Get ready for World Cup! ESPN Club at Disney’s BoardWalk and ESPN Wide World of Sports Grill will be open for all of the games beginning June 11. ESPN Club at Disney’s BoardWalk will start serving at 10:30 a.m. for all early soccer game days June 11-29 and July 2 and 3. ESPN Wide World of Sports Grill will be offering a limited breakfast menu for the 7 a.m. game and lunch for the 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. games. Then, from June 26-July 10, ESPN Wide World of Sports Grill will offer a buffet with guaranteed seating to view the game. And on July 11, they’ll create a special viewing area. For reservations, call WDW-DINE beginning May 27.
Have you tried the Chackalaka? With the flavor of dark fruits, we’re told that this delicious South African wine is only served in two restaurant outside of South Africa: Sanaa and Jiko – The Cooking Place, both at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. Sanaa has three other exclusives on its menu: The First Lady, a cabernet sauvignon from South Africa; Maude Pinot Gris from New Zealand, and Rudera Robusto, a chenin blanc from South Africa. Cheers!
Speaking of Jiko, there’s a new chef in the kitchen. Chef Dennis Thompson makes the move from California Grill to the kitchens at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. Thompson has been with Disney for nine years, and describes his culinary style as “American with classical European influences.” He’ll stretch his creativity with Jiko’s cuisine and wine that celebrate the flavors of Africa. But we hope he keeps the Swahili curry shrimp with artichokes and coconut rice on the menu.
No more PB&J pizza at Chef Mickey’s – guest peanut allergies necessitated the demise. But they’ll still make you one if you ask! New on the buffet are kid-friendly, healthful Baked Potato Puffs, crispy on the outside with a drizzle of olive oil, but soft in the center. Other new tastes include turkey hash and a veggie quiche in puff pastry. Early feedback is thumbs up for both.
Comments
I am very excited to hear about the new options for Chef Mickeys! We only went once due to the fact that I wasn’t thrilled with the meal options for the kids. It’s nice to see that they are updating the menu a bit to include more healthier choices for us to gently “suggest” to the kids! 😉
are they taking away the peanut butter pizza from goofy’s kitchen in disneyland as well?
PB&J pizza stays at Goofy’s Kitchen for now… Of course, the culinary team is always changing things up, but it’s still on the menu.
Disappointed with the PB&J pizza decision. Although it’s nice that it is still available upon request, I feel parents should be with their children at buffet bars…and not let them take something they are allergic to.
I am glad they’ll still make one if you ask- although that’s a lot of food for one person… couldn’t they just put them towards the back etc, but have them made ? A lot of people have food allergies, where does one draw the line ?
As a parent with a child with nut allergies, I’m glad to see it still available, but not mixed with the other foods on the buffet. It doesn’t matter if a child is accompanied or not, there is always an issue of cross contamination. I suppose they chose to address this allergy since it is so common these days.
One draws the line with a highly allergic item like peanut butter on a buffet. Exposure to peanuts can be fatal for those with severe allergies. Even if the item is put in the back, cross contamination on a buffet is likely. While ordering it ahead of time may inconvenience some, isn’t it worth it to save a child’s life?
This weekend we make quick visit to celebrate my son birthday.We have tried to do a reservation in chef mickey and it is impossible. Stay in a hotel of disney eat in chef mickey was my 6 years old desire. There will be some way of reserving and making his dream come true?
You can always stop by — early and late — and perhaps there will be a guest who did not show up for reservations. We also recommend the character dining at Disney’s Beach Club Resort.
As a parent with a child with food allergies….I applaud Disney. Buffets are definitely an issue as far as allergies is concerned, however I disagree that “putting the food towards the back” is the solution. Cross contamination can occur without one even knowing. Picture this:…a child may “drop” a slice of PB&J pizza into the mac & cheese 10 minutes before my daughter takes a scoop….mu child unknowing that it happened. All it takes is a tiny particle of peanut (smaller than a grain of SALT) to throw her into a reaction – making her unable to breathe and threatening her life.
I don’t think ANY parent would want to see that happen to ANY child. The safer we can make places that serve food, the better. We need to work to help make food establishments safe for those with food allergies. Trust me, the more you know, the more you’ll understand the fear. Those that have food allergies know how to get around a buffet without threatening their life. However, by eliminating the food from the buffet altogether makes it so much easier to not worry about the cross-contamination factor. Again, I applaud Disney for allowing people to still enjoy the food by ordering it seperately – and giving parents like myself room to breathe when approaching the Chef Mickey’s buffet.
