Top 10 Restaurants for Free Dining
Free Dining is now available for summer and early fall, which means it’s time to start making Advance Dining Reservations for popular Walt Disney World restaurants now. Seriously, it’s essential. This post covers tips for making the best ADRs to get the most bang for your buck (so to speak) out of Free Dining.
The Free Disney Dining Plan at Walt Disney World is the most popular promotion of the year, and its popularity is based upon the tremendous value that it offers to guests, particularly those who plan well. To maximize your savings, you are going to need Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs), which can be made 180 days in advance, at the most popular restaurants far in advance.
For step one, make your ADRs as far in advance as possible. We cannot stress this enough: you will need ADRs if you’re visiting during Free Dining. This is because Free Dining veterans who book the promotion year in and year out make ADRs as early as possible, meaning that once your travel dates arrive, most of the best restaurants will already be fully booked.
You should at least make reservations for the restaurants you really want, and that are good choices from a value perspective during the Free Dining promo. Not sure which restaurants you really want that are good values?
Here’s our list, based on a slew of factors including value-for-credits, cuisine quality, theme, demand, and “other” (in one case)…
Storybook Dining at Artist Point
Storybook Dining at Artist Point is the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs character meal at Wilderness Lodge. It debuted a little over a year ago, and has remained one of the “hot ticket” and most coveted ADRs since. As with last year, we’d expect this to be very popular during Free Dining.
You can read all about the experience in comprehensive Storybook Dining at Artist Point Review. That includes a ton of food photos, thoughts on the character interactions, and how it compares to the old Signature Dining at Artist Point. We’d put this in the upper echelon of character dining!
Akershus
Objectively, dinner is the best pick at Akershus, and the reason it makes this list. That meal is ~20% more expensive than breakfast and one of the top restaurants on our Best Values on the Disney Dining Plan list. However, the “secret” value to breakfast is getting into Epcot before the park opens for an awesome, empty-park stroll and rope drop access to Frozen Ever After.
We tested this plan with doing breakfast at Akershus before Epcot opening, and while we felt the breakfast was not worth the money, the access was great. If you’re unable to score a coveted FastPass+ for Frozen Ever After, pre-opening breakfast at Akershus is a veritable Golden Ticket. It’s much better than waiting 2 hours in standby!
Crystal Palace (Dinner)
This one is all Sarah. It’s been a long time since we’ve done dinner at Crystal Palace and while I remember it being awesome, I think that opinion is partially clouded by the fact that we were on the high of just getting engaged the last time we did dinner there. At that time, I was young and had a wonder wife-to-be, so everything was magical.
Now I’m old and cynical (albeit with a wonderful wife!), and more skeptical of Crystal Palace. I can’t vouch for Crystal Palace at dinner aside from saying it’s an objectively good value (I do enjoy it at breakfast, and the lesser value is made up for by early morning Magic Kingdom time), but I’ll put it here at Sarah’s behest.
San Angel Inn
The #5 restaurant on our Best Themed Restaurants at Walt Disney World list, we consider San Angel Inn to be Walt Disney World’s Blue Bayou, with an experience here is every bit as good. I can’t say that we were overwhelmed by our last meal here as fans of Mexican cuisine, but the food skewing towards the Tex-Mex might be a good thing if you’re not used to authentic Mexican food.
We think San Angel Inn has improved in recent years, and the overall experience is excellent. If this doesn’t appeal to you, just about any of the 1-credit table service restaurants in World Showcase offer about the same level of value.
Whispering Canyon Cafe
I’m intentionally trying to limit the number of restaurants on this list outside the parks (surprisingly not that difficult given the best options at resorts are Signature Restaurants that require 2 credits, and are typically poor value as a result), but there are a couple that are worth diverting park time to try.
Whispering Canyon Cafe is an easy pick thanks to its rambunctious and fun atmosphere, plus the new skillets (including a plant-based one for the vegetarians/vegans out there). Read our full Whispering Canyon Cafe Review for other menu highlights and more!
