Table Service Meals at the Walt Disney World Theme Parks Ranked in Order
By Dave Shute
OVERVIEW: TABLE SERVICE MEALS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
This site’s recommended dining venues are in the basic itinerary and are listed at the bottom of this page.
They were selected based on how well-loved they are by families, kid-pleasing menus, how effectively they achieve their show intent, value for money, and convenience.
If you cannot follow these recommendations, use one of two tools.
The thumbnail (click to open; when open, click again once or twice to enlarge) ranks the table service meals at the theme parks on the basis of both kid appeal and adult appeal. Use this to balance kid vs. adult desires.
Or, for options ranked in order, see the list that comes next. These restaurants are ranked based on comparison of guest reviews from a number of printed and online sources. The sources do not generally agree, but they often do agree on a relative order—e.g. The Plaza at the Magic Kingdom is almost always rated lower than the Liberty Tree Tavern is. Any remaining lack of agreement is resolved based on my own family’s experience.
Additionally the table service restaurants are coded as follows:
- Bold means especially delightful atmosphere/visual appeal for kids
- Italic means relatively dull for kids
- Strike-thru means new or recently renovated/re-conceived, with slender data so far
- (C) means character meals available
DISNEY WORLD THEME PARK DINING RANKED IN ORDER
MAGIC KINGDOM
- Be Our Guest
- Cinderella’s Royal Table (C), Menu changes often
The Crystal Palace (C), Buffet- Liberty Tree Tavern
- The Plaza, Diner-style food
- Tony’s Town Square, Italian
ANIMAL KINGDOM
- Yak and Yeti
- Tusker House (C)
- Rainforest Cafe
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
- Hollywood Brown Derby, American
- 50s Prime Time Café, American
- Mama Melrose, Italian
- Sci-Fi Dine in Theater, American
- Hollywood and Vine (C), American Buffet
EPCOT
- Tokyo Dining Japanese
- Biergarten German
- Le Cellier Steakhouse
- Akershus (C) Norwegian and American
- Teppan Edo Japanese, Chefs artfully chop at table
- Monsieur Paul’s French
- Les Chefs de France French
- Garden Grill (C) American
- Restaurant Marrakesh Moroccan
- Rose & Crown British
- Via Napoli Pizza/Italian
- Tutto Italiano Italian
- San Angel Inn Mexican
- La Hacienda de San Angel Mexican
- Coral Reef Seafood
- The Nine Dragons Chinese
MORE ON WALT DISNEY WORLD DINING
- How to Eat
- The Disney Dining Plan
- What if You Can’t do the Dining Plan?
- Where to Eat
- Dining Alternatives
- The Comprehensive Guide to Walt Disney World Dining
- Character Meals and Dinner Shows Ranked in Order
- Table Service Meals at the Parks Ranked in Order
- Table Service Meals at the Resorts Ranked in Order
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24 comments
So I’m a little confused! We are going December 7th to the 16th and on the 10th we are going to sea world. I guess what I’m wondering is we only have a 5 day pass for wdw? Is that going to be enough and can we still get in the parks to eat on the off days or are we then stuck eating at our hotel?
I love your site thanks for all the work you have put into it!!!
Hi Sarah, I may nit understand what you are asking…but you can’t eat in a park unless you have a valid ticket to enter the park.
You totally understood 🙂 thank you! So for the days we don’t go to the parks what are our eating options? Is downtown Disney open without a valid ticket? I ask because we are staying in the art of animation hotel but only have a 5 day pass because we are also doing sea world.
Again thanks so much for your help
Sarah
Sarah, AofA has a great food court, and you can also go to restaurants at other WDW hotels–expensive, but more fun than DTD. E.g. you can take the bus to MK, not enter the park, and from the entry area to MK take a monorail to 3 hotels or a boat to tow more. See this for where I recommend eating: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/where-to-eat/ and also see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/where-to-eat/dining-alternatives/table-service-meals-at-the-resorts-ranked-in-order/
Can we go to SciFi at Hollywood for snack or dessert only? Or can we split meals? No dining plan. One will be in power chair…would it be worth it to eat at table? We have five in our party. Thanks.
Cathy, you can, if it is not too busy…and yes, you can split meals!
I am planning our family’s first Disney trip with with my husband and boys aged 5 and 2 . I know that you highly recommend Cinderella’s Royal Table for character dining, but I am wondering if my boys will feel “overly princessed.” Would I be better to choose one or the other: Akershus Banquet or Cinderella’s Royal Table, or is the atmosphere so awesome that it’s worth doing both. Thanks so much…I can’t believe how many hours I have put into this Dec. 13 trip already…delighted to have found your site!
Hi Krista and I’m glad the site is helping! I think that a. one princess mela is plenty but that b. picking which is tricky. My itineraries are for kids 8 and older, and so have a lot of EPcot time. For kids that age, a morning at Epcot is plenty. Doing Akershus for lunch would then work. Akershus has a much less spectacular setting, but also a less “girly” setting and is much less expensive. So I’d go with it.
