For some (including Buster and the Banshee), dining is a key part of a Walt Disney World vacation. It isn’t just a way to fuel up, but it is an attraction in and of itself. Disney is known for having some really tasty meals across a variety of different cuisines. It doesn’t matter if you like Italian… or barbecue… or burgers… or seafood… or just chicken fingers. You can find something for everyone!
In this article, we will discuss the basics of dining at Walt Disney World.
If you are interested in reading other articles in our DISNEY 101 series, click here for our current list.
Types of Dining Options
Disney classifies its food locations into two main categories: Quick Service and Table Service.
Quick Service Dining
Disney considers anything where you aren’t seated by a host and served by a waiter to be Quick Service. This includes a wide variety of different styles of restaurants: fast food style “order-at-the-counter”, cafeteria style “grab-and-go”, food trucks, food booths/kiosks, and even some bars where food is served
Disney is somewhat inconsistent about how they classify certain snack locations. Some are marked as “Quick Service” on the WDW website while others or not. For instance, the Liberty Square Market, which is an open-air snack stand at the Magic Kingdom selling fruits, is listed as a Quick Service restaurant on the WDW website. However, the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor, which is an indoor ice cream shop in the Magic Kingdom, is not classified as a Quick Service location. If anything, I would have expected the opposite!
That said, despite how Disney classifies these, for all intents and purposes, they share the same characteristics of a Quick Service dining location. So even if Disney does not consider some of these spots as Quick Service, we will!
Mobile Order
Many Quick Service locations have a “Mobile Order” option. Using the My Disney Experience app on your phone, you can place your order through the app and pay for it electronically. Then when you arrive at the restaurant, you go to the Mobile Order pickup area and retrieve your order. I highly recommend doing this at any restaurant that supports this feature. It is a HUGE time saver!
Here’s a quick summary of how you use Mobile Order:
- Find the restaurant in the app and select Order Food (we will talk more about how to search restaurants later in this article)
- Select an approximate pickup time range. Most restaurants will offer you the option to pick up your order ASAP. However, for some really popular Quick Service locations (or during peak times), you might only be offered options in the future.
- Select your items and pay through the app. You can either use a credit card that you have on-file in your account, or you can use a mobile pay option (ex: Apple Pay).
- When you arrive at the restaurant, select “I’m here” in the app to let them know that you are ready to pick up your order. At this point, they will assemble your order.
- When you get the notification through the app that your order is ready, go to the Mobile Order pickup and retrieve your food!
Table Service Dining
Table Service dining is your typical “sit-down” restaurant. A host seats you at a table. A server takes your order and brings your food. Most Walt Disney World restaurants accept advanced reservations. In fact, several of the most popular ones can be booked up months in advance!
Types of Table Service Dining
Even among Table Service dining locations there are several sub-categories to be aware of.
- Character Dining: These are restaurants where various Disney characters wader throughout the dining room, visiting each table, interacting with guests. This is a great way to meet your favorite characters, take pictures with them, etc without having to wait on line. Fun for kids of all ages!
- Dinner Shows: This is “dinner and a show” as the name implies. Currently, the only dinner show at Walt Disney World is the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Fort Wilderness Resort.
- Dining Events: These special dining experience not only entitle you to a meal, but also guaranteed/priority seating to a nighttime spectacular or show. This would include a fireworks dessert party at the Magic Kingdom, a Fantastic dining package at Hollywood Studios, or a Luminous dining package at Epcot. It also includes dining packages for various seasonal shows at Epcot, like the “Garden Rocks!” concert series during the Flower and Garden Festival. For all these, you need to book the package specifically.
- Fine/Signature Dining: These restaurants offer some sort of special or elevated dining experience. A restaurant could get classified as Fine/Signature Dining because of the food, the service, or the uniqueness of the overall experience. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the atmosphere is stuffy. With few exceptions, theme park clothing and children are welcome. This is Walt Disney World, after all!
A La Carte vs Prix Fixe vs All You Can Eat
Table Service restaurants also can be classified by the type of menu they offer. The most common is “a la carte”. This is your typical restaurant where you order items off the menu, and you pay for the exact items you order.
“Prix fixe” is where you pay one price per person, and each guess gets to choose one item from different different categories. Most typically, you might get an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. Many people (myself included) aren’t big fans of this style of restaurant, as you don’t get flexibility. For example, let’s say one person in your party isn’t hungry, so all they want is an appetizer. At a restaurant with the prix fixe menu, this just isn’t possible.
Some restaurants offer both “a la carte” and “prix fixe” as an option.
