Welcome to an inside look at a project that friend of the Crescent Lake Club has developed! Matt Petolicchio came up with the Disney Comeback Index. If you are not aware of the project, Matt essentially evaluates the current Walt Disney World experience and compares it to what we had in March 2020 before the pandemic changed the world.  

We of course all love to eat especially us here at the CLC. Eating at Walt Disney World is very much part of the fun and experience. We all have our favorite go-to spots, or places we’ve never eaten that we are eager to add to our list. With this article, we will be taking a look at dining that is back at Walt Disney World but may be modified as well as dining yet to reopen. Without further ado here is Matt and an inside look at the return of Walt Disney World dining.


The Closed Restaurant Analysis

At Walt Disney World, there are 321 Table Service Restaurants throughout the parks and the resorts. Through June 2021, a total of 299 restaurants are open and 3 more have scheduled reopening dates (‘Ohana, Citricos, and Trail’s End). Note: The Wave’s refurbishment is being excluded from this analysis, as this restaurant did reopen.

This leaves 19 unopened restaurants unaccounted for. We also have one new restaurant on the [space] horizon, as Space 220 has a targeted Fall debut. In this article, we will explore each restaurant and make an educated prediction on when it will reopen. We will also have a major prediction at the end of the article so please enjoy the ride.

There is no secret that the labor force is a major current factor in the unopened restaurants. Thankfully, the Disney College Program is back to help alleviate some of the labor shortage. However, its sister program, the International Program still seems far away for the proper World Showcase representation. Let’s put those points aside for a moment and speculate a little bit…

Part I – The Theme Parks

We will start with looking at our beloved theme parks.

At Animal Kingdom, Pizzafari Family-Style Dining and at Magic Kingdom, the Diamond Horseshoe are closed. These restaurants weren’t super popular to begin with, but with the capacity increasing overall, I do expect these to be back by the end of the year. Over at Hollywood Studios, there are no closed table service restaurants. 

At Epcot is a different story and something that merits some real conversation. The following restaurants are closed and from World Showcase:

  • Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
  • Monsieur Paul
  • Nine Dragons Restaurant
  • Restaurant Marrakesh
  • Takumi-Tei
  • Tokyo Dining

So what’s the deal here? 

Before we dive into each restaurant, it’s noteworthy that Epcot Forever has finally returned to Epcot on July 1st. We also expect the Epcot Monorail line to resume in the coming weeks, which will be ideal for the park hopping. These factors will theoretically drive more and more people to Epcot, especially at night. Even though Food & Wine is running in July, they will need more restaurants to open. Some of these currently not open restaurants are owned by third-party companies, but if the third-parties were concerned about lower attendance due to capacity limits and distanced seating, we are surely trending in the right direction now.

Akershus was used as a relaxation station up until a month or so ago. This was a popular dining spot for guests to meet their favorite Disney princesses. Obviously with the pandemic in full force, they suspended all meet & greets except for a few “modified character experiences”. Would they consider bringing Akershus back before they restore traditional meets? At the moment, Walt Disney World is implementing this “modified character experience” at Cinderella Royal Table, where Cinderella from a distance, waves and interacts with guests as well as places like Topolino’s Terrace, Garden Grill, and Tusker House. Disney has hinted that meet & greets are on their radar however:

We’re not quite ready to bring back everything yet, but we are optimistic and look forward to the day when Disney pals and princesses are able to hug once again.

I felt confident that Akershus would reopen in June, but with M&G being potentially closer than we thought, that has me believing that they may wait until they can return to normal operations and restore “Princess Storybook Dining.”

Monsieur Paul is the signature dining restaurant within the France pavilion. This restaurant sits on the 2nd floor above Chefs de France. To date, it has been used as overflow for social distancing eating at Chefs de France. Now that social distancing at restaurants has been relaxed, it creates a clear path for its return. But for whatever the reason, Signature Dining has seemed to be extremely low on Disney’s comeback priorities. (Note: The person that thought that Citricos would open before the other signatures, please raise your hand!). We will get to more signatures later in this article.

Monsieur Paul will absolutely be back by Remy’s Ratatouille debut on October 1st, 2021 unless they are changing directions with this restaurant. 

Nine Dragons Restaurant seems to have a good following, although the reviews are never bullish. Still, the Pan-Chinese seems like a great fit to restore on the Eastern side of the World Showcase. Disney also now operates the Morocco pavilion outright and has been making some aesthetic tweaks since Epcot reopened in July 2020. Spice Road Table has been converted to more of a lounge style location, without an entrée menu. This has been a unique journey for this niche restaurant. It remains to be seen if Spice Road Table will ever be converted back to a table service restaurant. While I’m not touching much on the quick-service front here, a nearby popular quick-service eatery, Tangerine Café, is also somewhat of a question mark on its post-pandemic state, although the space will be used for Moroccan food for Food and Wine.

The table service restaurant in the back of the pavilion is Restaurant Marrakesh. This has been shuttered for some time, although some cosmetic work has been done to the signage out front, which is a good sign it’s coming back.  There are always rumors about adding character dining such as Aladdin, Abu, Jasmine or Genie, but my gut says this will stay the same when it reopens, especially since Jasmine just got a separate area for a meet & greet in Morocco.

