New Culinary Stories Unfold at Walt Disney World Resort During ‘The World’s Most Magical Celebration’

Food and drinks celebrate the 50^th anniversary with nods to the past and EARidescent shimmer

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The 50^th anniversary of Walt Disney World Resort is a time to celebrate Walt Disney’s legacy and vision. Walt knew food could be much more than just something you eat, but rather an entertaining, experiential and essential element of immersive storytelling.

New food and drink selections for “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” honoring the 50^th anniversary bring Walt’s vision to life in new ways, offering nods to the resort’s past while pushing culinary adventures to exciting new places during the 18-month event. These include theme park classics and inspiration from some of Walt Disney’s favorite meals, along with novel dishes and drinks full of color, whimsy, and a touch of EARidescent shimmer.

Nods to the Past

Walt’s personal recipes, past and present attractions, and nostalgic dishes from 1971 all serve as inspiration for the creative and whimsical food and beverage specially made for “The World’s Most Magical Celebration.”

Walt’s palate was relatively simple, with some of his favorite meals including meat and potatoes, chili, prime rib hash, and fried chicken, along with lemon, apple, chocolate, and bread pudding desserts. Disney chefs looked to his recipes from the archives and reimagined them for the 50^th anniversary celebration. The chefs and mixologists also drew inspiration from the iconic opening-day attractions.

Highlights of items across Walt Disney World that nod to the past include:

Magic Kingdom Park

• The Toad Burger (Friar’s Nook) – Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride inspired this whimsical brat burger that includes a pickle slice representing the toad’s tongue and two olives as his eyes, evoking Mr. Toad’s fun-loving, adventurous nature.
• Pressed Penny Silk Pie (Casey’s Corner) – A chocolate tart shell, silky chocolate filling, whipped cream and a chocolate-pressed penny make up this treat, themed to one of Walt’s favorite desserts and the popular pressed-coin machines throughout the parks.
• Squids Revenge (Be Our Guest Restaurant) – A michelada with a salted rim and charred octopus and cucumber garnish showcases an attraction from opening day – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – and its iconic giant squid.
• Marceline Missouri Mudslide (Plaza Restaurant) – The Plaza Cone Shop opened in 1971 with popular sweet treat combinations, including a variety of milkshakes. This mudslide – a blend of vanilla porter beer, chocolate syrup, whipped cream and crispy chocolate pearls – is a special twist on a shake that pays tribute to Walt’s hometown of Marceline, Missouri.
• Mission to Mars (Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café) – Inspired by Tomorrowland’s Mission to Mars attraction, this burger is topped with bacon and macaroni and cheese, and served on a bun dusted with crushed cheese-flavored puffs, giving the appearance of the red planet.
• Happy Haunts Milkshake (Columbia Harbor House) – This blackberry milkshake topped with a purple chocolate-glazed and black-sprinkled doughnut honors the grim grinning ghosts of the Haunted Mansion.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park

• Cheese Fries with Walt’s Chili and Walt’s Favorite Chili on Foot-long Hot Dog (Restaurantosaurus) – Two of the restaurant’s nostalgic fan favorites, hot dogs and fries, topped with Walt’s favorite chili.
• 50^th Celebration Chocolate Gâteau (Tiffins) – Paying homage to Walt’s favorite chocolate desserts, this decadent delight features a cinnamon-chocolate gâteau, almond praline, ganache and chocolate cream liqueur sauce.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

• Filet Mignon with Walt’s Hash (The Hollywood Brown Derby) – A distinctly Walt-inspired meal, featuring grilled filet mignon atop Walt’s signature roast beef hash with a fried egg.

EPCOT

• Mini Chocolate Bundt Cake (Sunshine Seasons) – One of Walt’s favorite chocolate desserts gets all dressed up for the celebration with EARidescent shimmer and sprinkles, plus a chocolate 50^th anniversary garnish.

