Adventure by Disney - The Meals

Unlocking the Secrets of the Luxury Experiential Value of an Adventure By Disney Vacation - Part 3Adventure By Disney - The MealsBy Rebecca Jones  Aug 2016A big part of any vacation is food.  That is very true on an Adventures by Disney vacation.  From the very first evening at the Welcome Dinner, to the Farewell Dinner on the last night, food is a large part of the cultural experience.  When you travel with Adventures by Disney (ABD), the majority of your meals are included in the cost of your vacation.  The great thing about ABD is that, while you do have scheduled group activities to give you the best experiences of the location you’re visiting, there is also some free time in each destination, so you can explore and experience on your own.  Your Adventure Guides will give you several suggestions of places to visit, and restaurants to try, if you don’t have any in mind.Breakfast was included at the hotel each morning of the Central Europe ABD trip we were on.  These meals were not just pastries and yogurt, like you find at many U.S. hotels.  These were full meals, with eggs to order, including omelets, various choices of meat, fruits, local favorites like olives, grilled tomatoes, vegetables, and yes, pastries.  Oh, the pastries!For lunch, if we were out doing an activity, the meal was included. This was about half the time during our particular itinerary.  The highlight of our lunch meals was definitely the Oedl House, located in Austria, at the base of the Eisriesenwelt ice cave.  Over halfway up the side of a mountain in the Bavarian Alps, the location and views from the terrace can’t be beat!  The meal was authentic wienerschnitzel with fries, beef tenderloin with pasta, German macaroni and cheese, with apple struedel and cheesecake for dessert.  The meal was all-you-could-eat, and served family style.Dinner was constantly outstanding, and always featured several choices to accommodate dining preferences and allergies.  Most dinners were included, and the locations were either very exclusive restaurants or local, culture-rich experiences.  For example, our welcome dinner the first night was at the Sarah Bernhardt restaurant in Prague.  This gorgeous restaurant, a short walk from our hotel, was ours for the evening.  There were no other diners in the room, and the service was top-notch.  For our starter, we had a choice of mixed salad or a veal consommé with dumplings and vegetables. Dinner choices included a veal filet with wild mushrooms, vegetable ratatouille, and tagliollini pasta; grilled sirloin steak with pink pepper sauce, gratinated potatoes, and grilled tomatoes; or chicken schnitzel with potato-celery French fries and roasted vegetables.  Dessert was a choice of a chocolate tower with strawberries or a lemon tart with meringue and caramel ice cream.  Excellent choices and one of the best meals of our trip!Another highlight at dinner was in Salzburg, Austria, at Saint Peter’s.  This restaurant was founded in the year 803 A.D. It is the oldest restaurant in Europe, and did not disappoint at all.  The main dining room is built into the rock wall of a hill, and there are private dining rooms upstairs, where we were.  Once again, there were several outstanding choices for dinner, including risotto, polenta, and turkey cordon bleu.  Our evening entertainment, though, was fantastic, as a violinist and cellist serenaded us during dinner with several pieces of music written by Mozart, who was born a short ways from the restaurant, and used to dine there during his time.   As with any Disney vacation, allergies are always taken seriously.  One of our fellow travelers had a lactose allergy, and our Adventure Guides worked with each restaurant to ensure she had an alternative meal if the main choices weren’t able to be modified for her.  They were truly her advocates with the chefs, and made the dining experiences safe for her to enjoy.Children aren’t left out, either.  At each dinner location, there was a children’s menu with friendlier options. Because I was on an adults-only tour, I didn’t personally see the choices, but I did note them on the menus.While we had memorable experiences with dining, even the snacks that we were provided with on the busses were local experiences.  We had fruit, pretzels, bagged chips, but the biggest treats were the local candies.  Being in Central Europe, chocolate was a main theme.  We tried Fidorka (round chocolates with different fillings, including hazelnut or coconut) and Brumik (vanilla teddy bear-shaped cakes with chocolate filling) as we drove through Prague.  Lentilky (candy-coated chocolates similar to M&Ms) and JoJos (gummy candies) were available another day in Austria, and we had Kinder and Schoko-bon chocolates in Germany.  It was a joy to sample these local treats, and I was encouraged to take extras home to my children. I ended up with a gallon-sized zipper bag full by the end of the trip!The value of all the included meals, at the locations we visited, and the experiences they incorporated into our appreciation of the local culture, added so much to our Adventures by Disney vacation.Please feel free to give us a call with any questions at 864-649-1016 or use our Quote Request Form if you do not already have a relationship with a Wishes Concierge Travel Planner.Links to the other blogs in this series - Part 1 the Two Guides;  Part 2 the Accommodations, Part 4 the Transportation.