Disaster Averted: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Won’t Have Any Boring Restaurant Rift.
Walt Disney World fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief. For the last 25 days–a whopping 93% of 2026–the air has been heavy with anxiety and apprehension, as lovers of stereotypical theme park food have feared that Animal Kingdom would be without a basic and boring counter service restaurant for one full month of winter.
Just look at the comments (all 6 of them!) to our post sharing the news that Walt Disney World had set a reopening deadline for Harambe Market. You can just sense the dread looming large, as readers ask questions such as why does this website load slow? and what animals are coming to Tropical Americas? and is DINOSAUR being excavated with actual meteors?
You can all put down the pitchforks, as our long national nightmare is over. Walt Disney World has averted disaster, confirming that there will be no gap in basic food coverage between the extinction of Restaurantosaurus and reopening of Harambe Market. Here’s the latest, complete with the full new menu for the latter, new food photos, reopening date & soft reopening details, and more…
Before digging into the food, we have lore change alert!!! Here’s the old backstory for Harambe Market:
Constructed around an old colonial-era train depot and lorded over by an iconic water tower, this active marketplace showcases distinct personalities and menu—created using produce and raw goods delivered daily by the local locomotive.
Here, the citizens of Harambe welcome travelers from all around the world, encouraging Guests of every age to tantalize their senses by enjoying a Chicken and Shrimp Rice Bowl, a Chicken Caesar Salad, a Beef and Lamb Kofta Pita or a delicious Mango-Passion Fruit Cheesecake.
And the new backstory:
Bring the whole family to this open-air African plaza for classic staples—from burgers and wraps to a signature salad. Desserts, beer and soft drinks are also available.
Here, the citizens of Harambe welcome travelers from all around the world, encouraging Guests of every age to tantalize their senses by enjoying a classic Angus Burger, crispy Chicken Strips, a hearty Harissa Chicken Wrap or a refreshing salad of mixed greens, lentils, carrots and couscous.
Reading between the lines on the backstory, the only logical conclusion here is that the local locomotive was decommissioned due to low ridership (a common problem with rural train routes). Consequently, there’s no way to deliver produce and other fresh foods necessary for the old, ambitious menu.
Undiscouraged, the citizens of Harambe are keeping their marketplace open, and are making lemonade out of lemons (figuratively and literally–lemonade is on the menu) by serving the finest frozen foods. It’s really unfortunate; all of this could’ve been averted had elected officials in Harambe had the foresight to appoint a cat as stationmaster to boost tourism and improve financial viability. Perhaps in 2027?
Anyway, here’s the new menu…
Harambe Market Reopening Date
Harambe Market temporarily closed as of October 20th last year in order to allow work to update the location in order to serve new menu items. Based on construction permits filed around that time, Disney is updating kitchens and adding equipment necessary to serve standard theme park fare at Harambe Market.
With the previous calendar update, Harambe Market once again has operating hours (10:45 AM to 3:15 PM) as of March 1, 2026 and every date thereafter. That’s almost a full month after Restaurantosaurus closes. However, as we reported at the time, that March 1st date should be treated as a deadline. The intention was to reopen Harambe Market much earlier.
With the latest calendar update, Walt Disney World’s official website now indicates that Harambe Market officially reopens on February 5, 2026 with hours from 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM on that date and thereafter.
Again, you can fully expect Harambe Market to soft open by or before February 2, 2026.
The goal is to ensure the current Restaurantosaurus menu is served somewhere at Animal Kingdom and that dining capacity (or a portion of it) exists throughout construction. Basically, that there’s uninterrupted counter service ‘coverage’ and not a month-long gap. Disney is well aware that if there’s so much as single solitary day that guests are deprived of their 1/3 lb Angus Bacon Cheeseburger, the scene is going to resemble that one PTA and Daniel Day-Lewis film. And not the ‘drinking of milkshakes’ part–the ‘being blood’ part.
Meaning the current calendar is still inaccurate, and Harambe Market will soft open by February 2, 2026. It may not post hours or be fully operational, but anyone having an urgent need for the most basic food–that somehow cannot be satisfied by Pizzafari–should be covered by Harambe Market once Restaurantosaurus goes extinct.
Here are stock photos of the new food via Walt Disney World, followed by our commentary:
Our Commentary
This news is your daily reminder that the internet isn’t real life. Many online Walt Disney World fans, at least the vocal ones, outwardly express a strong aversion to the crowd-pleasing restaurants in the parks. Places like Cosmic Ray’s, Pinocchio Village Haus, Restaurantosaurus, etc.
