Dining: Disneyland vs. Magic Kingdom

[elchuy]

This is not a review of a specific restaurant, but a general summary of our overall dining impression between Disneyland and Magic Kingdom (Disneyworld).

I have long believed that the Magic Kingdom (and Disney World to some degree) was superior to Disneyland given the 16 years’ worth of experience learned between the times the two parks opened; and also from the seemingly unconstrained abundance of land available at the Lake Buena Vista site.

Having come back from our Disney vacation from a few weeks ago (Disney Cruise – (08/05-08/10; Disneyworld Resorts – 08/10-08/15), I can safely say that our humble ‘ole Disneyland provides more varied dining venues.

At Disneyland our typical eating spots would be Plaza Inn, Rancho del Zocalo, Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port, and the French Market Restaurant; all of which provide cafeteria style service (read: free drink refills – but that’s whole other post). Much to our disappointment, we could not find equivalent eateries at the Magic Kingdom. (Disney’s Hollywood Studios does have Pizza Planet which might be similar to Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port, as well as a bunch of other tasty eating establishments).

Likewise we were looking for a Café Orleans equivalent (missing those Monte Cristos and beignets!) as again to our dismay we discovered there is no French Quarter area (likewise no Royal Street Veranda with their gumbo bread bowls!) in Magic Kingdom. Maybe the Liberty Tree Tavern and The Plaza Restaurant might have been similar, but as I tried to peep into one (I can’t remember which) to look at the menu, I was stopped by the hostess that told me that there was 25-35 minute wait.
=(

 

[Dizneydaz]

I agree-our DLand does have some very good CS places. I love the fried chicken at the Plaza Inn. So good and plenty to share.

When we go to WDW we don't spend as much time at MK as we do at some of the other parks but we have had some fairly good meals there. But we prefer to eat at DTD or some of the resorts.

 

[jvptravels]

Disneyland Park has much better dining than it's Walt Disney World counterpart. I just got back from a week at Disney World, and only Cinderella's Royal Table comes close to Disneyland's best, which is The Blue Bayou, in my opinion. I tried Liberty Tree Tavern, Columbia Harbor House and others. Nothing at Magic Kingdom compares to Disneyland.

That being said, Walt Disney World overall has far better dining options than the Disneyland Resort. On my recent trip, I enjoyed meals at Narcoosee's, Yachtsman's, LeCellier, Les Chefs de France, Fultons Crab House, Hollywood Brown Derby, San Angel Inn, Boatwright's Dining Hall and Planet Hollywood. All of these meals were fantastic.

At Disneyland, I've eaten at the afore-mentioned Blue Bayou, Ralph Brennen's and Naples, to name just a few. The Disneyland Resort has fewer dining options, but plenty of variety. Disney World on the other hand as many more dining options. But when you get to the "signature restaurants" many of them offfer different variations of the same primary options. The table service restaurants at Epcot offer great variety of many international items.