Disney World, Parte Dos

And the Disney adventures continue! As much as I'd like to tell you every detail about my trip, I'm mostly sticking to the eating part - my mission is to show you that eating vegan is totally possible at Disney World.

Day Two

Our first part in terms of the parks was Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). Every morning I cooked oatmeal or hot quinoa cereal for myself back at the room in our resort, which had a kitchen, so the first meal we had in the park was lunch. We stopped at Backlot Express, a quick, fast-food type restaurant. I had a gander at the ingredients list for the Grilled Vegetable Sandwich before ordering it, sans cheese.





The sandwich came on a black olive ciabatta roll with mushrooms, red peppers, zucchini, tomato, watercress, and sundried tomato pesto. A cold black bean salad was served on the side. I was glad to have the protein from the black bean salad, because too many people and too many restaurants think vegetarian means replacing meat with lots of vegetables and vegetables only, but the bean salad didn't actually taste too great. I liked the ciabatta bread, though!

I had a yummy vegan Apple Cinnamon Pretzel for a snack from Min & Bill's Dockside Diner at the park, as well. (My guide suggested that it was vegan, and Min & Bill's also has an ingredient listing for their food. While looking at their ingredient book, I also saw that this pretzel was nearly 500 calories... Yikes! I shared this whopper with each and every member of my family, hehe.) This thing tasted like apple pie stuffed inside a pretzel - it was pretty good!



Dinner was at Brown Derby, a pretty upscale sit-down restaurant inside Disney's Hollywood Studios. Believe it or not, nothing had to be custom-made for me because a vegan entree was already on the menu!: a Noodle Bowl with Wok-Fried Coconut Tofu, complete with sugar snap peas, edamame, mushrooms, bok choy, and red curry. P.F. Chang's was the old recipient of Ruby's Red Vegan's Favorite Tofu Award, but Brown Derby is the new winner. The tofu was breaded with coconut flakes; it was perfect - not too oily - and the bowl was garnished with a stalk of bok choy sticking a foot out from the plate! Everything was served over a giant bed of really thin and delicious noodles, and there was a short layer of soupy curry liquid in the bottom. This meal was so utterly fabulous, it only took a little bit of food to feel completely satiated (as in, my palate was satisfied).



The dessert menu also featured something vegan: Mixed Berries with Mango Ice. The mango ice part seemed questionable to me at first, but the waitress assured me the chef said I could have it. The mango ice turned out to be amazing - so much better than sherbet or sorbet. The meal in its entirety was high-class and thoroughly enjoyable.

Day Three

My third day in Florida was spent at Disney's Animal Kingdom, a sort-of African-themed theme park complete with animals and rides and a really cool giant tree. Lunch was at Restaurantosaurus, a euphemism for McDonald's. But my handy-dandy vegan guide hinted that this particular McDonald's carried vegan Boca burgers, and a peek at the location's ingredient list confirmed this. So, here, I enjoyed a Vegetarian Burger with Apple Slices.



They microwaved the burger instead of grilling it, so I didn't have to fear that meat grease was smeared over my burger. I'd watch out for the fries here, because I believe all McD's fries have beef-derived "goodies" inside - ick! I love the taste of the vegan Boca burgers, so this lunch was simple and made me happy. There was even a topping bar so I could dress my burger to my fancy. My only gripe was that this lunch left me incredibly hungry for the rest of the day - I would have fared better with two Boca patties on my bun.

My family and I stayed at Disney's Old Key West resort, and we ate a sit-down meal at the resort's cafe, Olivia's. The chef came out to ask me what I'd like, but I had not a clue as to what to request so I asked him what he could make. He suggested risotto, which I quickly agreed to, and my dad spoke up, "Doesn't risotto have cheese?" And I said, "Dad, you can make risotto without cheese!" I looked at the menu to get an idea of which vegetables the kitchen already had on hand, and mentioned a few of my favorite vegetables as well. A little while later, the chef hand-delivered the customized dish and explained each item on the plate: marinated Portobello mushrooms, asparagus, maple sweet potatoes, baby carrots dusted with brown sugar, and a risotto in the middle with soy cheese - the soy cheese was a surprise the chef hadn't let me in on!



I was impressed not only that the kitchen had soy cheese on hand and that the "cheese" didn't taste like stinky feet, but I was also floored by the individual tastes of each different item on the plate - this man knew how to cook! He did fabulously on the vegetables, and it really is a privilege to have your meal handmade by the chef. Nothing was too oily or too salty, or overcooked or undercooked. Everything had flavor. My favorites on the plate were the marinated mushrooms and the maple-licious sweet potatoes. I also liked the risotto a lot - I'm no longer a risotto virgin! Overall, I was also impressed that this guy prepared five different items for my plate. He swung by the table while we were chowing down and asked if I was going to go hungry that night. That was a definite NO! I told him how well everything was cooked and I hope I expressed how much I appreciated the meal. For dessert I had mixed berries. I'm sure getting my share of fruit on this trip!



My favorites on the trip so far? The Wolfgang Puck Express Mediterranean Vegetable Wrap, the Chocolate Tofutti "ice cream" with berries from Spoodle's, the Wok-Fried Coconut Tofu from Brown Derby, and my mixed vegetables and risotto plate at Olivia's. Mmm... I'll be back soon with day four! Get excited!!