Disney Magic Dining Guide: What Is Included and What to Expect

There are plenty of food options aboard the Disney Magic that can suit all tastes, diets and allergies. This Disney Magic dining guide covers each food and beverage location on your cruise, a sample of their offerings, personal favorites and tips for first timers!Before diving into this comprehensive dining guide, let’s cover allergies and specialty diets. When booking your cruise, you will be able to list your allergies and dietary requirements. If you are using a travel agent, let them know this as well. This information will be given to your dining team to assist you through the menus and offer special options when necessary. At quick service and the buffet, allergens may not always be listed so be sure to advocate for yourself to make sure you are taken care of, they will be happy to assist you to ensure your safety. Let’s start off with dining that is included with the price of your vacation!

Inclusive Dining Guide

Quick Service Dining: Open All Day, Snacks and Meals

On board the Disney Magic, you will find 4 quick service restaurants that serve food all day. These are all included with the price of your vacation. Their hours vary, so be sure to check the app or the posted times once you’re on board. What is nice about quick service dining, is that you can tailor your meal. I often like stopping by Duck-In Diner and asking for 1 chicken tender so I can have that with a salad from Daisy’s De-Lites. Or you can just order an entire plate of fries for your group! It is the best way to be able to mix and match a meal.

Daisy’s De-Lites

Daisy’s De-Lites offers an assortment of fresh options. You will find freshly cut fruit like grapes, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples and bananas. Be sure to grab some pineapple, it is always the best. They also serve a variety of sandwiches, wraps, and salads. Additionally, you can build a healthy bowl with items such as quinoa and veggies. They also have chocolate chip cookies for a sweet treat!

Duck-In Diner

Duck-In Diner is the big crowd pleaser. Serving classics like burgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders and French fries. They also have daily specials such as Philly cheesesteaks or a Chili dog. Don’t worry vegans and vegetarians! There is always a plant-based option on the daily specials board. Plant based options are typically an Impossible Burger with specialty toppings or an Impossible hot dog/sausage/brat.

Additionally, Duck-In Diner also has shawarma section. Here you can build yourself a meal with all of their fresh ingredients. There is also the toppings bar. You can pick and choose all of your toppings and condiments to make the burger exactly to your taste.

Pinocchio’s Pizzeria

Pinocchio’s Pizzeria is going to be the quick service location that is open the latest. As you guessed, they serve pizza. I do find this location to be the weakest of the quick service options. I think their dough recipe could use some work. They will have classics like cheese and pepperoni pizzas every day. This menu changes the most with their toppings and flavors. Usually having an additional 2-3 other types of pizza every day. The slices are on the smaller side. They are perfect to be able to try all the options or to eat as a snack.

Eye Scream

Eye Scream is the soft serve location. Grab a cone and serve yourself up a delicious, sweet treat. The flavors change daily. Flavors I’ve had on my trips have been classics like vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. But they also branch out and offer flavors like banana, blueberry, and the best I’ve had which is pineapple coconut. The soft serve can have you choose one flavor or swirl two together. I do find that some days the soft serve is creamy and other times it is a bit icy. It can be hit or miss with the quality of texture.

 

24-Hour Dining Options: Food and Beverages

Beverage Center

On deck 9, you will find the 24-hour soda fountains and hot beverage center. The soda choices are going to be pretty standard. But having this option included in your booking price is one of my favorite aspects of a Disney cruise. I was genuinely shocked when I went on another cruise line and had to pay for a diet coke…in a can! Then I had to purchase a beverage package just to get basic drinks.

The soda fountains have classics provided by Coke-a-Cola along with filtered water, lemonade, and PowerAde. There are small paper cups provided for you. I recommend packing a travel cup or getting one from the shop on board. You won’t have to be going back and forth so often for refills with a larger cup.

