Foodie Restaurant Recommendations for Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom

[PAGA2003]

You sound a bit like us. We love fine dining but appreciate simple things prepared well too. We prioritize food quality and at Disney seek out the best value for our dollar when it comes dining while still trying to give our kids the full experience. One reason I can almost guarantee we will never eat at Chef Mickey's All of my picks are more moderate in price because we just aren't willing to pay signature prices while our children are still so little.

If it were me I would do an early breakfast at Kona Cafe so you can still make it in to the park before it opens and being on the monorail it is super convenient. You could also do Be Our Guest but you would be paying to see the castle as the food is subpar (breakfast is extremely overpriced. I order off the kid's menu which helps the pain a little and it is a proper portion for me.). Lunch is better here if you order carefully but sounds like lunch isn't an option for you with doing CRT. For dinner we have not eaten at Skipper Canteen yet but I think from all I have heard it would be your best bet for inside the park. I wouldn't give up park time to head outside with just one day.

For AK I definitely think you should start with a PPO Tusker House breakfast. Seriously one of the best breakfast buffets and at a good price point compared to others. Lunch the Satu'li Canteen. Yes, it is QS but I think it is the best one in all of Disney. A much more unique menu and great healthy choices too! For dinner we love heading to Sanaa prior to sunset so you can view the animals while you dine. A great menu and I consider the Traditional Sosatie one of the best things I have eaten at Disney!

 

[3cruisemom]

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions! I've read reviews and menus for each one and made my choices. Here is day 1:

MK BR: Crystal Palace.
I hate to pay $81 for a breakfast buffet, but I have to just think of it as us getting a $30 meal and a $51 photo op with Pooh et al.

MK L: Cinderella's Royal Table.
Again, the price is a big ouch, but we're paying for the princess photo op. Reservations are not yet open for our date, but we have it on the calendar to call at 7 am! I'm excited to try the sea scallop appetizer and the flight of sparkling wines.

MK D: Jungle Navigation Skipper Canteen
The menu here looks really good! I'm guessing we'll share an order of Shu Mai to start, my husband will order the Cachacas, and my daughter & I will share the whole fried fish.

 

[Helvetica]

For Animal Kingdom, Tiffins is my absolute favorite. You might price out a Rivers of Light Dining Package. Depending on what you get, it can actually be a lot cheaper than buying everything separately with no Rivers of Light. Tusker House is a really cute and fun character meal/buffet.

For breakfast, if you can swing it, I'd get an Uber and go to the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. In my opinion, it's the best breakfast at Disney World and it has the best princess ever, Ariel. Prince Eric, Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are there too.

 

[lovethesun12]

If it were me and you really want to do three meals, I'd have a light PPO breakfast at Rainforest Cafe, light early-ish lunch (have to save room for Tiffins!!! Split the blueberry dessert) at Satuli Canteen and late dinner at Tiffins.

For MK this one is harder but if you are having CRT I would have that for dinner and personally I'd have BOG for both PPO breakfast and lunch.

 

[rg35]

Based on your writeup of yourselves:

Animal Kingdom
Tusker House for lunch - buffet with some interesting options, but still a buffet. It's a character meal so will satisfy your daughter's desire to meet characters.
Tiffins for dinner - this is one of the best in-park restaurants at WDW, although then menu has been dumbed down a bit compared to a couple of years ago.

Magic Kingdom
CRT is a little cheaper for lunch, but I'd probably do that for dinner and go to Skipper Canteen for lunch. CRT just has more of a dinnertime vibe to it. Skipper Canteen is probably the best TS restaurant in the Magic Kingdom park.

I'd personally eat breakfast in the room or grab something quick. Early morning hours are the best time to ride things at the parks and I think it's a waste of time to do meals.

You mentioned that you are doing a cruise before the two days at WDW. What are your plans for the morning that you disembark the ship? Something you could consider is not eating breakfast on the ship, disembarking early and doing a non-park character breakfast like 1900 Park Fare or Bon Voyage Breakfast. Both of those have really good character interactions (much better than meeting the Pooh characters at Crystal Palace, IMO).

 

[chris benton]

@3cruisemom
I really hope it works out for the best. But I can't help but hope that you are tempering your expectations. There's decent food to be found, for sure, but don't be romanced into thinking you're going to be dining on food commensurate with prices. The prices are at a premium for the locations. Again, you'll eat ok if you do your research - you're going about this the right way, but temper expectations. I don't go for high priced dining in the world too much, because there's a lot of overpricing going on, but it's understandable overpricing. Example: Tusker House. The exotic buffet choices were really bad (but edible) falafel, and a few curries that were laughably bad. I was romanced into thinking I'd be able to find some decent (for WDW) curries, and something bordering on Asian/African, but of course, I wound up having to stick with the carving station and mashed potatoes (standard buffet go to's.) The roasted salmon and roasted chicken were really good, but the ethnic inspire options were very, very, poor. BUT, if you are going to a Character Buffet, strictly for great food, that's not gonna happen. The prices they are charging are not for the great food.

So, I don't want to come across as saying the food's horrific across the board, BUT, temper expectations. There's good food, AND there's really bad food. Sometimes, prices and descriptions won't help determine which is which. After the meals I've had in Wallyworld, I've come to the conclusion that sometimes it's better to spend less, and seek out the better values for the quality, since time is at a premium, and you might wind up paying an inflated price after being romanticized into thinking you're gonna eat in a beautiful setting with Michelin star quality food, but when it's all said and done, you might have been better off paying 13.49 for a chicken tenders meal, because Mickey, as I have come to appreciate, can make some damn fine chicken tenders. And I'm not even joking, either.


Have a great trip, and I hope you eat well!