Open & Closed Restaurants at Disney World (January 2023)
This list of open & closed restaurants at Walt Disney World covers what’s operating in Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and resort hotels. We update this regularly, with info on what’s coming soon, newly reopened, and more. (Updated January 1, 2023.)
The good news is that the vast majority of noteworthy dining options at Walt Disney World have now reopened. Last year, restaurants reopened on a near-weekly basis. This included several Signature Restaurants, hidden gem counter service spots, and even some buffets. On top of that, table service restaurants started filling more tables, improving their efficiency, and seating more guests per day.
Notable recent developments include the resumption of buffet service, expanded operations, and restoration of many ‘missing meals’ at many character dining experiences. In addition to this, a handful of niche Signature Dining establishments have returned or are reopening soon, albeit with massive price increases and prix fixe menus. (Presumably, these are ‘star-chasers’ now that there’s a Florida Michelin Guide.)
On another positive note, Walt Disney World’s culinary teams aren’t quite as understaffed as they were last year. This is one of the big reasons why restaurants are able to fill more tables and increase their capacity.
The same is also true at character dining experiences, where tables were removed to allow more clearance between characters and guests. That’s good news for those trying to score Advance Dining Reservations or walk-up availability.
To be sure, most Advance Dining Reservations are still much more competitive than pre-closure. (See What’s Up With ADR Availability? for more details about that.) Many restaurants have ADRs so elusive that you won’t have much luck scoring them unless you book bright and early 60 days beforehand–and even that might not be good enough. These include Space 220 Restaurant, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, California Grill, Be Our Guest Restaurant, and many more locations.
If you don’t make ADRs that far in advance, check out our Top 10 Tips for Difficult ADRs at Walt Disney World. With the exception of new or newly-reopened restaurants, we make the vast majority of our ADRs only a few days in advance (or even the same-day). This covers some of our hacks for reserving restaurants on shorter notice.
With that out of the way, let’s start with some other updates…
Permanently Closed
- ESPN Club
- Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
Recently Returned
- Dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
- Buffet Service at Disney Junior Play n’ Dine at Hollywood & Vine
- Buffet Service at Minnie’s Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine
- Buffet Service at Tusker House
- Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner at Crystal Palace: A Buffet with Characters featuring Winnie the Pooh and Friends
- Minnie’s Beach Bash Breakfast at Cape May Café
- Monsieur Paul
- ‘Ohana Best Friends Breakfast featuring Lilo and Stitch
- Takumi-Tei
- Top of the World Lounge
- Victoria & Albert’s
Coming Soon
- Buffet Service at Chef Mickey’s – March 1, 2023
- Characters at Cinderella’s Royal Table – February 28, 2023
- Cake Bake Shop – 2023
- Summer House on the Lake – 2023
- Rosa Mexicano Restaurant – 2023
- Toy Story Land Roundup Rodeo BBQ Restaurant – Spring 2023
The newest developments on this list are the return of princesses in the dining room at Cinderella’s Royal Table and the buffet service at Chef Mickey’s. The latter had been a family-style meal, which was well-regarded among guests and an upgrade over the previous buffet; here’s hoping upgrades are made to elevate the cuisine quality. As for Cinderella’s Royal Table, the roaming princesses will return to the dining room, joining Cinderella, who already appears in the lobby.
With almost all restaurants having reopened at this point, the biggest changes on the horizon for 2023 will be like those occurring at Cinderella’s Royal Table and Chef Mickey’s. There are still several restaurants that need to restore “missing meals” and going from regular restaurants to character dining experiences, as was the case pre-closure. Expect this to happen largely by Spring 2023.
The implication from Walt Disney World is that more character meals will return in the months to come. The major impediment to this is staffing shortages, which remain an ongoing issue and probably will throughout 2023. Fortunately, Cast Member morale is starting to improve and turnover is decreasing, so Walt Disney World should finally be able to hire and retain enough Cast Members to restore operational normalcy.
This is why, for example, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall has reopened but is only serving dinner and not breakfast. There’s more than enough demand to sell out of ADRs for all three meals well in advance–Disney is not voluntarily leaving money on the table; they don’t have enough Cast Members to work the shifts necessary to open for breakfast and lunch.
