Quick Service in Walt Disney World means any meal that you can go and buy over the counter. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule. However generally if you have to order it by a till and pay before you eat it is quick service. The range of food you can get from quick service at Walt Disney World is truly something else. You can of course get the staple chicken nuggets but there are so many other things you can get. Keep reading to discover what we tried.
First stop of the trip was to an old faithful. After a day of traffic jams getting to the airport, flying over 8 hours, immigration, picking up our bags and hire car and driving to our hotel we need something we knew would be filling and tasty. So we hit up Blaze Pizza. This is one of our favourite spots in Disney Springs. It is great food at a good price point. The fact you can create your own pizza and watch them make and fire it is super. We got pepperoni, Italian meatball and Italian sausage over tomato base with mozzarella cheese and oregano. In my opinion if you do not have Italian sausage then you are doing Blaze wrong. If you are stuck for somewhere to go in Disney Springs this is a great choice.
You are at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and its that time in the afternoon where energy levels dip and there’s the chance of people getting ‘hangry’. One quick snack that we picked up from the Yak & Yeti Quick Service was a pot of chicken fried rice. This was a good size for sharing and certainly filled a hole. Taste wise this was good fried rice. Did it blow me away – no. But it was a fairly tasty snack and made sure we didn’t just buy a portion of fries. Savoury snacks ar not as easy as sweet to find in a theme park. This one will certainly do.
When having a day of afternoon by the pool at some resorts the options can be limiting. Often it is only the pool bar you can go to. For this reason the menu of the pool bar can be fairly important. At the Boardwalk Resort the pool bar is called Leaping Horse Libations. It is set in their main pool area. I really enjoyed this pool area the theming as ever with Disney was fantastic. I will say of the different hotels on Disney property I have stayed at the theming around the moderate and deluxe resort pools have been far superior to the value resorts. This is not the say the others are not enjoyable they certainly are but when it comes to theming they have done a lot more for these levels of resorts. The menu at Leaping Horse Libations was by no means extensive but provided choices for most pallets. We had a pepperoni ciabatta pizza this came with a bag of ‘chips’. The pizza was good and the bread beneath was surprisingly flavourful. The food was cooked to order so came hot and was great for a quick bite by the pool before launching myself down the slide.
The quick service options in Hollywood Studios are somewhat limited. There are a couple of new places in the newly opened star wars land. We found ourselves peckish and towards the back of the park. Here is where you will find the Backlot Express. This is one of the bigger quick service points in Hollywood Studios. Here you can get fairly standard ‘theme park food’. Luckily that was what was required and so we shared a meal of chicken nuggets and fries. I will say there is no nugget quite like the Disney nuggets – have I said nuggets enough? There is something in their coating that I have been unable to replicate. I suppose this is a good thing, something to look forward to. Although as Mae West said too much of a good thing can be wonderful.
Back in Disney Springs and on the hunt for a new quick service to try. We found ourselves in Morimoto Street Food. This is an entirely outdoor place to eat. You order at the counter and then when your name is called you collect your food. Like Starbucks but for lip smackingly good Asian street food. We got ourselves a barbecue pork bao bun, chicken and vegetable spring rolls and sticky spare ribs. This was a great meal and fairly inexpensive. Other options on the menu were a variety of ramen. Asian cuisines have been some of my favourites for a long time. The Bao was wonderfully soft and stuffed with plenty of the really flavourful pork. The extra crisp spring rolls were again generously filled and wonderfully seasoned – these were my partners favourite. The ribs just fell off the bone and were suitably messy, the sweet sticky glaze amped up the flavour of the pork. The food you get here is the same as some of the dishes you can get inside Morimoto Asia, this is one of the highest regarded restaurants in Disney Springs, so if you find yourself unable to get a reservation inside why not try the street food window? I promise you’ll love it.
In room dining at Disney is definitely easier in some resorts. We had a fairly extensive choice at the boardwalk. However there have been times when the option is only pizza. We decided to take advantage of our room placement and instead of ordering room service, I took the 30 walk from our room onto the boardwalk. The only way for it to be quicker would be to jump from the balcony. On the Boardwalk there are different restaurants including an Italian Trattoria al Forno. Here they also have a pizza window. You can go to the window order a slice or a whole ‘pie’. After doing the maths it worked out that by far the better value was the whole pizza. So that is what I did. This was fully loaded up with a great crust. It was much better than previous pizza that I have had from other resorts. This pizza really was huge and would easily feed a family of four. I definitely had pizza for breakfast the next day having stashed it in the fridge. Also on the boardwalk is the Boardwalk Bakery we visited here a few times and for dessert I had a key lime pie and my partner had a scone. Both excellent, in fact everything I had from the bakery was good. The key lime pie was sharp with crispy thin pastry. My advice is to buy a couple of things and share them, that way you get to try a bit of everything.
I am taking you next to Epcot and to the China pavilion. Here you will find the quick service Lotus Blossom Café. The menu here is not huge but what they do they can do well. We had the orange chicken this was served with steamed rice. The chicken was well cooked, not dry at all and the sticky sauce was full of citrus and was nice and sweet. The portion size was bigger than I was expecting. Again we shared this meal and for us that was perfect. There is covered seating here but it is open, not usually a problem in Florida it has to be said. This was akin to the Chinese food you would get at a take away, which is great for me however if you are looking for truly excellent Chinese I would check out Morimoto Asia in Disney Springs. The Lotus Blossom Café is a great option for a quick recharge to continue your day in Epcot.
From one park to another we had breakfast in Be Our Guest. This restaurant is themed after Beauty and the Beast. This is an interesting restaurant as for breakfast and lunch it is considered quick service, however for the evening meal it is classed as table service. For breakfast you place your order first and then find a table. You can sit in one of three rooms, the west wings, belle’s gallery or the iconic ballroom. If you are on the Disney dining plan then this is a great use of a quick service credits as it is very expensive for what you are getting. In fact if you are not using the dining plan then maybe there is a better breakfast elsewhere. If you want the experience of eating in the Beast’s castle then I guess you pay for it. We had the Croque Madame and the Feast a la Gaston. Both are served with fresh fruit and you get a selection of pastries with the Croque Madame. This was a tasty open-faced ham sandwich topped with béchamel sauce, gruyere cheese and a fried egg. The cheese was stronger than I expected but very enjoyable. This is busy restaurant and very popular and so if you want to experience it it’s best to book.
Back in Animal Kingdom and this time for breakfast, we decided to try out Pongu Pongu. This is a quick service window is in Pandora the World of Avatar. Here there is a limited menu but the queue was not long and we needed food. We got a Sausage and Egg Biscuit and some French Toast Sticks. The Sausage and Egg Biscuit as individual items were very tasty however together this was rather dry. The French Toast Sticks were good, they came with a pot of syrup that, of course, I loved. The crisp exterior of the French toast sticks hid a squidgy soft interior. I will say that Pongu Pongu only does cold beverages and so there is no morning coffee here. If you’re looking for a brilliant breakfast maybe head to Creature Comforts for that colossal cinnamon roll and all of the coffee!
Quick Service at Disney offers you the chance to be as adventurous as you wish. The price point also makes them attractive. Looking for more Walt Disney World Quick Service ideas? Take a look at my June 2019 trip Quick Service post. Or find out what else I ate in Disney in December 2019
