Last updated on December 27th, 2021 at 10:22 pm
Other than the rides, one of the biggest parts of your vacation experience are the Disney World Restaurants!
We’ll walk through different options for Walt Disney World restaurants, and how to pick where you want to go. And finally we’ll talk about how to make reservations!
If you haven’t read up on how to decide when to visit, where to stay, and getting your park tickets, check it out here!
Your Disney food choices are pretty much endless, so if you want in-depth resources for all of your different snacks, quick service meals, restaurants and anything else you can think of, I highly recommend Disney Food Blog.
Sign up for their newsletter and stay up to date with the latest changes in Disney World. I recently got a discount code to use on their site, and bought the full bundle of Disney World restaurants and snack guides. I was shocked when I opened up each of the files and they were hundreds of pages long!
They also sell guides for different festivals, holidays, and almost any special occasion with food.
We love watching the DFBGuide YouTube channel as a family on weekends for reviews and recommendations too!
One thing to keep in mind, you still need a park reservation if you’ve made a dining reservation. Having a dining reservation isn’t a guarantee you can get into the park!Covered in this post:
Covered in this post:
- The Basics for Disney World Restaurants
- What to Keep in Mind
- Allergy-Friendly Dining
- Character Dining
- Food and Snacks to Put on Your List
- Mobile Ordering
- Most Popular Reservations
- Some of My Favorite Restaurants
- Making Walt Disney World Reservations
The Basics for Disney World Restaurants
Disney World restaurants fall into several different categories:
Dining Type
- Counter Service
- Casual Dining
- Fine/Signature Dining
Dining Location
- Theme Parks
- Resorts
- Disney Springs
- Disney’s BoardWalk
- Water Parks (but I highly doubt anyone is making a special trip to Blizzard Beach for dinner)
As far as cuisine type, the possibilities are endless! You can get standard theme park food like hot dogs and french fries, but you can also try new cuisines like African or German! Almost any type of cuisine you’d like to try is available somewhere!
Some things to keep in mind as you’re deciding where you want to eat at Walt Disney World:
- Where will you be on each day?
- What restaurants are at the park you’re going to be visiting? If you don’t want to visit a sit-down restaurant at every meal, what counter service is available?
- Do you want to leave the park, or stay where you are?
- If you leave the park and ultimately want to come back later, you could lose a couple hours depending on where you decide to go
- Think you’ll be done with the park before dinner? Then try something elsewhere and if you go back to a park after it’s a bonus!
- Staying where you are will get you back out into the park and back on rides before you know it!
- What type of food will your group want to eat? Do you have picky eaters?
- If you have kids who are picky eaters (like my daughter is), try to look for menus that have food your picky eaters are willing to try
- Also, keep in mind you can bring in your own food/snacks to the park, so you can bring in something you know your child will eat if you aren’t sure about the restaurants
- Do you want to do any character dining?
- We’ll cover character dining a little more later!
- Do you want a sit down meal, or do you want something quick?
- Would you like a little time to relax, or do you want to get back in the action and on some more rides!
Maybe in your day-to-day you aren’t the type who likes to read the restaurant menus, but I would recommend taking a look to see if what they have will accommodate your needs.
Allergy-Friendly Dining
Walt Disney World is one the best places to visit if you’re in a group with dietary restrictions. In my personal experience, I’ve always been really happy with the care and consideration Disney has taken with our allergy needs.
I’m very sensitive to mushrooms, and my daughter is allergic to visible egg (like scrambled eggs or french toast – she’s ok with egg baked into things like cakes and cookies). We have also traveled with a friend who’s very allergic to chicken.
When making reservations, include a note there are allergies in your party. When you arrive, you’ll get a special menu with the more common allergens. Our allergens are never on these menus, but I appreciate them taking note we need accommodating.
Waitstaff never bats an eye when we tell them our allergens (sometimes a double-take when mushrooms is followed by chicken), and they always talk to the chef about what we can and can’t eat.
When we ate at the Biergarten restaurant once, the chef came out and walked through the buffet with us to tell us specifically what we could and couldn’t eat.
And once at Morimoto Asia, I ordered a meal that didn’t have any mushrooms listed on the menu, but the chef came out to tell me they had modified my meal because of my allergy. I would have felt absolutely awful after that meal, and would have no idea why!
Character Dining
A big factor at Disney World restaurants is the availability of character dining. There’s character meals for different times of day, cuisine type, location and characters.
As of now, Character Dining is a little different with characters walking around, but there isn’t any one-on-one interaction or photos with the characters.