Via Napoli
This can be a brilliant use of a credit or a terrible one depending upon how you play it, and it’s on this list to break that down, more than anything else. If you’re wanting pizza (as you should!) skip it. If you want one of the more expensive menu options and the “Ugly but Good” Sundae, it’s one of the best values on the Disney Dining Plan. If you use a credit on an individual pizza and lower-priced dessert, it’s not so good.
The larger pizzas require multiple credits (2 for Large, 4 for Metro), so don’t think you can beat the system here. It’s a great restaurant no matter how you slice it, but that pizza is tough to resist. If the traditional entrees don’t sound as appealing, we recommend Tokyo Dining or Biergarten, instead. Totally different cuisine, but comparable value and quality.
Minnie’s Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine
Minnie’s Seasonal Dine is the easy pick in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That might come as a surprise to some of you who experienced Hollywood & Vine during the “dark years” when this was one of the worst buffets at Walt Disney World. Now, the food is better than expected, and the character interactions are fantastic. We are especially big fans of Minnie’s Holiday Dine, as well as Minnie’s Halloween Dine.
Other sure-fire alternatives in Disney’s Hollywood Studios are Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater (the ambiance there is unparalleled), but it’s only a strong value if you get the steak, and 50’s Prime Time Cafe. We are big fans of both of those restaurants.
Tusker House
With Tiffins being a Signature Restaurant, it cannot be recommended on the Disney Dining Plan (even though Tiffins is amazing!). In terms of value maximization, there aren’t really any table service restaurants at Disney’s Animal Kingdom fit the bill. The excellent Yak & Yeti is also relatively moderate on the menu front.
Still, this list isn’t all about value maximization, so we’re going to go with Tusker House here (Yak & Yeti would be a fine alternative). It’s not the greatest for character encounters, but the best food of any character dining location (and right up there with Boma as the best buffet at Walt Disney World) and incredible ambiance more than make up for that.
Coral Reef
So there are three Epcot restaurants on this list, and none of them are Tutto Italia, objectively one of the top restaurants on our Best Values on the Disney Dining Plan list. What gives? Well, that list is objective, and this also takes subjective factors into consideration.
Subjectively, we aren’t huge fans of Tutto Italia, and think maximizing value without consideration is pointless without taking quality into account. At Coral Reef, you get excellent value for your money, incredible ambiance, and a good meal. (That review is a bit older–we revisited Coral Reef last year and had another very good experience.)
‘Ohana (Dinner)
‘Ohana has great food, nice ambiance, and just this certain energy about it. I have difficulty articulating what makes ‘Ohana special, but it is, and I view it as a quintessential Walt Disney World experience. I can’t be the only one who feels that way, as ‘Ohana is one of the most difficult ADRs to score.
Cape May Cafe is potential alternative here in that it’s somewhat similar in nature to ‘Ohana at dinner (albeit not menu) and an objectively better value on the Disney Dining Plan. However, we prefer the experience at ‘Ohana.
HONORABLE MENTION: Breakfast Á la Art with Mickey & Friends
The newest character meal at Walt Disney World is Breakfast Á la Art with Mickey & Friends at Topolino’s Terrace — Flavors of the Riviera. This opened last December at Disney’s Riviera Resort, the new DVC property connected to several other resorts as well as Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios via Skyliner. (Point being, it’s easily accessible for many guests who aren’t staying here without jumping through a ton of inconvenient hoops.)
Breakfast Á la Art with Mickey & Friends at Topolino’s Terrace is only an honorable mention because, objectively, the bang for buck here is not tremendous. However, it’s subjectively an excellent pick–arguably the best character meal at Walt Disney World. This meal continues the trend that began with Bon Voyage Adventure at Trattoria al Forno and continued with Storybook Dining at Artist Point. Not so coincidentally, those ranked as the #2 and #1 options on our list of the Best Character Meals at Walt Disney World…until Topolino’s Terrace opened!
