Ummm…right.  Google “Disney Food”, and you get over 47 MILLION results.  Disney has its own very active blog that regularly covers food topics.  There are dozens of independent blogs, some pretty large, that cover the food scene at Disney.

So when I started planning our family’s third trip to Disney in 2010, there was no lack of resources on the web.  I planned all of our activities down to the hour, using specialized touring plans designed to not only minimize our wait times, but maximize our chances for eating the best food the parks had to offer.  In some instances, our touring plans were based on where we were eating that day, not the other way around.

(See, I’m a little bit obsessed with hunting down maximum deliciousness, no matter where I am.  From the moment a trip is decided upon, I’m online, cruising Chowhound, Yelp, Urbanspoon, etc., to figure out the absolute best places to eat.  On group trips, I’m the one asked to make reservations.  I pride myself in finding the most unusual, off-the-beaten-path, fabulous food wherever we go, and my choices very rarely disappoint.)

But for all of my planning, our food experiences in WDW were sometimes quite different from what I’d read online.  Restaurants that the online consensus deemed top notch, we found disappointing.  And spots that were virtually ignored online turned out to yield some real treasures.  So what was going on?

And then it occurred to me – maybe my family is out of step with the tastes of the majority of Disney park goers.  We’re lucky enough to live where there is a huge variety of flavors. Excellent Vietnamese, Cambodian, Indian, Italian, Portuguese, African, Sichuan, Japanese, and Turkish restaurants are within a 10 minute drive.  Our 9 year old would eat sushi every night of week if she could.  (I can’t remember the last time she ordered off of the children’s menu.)  And I love heat – I’m happiest when my mouth is on fire, nose is running, and tears are streaming from my eyes.  So sites that aggregate hundreds of ratings from across the country miss the mark for our family.  The Americanized flavors and large portions that have the broadest appeal just don’t get me excited.

So I’m going to start writing about what DOES get me excited about eating at the Disney parks.  Hopefully this blog will provide you with a different perspective, and maybe a different opinion, than you’ve read elsewhere.  Sometimes I may sound contrarian, or snobby, or too enthusiastic.  But I will always be honest and unbiased, and open to learning from your experiences as well.  Because Disney vacations are too precious to squander opportunities to eat well.