You can work up an appetite making your way through the Orlando theme parks and standing in all of those ride lines. There are so many great places to eat at the Disney theme parks too. Over at the Magic Kingdom you have the great buffet restaurant The Crystal Palace. For a great hotdog or cheeseburger you can check out Casey’s Corner. There are also a variety of dining locations throughout the parks like the Noodle Stand in Tomorrowland or Mrs. Potts’ ice cream shop in Fantasyland. The great themed restaurants at Disney’s Hollywood Studios are always fun to check out. You have the Sci-Fi Diner where you can sit in a “car” and watch old sci-fi movies while waitresses roller skate up to you. Over at the Prime Time Diner, a 50’s themed restaurant, you can enjoy old-fashioned American food where the waitresses make sure you eat all of your food—just like mom would.

But if you’ve ever eaten at any of these restaurants, you might have had to encounter one of the negatives: overcrowding. Especially during the summer, when park attendance is at its highest thanks to the kids being out of school, the Disney restaurants can be an incredibly stressful experience. Groups usually have to designate people to order the food while the other group goes to reserve the table. If you’re in a large group, it’s especially difficult. Well, the problem was apparently getting out of hand and Disney, always ready to please their customers, is ready to change the system to make dining at the parks a smoother experience.

You will no longer be able to send someone to hold a table for your party. Disney restaurant cast members will now be seating hungry guests in their restaurants much like a waiter would in a regular restaurant. This doesn’t apply to every restaurant in the Disney parks, only the quick service restaurants like the Commissary at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While some guests are complaining about the longer wait times this is causing, Disney feels this will help make the dining process easier, even if it does take a little bit longer.

If you have never enjoyed a meal at Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville in Universal Studios CityWalk you are missing out on good food and good times. This is one of my favorite places to dine in at CityWalk because it brings about the feeling of a tropical vacation right in the middle of Central Florida. While I’m not necessarily a Parrothead myself, I can appreciate Jimmy Buffet’s carefree tunes and attitude and don’t mind mixing that in with a great burger. CityWalk is a nice little establishment of nightclubs, shops and restaurants situated right before you enter Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios Orlando.

Every October, when Halloween Horror Nights rolls around, I make sure I schedule a visit to Margaritaville in before I hit the Universal parks for the annual horror event and Golden Ticket winner. The original Margaritaville opened up in Key West, Florida back in 1988 and has since expanded across the globe. The restaurant, named after Buffet’s popular song, features a number of great extras like the Lone Palm Airport tiki bar, where Buffet’s own sea plane is parked, a kids area and the volcano bar. Now, the volcano bar is inside the actual restaurant but you’ll know when it’s ready to blow. You hear the sounds of thunder and the restaurant goes dark and flashes as if a storm was coming. It’s then the volcano erupts as “margarita” flows into the gigantic blender near the appropriately named Volcano Bar.

As for the meal, well, you really can’t go wrong with the Cheeseburger in Paradise. If you know the lyrics to the song, you’ll know how this burger comes prepared: lettuce, tomato, Heinz 57 ketchup, french fries and a big kosher pickle. You can order the meat cooked to your liking and the food is always fresh. As for what to wash down that great cheeseburger with, the choice is up to you. There are a number of margarita cocktails that are great frozen or on the rocks. It may sound stereotypical to have a margarita at Margaritaville, but you really can’t miss out—they’re awesome. The best part is Jimmy Buffet’s own line of tequila and drink mixes are available next door in case you want to have your own Buffet-style party back home.

After months of waiting fans of Iron Chef Cat Cora can now experience the chefs incredible Greek cuisine at the Walt Disney World Boardwalk. Foodies and Disney world fans have been waiting for this great addition to the Orlando theme park area for quite some time but now everyone can check out this great dining establishment that will takes up the spot where Spoodles used to be.

The interior of Cora’s restaurant features a welcoming décor of dark woods and iron work. There are family pictures all over the walls to give you the feeling you are eating at a family owned restaurant. In many ways you are, because Cora herself designed the menu and waited for her family’s approval before deciding on the final selections.

"I love everything about this menu," says Cora. "But most importantly it has the approval of my family. And trust me, my mom and dad would tell me if it wasn't right. Greeks are very passionate about their food."

You will be able to enjoy scrumptious dishes like pastitsio, Greek-style lasagna, with buccatini pasta, cinnamon and ground beef as well as delicious oak-grilled lamb burgers. For dessert you can have chocolate boudino cake or traditional baklava with spiced nut filling and coffee frappes on the side.

