The Galloping Gourmand Thanks Disney for the End Zone Food Court at AS:M

I’m always impressed with how Disney does it’s food courts. Hotel food courts are typically there to serve edible foot at exaggerated prices to a trapped and desperate audience. Disney has an even more trapped audience because most people don’t have cars. The fact that Disney tries to do a little more for it’s guests at the End Zone Food Court is commendable even if the food they provide sometimes isn’t. They offer many choices at what can only be called fairly reasonable prices (for Disney).

The End Zone Food Court is arranged in “stations” with a centralized pay station. There were not enough checkout lanes and unless it was about 11pm. The beverage isle was always messy. This wasn’t the fault of the cast members, and the people who were getting drinks were complete wrecking crews. They left straw wrappers, poured drinks into the trash instead of the sink, and generally behaved like pushy-shovey animals. I wanted to apologize to the clean um crew for the human race. That mostly finishes up with the bad parts.

The good news about the food court is that the bulk of people aren’t there after 11pm. Breakfast is, based on my experience, the busiest time despite the long walk from most of the rooms. I don’t like people in the morning and am not a big breakfast person so I only had one breakfast here. You know, for “research.” I wasn’t very awake before my coffee but I knew enough to studiously avoid the “breakfast pizza.” That ****able Disney pizza. They have the classic Mickey Waffles, biscuits and gravy for the southern/Midwest crowd, western omelets, and a collection of sandwiches. I opted for the breakfast platter – overcooked scrambled eggs, a heavy biscuit, crunchy bacon, and some pretty good sausage. There was also breakfast potatoes, which resemble chunky greasy hash browns. It’s exactly what you would expect from a food court. Enough to get you going in the morning, and while not exactly “good” there was no reason to avoid it other than a long walk from the room.

I’m going to insert a little pet peeve here. The coffee was too hot. I don’t want to sound like the type of person who sues when they drink hot coffee but it came out near boling and even cold mile and ice cubes couldn’t make it cool enough to drink without having it sit for at least 15-20 minutes. I only had coffee at breakfast.

As far as lunch/dinner goes there are some pretty good choices. "The Grill" features the most artery clogging selections from Disney quick service fare at the parks. The menu alone is upping my cholesterol just by typing it: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, double cheeseburgers, and double bacon cheeseburgers. It seems that bacon is a bonus for ordering an sandwich with two patties and two slices of cheese. Must be that “plussing” you hear so much about. Also available are hot dogs, chili cheese dogs, and chili fries. Oh, you can get a veggie burger as well. Don’t know why that’s served here amidst all the grilled death. Must have been an oversight.

The "Specialty Shop" is where I got most of my food. I enjoyed the Turkey and Muenster on Focaccia more than I expected. It had a surprisingly generous amount of meat between the bread. While it was a little dry it wasn't anything some mayo couldn't fix. Their baked chicken platter was greasy on the outside, dry on the inside, but overall tasty if a bit overpriced. The nachos were depressingly skimpy.

Now this is has been a borderline positive review, so I hate to end on a bad note. If you show up after 11, which in the summer is after park closing (especially if you are waiting a long time for busses) the only thing that’s open is that ****able “Pizza Shop.” There is, however, a way to make this work for you. Don’t order the pizza. Breadsticks are also available. They are as big as 2 personal pizzas, come with the same sauce for dipping, and cost about $5. The only thing missing is the cheese. Even though they are made from the same bread as the pizza crust I have yet to have an order a set of breadsticks that hasn’t been at least decent. There are also some premade salads and treats in the quick stop area. I’ve never found anything worthwhile.

The End Zone Food Court is not bad if you are trapped. Disney is trying to give you something where they could easily have set up a standard 4 item quick service location. Props, and thanks for that. There is room for improvement but overall things are fine the way they are. There is nothing wrong with perfectly acceptable, sometimes.

Until next time, "Hi ho eaters! Away!"