There’s plenty of terrible food at the parks, but many restaurants there are “100 times better than people realize,” says Jonathan Rubinstein, the founder of New York’s Joe Coffee, who’s been to Disney World seven times in the past four years with his daughter, now eight. These are his tips on eating well in the Magic Kingdom.
“If you want a coveted restaurant, like Be Our Guest, you have to call right at 7 a.m. exactly six months in advance. It took me three years to get a reservation—if you wait even five minutes, you’ll be out of luck.”
“Tiffins, in the Animal Kingdom, feels like the opposite of theme-park food. They do a delicious chermoula-rubbed chicken and an interesting bread appetizer with pomegranate olive oil, harissa yogurt, and black- eyed-pea hummus.”
“At Rose & Crown Dining Room, in Epcot Center, I like the cheese plate with onion relish and preserves, and the Angus burger with Welsh rarebit sauce, Branston mayonnaise, bacon, and beer-battered leeks.”
“Dole Whip is the iconic but surprisingly hard-to-find Disney snack, a nondairy pineapple concoction invented in 1986. I get mine in Adventureland, at the Tiki Juice Bar next to the Enchanted Tiki Room.”