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6 Secrets Most People Don’t Know About Walt Disney World Restaurants

Disney Visit

Walt Disney World is a vacation destination full of amazing experiences including attractions, live entertainment, unique shopping, and beautifully themed Disney Resorts. While some guests might think that dining in Walt Disney World only entails stereotypical theme parks foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, and fries, they are totally wrong! Dining on a Disney vacation is an amazing experience full of options including quick service locations, signature dining experiences, snack carts, and wonderfully themed restaurants. Guests can enjoy all sorts of different cuisines and levels of dining depending on their mood and appetite, making Disney dining a great experience for every guest. While each Disney restaurant is unique and enjoyable, some of them have secrets which can add to the theme, fun, or overall experience of dining there. Often these secrets are overlooked by guests, but they are lots of fun to spot and discover! Here are six secrets that most guests don’t know about Walt Disney World restaurants.

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6. Garden Grill Restaurant’s Hidden Mickey –

One full service dining location in Epcot invites guests to enjoy family style meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner while meeting Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale. The restaurant serves up fresh options grown locally in The Land Pavilion and slowly rotates for guests to have views of the pavilion outside and the Living with the Land Pavilion below. One portion of the restaurant features a massive mural adorned with beautifully painted flowers, greenery, and lush vegetation. Many guests don’t realize that one of the hardest to spot Hidden Mickeys in all of Walt Disney World can be found in the mural peeking out from behind several horizontal ferns.

5. Jaq & Gus –

Guests who are looking to enjoy a meal fit for royalty on a Walt Disney World vacation should look no further than Cinderella’s Royal Table which is located directly inside Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and allows guests to dine on delicious options while meeting the Disney Princesses. With plenty of opulent details fit for royalty, there is one small detail in Cinderella’s Royal Table which many guests overlook. While enjoying their dining experience, guests should keep an eye out up above to spot the lovable Jaq & Gus from the film Cinderella!

4. Happily Ever After Viewing Spots –

An experience that is a must do on every Disney vacation is enjoying a showing of Happily Ever After in the Magic Kingdom. The show features beautiful fireworks set to Disney music and is simply the perfect way to wrap up a day at Magic Kingdom! While the best viewing location is Main Street inside the park, there are also some dining locations which feature amazing and unique views of the show for guests to enjoy. Atop Disney’s Contemporary Resort is the California Grill which serves up traditional California classics accented by massive glass windows overlooking Seven Seas Lagoon. As Happily Ever After begins each night, guests can enjoy spectacular aerial views of the show from the high up restaurant. Guests who are dining at ‘Ohana at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort can also enjoy a unique view of Happily Ever After from large windows which look directly across Seven Seas Lagoon towards the Magic Kingdom.

3. Ketchup, Please! –

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort is home to an entertaining and delicious restaurant which is full of servers who share a unique sense of humor. Whispering Canyon Café is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and serves up delicious menu options like Farmer Mike’s Ham and Cheese Omelet, Wandering Wendy’s Fried Fish Sandwich, Mustang Sally’s Grilled Salmon BLT, and Slow-Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich. In addition to the amazing food, there is constant entertainment as the servers make each meal unique with horse races, interesting humor, and zany ways of making guests smile. One way to fully experience the unique personalities of the servers is by asking for the ketchup. Go ahead, try it on your next Disney vacation!

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2. Be Our Guest Restaurant’s Hidden Minnie –

Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom invites guests directly into the Beast’s Castle from the Disney animated classic film Beauty and the Beast. Guests can enjoy traditional French cuisine in the Grand Ballroom, West Wing, or Castle Portrait Gallery and feel as though they have stepped directly into the movie. The Grand Ballroom features some of the most intricate and ornate details of the restaurant including a ceiling that is painted with whimsical pink fluffy clouds. Many guests don’t realize that there is a Hidden Minnie amongst the cloud above which can be spotted along the edge of the painting by looking for Minnie’s bow first.

1. Coral Reef Restaurant’s Best Tables –

The Coral Reef Restaurant in Epcot’s The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion brings guests into an amazing dining room featuring sweeping views of a massive aquarium. Guests can enjoy delicious menu options like Seafood Scampi, Shrimp and Grits, and Seared Mahi Mahi while enjoying the view of sting rays, turtles, sharks, and fish swimming by. While all tables in the restaurant offer stunning views, the best spots are those which are right up against the glass of the tank. Guests should arrive early for their reservations and upon checking in ask if they can be seated against the tank for the best views possible while enjoying a meal at Coral Reef Restaurant!

About Caitlin Kane

Caitlin Kane first started visiting Walt Disney World when she was two years old, and despite spending most of that trip quarantined with the chicken pox she managed to fall in love with the place. Visiting WDW every year since, she especially loves learning all about the history and small details of the parks and eating/drinking her way through the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival each fall. When she's not in Disney, Caitlin lives in New York and spends her time counting down the days to her next trip.