“All you can eat” covers your buffets and family style meals. For one price per person, everyone can eat as much as they want. At buffets, you can keep going up to the serving stations as many times as you want, and take as much as you want. At family style restaurants, you can ask your server to bring “refills” of your favorite foods as many times as you want. Obviously, this is great for those who have big appetites, but it might not be worthwhile for those with smaller stomaches!
Even if a restaurant is “prix fixe” or “all you can eat”, there are certain items, like specialty beverages, for which you have to pay an additional up-charge.
Finding Restaurants
With literally hundreds of dining options, it might seem overwhelming to figure out where you want to eat. However, Disney tries to make it easy.
Using the Walt Disney World Website
Your first stop should be the Dining page on the Walt Disney World website, located here. From here, you can filter restaurants by location (theme park, resort, etc). You can also filter by type (Quick Service, Table Service, Character Dining, etc), by cuisine, by price, and by whether they accept the Disney Dining Plan. This is a great way to narrow down your choices in advance of your trip.
Using the My Disney Experience App
In addition, the My Disney Experience app offers some additional options.
- You can hit the “hourglass” at the bottom of the screen to search for restaurants by name.
- If you want to see all of your options in a particular park, you can go to the Tip Board, select your park, and select the “Dining” tab. You will get a list of all of the different Table Service and Quick Service restaurants in the park. You will also see options to make a reservation or join the wait list (for Table Service), or to place a Mobile Order (for Quick Service locations that support this)
- You can click on the “+” at the bottom of the screen to bring up the quick menu. From here you can select “Check Dining Availability”. This will show options in your immediate vicinity. This is a great option if you are getting hungry and you need help deciding where to eat.
- Hitting the “+” also brings up the “Order Food” option, which shows you all of the Quick Service Mobile Order options. You can start your Mobile Order directly from here.
Dining Reservations
Most Walt Disney World Table Service restaurants accept advanced dining reservations. You can book reservations up to 60 days in advance, starting at 6:00am Eastern Time. For example, if you want to book a reservation for June 1st, the earliest you can book it is April 2nd at 6:00am ET.
Walt Disney World Resort guests, as well as guests staying at the Swan/Dolphin and Shades of Green, get an extra dining reservation perk. They can book reservations for their entire trip up to 60 days in advance of the first day of their stay, as long as the stay does not exceed 10 days. For example, let’s say you are staying at Pop Century from June 1st to June 10th. You can start booking dining reservations for any day of your trip (6/1 through 6/10) starting on April 2nd at 6:00am ET.
Obviously, this gives you a HUGE advantage over non-Disney guests when it comes to booking a reservation for the most popular locations. Off property guests need to wait until each day of their trip hits the 60 day mark.
While it is possible to find reservations on the day you want to dine, or even just walk up and get a table, you definitely should make your reservation as far in advance as possible. For the most popular experiences (ex: Cinderella’s Royal Table inside the castle), you really need to make your reservations at that 60 day mark at 6:00am on the dot. This will give you the greatest chance of getting the restaurants and times that you want. Then you can plan your trip around those selections.
Cancelling Reservations
At most restaurants, you can cancel without penalty if you do so no later than two hours before your reservation. Otherwise you are subject to a $10 per person cancellation fee.
There are some special dining experience that require more notice to avoid the cancellation fee and/or have a higher fee. Click here for the current WDW cancellation policies.
Dining with a Disability
Mobility Accommodations
Most restaurants have no issues accommodating those with a mobility disability. You may remain in your wheelchair or ECV as you dine, or you can park it and walk to your table if you wish.
If you do need to remain in your wheelchair while you dine, you should note that in your reservation so that the restaurant can make sure they reserve a table to provides easy access. Some restaurants have seating which is either difficult or impossible to reach via wheelchair. Therefore, if they know in advance that you require accessible seating, they can make sure they reserve a table that doesn’t have such a restriction. Otherwise, you might have to wait until an appropriate table frees up.
Dietary Restrictions
Disney does an amazing job dealing with dietary restrictions. They will go to great lengths to accommodate any restrictions that you might have. They have may allergy-friendly menu options for common allergies. In addition, you can email them with any specific questions or requests that you might have. If you still have questions, the chefs are generally willing to come out and talk to you about any concerns that you might have. You can go here for more information.
Wrap Up
If you have read this far, you should have a good overview of the different types of restaurants at WDW, some of the terminologies that you might hear, how to find and reserve dining, and what you can expect in terms of accommodations for those who need it.
Did I miss anything? Is there anything else that you think a newbie needs to know about Disney Dining? If so, please leave us a comment!
And happy eating!
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