Last week in Tan's blog update he started discussing the many, many, many things there are to do in Orlando besides going to Walt Disney World. In the coming weeks we'll be expanding on that, and today I'll be discussing the best part.. FOOD!
Anyone that knows Tan and I well know that we both love our food... sometimes a little too much. There are plenty of great places to eat in and around WDW, that are in short "AMAZING"! But we'll get to that soon. Firstly I want to share some of our experiences on eating "off property", for a couple of reasons but mainly because it's so gosh darn expensive to eat within the park.
One of our favourite places to go and let me be clear on this.. it's not because the food is good, it's not because it's cheap, it's not because it's even clean or unhealthy. It's for all of those reasons and so much more.. it's IHOP!
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| True story. Sure the pancakes are great, but so is everything else! Grab a steak! |
The place also known as the "International House of Pancakes" is most likely well known among our US readers. It's where you go to get cheap decent food, your money buys you huge servings and you can get it any time of the day or night. Want a 2am steak? IHOP will provide! Want a 4am breakfast? IHOP is your answer!
It's disgustingly decadent, heart-stoppingly good, wholesome western cuisine at it's best (or worst). It's one of those places where you're either greeted by someone that had their soul sucked out of them working there for the past 5 years or someone that reminds you of an old family friend.
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| I'm not kidding. IHOP quite possibly boasts the title for the most "wrong" food ever with its "Horton Hears a Who pancakes". |
The last time we went to Orlando and stopped there for breakfast right after getting off the plane we were lucky enough to have a lovely old "very southern" lady greet us with the warmth that only a southerner could! She loved the fact we were Australian, and it seemed to make her even more passionate about making our experience a memorable one!
We ordered ridiculous amounts of food and ate almost all of it! We both ordered a Breakfast Sampler each, not only does it come with two eggs, two crispy bacon strips, two pork sausages, two pieces of ham, and two hash browns, it also comes with two buttermilk pancakes! We also had two bottomless orange juices and something else, I don't remember because I have food amnesia.. after all that we walked out with food babies.
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| After searching for IHOP images, I'm kinda hungry again and I only just ate dinner! |
What is a food baby? A food baby is when you eat so much food in one sitting that you have a baby bump that wasn't there before you started eating. You start going rosy in the cheeks and get that "expecting" look about you. Sometimes you get so emotional you even start coming up with names for the little one.
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| This guy clearly has a food baby. He probably ate at IHOP. |
At Lone Star they serve all round good wholesome "home-style" food, you can get side servings of good backyard style garden salads, baked sweet potatoes or beer chips. I personally love to have a mudslide (so yummy!) before my meal is served while munching on the famous Lone Star peanuts and watching the line dancing done by the waiters every half-hour.
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| Steak glorious, steak! Hot potatoes and peanuts! |
The main reason we eat Lone Star in the US rather than Australia is because even though we supported Lone Star, apparently no one else in Australia did and they shut their doors about 10 years ago, and we miss it so very much.. :'(
There are so many places to eat outside the park area, and so many various cuisines as well! If you're after some good ideas on eating out I'd suggest trying TripAdvisor or Urbanspoon. If you're more interested in cooking your own food, probably one of the better places to buy your produce from is the Whole Foods Market, which is a little more expensive than your regular supermarket but the quality is fantastic!
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| At the Whole Foods Market, you can put your diet back on track. Such good looking and healthy food! |
While I'm sure there are some great places to eat around the Orlando area, traveling outside the park to eat every day can take quite a while, so we didn't get to explore as much as we really wanted to. We love eating at Downtown Disney because it's close to where we stay and we can generally find a good meal at Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe or T-Rex.
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| Rainforest Cafe is so awesome for kids! Even better for the slightly larger, more immature kids.. |
There are so many food options at DTD it's nuts! DTD and other Disney food options as well as saving time and money are something I want to expand on, but there is so much tell you its really something that will have to wait until another time.
One place we've been meaning to go to each time we go to Orlando is the Medieval Times Dinner Show, which apparently is pretty fun! I mean, how can you go wrong with Medieval style dining and jousting and swordplay?! You can't, that's how!! The camp value alone makes this place a clear winner!
Medieval Times is your standard dinner show, you get fed and while you eat you watch a show. It's apparently hugely popular among tourists, and a great place to take a big crowd of people. Which brings me to an idea I had, I want to know how many of our guests would be interested in coming with us to Medieval Times as one of our nights out??? It would be fun, we get fed, we get a show and we can have a chat and a few drinks!
If you're interested in Medieval Times, please go ahead and let Tan or myself know so we can add as part of our optional itinerary!
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| How awesome does this place look?! I can't believe we haven't been here yet... |
I hope that gives you some ideas on where to eat if you're outside the Disney area and you have the munchies. Next week, shopping!
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