When dining at Disney World, there seems to be an endless amount of choices, from where you’re going to eat to what you’re going to order once you’ve selected your restaurant.

If you feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choices to make, one way to make your dining experiences a bit more “streamlined” is by ordering off of a prix fixe menu. Today, we’re going to chat about what exactly these menus are, and why Disney World seems to be more obsessed with them these days!

What IS a Prix Fixe Menu?

In basic terms, a prix fixe menu is usually made of a multi-course meal (traditionally an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert) sold at one fixed price. Diners can typically choose between a variety of options in each course when ordering off of a prix-fixe menu.

A number of Disney World restaurants have prix fixe menus or prix fixe menu options, including Space 220, La Crêperie de Paris, California Grill with its new 50th Anniversary prix fixe dining experience, Be Our Guest Restaurant, Cinderella’s Royal Table, and Chefs de France, just to name a few.

Note that in some situations, diners can “customize” their prix-fixe dining experiencing by ordering add-ons like wine pairings, additional side dishes, supplementals, etc. Not all prix-fixe menus offer these, but when they do, it’s usually accompanied by an additional fee on top of the price you’re paying for the prix-fixe meal.

Click here to read our review of the prix-fixe menu at Be Our Guest Restaurant!

Why Does Disney World Seem to be So Obsessed with Prix Fixe Menus?

Disney Can Make More $$$

SHOCKER! Money is involved. If you’ve paid attention to restaurant menus across the parks and resorts, you may have noticed that prix fixe options have become more common around Disney World. This is likely due (at least in part) to the fact that Disney stands to make a TON of money off of them.

Prix fixe menus are designed and priced in a way where you can easily wind up spending MORE than you would if you were to order your meal à la carte. Many guests might not ordinarily order an appetizer, entree, AND dessert à la carte. 

But by offering a multi-course meal disguised as a bargain or just as an easy way to order without having to stress too much (taking some of the decision-making out of the equation), you might wind up paying MORE for your meal than you would if you just ordered a la carte (and likely only get 1 appetizer to share for the entire table, or only order 2 out the 3 courses).

There are a few instances where you can get your money’s worth when it comes to prix fixe menus. If you order the most expensive dish that’s included in the prix fixe menu (for example, a Filet Mignon), you can get the most bang for your buck. But, if you order one of the cheaper dishes (think plant-based options or chicken, typically), Disney could be coming out on top in terms of profits (the value of a veggie or otherwise not meat-centric dish is not the same as those meat dishes, but Disney will charge guests the same if they’re on the same prix fixe menu).

As an example, let’s look at how the price of California Grill’s new prix-fixe menu compares to ordering off of their previous menu à la carte. The prix-fixe price for one adult is $89 and comes with one appetizer, one entrée, and one dessert.

Let’s take three items off of their prix-fixe menu which you used to be able to order individually: Braised Beef Short Rib Wontons as an appetizer ($18), Oak-fired Filet of Beef ($59), and the Chef’s Selections of California Cheeses as a dessert ($23). Here, the total bill would come out to $100 before tax and gratuity. In this scenario, you’ll SAVE money by ordering through the prix fixe menu. Note, however, that we chose three of the pricier menu items and that, in the case of the appetizer, the portion is scaled down for the prix fixe from when it was an a la carte appetizer. Also keep in mind that neither of these totals include beverages.

But what if under normal circumstances you would have just ordered one appetizer and one entree to split? Or maybe you just wanted a lighter salad for your entree. Then your overall cost could have been lower.

Click here to see our rankings of every item on the Space 220 lunch menu from worst to best!

A Dining Plan Replacement?

Prix fixe menus are similar to the Disney Dining Plan in that you’re paying one set price for a fixed, pre-determined selection of food.

With the Disney Dining Plan still unavailable at the moment, we’ve wondered if prix fixe menus are essentially the “new” dining plan. They allow guests to pay a set amount for their meal without having to worry about individual costs for separate items and they seem like a bargain but are not always a good deal (depending on how much you’d normally eat).