To the extent that anyone has cared about this Harambe Market news, it’s basically been “will the old/good menu return and be served in addition to the staples imported from Restaurantosaurus?” To the extent that fans are mourning the loss of Restaurantosaurus, it’s the eclectic environment, not the food.
In reality, Restaurantosaurus is exponentially more popular (as measured by volume) than Harambe Market was. Online fans may recoil at these crowd-pleasing, high-capacity counter service restaurants, but average guests love them. Or at least, are voting with their wallets and eating at them.
As a person of the internet who lives and breathes this stuff, but still doesn’t fully comprehend why so many average guests opt for these stereotypical counter service restaurants, I find this disconnect fascinating.
To be sure, I do get it to some extent, as convenience and children are obviously big factors. But it nevertheless surprises me how objectively unpopular counter service restaurants are beloved online, whereas it’s pretty much radio silence for the big ones. (PizzeRizzo was the lone exception; the rare counter service restaurant with bad food that was beloved by fans, but also less popular with the park-going public due largely to its location.)
Are fans saying one thing, but doing/eating another? Is it just that no one wants to admit to favoring the stereotypical restaurants? I really wonder, because we normally receive no shortage of ‘unpopular opinion’ type comments. (To each their own, but I’d be more reluctant to admit I didn’t like Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Rise of the Resistance. Theme parks are what we’re here for, so poor taste in attractions is worse than average tastes in foods!)
I would also add that it doesn’t have to be this way! Crowd-pleasing comfort food and intriguing menus can coexist. We have the technology! Connections Eatery and Regal Eagle in EPCOT are both good examples.
While neither have as ambitious of menus as they did upon first debuting, they’re both still ‘good enough’ and can appease picky eaters and those wanting more interesting food. Pecos Bill is seemingly another good example, although I’m not positive the new (good) menu is as “popular” as the old (awful) menu.
Even Restaurantosaurus managed to thread the needle at one point, and the short-lived Restaurantosaurus Burgers & Sundaes was legitimately good. Pizzafari had something similar. It’s unfortunate that Walt Disney World has decided that guests wanting crowd-pleasing food don’t have functioning taste buds.
I don’t believe that’s true, and to the contrary, having boring and bland menus at the spots serving theme park staples is doing them a disservice. At minimum, there’s room for an interesting ‘flagship’ burger or two, unique dipping sauces, and another entree or two a bit outside the ordinary. But this is probably a topic best served separately, as opposed to buried deep in a post very few people will read.
Kusafiri’s Future
Kusafiri Coffee Shop & Bakery in Africa has been open for lunch since Harambe Market closed for refurbishment. During the closure, the bakery has been serving more substantial dishes, such as the Harambe Chicken Rice Bowl, Harissa Chicken Wrap, and plant-based Picadillo Rice Bowl.
As far out as the calendar goes, Kusafiri continues to have daily operating hours from 8:00 AM through 5:00 PM. Our hope is that this is accurate, and that the solution for the next ~2 years is an expanded menu of ambitious dishes at Kusafiri, with Harambe Market becoming the crowd-pleasing spot.
That’s the best case scenario, and probably the most likely one, at this point. Kusafiri has sneakily become one of the better dining spots in Animal Kingdom, and it retaining bona fide counter service restaurant status would be a good thing.
Longer term, this would also open the door for the new hacienda in Tropical Americas serving more adventurous cuisine. I would be shocked if the former Restaurantosaurus reverts to being boring and basic when Tropical Americas opens.
Usually, new lands and restaurants come with exciting and marketable menus. We’d expect that to hold true with the Tropical Americas hacienda, and a location that rivals Satu’li Canteen and Flame Tree BBQ as the best counter service restaurant in Animal Kingdom…and by extension, all of Walt Disney World!
Dinoland Closing Date Reminder
As noted above, Restaurantosaurus will be extinct as of February 2, 2026. But it’s not just that quick-service restaurant, it’s the entirety of Dinoland USA, or rather, what little is left of it.
Most notably, this means the land’s marquee attraction–and one of the few rides at Animal Kingdom. Walt Disney World announced last fall that the closure date for DINOSAUR is February 2, 2026. Meaning the last day to experience the attraction before extinction is February 1, 2026. (Ditto Restaurantosaurus, the gift shop and everything else.)
