DISNEY: FOOD-SERVICE FANTASIA

Visitors to Walt Disney World can sample from an 'overwhelming' variety and volume of restaurants that offer a range of international and domestic fare

With 150 food and beverage outlets and 1987 sales topping $336 million, the Walt Disney World Co. is a major presence in the Orlando market.

The volume and variety of the restaurants are overwhelming: As many as 250,000 meals and snacks are served a day in the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center alone. Concepts range from the white-tablecloth Les Chefs de France, a World Showcase restaurant in the French Pavilion at EPCOT Center, to a fast-food outlet serving tacos and pizza in the Magic Kingdom. Cuisines from Morocco, Italy, China, West Germany, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Japan are represented. Soon food from Norway will be offered.

Entertainment is as important an element as food in a Disney restaurant. "Food is part of the show at EPCOT," says Larry Slocum, director of foods for the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center.

The Coral Reef restaurant, abutting on a 5.7 million-gallon aquarium in EPCOT's Living Seas Pavilion, is a major attraction, drawing 1,600 customers a day. At lunch SCUBA divers casually feed exotic fish while diners in the 264-seat restaurant munch on a variety of fresh seafood.

At the Contemporary Resort's Top of the World restaurant, patrons can watch a show while they order from a dinner theater menu, while at Pioneer Hall, they can join in the Hoop Dee Do Review while they eat.

One in four Disney employees is in food service--about 5,000 people--including seven executive chefs and 11 chefs de cuisine. Many of the top chefs have spent their entire careers at Disney.

"A lot of talent is attracted to the area because of Disney," says Chris Sherman, a restaurant reporter for the Orlando Sentinel.

Disney's unique food distribution center, dubbed "chef's one-stop grocery" by one executive chef, does all the food purchasing. Preparation takes place at individual restaurants, except for the bread, which is baked in a central commissary. "We focus on quality," says Johnny Rivers, executive chef of the Contemporary Resort.

All restaurants are owned and operated by Disney except for six operating-participant World Showcase restaurants, which are run like franchises. While Disney is not considered a trendsetter, its food-service operations are often the envy of restaurateurs operating in the intensely competitive world outside its gates. "It's not a real world in there," says one local operator.

Local operators have also pointed out that Disney's high standards have raised local standards, especially in the area of service. (All Disney staff are trained extensively at Disney University.) But no matter how good a local operation may be, a visitor to Disney may never see it. "Tourists go to Disney and stay there," explains Louis Perrotte, chef-owner of La Belle Verriere, a fine-dining French restaurant in Winter Park.

Competition between Disney and the "real" world is increasing, however, especially from fine-dining hotel restaurants, such as La Coquina at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, located right outside Disney's entrance.

"Disney has a tremendous need for a more creative product," Rivers says.

In response to increased competition, Disney will open this year the lavish Grand Floridian Resort, reminiscent of a turn-of-the-century Southern plantation. The resort's six restaurants include a 60-seat fine-dining restaurant called Victoria & Albert's. Its signature restaurant, named Flagler's after the Florida magnate Henry Flagler, will feature regional American cooking with an emphasis on Florida produce.

Disney has embraced the trend toward healthful eating, converting many of its fast feeders in the Magic Kingdom from hamburger outlets to chicken, salad, and seafood units. "We have to offer freshness and nutrition, even though our visitors are on vacation. We're moving away from fried foods," Slocum says.

Disney will also feature Caribbean cuisine when it builds a food court near the Studio Tour complex. The court is expected to open sometime this year.

Coming Attractions

The Norway Pavilion, EPCOT

The Akershus: 36-item smorgasbord featuring Scandinavian food and beverages, such as herring, kransekake, gravlax, cured reindeer, and aquavit; 120 seats

The Grand Floridian Resort

Flagler's: American regional cuisine with a Florida accent; 285 seats; breakfast and dinner only

Victoria & Albert's: dinner only, 60 seats

Narcoose Nick's: seafood; 150 seats

The Southernaire: Coffee shop; 200 seats

The Gasparilla Grill & Games: Fast food; pool-side location

1900 Park Fare: Buffet; 185 seats

Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

Food court: Outlets selling ribs, Caribbean fare, and other items.

Photo: Above: Walter Meyer, executive chef of the Walt Disney World Research Kitchen, gets a positive reaction from a young sampler of the Handwich, a cone-shaped sandwich Meyer helped develop. Left: A skilled chef demonstrates traditional Japanese cooking in one of five teppanyaki rooms at the Japan Showcase located at Epcot Center.

Photo: Right: One of the highlights of EPCOT's new Kingdom of Morocco Showcase is the 25-seat Restaurant Marrakesh.

Photo: Executive chef Keith Keogh displays one of his dishes inside the Coral Reef Restaurant, part of The Living Seas Pavilion at the EPCOT Center.

Photo: Left: Les Chefs de France offers an authentic dining experience in elegant surroundings as part of a visit to the France Showcase in EPCOT Center.

Photo: Below: Traditional English fare can be found at the Rose and Crown Pub and Dining Room at the United Kingdom Showcase in Disney's EPCOT Center.

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