Category: Disney Springs

Sunday, May 15th is a big day for Disney Springs with the Town Center area finally opening, along with the first phase of new restaurants and stores opening through the Summer of 2016. So what all is opening this Sunday? Let’s recap:

• D-Luxe Burger: Grab a classic cheeseburger or go for something indulgent like the El Diablo Burger with chorizo, fried banana peppers, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato and chipotle mayo. There’s a veggie burger too. Plus gelato shakes, fresh-cut fries and more from the Disney chefs.
• Amorette’s Patisserie: Classic and contemporary cakes and pastries are the stars in this high-end pastry shop where guests can watch pastry chefs decorate signature cakes in the on-stage finishing kitchen. From a classic macaron or crisp, light pavlova to the ultimate chocolate-chocolate chunk cookie, Amorette’s is a dessert lover’s dream come true.
• The Daily Poutine: This kiosk brings the Canadian classic to guests with four varieties of toppings on hot, crispy French fries: Classic, with beef poutine gravy and Cheddar Cheese curds; Latin with fried yucca, black beans, pulled pork and queso fresco; Italian with bocconcino mozzarella and Bolognese sauce, and French with mushroom cream sauce and Gruyere cheese. Pair them with a lemonade, draft beer, sangria or fountain sodas.

• B.B. Wolf’s Sausage Co.: A kiosk with artisan sausages by Disney chefs – the Three Little Pigs with a Reuben dog, black bean salsa and chili cheese; Portuguese Sausage with pickled vegetable slaw and chili mustard; Sweet Hot Sausage with peppers, onions and marinara; Bavarian Sausage Sandwich with a mini-meterwurst, braised red cabbage and spicy brown mustard on a pretzel roll, and Italian Veggie Sausage with peppers, onions and marinara. Add a draft beer or fountain soda.

• YeSake: At this kiosk, try a Sake Cosmo Freeze or Sake Bourbon Slush among other offerings. Global eats range from the Great Wall with Chinese-style pulled pork to a Sombrero with ground beef, pico de gallo, guacamole, cheese and corn chips. Cold beer too.
• Morimoto Asia Street Food: A new walk-up window on the patio offers sushi, donburi rice bowls and bao tacos, plus snacks: such as takoyaki (octopus, nori, okomiyaki sauce), Morimoto sticky ribs, curry rice croquettes, pork egg rolls and taiyaki (snapper-shaped pancake filled with sweet adzuki red bean paste). Also on the menu: popping boba tea and an assortment of Asian-influenced beers and beverages.
• Sprinkles: Look for handcrafted cupcakes, slow-churned ice cream and homemade cookies at Sprinkles, dubbed the first cupcake bakery by the Food Network. Options include vegan, gluten free and sugar free, and seasonal flavors.

Moving to new spots — Wetzel’s Pretzel’s and Haagen Dazs ice cream will now be located across from Orlando Harley-Davidson on the West Side.

New retailers: Two new kiosk locations for Disney Springs guests in The Landing:

• Savannah Bee Company will feature a variety of specialty and everyday honey as well as all-natural body care products ranging from body wash and lotion to lip balm and body butter. The company’s mission is to provide pure, delicious honey and luxurious honeybee products to consumers while educating them about the wonders of the hive. When it opens on May 15th, it will be the only Savannah Bee retail location in the state of Florida.

• Filthy Rich, also opening May 15, will showcase celebrity-inspired jewelry at far-less-than-Beverly-Hills prices. The location specializes in authentic replicas of iconic jewelry and accessories worn by past legends of the silver screen and current celebrity style icons.

Other store opening on Sunday include:

• Alex and Ani
• American Threads
• Edward Beiner
• Everything But Water
• francesca’s
• kate spade new york
• Kipling
• L’Occitane en Provence
• Lucky Brand
• MAC Cosmetics
• Melissa Shoes
• Na Hoku
• PANDORA
• Sephora
• Sperry
• Tommy Bahama
• UGG
• Under Armour Brand House
• UNOde50
• Vera Bradley
• Volcom
• Zara

In addition, the Lime parking garage behind the World of Disney store will be opening, along with the Welcome Center that will greet guests as they arrive from the brand new bus loop in the very center of Disney Springs.

