880 · Tasting Disney History: The Unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook with Carly Caramanna

WDW Radio: Your Guide to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise and More Disney Magic!

In this episode of WDW Radio, host Lou Mangiello welcomes Carly Caramanna, co-author of The Unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook, to explo

Key takeaways

• Food in Disney parks serves as a powerful vessel for storytelling and memory preservation.
• The discovery of a 1981 Walt Disney World dining guide sparked the creation of the retro cookbook, blending nostalgia with historical research.

Main topics

• Disney Parks culinary history
• Nostalgia and memory in theme park dining

Notable quotes

"What if you could taste your way through Disney Parks history?" – Lou Mangiello

Conclusion

The Unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook is more than a collection of recipes—it's a heartfelt

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Attention, please. Eastern Airlines Flight 72, your Fiesta flight to Mexico and the Ancient Pyramids, now departing at Gate 19. Speaker 3 (0:11) This is the captain Speaker 1 (0:12) speaking. Welcome aboard. We are now underway and proceeding on a course that will take us on a voyage of exploration through liquid Speaker 3 (0:19) space. Speaker 1 (0:22) Will the owner of a red and black land speeder vehicle ID THX-1138... Please return to your craft. You are parked in a no-hover area. Speaker 2 (0:33) Don't worry. This is all part Speaker 1 (0:34) of the demonstration. Just testing. Speaker 2 (0:37) He's looking for a little more adventure. Speaker 1 (0:40) But he's heading for a little bit of trouble. He's heading for a little bit of danger. Speaker 3 (0:45) Time to be turning around. W. Speaker 3 (0:54) Some of our Disney memories live in pictures. Others apparently live in a congaloosh, a handwich, cold fried chicken from Ed Polly's, or a restaurant you might miss or never got to experience. This week, Carly Haramara joins me to explore her new book, the unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook, but this is much more than recipes. It's Disney Parks history told through food from opening day Disneyland to Pleasure Island and the Galactic Star Cruiser, and it's also a reminder. that the foods we remember are often tied to specific places, trips, people, and moments in our Disney history. Hello, my friend, and welcome to WDW Radio, your guide to the Disney parks and experiences around the world. I am Lou Mangiello, and this is show number 880. And whether this is your first time listening or you've been part of this journey for more than 20 years since the very beginning, I am so grateful that you are here. This week, we're talking about three things I am very happy to obsess over together. Disney history and food, and Carly's going to join me for a wonderfully nostalgic trip through lost Disney restaurants, strange and wonderful dishes, the evolution of Disney dining, and the memories that food somehow holds onto for us. As always, I'd love for you to be part of the conversation every Wednesday night at 7.30 p.m. Eastern for our live show on Facebook and YouTube. Come be part of the community conversation over in the clubhouse at www.radio.com. slash clubhouse. And if you're not already getting my free weekly newsletter email updates, or if it's been a while since you've opened one, I'm making some big changes to give you a lot more reasons to. I'll be sharing exclusive content you won't get anywhere else, giveaways and contest opportunities, early notice of events and announcements, and things I'm discovering and enjoying every week. And of course, a few surprises along the way. You can subscribe for free over at www.com slash connect. And find and chat with me on social on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn at Lou Mangiello. And when you're ready to plan your next food and fun-filled Disney vacation, you can visit my friends over at mousefantravel.com. So maybe don't listen to this one hungry because we are about to taste our way through Disney history. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's episode of the WDW Radio Show. Speaker 3 (3:18) I love when things that I love converge. My love of Disney, my love of food, and my love of Disney history. And you put them all together and you get something that I can happily obsess over, which is the history and consumption of Disney food. I also love entrepreneurship and especially the idea of creating the thing that you wish existed. It's... part of the reason why I wrote my very first Walt Disney World trivia book, oh, those many years ago. And it's one of the many reasons I am so excited to welcome my next guest, because she and her co-author did exactly that. She is Carly Caramana and Julie Tremaine, and they are the authors of the unofficial Disney Parks retro cookbook. which brings together more than 60 nostalgic recipes with the stories of the restaurants and the dishes and the experiences that have disappeared from the Disney parks. And appropriately enough, this whole thing started, I love a good orange story, with a 1981 Walt Disney World dining menu, a glass of wine, I've met Carly, and one very good idea. Carly, welcome to the show. Speaker 5 (4:31) That was the best intro ever. Can I hire you to go around with me? Because that was incredible. I am such a longtime fan of you. So happy we get to see each other out and about and absolutely ecstatic to come on your show. So thank you so much. Speaker 3 (4:47) Well, thank you. And look, I follow you very closely, like not in a weird way, but in a following you on Instagram stories kind of way. Yes, I will follow you wherever you go because we were saying- Well, Speaker 