With all of that out of the way, here’s what’s open & closed at Walt Disney World as of January 2023…
Magic Kingdom Open Restaurants List
- Adventureland Spring Roll Cart
- Aloha Isle
- Auntie Gravity’s Galactic Goodies
- Be Our Guest Restaurant
- Casey’s Corner
- Cinderella’s Royal Table
- Cheshire Cafe
- Columbia Harbour House
- Cool Ship
- Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe
- Crystal Palace
- Diamond Horseshoe
- Frontierland Churro Cart
- Gaston’s Tavern
- Golden Oak Outpost
- Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company
- Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen
- Liberty Square Market
- Liberty Tree Tavern
- Lunching Pad
- Main Street Bakery
- Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe
- Pinocchio Village Haus
- Plaza Ice Cream Parlor
- Plaza Restaurant
- Prince Eric’s Village Market
- Sleepy Hollow
- Storybook Treats
- Sunshine Tree Terrace
- Tony’s Town Square Restaurant
- Tortuga Tavern
- Westward Ho
Note that even though Be Our Guest Restaurant has returned, it’s using an ‘all-day’ table service menu previously reserved for dinner. That means breakfast is discontinued, as is the counter service lunch.
This 3-course dining experience is $67 for adults (ages 10 and up) and $39 for children (ages 3 to 9). Tax and gratuity are not included. You can read more about this experience in our Be Our Guest Restaurant Prix Fixe Dinner Review.
Magic Kingdom Closed Restaurants List
- Aunt Polly’s Dockside Inn
- Tomorrowland Terrace
Both of these are seasonal anyway, so not big losses. Normally, these would open for the weeks around peak season dates. That’s probably possible again for Easter 2023, but unlikely before then.
Animal Kingdom Open Restaurants List
- Anandapur Ice Cream Truck
- Creature Comforts
- Dawa Bar
- Dino-Bite Snacks
- Dino Diner
- Eight Spoon Cafe
- Flame Tree Barbecue
- Harambe Fruit Market
- Harambe Market
- Isle of Java
- Kusafiri Coffee Shop & Bakery
- Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company
- Mahindi
- Mr. Kamal’s
- Nomad Lounge
- Pizzafari
- Pongu Pongu
- Rainforest Cafe
- Restaurantosaurus
- Satu’li Canteen
- Smiling Crocodile
- Tamu Tamu Refreshments
- Terra Treats
- Thirsty River Bar & Trek Snacks
- Tiffins Restaurant
- Trilo-Bites
- Tusker House Restaurant
- Warung Outpost
- Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafes
- Yak & Yeti Restaurant
Not much commentary to offer here, as most of Animal Kingdom’s most popular dining options are returning. Animal Kingdom is probably the park most unscathed on the dining front. Everything still closed is a snack spot, many of which were not open regularly, anyway.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios Open List
- 50’s Prime Time Café
- ABC Commissary
- Anaheim Produce
- Backlot Express
- BaseLine Tap House
- Catalina Eddie’s
- Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo
- Dockside Diner
- Epic Eats
- Fairfax Fare
- The Hollywood Brown Derby
- The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge
- Hollywood Scoops (Seasonal)
- Hollywood & Vine
- Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company
- Kat Saka’s Kettle
- KRNR Rock Station Food Truck
- Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano
- Milk Stand
- Peevy’s Polar Pipeline
- PizzeRizzo
- Ronto Roasters
- Rosie’s All-American Café
- Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant
- Sunshine Day Bar
- The Trolley Car Café
- Tune-In Lounge
- Woody’s Lunch Box
It’s a similar story at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Almost every single noteworthy restaurant has now returned. Many have scaled back menus or show elements (in the case of 50’s Prime Time Cafe), but everything “important” is available.
Hollywood Studios Closed Restaurants List
- Municiberg Neighborhood Bakery
Basically, everything is open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Municiberg Neighborhood Bakery is part of the temporary Incredibles area set up in Pixar Place, and it very well may never return.
EPCOT Open Restaurants List
- Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
- Biergarten Restaurant
- Block & Hans Fine American Ale
- Choza de Margarita
- Cool Wash
- Coral Reef Restaurant
- Crepes des Chefs de France
- Epcot Festival Marketplaces
- Fife & Drum Tavern
- Funnel Cake
- Garden Grill Restaurant
- Gelati
- Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company
- Joy of Tea
- Kabuki Café
- Katsura Grill
- Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe
- L’Artisan des Glaces
- La Cantina de San Angel
- La Cava de Tequila
- La Hacienda de San Angel
- The Land Cart
- Le Cellier Steakhouse
- Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie
- Lotus Blossom Cafe
- Monsieur Paul
- Nine Dragons Restaurant
- Pizza al Taglio – Via Napoli Pizza Window
- Popcorn in Canada
- Refreshment Outpost
- Refreshment Port
- Regal Eagle’s Distinctly Patriotic Smokehouse: A Salute to All Foods, But Mostly Barbecued Meats ~ A Sam Eagle Craft Drafts & BBQ Joint
- Rose & Crown Dining Room
- Rose & Crown Pub
- San Angel Inn Restaurante
- Sommerfest
- Spice Road Table
- Sunshine Seasons
- Takumi-Tei
- Tangierine Cafe (festival location)
- Teppan Edo
- Tokyo Dining
- Traveler’s Café
- Tutto Italia Ristorante
- Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar
- UK Beer Cart
- Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria
- Yorkshire County Fish Shop
EPCOT NOT Open List:
- Restaurant Marrakesh
When Walt Disney World first reopened, EPCOT was the park hit hardest on the dining front. That was due to it being the least busy park initially, having the most restaurants to begin with, and many not being operated by Disney.
