Orlando Life
Orlando Life
Orlando is famous for its theme parks and tourist destinations. When friends and family hear you're heading for the City Beautiful, they often assume you're Disney-bound or hitting up The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They picture character dining and roller coasters and white, sandy beaches.
Main Street, USA. The first place you set foot in The Magic Kingdom. A street simply dripping with atmosphere and charm. The music is playing, and the mouth-watering smell of popcorn is piped through the air. Characters wait in welcome, and parades and trolley shows roll down the way every few hours.
Food. It's not only necessary for us to survive, but we as humans have turned sustenance into an art form. And then, in an obvious leap from there, we turned it into a sport. It started off simple: a hot dog- or pie-eating contest here, a milk-chugging challenge there.
When I first moved to Orlando in 2012, it was common knowledge that The Florida Mall was the less-desirable shopping destination among our local options. Compared to places like Mall at Millennia, Florida Mall was generally considered less-attractive, "sketchier," and often not worth the time.
At the end of January, I was invited to attend a special event at Disney Springs. The venue was Frontera Cocina, a delightful Mexican dining experience created by celebrity chef Rick Bayless. The restaurant itself has been a staple of Disney's dining/shopping/entertainment district since 2016, and I myself had eaten there once before.
We all love and adore the dining options inside the Central Florida theme parks or, even, in the surrounding shopping areas. But what do we do when we just want a nice family dinner at the hotel after a long day? Or we need to pack a small lunch for the drive, or a favorite snack?
It's easy to picture summertime in a paradise like Orlando. In fact, the image that most often comes to mind when people imagine themselves vacationing in Florida, and visiting a place like Walt Disney World Resort, is "summer break." The Dole Whips, the sunshine, the crowds, the oppressive heat...
Picture the scene: you've been playing and adventuring at Universal Orlando Resprt all day. You've ridden your favorite roller coaster, met your favorite character, and filled your bags with souvenirs. What would be the best icing on the cake that is this perfect day? Actual icing.
Walt Disney World Resort has long been a place associated with children. Families take their vacations to Magic Kingdom, field trips flood the parks, and spring break is heralded by thousands of teenagers and 20-somethings escaping school. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this.
When you think of a Walt Disney World Resort proposal, one of the most popular and evocative images is, of course, in front of Cinderella Castle. While that is a beautiful idea, the odds of being able to get exactly the photo and the moment you want are extremely slim.