5 (4:57) we go Speaker 3 (4:57) to cool places. Speaker 5 (4:58) We Speaker 3 (4:58) get to do some very cool things. And oftentimes we get to do some very cool things together. And look, for the next three or four hours, I really want to travel through your book. Congratulations, by the way. Thank Speaker 4 (5:11) you. It Speaker 3 (5:11) is a huge accomplishment being able to do that. And I love this, Carly, because it's part- part guidebook, part history book, and part cookbook. Like, this is more than, I don't want to even say just, but it's more than sort of just your favorite memories. And I alluded to it in my intro that you say in the book that this started when you found this menu from 1981 and you just couldn't stop going through it. Like, tell us the story of when you saw this thing that made you stop and say, wait a second, what is this? and the incubation of the idea. Speaker 5 (5:48) Absolutely. Thank you so much. And I'm so proud because, yes, cookbook is in the title, but it is so much more than a cookbook. And that's kind of what I'm trying to express to people. It's a coffee table book. You don't really have to even make anything if you don't want to, because it's... a lot of history, beautiful images. And I've just always been a Disney Parks food fan. I'm very lucky. I'm from New Jersey, as you know. So food was always such a major part of my family. And of course, our Disney vacations. So lucky I was raised by Disney adults. So I was, you know, an adventurers club as a kid. I was at the first 1996 Epcot Food and Wine Festival. And my love for Disney food just... kind of goes all the way back decades. You know, I'm 40 now, so I've been eating and enjoying these dishes for so long. And I think Disney fans all have something in common is that we crave nostalgia and we have a really, really hard time of letting go of things. And it's because you've made memories there with your friends and family. So when things close, it becomes such a major issue almost. And, you know, the internet kind of melts down and As I often do, I was in my little late night rabbit hole where I couldn't sleep and I found the 1981 Walt Disney World cast member dining guide employee handbook. So this was kind of like the manifesto of every Walt Disney World restaurant at that time and their full menus. I spent hours because this thing was hundreds of pages. And I'm looking and I'm thinking, oh, my God, I used to love going there in the 80s or I wish I could have went there or I don't remember it. And then I was at, of all places, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company with my friend Julie. And I had told her, I was like, I found this crazy document. It's 300 pages, I think. this is something, you know, and I've been wanting to write a book for so long that involved Disney, that involved food, but I just didn't come upon that idea until I found this. And that was kind of the whole catalyst for all of this. Speaker 3 (8:03) Yeah, but I think there's a huge difference and nexus between saying, you know, somebody should make this. I wish someone would write this book and actually saying, I'm going to, or in your case, we're going to make this. And so where and how did that sort of cross the line for you? Because, you know, before you decide to start writing it and looking for a publisher, you sort of have to have a very clear idea of... what this book is and sort of this vision of what it's going to be like when you take this thing off the shelf. Speaker 5 (8:37) Absolutely. And I think I'm not the first person to write a Disney cookbook. I am certainly not the last, but I own like all the Disney cookbooks out there. And what I was hoping for was to have something with the stories behind it, because as we know, Disney uses food as another vessel of storytelling. And so I think the stories behind the dishes is... you know, just as important as the dish itself, as well as good visuals, which a lot of cookbooks, they don't have it. I mean, to be honest, it's really expensive to take pictures, you know, it is very hefty if you are familiar with it. So that was what my vision was. I'm like, if I'm doing this, it has to include the history. You know, I'm a writer. I want to share all about these dishes, these restaurants and why they mean so much. So it was, and also, If you are in this world of content creation, no one is forcing you to post that day or create something. You really have to maintain, as you know, this constant inner motivation, which, not going to lie, every day is not easy. You know, this is not a normal nine to five where there's a blueprint of what you're doing. You're literally making crap up. There's no other way to say it. Like, we are making stuff up. Don't tell us. Yes. And you want it. You have to force yourself to do it, which. can be half a battle when your mind's not in it. And then you have to hope people will care. And that is always the scary part. And then once you get over that hurdle of, I have to do it, I'm not afraid, you just have to do it. And it took a few months. And then I finally put pen to paper and I wrote an example of a few of these recipes. One of the first ones. was Adventurers Club because that is a place that has always meant so much to me. It's a place I miss the most. And I was like, let me just make an example. Let's see what this book could look like. And that was one of the very first chapters that I wrote was the Adventurers Club. Speaker 3 (10:35) There's a lot to unpack from that in the best possible way. This idea that there is no sort of blueprint for the things that we do. And, you know, as I was going through The book, I was like, you know, if she took out every recipe from this book, there's still a fascinating Disney history book in