Book Updates
March 18, 2001
 In
which our trusty reporters discover that you can go - er - home,
again - but you can't expect to find a vegan pizza when you get
there.
t's become trite to state that change is the only constant, but
it takes an encounter with the Mouse to point out the accuracy of
that truism in sharp relief. Our recent tour of Florida yielded
lots of surprises - some good, some not so good - and drove home
to us just how dynamic Disney's dining scene really is.
We've become accustomed to seeing mega-corporations as slow-moving
juggernauts, mass-producing consumables and services as cheaply
and uniformly as possible. "Corporate" has become synonymous
with "uninspired" and "boring".
While there's no doubt the Walt Disney Company is a mega-corporation,
there aren't many people who would describe a Disney experience
as "boring". Disney's theme parks live or die by their
ability to surprise, delight, and comfort their guests.The people
who run the parks manage this by creating a strange amalgam of corporate
planning and social engineering, mixed with boundless creativity
and superb execution.
In the same way the company's imagineers put on a full-blown Fourth
of July celebration every night, restaurant managers at WDW are
constantly tweaking the World's 260-odd restaurants and the fare
they serve. A menu planner might get an idea to introduce grapes
as an alternative to french fries at one of the Magic Kingdom's
counter-service restaurants. If the item sells, it may introduced
in another restaurant at MGM, and so on. This has been the case
with vegetarian menu items like grapes, carrots, and wrap sandwiches
sold throughout Disney World. But even an item that's selling just
fine can disappear, inexplicably, from a menu.
It's not a situation all that different from the restaurant business
out beyond the gates of Disney World. Things change. That's why
you need to keep checking our Vegetarian
Walt Disney World and Greater Orlando updates page.
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