- This is probably the essential Disney character dining, and one of the only to feature all of the main characters
- Located at the Contemporary Resort
- Breakfast and Dinner dining available
- Family-style dining
- Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Donald Duck
- Located at Epcot in the Living with the Land pavilion
- Lunch and Dinner dining available
- Family-style dining
- Mickey Mouse, Chip, Dale and Pluto
- Located at Hollywood Studios
- Family-style dining
- Breakfast featuring Disney Junior stars including Fancy Nancy, Vampirina, Doc McStuffins, and Roadster Goofy
- Lunch and Dinner featuring Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy
- Located at Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Fine/Signature dining for breakfast or dinner
- Featuring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck in special outfits
- Available via the Skyliner and has an amazing balcony off the restaurant
- Located in Animal Kingdom
- Family-style dining
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner available
- Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse in Safari outfits
Disney World Food and Snacks to Put on Your List
Disney World has so many options when it comes to food and snacks, where do you even start? Here’s some iconic snacks and other snacks I would recommend!
You should really check out Disney Food Blog, they’ve tried EVERYTHING!
Iconic and Favorite Food/Snacks
Snacks:
- Dole Whip
- A CLASSIC, and required on every trip! If you don’t love pineapple (or are allergic like my mother-in-law) there’s other flavors available throughout the year too!
- Mickey Premium Bar
- A Mickey-shaped vanilla ice cream bar, dipped in chocolate. I’ll usually get one on our trip, but there’s a lot of other snacks I’d have first!
- Mickey Pretzel
- A Mickey-shaped soft pretzel, get some cheese sauce with it too!
- Churros
- Originally a Disneyland staple, and now they’re just as much a staple at Walt Disney World!
- Egg rolls
- I like cheeseburger the most, but pizza is awesome too! They sometimes have different flavors in rotation!
- School Bread
- Available at Kringla Bakery in the Norway pavilion, it’s a Sweet Roll filled with Custard and dipped in Coconut
Meals:
- Ronto Wrap
- This can be considered a meal instead of a snack! Sold at Ronto Roasters in Galaxy’s Edge it’s Roasted Pork, Grilled Pork Sausage, Peppercorn Sauce, and Tangy Slaw wrapped in Pita Bread
- Mickey Waffles
- Why are Mickey waffles so good? They’re available almost anywhere they serve breakfast, and I recommend getting them at least once on your trip!
- Tonga Toast
- We first had Tonga Toast years ago, and have been obsessed with it ever since. Served at Kona Cafe, Tonga Toast is Banana-stuffed French Toast rolled in Cinnamon Sugar and served with a Strawberry Compote
- Cheeseburger Pods
- Satu’li Canteen at Animal Kingdom features these delicious-looking Cheeseburger Pods – a Steamed Cheeseburger Pod bao bun stuffed with Ground Beef, Ketchup, Mustard, Pickle, and Cheddar Cheese
- I haven’t had these yet, but they’re on my list for my next trip because I’ve heard so much about them!
Ice Cream:
- Kitchen Sink Sundae
- Available at Beaches and Cream this is scoops of Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Cookies and Cream, and Mint Chocolate Chips smothered in every topping they have
- Brioche Ice Cream Sandwich
- I can’t wait to try one of these too! Choose your flavor of ice cream and sauce, and it’s pressed inside a warm brioche. Oh. My. Goodness.
Drinks:
- Fuzzy Tauntaun
- This is just for adults, and a lot of fun! It’s an alcoholic drink at Oga’s Cantina and has “Buzz Button Tingling” foam, which does what it says! It makes your mouth tingly for a while!
Mobile Ordering
Mobile ordering has been around since 2017, but since the pandemic, mobile ordering has become available at so many more locations.
With mobile ordering, place an order in the app and pick up at your designated time! Super easy!
There’s a LOT of places that feature mobile ordering – check them out here!
To use mobile ordering follow the steps below:
- Open the Disney World app, select the plus sign at the bottom of the screen and select “Order Food”
- Select a time slot for the restaurant you’d like to order from
- Choose a category, or scroll to see the full list of available items
- Where applicable, there might also be an Allergy Friendly option you can select
- Select “+ Add” on your items to add them to your cart
- You can read more about each item, and/or add available sides to your meal
- When you’re ready, review your order by selecting the icon at the top right of the screen
- Here, you can modify your order, or review your order
- On the Review Order Summary page, add any promo codes or discounts you have and add in your payment information
- Selecting “Purchase” at the bottom of the page to submit your order
When you get to the restaurant at your designated time, open up the app and select the “I’m Here, Prepare My Order” button. Once your food is ready, your app will tell you your order is ready for pickup!
Something I’ve learned from DFBGuide – place your Mobile Order as soon as you get to the park! Because of its popularity, lunchtime reservations fill up fast. You don’t want to wait until you’re hungry to make a reservation, otherwise you’re going to get really cranky from waiting.
