HI! I’m AJ! I created Disney Food Blog 15 years ago, and my team thought somebody out there might be interested in what I like to eat in Disney World when nobody’s looking.

(Wait. That sounds weird.)

More specifically, this is what I eat when I’m not working. Or what I eat when I don’t have to eat something else for work. Whatever, you understand, right? Basically — here’s what I eat when I go to Disney World completely for fun and get to eat whatever I want!

Here at DFB, we cover EVERYTHING. We eat everything in Disney World — usually multiple times, since you can have varied experiences depending on when you go to certain restaurants and kiosks. And we make sure to give you an unbiased review of all of it.

But what about when we’re just in Disney World for fun — not for work? If we aren’t reviewing something for YOU, what do we choose to eat? That might be the best indicator of all as to what’s worth getting in the parks, right?

And even after 15 years of this being my job, I still have a mile-long list on my phone’s notes app of things I can’t wait to eat when I go to Disney World. Some of it is new, but a lot of it is stuff I’ve had over and over…and want to eat again!

And since you only have so much stomach space available, ya gotta prioritize!

I’m gonna cover all four parks today, but if you’re interested, I’d be happy to do posts about the hotels and Disney Springs, too! First up — let’s go to Magic Kingdom!

MAGIC KINGDOM

When I’m in Disney World’s OG park for fun, I tend to focus a lot on just riding the PeopleMover over and over. Because, you know, priorities. But eventually I need some variation in the day so I go ride Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square. And on my way over, I stop at Columbia Harbour House!

I am supremely fond of Disney chicken tenders — Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, wherever — and I always have been. I don’t know why. One time I was giving a presentation at the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival and someone asked me what my favorite food was in Disneyland, and I got flustered because I have so many favorites, and I just blurted out “Chicken Tenders!” (Of course I should have said the Monte Cristo at Cafe Orleans, because that truly is my favorite; but I guess I’ve eaten so many Disney chicken tenders that they just have muscle memory over my vocal chords or something. That doesn’t make sense, but you get what I’m saying.) There’s nothing like a stack-o-tenders with about five little pods of barbecue sauce. Per tender. Sauce is key. I wish they had Buffalo sauce. But alas.

Now along with those tendies do I get french fries? Yes, of course. But I also get a side of hush puppies! HUUUUUSH PUPPIEEEEESSSS! Oh my goodness, y’all, when they added hush puppies to the menu I was, like, ratcheting up my love of this place by about 100%.

You see, I’m from the north. We don’t have hush puppies up there. They’re a southern thing, usually (born in the Carolinas). And when my family would head south for Spring Break — like to Myrtle Beach or something — my mom would always get hush puppies at every restaurant. I thought they were something super exotic and was scared to try them.

But, as an adult, when I found out they were just basically fried cornbread, I was like, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE, BEAUTIFUL LITTLE CORN POCKETS OF GOODNESS?” And Columbia Harbour House does ’em pretty well. They’re a tiny bit sweet (I love sweet cornbread — I have no place in my life for jalapeno cornbread) and have full chunks of corn inside. Which sounds kind of gross to say, but they’re delicious.

Anyway, first stop: Columbia Harbour House for tenders and hush puppies. I usually take my food upstairs to a quiet corner by a window to escape the chaos outside. It’s a lovely little oasis.

Something else I find myself getting over and over again in Magic Kingdom is, I’ll admit, very stereotypical and boring; but, listen, I’m trying to give you the full behind the scenes look here, so I’m not going to sugar-coat it.

I get Dole Whip floats at Aloha Isle. Like, all the time. I don’t know what to tell you. I love them. Even though anytime I eat pineapple or drink pineapple juice I get little cuts all over my tongue for some reason, I still go in for more — AND I like to get straight pineapple Dole Whip in it, not the vanilla swirl! I’m a MONSTER! Anway, I try really hard not to suck up all the pineapple juice before the Dole Whip melts into it.

