By Magic Kingdom hosts nearly 50,000 people daily, making it the most popular tourist destination of its kind in the world. And those people have to eat.
So, the sheer amount of food that Magic Kingdom chefs produce each day is an entire story in and of itself.
Let’s just say that Disney serves more food daily than most people eat in their lifetimes.
Seriously, a 100-year-old who ate three meals a day every day of their life would consume 109,500 total meals.
At Magic Kingdom, that’s barely the lunch and dinner crowd! It’s a mind-blowing stat, but it hides an important truth. Disney feeds a mid-sized city worth of people every week.
The food must be tasty enough to keep everyone happy, and it is! Still, you may feel analysis paralysis due to all the options here.
So, where should you eat at Magic Kingdom? We have thoughts…
Quick Service
We’re listing these options alphabetically, but you may only need to know the Three C’s at Magic Kingdom. This group includes Casey’s Corner, Columbia Harbour House, and Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café.
These aren’t necessarily our top recommendations here. Due to their centralized locations and strong selling points, they stay popular year-round, though.
Our favorite of the trio has remained Casey’s Corner throughout the years. It helps that we’re diehard baseball fans, with Kim loving the St. Louis Cardinals and David living and dying by the Atlanta Braves.
So, a Main Street, U.S.A. restaurant with a throwback ballpark theme direct-dials us as the target demographic. Also, we both like hot dogs, and that’s mainly what this place sells.
Even better, Casey’s Corner sells some of the cheapest food at the park, at least in terms of true Quick Service restaurants.
Some of the kiosks and walk-ups are in the conversation, but we consider them closer to a mall food court in style. Casey’s Corner offers tremendous value and theming.
Still, nobody would argue that its food tastes better than the seafood at Columbia Harbour House, one of Magic Kingdom’s most popular restaurants dating all the way back to 1972.
From the beginning, Disney positioned this place as an 18th century New England seafood tavern. You can and should explore this place, as where else are you going to see scrimshaws these days?
Your choices are Columbia Harbour House or a whale museum, and whale museums don’t serve clam chowder or lobster rolls, both of which are staples at this restaurant.
Columbia Harbour House also earns a spot on the list of “best bang for the buck” options at Magic Kingdom.
Since you’ll find it right across the street from the line queue for Haunted Mansion, it’s convenient, too. You’ll probably walk by it two or three times during a park visit.
We also have a soft spot in our heart for Magic Kingdom’s third C, Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café, although it’s definitely not for the food.
Seriously, this place has earned its reputation as serving some of the most mediocre food at Disney World. We don’t care, though.
Sonny Eclipse performs concerts here, and we’re shameless tourists. We’d pick an Audio-Animatronic music show over a good meal any day of the week.
In our defense, ours was a Chuck E. Cheese generation. Five Nights at Freddy’s hadn’t happened yet.
Look, the point is that you’ll love every ridiculous second of the Sonny Eclipse show. And Cosmic Ray’s falls directly on your path to Tomorrowland and Mad Tea Party.
So, the convenience and fun outweigh the mediocrity of the meal, at least for us. Foodies should avoid this place like the plague, though. You can do better at Magic Kingdom.
Frontierland is currently receiving an upgrade as Disney paves over the Rivers of America to build a Cars themed area.
During this transitional phase, some parts of the area will remain closed. However, Disney hasn’t announced anything about Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café.
Thus, we presume the restaurant is safe, which is great because it’s a terrific dining spot. Disney has themed it after an Old West saloon, a style we love.
As for the food, it’s a menu focused on Mexican cuisine, with plenty of protein bowls available. You can order salsa and chips here, too, which we do. A lot.
You won’t discover the real star until dessert, though. That’s when you discover the joy of Mini-Churros. They’re incredible!
Then, we have the other year-round Quick Service option, Pinocchio’s Village Haus, conveniently located in the middle of Fantasyland.
Disney has themed this place as a quaint cottage like you’d see in the movie Pinocchio. Also, Pinocchio’s Village Haus harbors a secret.
A handful of tables at this very large restaurant feature a view of the launch area for It’s a Small World. You can watch the start of Walt Disney’s “little boat ride.”
Realistically, you’ll have less than a ten percent chance of this, but it’s magical when it does happen. The joy radiating from the people in these boats will give you a contact high.
As for the food, you’ll find pizzas, Italian sandwiches, and chicken tenders here. It’s a decent place for flatbread aficionados, but you’re mainly eating here for the familiarity.
Pinocchio’s Village Haus would make the shortlist of most comfortable restaurants at Disney World. It’s just a nice place to be.
Magic Kingdom technically owns and operates one other Quick Service restaurant: Tortuga Tavern.
However, management switched the place to seasonal operation, which is often a death knell.
When it’s open, we recommend the oddity that is the Peanut Butter, Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread, and Banana Sandwich. It seems like a dish Elvis would have loved.
Unfortunately, this place hasn’t been open in more than a year. So, we lack confidence that it’s ever coming back.
