AndiAre you planning a cruise on the Disney Magic? We loved our dining experiences and the themed restaurants on the Magic. Here’s the complete guide to dining on the Disney Magic!
Disney Cruise Line Dining
The Disney Cruise Line offers several dining options for each meal: sit down, buffet style, adult only, quick service, snacks and room service.
Breakfast Options – Dining on the Disney Magic
Cabana’s-
Cabana’s is a buffet style restaurant. Breakfast options are plentiful! Different types of eggs- scrambled, omelets, hard boiled. Plus, pancakes, Mickey waffles, toast, pastries, donuts, bacon, sausage, potatoes, hashbrowns, oatmeal, yogurt, a fruit bar and boxed cereals. I’m sure there’s more that I’m forgetting too!
Dress code is casual. There is indoor and outdoor seating available.
We enjoyed the buffet. Our favorite thing was that it was quick! We could be in and out rather quickly. Plus, there are so many options even for the pickiest eaters.
They do require everyone to wash their hands before entering.
Tip – I suggest coming when it first opens, because it will be less crowded.
Table Service Restaurant
Each day one of the main table service restaurants will offer a breakfast table service meal. It does change daily which restaurant will be open.
Lumiere’s or Rapunzel’s Royal Table
The menu changes daily as well, but usually offers fruit, yogurt, waffles, french toast and some kind of egg and meat plate. Plus coffee and juice.
We enjoyed this, because the service is always incredible. The food selections can be slightly better than the buffet. However it is time consuming.
Tip- If in somewhat of a time crunch, tell the server when you first get there so they can rush the food.
The Cove
The Cove is an adult only cafe on deck 9. It serves coffee drinks and pastries at an additional cost. This is premium coffee if you are like my husband and a coffee snob 🙂
Room Service
Room service is available complimentary, but do remember to tip!
It is a limited menu only serving a continental style type breakfast. Cereals, toast, pastries, donuts, fruit, milk and juice.
There is a specific breakfast card to fill out and hang on your room door the night before.
Lunch Options – Dining on the Disney Magic
Cabana’s
Cabana’s is a buffet style restaurant. Lunch options are plentiful! It does vary daily. Some of the food choices are prime rib, pork tenderloin, chicken pot pie, chicken nuggets and seafood. Side options are mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green beans, soups, salads and pasta. They also offer different types of cuisine like Chinese, Indian, Thai, etc, on different days. Plus plenty of dessert options like cupcakes, ice cream, pastries and cookies.
One of my favorite dishes was the Ratatouille!
Table Service Restaurant
Each day one of the main table service restaurants will be open for lunch. It does change daily which restaurant will be open.
Lumiere’s or Rapunzel’s Royal Table
The menu changes daily, but some of the offerings were seafood, steak, salads, soups, and hamburgers. Plus a couple dessert options.
We enjoyed this, because the service is always incredible. The food selections can be slightly better than the buffet. However it is time consuming. It is a three course meal.
Tip- If in somewhat of a time crunch, tell the server when you first get there so they can rush the food.
Tip- A sit down lunch will be available on embarkation day too! Most head to the buffet, but we loved being able to relax and sit with our bags before our room was ready.
Quick Service Dining on the Disney Magic
Duck In Diner – Serves burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, schwarma and fries. Deck 9
Pinocchio’s Pizzeria – Serves several different types of pizza. Deck 9
Daisy De Lites – Serves sandwiches, fresh fruit, cookies and other snack options. Deck 9
Room Service
Room service is available complimentary, excluding tip. The menu is available on the Disney Cruise Line Navigator App, however you must call it in from your room phone.
Lunch options are salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza, and desserts. For an additional cost, soft drinks, bottled water, beer, wine and candy are available.
Snack Options
Eye Scream Treats- free soft serve ice cream. It’s a help yourself station right next to the pool!
Frozone Treats- Smoothies, frozen treats, dole whips, and adult dole whips!
Dinner Dining on the Disney Magic
Disney Cruise lines do dining a little different than other ships.
You will be assigned a dining time, usually 5:45pm or 8:15pm that will be the same every night. Disney has this worked out, so you will not miss one of their shows. If you have the first dining seating, you will watch the show after dinner. If you have the second dining option, you will watch the show first.
For example, we had the second seating for dinner at 8:15pm. All the Disney Broadway shows or variety acts for us started at 6:15pm each night. Every night we watched the show, and then still had a little bit of time before dinner.
They will also assign you a table number that may or may not include other people outside your party. This usually depends on how large your party is. Since there were only two of us, they placed us with two other couples.
You will sit at the same table number each night in the different restaurants.
Rotational Dining
The Disney Magic offers what is called rotational dining. You will be assigned one of the three restaurants each night. Depending on the length of your itinerary, you may eat at each restaurant once, twice or a few times.
When you board the Disney Magic, you will be able to look at your schedule and see the assigned restaurants for each night. You will also be able to view the menus ahead of time.
