With the Easter week crowds making the parks extra busy, Disney offers the food discount in an attempt to get park guests to eat during off-peak times. Even with the promotion, the discount dining window is not very busy at the restaurants. Both during this visit and a previous discount period in December, we waited no more than 5 minutes in line. For that reason alone, it is worth it to take advantage of the off-peak dining times.
Last time we visited Animal Kingdom we lunched at Flame Tree Barbecue for some ribs (my favorite). This time we went for my husband's favorite: the Hot Italian Sandwich. The meal comes with your choice of a side (my husband selected the chips for me - see why below) for $8.59. He usually loves this sandwich but felt like the recipe changed. It was still good, just not what we had remembered enjoying in the past.
While my husband and I typically share something to eat at Disney, I'm just not into Italian sandwiches. As a matter of fact, I pretty much don't like anything with lettuce on it. Yes, I can pull it off, but it is a bigger "food issue" than that for me. But that's for another blog...
At Pizzafari, my only other dining option is pizza. All adult pizza meals come with a side Caesar salad for $8.69. Since I don't eat salad unless it is drenched in a super sweet dressing, it goes directly to my husband. That bag of chips I got in return had exactly 11 chips in it (with another tablespoon or so of crumbs). Beware... those chips are also the super-hard and crunchy kettle chips.
I suffer (not so silently) through my pizza each time we go to Pizzafari. My biggest complaint is the crust to pizza ratio. I had a similar complaint about the Epcot Via Napoli pizza slice, but Pizzafari is far worse. To be fair, I'm originally a Jersey Girl who grew up on NY style pizza which makes me a bit of a pizza snob. I'm not a huge fan of Pizza Hut or Dominos. If you are, perhaps you'll like this pizza more than me.
My pizza was a bit on the over-done side (which doesn't help matters). The center of the pizza (the only part I eat) gets really soggy. Each of the four pizza slices gives me 6 small bites of pizza. The crust provides another 6 bites or so, but it is just way too much bread for me so I typically leave all my crust behind. Oddly, though, I can't complain about the flavors. The sauce and cheese are both flavorful enough to make it tolerable. Overall, I'd have to rate it lower in quality than the individual pizza from SeaWorld.
As I've mentioned in the past, no trip is complete without an order of onion rings from Animal Kingdom. And since my husband enjoys them too, we made a stop at Flame Tree Barbecue to pick up an order.
We didn't score the 25% Disney dining discount on the rings though. We had already passed the discount window. To be eligible for the dining discount, must order between 3:00 PM and 4:30 PM. Cost for the onion rings is $3.79 (and another $2.79 for the large Coke).