So how do we feel about changes at Disney World?
Magic Kingdom
There are all kinds of changes we could talk about — new rides, hotels, and restaurants just to name a few. All that being said, if we look at two sources (historical data and recent comments made by Disney CEO Bob Iger) you’re going to want to brace yourself for two big changes that are most definitely going to come to the restaurants sooner than you thought — Increased Prices and More IP-based restaurants. Yep, it’s going to happen. Let’s talk about it!
As we were saying, it looks like we’ve got two major things to look forward to in the near future when it comes to the restaurants in Disney World — Increased Prices and More IP-based restaurants.
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Increased Prices
First off, let’s talk about the elephant in the room — increased prices. If you’ve been to a Disney World park in the past few years, you know this isn’t exactly a new trend. It seems that every year like clockwork, Disney bumps up their prices on everything from park tickets to churros.
Ticket prices in EPCOT
Now, it’s safe to say we can expect more of the same over the foreseeable future. Disney dining is no exception to the price hike. As you can imagine, the cost of running these theme parks isn’t getting any cheaper, and guess what? Those costs are being passed on to us (yay us).
Mongolian Beef Combo
When you’re planning your next Disney trip, you’ll have to pad the budget a bit for those Mickey pretzels and character dining experiences. Iger himself has been pretty candid about the financial strategies Disney needs to adopt to stay competitive, and dining is a big part of that, so, don’t be surprised when your favorite snack or sit-down meal comes with a heftier bill.
More IP-based Restaurants
Now, let’s dive into something that’s hopefully a bit more exciting — more IP-based restaurants. If there’s one thing Disney does well, it’s leveraging their library of intellectual properties (IPs) as we can see in recent renovation projects in the hotels and character dining experiences.
Mirabel at 1900 Park Fare
Recently, Iger commented on Disney having a bigger focus on Intellectual Property (IP) across the board. Basically, expect even more experiences themed around your favorite Disney movies, shows, and characters.
©Disney
You can see how this can totally translate to the restaurants. With the recent trailer for Moana 2 dropping, you can picture a full-blown Moana-inspired eatery with Polynesian flavors and a stunning ocean view, right?
©Disney
Or with Star Wars’ Acolyte about to drop, they could expand Oga’s Star Wars cantina into a full-scale restaurant with differently themed dining rooms for different planets and the like.
The bar at Oga’s Cantina
I think we all would love to get a Coco-inspired restaurant in Disney World. And what about a Zootopia-themed cafe? I think you get that the possibilities are endless and we’re here for it.
©Disney
So there you have it. As you’re planning for your next trip to Disney World, just be prepared for the sticker shock and more opportunities to enjoy dining experiences based on your favorite Disney stories. Until then, stay tuned to DFB for more updates on the latest Disney food news.
4 Charts To Explain Disney World’s Freakish Price Increases
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What are your thoughts on these changes that will almost definitely be coming to the restaurants in Disney World? Tell us all about it in the comments.
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As people get older theming of restaurant’s is the least important thing in considering a restaurant. Quality of food relative to the price is the most important thing. It’s like Iger lives in his own little bubble and does not even realize who his customer base. You will price young families out of character meals that are so expensive but maybe that is the plan, get rid of families.
Rising prices are an unfortunate fact. It’s everywhere and it’s out of control. I think any and all of these would be great ideas, but I hope they don’t take away the one thing that Stitch has in WDW to make it about Moana, meaning the character meals at ‘Ohana. I’m tired of Disney using Stitch exclusively to sell more merch and giving Stitch fans nothing else. Even with Moana 2 coming out, I doubt Moana 2 merch will outsell Stitch. And sure – I’m part of the problem! I find the Stitch merch very hard to resist, no matter how much I have. It doesn’t mean I’m not serious about getting turned off by Disney ignoring the fandom in every other way.
Considering the abysmally poor quality of Disney’s untapped IP…not very popular stuff…
Tapping into that for restaurant theming seems like just the kind of horrible strategy the company has been following the last decade or so.