F is for Family. And Food.

Welcome to those of you joining me from The Magical Mouse Pad and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the 4th stop on our Magical Blogorail. 

In my family, our Disney traditions revolve around the F word.

Food.

Maybe this is one of those things that naturally happens as people get older, but over time, my sister, mother and I have evolved from being people who would eat whatever the hotel cafeteria was serving, to total Disney food snobs. Or to put this another way: five years ago we considered Le Cellier to be a fancy meal; these days we're barely interested in eating there for lunch.

And this food snobbery all started with what's become our family tradition: pick one new restaurant to try on each trip. We started expanding our horizons past the confines of the parks, and discovered a whole new world of culinary delights just waiting to be explored at the resorts. Our first adventure was at Jiko, where we were blown away by the infamous steak with mac and cheese. Then we went after The California Grill, and after that, there was no turning back. And since it's impossible to keep up that standard of dining for the entire length of a vacation without going broke (at least, it is for us), we've made it a tradition to have one nice meal each trip, at a place we've never been to. And we always have our last meal of the trip at The California Grill. Just because.

Of course, this means sacrificing some other things during the trip. We stay in DVC resorts (which have kitchens) so we have breakfast in our room, rather than in the parks. And we'll snack our way through the day instead of having an overpriced meal at one of the in-park restaurants (the World Showcase is perfect for this). For us, dining is an experience, and by having one or two nice meals on the books, it gives us something to look forward to when we're eating our third pretzel of the day. So far, it's worked out pretty well - on our last trip, we soaked in the view at Narcoossee's, and on our next trip, we're hoping to test out Artist Point (if you have other suggestions, please add them in the comments - I'd love to hear them).

There is plenty of Disney magic to be found all around the parks, but some of my favorite moments at WDW have taken place at a quieter pace, over a nice glass of wine in an elegant restaurant, surrounded by good conversation and even better company. Often times, in a place like WDW, you spend so much time running from place to place and trying to make this parade and that FastPass time that you don't really get to connect with the people you're with. Now that we've made it a point to have these nice meals together, I've found that it actually brings us together as a family even more than usual. And on top of that, we get to eat some really, really good food. 

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.


Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Mommy Mouseketeer
2nd Stop ~ Unknown Magic Within Walt Disney World
3rd Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
4th Stop ~ The Disney Chick
Final Stop ~ Manda’s Disney Blog

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Gimme More!
* The Most Memorable Meal I Ever Had in WDW
* Wordless Wednesday: Sunset Dinner at the California Grill
* The Disney Dining Plan, or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying About My Figure and Love My Sweatpants."