On the opposite side of the beverage center you will find the hot beverages. There are a variety of tea bags from Twinings to make yourself a cup of tea. There is also hot coco mix packets. I’d recommend getting the hot chocolate from the hot chocolate dispenser instead, it is much better. The coffee dispenser is there as well offering caffeinated and decaffeinated.

You will also find the milk dispenser here as well for those who drink milk or use it for their beverages. There are plenty of sweeteners, half and half and non-dairy creamer as well to customize your favorite drinks.

There are disposable mugs here, but again, I recommend bringing a travel mug with you.

Room Service

Another 24-hour dining option for you is room service! And yes, it is included in the price of your vacation! Here you can order food that you’ll find at quick service such as burgers, sandwiches, salads, chicken tenders, etc. You can even request an evening milk and cookies delivery.

I’d recommend getting Mickey Ice Cream Bars. My husband and I always joke we make our money back from the trip from our nightly, and let’s be real, daily, Mickey Ice Cream bar orders. They charge over $6 for them at Disney Parks. Getting them here for free is one of our favorite perks!

If you’re looking for a treat to bring on an excursion or on a day you are going to shore, I have a tip for you! When exiting the ship, most destinations allow you to carry off sealed food items in their original packaging. You can order Uncrustables from room service. Take those with you for a free snack or meal! Be sure to leave fresh or opened food on board. Please listen to the rules and guidelines the cruise staff give you in regard to taking food off the ship, this is subject to change.

Pre-Ordered Room Service

Morning room service is a wonderful option for those who want to dine in their rooms. Enjoy a nice long start to your day. In your room, you will find a room service placard. The benefit of the morning room service placard is that you place it on your door the night before.  Then select the time you’d like it delivered to you in the morning. This prevents having a long wait time by calling and ordering in the morning.

There is an array of options to choose from like fruit, cereal, Mickey waffles, muffins, eggs, etc. Think of this as more of a continental breakfast. You can even have a pitcher of hot coffee or hot water, and tea delivered. That way you don’t have to go up to deck 9 or to a restaurant for your morning cup of caffeine.

While room service is free, tipping is optional.

Full-Service Dining: Restaurants for Breakfast and Lunch

Breakfast and lunch are served in the dining rooms every single day if you would like to have a full-service dining experience. These will be the meals where you won’t have your rotating dining staff serving you in the dining rooms. If your servers are assigned to those locations, you can request to sit in their section. But note that they often work in other locations during the day.

The dining rooms that are open for lunch change. Your serving staff will let you know during dinner service which locations are open for breakfast and lunch. You can also find this in your navigator app. The menus for every meal in the dining rooms are also listed every day if you want to weigh your options. You can find them outside the restaurants or on the app!

Buffet Dining

Cabanas is the only buffet on board. It is at the back of the ship, and you can dine outside with uninterrupted views of the ocean. It is open for limited hours for breakfast and lunch. At both meals, you will find traditional American food.

Breakfast will have eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, mickey waffles, a fruit and yogurt station, and pastries. Those are the standard options. Other breakfast items change daily to offer you a wider variety of options. When they put out the churro Mickey Waffles, dip it into the warm maple syrup and have an extra for me please. A waffle dipped in cinnamon sugar?! YES PLEASE! They aren’t out every day, but they are so decadent and my favorite.

At lunch you will find daily varieties of pasta, veggies, beef, fish, chicken and pork. Preparation and sauces change which helps keeps things interesting. There is also a salad and desert bar. The section that made my sister-in-law gasp was the fresh shrimp and crab. You don’t find this at most cruise buffets. It is nice to have this as a daily option for seafood lovers.

There is usually a cuisine they highlight daily. Never skip the Indian food. Having worked on this cruise line, I know a lot of the chefs on board are from India and this is always the best cuisine they highlight. The flavor is next level! You can also find them serving cuisines from Mexico, China, Japan and more. When you’re moving through the buffet line, don’t miss that highlighted cuisine section. It is typically toward the end of the buffet!

