For many Disney park guests, dining is an important part of their stay at a park or resort. As the internet has made information and planning materials increasingly accessible, more and more vacationers turn to web-based sources to cruise through restaurant menus and dream about fabulous dining experiences…or figure out where they can dine that the whole family will enjoy. Dining menus, once available only at restaurants, have been collected and published by a bevy of faithful Disney fans who maintain online repositories, doing their best to keep the information on Disney dining up to date, but now Disney has begun offering some “official” menus as well.
Disney fan menu websites are absolutely invaluable. It is easy to spend hours cruising menus, trying to decide what restaurant to try this trip, drooling over dessert descriptions, and generally foodie dreaming. But it is absolutely impossible for any fan site to keep completely current menus for the plethora of restaurants available, especially for the “finer” dining restaurants at Disney, whose menus change regularly as new seasonal ingredients become available or chefs create new treats for guests.
Disney has begun to recognize the interest among guests for a preview of dining experiences, and “sample” menus have begun to appear on the official Disney Parks website. Although the menus are limited – they are not yet available for all restaurants – they are current and complete, even including special drink menus, cheese selection listings, dessert menus, and children’s selections. Most of the restaurants providing these menus are Disney-owned table service venues. So, for example, the California Grill and Olivia’s Cafe offer menus, while Via Napoli does not. The menus are listed as “samples” to ensure that if the restaurant menu does change before it is updated online there can be no questions, but the menus are current. For example, the menu displayed for the Yachtsman Steakhouse is the exact selection offered two weeks ago.
These menus, although not publicized, are a great tool for Disney planners. Trying to decide where to spend a special romantic dinner over mouthwatering food you’ll both enjoy? Trying to find out if your kids will eat anything on the menu? You don’t just have to rely on possibly outdated menus anymore…try going to the Disney website and see if the most current offerings are available!
