First Look at Redone Grand Floridian Cafe as Disney World’s Flagship Resort Reimagining Wraps Up
Walt Disney World has shared a sneak peek at the new menu and inside the reimagined Grand Floridian Cafe, the fan-favorite table service restaurant that is about to reopen following a multi-month refurbishment. Here are full details and first-look food photos, along with an update on construction on the flagship resort as a whole.
The Grand Floridian Cafe refurbishment is the final component of an overhaul to Walt Disney World’s flagship resort that is now technically scheduled to wrap up in 2027. The reimagining of the Grand Floridian has been a lengthy project, dating back to Bob Iger’s first tour as CEO in 2019 with the Enchanted Rose lounge.
That was followed by Citricos around reopening, then room reimaginings and major refurbishments to the outer buildings. The project culminated last Christmas, with the debut of the new lobby and Birdcage Bar. With the reimagined Garden View Lounge finally reopened this spring after a 6-year closure, only one restaurant remained: Grand Floridian Cafe.
Grand Floridian Cafe closed in late July, and has been serving brunch at Citricos since. Walls went up around the front of the restaurant over the summer, with construction spanning the three-plus months since. Grand Floridian Cafe is now poised to welcome back guests as the last major aspect of the resort reimagining to reopen, almost a full year after the bulk of the lobby was redone.
Even before this restaurant reopens, the Grand Floridian is no longer a construction zone and hasn’t been since the lobby overhaul wrapped up last November. At least, not for the most part once you walk through the front entrance (more on this in a minute). There are a number of ways the Grand Floridian now looks and feels fresh, and is once again worthy of being considered the crown jewel of WDW resorts. See our Review: Walt Disney World’s Flagship Hotel Finally Fits Its Status & Sky-High Prices.
Against that backdrop, let’s take a look at the new Grand Floridian Cafe menu highlights shared by Walt Disney World…
New Grand Floridian Cafe Menu Items
Starting with breakfast, Disney has shared the Apple Butter-Cinnamon Roll with Cinnamon-Caramel Crumb that’ll cost $8.
This is one of four appetizers to go along with six entrees, plus two different pancakes choices, which are listed separately for some reason. Perhaps because everyone knows you’re supposed to order pancakes “for the table,” making them the entree equivalent of an appetizer.
For an appetizer, there’s the plant-based Fried Green Tomatoes with Remoulade Sauce for $12.
Now this is my kind of plant-based dish–the fried kind! This is one of those dishes that Disney typically does really well, and I could’ve sworn these have been on the menu in the past at Grand Floridian Cafe.
Someday, it’d be nice if a restaurant did a fried vegetable sampler, with tomatoes, pickles, and peppers. Like an American take on tempura!
Joining the menu for lunch is the Cobb Salad with Romaine, House-roasted Turkey, Bacon, Avocado, Tomato, Egg, Blue Cheese, and Cobb Dressing for $21.
This is part of a dedicated salads section of the menu with seven different options, although a few of those are variations of the same thing (e.g. salad plus chicken or shrimp or salmon). Really, it’s just three salads: Cobb, Heirloom Apple or Caesar.
Also on the lunch menu is The Club: House-roasted Turkey, Carved Ham, Bacon, Herbed Cheese Spread, Crispy Onions, Tomato Focaccia, House-seasoned Steak Fries for $19.
This is one of six entrees in addition to the salads, which seems like a low number. One of these, thankfully, is our beloved Buttermilk-fried Chicken. As before, this dish has two different descriptions and prices. For breakfast and lunch, it’s Hand-breaded Chicken Breast, Waffle, Hot Honey for $27. For dinner, it’s Hand-breaded Chicken Breast with Mashed Potatoes and Warmed Bacon Vinaigrette for $31. My personal favorite is the dinner version.
The updated Grand Floridian Cafe menu is available here on Walt Disney World’s website. What’s unclear to me is whether it’s been fully updated. If it has, it looks like there are fewer options on the new menus than the old ones and the current brunch that’s being served at Citricos.
However, as we’ve seen a couple of times recently, the new online menus often don’t fully reflect what’s served at the restaurant. Here’s hoping this isn’t the final menu, and the Lobster Thermidor Burger is making a surprise return!
New Grand Floridian Cafe Interior
Walt Disney World also shared a look at the reimagined restaurant interior, which should put fears of fans to rest. It’s mostly the same as before, with the structure and layout of the dining room remaining unchanged.
The bones are the same as before, with lattice overhead, columns and booths subdividing the space, along with flowers and other decorations giving the space personality and warmth. To my eye, the biggest changes are the replacement of all of the carpeting, tables and chairs, and bench seating upholstery. The wallpaper was also removed, and at least some light fixtures were replaced.
Although not pictured, I’d also assume the curtains were swapped out. Also not pictured are certain defining features at the front and back of the restaurant. I’d expect that the rear ‘rotunda’ like seating area (for lack of a better term) is still there, and hope that the glass marquee likewise made the cut. (Old photos below.)
All in all, this was pretty much what we were expecting. This was pretty much the playbook for the Garden View Lounge, which received a similar refresh involving the carpet, furnishings and fixtures without radically reinventing the space. It’s been the approach to a lot of the updates to the resort, with Citricos and Narcoossee’s being other examples.
I’m going to withhold full judgment until actually seeing the whole space and dining here next weekend, but my first impression is mostly positive. (I actually have more skepticism about the menu updates than the dining room, which strikes me as potentially scaled-back.)