DISHONORABLE MENTION: Be Our Guest Restaurant (Dinner)
This used to be the toughest ADR to score for Free Dining and in general. However, Be Our Guest Restaurant has changed its menu and became a 2-credit Signature Restaurant. You can read about this in our Be Our Guest Restaurant Prix Fixe Dinner Review.
It’s now a poor value on the Disney Dining Plan, and should be avoided by value-seekers. The only reason we’re mentioning it is as a ‘heads up’ for those who didn’t hear the news or read outdated advice. Be Our Guest Restaurant used to be the second-best use of a Disney Dining Plan credit. Now, it’s not even in the top 30.
If you’re looking for something in Magic Kingdom, another good alternative is Skipper Canteen, which is a lot less popular, but almost as good. It just makes this list on its own merit because of that lower popularity and due to lower price points.
Obviously, there is a lot of “your mileage may vary” to this list. This list tries to balance value (even though you’re not paying for the Disney Dining Plan, you still want to squeeze as much value out of your credits as possible–otherwise why not just eat cheaply and go for a resort discount?), food-quality, and theme. In so doing, it features a lot of restaurants that wouldn’t make an objectively “best value” list (and skips ones that would). Hopefully, that makes it a good resource as you plan ADRs for Free Dining!
Now…wondering where to stay during Free Dining? Check out our Best Hotels at Walt Disney World for Free Dining post. Want more dining tips? Check out our 101 Delicious Walt Disney World Dining Tips. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews.
Planning other aspects of a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. 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…
Do you agree with our list of the top ADRs for Free Dining at Walt Disney World? Do you have any favorites that didn’t make our list? Any other spots you’re considering? Share your thoughts or questions in the comments!
This is a great list to read through. I’m guessing regardless of whether you got free dining or paid for it, the results are the same? For our May trip, we’re doing 8 character meals plus be our guest for lunch quick service. Glad to see a number of these meals are on here.
Next trip, we’ll cut back on the character meals, but they’re so much fun for the little kids and little kids at heart, and instead try some of the other restaurants on the list here.
Ate at Hollywood and Vine about 2 months ago for Minnie’s seasonal dining…. nothing about that experience was good and I’m surprised to see it on this list. The food was terrible, the service was terrible and the character experiences were not even comparable to other character dining.
Maybe we were there in an off night, but was the first time we’re ever eaten there, and will probably be the last for a long time. I find Mama Melrose to be a much better option for the fantastic dining package
I have to say that you must have had an off night. We went in October and thought it was great food and characters.
our family was severely disappointed in mama melrose years ago and we refuse to go back. it should be advertised as “California italian” because it’s definitely not authentic italian, and much of the food we ordered was overcooked and inedible, ad the pizza was burned black. never again.
Tom
We have had “free dining ” when booking from UK on a number of occasions. We get Quick Service dining only. I have never asked and not sure if you have done a post on this, but can you exchange Quick Service for table service anywhere i.e. 2 or a multiple of Q/S credits etc per table meal or do you have to upgrade/purchase table service?
Thanks
Terry
Unfortunately no. They allow you to go down but not up. You can trade quick service for snacks. Table for quick service.
Value for Tusker House and Hollywood and Vine rise up quite a bit more when booking the Rivers of Light or Fantasmic Dining packages respectively. The ROL package is around $63 I think, and the Fantamic package around $55 i believe. Both still only use a single credit. Admittedly, since they are both buffets, you don’t get anymore food for the extra cost, but there is definitely added value in the reserved seating for the shows.
We are at WDW now and had our first Tusker House lunch to take advantage of the Rivers of Light dining package, which I highly recommend if you want to see the show and can’t get a fastpass. Not only was the food delicious, but the character interaction was FANTASTIC! Each character came to the table at least 3 times to interact, not just do a “photo fly by”. Our service was excellent as well. 🙂 Would highly recommend this ADR.
Ohana by far as been our favorite then a close second is Be Our Guest – the experience is everything 😉
We had an ADR booked for Ohana and then canceled due to lackluster reviews around the interweb. I wish I’d discovered your site before I’d canceled! Oh well…we have some new places to try as well as old favorites to enjoy.