There’s nothing like a little melty Dole Whip mixed with the pineapple juice. It’s the same reason you should let your Frosty from Wendy’s melt a little bit before you eat it. Trust me.

I could talk about other things I like to get in Magic Kingdom when nobody’s looking — like the All-American Sundae at Plaza Ice Cream Parlor, the Gaston’s Tavern Cinnamon Roll, and the waffle sandwiches at Sleepy Hollow — but this post is already getting too long. So let’s move on to EPCOT shall we? Care to join me on the monorail?

EPCOT

Over in EPCOT you’d think I’d be all about the snax, but this is really the only park where I prioritize table-service above all else! Le Cellier Steakhouse is my little, secret hideout.

Maybe it’s because, when I first started my “I’m a grown-up and I can spend my grown-up money wherever I want” infatuation with Disney World, Le Cellier was the most popular restaurant in the joint. EVERYONE wanted to eat there. And it was a coup if you could get a reservation. Or maybe it’s just because I’m a meat and potatoes kind of person, and the meat and potatoes at Le Cellier are some of the very best in Disney World. Probably a mix of both.

I can remember when Le Cellier first introduced poutine to the menu on my watch. It was years and years and years ago (2011 by my calculations, but it may have been on the menu at various times before that) — and the poutine then was big, steak-cut fries topped with big ol’ gooey cheese curds (sometimes even yellow ones) and gravy. It was much closer to the Canadian bar food that is the origin of true poutine than it is to the fancy-schmancy versions they have now. But I’ll be honest — it doesn’t really matter what kind of poutine Le Cellier serves, it’s usually pretty good.

Since they switched over to being a Signature restaurant (e.g. fancy and expensive), they’ve escalated the poutine to a bougier version. But I still like it. The black diamond cheddar doused with a super-savory red wine sauce is just divine. And if you’re there with me I will share it, but know that I don’t want to. Also, please let me have all the big cheese chunks.

My only issue with Le Cellier — as you well know if you watch our DFB YouTube videos — is the seating. This is a teeny-tiny restaurant and the tables are very close together. The banquette seating — where they usually put me because I’m a solo diner — is the most claustrophobic in Disney World. So I usually request that they put me at the end of a banquette if they don’t have any standalone two-tops available.

For dessert in EPCOT — again, pretty stereotypical, especially if you watch our videos — I’m going to Karamell Kuche in Germany! But I’m not getting the butter bar, or the caramel popcorn. I’m getting the suuuuper dense and delicious chocolate cupcake topped up with a metric ton of caramel buttercream. I know, I know. Cupcakes are passe now. But oh my goodness — this is probably my favorite snack in all of Disney World. At least up near the top for sure!

Let’s roll ourselves out of EPCOT and take the skyliner over to Hollywood Studios, shall we?

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

My son and I like to track which skyliner gondola numbers we’ve ridden in in a notes app on my phone (my notes app gets a lot of action), so you and I can add our gondola number to the list when we head over!

Now, Studios has a lot of good food, but there isn’t much in here I genuinely CRAVE. At least not right now. So I’ll start out in this park with a little hidden gem that I rarely talk about.

We’ll head over to the Brown Derby Lounge and order the risotto! I am a HUGE fan of wet rice in any form. Risotto, paella, jambalaya, whatever — anytime you douse rice in a sauce or flavor-y liquid of some sort I’m there for it. This restaurant often has risotto on the menu, but it’s usually a side dish. And you never really know what flavor it’s going to be when you’re there (the tomato is truly outstanding if you can get it)!

I’ll usually scan down the menu before I go to make sure there’s risotto somewhere back there in the kitchen, and then I’ll ask for a meal-sized portion of it. While they can’t always do that, sometimes they can — they will just charge me a meal-sized price as well. Listen, I know they have other great stuff here; but, in my weird little world, a whole plate full of rice cooked luxuriously in a bunch of cheese, cream, and butter is just about the biggest indulgence I can imagine. So I let myself go there when I’m in Hollywood Studios.

