Sunshine Season Food Fair

If there’s one thing I like more than Disney it’s eating. Naturally, eating while in Disney World is pretty much as good as it gets.

One of the must-do’s for my family growing up was eating in the food court inside the Land pavilion in EPCOT. Officially titled Sunshine Season Food Fair, like most food courts, it offered great options (in the mind of an 8-year-old boy).

I don’t remember a ton about the place because, let’s be honest, even though I love food I ate about a dozen hamburger and fries every time we went to Disney, none were more memorable than the other.

I realize this is a picture from when it was called “Farmer’s Market” but it looked the same.

My fondest memory is of a slushie type stand they had at one point. I have no idea what it was called or whether or not they were actually slushies (they could have been milkshakes or smoothies or something to that affect) but I do remember my brother and I absolutely adored that place.

If memory serves me right, there was a green one that I liked (I believe it’s name had something to do with a grasshopper) and my brother always got a blue one with gummy bears in it. I could be way off but for some reason those two stick out.

Then one time we went and it was closed down and I cried. I cried a lot as a kid. I don’t know why.

Besides that they also had decent food. My mom and aunt always talk about the famed handwich they used to serve there. Apparently there were different kinds depending on your tastes: Tuna, Chicken Salad, BBQ etc.

An ice cream cone full of meat and fat

I was always content with the regular choices. They had your burgers, fries, BBQ: typical Disney counter service staples. They also had baked potatoes and COOKIES. I remember the cookies very fondly because my parents always treated us to them.

If I’m not mistaken they were Nestle cookies (could have been Toll House though).

I’m pretty sure it was my dad’s favorite place to eat. They had basically everything he eats so it was quite the Smörgåsbord for him.

Well, Disney decided it need a healthier dining option and what better place to put it then in the LAND where they grown their own food and sing about nutrition?

It should be called Season: Summer.

There is nothing wrong with Sunshine Seasons. It’s one of the only healthy(ish) options at Disney for less than $12 a person. They also have a very unique variety not found in any other park.

If I had never been to Sunshine Season Food Fair I’m sure I would love Sunshine Seasons. Especially since my palette has matured since I was a kid. But, I did go to Sunshine Season Food Fair, many times. As far Sunshine Seasons goes…I just don’t like it: it’s too fancy.

There are arcs and wings hanging from the ceiling now and everything is modern and the chairs are actually comfortable. It still can’t beat the circle tables with uncomfortable circle stools attached to them though…

Great video. NOT MINE. I did not take this video nor do I own it in any way. It is halfway down on the left hand side. You will also notice a quick shot of my beloved Food Rocks. http://www.lostepcot.com/video.html

Strawberry Swirl

So simple yet so refreshingly delicious. The Strawberry Swirl at the Enchanted Grove refreshment stand was, among many things, a much-needed respite from the intense Central Florida heat.

A worthy tribute to the dessert Gods

From what I remember it was essentially a strawberry and vanilla ice cream swirl but it tasted like Heaven. As soon as I saw the Enchanted Grove appear on the horizon after walking through Tomorrowland I couldn’t contain my excitement.

The toxic smell of exhaust from Tomorrowland Speedway mixed with the heavy smell of fry oil and grease wafting over from Cosmic Ray’s was (although nostalgic now) a necessary evil in order to arrive at the dessert Mecca of the Magic Kingdom.

There’s nothing better than getting off a gut-wrenching, nauseating spin on the Mad Tea Party only to gorge yourself full of sugar. Because, really, there’s only one thing that makes a child happier than being at Disney World: sugar.

As with so many other classic Disney items, the Strawberry Swirl has vanished into the Disney abyss. In fact, those dorks even got rid of the Enchanted Grove in favor of a new place called The Cheshire Cat…granted, it is themed after Alice in Wonderland now – just like the Mad Tea Party next to it – which makes more sense, but I can still be bitter about it.

What next Disney? How many more childhood memories of mine will you crush with your soft, white, puffy mouse hand?