Of course, you can follow @WDWNT on twitter all-day Sunday for coverage, as well as stay tuned for plenty of posts here on the blog covering all of the new shopping and dining coming to Disney Springs.

It has been a long road to the completion of Disney Springs, from breaking the story that the project was happening way back in March of 2013, to the opening of Town Center this weekend in the space that once was the parking area for Pleasure Island. With just two days left to go, we take flight over the area just one more time to see the nearly finished product from above:

There are a lot of counter service restaurants at Walt Disney World, and over the years it seems they have slowly, yet surely been getting better at the fast-food game. Well, D-Luxe Burger, the latest offering to open with Town Center in Disney Springs this weekend easily offer one of, if not the best counter service hamburger at any theme park eatery on earth.

Nestled on the shoreline of Town Center, D-Luxe Burger is located in a rather unassuming building that just looks like an old ranch house.

The interior is themed to an abandoned ranch house, with a lot of the furniture and such representing recycled items from the old establishment. In story-line, the Glowing Oak Ranch was made into a burger restaurant after introducing a very popular hamburger at the fictional World’s Fair that was held on the West Side in 1950.

Every table is equipped with a roll of paper towels, which you will need to conquer the juicy burgers that await you.

Indoor seating is great on a hot day, but the patio is perfect for a cool evening.

Upon ordering, guests are handed a pager and they can go have a seat until their burgers are ready. Burgers are handed to guests in these big brown bags.

The burgers themselves come in these small “branded” boxes so you know which one is which.

OK, enough about the back story and interior, let’s run through these bad boys, shall we? First up is the chicken sandwich, or “Cluck Burger”. This is a healthy-sized grilled chicken burger, a wonderful option for those looking for an alternative, but not looking to get the vegetarian option. The garlic-herb sauce and avocado blend well with the giant chicken patty for a perfect combination. The burger buns here are magnificent. Made in-house, the buns are safe for peanut and tree-nut allergies. The restaurant also has a gluten-free bun available, as well as a lettuce wrap option on all sandwiches.

The Veggie Burger was by far the best one we’ve ever had a counter service establishment, one of the best vegetarian options overall at any quick serve. It was nice to have  handmade veggie burger for a change as opposed to the frozen patties elsewhere. I personally love tzatziki sauce, but if you don’t you can always get it on the side or removed.

The “El Diablo” was my favorite, but as I’ve stated in many a review, I enjoy anything spicy. This had heat, but not enough to scare away anyone adverse to spice. The flavors blended well and the peppers were a nice touch. Every burger patty was sizable and cooked “medium”, which is a rarity for counter service options. They are by far the best counter service burger patties at any of the U.S. parks, that’s for sure.

The Barbecue Classic Burger has gouda, bacon, an onion ring, and barbecue sauce on it. This was probably my second favorite of all of the burgers at D-Luxe. It’s hard to go wrong with these ingredients and this one doesn’t.

The classic cheeseburger doesn’t have all of the frills of the others on the menu, but it’s perfect if you don’t like too many toppings getting in the way. This burger really allowed us to taste just how good the bun and burger are as there isn’t a whole lot more going on like on the other burgers. Even though it is plain compared to the others, it won’t disappoint.

The last one was the Southern Classic Burger, which is topped with two fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese, and bacon.

I’m not the biggest fan of fried green tomatoes, but this was superb. They added a great flavor to the already phenomenal base of the house-made burger and bun. In total, I’m not sure there is one burger on this menu that I would not recommend. In fact, it was pretty hard to rank any over the others for this review, but that is why I make the big bucks…

The house-made fries were great too, but the 6 unique dipping sauces offered were what made them really special. I really enjoyed the curry ketchup, chipotle mayo, buffalo blue cheese, and horseradish sauces. The 3-mustard & honey and Garlic ranch did not sit as well with me, but I applaud the effort to do something special here.