And then, when I’m all topped up with carbs, it’s time for…MORE CARBS! I’ll stop off at Trolley Car Cafe on the way out to pick up a Carrot Cake Cookie, of course!

This cookie and I have been together for a LONG time. Here’s one of the first pictures I ever took of her back in 2010:

Triple C, I love you! I’m so sorry that there were a few months there when I said you weren’t worth it because the cream cheese frosting in the middle of you was too gummy because they kept the refrigerated section of the store too cold. I didn’t mean it.

Now I know that all I have to do is bring you back to my hotel and let you thaw out a little bit and you’re PERFECT! We all make mistakes. And we all deserve forgiveness.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

Ahhh…here we are at the world’s most zen theme park ever. What a great place to wind down the evening or start out the morning. Especially if you can really, genuinely just chill out and enjoy it.

I have lots of go-to eats in this park, but the first one I’m going to talk about is, of course, my BIRTHDAY FRIES! If you watch our YouTube channel, you know I uniformly refer to the french fries doused in plastic cheese, pulled pork, and barbecue sauce at Flame Tree Barbecue in Discovery Island as my Birthday Fries. This is because, anytime I celebrate my birthday in Disney World, I head to Animal Kingdom for a big plate of these fries.

Sadly, they didn’t return to the menu post-pandemic, and I was devastated. But cue the angels singing because they brought them back just recently! (And for those of you who are still stuck on the plastic cheese reference up there, that’s what I call that liquidy cheese you get at, like, the ball park with your nachos or at the 7-11. I’m pretty sure it’s not real food, but I LOVE IT.)

After I eat my Birthday Fries at a lovely table down by the water with a view of Expedition Everest (and probably about 50 birds trying to steal my fries), I’ll head over to…you guessed it: Nomad Lounge. I know. I’m so predictable. I’m annoyed by it, too. But I am truly a creature of habit.

Nomad Lounge, over in the Pandora area of the park, is attached to Tiffins — the bougie restaurant in Animal Kingdom. It’s basically a lounge for Tiffins, and it has a few of the Tiffins menu items available in addition to some seriously incredible bespoke cocktails!

When I’m here, though, I usually gravitate toward the seasonal soup. It’s literally always good, and it’s always different. (Sometimes when Disney World restaurants have a “soup of the day,” it’s just the same soup every day. But not here.) There’s always a fancy little presentation — like they’ll put some dry ingredients in the bottom of the bowl and pour the soup over it in a flourish or something — so you get to feel a little bit important even though you’re pretty gross and smelly by this point in your theme park expedition.

Depending on how hungry I am, and what’s on the menu (this one changes out regularly), I might also get some chicken wings, mac and cheese, or those epic gluten-free churros!! These are THE BEST CHURROS ANYWHERE IN DISNEY WORLD MARK MY WORDS. I don’t know what makes them so soft and delicious and not crunchy and weird like so many over-cooked churros can be in the parks. But they’re just little pillows of cinnamon-sugar heaven, and you should def get them if you have the chance! Also they come with DIPPING SAUCES. And you obvi know how I feel about sauce.

Alrighty — like I said, there are plenty of other things in these parks that I will happily eat in secret when nobody’s watching. But it’s real late and my editors said I had to get this done by tomorrow, so I’m gonna cut it off here and see if you liked this article or not before I clobber you with more of my beloved Disney World food cravings. Hopefully you did, and it’s useful. Or at least somewhat entertaining now that you know what a truly strange bird I really am.

And if you’re planning a trip yourself and want to eat some incredible food while you’re there (and not spend a bunch of money on food you’re not gonna like), don’t forget to check out our DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining downloadable guidebook! This thing has EVERYTHING you need to know about eating in Disney World — from fast food to sit-down restaurants to seasonal events and EPCOT festivals…and more! We work really, really hard on it, we update it twice a year, and it’s a huge labor of love. And it’s 100% money-back guaranteed. If you don’t like it, we’ll return your dosh easy-peasy. You even get to keep the guide!

Do you have a treat you go back and eat over and over again in Disney World? Let me know in the comments!