This is how our 6 day Western Caribbean itinerary looked:
Second Seating at 8:15pm Table 70
Tuesday- Animator’s Palate
Wednesday -Rapunzel’s Royal Table
Thursday -Lumiere’s
Friday -Animator’s Palate
Saturday – Rapunzel’s Royal Table
Sunday – Lumiere’s
Monday – 8:15am Breakfast at Lumiere’s (On the last morning before debarking, you are assigned a breakfast time. Ours was the second breakfast seating, since we were second seating during dinner. This is a plus, because we got to sleep in a little more and miss some of the craziness of the peak debarking time)
One of the cool things about rotational dining is that the waitstaff rotates with you. You will have the same waitstaff every night. This is great because they get to know you, your name, allergies and drink preferences. By the second and third night, they brought us our favorite beverage automatically.
The servers are AMAZING!! Seriously incredible service. I’ve heard that they even cut up your kids food for them! One of the perks of dining on the Disney Magic!
Disney Magic Restaurants On the Rotational Dining
Animator’s Palate
This Disney Magic restaurant highlights the magic of Disney animation.
On our first night dining here, everything was black and white. There are multiple screens that showed drawings of Disney movies. Sorcerer Mickey came in half way during the meal and showed the tales of Disney and Pixar Heros. At the end of his show, the restaurant came to life and all of the screens contained colors in the animations.
On our second dining night, our server had us complete a figure of a person- face, hair, clothing, etc. We handed in the drawing before ordering our meal. Towards the end of dinner, he told us to watch the screens. Our drawings were animated and brought to life! They even credited us with our name at the end. We became official Disney animators!
We did have a different menu each time we dined there. Some of the offerings were Ginger teriyaki beef tenderloin, herb crusted pork chop, tuna steak, pasta, salmon tartar and much more. This is a four course meal.
Rapunzel’s Royal Table
Rapunzel’s Royal Table is inspired by the movie Tangled. It’s a fun dinner with a show including Rapunzel and her friends.
During our first dinner here, Rapunzel’s friends threw Rapunzel a birthday party. They sang songs throughout dinner and each character came around to visit each table for a brief minute. The end of the show has everyone celebrating with her and all the lanterns getting lit.
I heard the second dinner here is another type of birthday celebration, but we missed this one. We chose to eat at Palo this evening. More info on Palo in a bit.
This menu changed the two different evenings as well. Some of the options include pork tenderloin, prime rib, pasta, sea bass and more. This is a four course meal.
Overall it’s fun dinner and show.
Lumiere’s
Lumiere’s is themed after Beauty and the Beast. The decor is French inspired with enchanted roses and a Beauty and The Beast mural.
There was no entertainment the two times we dined there. The setting was beautiful and we enjoyed the food.
The menu did change both nights we ate here. Some of the selections were caviar, shrimp, steak, rack of lamb, oysters, French onion soup, sea bass, lobster tail and more! This is a four course meal as well.
Adult Dining
Palo’s is an elegant Northern Italian inspired dining venue available to adults 18 and older for an additional cost. They offer brunch and dinner dining times. Reservations should be made when your booking window opens, but you can always check onboard to see if there are any openings.
We had dinner at Palo towards the end of our cruise and absolutely loved it! It was the best meal we had all week! For dinner they offer a fixed menu or an ala carte. We went with the fixed menu and enjoyed calamari, an Italian salad, beef tenderloin and their signature chocolate souffle.
The view is phenomenal from here, so make sure to get a reservation before the sun sets. I made the mistake of keeping our 8:00 eating time and we couldn’t see anything 🙁
Lounges
Want to relax and grab a drink? There are plenty of options onboard!
Cove Cafe- Casual cafe for adults only on Deck 9. Coffee drinks in the morning and adult beverages in the evening.
Fathoms – During the day hosts family friendly events. After 9:00pm, it turns into an adults only nightclub with fun activities like trivia, adult game shows, dance parties, variety acts and scavenger hunts. Offers a full bar.
Keys- An adults only Piano Bar with a relaxing atmosphere and live piano music. We enjoyed coming here to relax after the show and before dinner. Offers a full bar.
O’Gills Pub- Irish themed pub that hosts adult trivia games and televised sporting events. Offers a full bar.
Signals- Adults only bar located next to the adults Quiet Cove pool. Offers a full bar.
Promenade Lounge- lounge on deck 3 open to families to relax, enjoy a snack or take part in a game.
Tips for Dining on The Disney Magic
- Listen to your server’s meals suggestions. They usually know what are the best options on the menu. The times that I didn’t care for my meal, I went against his suggestions.
- If you can’t decide between two things, get both! They allow you to get as much food as you want. I only did this a couple times and it usually involved dessert 🙂
- Mickey bars are not on the menu, but you can order it at dinner or for room service.
- If you have second seating, order room service or get a quick service meal around 3:30/4:00pm to tide you over until dinner.
- Go to Cabana’s as soon as it opens for less crowds.
- If you are in a time crunch to be somewhere, let the server know so that they can rush your food.
- Take advantage of the Drink of the Day. They are heavily discounted.
Read my review of our Adults Only Trip on The Disney Magic.
[…] Our first dinner was in Animator’s Palette. Our assigned table included two other couples that were sans kids as well. Disney Cruise Line does rotational dining during their dinners. They have two set dinner times, 5:45pm and 8:15 pm. We were assigned the 8:15 dinner seating every night. Click here for a complete guide to dining on the Disney Magic. […]