There are a ton of great snacks and meals in Disney World, but there are also some eats that you’ll want to AVOID. We’re here to help you sort out which is which!

We tried a bunch of new food at the parks and hotels in December, along with meals at reopening restaurants and a few seasonal snacks. There was even an entirely new restaurant that opened on December 28th! Now, we’ve got a full list of the BEST and WORST things we ate this month so that you can plan what you want to eat during your upcoming trip.

Before we get to the best and worst eats, we’ve got to let you in on a secret: There’s a simple tool that can make your Disney World meal planning super easy — the DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining 2023. We wrote the guide based on decades of experience dining at the parks and hotels, and it’s full of reviews, pictures, and details about every single restaurant. We also included our best tips and strategies to help you create the perfect plan for your group.

You can use the code WDW2023 at checkout to get 25% off the guide too! Now, on to the best and worst things we ate in Disney World in December.

The BEST Things We Ate in December

Ocean Moon Bowl at Satu’li Canteen

We’re starting the list of the best eats off strong with the gorgeous Ocean Moon Bowl, which is a new dish at Satu’li Canteen in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The bowl came out to celebrate the release of Avatar: The Way of Water, and it’s made with tuna, blue noodles, watermelon radish, pickled daikon, rainbow carrots, avocado, cucumbers, and red cabbage with a miso and sweet soy drizzle.

The Ocean Moon Bowl is not only super pretty (with lots of colorful ingredients) — it’s also delicious! The flavors were bright and fresh, and all the ingredients worked well together. We’ll definitely be back for this one. You can get it now for $17.49.

See our full review of the Ocean Moon Bowl here.

Everything at Takumi Tei

Takumi Tei is a fancy restaurant at EPCOT’s Japan pavilion in the World Showcase section of the park. It’s been closed for a long time now (since the 2020 pandemic closures), but it finally reopened in late November 2022. We headed inside this past month to try the new prix fixe omakase menu.

Before we show you the tasty eats, we need to warn you: this spot is PRICEY. The omnivorous meal costs $250 per person and the plant-based meal is $150 per person. It’s not a cheap meal, but if you’re going to celebrate a special occasion or anniversary, it could be just what you’re looking for. And we can attest that the food here lives up to that price.

We tried eats like crab salad, sushi, lobster tempura, sashimi, wagyu steak, and more. Nothing that we ate disappointed — it was one of the best meals we’ve ever had! The environment is upscale and beautiful, the service was fantastic, and the food was incredible. It’s definitely a splurge, but we think the food could be worth it on the right occasion!

See our full review of Takumi Tei here.

Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup at The Main Street Bakery

We’re moving from one of the fanciest meals on property to one of the most simple. We recently tried the new Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup at the Main Street Bakery in Magic Kingdom, and we loved it!

The bread-to-cheese ratio was perfect, the cheese was warm and melty, and the soup had just the right amount of tang. If you’re looking for a cozy meal on Main Street, you can’t go wrong with this combo, which is available for $10.99.

Remember that this isn’t the only place to get grilled cheese and tomato soup in Disney World — it’s also available at Woody’s Lunch Box in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and it’ll be at the Pop Eats booth at EPCOT soon when the Festival of the Arts begins on January 13th.

See our full review of the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup here.

Christmas Tree Gingerbread Sundae at the All-Star Resorts

One of the best seasonal treats we tried this year was the Gingerbread Sundae at Disney’s All Star Music Resort (also available at All Star Sports). It was made with gingerbread soft serve ice cream in a waffle bowl, topped with M&Ms, chocolate sauce, and a chocolate gingerbread boy.

We thought the gingerbread ice cream was delicious, with a noticeable ginger flavor that wasn’t overpowering. The toppings were fun and festive, and we loved the waffle bowl too! Unfortunately, this treat was only available until December 31st, but we’ll watch to see if it returns next holiday season.

See our full review of the Gingerbread Sundae here.

New Dishes at The Mara

The Mara is a quick service spot at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, so it might be out of your way to visit if you’re not staying at that hotel. However, we think that 3 new dishes make the trip 100% worth it!

First up is the Marinated Sun-dried Tomato and Herbed Ricotta Flatbread for $11.79. This flatbread is topped with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh herb ricotta, tomato sauce, a four-cheese blend, and arugula (yes, it’s basically a pizza). We thought the flavors were on point, the ingredients tasted very fresh, and it was a filling, sharable snack.

Next up was the Chermoula-spiced Shrimp Bowl for $14.49, which comes with grilled shrimp, pilau rice, kale slaw, cucumber-tomato salad, and chermoula sour cream. This one is SO fresh, and the flavors work together very well. We especially loved the shrimp in this bowl!

Finally, the Oak-grilled Chicken Bowl comes with marinated chicken thighs that are slow-roasted over the oak-fired spit for $12.99. The chicken in this bowl really surprised us — it was juicy and had a bit of char flavor to it.

Overall, the 3 new dishes at the Mara were all winners in our book.

See our full review of the new eats here.