Main Dining: Rotating Dinner Service

Dinner is served in 1 of 3 restaurants, or dining rooms. You will rotate your dining location every night alongside your service team. When you are booking your trip, you will have the option for early or late dining. Early dinner starts at 5:45pm and Late Dining starts at 8:15pm. You will find on your navigator app which restaurant you are assigned to and your dining team will also let you know where you will be dining the next evening.

On the Disney Magic, the restaurants are Animator’s Palate, Rapunzel’s Royal Table and Lumiere’s.

Dress code varies night to night, most being cruise casual. There will be a formal night on your cruise, so be sure to pack something nice for the Captain’s Dinner! Dress code isn’t enforced in main dining. But it is a nice excuse to get dressed up for an evening.

Keep an eye out for the unique details that make these restaurants special. Your table number, cutlery, breadbasket, plates, menus and the servers’ outfits are all designed for each location.

Animator’s Palate

This restaurant is a Disney Cruise Line classic and can be found on every ship in the fleet. It celebrates animation with art covering the walls and splashes of color amongst its black and white motif. Monitors in the walls change throughout the dinner service. On your first night dining here, a special fan-favorite guest will make an appearance! On your last night dining here, your very own drawings will come to life on the monitors around you.

If you find yourself here for Pirate Night on a long voyage, get ready to see some incredible concept art, drawings and paintings for films like Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan displayed on the wall monitors.

Rapunzel’s Royal Table

Rapunzel’s Royal Table is the character dining restaurant that is themed for Tangled, complete with overhead lanterns lighting the restaurant. I think this restaurant has the best theming aboard the Disney Magic. Depending on the length of your stay, there are several shows you will see here. Rapunzel’s Birthday is the biggest celebration. But there is often live music and actors entertaining you interspersed with your meal. It is more vignettes than it is dinner theater.  For fans of character encounters, this will be that location.

Lumiere’s

Lumiere’s is the Beauty and the Beast themed “formal” dining room. The lighting and menu design are my favorite on the Disney Magic.  No entertainment here, just a quiet, beautiful restaurant.

What Food to Expect

The menus change daily. You can see them on the app before you’re even handed a menu. If you’re like me and want to make your lunch decisions based on what you want for dinner, take a look at your options early! The menus are also posted outside of the restaurants every day if you want to walk by and read them.

Dinner starts with a breadbasket. Standard rolls and specialty bread are served with a unique spread and butter. Then you get to choose a starter, soup or salad, entree and dessert.

You can have as much or as little as you want. If the starters and soup don’t appeal to you, you can skip them. You can get multiple entrees instead. Can’t pick a dessert? Get multiple! That is a benefit of cruise travel.

Mickey Ice Cream bars are also always a dessert option. They aren’t on the menu, just think of them as the ultimate hidden Mickey.

Non-Inclusive Dining Guide

This section will be much smaller because the bulk of offerings are included. I will let you know how to save money when purchasing non-inclusive items! You will also find that the bulk of these locations are for adults only.

Quick Service

Frozone’s Treats

Frozone’s Treats is located next to Eye Scream and is a quick service location where you can purchase Dole Whip or Dole Whip with a rum float. Don’t expect park quality Dole Whip here. I returned the alcoholic version I purchased which was essentially a bunch of ice, rum and melted Dole Whip. I usually just avoid this location. But if you see someone walking by with one and it looks good, give it a try. I’m convinced they just didn’t make it right that day, but I never tried it again.

18+ Over Dining:

Cove Cafe

This cafe is located next to the adults only pool. Here you will find specialty coffees, lattes, cappuccinos, matcha and more. On your first day, be sure to grab a loyalty card! With every purchase you can get it punched to earn a free drink for every 5 that you buy. It isn’t just at Cove Café that you can get this punched! If you order a specialty coffee anywhere on board, like the main dining restaurants or Soul Cat Lounge, it counts toward your free drink, so keep it on you and maximize your benefits.

While the beverages cost money in Cove Café, the pastries that are in the glass pastries counter are free. You can always pop in for a delicious pastry while you read a book in this beautiful and quite café.