Cat Cora plans to be at the restaurant in Florida at the Walt Disney World Resort as often as she can. Considering she’s the Executive Chef of Bon Appétit magazine as well as restaurant owner, mom and now the owner of her own Coranation Wines, that might be a little difficult. So, Cora enlisted the help of Disney culinary team veteran Dee Foundoukis to help out in the kitchen while Cat’s away.

"She's first generation Greek," says Cora. "She gets what I am trying to accomplish. She has my vision and my passion."

We’re sure Kouzzina is going to be a hit at the Disney Boardwalk. While family friendly this establishment still provides a classy dining setting the entire family can enjoy. After all, it’s nice to treat yourself to something other than park food while on vacation.

She won what is considered the toughest cooking competition and cemented her spot in the food world as the only female Iron Chef. Now, Cat Cora will bring her culinary expertise to the Walt Disney World Resort BoardWalk. With Kouzzina (“kitchen” in Greek), Cora plans to bring “time-honored recipes passed down from my ancestors, as well as my favorite Greek and Mediterranean dishes that my family loves” to the Walt Disney World restaurant family. Cora has been working on the restaurant plans since 2008, but it is not her first partnership with Disney. Cora also worked on a series of Disney Video on Demand shows that taught families how to develop healthier eating habits.

While she already has a barbecue-style restaurant, Cora wanted to go back to her routes with Kouzzina and make Mediterranean food more accessible to the guests that visit Disney from all over the world. Kouzzina takes the place of Spoodles, once popular for its breakfast buffet, and will be having a pre-opening with a special menu.

The special menu will have breakfast, kid’s breakfast, dinner and dessert all with the Mediterranean theme Cora loves. Among the many appetizers guests will be able to sample are goat cheese stuffed grape leaves, Vongole (clams, sausage, wine broth and garlic croutons) and calamari with lemon. For dinner guests will dine on cinnamon stewed chicken, char grilled lamb burgers or spiced briami (oven roasted veggies, oregano and Mazithra cheese with orzo). Don’t forget the dessert! Among the delicious offerings are baklava , galaktoboureko (semolina custard in baked phyllo dough and vanilla-praline ice cream) and loukamathes (freshly made Greek doughnuts dipped with warm honey).

Reservations are already open for the big September 17th premiere, so it might be a good idea to check out Disney’s new online reservation system. Disney recently opened up an online portal for its reservation system. Disney restaurants like Teppan Edo and The Crystal Palace are notorious for filling up fast. If a Disney restaurant has a good reputation, you can count on it having long wait times—especially during the upcoming holiday season! So if you want to get a taste of Kouzzina then make sure you call ahead and reserve your spot if you don’t want to wait hours in line for a meal.

With a new family, her title as Iron Chef, celebrity appearances and her job as the editor of Bon Appétit magazine, Cora’s got her hands full. But we’re guessing guests of Kouzzina will keep their stomachs full with the delicious food Cora has planned for the menu.

Downtown Disney has seen a lot of changes throughout the past year. There was the closing of the Pleasure Island nightclubs, sadly, along with the closure of the Virgin Megastore. However, not all of the changes have been bad – the Disney entertainment district added Aerophile, a new balloon flight experience, new stores, and new restaurants. Among those eateries, in fact is a new waterfront eatery that’s making its debut this month – Paradiso 37.

Named after the 37 countries that make up North, South, and Central America, Paradiso 37 opened quietly last Friday, June 5. Located on the waterfront of Pleasure Island, the high-energy E-Brands restaurant serves up unique cuisine inspired by the “Street Foods of the Americas” for lunch and dinner. The restaurant also features an international wine bar and a tequila tower bar with 37 kinds of tequila, which are used in the restaurant’s selection of signature frozen margaritas.

On the wide and varied menu at Paradiso 37 is a list of appetizers or “sharables,” subs and sandwiches, salads, and “street” platters. Among them are south-of-the-border tastes such as burritos, enchiladas, and tacos, in addition to more customary dishes such as New York Strip Steak, Cheeseburger, and North American Sliders. One of the most popular offerings is the BBQ Pork Platter, which is slow roasted with sweet chipode BBQ sauce and served with cilantro rice and black beans.