The milkshakes… my goodness, the milkshakes. They were all unbelievably good. First off, we tried two of the alcoholic options, the first being the smoked bourbon. Chocolate and bourbon live side by side in harmony in this chocolate alcoholic shake.

The vanilla porter was just as good and the serving sizes on these are more than enough to fill you up. These might honestly be worth the trip to D-Luxe Burger alone.

The non-alcoholic shakes are just as good, if not even better. The cake shake tasted like cake flavored ice cream (just as you would expect it to). I don’t know how else to describe this, but it was wonderful.

The salted caramel shake was my favorite. Sweet and salty and magnificent and my top recommendation as far as the shakes here are concerned.

Fountain beverages are also available and I was even surprised by the selection here, offering a few options you can’t find at many Disney establishments, like Sprite Zero or Cherry Coke.

For dessert (because the shakes weren’t enough somehow), we had the red velvet burger macaroon. This thing was insane. It’s a great vacation photo to send to your friends at home, and it’s pretty tasty too, but I’m not sure I would need to order it again with so many good shakes on the menu.

D-Luxe Burger has everything going for it. That being said, service was a bit slow on the first day, but I’ll let that slide since it was the first time they were open and because the food was just so unbelievably good. All of the ingredients are fresh and perfectly prepared, the fries and dipping sauces are delectable, and the milkshakes are just about perfect. The pricing is on par with all other Disney counter service locations, but the quality here just far exceeds any burger anywhere else at the Vacation Kingdom of the World. This is exactly what Disney Springs needed: an affordable counter service option with amazing offerings. Too many guests just settle for Earl of Sandwich because there just isn’t anything else, but now there is somewhere else worth going (which I personally think blows Earl away). If you don’t visit D-Luxe Burger on your next trip to the Springs, you’re making a big mistake… perhaps even a D-Luxe one… I apologize for that joke, but you should eat here still.

Fulton’s Crab House will open a new concept this fall called “Paddlefish”.

The re-imagined restaurant will welcome guests with a bow to stern update including interiors reflecting the crisp luxury of modern yachting, and new spaces include a lushly appointed rooftop lounge overlooking Disney Springs, outdoor waterfront bar featuring a “build your own” fish boil and private dining areas. The new menu stars fresh seafood with an oyster shucking bar, Florida stone crab and Alaskan king crab, with hearty steaks and chops, as well as classic and curated cocktails.

The new restaurant will also bring about the return of the working paddle-wheel on the back of what was once the Empress Lilly.

With two decades of experience in the kitchen, Chef James O’Donnell’s is the new executive chef for STK Orlando, opening this summer at Disney Springs.

O’Donnell’s career has taken him around the globe and in 10 different cities, and in his new role at STK Orlando he is able to showcase his worldly culinary experience, as well as his love for creating the ultimate dining scene.

About 20 percent of the menu items at STK Orlando will be exclusive to the Disney Springs location, including Florida grouper, chilled rubbed rack of lamb and seared tuna. STK Orlando also will feature signature dishes including bite-sized “Lil BRGs” made with Wagyu beef, lobster mac & cheese, high-quality steaks, seafood and decadent desserts.

A few questions with Chef O’Donnell:

What’s something new you plan to bring to the local culinary scene?
We plan to bring a fine-dining experience, showcasing the high-energy atmosphere along with great food and service we have become known for.

What is your first impression of Central Florida’s food scene?

The food scene in the Orlando and greater Central Florida area is on a steady rise due to increasing guest demand for sophisticated dining, and STK is excited to be a part of that continued growth.

Will you incorporate the farm-to-table trend at STK? If so, do you plan on getting any ingredients from Central Florida-based or Florida-based farms?
I am looking forward to growing my relationships with local vendors and purveyors to utilize the resources that are available in the area, especially seasonal fruits, produce and seafood.

How will STK Orlando compare to your other locations?

STK Orlando is going to be one of our largest locations at about 15,000 square feet, with both indoor and outdoor seating. We will feature new dishes specific to Orlando like our Florida grouper, as well as signature STK dishes fans know and love.

Source: Disney Parks Blog

We take flight again this week, taking an aerial tour over Disney Springs, with a brief look at the Town Center section still under construction: