Disney dinner show in a log hall at Fort Wilderness · $$$
Two hours of frontier songs, dancing and slapstick from the Pioneer Hall Players, over all-you-care-to-eat fried chicken and smoked barbecue pork ribs with cornbread, cowboy beans and macaroni and cheese, strawberry shortcake to finish, and unlimited beer, wine and sangria for over-21s. Doors open at 4pm, 6.15pm and 8.30pm. Seats are $70 to $78 for ages 10 and up and $40 to $45 for ages 3 to 9, tax and tip included, paid when you book. The drive is to the Fort Wilderness entrance: park there and allow 30 minutes more for the internal bus to Pioneer Hall.
Book well ahead: tables go weeks outPioneer Hall, Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, 4510 North Fort Wilderness Trail, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Barbecue counter at Disney Springs, in the MICHELIN Guide · $
A family-run barbecue counter by the Town Center fountain, at the foot of the Lime Garage escalators, from the team behind The Ravenous Pig, and listed in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide. Order at the counter and the food comes to the table: chicken, pork and fish off the smoker, thin-sliced brisket rubbed with black pepper, salmon cooked on a cedar plank with a maple and Dijon glaze, market sides and a slice of cake or pie. Every drink pours from a tap, and the whiskey shelf runs to Pappy Van Winkle. Open daily from 11am to 11pm, with nothing to book.
Walk inTown Center, Disney Springs, 1536 East Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Irish pub with live music and dancers every night · $$
The bar worth an evening at Disney Springs: a pub whose whole interior was shipped from Ireland, with Irish bands and singer-songwriters on its stages and Irish dancers, free, every night. The kitchen does bangers and mash, fish and chips, shepherd's pie, boxty potato pancakes and braised short ribs, and the bar pours Irish whiskey and beer flights. It opens at 11am on weekdays and 10am at weekends, when brunch runs to 3pm with a dance show from noon, and dinner goes on until 11pm. Book ahead, though same-day bookings are taken too.
Reserve aheadThe Landing, Disney Springs, 1640 East Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Disney signature restaurant on the Contemporary's 15th floor · $$$$
Disney's own signature dining room on top of the Contemporary, reached by a private lift from a check-in on the second floor, with Seven Seas Lagoon and Magic Kingdom below the windows. When the fireworks begin the lights go down and the music is piped in. Dinner is a three-course Californian menu from 5pm to 10pm, $99 for ages 10 and up and $45 for ages 3 to 9, plus tax and tip, with a mostly Californian wine list. No park ticket is needed and diners park free. Book a table for fireworks time, and leave the swimwear behind.
Reserve aheadDisney's Contemporary Resort, 4600 North World Drive, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Florida kitchen and moonshine bar from a celebrity chef · $$
Art Smith is a sixth-generation Floridian, a two-time James Beard award winner and for ten years Oprah Winfrey's personal chef, and this is his Florida farm kitchen at The Landing. Expect cheese drop biscuits, his fried chicken, fried green tomatoes under shaved country ham and shrimp and grits, with the Shine Cake to finish and moonshine cocktails on the back porch. It opens at 11am on weekdays and 9am at weekends, when brunch runs until 1pm, and closes at 11pm every night. Book ahead, online or on (407) 560-0100.
Reserve aheadThe Landing, Disney Springs, 1602 East Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Orlando's own cookie bakery and coffee counter · $
Orlando's own bakery, whose original shop is at East End Market on Corrine Drive. The cookies weigh almost half a pound and take more than 24 hours to make, from the Original Chocolate Chip to Pistachio Toffee, and the Coffee Cake Cookie is sold every morning; pair one with the Original Peanut Butter Iced Coffee, or come back for the Hot Cookie Hour after dinner. It opens at 10am every day of the year and closes at 11pm, or 11.30pm on Friday and Saturday. There are no pre-orders here and a seven-cookie limit, and the limited editions can sell out.
Walk inDisney Springs, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Tasting menu with one MICHELIN star, at the Grand Floridian · $$$$
The one restaurant at Walt Disney World with a MICHELIN star, held since 2024: a seasonal tasting menu at one seating each evening, from $295 a person before tax and tip, with wine pairings from $155 and zero-proof pairings from $115. It has included tuna with caviar and lychee and venison in a juniper and porcini crust. Diners must be 10 or over and dress semi-formal to formal. Dinner only, from 5.30pm and not every night: bookings open 60 days ahead, and cancelling inside five days costs $100 a head. Work on the Grand Floridian's entrance runs into early 2027.
Book well ahead: tables go weeks outDisney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, 4401 Floridian Way, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
The standard rates are room only. Ravello serves breakfast every day from 7am to 11am, with a fresh juice bar, and on Thursdays and Saturdays, and some Tuesdays in the spring holidays, the same room holds Good Morning Breakfast with Goofy and His Pals from 7am to 11am: a buffet with an omelette station and Belgian waffles, a photographer on hand, and booking required on +1 (407) 313-6161. Lickety Split in the lobby opens at 6.30am for coffee, pastries and breakfast items to eat in or take away, and in-room dining runs day and night. Children 5 and under eat free at Ravello with a paying adult, though not at the character breakfast. The resort's bed-and-breakfast package, with a full American breakfast for up to two each day, was sold for dates to 20 December 2026 and does not cover Goofy's buffet. Outside, the best start is the weekend brunch at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' in Disney Springs, from 9am to 1pm on Saturday and Sunday, 12 minutes away by car.