Word of the wise to those who just purchased a resort package (or will in the coming months) and did not plan their ADRs in advance, on the off chance that they would be planning a trip. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t plan a year in advance?
My husband and I planned our honeymoon trip about 4.5 months in advance and managed to get free dining! While there were some places we did not get reservations for initially we became quite lucky in getting reservations once we arrived. We found some of our favorite restaurants (Sanaa, Biergarten) by reserving what was available and even managed to get into some more difficult to reserve locations by checking with the restaurants periodically to see if they had last minute openings once we arrived (We could have had lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table by doing this, but instead declined that option to use our meal credit on Be Our Guest). By checking early in the morning we were able to find newly released tables (possibly cancellations and/or held VIP table releases) at times. We actually found three available reservations for Be Our Guest one morning which led to us asking everyone on the bus to the Magic Kingdom if they wanted to dine there – this was back when it was brand new and there seemed to be a new reservations policy every day or with every cast member you asked.
Hi Tom,
I am having trouble deciding between a couple of restaurants. I scored free dining and will be visiting in October. For our day in Epcot, we are having dinner at Garden Grill. For that same day, I have a 10:30 reservation at Akershus and also an 11:50 reservation at Coral Reef for lunch. I have two kids ages 4 and 6. Which one should I keep?
Also, for our day at Hollywood Studios, I am having trouble deciding between a 3:30 Fantasmic dinner package with Hollywood and Vine, or a dinner at Sci Fi Dine-In. I figure that Hollywood and Vine would be a better use of my table service credit, but Sci Fi dine-in looks like a fun experience. Do you have any suggestions?
You had multiple reservations for the same meal?? No wonder I never can get the reservations I would like because some people are inconsiderate of others, and suck up all the reservations. Not right. Very selfish.
I agree. From what i have read, this is a very common practice.Hopefully, Disney does something about this in the near future just like that did with folks who would book rooms just to get the early fast pass and then cancel their rooms, smh.
I personally did not like the food at Garden Grill. Just saying. Better to hop on a boat and truck it over to a resort for better food, imho. I think the parks mostly have bad meals.
I’m am stressing myself out over these reservations……..Trip isn’t until December, and I am trying to figure out how to plan any dining reservations around the parks extended hours. I know that it will be more packed than ever at the time I’m going and I want to make reservations on that 180th day, but my main question is how far out in advance does Disney set its park hours??
My main reservation that I am FOR SURE making is Cinderella’s Royal Table for Lunch with my, at time of travel, 4 year old daughter and I want to book on a day that MK has extra Magic Hours.
As far as the Free Dining goes, I’m trying to decide which option is best to add on, the Hopper Pass or the Waterparks. I will get the Free Quick Service, is this a good enough plan or should I upgrade to the Disney Dining Plan??
So many questions…..I need some HELP PLEASE!!
Don’t stress! DEFINITELY book reservations 180 days out, especially for the more tough to get reservations. Then, you really have to ask yourself what you’re looking to get out of dining on your vacation. My fiancé and I have done both qs and ts, and it really depends on the party that you’re going with and what you like to eat. If you are a sit down and relax, enjoy your meal kind of person, maybe the table service would be better. If you know that you don’t want to spend 1.5 hours every day sitting and eating, then quick service is probably the better option.
Personally, I would almost always recommend park hopper over waterparks. Park hopping gives you the freedom to go to whatever parks you want, all in the same day. If Animal Kingdom closes at 5, you can still go to any other park for the rest of the day, maybe grab dinner in Epcot. Again, that’s a personal thing, but I find the park hopper to be much more useful (for us, anyways), and also think about the time you will be going. Are you going to want to swim a lot if it is 65 degrees? (Ps, I’ve found that they generally post hours about 6 months in advance, but they aren’t set in stone and could change from what I’ve read. This is just a general time frame.)
Don’t worry! Have a magical vacation!