I would compose another post about the Enchanted Grove but since all we ever got there was the Strawberry Swirl, I wasn’t too fond of the building.

Rumors online say it may be brought back in a different restaurant but I don’t want to get my hopes up. Teasing somebody with the prospect of a Strawberry Swirl is like teasing a dog with a piece of food: it’s funny because he/she will never get it but it’s mean to give him/her false hope.

Food Rocks

Proudly pronounced as Food-a-Rocks by my family, Food Rocks was a staple of every trip to Disney as a kid.

I want to be, your high fi-ber

At the time – mid 90’s to mid 00’s – there weren’t many hot ticket attractions at Epcot. Test Track was relatively new but other than that I can’t remember needing a Fast Pass for any attraction. Upon entering the park, there was no stampede to “The Land” to hop on Soarin’.

Instead, we made our way around Future World, stopping to watch the JAMMitors, fool around inside Inoventions, catch up on history inside Spaceship Earth – one of my favorite rides (until they changed it a couple years ago, but that’s for a later post) – and join Ellen and Billy Nye on a energy adventure.

Without fail we always ended up in The Land for lunch. At the time, the food-court was exactly that: a food court – not some fancy, organic,  make-love-to-the-Earth “food court” (once again, later post). There were (what seemed like) millions of things to choose from and I always had a difficult time making my decision.

The food itself wasn’t the only reason for going to “The Land.” Inside was an animatronic musical masterpiece about everybody’s favorite topic: food. How much better could it get?

Headlining the show were, what some consider to be, the greatest compilation of singing food-people ever assembled.

We're talking 'bout good nu-tri-tion

The show kicked off with a mystifying performance of “We’ll Make it Count in the Kitchen” by the U-tensils (parody of Queen). Fan-favorites, The Peach Boys belted out “Good Nutrition (parody of The Beach Boys) next. The rest of the show went as follows:

“Every Bite You Take” – The Refrigerator Police (The Police – personal favorite)        “High Fiber” – Pita Gabriel (Peter Gabriel – genius parody)                                                 “Always Read the Wrapper” – Fud Wrapper (Tone Loc – loved him in Ace Ventura)      “Just Keep it Lean” – The Sole of Rock ‘n’ Roll (Cher – she was the fish)                             “Tutti Frutti” – Richard (Little Richard – apparently they couldn’t think of a better name) “Vegetables are Good for You” – Neil Moussaka (Neil Sedaka – personal least favorite) “Let’s Exercise” – Chubby Cheddar (Chubby Checker – almost as genius as Pita Gabriel) “Give Us Junk” – The Excess (Only original song in the show)                                            “Just a Little Bit” – The Get-the-Point Sisters (The Pointer Sisters – the chocolate bars) “Choose Before You Chew” – The entire cast (doubles as anti-tobacco advertising)

I always loved going to the show and having the songs stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Walking through World Showcase humming along to “Always Read the Wrapper” warranted sideways glances from passer-by’s. To this day, I still sing “High Fiber” when I hear “Sledgehammer” and “Every Bite You Take” when I hear “Every Breath You Take.”

You can imagine by absolute disgust when we showed up at Epcot in the summer of 2003 to see “CLOSED” posted over the entrance to what used to be the greatest show on Earth. Really put a damper on the whole trip.

Every bite you take, I'll be watching you

In fact, I refused to ride Soarin’ the first couple times we went to Disney after it opened in protest (a feeble protest at best, but it made my father and I feel as if we may be able to bring the show back). I finally gave in last year, riding Soarin’ for the first time: Honestly, I enjoyed it.

Flying over the orange grove was the best part, smelling the citrus-y zest of the wonderful fruit as we passed over. But, I couldn’t help but think of the Peach Boys and what their life is like now:  reminiscing about their glory days with other discarded Disney animatronic characters in a big warehouse, getting the old crew together to sing “Choose Before You Chew” one last time, fighting back tears in the process, realizing their citrus juice tears are making their metal stand sticky…