The other remaining wild card is the meet & greets. Walt Disney World previously revealed that the current character lineup for Donald’s Dino Bash, including Donald and Daisy Ducks as well as Chip & Dale, will be relocated to other areas of Animal Kingdom.
No official details as to locations, but it’s safe to say they won’t be part of Donald’s Dino-Bash wherever the characters land. Our best guess is that the characters will be dispersed across multiple out of the way locations. It’d be nice if they had unique costumes that fit Animal Kingdom, but we wouldn’t hold our breath on that. Stay tuned for more.
Tropical Americas Land Background
There are also multiple sub-lands or areas within Tropical Americas, which is why/how Walt Disney World is staggering the closure of the existing DinoLand USA over the course of a year-plus. It’s also why/how they might stagger the opening of Tropical Americas along a similarly lengthy timeline.
The first area of Tropical Americas is Pueblo Esperanza, the hub in heart of the rainforest. The Pueblo Esperanza community will feature a large hacienda, which will be one of the largest quick-service restaurants at Walt Disney World Resort (this is a reimagining of Restaurantosaurus).
Pueblo Esperanza will also offer a critter carousel as an attraction. This subsection of Tropical Americas will replace the Boneyard, TriceraTops Spin, Restaurantosaurus, Dino-Bite Snacks, and Trilo-Bites.
After leaving the Pueblo Esperanza, guests can venture deeper into the rainforest to find not one but two signature attractions. To the left is the Encanto magical Madrigal Casita dark ride, which is likely to be a family-friendly Omnimover–perhaps like an Encanto-ized version of Mystic Manor.
The Encanto attraction will replace all of Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama, including all of its carnival games, that big roadside dinosaur, Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, Donald’s Dino-Bash, and TriceraTop Spin (again–it straddles the Pueblo Esperanza and Encanto areas).
This is the area of Tropical Americas construction where walls have been up since January. We’re expecting the Encanto attraction to go vertical any day now. It’s very close!
Finally, there’s the new Indiana Jones Adventure attraction, which will replace DINOSAUR.
This reimagined ride will be a new twist on IJA that will be different from the existing versions of the attraction at Disneyland in California and Tokyo DisneySea. Both of those are quite different from one another, and this will be the third non-cloned version of the attraction. Obviously, they all bear similarities–but also all tell unique and distinct stories.
In this new adventure, Indiana Jones has discovered a perfectly preserved Maya temple, and that can only mean one thing: it’s time to explore it. He’s heard rumors about a mythical creature deep within the temple — and he’s got to see it for himself. So, he brings us along on the adventure.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on all of the reopening of Harambe Market and other dining changes at Disney’s Animal Kingdom? What’s your ideal scenario with the menus here, at Kusafiri and the upcoming Tropical Americas hacienda? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
All I want is a tablecloth, human servers, and tasty food. Is there anywhere in AK for this to happen?
Yak & Yeti Restaurant, Tiffins, Rainforest Cafe. You may also like the buffet at Tusker House.
Thanks Gina, we are it Tifflins for our March Vacation!
Purchase actions speak MUCH louder than online words.
Tom’s cutting right to the heart of the 1/3 lb. angus cheeseburger, as usual.
But where are the TWO BEST food items from Dinoland: The buffalo chicken chips and the ice cream cookie sandwich???? Where have they gone??? Buried in the Boneyard?
The buffalo chicken chips are now at Eight Spoon Cafe. Sadly the ice cream cookie sandwich didn’t make it. Check out YouTuber Right Down Main Street for all of the Disney food news!
Correction: Wright Down Main Street.
The buffalo chicken chips from Eight Spoon Cafe are NOT as good as they were from Trilo-Bites. Instead of house made chips, they are standard Lay’s kettle chips. They are also now topped with giardiniera. It was a major disappointment to be honest.
RIP Restaurantosaurus… my 8-year old daughter has told me she refuses to eat at Animal Kingdom after this restaurant closes. I think she’ll come around (especially when she’s hungry), but she also had a tough time saying goodbye to the Boneyard. We’re hoping the dinosaur Chip ‘n Dale meet and greet sticks around at the least. There’s definitely a market for dinosaurs and kids… its what Disney can do with it, that is the question.
We’ll likely fall back on Sa’tuli Canteen or Yak & Yeti quick-service for lunch after she gets through her mourning phase, but I honestly don’t see us going to Harambe Market.