The restaurant features a separate menu for children, with can’t-go-wrong eats like mini-cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, and a triple stack PB & J. And for dessert, a variety of North, South, and Central American “Street Sweets” is available, such as churros, sopapillas, and ice cream sundaes served in half a coconut.

With one side facing the boat deck, Paradiso 37 offers a particularly nice waterside dining area. The outside of the building almost resembles a boathouse with horizontal wood paneling. Inside, however, the restaurant is very colorful and features plush, multi-colored booths, wood tables and accents, and elaborate tequila-themed lighting fixtures. And an open kitchen provides something fun to watch while diners wait for their meal to arrive.

At nighttime, Paradiso 37 turns into a nightlife paradise with live entertainment. The usually lively and comfortable atmosphere gets even more fiery and fun, and on Friday evenings, an acoustic musician plays everything from 80s hits to soulful country songs.

Paradiso 37 opens at 11 am and stays open late into the evenings. We especially recommend it for a satisfying dinner after a long day at Walt Disney World or a bit of nightlife fun. Plan on making it a part of your vacation for a unique dining experience – and while you’re planning, be sure to check out the discount Walt Disney World tickets available on OrlandoFunTickets.com.

Normally, a rat would be a very unwelcome creature inside a restaurant and cause to call the Health Department. But at Les Chefs de France restaurant at Disney's Epcot, one special rat isn't just a welcome guest, he’s actually part of the restaurant’s crew. The star of the Academy Award-winning Disney Pixar film Ratatouille, Remy is the newest Audio-Animatronics character created by Walt Disney World Imagineers, and he’s part of a whole new guest experience at Les Chefs de France called “Bon Appétit from Chef Remy.”

Inside the France pavilion eatery, a Maitre d’ greets diners six days a week, four times a day, with a rolling food cart. That cart carries a silver domed cheese platter that the Maitre d’ dramatically uncovers to reveal the six-inch-tall Remy, complete with silky soft fur, pink paws, and a traditional toque. The rat-turned-Chef then comes to life, entertaining diners with nimble movements and lively banter. Chef Remy and the Maitre d’ make stops at each table through the restaurant, and in addition to chatting up the guests, the culinary rodent even breaks out his dance moves every now and then, dancing to various tunes from a romantic French song to a hip-hop jam.

The “Bon Appétit from Chef Remy” experience lasts 40 minutes long and includes small Remy laughing, sniffling, and even flirting with his new restaurant friends. The smallest Audio-Animatronic figure in Walt Disney World history, Remy is part of the Living Character initiative created for Disney Parks by Walt Disney Imagineering.

“By combining technologies, our Living Character initiative creates new levels of guest interaction and brings characters to life like never before,” said Holger Irmler, who worked on the Remy project for Walt Disney Imagineering. “Things we do are so complex, yet our goal is to make them seem so magical to our guests."

Since its inception, the Living Character initiative has been providing guests with never-before-seen animatronics technology and a heaping helping of legendary Disney magic. You might remember the first Living Character debuted in 2004, a large and loveable dinosaur named Lucky who visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom from June to August in 2005. Lucky was an 8 foot tall green dinosaur pulling a flower-covered cart and led by “Chandler the Dinosaur Handler,” and he was able to move freely and talk with guests much like Remy is able to.

Remy was originally debuted at Disneyland Resort Paris and was such a hit that Imagineers chose to have him visit Epcot next, with Les Chefs de France serving as the perfect Parisian setting for the French rat. Guests will be able to visit Chef Remy at the Epcot restaurant every Monday through Saturday until September 5.

For a dining experience like no other, be sure to pay a visit to Epcot soon to see one of Disney’s most charming characters come to life. In addition to getting your Walt Disney World tickets from OrlandoFunTickets.com, we recommend that you make reservations up to 90 days in advance if you plan to dine at Les Chefs de France and meet Chef Remy.

There is a new first of its kind attraction at Disneys Animal Kingdom Theme Park one that actually doesnt involve live animals or a roller coaster but is creating quite a buzz and level of excitement around the Walt Disney World Resort. But if it doesn’t produce thrills, then what exactly is it? The Yak & Yeti Restaurant, the first full-service restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme Park! This Pan-Asian-inspired restaurant located in (where else?) Asia in the village of Anandapur and next to the ride’s biggest attraction, Expedition Everest, houses both a 250-seat indoor full-service restaurant with a 350-seat outdoor pavilion for patrons who would prefer the adjacent quick-service dining option.