vacation — 180 days ahead of time, if you want to be sure to snag your must-have table service reservations.
But what if you’re planning to spend time at Epcot during the International Food and Wine Festival? Do you need ADRs if you’ll be noshing around the World Showcase?
2017 Epcot Food and Wine
It has never been easy to snag an Advance Dining Reservation at Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom ever since it opened in late 2012. But that has been especially true as of late, as reservations simply weren’t coming up for dinner availability at all for dates starting in late July. And now we know why…
Be Our Guest Restaurant
We hear it again and again (and we’ve said it ourselves): Cinderella’s Royal Table is a must at least once in your Disney World vacation life.
And most guests who’ve dined in this hard-to-book restaurant inside Cinderella Castle agree that you’re really not there for the food. But the ambiance! The princesses! The views! The whole dining experience (did we mention it’s inside the castle?!) is the draw, even if the food is… a little hit or miss.
And it’s that experience that keeps Cinderella’s Royal Table hopping — with Advance Dining Reservations (ADR) ideally being made right at the 180 day mark — 180 days before the first day of your vacation. (Learn more about making dining reservations at Disney restaurants here.)
If you do get an ADR, prepare to be dazzled by the decor and wooed by the energy in the restaurant. You definitely get the sense that you’re in a special space, and with princesses swooping in for a chat and wishing stars waving in the air, it’s a one of a kind meal.
Cinderella’s Royal Table
We’re stopping by one of my favorite spots in Walt Disney World — Le Cellier Steakhouse — to see what’s new in The Great White North!
Well, technically, this isn’t North, it’s South. And we’re not in Canada. But we are in the Canada Pavilion in Epcot. Owing to the architecture and gardens here, this is one of the prettiest spots along World Showcase Promenade.
Who doesn’t love journeying back through the pavilion and getting splashed by waterfalls as you walk? You haven’t done it? I highly recommend it. And go see O, Canada! while you’re at it! Martin Short is the best. 😀 (Speaking of, when we were in Vancouver for our Alaska cruise last year I couldn’t help but notice that Martin Short is the voice of, like, every single cartoon in Canada.)
But while I love exploring the whole area to see what’s new, it’s Le Cellier Steakhouse, the pavilion’s signature dining table service restaurant, that keeps me coming back trip after trip. Le Cellier is a favorite of mine because it features one of my favorite meals in all of Walt Disney World — the Le Cellier Filet.
But you know my philosophy: just because something has always been great doesn’t mean it continues to be. We always like to check back in with places — even our favorites — to make sure we can still continue to recommend them. And so, in the name of research, here I am at Le Cellier once again. And this time there was a new favorite… .
Meander back along the beautiful gardens, following the signs, and you’ll come to the entrance of Le Cellier Steakhouse. Tucked into the bottom of the chateau that’s the hallmark of the Canada Pavilion, you get a sense that the spot is aptly named.
Le Cellier Steakhouse Entrance
It always throws me a little, this imagining that I’m in Canada when Florida is so very hot most of the time. Still, as soon as you walk through the doors, the Disney magic kicks in, and you start to feel as though you have indeed traveled north. Stone walls and flooring, along with heavy wood accents, immediately evoke a feeling of…cool. [Read more…]
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