It’s just funny to me because I often see comments online about how the food at WDW is low-quality and boring. And it’s like yes, there are multiple places to go find standard theme park fare. Including the commenters because it’s also so easy to scope out more interesting meals there. And they’re not even more expensive! (RIP Harambe Market chicken and rib combo bowl).
Last time we stayed at AKL there was an older lady asking where she could get “normal food.” These people definitely exist and they aren’t all kids. To her, the harissa in two entrees will still be exotic.
They don’t just exist–there are more of them than there are of people who want adventurous food.
In addition to skewing towards families with young children, I would also guess that (as your comment touches upon) they also skew older. This isn’t to say baby boomers all favor basics and millennials favor ambitious cuisine, but I’d be willing to bet that’s accurate as a generalization.
This is my mom (Baby Boomer). No matter where we go, she just orders burgers, steak, or chicken fingers. It was so painful when we treated her to Topolino’s Terrace for breakfast, and our waiter was like just don’t order the sausage and eggs, you can get that anywhere. Of course, that was the only thing she would even consider lol.
Her excuse is “I’m not a world traveler like you are.” ♀️
Your last line is, verbatim, something I’ve heard from my parents.
Granted, I’m from a small town and it was a very big deal when Applebee’s finally opened when I was in high school. Otherwise, it was pretty much fast food and a couple greasy spoons diners. But even beyond that, I think it’s a generational thing with tastes and preferences.
I don’t know what all the negativity is about; they have both kinds of food. Hamburgers AND cheeseburgers.
Oh, but lemonade IS on the menu! And it’s watermelon flavored! Very exotic, Tom!
PS, the watermelon lemonade is terrible. My kids tried it at Tambu Lounge, and it was too sweet even for them. I don’t understand who drinks all the syrupy sweet drinks.
Nothing screams Africa like Burgers , fries, and tendies lol.
Luckily my kids have always eaten real food – they occasionally eat garbage but at the parks even they eat surprisingly well
As far as updated Character Meet and Greets- I’ve been thinking Chip and Dale might end up in their Rescue Rangers gear since Chip’s outfit is basically an homage to Indy. And then they’d also being playing on that 90s nostalgia factor.
Cost, right? Those prices have to be a factor; from the perspective of 2026, it feels like you can only get two of “crowd-pleasing comfort food,” “intriguing menus,” and “cheaper food.” (Connections Cafe has similar priced better burgers, but Restaurantosaurus includes fries with its burgers *and* fries for the same price, so I consider the “cost” of the basic burger cheaper.) I think that’s part of the reason that you see the online vs offline differential, same as you see a higher percentage online of DVC guests vs total guests, and onsite vs offsite guests. While we’re willing to complain when Disney isn’t offering us a superior product for a superior price, many of us are able to take advantage when they do, and indeed, try them in the first place. That’s my theory, anyway.
Because the Restaurantosaurus salad was a fruit bowl in lettuce the last few times I was taken there, the Impossible Burger (and fries) was the best option on the menu for me. Since that’s been taken to the Wilderness Lodge for a significant cost increase, I looked at the salad. While it appears to be a step down from the original HE salad, it actually should taste like a salad and would be an upgrade. (I don’t like raw tomatoes or onions, so I won’t be trying it unless the kachumbari is on the side.)
I think this food looks like a food option, especially with a picky eater in my family. Gotta keep those preteens fed to have good park days. Does anybody else remember when Restaurantosaurus was a McDonalds?
I might get the salad except I don’t know what the heck kachumbari is (but surely that counts as not being standard theme park fare). The Kubma cookie looks exotic. I’m veering away from counter service restaurants. I don’t feel I can carry a tray with a drink on it without spilling half the drink & creating a slip & fall hazard, so I’ve been asking cast members to carry the tray to the table for me (plus I have torn muscles in my arms) & they’ve always been helpful. I make sure to praise them later to guest relations. But I get nervous each time about asking.
I’m mostly commenting to bring up an unrelated matter, but your article on it is too old to reply to now. I went to Magic Kingdom on January 27th, as you recommended. I got on 4 rides in the afternoon. Peter Pan’s Flight was a manageable 30 minutes instead of the usual 75. Haunted Mansion also said 30 minutes but didn’t seem that long, but I guess they count the part after the preshow as part of the wait. It’s a Small World & Journey of the Little Mermaid were practically walk-ons. Also, getting on the monorail for the trip there was a breeze, although things were more crowded when I left in the 3 PM hour.
