food IS a theme park
It’s for another menu update one of our favorite Disney World restaurants!
Oak-fired Filet of Beef from California Grill
The California Grill is a signature restaurant located at the top of Disney’s Contemporary Resort. It offers sweeping views of the Magic Kingdom and a fine-dining menu. The restaurant reopened with a limited menu and we’ve seen this menu change twice since then. A few more changes have been made since our last update including the addition of rich desserts and new entrees!
Happy New Year, DFB Friends! We’ve been ringing in the New Year and getting ready for the EPCOT Festival of the Arts!
Everglazed Donuts and Cold Brew
But we’ve also been busy covering the opening of a brand new donut shop (OH, YEAH!) while tracking some menu updates at a few locations. So let’s get to the menu updates we have from this past week!
California Grill is a Signature Dining restaurant located at the top of Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
California Grill Seating
It offers sweeping views of the Magic Kingdom, upscale menu items, and handcrafted cocktails. This is one of those places that you take the family for a nice dinner or a romantic date night. The menu has changed a bit since we visited for the grand reopening in July. Some allergy-friendly items have been added a quality entree has changed quite a bit. Let’s take a look at the changes!
There are HUNDREDS of great places to eat at Walt Disney World, and while many of those lie behind the gates of Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, there are tons of spots you can dine at for a magical meal without having to step foot into a theme park. Disney Springs alone has over 60 dining options!
Disney Springs
It can be a LOT to try and navigate the best spots to dine at when visiting Disney World in general. And now, with Park Passes and shorter hours meaning you may not be in a theme park every day for every meal, knowing where to dine at Disney Springs or at one of Disney’s currently open resort hotels can be overwhelming.
A trip to Disney World is a special event and, as such, you might be tempted to just throw money at every activity, experience, and upgrade available. You want it to be the BEST trip ever, right?!
Magic Kingdom
And there are SO many things to splurge on, including special tours, dining experiences, and ticket add-ons. But for many of us, a lot of these splurges are unnecessary, so let’s look at which ones just aren’t worth it.
When it comes to favorite restaurants at Disney World, EVERY Disney fan has an opinion, although some restaurants seem to always make the favorites list.
Garden Grill Restaurant
But it seems that when we ask Disney fans what the most underrated and overrated restaurants are, the opinions are a little more mixed. When we asked our DFB readers this question, THOUSANDS of you responded!
While all of Disney World’s reopened restaurants now feature similar health and safety measures, such as distanced tables, QR code menus, and increased sanitization, a few dining locations have really stood out to us as examples of the BEST of Disney World dining post-closures. Some may offer outdoor dining, while others may be rare character interaction opportunities, but in our minds, a few deserve a shout out.
Wine Bar George Bar Seating
If you have a trip to Disney World coming up and you’re looking for some table service ideas, we have ten restaurants that we think you should consider! Depending on your travel party’s preferences or level of comfort, each of these locations has at least one great thing going for them in a reopened World!
We enjoyed a lovely meal earlier this summer at the signature California Grill in Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
California Grill
From cocktails to bread service to Beer and Cheese Soup and MUCH more, our meal was filled with highlights. That said, we couldn’t help but notice that one of our favorite items was not on the menu during our most recent visit: the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli. [Read more…]
It’s been over three months since Disney World reopened to the public after an extended closure. Over the past few months, Disney has been slowly reopening more resorts, restaurants, and experiences.
California Grill Lounge
Most Disney restaurants have been limiting menus to adhere to the new safety regulations and shortages. We’ve been monitoring these changes while Disney adjusts to reopening under the new conditions. The Landscape of Flavors, Drop Off Pool Bar and Harambe Market are preparing to reopen. Meanwhile, the California Grill has been open for some time. All four menus have reflected changes on Disney World’s website recently.
Do you have a Disney opinion that you’re terrified to share with your friends? Is everyone’s favorite attraction your LEAST favorite? Is there a wildly popular snack that you can stand the sight or taste of? Or, are you scared to tell others what your favorite Disney snack is for fear of public shaming?
Turkey Leg
We totally get it! If asked, we think everyone has an opinion or two that goes against the grain. We opened the ultimate can of worms recently and asked our readers to submit THEIR unpopular Disney opinion, and oh boy, did we get a LOT of responses! It seems like folks had a lot that they wanted to get off of their chest.
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