food IS a theme park
Welcome back, DFB friends! We’re here with another What’s New at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!
Tree of Life
And, we’ve got plenty of updates to share with you! So, what are you waiting for? Let’s jump right on in!
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!
If you’re planning a Disney trip in 2021, we want to be here to help!
Cinderella Castle
We’ve already brought you DOZENS of tips to help make your 2021 Disney vacation an amazing and smooth one, but we’re bringing out the BIG tips today. Here are 5 TRULY game-changing hacks for dominating Disney World in 2021!
Walt Disney World reopened with limited capacities throughout every building on the property. All gift shops, restaurants, rides, and shows were reduced to accommodate physical distancing between travel groups.
Homecomin’
Upon reopening, Disney World had a reduced capacity of 25% and the theme parks attracted fewer crowds. It was recently announced that the theme parks were raised to 35% and we’ve seen an uptick in crowds over the holidays. Attractions are seeing increased wait times and Disney has been adjusting experiences to accommodate the lines. But what about restaurants? While Disney World hasn’t shared specifics, we have seen a quiet increase in capacity within the restaurants. So, what does dining at a Disney World restaurant look like now that the parks have been reopened for a few months?
We’ve been keeping a close eye on all of the restaurant reopenings in Disney World!
Spice Road Table
While we’ve been snacking our way around the parks and watching a few Character Cavalcades along the way, we have especially been excited to see multiple spots around Disney World reopen during the holidays. And, it looks like another dining location is welcoming guests back through the end of the year!
New Disney World restaurants are a pretty big deal (as are new spots to get some sweet, sweet air conditioning in the Florida heat).
Rodeo Roundup BBQ ©Dsiney
One current Disney project is going to accomplish BOTH! Roundup Rodeo BBQ is bringing table service dining to Toy Story Land in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and we’re pretty darn excited. Despite presumably being delayed, we’re still hoping to check out this spot soon and now we’ve got a RARE look at the construction progress!
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.
Christmas and New Year’s might be around the corner, but we are SUPER HYPED for National Cupcake Day!
Sprinkles
And, Sprinkles is ready to celebrate it in the sweetest way possible by bringing back a returning cupcake for a limited time only! (So, that means you’re going to want to rush to a bakery near you soon!)
As Disney World restaurants continue to open, we have been making our way around to see all of the updates or changes.
Narcoossee’s Sign
We’re making our way to Narcoossee’s is located at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. This waterfront Signature Dining location reopened back on September 21st. While other signature restaurants like California Grill and Cinderella’s Royal Table have reopened, we were eager to see how our past memories at Narcoossee’s compare to this new experience!
Disneyland might not be open yet (and we miss it dearly), but Downtown Disney has still been one of our favorite date night or family getaway spots recently. As restaurants have continued to open in the shopping and dining district, table-service locations have been modifying their experiences with limited capacity, seating, and menus. BUT, they’re just as great as we remember them to be!
Downtown Disney District
Downtown Disney dining has been exclusively offering outdoor seating for guests to relax and enjoy their meals in the nice California weather. For a while, select restaurants started to reintroduce indoor dining again (with limited capacity) once California law permitted it, but they’ve since been pushed back to only outdoor dining, as the county Disneyland resides in has moved to the strictest tier of the state’s Coronavirus protocols. [Read more…]
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