Palo- Northern Italian Restaurant

Palo is the fine dining restaurant that is exclusively for the 18+ crowd. Reservations are required for their brunch or dinner. There is a strict dress code so be sure to pack something that adheres to that if you plan on booking here. Cocktail attire adds to the elegant atmosphere of this Northern Italian restaurant. I highly recommend choosing the tasting menu. Then you can sit back and relax while you eat the best food on board and enjoy a date night or special occasion evening with your loved ones.

The tasting menu is a multiple course meal that lets you choose between their options of antipasto, salad, entrée and dessert. They are known for their chocolate souffle, but I will say their other option of dessert is a lemon tart and I would choose that every time. You can also choose to have the tasting menu that comes with wine paired for each course.

If a tasting menu isn’t your vibe, you can always order ala carte. They have antipasti options, salads, pastas, entrees and desserts to choose from. I also find that the best cocktails on board are made at Palo.

The service here is always impeccable. I highly recommend booking a dinner here. You will have an unforgettable evening. The prices vary but are extremely reasonable for a fine dining experience.

Pro Tip: If you call ahead, you can always see if bar seating is available to grab a cocktail in the evening. You do have to wear cocktail attire to sit at the bar as well, so keep that in mind.

Bars: Where to Drink and Tips To Save Money

Alcohol is not included in your vacation purchase and there aren’t unlimited drink packages like you will find on other cruise lines. But they do offer several options to save money.

Tips to Save Money

On the first day of your cruise, you will find bar staff rotating around Deck 9. They will be taking orders for the bar and selling their beer package. It can vary in terms of price and offerings. Essentially, you buy a bunch of different beers. The staff delivers them to your room. You can keep them in your room fridge and enjoy them throughout your stay.

But what if you want beer on tap? I have money saving news for you too! You can purchase a Disney Cruise Line beer stein. The nice thing about this is that you don’t have to lug it around with you. The server will give you a card to show you’ve purchased a beer stein. They will pour every beer you buy into the stein. This gives you more ounces of beer than the standard glasses for the same price. At interior bars, the steins are glass and near the pools they are plastic.

Then, at the end of your cruise, you can go to any interior bar and say you’re ready to pick up your stein and you can take it home. You take home the nicer quality glass steins so be sure to visit an interior location.

Looking for more savings? There are daily happy hours! Check your navigator app to see when and where happy hours are happening. The deals range from anywhere to 25-50% off drinks! This will be the best way to save on cocktails, wine and beer.

Bars

The bars aboard the Disney Magic as follows:

Deck 9 has two pool bars, Signals which is located at the adults’ pool and the bar located at Pinocchio’s Pizzeria.

Deck 4 has Preludes right outside the Walt Disney Theater where you can grab a drink before the big show.

D-Lounge is where you can find cocktails and family entertainment in the evening.

Down on Deck 3 are the remainder of the bars. These become adults only spaces in the evening.

O’Gills Pub is an Irish pub on board. The TVs there usually show sports games during the day and evening. There is also live music. They often put out free food in the mini pub buffet like chicken wings.

Keys is the piano bar where you can grab a cocktail in a more upscale location without having to adhere to a dress code ala Palo. You will also find live piano entertainment here.

Fathoms will be the largest location and features adult entertainment, like comedians, game shows, cabarets, live music and dancing.

Soul Cat Lounge is another great location to hear some live jazz standards. They serve cocktails and specialty coffees (bring that punch card!). They also have for purchase food like incredibly delicious beignets and pretzels.

You can always purchase alcoholic beverages and specialty coffees at any dining room!

 

Enjoy your time aboard the Disney Magic and all the delicious food it has to offer! If you’re traveling on the Disney Wonder, check out my post on their food! And if you’d like to a see a vlog of our trip through the Panama Canal on the Disney Magic you can find that over on Youtube @livekindunwind. Bon Voyage!