Food truck event coming to Downtown Disney at WDW

What's the big deal with food trucks lately? Columbus also acts like it is a 'thing'. They have a weekly food truck day at Columbus Commons. In August there is two-day festival. I don't get it.

They were popular in Seattle when we lived out there, and it has since spread around. I think there are a couple of things going on. With all of the food porn on TV now, and a willingness for people to believe there is more to life than just crappy fast food and Applebees, people are willing to try new stuff. Local outlets can't compete on price, so they compete on awesome. There's also something kind of interesting about the nomadic nature of food trucks, and it's appealing that a particular area can temporarily have options it didn't yesterday.

Amusingly, we had one at our last community party, and the dude had no Square reader (or equivalent) for credit cards. Seriously? I have a Square reader and I don't really sell anything! He obviously didn't sell much.

And it's not like Square readers are hard to get. Seems like a no-brainer.

Jeff's take on why food trucks are popular is spot on.

I live in Chicago and we've had an explosion of food trucks recently -- the city council only moved to allow food trucks in the city a few years ago, so they're "all new" to us. One of the banks near where I work is hosting a "food truck fest" on Saturdays, through the summer, in their parking lot.

James Whitmore, why don't you get it? It is a "thing".

In Columbus the food scene continues to explode and food trucks are a big part of it. I think it's a great way to try new things, and for budding chefs to try out their concepts and menus in a pop-up environment without the expense of running a restaurant or having to work their whole lives for someone else. I don't care much for the truck festival at the Commons, simply because it's really busy, but instead prefer to check out individual truck locations. Old North thru Clintonville is chock full of great ones. Look up Mya's at Pacemont and High for the best fried chicken ever, and Ray Ray's behind the Ace of Cups for awesome BBQ. I understand that city council recently approved that trucks can actually park on the streets, but I don't know the details.

Sorry if that was boring for everyone else, but I really think food from a truck can be great. I wonder if Disney, while Downtown Disney is torn up in the lengthy process of remodeling, isn't trying to latch onto the craze to keep folks moving through. The article definitely makes it sound inviting though.

I had a corn dog from one of those Disney Trucks when we were there last. Oh, and sticky chicken waffles? Yes, please.

Intrigued as I am, I'm not sure if I'm ready to brave DTD. The construction makes a crowded situation worse there. I haven't even driven by there in probably four months.

And that's probably just as well.

We've always enjoyed it there. We might spend an evening or two, and always make it our last stop on the way out for lunch and last minute shopping. When we were there in February they were in the throes of construction, which meant long congested walks with nothing to look at but walls. Pleasure Island is still a ghost town, and when we finally got down to the West Side it just seemed rather ho-hum or something. Maybe we've been there enough that it wasn't very exciting, but the restaurants were busy and the shopping there isn't exactly what we usually look for. (we did check out Spitsville, which was cool, but we didn't participate) So rather than make the trip back to the Marketplace, we grabbed a bite at the truck and headed back to the hotel for the bus trip to the airport. Parking there isn't good, either. More walls and long walks to the car.

I can see the need to renovate there, like I said, we found it kind of dull. Even the big Disney store seemed a little worn out. Universal's CityWalk is also doing an overhaul of many of their drinking and dining venues, and I wonder if it isn't maybe a little less disruptive. It's got be difficult for year round parks to remodel- they can't just shut the place down and use the off season to get the bulk of the ugly construction done, so the customer is inconvenienced, and the experience is less than magical, for what seems like an eternity.

I've never cared for it. I always thought it was an attempt to be like City Walk that failed.

I always a good concept for that space would be a Paradise Pier kind of place, with a few stand alone rides- a really great coaster ala California Screamin, a big ferris wheel, and the Rocket Ships. Throw in some food and shopping. Run it full out in the evening to attract after-park customers looking for something to do.

I thought the gated Pleasure Island concept was interesting, and back in the day we had fun there. (read: got real drunk) The midnight new years eve every night thing was cool. Oh well. I guess the gated night club theme park has gone passé.

^^ I got real real drunk there too and then went to (a tad ironically) Barnes and Noble for the midnight release of the last Harry Potter book. I enjoyed the fact that there was a little something adult to do at Disney that didn't exactly smack you over the head with its "Disneyness". I'm excited to see what they do with that area.

As to the food trucks thing, I'd love to see something like that around here, and I think it is a wise move for Disney to try something like this in an area that really (at this time) doesn't seem like much of anything exciting.

Downtown Disney: a nice enough place to visit, but not someplace you really want to go....