Most Popular Reservations
- Cinderella’s Royal Table
- This restaurant is located inside Cinderella’s Castle on the second floor
- You’re going to be paying a pretty penny for this experience, but if you know your children are going to be mesmerized by the experience, it might be worth the cost
- Occasionally Cinderella will make an appearance!
- Be Our Guest Restaurant
- This is another fairytale dining experience, this time inside The Beast’s castle
- It’ll set you back a similar amount to Cinderella’s Royal Table, with the choice of an appetizer, entree and dessert for one price
- You can look into the different wings of The Beast’s castle and see the rose! And The Beast will also occasionally walk through the restaurant too!
- Le Cellier
- Le Cellier is a delicious steakhouse, in the Canada pavilion in Epcot
- Prices are relatively high, but lower than the first two restaurants on this list
- Cozy interior, and a wide variety of different steaks and other specialties from Canada
- ‘Ohana
- Polynesian-themed breakfast or dinner served family-style
- If you’re having dinner, stick around and watch the fireworks from the beach – the music is pumped in!
- California Grill
- The California Grill, atop The Contemporary, offers a spectacular view of the nighttime fireworks
- Minimum dress code required when dining, no tank tops, flip-flops, swimsuits, swimsuit cover-ups, hats for gentlemen, cut-offs, torn clothing and t-shirts with offensive language and/or graphics
- Menu features different kinds of cuisines, from American to fish and sushi
- Oga’s Cantina
- Brand new in Galaxy’s Edge, this is a prime location to try some of the coolest drinks the Galaxy has to offer
- There’s only two snack options on the menu, so don’t plan on eating a full meal here
- Guests are limited to two drinks per person, and they only allow you 45 minutes at your table
Some of My Favorite Restaurants
Since I’m not from Disney Food Blog, I haven’t been able to try nearly as many restaurants. I highly recommend checking them out if you want in-depth reviews on all the restaurants Walt Disney World.
These are my recommendations!
- Best restaurants at Disney Springs
- Best Epcot restaurants
- Best Magic Kingdom Restaurants
- Best Hollywood Studios Restaurants
- Best Animal Kingdom Restaurants
- Best Resort Restaurants
- AbracadaBar (BoardWalk)
- Beaches and Cream Soda Shop (Beach Club)
- California Grill (The Contemporary)
- Kona Cafe (The Polynesian)
- Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto (The Polynesian)
Making Walt Disney World Dining Reservations
As of now, everyone can book dining reservations 60 days out, regardless if you’re staying on property or not.
But remember, dining reservations do not guarantee admission to the park!
Guests staying in a Walt Disney World resort may be able to book reservations up to 69 days in advance. They can make dining reservations within 60 days of their arrival for up to 10 days of their trip at once.
Guests not staying in a Walt Disney World resort will need to book dining reservations 60 days in advance from each day they plan on making a reservation.
Reservations can be made starting at 6AM on the Disney World website, or app. Or, guests can call 407-WDW-DINE starting at 7AM, and a dining agent will help make reservations.
Make sure you know where you want to get reservations for long before the 60 day window opens up.
If you’re staying on property and will be making dining reservations for your full trip, book the reservations for the most popular restaurants first! You’ll get to make your reservations before guests staying off-property!
And if you want to make reservations at an especially popular restaurant, make sure you’re ready right at 6AM to book!
Table service locations will require a credit card at booking, but don’t worry, you won’t get billed! If you don’t cancel or modify a restaurant reservation within 24 hours of your time, you’ll be charged $10 per person who didn’t show.
Some restaurants will also require prepayment, like Cinderella’s Royal table.
Making Disney World Restaurants Dining Reservations
- On the Walt Disney World website, select “Things to Do” and “Make Reservations”
- Choose the date, preferred time, and number of guests in your party, and select “Search Times”
- Find the restaurant and time you’d like to reserve, and click the time
- Pick who will be responsible for the reservation, and who else will be in your party and click “Next”
- Add in your credit card information and click “Next”
- Review the page to confirm all your information is correct, and select “Reserve” to complete your reservation!
Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to dining, if you’re eating at off times – before/after lunch and dinner, rides might have shorter wait times! People will be busy finding food to eat, while you’ll be hanging out with the Happy Haunts on Haunted Mansion!
The Walt Disney World Planning Guide
Get all of these tips, and more, in The Harper Girls Walt Disney World Planning Guide! Over 70 printer-friendly pages of information, including planning checklists, fun things to do in Disney (for free!), budget tips, resort and park info, and more!
Purchase the guide here, or sign up for our newsletter and get a code for 20% off!
Other Disney World Planning Posts –
How to Plan a Trip for a Large Group in Disney
Planning an Amazing Trip to Disney World on a Budget
Your 2022 Disney Trip – Dates, Tickets and Hotels; the Ultimate Vacation