here. So when you start. With this idea, did you always see sort of the recipes of the subject or was that sort of a gateway or a doorway into being able to tell some of these larger, richer, deeper history stories? Speaker 5 (11:14) Absolutely. My goal was always to share the history of Walt Disney World and Disneyland through the lens of food. which I feel like it does. And we organize the chapters, you know, we start all the way back at the beginning in Disneyland at 1955. And we kind of break it down into the different eras of Disney, including, you know, the Michael Eisner Disney decade. That's its own chapter. And it kind of just naturally evolved into the separation of these restaurants and former dishes. fit perfectly into what the company was trying to achieve at that time, which I thought was really fascinating and not necessarily something I set out to have it organized in this way. But I'm really, really happy that that kind of just naturally happened. Speaker 3 (12:00) You know, and I want to talk about the way you lay this book out, because I think it's really interesting and not sort of a quote-unquote traditional cookbook, which is something that this not is. Well, Speaker 1 (12:10) it'd be desserts, Speaker 5 (12:10) appetizers, you know, which is how they all are organized. But I mean, this is so much more than the food. And I anticipate people that are going to get it and not make a single thing, and that's okay. This thing is hundreds of pages because there's so much text in there. Speaker 3 (12:25) Well, you know, we talk all the time about how music and... Our olfactory senses, right, can transport us back to a distant memory. We all have, you know, I think the olfactory senses are the ones most closely tied with those core memories. But I think food is even more powerful because you have the smells, but you have the taste and the places and the people wrapped up together. So, like, why do you think food is such an effective time machine? Because that's really what this is. Speaker 5 (12:59) Absolutely. I mean, food brings us together. I eat, I travel to theme parks a lot of times by myself and I'm eating a snack and that's one thing, but to be able to. We're also Speaker 3 (13:09) Italian too, so we understand getting right. Speaker 5 (13:12) I don't, you know, live to eat. I don't eat to live. I live to eat. That has always been, you know, kind of one of my core principles, and it is with a lot of my friends and family. And just to be able to come together over a dish to share that moment and a lot of these Disney moments, you know, you think about having that. super cold Dole Whip with your best friend as it's so hot outside and I'm the Florida sun or, you know, you're starved and you're running to a ride and you have that Mickey pretzel with plastic cheese that's so disgusting that it's good. These are memories that we create and it's multisensory, which has an even bigger impact than, you know, just going on a ride, which we all love. And again, I love the way that food has become a storytelling element for Disney. And it's kind of always been. That way, going back to the original days of Disneyland. And there's just something so powerful about that bite that you remember. And I kind of, I share this in the book, but my first, like, light bulb Disney food experience was at the very first Epcot Food and Wine Festival in 1996. And there used to be a Russia booth. And my parents, I was... 10 at the time, and they dared me to try caviar for the first time because that was on the menu. It was blinis with a little sour cream dollop and caviar. And little me was like, oh, this sounds gross. And I tried it. I liked it. So I was wrong. And it kind of just changed the trajectory of my life going forward. And then since then, I was hooked on Disney foods and menus. I collect menus of former restaurants and Disney parks. And just that has become such a cornerstone of my own personal Disney journey. Speaker 3 (15:00) Your parents were like, let her try caviar. She'll hate it and never eat it again. And I'm like, great. The kid loves it. I did that with my daughter and oysters. We went to the boathouse. I'm like, good. Try an oyster. You're going to hate it. Next thing you know, she got older. She's like, I'll take a dozen oysters, please. I'm like, whoa, whoa, slow down, sister. What happened to the chicken nuggets? Speaker 5 (15:17) These are expensive hobbies. Disney fans, you know. Speaker 3 (15:23) You were talking about the early days of Disneyland, and I love how you laid the book out. chronologically through not just, you know, park by park, but through the different eras from Walt's Disneyland to Florida Project through Growing Pains, which I love, the Disney Decade, all the way to the modern mouse. So it becomes a history of the Disney parks told through food. And again, I sort of, I was trying to like step back and imagine you as you were putting this together. As you start to work through all of those different eras. Speaker 3 (15:59) And, like, do you start to notice... how Disney's approach to dining as a whole evolves? And what do you think about how the food of each era says about what Disney was trying to do, who they were trying to serve, and what they were maybe trying to be from a culinary perspective at that moment? Because Disney's never been, we're just another amusement park. It's just going to be hamburgers and hot dogs and get people on rides. Speaker 5 (16:26) I think that is the craziest part of it all is, you know, I always think about in the 60s, Disneyland goers going on Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time. And if my mind is blown still to this day in 2026 when they go on that ride, I cannot imagine what people were thinking back then. And I