Then again, I’ve been a vocal proponent of the Grand Floridian resort reimagining, especially what’s been redone in the last few years. After a rocky start with Enchanted Rose lounge, it’s mostly been good to great, threading the needle on giving first-timers what they expect of a flagship luxury resort and maintaining thematic coherence along with what fans love about the resort.
It’s great to see Walt Disney World finally refresh Grand Floridian Cafe, and the first look strikes me as a tasteful modernization. I know Grand Floridian Cafe has a legion of loyal fans, some of whom might hate to hear this, but it was beyond time.
The restaurant stuck out like a sore thumb in the redone hotel, looking like a vestige from a different era. The previous Grand Floridian Cafe felt dated. And before anyone says “that was the point of the theme,” it was not dated in the way a Victorian design is inherently a time capsule from a different era.
The old interior looked as if some decorations were pulled from the style pages of a 1993 issue of Country Living Magazine. There was a lot going on in terms of floral patterns, textures, wallpaper, and furnishings that was less reminiscent of a Victorian meets modern Floridian design and more like a quaint but affluent farmhouse done up in a Victorian style. It felt a bit too folksy and 1990s for the flagship resort at Walt Disney World.
It was like a fancier, less-cluttered and quasi-Victorian Cracker Barrel. This was a criticism we had for the restaurant in our original review of it more than a decade ago, so it’s not even as if the antiquated appearance just became evident when the rest of the resort was refreshed. Grand Floridian Cafe has needed this for a long time–longer than the rest of the resort.
Grand Floridian Cafe Reopening Date
Walt Disney World previously revealed that Grand Floridian Cafe will reopen on November 2, 2026. There was never an official announcement (well technically, it just accompanied the new food photos and first look at the interior), but Advance Dining Reservations for Grand Floridian Cafe beginning November 2, 2026 quietly opened last month.
In addition to dinner from 5 pm to 9 pm, you can also now book breakfast from 7:30 am to 11 am and lunch from 11:30 am to 2 pm. There’s currently ample availability for all dates through New Year’s Eve, including reopening day.
While walk-ups are usually possible at Grand Floridian Cafe, we’d nevertheless recommend ADRs. This tends to be a popular spot with hotel guests, and the wait to be seated can be lengthy. (Although this is often true even with ADRs.)
Grand Floridian Construction Continues
As noted above, the Grand Floridian Cafe is pretty much the final piece of the puzzle to the overhaul of Walt Disney World’s flagship resort now scheduled to conclude in 2027.
However, it’s not the only work that’s ongoing given that the restaurant reopens this month, which is obviously before 2027. Here’s the current construction bulletin:
Renovations at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa will continue in select areas, including the covered entrance, through early 2027. Guests may see or hear work during daytime hours and may need to take alternative routes.
From mid-July through October 2026, Grand Floridian Cafe will temporarily close for a refresh. During this time, brunch will continue to be offered at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, but it will temporarily move to CÃtricos. All other dining locations at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa will remain during the renovations.
This holiday season at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Guests can enjoy elegant seasonal décor and festive offerings, along with new miniature gingerbread displays featured throughout the Resort. To help keep the lobby flowing smoothly for Resort Guests, the traditional large gingerbread house will not be offered this year.
Once the Grand Floridian Cafe reopens, no work will remain inside the hotel or even once you get past the front entrance. Moreover, none of the remaining work is part of the comprehensive resort reimagining; it’s only routine maintenance, upkeep, and general construction that remains.
There are two other aspects of the multi-year project outside the resort. One is work to re-route and expand Floridian Way. This is a lengthy project that has had an impact to both the Poly and Grand Floridian, and won’t be fully finished until late 2027. Much of this is already open (including new roundabouts), with temporary connectors from the old segments of road to new. The impact to Grand Floridian at this time is fairly minimal. And again, nothing that’s evident from within the resort itself.
More noticeable is work on the porte cochere and Grand Floridian monorail station. There have been walls and scaffolding up for several months, but this is also in the home stretch. We last saw this in mid-October, and it was looking close to completion. It wouldn’t surprise me the least if it’s done this month as opposed to early 2027, in fact.
Either way, the impact is minimal. I would have zero hesitations whatsoever to stay at the Grand Floridian right now on the basis of construction. You’re unlikely to notice anything once you walk in the front door. Even from the monorail platform, it’s mostly just a matter of potentially hearing noise; most of the visible construction is confined to the lower level at this point.
Ultimately, we remain cautiously optimistic about the remainder of the resort reimagining, and especially Grand Floridian Cafe. The first look inside is just a single photo, but it more or less comports with expectations and does not suggest a radical reimagining that fundamentally changes the space or strips its personality.
It appears to be a tasteful modernization that should work for most guests. Although there were more consequential changes to the lobby and outer buildings, this is pretty much how Walt Disney World’s flagship resort reimagining can be characterized. The hotel has been modernized nicely, with a good balance of elegance, sophistication, charm, and whimsy. The quality finally feels commensurate to its cost.
Although we know other fans are more mixed on the new lobby, we love it. From our perspective, it was about the best possible realistic outcome and is so much better than what we expected after seeing Enchanted Rose. Thankfully, the first piece of the puzzle was the outlier, and everything since has been so much more tasteful and largely on-theme. We cannot wait to return to Grand Floridian Cafe, and are heartened that this refurbishment looks like it retained the charm and personality, while no longer feeling stuck in the 1990s farmhouse-chic style.
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 the new-look Grand Floridian Cafe or the refreshed menu? Will you be booking an ADR at Grand Floridian Cafe in November or December? Looking forward to its return with a reimagined interior? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? 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!
