Ranking Disney Parks by Their Restaurants
One of the hidden keys to Disney’s theme park dominance is the dining.
Foodies flock to Disney because they know that they’ll experience more than just fun times and the best attractions in the world.
Photo: Disney
Along the way, Disney will feed them some of the tastiest cuisine in Florida, which shouldn’t even be possible at a theme park.
Of course, this trend started on the West Coast, where guests swarmed the parks in search of California cuisine.
This leads to a question. If we rank Disney parks based on their restaurants, what wins? And what finishes last?
I’ll explore both questions in today’s article. Spoilers: nobody’s totally right or wrong on this one!
Disney California Adventure
Photo: Disney
One of the challenges in this exercise is determining criteria, just as was the case when we ranked the parks based on their rides.
I’m ruling out food festival dining since it’s impermanent, and that fact alone hurts Disney California Adventure and EPCOT.
Photo: Disney
Both places serve limited-time recipes so good that people covet them the rest of the year.
Once we remove that advantage from DCA’s ledger, the park’s dining “weakness” becomes clear.
Chilled Shrimp Soba Noodle Salad
Primarily, DCA offers counter-service meals, which fits ideally with the grab-and-go mentality of most park guests.
However, we’ve come to expect more from Disney, but that’s not to say DCA lacks fine dining.
Photo: Disney
Carthay Circle remains squarely in the conversation for the best overall dining experience at Disneyland Resort.
I’m also a strong proponent of the themed dining experiences such as Pym Test Kitchen and Flo’s V8 Café.
(Richard Harbaugh/Disneyland Resort)
Finally, we should mention the recent improvements at DCA thanks to the introduction of San Fransokyo Square.
If this place finishes last, that’s plenty enough proof that Disney theme park dining is spectacular!
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Entrance to Disney’s Hollywood Studios
I vacillated on this one because I prefer this park to the one that finishes in fourth place.
However, I recognize that mine is the minority opinion here.
Most people would argue that Hollywood Studios dining isn’t the greatest.
The Quick Service dining options like ABC Commissary, Backlot Express, and even Docking Bay 7 won’t dazzle anyone.
Photo: Disney || Sci-Fi Dine In
Perhaps the only counter service restaurant of note is Woody’s Lunch Box, which is admittedly a simple meal.
The Table Service options are better, as I swear by Sci-Fi Dine-In and 50’s Prime Time Café.
Meanwhile, most fans would agree that The Hollywood Brown Derby lives up to the hype.
Also, the park deserves huge bonus points for recently adding Rodeo Roundup BBQ.
Photo: Disney
Still, the most frequent complaint I hear about the food here is that it’s bland, which is definitely how I feel about Mama Melrose’s Ristorante.
People would never say that about…
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Two of the top four theme parks for restaurant dining have focused on world flavors. I don’t view that as coincidental.
Some of the international cuisines available at Animal Kingdom are life-affirming.
Photo: Disny
There’s Street Corn on sale here that I could eat like popcorn. I’m obsessed with it.
Places like Tusker House, Tiffins Restaurant, and Yak & Yeti Restaurant have passionate supporters.
Yak & Yeti
When we visit this park, we pretty much have to dine at Yak & Yeti, and I have the Landry’s Select points to prove it!
Sure, the Rainforest Café at the front of the park is a, you know, Rainforest Café.
Photo: Disney
Overall, the dining options here are dynamic, though, and that’s particularly true of the counter-service meals.
Places like Flame Tree BBQ and Satu’li Canteen provide hearty meals for a fraction of the price of fine dining.
Photo: WDW Shutterbug
In terms of bang for the buck, Animal Kingdom Quick Service dining options stand tall.
Disneyland Park
Floral Minnie Mouse at Disneyland
This probably won’t be a popular opinion, but it’s a numbers game.
While I provide the requisite reverence to the restaurants where Walt Disney himself ate, Disneyland Park faces an uphill battle.
2024 DCA Food & Wine Festival
The park’s size limits the number of dining options it can offer relative to comparable Walt Disney World restaurants.
Still, the history matters greatly to me. We’re talking about The Plaza Inn and Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante.
That latter restaurant invented the Dorito!
At Disneyland Park, you’ll discover this intoxicating mix of legendary dining and new places.
For instance, Blue Bayou Restaurant was arguably the first attraction-adjacent dining experience in the world.
Then, we have the Hungry Bear Restaurant, which served me a meal in the 1990s I still remember!
Disney
Lately, Disney has added exciting new locales like Tiana’s Palace as well.
The fact that this is NOT the best theme park for dining is remarkable…but Walt Disney World hosts two parks that are better.
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Entrance
Look, we all know what’s winning, but I can assure you that I agonized over the Magic Kingdom/Disneyland Park debate.
That’s a 51/49 decision as I see it, while the winner resides in its own stratosphere.
For its part, Magic Kingdom hosts several of its own classic restaurants, including the half-century-old Columbia Harbour House.
Similarly, no trip down Main Street, U.S.A. would be complete without the wafting aromas of Casey’s Corner and Plaza Inn.
Photo: Disney
Around the park, we’ve developed favorites over the years like Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Café, Cheshire Café, and Gaston’s Tavern.
Then, we have unprecedented dining experiences like Be Our Guest Restaurant, Cinderella’s Royal Table, and Liberty Tree Tavern.
In short, no matter your vacation budget, your hunger level, or your location, you can find the ideal restaurant at Magic Kingdom.
EPCOT
Walt the Dreamer statue
Finally, we have the obvious winner in this category, the one you likely guessed when you saw the title.
When Walt Disney envisioned EPCOT, part of his dream included a cultural gathering spot.
EPCOT Festival of the Arts
Fresh from Disney’s triumph at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Uncle Walt planned a kind of daily world’s fair site.
The multicultural cuisine at the exhibition had tantalized Walt Disney with the possibility of making something like that permanent.
Photo: WDW Magic
Those meals that Walt and his team ate at the World’s Fair altered the course of Central Orlando cuisine.
Even after the man died, his loyal Imagineers worked to bring his vision into reality.
The culmination of these attempts is the World Showcase, a dining mecca for foodies.
You’ll find better restaurant options in this 1.3-mile circle than you will in most major metropolitan areas.
Photo: resortgal.com
I recently ranked my favorites, but even sites like The Food Network have weighed in on this topic.
Everyone recognizes the novelty of EPCOT dining. It’s ostensibly a theme park, but it’s really a daily restaurant bazaar.
Photo: theme park tourist
You can take your tastebuds from Mexico to France to China during a single park visit.
I’m not even going out on a limb to say that EPCOT isn’t merely the best theme park for restaurants today.
World Showcase
EPCOT will remain the gold standard for decades to come.
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Feature Photo: Disney