Thank you for your input Hanna, I really appreciate it. I was almost sure that I wanted Hopper, but then the Disney agent made my 2nd guess my decision by telling me that its relatively warm in the winter. But now I am sure that I will get the Hopper instead of the Waterpark. Another concern would be, which restaurants would require a reservation for a QS meal??
Don’t stress, book 180 days out for sure, have a back restaurant picked out just in case. With a 4 year old the quick service might be the better option but, Cinderella’s Royal Table is not on that plan, if you choose to do the Dining plan, character meals might be the better way to go, you can get in and out much faster than with a sit down, order from a menu, type restaurant. I think the Hopper is the better deal, you can always buy the waterpark tickets when you get to the waterpark.
We have an 8:20 Akershus ADR for Aug 31st for the very reason you mentioned – I hope everything falls into place with Soarin’ and Frozen!
Akershus breakfast is AMAZING. It’s the only character dining I’ve ever done, but I’m considering booking it again for our December trip.
Crystal Palace was one of my favourite meals for two reasons
1) They were the only restaurant we ate at that actually acknowledged our celebration (graduation – confetti on the table)
2) Watching Eeyore trying to make the teenager on the table next to us (who had decided she was too old for character meals) smile was one of the funniest things I saw all trip.
Garden Grill was really good for character interaction but we ate later so that might have been why we got lots of visits.
Hello from Michigan! We are planing the first Disney trip with our 2 children (4, 2). I have been read your blog religiously! As of now, we are thinking the last week of Jan 2017. I don’t think we will qualify the free dinning promotion, based on your other post, it might work better for us if there is a room rate discount promotion. My question is, if we book the hotel 180 days prior the travel date, do I need purchase park tickets to be able to do ADR and Fastpass reservation? My husband’s work schedule might have a last minute change, I know I will lose $200 deposit if we cancel the resort reservation at last minute, what about the ADR? Thank you!
I am so confused about booking dining early? I am traveling in late October and my 180 day ADR date is this week. Some blogs seem to imply that I should be booking now or I am missing out, but I don’t see any way to book faster than 180 days out. Am I missing something? Is there some way to book further out?
No, you can’t, but there are a lot of people who qualify for Free Dining who will wait to book their ADRs until they have Free Dining confirmed because they are under the misapprehension that the ADRs are tied to the Free Dining package, or because they just don’t think about it until after they have dealt with the Free Dining package.
It always happens. The availability of ADRs at this time tomorrow for late August through September will be substantially lower than it is today.
You can not book before the 180, but when you are in the your 180 day ADR window, you can reserve all the restaurant at once. So if you have a 7 day reservation, you will be able to reverse the 7 days dining in the 180 day, so you will be reserving your last dining day 187 days in advance.
I recommend to reserve as soon as your 180 day ADR start, specially on popular restaurants like character dinner. I usually go during summer, and it is hard to get reservations in certain restaurant, like Be Our Guest. I know you are going in October, but is better to plan ahead of time. I have heard people making reservation 60 days or 30 days before arriving and they do not find place on the restaurant they want. Plus you can cancel 24 hours in advance if you chance your mind, without any charge.
Good luck and enjoy your trip.
Book on your 180th date. Mine was on Easter Sunday and I was too busy that day to do it. I looked on Wednesday (the 177th day) and some things were already booked for my whole week! You can always reserve and cancel later or change restaurants later if you change your mind. There is no cancellation fee if you change or cancel more than 24 hours in advance. I’ve made a couple changes and it was no big deal.
We are traveling the end of the month and have the 2020 dining package. So disappointed they excluded many of the World showcase restaurants. San Angel and Via Napoli from this list are not accepting dining plans this year, disappointing as San Angel is a favorite!
Tom–love the website. You write “Well, hopefully, if you make an ADR for breakfast at Akershus an hour BEFORE PARK OPENING, you’ll be in prime position to do Frozen Ever After once via standby with no wait…” (emphasis added) I made ADRs for AKERSHUS (BREAKFAST) some time ago for 9:45 assuming that Frozen Ever After would open at 11am since it is in World Showcase…is that assumption wrong? Having an ADR before park opening would only help if Frozen Ever After opened at 9am, right? Thanks!
