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Thinking about travelling to Walt Disney World?
No idea as to where you should start?
Thinking about where to start? Then this list is for you!
ADRs, or Disney advance dining reservations, are one of the many steps to a successful and fun trip to Walt Disney World. Without them, you’re stuck wandering around and stressing out over where you could actually eat. This is incredibly important during busier times, like every month from January through until December : )
Most restaurants can be booked within weeks or even days of your vacation, but there are a few that require significant planning. The reservations before are ones that you should definitely put on your list to get at 7am 180 days to your vacation to get your perfect schedule!
CHEF MICKEY’S
When you visit Walt Disney World, the monorail brings you through the Contemporary resort en route to the Magic Kingdom. After the amazement of taking a train on the ‘Highway in the Sky’ through a building, your thoughts go to being able to eat in a restaurant that has a Disney icon being seen every few minutes…and how?
Our recommendation is quite simple. When you’re planning to be at the Magic Kingdom for the evening fireworks or experiencing the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at night…book your ADR. It’s a 10-minute walk from the turnstiles to the Contemporary!
Related Article – Top ADR’s to get ASAP
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CORAL REEF RESTAURANT
The World Showcase has incredible food, but some of EPCOT’s hidden gems are within Future World. One of these such special experiences involves fish…and sharks…and turtles!
Coral Reef is a well-themed restaurant and should not be missed on your first trip to Walt Disney World!
Tip: Try to get a seat next to the windows!
Related Article – Ranking EPCOT Dining
SCI-FI DINE IN
As I write this, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is undergoing a transformation. The long-term outlook of the park is still up in the air and years away from fully realizing the concept on paper. BUT…they’ve got some amazing attractions and you’re going to want to spend time walking on Sunset Blvd towards the Tower of Terror or Fantasmic.
Disney Hollywood Studio offers a limited amount of sit down dining options. However, why not dine in the back of a car while watching old school movies on the big screen?
Advice: Check the menu first. This is can be a hit-or-miss… and we have another option further down the list that could also work well.
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TUSKER HOUSE
This was BY FAR one of the best buffet meals that we’ve had at Walt Disney World. Granted, we were there at 11:05am during the changeover and had a plate of breakfast and then a plate of lunch. Outside of that bonus, both my partner and I had a great meal that focused on more than typical “theme park food” that you’ll see at most buffets.
The sheer size of this restaurant will shock and amaze you, but this will give you a great opportunity to enjoy your meal in a quite area. Compared to Be Our Guest, where you’re in three huge themed rooms, Tusker House has multiple side rooms. OH, and I haven’t even mentioned that this is a character experience too!!
Related Article – Best Character Meals
‘OHANA
‘Ohana means family, and this is by far one of the hardest ADRs to get! Check out the menu, read reviews, ask friends. It’s so much easier to cancel a reservation than it is to wait until 3-4 months before your trip to get your ADR because you just won’t have the opportunity!
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50’S PRIME TIME CAFE
Remember how I brought up the construction and redevelopment of Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Well, this is a great option for when you’re doing a full day of thrills (Star Tours Rise of the Resistance, Toy Story Mania, Rock N Rollercoaster, etc). It provides a good lunch that will really keep you energized.
Not only is the food high quality, but the experience is highly themed and will make you want to go back time after time.
CRYSTAL PALACE
The number of times that I walked through the Magic Kingdom before actually having a meal at Crystal Palace was just crazy! It’s such a stand-out building that draws your curiosity from the moment that you see it when you first set foot in the Hub!
Great for families and first-timers, this should be a reservation that you snag up as soon as you make your decision to visit Walt Disney World. The food isn’t great, but the fact that you get to hang out with Pooh and Friends is completely worth the adventure.
Our suggestion to get your best out of this restaurant is to go for a late lunch/early dinner. Less kids, more food:)
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CINDERELLA’S ROYAL TABLE
This experience changed the way that I looked at the Walt Disney World resort. I would 100% recommend this experience for any die-hard Disney fan because nothing’s better than eating in Cinderella’s Castle! And yes…it’s worth it!
First off – The reservation was incredibly difficult to get, but persistence paid off greatly.We arrived 15 minutes before our reservation, but was instructed to come back exactly at 515pm. Cinderella was awaiting us in the foyer for a private meet and greet prior to ascending the staircase. We were seated in the middle of the main room, which btw…only holds a small number of tables (around 50), so it was a very private experience vs other dining in the Magic Kingdom.
Full disclosure: we do not have kids and were not the only ones in the restaurant without them. Lots of couples on anniversaries and there were a couple of mid-20’s girls who were Disney-Bounding as princesses for their meal.
The menu is a prix fix menu with 5 options for appetizers, 6 options for entrees and 4 desert choices. My selections were the Castle Salad, Beef Tenderloin and the Clock Strikes Twelve. My partner’s selection was the Royal Tasting of Cheese, the Gnochi with Vegetables and the clock strikes twelve.
Amazing Food! The wait staff was incredible and friendly to a whole other level. They had fun, so it was a pleasant atmosphere.
We actually couldn’t eat everything…so we took the desert to go, which they had a great presentation bag with cutlery and napkins for our enjoyment later that evening.
Definitely worth it! We enjoyed ourselves (a little too much) and it’s one of our favourite memories to share with family and friends! In fact, the wand and the sword keepsakes are actually staged on my desk at my office to remind me of the dinner we had at Cinderella’s Royal Table.
Highly recommend it!
So that’s our list. Thoughts? Comments? Did we miss any? Share them via social media @StepsToMagic!
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