The Best Restaurants at Walt Disney World

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If you’re planning a trip to see the Mouse and want to know what the best restaurants at Walt Disney World are, then keep reading because the list you need is right here! Whether it’s buffet, character, quick service, fine dining, or snack options that you are searching for, these are the best Disney restaurants that you simply must not miss!

Best Restaurants at Walt Disney World

With more than 475 places to dine across the Walt Disney World Resort including waiter service restaurants, quick-service locations, and portable food carts, it can be a minefield deciding where to eat.

And that’s where I come in to help you. With seven WDW trips under our belt, including eating on the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan twice, I have got all the inside info into what’s good!

Now, describing something as the “best” is certainly a personal and subjective thing, so I’m sharing my family’s favourite dining locations – so, therefore, the best restaurants at Walt Disney World!

Visiting Walt Disney World for the first time? You need my Top Tips For Your First Walt Disney World Summer Holiday!

Best Disney Signature Restaurant: Victoria & Albert’s

After our month-long trip in 2016, the best restaurant at Walt Disney World for signature dining is firmly Victoria & Albert’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

You simply have to read all about our dining experience there to get a feel of how amazing it is! It is the ultimate in fine dining – it’s very pricey – more than we ever dreamed we would pay for a meal, but the whole evening was truly wonderful from start to finish. Words and pictures cannot do the restaurant justice.

Honorable Mention – Jiko (where they serve the best-ever mac ‘n’ cheese!) or Narcoossee’s were they pipe in the fireworks music, and you can watch it from the restaurant, or head out onto the boat deck.

Best Disney Character Dining: Tusker House

Our family favourite is Tusker House at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. It is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the food has an African touch to it – but don’t worry, there are plenty of “regular foods” too. It is an all-you-care-to-enjoy buffet restaurant, and the characters you meet are Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Mickey Mouse & Goofy dress in their safari gear. We dined here several times for breakfast and lunch and always had a fun time! My favourite dish served at breakfast is the bobotie – yum!

Honorable Mention – Crystal Palace. Much like Tusker House, we’ve dined here a lot – it’s pretty much tradition that we head to Crystal Palace for breakfast on our first day at Magic Kingdom! I celebrated my actual 40th birthday with Pooh and Pals!

Best Disney Dinner Show: Hoop-Dee-Doo

There are two dinner shows at Walt Disney World – Disney’s Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, and Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. Having been two both, I can firmly say that Hoop-Dee-Doo is the best dinner show at WDW!

Join the Pioneer Hall Players for 2 hours of rousing Wild West dancing, singing and zany vaudeville comedy. You never know what to expect when Claire de Lune, Johnny Ringo, Dolly Drew, Six Bits Slocum, Flora Long and Jim Handy hit the stage. But you do know that it’s not going to be dull! Get ready to clap your hands, stomp your feet, sing along and have a good ol’ time at rustic Pioneer Hall in Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. – Walt Disney World Website 

Okay, so the food isn’t going to win any awards – it’s good old American fayre of fried chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes, cowboy beans, cornbread, and the strawberry shortcake for dessert is to-die-for!

The show itself is fantastic! It is hilariously funny, you can’t help my toe tap and clap along. We would gladly see this again and again (and we’ve already seen it twice!)

Honorable Mention – Spirit of Aloha – the Fire Knife Dancer is out of this world AMAZING! And you can get a cocktail in a coconut monkey head!

Best Disney Quick-Service: Casey’s Corner

We love Casey’s Corner at Magic Kingdom. The menu isn’t huge – mainly hot dogs, but they are some gooood dawwwgs! And the little corn dog nuggets are awesome! I cannot visit Magic Kingdom without us stopping at Casey’s!

Honourable mention – Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe at Magic Kingdom – as a family we love Tex-Mex, and the food here is fab.

Best Disney Buffet: Boma

This is a tough one, as I’ve already said Tusker House, and that is a great buffet. But to give another choice I would say that Boma – Flavors of Africa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House is up there as one of the best. Like Tusker House, the food has an African flair, but there are plenty of other dishes too.