Teppan Edo is the lone table service restaurant open in the Japan pavilion. Tokyo Dining has been open on a couple of occasions and shares a kitchen with Teppan Edo, so this one seems likely to open sooner rather than later. Takumi-Tei falls into the signature dining dilemma and will likely open when the other signatures start to reopen. 

My Predictions (from first to last)

  • Tokyo Dining – Late July
  • Nine Dragons – Early August
  • Akershus – Mid-August.
  • Restaurant Marrakesh – Early September
  • Monsieur Paul – Late September
  • Space 220 – Late September
  • Takumi-Tei – Later towards the end of the year.

Part II – The Epcot Resort Area Restaurants

Last week, Disney Parks Blog confirmed that the Disney Dining Plan would return, although they didn’t indicate a date.

Speaking of Disney Resort hotel stays, we know many of you are also wondering when Disney dining plan packages will return. While we’re not quite ready to share an update on timing, we are planning to bring this guest-favorite option back at a later date. We will also continue to reopen more Resort offerings, including restaurants like ‘Ohana (with the noodles!).

Let’s turn to the nearby Epcot area resort. We have two signatures that remain shuttered, Flying Fish on the Boardwalk and Yachtsman Steakhouse at Yacht Club. BoardWalk Inn has finally opened (July 2nd), and it feels like Flying Fish could be the first signature to return. It’s puzzling why Yachtsman Steakhouse hasn’t opened yet. Beach Club opened at the end of May and that ushered back Cape May Café and plenty of guests to feed. I almost expect this to open around the same timing as Flying Fish.

ESPN Club is one restaurant I’m somewhat nervous about surviving. The ESPN Zone restaurants across the country have all closed and this felt like a cousin to ESPN Club. The brand ESPN just doesn’t carry the same weight it did like 5 or 10 years ago. I could envision a new sports bar taking over this space. If it is coming back, it should be back by the end of the year.

Predictions:

  • Flying Fish – Early August
  • Yachtsman Steakhouse – Mid-August
  • ESPN Zone – Late August (right in time for the NFL and college football)

Part III – The Animal Kingdom Lodge 

At the Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House), Boma and Jiko – the extremely popular restaurants sit dormant.  Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo) will open to non-Disney Vacation Club guests on August 26th

Boma – Flavors of Africa presents the buffet challenge. All the buffet restaurants that have reopened (Tusker House, Cape May Café, Biergarten, Trail’s End, etc.) during the pandemic-era have turned into Family Style dining so far. Based on some sources, I tend to think Boma will be the 1st buffet back.  Hopefully this ushers the current family-style offerings to convert back to the buffets at Walt Disney World. 

Jiko – The Cooking Place is another signature dining spot. Some sources and Disney experts believe that Jiko may lie the first to open before Boma. But Disney’s turtle movement of opening the signatures makes me think otherwise. 

Predictions:

  • Boma – Flavors of Africa Boma:  mid-August
  • Jiko – The Cooking Place – late August

Part IV – The Magic Kingdom Resorts

Artist Point has a signature dining feel and resides at the Wilderness Lodge. Just a couple of years prior to the pandemic closure, they started a character experience dinner called Storybook Dining at Artist Point with Snow White. I think this falls into the Akershus situation. We are now closer to meet & greets, so it makes sense for Disney to hit the pause button on reopening until they can restore the proper character dining experience. This is one I personally have targeted for my next trip, so I have my fingers crossed.

At the Grand Floridian, two restaurants remain closed with no reopening date. 1900 Park Avenue which has character dining. I believe 1900 Park Avenue will need to wait with Akershus and the Artist PointVictoria & Alberts is on another level in terms of signatures and is a very expensive personal dining experience.

Predictions:

  • Artist Point: Late August
  • 1900 Park Avenue: Late August
  • Victoria & Alberts: mid-September

The Other Restaurants:

Boatwrights is shuttered because Port Orleans Riverside is scheduled to open October 14th, 2021. I still think this resort makes a comeback by the end of the year and likely around when the resort opens.

Toledo is a popular restaurant at Coronado Springs Gran Destino Tower. With Maya Grill reopening, I would expect Toledo to be open by the end of the year, when Club Level inventory starts filling the rooms.

The Turf Club Bar and Grill at Disney’s Saratoga Springs is currently closed. Does anyone care if this place reopens or not?  Overall, it’s a letdown for a deluxe resort having its restaurant closed.

Predictions:

  • Toledo – Tapas, Steak & Seafood – September
  • Boatwrights – October
  • Turf Club – early November

With most of the restaurants reopening before October 1st, I believe something else will return:

The Dining Plan will be an available option for all resort guests with stays around 10/1 and after. 

The Disney Dining Plan is a large money maker for Disney and its restaurants and and many guests see it as a convenience that they hope to have back soon.

The two paid dinner shows Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue and Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, are not currently operating. With Trail’s End reopening soon and sharing a kitchen with Hoop-Dee-Doo, I expect this show to relaunch before the end of August. The Polynesian Village Resort should have all construction complete over the next couple of months, including the monorail station makeover which should lead to the final things at the Polynesian reopening.

Predictions:

  • Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue: End of August
  • Spirit of Aloha: End of September
  • Disney Dining Plan: October 1st

That will do it for this first look inside the Disney Comeback Index and what we have yet to look for in terms of dining at Walt Disney World! Thanks to Matt for sharing his thoughts and definitely check out his incredible work above!

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