Disney Springs

• 50^th Celebration Petit Cake (Amorette’s Patisserie) – A delicious dessert with beautiful storytelling, featuring a vanilla chiffon cake with celebration blue mousse, blueberry jam and lemon curd. Not only does the petit cake nod to the past, it is also decorated with the celebration’s signature EARidescent shimmer.
• 50^th Celebration Chocolate Bundle (The Ganachery) – These unique chocolates celebrate 50 years of magical sights, smells, tastes and sounds with their rich colors, sweet aromas, complementary flavors and playful crunch. The chocolate bar includes milk chocolate, caramel and crispies, while the square includes cake ganache and sprinkles, enrobed in dark chocolate and decorated with a shimmering castle design.

Disney Resort Hotels

• 50^th Celebration Soufflé (Disney’s Contemporary Resort) – A timeless orange-flavored liqueur soufflé with orange-flavored liqueur-scented crème anglaise.
• 50th Anniversary Vintage Minnie’s Brown Betty Profiterole (Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa) – A cream puff that harkens to the past, resembling Minnie Mouse’s vintage hat and filled with one of Walt’s favorite flavors, cinnamon-spiced apples and Chantilly cream.
• Chicken Dinner Cupcake Trio (Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground) – Fort Wilderness has served more than 10 million chicken dinners, and this homage of a dessert features fried chicken-apple fritters with apple pie moonshine filling and vanilla buttercream.
• Braised Lamb Shank (Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort) – An elevated meat-and-potatoes meal, with braised lamb shank, potato purée, rosemary-roasted garlic gravy, huckleberry jam and English peas.

Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park

• Loaded Nachos with Walt’s Chili (Avalunch) – Walt’s favorite chili atop loaded nachos.

A Touch of EARidescence

Each Walt Disney World theme park has its own EARidescent shimmer, and Disney chefs and mixologists have used these specific colors as inspiration to add sparkle to celebratory creations at all four parks. EARidescent offerings across Walt Disney World include:

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park

• Hand-dipped 50^th Celebration Mickey Premium Bar (Drinkwallah) – The famous Nestlé Mickey’s Premium Ice Cream Bar receives a special 50^th anniversary touch with a blue raspberry “hat” and a bit of pixie dust.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

• Glimmer and Shimmer Pineapple Mousse (Trolley Car Café) – A golden pineapple mousse on a toasted coconut crisp with caramel cream and matcha sponge cake that is shaped like a pineapple. The pineapple is considered a symbol of hospitality, so not only does this dessert represent the Disney philosophy, it also features the golden shimmer and glimmer of the 50^th

EPCOT

• EARidescent Croissant Doughnut (EPCOT Experience) – The fan-favorite treat makes its festive return to EPCOT with an EARidescent shimmer from blue icing and sprinkles.

Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park

• EARidescent Ice Dream Cone (I.C. Expeditions) – This birthday cake-flavored soft serve swirl in a white-chocolate-dipped cone honors the celebration with EARidescent sprinkles.

Specialty Beverages

• Magical Beacon Cocktail – The specialty 50^th anniversary cocktail, found at many table-service restaurants, lounges and pool bars across Walt Disney World, features a delicious mix of gin, blue Curacao, Minute Maid^®Premium Lemonade, berry, orgeat, lemon, hibiscus grenadine and a souvenir glow cube.
• EARidescent Sip-a-bration – The specialty non-alcoholic mocktail, found at many table-service restaurants, lounges and pool bars across Walt Disney World, includes Minute Maid^® Premium Lemonade served in a novelty 50^th anniversary cup. The drink also includes a special surprise ingredient, shaped like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto or Donald Duck, that, when stirred into the drink, brings a magical change of color and flavor and a sprinkling of pixie dust.

Novelties

More than a dozen novelty items developed for the Walt Disney World 50^th anniversary are available beginning Oct. 1, 2021, with more new items expected throughout the remainder of “The World’s Most Magical Celebration.” Novelty items, including popcorn buckets, mugs and sippers, are featured across the theme parks, resorts, water parks and Disney Springs. The characters’ new EARidescent fashions inspire the Mickey Mouse popcorn bucket and the Minnie Mouse sipper, while the resorts’ refillable mugs offer two distinct art styles – one celebrating the 50^th anniversary and another showcasing Disney Resort hotels and Walt Disney World transportation.

For more information about Walt Disney World Resort and “The World’s Most Magical Celebration,” visit WDWNews.com. Guests should visit DisneyWorld.com/50 and DisneyParksBlog.com, plus follow #DisneyWorld50 on social media platforms.

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