We’ve discussed in the past how the Disney Dining Plan is designed (generally) so Disney is the one making more money, and that it’s not necessarily a good deal for the guest. Now, that’s not always the case. The Disney Dining Plan CAN be a good deal for some, but it takes some serious number crunching to figure out if that’s the case for you.

Oftentimes, you might find that through the Disney Dining Plan you’d end up paying for food you won’t be able to eat (because you’ll be too full) or you’d pay for food that you wouldn’t have otherwise spent the money on.

When it comes to prix fixe menus, you will generally find that they’ll save you some money compared to buying those individual items à la carte, but the main issue is that most guests would not buy that much food ordinarily. (Similar to how people pay for food they might not ordinarily eat through the Dining Plan). So Disney can still make quite a bit of money with the prix fixe meals just by offering them and making hungry guests (who probably wouldn’t order that much food ordinarily) think they’re getting a deal. Plus, compared to the Dining Plan, remember that alcohol isn’t included with prix fixe, meaning you’ll be paying out of pocket even more there, whereas one alcoholic drink per adult was included with most Dining Plan options.

As we noted above, the Disney Dining Plan is not available right now. But it is set to return in the future. But even if it does return, will that mark a change in the trend of prix fixe menus? Only time will tell.

Click here to see our tips to maximizing Disney Dining Plan credits.

Other Reasons

Another reason why Disney World could be so obsessed with prix fixe menus is that it allows them to stick to a set number of dishes to prep in their kitchens. Disney could probably estimate how many Filet Mignons are going to be ordered per hour, how many chicken dishes are going to be ordered per hour, how many slices of cake will be ordered per hour, and so on and so forth.

Ultimately, offering a prix fixe menu with a limited number of items to pick from in each category can allow for the kitchen to operate more efficiently, potentially reducing costs and therefore maximizing profits. This can also be particularly helpful post-closures if the kitchens at Disney World are not fully staffed at their pre-2020 levels.

Click here to read about what we know regarding the return of the Disney Dining Plan!

Disney is Not Alone

According to Mashed.com, Disney isn’t the only one hopping on the prix fixe trend. Apparently prix fixe menus came from French chef Auguste Escoffier, whose vision was to streamline restaurant processes, especially when it comes to food and supplies and communication with customers. Mashed notes that “a prix-fixe menu can streamline fine dining in a way that only fast food chains had previously been able to accomplish.” And its expected that more prix fixe menus will pop up in 2022.

One restauranteur indicated that more prix fixe menus could pop up in 2022 because these types of menus can emphasize locally available ingredients and minimize cost. These more limited menus, which typically reduce the number of combinations of items that a guest can order, can help address supply chain issues because the menu can be tailored to whatever ingredients are available. It can also address issues with labor shortage by selecting menu items that look and taste great, but also require less hands to make.

We’ve seen supply chain issues impact a number of ingredients and we’ve also seen labor shortages affect spots in Disney World and beyond, so perhaps this increased focus on prix fixe menus makes sense.

Click here to see why some places might be closed in Disney World

Prix Fixe Menus Aren’t All That Bad

Like we noted above, prix fixe menus aren’t all bad. There are some positives for the guest when ordering this way. For starters it can just feel simpler to know that you get an appetizer, entree, and dessert and that your choices are limited to those specified in the (often smaller) prix fixe menu. It can take some of the stress out of picking a dish to know that you only have a limited number of options available and you can sort-of see them all at once.

They can also be a good deal IF you would have typically ordered that much and you focus on getting the priciest items that are included in the deal.

Whether you prefer to order off of a prix fixe menu or you like ordering à la carte, there’s no denying that prix fixe menus are becoming the popular menu of choice for many Disney World restaurants. Only time will tell if this trend continues into the future or this is simply a temporary strategy for Disney World to increase food profits as they continue to rebound from 2020 and deal with labor issues and supply chain problems. If you’re thinking of trying one of these menus out on your next vacation, be sure to read our reviews ahead of your visit!

Click here to read our full review of the prix fixe dinner menu at Space 220

Do you prefer to order from prix fixe menus when they’re offered at a restaurant in Disney World, or do you prefer to order à la carte? Let us know in the comments!