Quintessential Vacation Mode “Meal” in Magic Kingdom

Back in the heyday of my youth, I would have cupcakes for breakfast at Walt Disney World. I always justified this to Sarah by saying it was “for research” and that there was a lot of reader interest in cupcakes. There’s probably no shortage of dad jokes in our old trip reports about calories not counting on vacation or cupcakes being the breakfast of rope drop champions.

That that I’m older, wiser, and more sophisticated, I do not eat cupcakes for breakfast. Mostly because, in my view, Walt Disney World’s cupcake game peaked a decade ago and has really fallen off since. Fast-forward to today, and when Sarah is around, we do grocery delivery. I’ll eat plain greek yogurt, carrots, and other nutrient-dense health foods. (Same type of stuff we predominantly eat at home, if you’ve ever wondered why I appear in shape despite posts like this.)

When she isn’t around, I’ll still eat some of that healthy stuff, but supplement with leftovers I take home from bakeries in the parks. For research. Suffice to say, I’ve been doing an extensive investigation on Karamell-Küche and Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie over the last several years. (Results are inconclusive and still in the exploratory phase, so further testing is needed–planned publish date is currently 2029. Guess Disney construction progress is faster than something!) Anyway, there’s finally a new option like this in Magic Kingdom offering an incredibly decadent “meal” with the potential for leftovers and a take-home breakfast…

This meal is found deep in New Fantasyland (at over 10 years old, is it just regular Fantasyland now?) at Gaston’s Tavern. For me, the story of Gaston’s Tavern is largely one of squandered potential. It’s undersized relative to demand, with a fraction of the seating it actually needs. This is doubly true now that Be Our Guest Restaurant is table service all day, and Gaston’s Tavern is the de facto counter service restaurant in not-so-New Fantasyland.

Nevertheless, I’ve always held a certain fondness for Gaston’s Tavern. The themed design is impeccable, giving the venue a quaint village feel, and the details throughout the tavern are fun and cheeky. Everything from the lighting to the incomplete game of darts between Gaston and LeFou to Gaston’s prize heads on the walls just works.

The result is a perfectly executed theme, and a venue where it’s fun to linger and enjoy the ambiance. Gaston’s Tavern answers the question of “how many antlers in all of the decorating is too many antlers?” with a hard “NO!” (Yes, I know it wasn’t a yes or no question. The answer stands.)

Gaston’s Tavern is cozy and intimate, an antidote to the many cavernous counter service restaurants with large rooms and minimalist design that Disney has done in recent years. The problem is that this intimacy is accomplished via undersized seating areas, as opposed to Imagineers working their magic to break up space and make a bigger venue feel smaller.

Imagineering got it right almost a decade later with Gaston’s Tavern at Tokyo Disneyland, which perfectly threads the needle on size, scale, and atmosphere. Oh and the menu has fantastic guilty pleasures. (Japan also got the much better Beast’s Castle, a full-size version complete with one of the best rides on the planet inside.)

But I digress. The reason we’re here today is because Gaston’s Tavern has expanded its menu, and now (arguably) qualifies as an actual counter service restaurant instead of meager snack spot. Let’s take a look…

Let’s start with the savory item: Ham and Gruyère Tart made with a crispy croissant dough topped with ham and gruyere and served with a bag of chips. This dish currently costs $9.49.

It may not look like much, but this Ham and Gruyère Tart is basically a fancified flatbread. Similar to what’s served around the bend at Pinocchio Village Haus, but less substantial and much better. Quite unexpectedly, it’s one of my new favorite savory items in Magic Kingdom.

Where this tart excels is the crust. It’s soft, buttery, flaky, and delicate. It’s reminiscent of something from the France pavilion at EPCOT as opposed to Magic Kingdom. Basically the antithesis of the bargain-basement crusts of the flatbreads Pinocchio serves up. Very fitting for a Beauty and the Beast inspired restaurant.

The melted gruyère on top is creamy and cheesy, and the perfect topping to the pastry crust. The ham is fine–definitely not quality on par with the cheese and crust, but it adds a much-needed savoriness to the dish, giving it a bit more dimension. My biggest complaint is that it’s fairly light–such is the nature of that delicate pastry crust–and not particularly filling for the price.

It’s also disappointing to have the Ham and Gruyère Tart served with a regular ole bag of chips. The dish itself strikes me as more gourmet, whereas pairing it with off-the-shelf chips is a thoughtless touch. I’d honestly rather pay more for house-made chips or less for no side at all. Still a dish I’d recommend, just not the best bang for buck (also probably not shareable unless as a smaller snack).

Next up is the tried and true Grey Stuff Cupcake, which is a Chocolate Cupcake topped with “The Grey Stuff” and crispy pearls for $5.99.

The Grey Stuff basically tastes like cookies & cream, but that’s an oversimplification. Although I think cupcakes have been dumbed-down and simplified over the years at Walt Disney World, this is one exception to that rule. There are maybe 3 cupcakes I’d regularly recommend in the parks & resorts, and the Grey Stuff Cupcake is one of them.

