Food is half the fun of a Walt Disney World vacation. From mouth-watering culinary delights at Jiko: The Cooking Place or The Flying Fish to simple treats like the much-beloved Dole Whip float, there are plenty of tasty eats to explore and enjoy at The Most Magical Place on Earth.
However, wavering food quality throughout Walt Disney World remains a hot subject, and it seems every day reviews pour in that another Disney dining experience has gone sour. Most blame cost cutting measures and the ever-present spread of the Disney dining plan—after all, every dining plan covers food that a guest has already paid for, no matter the quality. Either way, it is no longer a sure thing that every dish ordered at Walt Disney World will stand up to the standard of Disney’s culinary golden age. Want to avoid some disappointment? Here are seven dishes we felt weren’t worth the dollars spent, as well as some much better alternatives.
1. The English trifle at The Rose and Crown Pub
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega
I must preface this entry with an important point—Epcot’s Rose and Crown Pub is one of our favorite restaurants at Walt Disney World. Even as quality throughout much of the Most Magical Place on Earth has waned, The Rose and Crown has remained a steadfast beacon of quality Disney dining. However, we did discover one item on the menu that fell far below the standard expected at this establishment.
The English trifle is one of the sillier attempts at a quick buck we have seen at Walt Disney World. Perhaps it’s capitalizing on the fact that many visitors probably don’t know what a trifle is, but the Rose and Crown’s attempt to pawn off a paltry cup of pudding, graham cracker dust, a spoonful of mushed strawberry, and a few Mickey sprinkles as one is a sad mark on this restaurant’s fine reputation. We hope this poorly-contrived cake in a cup isn’t a harbinger of ill-changes to come at this Disney World mainstay. If you’ll be dining at the Rose and Crown, opt for the Sticky Toffee Pudding, Chocolate Nougat Bar, or Banoffee Tart instead. Sorry, fans of the trifle, but this one just didn’t make the cut for us.
2. The Pandoran Sunrise at Satul’i Canteen
Image: Disney
We positively love The World of Pandora’s super-geeky quick service location, Satul’i Canteen. Our experience with the food has been consistently positive, especially since we like our eats on the zestier side and love the bowls.
One item we found particularly underwhelming, though, was the Pandoran Sunrise drink. It certainly looks cool in pictures with a pineapple slice and a souvenir flute cup. However, it doesn’t take long to realize that this fancified virgin cocktail is nothing more than juiced up Powerade. Yup, that’s it. It’s just colorful Powerade, and there really isn’t anything about it that makes it taste more exciting than that. We weren’t particularly impressed with any of the drinks in Pandora (even the Night Blossom punch), but the Pandoran Powerade was easily the least satisfying purchase of our visit. Save your hard-earned dollars and skip this one for a Dole Whip Float instead.
3. Cous-Cous at Restaurant Marrakesh
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega
This one always pains me a little write about because I have such fond memories of Restaurant Marrakesh as a young person. It was where our family was introduced to Moroccan food, and boy did they deliver. Restaurant Marrakesh used to be one of the most flavorful, exciting restaurants at Epcot, but it seems times have changed for the worst.
Across the board, our experiences at Restaurant Marrakesh have been marked by unusually bland Moroccan food, and the cous-cous is one of the strongest examples of this. Several times, we received cous-cous and vegetables that were almost completely unseasoned, and unlike the vibrant food of the restaurant’s past, we keep experiencing dry and bizarrely bland food here. We hope this Epcot classic will gain its groove back some day, but in the meanwhile, if you are craving Moroccan and Mediterranean cuisine with a bit more punch, stop by Spice Road Table or Tangier Café for some more flavorful options.
4. The infamous glonut
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega
The glonut is one of Disney’s more blatant money-grabs in recent years, and it defies logic just how goofy of a concept it is. The dish first appeared at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, but its name still pops up from time to time at other events, so we aren’t positive if it’s still lurking in circulation somewhere. Served in the lively Light Lab, a blacklight-soaked neon hideaway where guests could try wacky sugar drinks cooked up in lab equipment, the glonut certainly looked cool from a distance. Under the blacklight, the frosting glowed with an enticing violet iridescence.
We were very thankful for the cast members who told us the truth before we dropped any cash on it. The glonut is literally just a donut with white frosting. That’s it. Nothing special. No exciting filling. No infusion in the frosting. Just a plain donut. Nice try, Disney.
5. The mac n’ cheese (pretty much everywhere)
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega
If you’re a reader of Theme Park Tourist, this one might ring some bells for you. The kid version of Disney’s mac n’ cheese is seriously adorable thanks to a healthy dotting of goldfish crackers. It’s understandably a hit with the little ones and certainly can pass as a snack for a quick meal. However, most adults with a mac n’ cheese craving probably want something a little more substantial for the money Disney usually charges for their meals and buffets. It’s not like Disney restaurants have never made rich, delicious mac n’ cheese from scratch before.
The problem is that Disney keeps trying to sneak the kids’ version of their mac n’ cheese onto adult menus. We lambasted this previously in our scathing review of Epcot’s Garden Grill, and we’ve heard guests complain about it from other buffets and restaurants as well. The issue isn’t offering mac n’ cheese for kids so much as charging adults steakhouse prices for the same thing. While the mac n’ cheese may be passably tasty, it’s nowhere near the standard one would expect from Walt Disney World. Another victim of the Disney dining plan, we’re afraid.
6. The vegan flatbread at Sunshine Seasons
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega
This is another one we’ve visited before, albeit briefly, in our exploration of the best vegan dishes at Walt Disney World. While Sunshine Seasons remains one of our favorite quick service locations at Epcot, they do have a few dishes that are more miss than hit these days. The vegan flatbread sounded like an appealing option with a blend of vegetables and a black bean spread, but our impression was that it was too bland and the bread way too dry. It appears they have tweaked the recipe recently to add vegan cheese to the dish, but we still aren’t certain if this improvement would be enough to save it. Sunshine Season has several other options for vegan and vegetarian visitors that we found much more appealing, including the tabbouleh pinwheels.
7. Mickey Mouse premium ice cream bars
Image: Disney
This one comes up frequently in conversations about the most overrated dishes at Walt Disney World, and we couldn’t agree more. Ice cream at Walt Disney World might be a fun tradition and a rite of passage for families with kids, but Disney has so many better options than their famous premium bars. While they look cute on photos, the blend of plain vanilla ice cream and chocolate shell always fails to impress us, particularly since it’s nigh-on-impossible to keep the chocolate shell from crumbling to the ground as you eat it.
If you’re looking for a quick ice cream that looks good in photos, opt for the Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwich instead. It’s tasty, easy-to-eat, and far less likely to end up on your little prince or princesses’ shoes. If you’re looking for a seriously delicious ice cream treat, we prefer the Brioche Ice Cream Sandwich from L’Artisan des Glaces in Epcot’s France pavilion. The Most Magical Place on Earth is positively brimming with delicious takes on the classic ice cream sundae and sandwich. There’s really no reason besides nostalgia to waste time with the not-really-premium Mickey bars.
What is the most underwhelming dish or snack you ever had at Walt Disney World?
