Sunday Brunch: Prince Eric's Village Market

by Reuben Gutierrez

8 September 2013

As New Fantasyland continues to reveal itself like a ship returning from just over the horizon, nothing could be more exciting than an additional food location. One of New Fantasyland's new residents recently opened shop in a quaint village that emerged opposite from of his castle. Last week, Prince Eric's Village Market opened to guests with a food selection different than the park's other snack stand offerings. With ice cream and popcorn readily available at other stands in other lands, the Village Market opted for healthier food choices deemed by Disney as 'Healthy and Better for You.' Much like an actual fresh food market in an actual kingdom village, guests will delight in finding fresh fruit, healthy beverages, and other nourishing snack options.

A healthy bounty of whole fruits, yogurt, hummus with pita chips, Craisins, and more. Fresh lemonade churns in the caged crate.

Pineapple spears, fresh fruit cups, and more Craisins.
Apparently 'bananas from Honduras' is something to write home about.

Longtime resort visitors may notice continuity to these health foods. We've seen them as other healthy options around the whole of Walt Disney World resort, but now have the convenience of finding them all in one place. Prince Eric's Village Market isn't the first to offer such convenience; the Liberty Square Market also serves a very similar healthy snack menu amidst their hot foods - American favorites like ham-and-cheese sandwiches or corn on the cob. Though the Village Market does not serve hot foods, it does provide several 'healthy' beverage options to cool down the guests in this kingdom under the sun.

Honest Teas and Fruit Juices

Vitamin Water

Odwalla Juice come in an interesting variety of flavors and provide vital nutrients

Two of the rather unique items to this Magic Kingdom snack stand include fresh lemonade and fruit-flavored shaved ice. With the lemonade available in two flavors and the shaved ice in five, this certainly makes the stand a repeat stop to invite guests to return and try them all. For my inaugural visit to the Village Market, I chose to have the watermelon shaved ice. In my past experiences at state fairs and such, the vendors never put enough of the fruity syrup, leaving me with a glob of ice that only hints towards any particular flavor. At Prince Eric's Village Market, the shaved ice acts more like a 'snow cone ice float,' which certainly becomes a welcome refresher under the Florida sun. The villagers add a lot of flavoring too, so my ice had watermelon in almost every bite and the water had flavor in every sip. If I had to pick one fault, I would point to the too-chunky ice. Then again, this might have occurred through a fault in the ice crusher/shaver. I prefer a finer shaving of ice, so to speak, than the glacier in which I attempted to dig my flimsy plastic spoon.

Nestled at the bottom of the humble Seven Dwarfs Mountain, the market area uses a theme reminiscent of ' or perhaps actually is ' the seaside village Ariel and Prince Eric tour in The Little Mermaid. Designed in an earth tone color scheme, I surmise that the village will complement the soon-to-be-finished mountain terrain. In addition, the remainder of the village (still under construction) likely shall turn into a Mermaid merchandise location. The market itself consists of a single counter with two sides, constructed from what appears to be crates, barrels, and similar wood planking one would find on a former seafaring ship. The awning looks as if it was recycled from an old and weathered sail. Perhaps Prince Eric and his crew salvaged materials from a ship wreck to construct this modest market.

Prince Eric has certainly come a long way in the Disney Parks, as he no longer serves as mere parade and show arm candy. During construction of Ariel's new grotto, Eric made regular appearances at meet-and-greets, and naturally features among the characters in Ariel's Undersea Adventure attraction. Now, the Prince has his own food stand, and it's certainly one to be proud of. While the majority of the healthy food options here are not new to the Disney parks and resorts, having all of them available in one place with some interesting, cool beverages makes it a must-stop shop for health-savvy guests. As with all Disney menus, they're certainly subject to change; with the health snack food niche that Prince Eric's sailing-ship-turned-market provides, this is a menu I look forward to sea, er'see.