The quality is high, the flavor is fantastic–it’s just a well-rounded, albeit simple dessert. There’s also something to be said for eating an iconic offering from the movie Beauty and the Beast. If you haven’t had the Grey Stuff Cupcake before, or only a different of the Grey Stuff, I’d recommend giving this a try.

Turning to an even more iconic breakfast-dessert, there’s the Warm Cinnamon Roll for $6.99.

I still remember the one-two punch back in 2012 when Starbucks was announced as taking over the Main Street Bakery; then Disney revealed the menu for Gaston’s Tavern, and that the gigantic cinnamon rolls would be moving back there to New Fantasyland. Fans absolutely lost their minds. It was like the OG ‘Ohana Noodlegate, but if the noodles were moved to Kona Cafe instead of retired entirely.

Our perspective was that fans were overreacting to the cinnamon roll relocation. That it was ‘piling on’ about Starbucks coupled with disappointment that Gaston’s Tavern wasn’t bigger and more ambitious. What difference did it make if the cinnamon rolls were served in the front or back of the park? As it turns out, a big difference. Honestly, great call from the haters–they were correct.

Ordering a cinnamon roll from Gaston’s Tavern is like a low stakes game of Russian roulette with your stomach. You could have a freshly-made one that is gloriously gooey and soft, or one that’s been dry-aged under a heat lamp for ages, is hardened and tastes stale.

I get why Walt Disney World fans love the Warm Cinnamon Roll, but you need to be careful when ordering them later in the day when they’re more likely to have been hardened under the heat lamp for hours. The one we got on this particular day was about a 7/10 on the freshness scale, which is good by Gaston’s standards. I’ve had worse.

Beyond that, I don’t think much of a review is necessary here. You’ve probably had cinnamon rolls before, and at their best, this is a larger and more indulgent version of those. Personally, I don’t think the Gaston’s Tavern is any better than the kind I can make myself from the freezer at Trader Joe’s, but they are addictively good…when they’re good. Not recommended, unless tasting the iconic snacks is a must-do, in which case, you need to get to Gaston’s in the morning.

Saving the best for last, there’s the Crème Brûlée Croissant, which consists of crispy croissant dough filled with vanilla bean custard for $5.49.

This puppy is fantastic. It’s another indulgent dessert, with caramelization on top that’s sweet and slightly charred before giving way to a pastry that’s the right balance of doughy and fluffy, soft and dense.

That’s all topped off by the vanilla bean custard inside. It’s a glorious mess that’s best eaten sitting down, with a knife and fork. Do not try to eat this while on the move, unless you want a mess all over your hands, shirt, and so forth.

In a nutshell, the Crème Brûlée Croissant is everything the Warm Cinnamon Roll should be. This is sweet and sugary to the point that you’ll feel it in your teeth, but it’s not one-note.

There’s just enough variety in the flavors and textures to give it nuance, making it both addictively good and a dessert that’s distinct–it makes me crave something at Magic Kingdom, not something here or from the Trader Joe’s freezer aisle.

I split this Crème Brûlée Croissant with two friends, and would recommend doing likewise–I could also see eating half in the park and taking the other half back to the hotel for breakfast the next day. Whenever I get around to updating our list of the Best Snacks in Magic Kingdom, this will make the cut. I might even include the Ham and Gruyère Tart, for lack of savory options.

Ultimately, the expanded menu at Gaston’s Tavern has two items we love, another that’s very good, and one that can be very good under the right circumstances. When it comes to Magic Kingdom, the worst food park at Walt Disney World, everything is graded on a curve and this combo makes Gaston’s Tavern recommended with reservations.

The main reservation is that we (still) cannot recommend Gaston’s Tavern for your main meals at Magic Kingdom. As you can probably gather for yourself, this isn’t going to be a suitable lunch or dinner unless you’re really in vacation mode and subsisting entirely on sweet treats. In which case, my younger self tips his hat to you. Enjoy it before Father Time catches up to you, twisting his cruel hand on your metabolism.

Gaston’s Tavern remains a glorified snack spot, but one that still has the potential for greatness as a fully-fledged counter service restaurant–all it would take is bringing back that glorious pork shank! But as a breakfast after a satisfying rope drop run, or as a ‘supplement’ to healthy and nutrient-dense foods (via grocery delivery), or as a fourth meal? There’s something to be said for the current menu at Gaston’s Tavern, and it’s back on my “list” of places to eat regularly while in Magic Kingdom. (Editor’s note: the royal “we” is used throughout this post, when in fact, this is the author’s opinion alone.)

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Your Thoughts

Have any favorite menu item at Gaston’s Tavern? Have you tried the recently-added menu items? Would you eat here if the glorious pork shank made its return? Do you agree or disagree with our review of Gaston’s Tavern? 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!