Then, we have the Quick Bites options at Magic Kingdom, some of which serve delicious food.
In particular, Sleepy Hollow at Liberty Square has built quite a buzz over the years. Its waffles will change your entire worldview.
The Friars Nook in Fantasyland also possesses a large base of devotees. Fans adore the Cheddar, Bacon, and Ranch Tots, which the restaurant serves all day.
At Gaston’s Tavern, the inventory changes often, but you’ll sometimes find the Grey Stuff cupcakes here for a fraction of the price of Be Our Guest Restaurant. Also, the cinnamon rolls here are life-affirming!
The Main Street Bakery may be the first thing you smell when you enter Magic Kingdom, and it’s also the place to satisfy your STARBUCKS® Coffee craving.
This place also serves a Mickey-Shaped Cinnamon Roll and Mickey-Shaped Cheesecake, either of which may get in the way of all your coffee slurping. They’re really good, though, as are the breakfast sandwiches.
Frontierland also hosts another kiosk, the Golden Oak Outpost. It’s thematic as all get-out, and it also serves Hot Honey Chicken with Sweet Potatoes Fries. Not bad at all.
Finally, we have The Launching Pad, which we love due to its Tomorrowland location. It’s right under the tracks for the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover.
This restaurant used to serve more entrees, but Disney has stripped it down to hot dogs, pretzels, and Sticky Bubble Bread.
You’ll only eat here when someone in your party is hangry and beyond reason. It’s a shame because the seating here has saved us on more than one occasion. We wish Disney would prioritize the space.
Table Service
Many Magic Kingdom Table Service restaurant discussions start with “It’s pretty good, but…”
There’s a prevailing belief that some of the best options here are either overpriced or lacking in strong menus. We don’t share those opinions, but we want you to know the consensus.
What’s the problem? Well, it starts at the top. The most notable restaurants at Magic Kingdom cost a loooooot of money. The debate focuses on the value.
When Disney reimagined Fantasyland, Imagineers built a full Beast Castle, which you’ll be surprised to learn isn’t that tall.
Rather than building a real castle, Disney relied heavily on forced perspective. You’ll never know this when you’re inside the restaurant, though.
Instead, you’ll fully buy into the illusion that the Beast has invited you to his majestic castle, where you can dine in one of three meticulously themed rooms.
Imagineers went all out on this space, and everyone knew it from the jump. Be Our Guest has remained Magic Kingdom’s most popular restaurant since it opened.
Disney prices the meal accordingly, with dinner service converted into a prix fixe meal that costs $72 for adults and $43 for children. And yes! Be Our Guest serves the Grey Stuff!
We resolutely believe that Be Our Guest meals tower above most other theme park dining options.
Critics decry the place and claim that it lacks value due to the hefty price tag. A romantic dinner for two here will cost at least $175 once we factor in taxes and tips.
Still, the beauty of this building cannot be expressed in words. Imagineers even paid tribute to their children with the cherubs in the ceiling.
Wanting to walk through Be Our Guest more than justifies the cost of the meal, as you only live once. Also – and this should go without saying – the food’s exemplary.
For whatever reason, people often compare it to Magic Kingdom’s other ultra-pricey meal, Cinderella’s Royal Table.
When you eat here, you’ll experience the most remarkable thing possible for a Disney diner. You’re having a meal inside Cinderella Castle!
Your hostess, Cinderella, will greet you for a photo op before you head upstairs for your meal.
Then, while you’re savoring your delicious food, several other Disney Princesses will come to your table and regale you with stories about their amazing lives!
In terms of theming, this may be the single greatest thing you can do at Disney. There’s just nothing else like it…and Disney knows that.
A meal here costs $89 per adult and $54 for children. Is it worth the price? Well, we spent lunch on our tenth anniversary here. That’s how we perceive it.
Cinderella’s Royal Table is the blueprint example of a special occasion experience and a bucket list meal.
You can dine at a different character meal for substantially less money. You’ll find The Crystal Palace just to the left of the main strip of Main Street, U.S.A.
Breakfast costs $54 per adult and $35 per child, while lunch and dinner is ten dollars more for adults and nine dollars additional per child.
What do you get for that money? You can become a temporary resident of Hundred Acre Wood! Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet all come to your table and hang out.
Kids absolutely adore this character meal, and the building will take your breath away with its beauty. As for the food, it’s standard Disney buffet stuff, although a notch above most.
Meanwhile, we’d describe The Diamond Horseshoe as Magic Kingdom’s most retro restaurant.
The Disneyland version of this spot was Hollywood famous for a long time, with talk shows doing crossovers and treating the cast like superstars.
Magic Kingdom’s version has never quite matched that cachet. Still, how often can you dine in an Old West music hall? It’s a very stylish meal.
As for the food, well, we should introduce Liberty Tree Tavern into the conversation as well. These two restaurants share a menu, and it’s one you’ll know very well.