Meh. I’ll stick with Pizzafari.
Interesting that we get Uncrustables here. Despite even the original being something of a culinary abomination, I figured Disney would offer some foodservice-supplied knockoff labeled as “Crustless PB&J Sandwich Pockets” or something. But obviously Disney came to an agreement with JM Smucker that they couldn’t get hammered out with Kraft Heinz on Tater Tots (er, I mean, “potato barrels”)
If there is not an excellent empanadas place in Tropical Americas I will riot. My random thought of the day.
Regarding why so many guests opt for stereotypical counter service restaurants… my thought is that it’s like being on the first page of a Google search. They’re big, they’re visible, they’re usually directly off of main walking paths. I think many guests don’t give a ton of thought to what they’re going to eat and just look around for the nearest restaurant when hungry. (Side note, this is why I think Bluey at Conservation Station is a mistake. Many guests are looking around for Harry Potter land, they’re definitely not up on every nuance of the park. Conservation Station is way too tucked away for Bluey.)
I think empanadas are bound to be on the menu somewhere in T.A. (a kiosk near the Encanto casita would make too much sense), but “good” empanadas might be a bridge too far.
I am blessed with a child who will eat only plant-based versions of traditional theme park foods, like burgers, tenders, and hot dogs (and corn dogs, when you can find them). But they don’t even have these, according to that menu. Such a massive shift. At least there are other options. I really liked the previous menu, all things considered. Someone mentioned Satu’li Canteen, and their Crispy Tofu Bowl is worth schlepping over for (or planning a ride around).
This. I’m always able to find a grown up thing for me to eat but my kids eat little to no meat and these kids meals become tortuuuuureeeeee by the end of a week long trip.
Out of curiosity, how do kids come to favor plant-based versions of traditional theme park foods? This seems like it would be a learned behavior…right?
Trying to figure out what to avoid so our daughter continues eating to our preferences, instead of developing her own ‘unfavorable’ ones! 😉
Tips:
1.) Hold off on giving them stereotypical kids food as long as you can. They’ll find it at some point, they’ll enjoy it, but then they’ll eventually cling to what they know. Our kids are at an extreme right now and I hope we can get them to a point where they can like, eat healthy at home but also be part of society.
2.) Have a wife who is unafraid to talk to them *constantly* about healthy eating.
3.) Do what I did and show them “Babe” and “Charlotte’s Web” at way too young of an age. (Whoops.)
1) This is pretty much where we’re at right now. Her favorite foods are salmon, grilled chicken, greek yogurt, peanut butter, beans, avocado, and various vegetables as a result. She’s yet to have anything fried or with added sugar (not even birthday cake), which has been a tough task given that we travel and spend so much time in theme parks. But I know this will change, especially once she starts pre-school.
2) Done and done.
3) Hahahahaha!
Fun related anecdote – My mom tells a story about how when I was very little, i used to refuse to eat any fish because “it might have been one of Ariel’s friends”. I still lean vegetarian when I can.
I am a lover of good and interesting vegetarian eats so the change to Harambe is a disappointment. But, I have a picky child who only ever wants typical theme park food so I can see the need to have to expand the menu in the absence of restaurantasaurus. Perhaps the fans want the interesting stuff but their off spring does not, hence the discrepancy.
“Perhaps the fans want the interesting stuff but their off spring does not, hence the discrepancy.”
This is a good theory. I’d probably take that a step further and say that a lot of the people sharing opinions online don’t have kids in the first place.
Put this in the category of “so what”. Ever since Satuli (sp) Canteen opened, I’ve never visited any other restaurant in Animal Kingdom. 🙂
Fair perspective!
It’s also one I share–you won’t be seeing a review of the new Harambe Market menu here…but I might find an excuse to re-review Satu’li Canteen yet again! 😉
I am partial to flame tree BBQ. Satuli is probably better, but a bbq sandwich is a great quick service item that is different from the usual terrible burgers and dry chicken strips.
I see where you are coming from, Carol! We skipped Sa’tuli Canteen our last trip for the first time since Pandora opened. We tried Nomad’s Lounge for lunch instead after seeing praises for it on DTB and other places. Sa’tuli is probably more enjoyable food for me and certainly a better price point, but I enjoyed the atmosphere of Nomad’s.