Crunchy Raspberry Danish at Carousel Coffee

A NEW coffee shop just opened at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn. Carousel Coffee is located just off the hotel’s lobby, and it serves different coffee drinks, pastries, treats, and more.

We really enjoyed the NJ Crumb Cake we bought there, and the Pomegranate Green Tea Lemonade wasn’t bad either (although it was VERY sweet). But the real winner for us was the Crunchy Raspberry Danish for $4.29. This is a flaky, raspberry danish with raspberry icing on top, raspberry crumble, and a layer of caramel.

It was so tasty and different from anything else we’ve had at Disney World! The crumble on top cuts through the sweetness of the icing, and the caramel adds another dimension of flavor. If you’re visiting this new spot soon, we highly recommend trying this treat.

See our full review of Carousel Coffee here.

The WORST Things We Ate in December

We talked about the best meals and snacks in December, so now we have to discuss the WORST things we ate. From a character-themed slushy to some iffy escargot, there were definitely a few less-than-stellar things that we reviewed recently.

Sully Slush at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café

Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café had several new menu items in December, and most were pretty good. However, we tried the Sully Slush and were less than impressed. This is what we thought we would get…

…but this is what we actually got when our order came out. The treat is meant to be a Blue Raspberry Slush with Purple Whipped Cream, but when we got it, they were out of the purple whipped cream, so we just got the basic blue slush.

It tasted fine, but we were expecting a cute, character-themed treat, so the normal slush was disappointing. If you’re visiting Magic Kingdom soon, make sure to ask if they have the whipped cream in stock before you order this one!

See our full review of the Sully Slush here.

Escargot de Bourgogne and Duck and Pork Terine at Be Our Guest

The Be Our Guest restaurant in the Beast’s castle at Magic Kingdom is a beautiful place to eat, but the meals are pricey and the food isn’t always great. The prix fixe menu costs $67 per adult and $39 per child.

We recently stopped by to try a few dishes, and a couple of them were very disappointing. The Escargot de Bourgogne appetizer is snails baked in garlic-herb butter and served with a partial baguette. We thought the garlic butter was great, but we could taste too much earthiness from the snails underneath and didn’t love that flavor. Especially compared to the escargot we recently had at Monsieur Paul, this dish was underwhelming.

Our other appetizer was the Duck and Pork Terrine, which is served with house pickles, frisée, and whole grain mustard. Although we liked the crostinis that came on the plate and enjoyed the pickled veggies and greens, we think that most people will struggle with the texture and flavor of the terrine. It’s a challenging flavor, especially if you’re not used to eating this dish.

We enjoyed the rest of our meal at Be Our Guest, but we were a little put off by the high price tag and less-than-stellar appetizers.

See our full review of Be Our Guest here.

Merry Menagerie Cupcake at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

The Merry Menagerie Cupcake was a returning holiday treat at Disney’s Animal Kingdom (it was available through December 30th). It could be found at a few different counter-service restaurants, including Flame Tree Barbecue, Pizzafari, and  Restaurantosaurus.

The cupcake is made with gingerbread cake, cream cheese filling, and buttercream frosting and topped with cute sugar animals and snowflakes. Although it was a super cute treat, the ginger flavor was way too strong for us (it almost made our reporter cough), and the frosting was too sweet. There also wasn’t much filling inside the cupcake, which was disappointing.

We’ve enjoyed this treat in the past, so it’s possible that we just got one from a bad batch, and they might be much better in the future if they return to this park.

See our full review of the Merry Menagerie Cupcake here.

Panettone and Mickey Gingerbread Cookie at Le Petit Café

Le Petit Café at Disney’s Riviera Resort had several holiday treats this year, and most were pretty good! A couple of them, however, were not. The Panettone was an Italian sweet bread with lemon flavoring and yellow raisins. The citrus flavor was bright and tasty, but the bread was very dry and not sweet enough unless you got a bite with a few raisins in it (which was tricky, since all the raisins sunk to the bottom).

Another disappointing treat here was the Mickey Gingerbread Cookie, which is a Mickey-shaped gingerbread cookie with a sugar glaze on one side and dark chocolate on the back. That chocolate was SO dark that it tasted like unsweetened baking chocolate, and the cookie crumbled in our hands. Overall, it was just too bitter and brittle.

Both treats were only available for a limited time over the holidays, so you likely won’t find them at the café anymore.

See our full review of the Panettone here.

If you’re visiting Disney World soon and trying to decide where to eat, check out these posts for more tips and recommendations:

• 5 Disney World Snack HACKS $5 Or Less
• The WORST Disney World Restaurants According To Yelp
• 15 Cheap But Filling Disney World Snacks For When You’re Ballin’ On a Budget
• 10 Disney World Restaurants Every First-Timer Should Have on Their List
• 6 Surprising Rules About Drinking in Disney World

Keep following DFB for more food reviews, planning tips, and news from Disney World!

Click here to see the 5 BEST things to do in Disney World in January.

Which of these eats would you try? Let us know in the comments.

The post Exposing the 4 WORST Things We Ate in Disney World in December (And the 6 BEST) first appeared on the disney food blog.