The good news is that many restaurants have already returned at EPCOT. This now includes Akershus Royal Banquet Hall and Monsieur Paul, and Takumi-Tei. The bad news is that all three–and other restaurants–remain short-staffed and have limited hours as a result.
Now let’s turn to resorts. For these, it’s easier for us to simply list what’s still closed at the operational hotels, as most restaurants have reopened…
Closed Resort Restaurants
- 1900 Park Fare
- Garden View Tea Room
- Cape Town Lounge & Wine Bar
Missing Meals
- Be Our Guest Restaurant – Breakfast
- Be Our Guest Restaurant – Counter Service Lunch
- Cinderella’s Royal Table – Fairytale Princess Dining
- Garden Grill – Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Harvest Feast Breakfast
- Trattoria al Forno – Bon Voyage Character Breakfast
This last list encapsulates why many Walt Disney World guests still find dining to be lacking, especially at Magic Kingdom. There’s no pre-park opening breakfast, many character meals are missing, and Be Our Guest Restaurant is still doing its prix fixe dinner rather than 3 distinct meals.
On top of that, throughout Walt Disney World, character dining is still modified. There are also several Signature Restaurants still closed, and dinner shows are likewise unavailable. So even though the overwhelming majority of restaurants have reopened, it doesn’t always “feel” that way–especially to those who enjoy the unique dining experiences. Here’s hoping more normalcy to restaurants returns in 2023. We’ll keep you posted with regular updates here!
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
What do you think about this list of restaurants that are reopening and remaining closed at Walt Disney World? Any closures that disappoint you? What about pleasant surprises? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? 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!
Hi, does anyone know if the character dining at Hollywood & Vine is returning for Christmas? We’ve been trying to book it for 14th December 2022 but Disney dining reservations are saying no dates in December have been released yet. Same advise is being given on the Magic Kingdom desert party reservations
M Paul announcement, open next week
It’s on there. 🙂
I am so excited I am forgetting punctuation
Hi Tom, do you know when Garden Grill will open for breakfast?
Hi Tom, thanks for your update. Is there any rumors going around about the possibility of any of these missing meals coming back before Labor Day? We have a trip planned for that week and our favorite place is Garden Grill for breakfast! I was wondering if you’ve heard anything, or if the breakfast was permanently closed? Thank you!
i saw chip and dale at garden grill on wednesday’s july 13.
Does anyone know if character dining is back at ‘Ohana for evenings yet?
Also re Cape May Cafe, I wish they would bring back all you care to eat crab legs!!
We are really hoping that with cultural ambassadors coming back soon, that will allow other food service staff to be shifted around to cover some of the meals that haven’t returned. Specifically, we are really hoping that Garden Grill’s breakfast will return by our December trip.
Hi all
We have a trip coming July 28-August 6
When is the soonest I could book Hoop De Doo ???
Also, why is it that I never see Topolinos come up when I do random searches for ADRS?
It seems like the same 25 or so restaurants come up over and over
The return of the cultural reps should make a huge difference in staffing. It takes a massive Food and Beverage team to staff all those restaurants (Akershus, Biergraten, Chefs de France etc) and then presumably that will free up all the permanent staff to move to other areas (1900 Park Faire etc) But training a full team of Cultural Reps also takes a while. Hopefully by mid to late summer.
Thanks for keeping track of all this Tom. Any news on Brunch at the top? I’m not sure if it’s temporarily unavailable because of covid or the 50th dinner or if it won’t ever come back. I’m hoping it will return it was one of our favourite dining experiences.