think that goes the same with the food. Disney kind of introduced themed dining, as we call it today, you know, like a rainforest cafe or a T-Rex, these immersive places. This was something Walt Disney was doing. Since the opening, you know, you have like Red Wagon Inn on the first day of Disney operations. That was this beautiful Victorian restaurant. Food was a storytelling element. And it just boggles my mind that while Disney was able to achieve that, obviously in the earlier days he had to have corporate sponsorships because they were, you know, limited on funds. first time running food operations is for only the bravest and he needed help. But I think it's unique that there are certain moments you can see as you go through the book where you say, hey, this changed the tide. And Speaker 4 (17:32) one Speaker 5 (17:33) of them is when Walt Disney World opened in 1971, you could call central Florida a culinary void. at that time. It was not really known. And still, I mean, Orlando hasn't been taken seriously for its food until, I guess, 2022, when Michelin finally was like, OK, we have to include Central Florida. And there's no two ways about it. Disney World played a massive hand in landing Orlando to be taken seriously on the culinary landscape. And it is taken seriously now. Disney has Michelin star. That is wild. And I think it's something that still blows people's mind. And you really have to look at how this all progressed to see how we even got here. Of course, if you want a hot dog or a hamburger, you can just get that. And there's nothing wrong with it. I will sometimes have, you know, chicken fingers late one night. There's nothing wrong with that. But what they are trying to achieve is decades in the making. And I feel like it's. finally come to fruition, as we see with the popularity of Epcot food festivals, with the Michelin star of Victoria and Albert, and that kind of really all catapulted when Walt Disney World opened, specifically Top of the World. That was at the top of the contemporary now California grill. That was really one of the first things that turned the page for Disney to be taken seriously. And it's still not taken seriously, but it is by a large population. Speaker 3 (18:58) Listen, Top of the World Supper Club was where you wanted to be if you were in Central. I mean, Mel Torme was playing the Top of the World Supper Club way back when. And kids, you can ask your grandparents who Mel Torme was. Speaker 5 (19:11) But yeah, Speaker 3 (19:12) I think you're right. I think that was what started to, you know, introduce a very foreign concept, not just to the area, but to, you know, the sort of first theme park as well. Like we are going to elevate the overall food. So Azure, because I sort of envision you... pulling all these recipes and stories together and you're piecing together a puzzle and you're putting all these puzzle pieces into different decades. During your research, as you're trying to put all this together, is there something that happened? Was there like a light bulb that goes off for you to help you understand that period and maybe see it a little differently because of the food and because of the things Disney was doing? Like, oh, I see here in the 70s. They were trying to do this. And in the 80s, they shifted to this. Speaker 5 (20:07) Yeah, I think I have a much better understanding of the progression of Disneyland and Disney World after doing it. And when I started, there were places that I was like, this absolutely has to be included. You know, Adventurers Club and Pleasure Island, all the way up to the Galactic Star Cruiser and Blue Shrimp. Spoiler, they are in the book. A lot Speaker 3 (20:27) of Speaker 5 (20:27) people are crying Speaker 3 (20:27) right now, whether it's about Adventurers Club or the Galactic Star Speaker 5 (20:30) Cruiser. Yes, there was just some very obvious places that had to be included. Of course, there was no shortage of, you know, of locations and dishes I could have included. I mean, there are so many that I'm like, OK, this could be another book and a third book. But I think the clicking moment was after laying out all these locations to be included was kind of how the chapters naturally. came together. And that was really the aha moment that this is much more than just, oh, here's a bunch of places. We miss them. Wish we could have went to them. No, this is sharing the history of domestic Disney parks in the context of food, which makes me so excited. Speaker 3 (21:15) Well, and I think there's something else that happens, too. Look, I am a collector of Disney history and Disney ephemera. When I saw When you told me first about this book, I thought to, I have a large bookshelf here and here and a whole nother room with a giant bookshelf. Like I collect, I've always collected the Birnbaum books and I have them since the very first one because those are these wonderful snapshots in time. And I would go through them and. Speaker 3 (21:45) We sometimes say, gosh, I wish I had a chance to experience this thing or this place, because I think there's something fascinating about, especially now, I think we're seeing even more so, Disney fans being nostalgic for restaurants they never actually experienced, right? Like, we're longing, like, what are we longing for when we miss a place we were never there to remember in the first place? Speaker 5 (22:09) Right. It is the ultimate kind of mind trip, and that's why we're seeing... retro and nostalgic things be so popular now? Because I don't know if it's comfort or what, you know, in an ever-changing world with technology, you are yearning for something. Maybe you did go with your parents. Maybe you never went and wish that you could have went. I mean, a lot of people tell me that they never