Epcot Food and Wine

Every October Epcot has their international food and wine festival. In addition to the international cuisine available in Epcot's World Pavilion, there are addition offerings at special kiosks sprinkled through the park. Each of these kiosks offer a full meal, but also a small sample of several foods native to the region or countries. It is a nice way to try food that you might not have readily available to you.
There are also different cooking demonstrations that take place throughout the festival showing how some of the food are prepared. Now if you have a little kids who may not be as adventurous with their dining don't worry. They still have plenty of options park wide for them (This is still a Disney Park after all).
Now if you live in an area that has a diverse population where you can get foods from exotic locals like Vietnamese, India, or Ethiopia. You may find that the offerings are not as exotic as it could be. In fact we actually found that we could get foods just as good if not a little better near our home. However if you live in an area that doesn't have as many diverse eateries you should definitely give it a shot, because it is a real treat to be able to try so many different cuisines in one spot.
All in all if you often find yourself at local food festivals near your home, you should consider attending this event. You will get all the benefits of the food festivals plus the added fun of Epcot and the other WDW parks. With that I wish you Bon Appetite!

Tusker House

Tusker House is located in Walt Disneyworld's Animal Kingdom Park. It is tucked away to the side of the walkway in the Africa portion of the park which has some very amazing and realistic theming (my wife has been to Ethiopia and has stated on both of our WDW trips that this is very close to how it looks architecturally).
We went to a character breakfast which you will need to make reservations for in advance. The food is what you will get at any of the other character breakfasts (waffles, pancakes, bacon, eggs, etc) so if you are expecting any exotic food you will be sorry. However the character access at Tusker House was incredible. We had our family picture with Donald (which they print at the restaurant). We were visited at the table by Daisy, Micky, Minnie, Goofy, and one more that escapes me at the moment. The characters move from table to table so that every kid and adult gets some special time to take pictures, get autographs, or just give a hug. Then the fun starts. The kids are recruited and given an instrument to play and march around the restaurant with to African music (this is very loud so if you have any members of your party who doesn't do loud very well or young infants they may want to step away). This was a blast for my son to start his morning in one of his favorite parks, and be there before it officially opened.

Yes this is an extra cost (as are all character breakfasts), but if you do an early seating you can be fed and in the park and headed to your favorite rides before most people have made it through security.
My overall review of the Tusker House character breakfast is this. Food is basic breakfast fare, service is great the cast members are very helpful and friendly (not in a phony way), character access it the best I have encountered, and theming is great. So if you are planning to do a character breakfast, do this one it was really fun
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Tokyo Dining

We visited Tokyo Dining in Epcot's Japan pavilion because I thought we might need a little bit of food we have available from home. I do love the different foods you can get in Walt Disney World but after a while you want to give yourself something that you are used to. Since I live in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, we have an abundance of authentic Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai,and Japanese food available to us.  I live in a small city where just off the top of my head I can think of 10 different restaurants with Asian cuisine (and that doesn't count the two noodle houses or the Asian groceries). I say all this because even though I am not of Asian decent, I do know my Hui Tiu from my Won Ton Soup.

You enter the restaurant and the very friendly hostesses get you settled into either Tokyo Dining, or Tapan Edo (similiar to Benny Hana's). Tokyo Dining has a minimalist decor of white table clothes and simple water cups waiting at the table. Our server was very traditionally dressed young lady from Okinawa who was very attentive to my wife and I but also my son (making sure that he had crayons and a coloring sheet, as well as training chopsticks that she assembled at the table). Her courtesy was impeccable and she knew the menu extremely very well. My wife had a noodle dish with a side of Stir-fried vegitables which were flavored in a oyster/and soy sause and carnashed with those wonderful crispy noodles. I had a fried rice dish with pan fried vegitables (the cabbage was really great). while my son stuck to a teriyaki bento box (a good choice for kids because the food is seperated, and they can get an egg role, or fried dumpling, rice, chicken, and a salad all in a serving that isn't to much for a kiddo). The food was good, if not just a little under seasoned for our taste (they are after all cooking for a wide variety of pallets). What I did like is that even the food that was fried didn't show up at our table all greasy (which isn't something you can say about all the food in WDW). Also if you are hankering for some authentic sushi this is where I would feel safe doing it.

The lunch pace we had was very leisurely, our food was given to us as if they were watching to see when we were done with the previous course. It was nice and cool inside, with a nice view of the lake. While we were there there was more of a crowd in Tapan Edo so we could enjoy a conversation without raising our voices to be heard.

I recommend this place if you have a kid that likes teriyaki, or is an adventurous eater. The food was good and filling (even healthy), services was efficient and non bothersome. Most importantly it was an oasis from the crazy of the park (and the smell of greasy German and polish food) on an 90 degree day). If you can get reservations I do believe that you should give it a try. It will surprise you

Disney's free dining plan

When I first heard about the Disney dining plan I looked into it and couldn't see any benefits to it. You don't get a discount on food. You pay for a set amount of food upfront. And I couldn't see paying for food I might not eat. So we had ruled it out, but when my new WDW travel agent talked to my wife about it, she looked into it again. We scavenged other blogs, discussion forums, and even the Disney webpage. What we found out was amazing. If you do your research, and travel during off peak times, and are very lucky, the dining plan could cover your food.....for FREE! Take a minute to let that sink in. I couldn't believe it at first. I thought "well they must limit your choices". Nope. "You must have to eat quick service only (Disney speak for fast food)" Nope. They will pay for a snack, a quick service, and a sit down meal per day per person. AND you have a refillable cup that you refill at designated places. FANTASTIC!!

 

The catch is you must purchase it at the time you book your travel package. If you book out as far as my wife and I do, they may not have it available. Also it is not a guarantee that if they did it the last five years they will do it again. You gotta buy it on faith and hope like heck they do it again, and rebook your package with the free meal plan. If you are good at researching, and pick your times judiciously, with a bit of luck you can get the meal plan free. It is saving us over a thousand dollars for eight days in Walt Disney World.

I would probably not do this while visiting Disneyland because there are cheaper eats within walking distance. But when you are enjoying the bubble of WDW, I think it is a great move.