Restaurants may be open, but the expensive restaurants are not sufficiently staffed to have a good experience. It was so bad at certain restaurants on our last trip (Tiffins, etc) that twice we got up from our table and left before ordering food, because we had been sitting there waiting for a server to come by for 20+ minutes. I get they are short staffed, but then they need to further restrict the number of tables they sit.
Anyone else hear any rumours about retooling Monsieur Paul? I figure the return of cultutal embassadors will allow it to reopen if those rumors are false.
As of early October, Monsieur Paul was totally unchanged inside.
Nothing would surprise me, but it just had a refurbishment a few years ago.
Tom, any rumors going around about the possibility of any of these missing meals coming back before Easter week? We have reservations at a few places (Cape May, Crystal Palace) just hoping for an announcement the characters will be back. Wondering if you’ve heard anything.
Hello we are heading to Disney world in may .big family group of 10 we got up at 3am on the morning we could make ADRs and did not get one place we wanted to eat . I was in tears as this is my postponed 60th bday trip . We have always been able to get reservations at tusker house for breakfast but couldn’t . I check everyday but to no avail. This is very discouraging. We have reservations but not where or times we wanted . Any advice???
Break it up into groups of 6 and 4 or 5 and 5. Get times as close together as possible. Show up early and request to be seated altogether or at least tables close by. Be as polite as possible to the cast members and they *might* be able to help you out.
Echoing Lindsay’s suggestion….we are a family of 6 (DVC members, we go every year) and to secure the best reservations I almost always split us into 2 reservations (party of 4 and party of 2), get closest times (have always been 5-15 minutes apart and sometimes exact same times), always show up early, be extra polite and be willing to wait a bit beyond your time(s) if necessary, and we have always been seated all together at table for 6 or directly next to each other. Good luck!
We are about to go with a group of seven and had similar problems. I called Disney Dining to ask about something and part of the info they repeat while you’re on hold said that due to Covid and social distancing protocols, many restaurants are unable to guarantee seating together for parties of 6 or more. I think for that reason lots of restaurants aren’t accepting reservations for groups larger than 6. I went back and split our group into 3 and 4 and was able to make many more reservations- just tried to get them as close as possible. Even spoke to the front desk at one of the restaurants and they said to just let them know when we check in and likely they’ll be able to seat us together… made it sound like thats what A LOT of people are having to do right now.
We did at least 12 table service meals the last week of Feb/first week of March and I can attest the restaurants are not seating to full capacity. I got ADRs at 60 days, and had alerts for different times so I know they didn’t have walk up or last minute availability. We went in a few places where it felt like 50% of the tables are empty. That includes Space 220 and Brown Derby.
Probably due to staffing, and I understand that, but given the crowd levels they really need to get that capacity up just to absorb people. HS was a mess that week, so was Epcot, that might have made a difference.
The Disney dining plans NEED to return!!! They make planning so much easier.
I agree!!! My Family has Postponed trip 4x since April 2021. Hoping for a Return soon!!! So we get to Experience the Last of the 50th celebration!!
Hoping dining plan comes back SOON.
Also hoping 1900 park fare comes back
I’ve heard that, at Cinderella’s Royal Table, at least Cinderella is quietly being phased back in – for a while she was showing up to wave during lunch, and now guests get to greet her (from a distance) as they come in. Can anyone confirm?
We were there around March 1. She is on a little stage right at the entrance and poses for pictures for a minute or two with each party. Its not even really distanced, there’s just a red robe between her and guests so she’s slightly behind. No photopass photographer.
For not having been there before it felt like a regular character greeting.
Thank you! We’ve never been there before either so my kids won’t know it’s different. Sounds like they’ll get to say hi and that’s good enough for me!
We continue to be confused about ADRs. We were there the first week of this month. Prior to arrival, we tried to get ADRs for SciFi Diner and Space 220 to no avail. During the day we were at the park, the app said standby was full. For both restaurants, we walked up and asked if they had availability. It was a 5 min wait for one and 20 for the other. Also, wait staff at Space 220 said they were at 65% capacity. We’ve given up on reliable ADRs.
Will California Sunday Brunch return anytime soon ?
From your lips to God’s ears! We’re actively praying for California Grill Sunday Brunch to return for May.
We were at WDW 2-6 thru 2-12. Extremely crowded and the food was not what it once was. Having partial meals and high prices makes it a little worse than usual. Crystal palace was the only sit down where our food was real good. Portions have changed and that is fine, but the quality was less than what we have experience over the last 40 years.
Do you think that BOG will return to QS at lunch or stay with the pre-fix? I was thinking that it went pre-fix prior to Covid.