Honorable Mention – Another fab buffet is Biergarten in the Germany Pavilion at Epcot World Showcase, where you celebrate Oktoberfest all year round! Not only is the food good, but the Oompah Band is brilliant to watch – if you’re up for it, you can even go and polka on the dance floor!

Best Disney Waiter Service: ‘Ohana

This one is tough, because we’ve mainly dined at Disney’s Signature Restaurants, and the regular restaurants that we’ve dined at, have tended to be buffets. So I’m having a quick think as to all the Disney Dining we have done over the years, and come to the conclusion that the best table service is ‘Ohana at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort for dinner. It is a set menu, served family-style, and is all-you-care-to-enjoy, starting with coconut-pineapple bread, a big bowl of mixed green salad, pork dumplings, and honey coriander chicken wings.

Then you get a platter of noodles and stir-fry vegetables which are the dies to the main dish which is grilled shrimp, chicken, and steak. The meats are served to you hot from grill from huge skewers which the Cast Member brings to your table.  And to finish off (if you have the room left) is the super delicious bread pudding *drools* You can also order a Lapu Lapu cocktail here, which is served in a whole pineapple!

And if you are staying at The Polynesian you can order dinner from ‘Ohana as in-room dining called the Twilight Feast! Pro Tip: Order for one person less than there are in your party. We ordered for two when there were three (adults) dining, and we still had leftovers!

Honorable Mention – Whispering Canyon Cafe – best milkshakes ever! And they’re refillable! And you can have them for breakfast! And you should make sure that you ask for ketchup with your dinner!

Best Disney Snack

Arrrrgh, don’t make me choose just one! Okay, if I could only eat one snack at Walt Disney World, for me, it would have to be Mickey’s Ice Cream Sandwich. The cookie is soft and yummy, the ice cream is cookies & cream flavour, and it’s shaped like Mickey – what’s not to love about that?! 

Honourable Mention – Dole Whip Float – available at Magic Kingdom and at the Pineapple Lanai at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. Yum!

The Best Restaurants at Walt Disney World (according to bloggers!)

Hard choice as they’re all so good! If I had to choose one at Disney it’d be the 50’s Prime Time Diner in Hollywood studios. Love the retro atmosphere! – Laura from Mum On A Mission

We love the Plaza Restaurant at Magic Kingdom. It’s our favourite park, so we spend a lot of time there anyway. The Plaza has lots of burgers, which always go down well, and more importantly, a good choice of desserts. Plus, it’s only a couple of minutes from the entrance to the park. – Pete from Household Money Saving

Since I don’t think Casey’s corner will count which is literally the only place we ever eat at Magic Kingdom, (mmmm, corn dog nuggets)… My favourite would be the character breakfast at ‘Ohana at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. I think the price is great in comparison to some other Character Dining, the interactions are brilliant, and the themeing and food are fantastic. – Emmy from Misadventurous Mummy

I liked the Coral Reef restaurant at Epcot. Small and intimate and you watch all the fish swimming. The kids loved it. – Leyla from This Day I Love

We loved T-REX in Disney Springs. Fabulous food, huge portions and incredible themeing! Perfect American food – burgers, ribs and rotisserie chicken! – Nikki from Yorkshire Wonders

My favourite is Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom for dinner, the steak and themeing is out of this world. But we also loved Crystal Palace as well. – Angela from Life of Spicers

Oooh fave is sooo difficult… I have a new fave every trip currently, probably Be Our Guest… the atmosphere is just beautiful and food is really really nice! – Kirsty from The Money Saving Mum

Our favourite is definitely the Rainforest Cafe in Animal Kingdom! We often go there for breakfast or lunch before going into the park, its a great themed way to start the day and make your visit to Animal Kingdom so much better! Teppan Edo at Epcot is also amazing! They cook the food in front of you and make a steaming volcano out of rings of onion. Its really impressive! – Star from Autism Kids On Tour

We loved Tiffins at the Animal Kingdom. It was lovely to sit down and have a nice meal with wine pairings. Even the kids enjoyed it. The service was fantastic too – Kerry from KLN

Electric Umbrella! It was one of the first places we ate, plus Epcot is my favourite part. I loved the salad bar and the food was perfect for lunch. We have so many happy memories there. – Jade from Mummies Waiting

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