Yet Another Startling Food Discovery

Because I cannot stop myself from reading Disney food blogs and forums, today I came across a post about the best pizza delivery options in Walt Disney World. Usually, when my family ordered pizza, it was from the pizza window at the Boardwalk. There's not really much of a reason to order pizza, though, unless something went wrong; unless one of us was sick or otherwise not feeling well, we always went out for food. So, in thinking of food options at Disney World for our wedding/honeymoon, pizza delivery wasn't even a blip on my radar. That is, until I discovered that there's a Giordano's in Lake Buena Vista.

My initial reaction.

For the uninitiated, Giordano's is a chain of pizza places found in Chicago that serves a delicious variety of Chicago-style pizzas. I first had Giordano's when I visited Chicago in college for a fraternity formal; I wanted to see the city, and my date (who had been to Chicago many times before) recommended Giordano's. From that moment, I was hooked. Every time I've been back to Chicago since then (which, admittedly, is only four times), I've made sure to eat there (as well as Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, in case anyone is looking for a good tapas place in Chicago). A lot of Chicago locals will probably tell you that the chain isn't as good as [insert independently owned and operated Chicago-style pizza place here], but I don't care. It's exactly the kind of thing I like.

Several years ago, Girl Scout Fiancée and I went back to my Ancestral Homeland (Tennessee) for my brother's wedding around Christmas time. A few days before Christmas, we drove from Tennessee all the way to her family's home in Pennsylvania, spent a few days through Christmas there, and then, in an attempt to let us unwind after a couple of weeks of travel and family visits, took the train all the way from Harrisburg, PA to Seattle, WA, with stops in Pittsburgh and Chicago along the way. Chicago is the eastern endpoint for the Empire Builder, a train route I've taken half-a-dozen times with coworkers headed to our big annual convention, so we had a few hours to kill in Chicago. I took Girl Scout Fiancée to the Willis Tower, we walked around the snowy streets of Chicago, and, of course, I coerced her into going to Giordano's.

Girl Scout Fiancée and I at Giordano's in Chicago. I'm the one with the goatee.

We both really enjoyed the meal, and our few brief hours in Chicago is one of those memories I'm going to carry around for a long time. Bringing it back to wedding and honeymoon planning, we've been talking about just getting room service on the night of our wedding, since we'll be super busy taking photos and won't have time for a real, sit-down meal. Now I'm thinking I need to find a way to get Giordano's delivered to our hotel room so it's hot and fresh, allowing us a few bites of a delicious pizza before we head off to our Epcot dessert party. Room service is all fine, well, and good, but this is Giordano's, which already has some personal significance to the two of us.

It was a valiant effort, but the pizza defeated us.

There is, perhaps, one great pitfall in this plan. Giordano's pizza has the sauce on top, and can get a little messy. Do I really want us to risk a red-sauce pizza while we're in our wedding costumes?