It seems silly to remove an food due to allergies. I’m allergic to shellfish, and have never had a problem finding other foods to eat at any Disney restaurant, nor would I expect them to change their menus to accommodate me & my allergies.
I hope Chef Dennis Thompson, the new Chef at Jiko, does not make drastic changes to Jiko’s menu. My husband and I have reservations for our Anniversary dinner on 9/18. Jiko is one of our favorite restaurants and we will be very disappointed should we arrive and find the menu is nothing like we remember.
I also applaud Disney World for making such a drastic change at Chef Mickey’s. I accompany my 8 year old daughter to every place she eats and talk with the chef. Peanut Allergy is a serious allergy and can cause death, simply not a “discomfort” to someone. Why risk it? Cross-contamination can be caused so easily. Again, thank you Disney.
It’s wonderful that you are taking care of our little peanut allergy children. Our oldest daughter has a mild peanut allergy and cross contamination is always a concern. We live on the west coast and visit Disnyland often. We are wondering if Goofy’s Kitchen is removing the PB&J pizza there also? Our daughter wants to have her birthday party in Goofy’s Kitchen this fall.
For now, the PB&J pizza is still on the menu at Goofy’s Kitchen.
I do not have children with allergies or have them myself but I am a teacher and have known children with peanut allergies. I had a student who was severely allergic–all she needed was to smell it for her to have a reaction! I don’t think its unwise to remove it. Peanut allergies are no joke.
I was thinking almond butter is a far superior choice since it’s a true nut and has great fats & protein. I bet most people wouldn’t even notice the difference if they made the pizza with almond butter instead of peanutbutter.
I agree that peanut butter products should be taken off buffets. I have a peanut allergy as does my grandson and great-granddaughter. We are air born allergic. which means that if there is peanut products in the room, we can have a severe allergic reaction. If food touches any thing that we may eat or touch an allergic reaction happens. It is nothing that supervising a child could help.
I have a shellfish allergy which was noted on all our dining reservations when we were there in November. At every restaurant the chef would come out and speak to me to verify what I was ordering. At the buffets, anything I wanted that was near a shellfish item, i mean within feet was brought to me from the back of the house. Never had such service in my life. Quite the comparison to a chain restaurant I ate at where I had a hamburger and ended up in the ER due to cross-contamination. Just one more example of what Disney does right.
Food allergies are very serious. One bite of an item that was slightly contaminated with peanuts could potentially kill a person with peanut allergies. It is not merely a matter of avoiding an item, finding other choices or watching carefully. Someone else could accidentally drop part of the pizza in another part of the buffet; and later a person with peanut allergies could unknowingly bite the contaminated food and have a life threatening reaction. I applaud Disney for their efforts to help people with life-threatening allergies. I personally don’t think it’s such a big deal to have to request the item. Disney chefs receive special requests all day long. I would gladly give up this one item or make a special request in order to safeguard another person’s life.
This is wonderful! Now, my one child has a meat allergy, another has a potato allergy, one has a vegetable allergy, one a cheese allergy (sorry Mickey) and one has a desert allergy (all kinds – anything with sugar). I am thrilled that Disney will now take off these dangerous foods to avoid cross-contamination.
After all, it’s everyone’s responsibility to raise my kids safely – not just mine!!!
Yeah! Thank you again, Disney, for being one of the safest places on earth for kids with deadly food allergies.
I respect Disney’s concern for those with allergies and understand why the pizza was removed but we just came back (stayed apr 25-may 7) and my husband was extremely disappointed to not have his favorite pb&j pizza. We spoke to our server who informed us of the decision to remove it because of allergy and told her that it was the main reason we booked breakfast and not dinner. She never told us that it was available upon request, merely that it was no longer available. Is the request option a new development? Does it have to be done in advance? And lastly, I assume its an individual sized portion? We don’t want to be wasteful…but I imagine we can’t be the only ones who enjoyed this…
We’ll alert the Chef Mickey’s culinary team to the fact that the server didn’t let you know. We are told you can, indeed, order.
I feel for those with food allergies,one has to always be alert.I often wonder if one has such severe allergies why they would chance it by eating at a buffet?? If it were me and my family I would avoid all buffets to control food situations.Let’s take personal responsability for ourselves and not expect others to .
I am very disappointed about the decision to close the gelato bar at the Beach Club. We visit WDW several times a year and look forward to an evening gelato snack. Maybe if there are enough comments about this, WDW will consider re-opening the bar.
I have to agree with Jim from IN about the gelato at Beach Club Market Place. How could they remove something so special and unique to the Beach Club (not to mention delicious) and replace the homemade gelato with more muffins and pastries? I hope enough gelato lovers will comment to WDW so we can get our gelato back.
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