While the Magic Kingdom has some nice table service restaurants, and the recent editions have been on the right track. Be Our Guest was a home run while Skipper Canteen had the best food in the park by far, many found the food too adventuresome so it never because super popular, so the food is about to be changed. Some of the restaurants in the parks need an update, and there still needs to be a few more additions to the park. With the number of people on the Disney Dining plans in the parks now, most days it is nearly impossible to even find a time to eat any of the Magic Kingdom restaurants unless you plan well in advance. A few more restaurants would really help.
Changes to the Magic Kingdom Restaurants I would like to see
Personally, I think all Disney restaurants could use a small change or two, but the following four in the Magic Kingdom need a bit of a reboot:
- Crystal Palace – While Winnie the Pooh is great and all, many kids have no idea who he is. The Crystal Palace building is down right beautiful, but I think it could be better used with a character change. Disney has not done a great job using the Pixar characters in restaurants. Crystal Palace would be a fantastic location for a Toy Story character meal. Imagine seeing Woody, Buzz or Rex walking around the Crystal Palace, it would be impossible to get a table.
- Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen – Uggh, where to start. This was a fantastic idea with unique, wonderful food. Disney handicapped it from the beginning, making it impossible to get dining reservations in advance, and then wondered why it wasn’t full like the other restaurants. While the food is unique, it never had a chance to gain a following. With the upcoming food change, it will be a standard theme park restaurant with mediocre food and corny jokes. Stick with the menu Disney, give it a chance.
- Liberty Tree Tavern – Liberty Tree has lost it’s way. Everyone associated the Liberty Tree Tavern with characters. Did you know characters were removed from Liberty Tree Tavern in 2008? Let’s remodel the restaurant so the characters can get around, stick with the family style menu, and bring back revolutionary Goofy and friends.
- Tony’s Town Square Restaurant – Some people love eating at Tony’s, most would disagree. Easily the worst food available at any Disney restaurant. Turn over the kitchen to the people who run Tutto Italia and Via Napoli in Epcot, update the decor and you will have yourself a fantastic, winning restaurant.
Additions to the Magic Kingdom Restaurants I would like to see
I think you could go crazy with additions, but let’s be honest, it would be stupid to add 15 new restaurants in the Magic Kingdom, there just isn’t the demand. I will focus on two that I think need to be added that would be a huge hit.
- Pirates of the Caribbean character meal – There isn’t one “boy” themed character meal in all of Disney. Girls have princesses, boys have nothing. Think about a restaurants built adjacent to the Pirates of the Caribbean, completely pirate themed! Include a ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean immediately after, some pirates including Jack Sparrow walking around. It would be a hit! The other option here would be to make this a signature style restaurant, similar to Blue Bayou in Disneyland, and put the boy themed character meal in Tomorrowland.
- Tomorrowland Restaurant – There isn’t one table service restaurant in Tomorrowland, or one even close. There are so many themed options you could go with in Tomorrowland. This could be similar to Be Our Guest where you offer a nice quick-service meal for breakfast and lunch and table service for dinner. No characters needed. Meals can be delivered by drones, it would be awesome.
What changes or additions would you like to see to the restaurants in the Magic Kingdom?