Disney serves Thanksgiving dinner every day at both places! So, fans of roasted turkey, pot roast, and oven-roasted pork will feel like they’re home for the holidays.
One of the desserts, the Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake, has earned permanent status in Disney folklore due to its popularity. Oh, and the plant-based options here are among the best in Orlando.
So, you’ll love the food at both places. We favor the backdrop at the Diamond Horseshoe but generally pick Liberty Tree Tavern, which aligns better with the menu.
We just skipped over one restaurant alphabetically, it’s an important one at that. We’re not joking when we say that we counted down the days for the opening of this Adventureland spot.
Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen, which most people just call Skipper Canteen, extends the mythology of Jungle Cruise.
The restaurant plays upon the concept that the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) is real, and they need a place to eat! Skipper Canteen is it!
So, when you dine here, you’ll encounter artifacts and trinkets retrieved by members of the S.E.A. Fittingly, your servers will tell puns that would feel right at home on Jungle Cruise, too.
Please know that when you’re not in the mood for such shenanigans, your server will read the room and back off.
However, when you’re into it, which we always are, the Skipper will go all-in on the Jungle Cruise spiel, which adds so much exuberance to this meal.
The food deserves heavy praise as well. Skipper Canteen would feel more at home at Disney’s Animal Kingdom or EPCOT due to its reliance on international cuisine.
That gets the restaurant and its menu in trouble with more casual Magic Kingdom fans, many of whom just want tendies and fries.
For foodies, this menu elevates itself above everything else in the park, and we include Be Our Guest in that.
Several of the dishes even feature that acerbic Jungle Cruise humor, too. We recommend “Tastes like Chicken” Because it is! for those of you who are like David and have bland palates.
More adventurous diners, the ones who realize they’re in Adventureland, should try “Hardy Har Char” Siu Pork.
We swear these are real names of dishes. You can even wash them down with Mystic Treasure for dessert, which is Kalamansi Namelaka with orange cream and a Graham Cracker.
In case you’re not catching our drift, dining at Skipper Canteen qualifiers as an outlier experience compared to everything else at Magic Kingdom.
Should you prefer the core opposite of that, you should eat at The Plaza on Main Street, U.S.A. instead. It’s a burger and fries place personified.
However, The Plaza doubles as an ice cream parlor, so the desserts are good. Also, you’re dining across from Cinderella Castle, which is almost as good as eating inside it.
The catch is that very few seats at The Plaza provide a good view of the castle courtyard, much less the castle itself.
Every longtime Disney vacationer eats at The Plaza every now and again due to its convenience. Nobody eats here for the entrees, though.
And that’s an uncomfortably good lead into Tony’s Town Square. IYKYK. It’s the first restaurant you’ll see when you enter Magic Kingdom and walk on Main Street, U.S.A.
Disney has themed the building’s interior after Lady and the Tramp, straight down to selling Spaghetti and Meatballs for couples to share, including a vegan version.
The catch is that this is the most generic Italian food at Disney World, at least now that Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano has closed.
Reviews lambaste Tony’s Town Square over its mediocre cuisine, with guests frequently lamenting, “Why doesn’t Disney try harder with a restaurant in this location?”
We’ve asked that question ourselves, although we do love the bread service here. Disney should do better with Tony’s Town Square. It’s still a meal you’ll enjoy, though.
Who doesn’t love Lady and the Tramp and a good excuse to share a noodle with the person you love? We’ve done it. We’d happily do it again.
Finally, we should mention Magic Kingdom’s newest offering, and one’s long overdue. Are you familiar with The Beak and the Barrel?
That’s the long-awaited, highly anticipated pirate tavern at Adventureland. Yes, after all this time, Disney finally created a thematic bar based on Pirates of the Caribbean.
You’ll find this immaculately themed lounge near the exit to the ride, giving you every excuse to drop by and enjoy a drink.
Guests will never ask, “Why is the rum always gone?” To the contrary, you’ll find a tavern well-stocked with innumerable forms of alcohol, which is befitting a pirate tavern.
Who sails on the open seas sober? Or hungry, for that matter? The Beak and the Barrel serves a rich menu of unique dining options such as Cook’s Corn Griddle Cakes with Chipotle-braised Chicken.
While we wish they’d add chips and cheeses or something similarly generic for non-pirates, this tavern blows our mind.
Disney even brought back an iconic part of Pirates of the Caribbean lore. Are you familiar with the Barker Bird?
This Audio-Animatronic once sat outside Pirates of the Caribbean and loudly yelled at guests to come inside for a ride.
Now, the Barker Bird fittingly named Rummy has retired to his permanent home at the tavern, where he works for the tavern’s loyal owner, Captain Merry Goldwyn.
The Beak and the Barrel embodies Disney theming done right, which is why you’ll probably need a reservation to eat here for a long time to come.
This place should sustain its popularity for several years to come. Who wouldn’t want to drink at a tavern right beside Pirates of the Caribbean? Disney should have done this years ago.