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Hi! I’m trying to decide on the dining plans. My husband and I went two other times and got the deluxe dining, 3 meals 2 snacks, and had extra at the end of our stay. This time we have a son, who will be turning 5 during our vacation … looking into the regular dining plan, 1 table, 1 quick… is there a list somewhere showing all restaurants broken down into if they are table service or quick service? I want to do one character dining with him too. Im assuming breakfast will be the cheapest meal to buy since we wont have enough to eat 3 meals a day… just trying to figure out if thats the best plan for us based on which restaurants are in which category… and if it would be better to do the deluxe plan again or not… thoughts? Thanks!!
Brandi, this brochure lists both: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw_nextgen/CoreCatalog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2013Dining.pdf
You will save money on the regular dining plan, and–other than snack credits–won’t walk away with unused meal credits.
I’m a big fan of a quick breakfast in your room from supplies you’ve bought in the gift shop and food court, so that you can hit the parks quickly without having to get up too early!
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Hi, Great website – we’ve been to WDW three times and planning a fourth. Just discovered you! Looks like we’ll be getting the Dining PLan thrown in, which we’re very happy about. BUT, several favourites aren’t listed in the 2014 plan which were in 2013. Examples are both Rainforest Cafes and many of the Epcot table service places including San Angel. Is this just a contract renewal thing, or are they going to be excluded forever?
Alasdair, it’s a contract renewal thing that happens every year! I’d expect all to be in by early 2014…
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Dave,
What a great site!
Can you suggest a good itinerary for 1 day in Magic Kingdom April 4th (we know, bad timing) but it’s our twin’s 7th b-day and we also have a 4 yr old. Our goal would be rides & experience. Not so much for character signage. We have lunch booked @ plaza for 1:30pm.
Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
Hi Rita, and thanks!! I don’t have one, but see Josh’s here: http://www.easywdw.com/cheatsheets/mk_cheat_sheet_fastpass_plus_v2.pdf
Hi Dave,
We are planning our first visit to WDW in April 2015. We (my husband, my 5 year old son and myself) are all pretty plain, picky eaters. We are typically burger & fries, chicken strip & fries, pizza, etc type people. We have been told by several friends that have traveled to WDW that we might be better off not getting a dining package since the food we eat tends to be on the cheaper side. What are your thoughts on this?
Amanda, the dining package rarely saves much money–if any–so yes, skip it!
Hi Dave! My family and I are headed to Disney in January and we have booked lunch reservations at 1:45 at Tony’s Town Square in hopes to get a patio table so we can watch the Festival of Fantasy parade that starts at 3:00. I’ve read a few reviews that say if you time it just right and book your reservations about an hour before the parade there’s a good chance you can be eating lunch while the parade goes by. Do you know if the parade even goes by Tony’s Town Square Restaurant or does it turn before they get to the restaurant? There are 7 of us including grandparents, two 5 year olds and a 2 year old. I figured if it’s not worth it then we would just skip the late lunch and head back to the hotel so the kids could rest a bit. Would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks so much!!
Hi Sara! The parade does go by Tonys, but there are very few outdoor tables, so I would not base your parade-viewing strategy on it…
Hi Dave, I have my dining reservation window opening up in about a week, and I am nervous about making the reservations. I started planning later than 180 days out last time and spent a lot of computer time looking for cancellations, so this time I want to get it right at 6 AM on that first day. I have our plan for each park and which restaurants each day, the issue is I can’t decide in what order to try for them to maximize my chances of getting into the hard ones. It’s for Thanksgiving week so I’m sure a lot of others will be doing the same thing. My party is 6 people. What order should I try for these in? BOG, Cindy, TRex, Park Fare dinner, Chef Mickeys, Akershus. Akershus is only for it we don’t get Cindy. We have been to Cindy and BOG before so I’m tempted to do Trex first, as it is the #1 must do for my boys, but then I’m sure I won’t get into BOG. I currently have MK day as the 3rd day of our trip but I’m willing to switch it with the last day if that’s when BOG and / or Cindy are available. Any advice would be welcome. Thank you!
Jane, coupla things.
First that’s not a horrible week to book meals for, as many who are going the are doing so out of ignorance and don’t even know that 180 days ahead is when the ADR reservations open (The weeks right after Thanksgiving are the opposite–while much less crowded, they are very popular with sophisticated Disney visitors who do know about 180 days, so booking can be much harder!).
Second, T-Rex has much more availability than it appears–just not on the Disney system. They give only a few of their spots to Disney and reserve others via 407-828-8739. So try that number if you have no luck via Disney.
Otherwise the booking priority is BOG, Cindy, Chef Mickey’s, Akershus, Park Fare, T-Rex. For BOG I would just go ahead and plan to do it (and thus MK) your last day, and try booking it first. The rest you should be OK for on the day of your choice.
Thanks Dave! I thought I remembered that about Trex, but wasn’t sure. Thank you so much for giving me the #. Now I am done planning and just have to wait for next week. Our reason for wanting to do Epcot on our last day is to see some of their Christmas programs, as that is our only day to do it b/c it’s Black Friday. But if I have to change that day to MK I will. Right now we have MK as the 4th day of our visit.
Jane, great point. If I had to pick between Epcot’s holiday program and BOG I would do Epcot without ANY hesitation…
Hi Dave,
Great website. I have a breakfast reservation at Cinderella’s Royal Table at 8:20am on a day the park opens at 9:00 am.I know that we are allowed to go into the park 15-20 minutes early to walk to the castle my question is will I be able to take pictures of my family on our way?
Hi Jessica, thanks, and yes you can!!
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