I can’t say definitively at this point, but I would be downright shocked if Frozen Ever After doesn’t open with Future World for at least the first year of its operation (or forever). Given its low capacity and high demand, I think Disney will want as many operational hours as possible for it per day.
I fully expect it to have the longest wait times of any attraction at Walt Disney World for a while–regardless of quality. They can’t open it later if it’s that popular.
Hi Tom,
Do you happen to know if they will bring back the Star Wars character breakfast at The Sci Fi Restaurent this summer?
The Crystal Palace was once a stellar location for a great dining experience. But I personally believe that there are many other exciting restaurants to enjoy. My personal favorites are Liberty Tree Tavern and Le Cellier. Many found memories at both locations. My lone memory at CP is my son getting accosted by Tigger during a lunch with characters event. (Hilarious)
Where to eat is one of my biggest reasons for staying at a location. It is nice to have restaurants within walking distance to say the least. http://bit.do/bXk9p is an article I wrote about my favorite place to stay and why dining is all that much more important in the selection process.
I’ve booked a vacation for the family October 30th thru November 5th, so with the leaked Free Dining dates, it looks as though I’ve missed it? Do you believe the leaked dates are accurate? If so, does the Room Only Discount run the exact same dates or just the same time period? Looking for any suggestions to save a few bucks. Thanks.
Some great names on here, especially in terms of balancing value, atmosphere and strategic advantage of location.
For this year’s Disney vacation (9/12 – 9/18), we are going with some of my extended family (5 adults, 4 kids total), and I’ve tried to book my ADR’s based on the people I’ll be traveling with:
-Cinderella’s Royal Table: Yes, it takes 2 credits. No, it is not worth 2 credits, especially considering Akershus does a lot of the same stuff for only one credit. Having announced those disclaimers, I still can’t wait to walk my young niece (age 6) and nephews (ages 8 and 5) up to castle to meet Cinderella and her friends. My daughter (now 11) loved it when she was 8, and I still consider it one of my favorite meals in all of DW.
-Chip & Dale’s Harvest Feast Dinner @ The Garden Grill: Family-style buffet rules, the restaurant rotates, and Chip ‘n Dale come waltzing over in bib overalls. Plus this restaurant always does a great job of providing a great vegetarian meal for our family.
-Be Our Guest Restaurant (QSR): This restaurant is quick-service for breakfast and lunch, and unlike most other quick-service locations, you can make a reservation for it. The atmosphere is a cut above any other quick-service meal you’ll have, and it spares you from necessarily having to spend your precious table-service credits in order to experience that atmosphere.
As for reservations I’ve made, but have never personally been to before, here’s what I have so far:
-50s Prime Time Cafe (Dinner): I guess I didn’t know Minnie even HAD a specialty-themed dinner at Hollywood & Vine. I’m officially uncertain what to do about our existing reservation now here now. From the sound of it, I better decide quick. 🙁
-Chef Mickey’s Fun Time Breakfast Buffet: Tom has made his thoughts known about this one on several blog posts, but we have almost no plans to do any character meet and greets beyond table-service meals, and I’m told this one is a big deal to that extent.
I almost put Garden Grill on the list, but we already had a lot of Epcot and character meals, so I decided against it. Great decision there–it’s one of my favorite character meals.
We love 50’s Prime Time Cafe, but it terms of raw value, Hollywood & Vine trounces it. Maybe stop into the Tune-In Lounge for a PB&J milkshake earlier in the day to get your 50’s fix?
One point of clarification: we hated dinner at Chef Mickey’s. Last time we did breakfast there, we enjoyed it. That was a while ago, but I have nothing against it as of right now.
Have a great trip!
What is the “ugly but good” sundae you mentioned ar Via Napoli? I don’t see it on the menu. We are eating there for the first time in June.