Disney Vacation Club Dining – The Best of the Best
DVC resorts have some excellent amenities for guests to enjoy. From beautiful pools and fun community hall activities to fishing excursions and ample transportation options, each DVC Resort offers so much! All of those things are wonderful, yet my favorite part of any DVC Resort is the food options. DVC Resorts offer some incredible dining options and some of the best meals I have had on property, I enjoyed them at a DVC Resort. So, I would like to share with you my favorite DVC restaurants and what I love to get when I’m there!
First up on the list is Kona Cafe at Disney’s Polynesian Villas and Bungalows! Located in the Great Ceremonial House, this restaurant features a tropical and relaxed atmosphere that fits perfectly in the resort. Guests can choose to dine for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, with each menu offering fan favorites and delicious Asian fusion dishes. My absolute favorite dish from Kona Cafe is the Tonga Toast for breakfast. While that opinion may be a little cliché at this point, it is cliché for a reason. It is delicious! Tonga Toast is a massive piece of french toast stuffed with Bananas. It is then rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with a Strawberry compote. If there is one thing I love, it is dessert disguised as breakfast, and Tonga Toast is the perfect example of this! With Kona Cafe opening back up on November 1st, 2022, this restaurant should be a stop on your next visit!
The second restaurant on my list is Olivia’s Cafe at Disney’s Old Key West! Located within the Hospitality House area, Olivia is such a hidden gem. This restaurant is nautical-themed and has the warm, welcoming feeling you would find at a neighborhood diner. One of my favorite things at Olivia’s is the decor, where you can see photos of families all over the restaurant. These families are all DVC Owners who purchased an Old Key West contract when the resort first opened.
Olivia’s serves up Island-inspired dishes for brunch and dinner, and brunch is served every day from 7:30 am – 2 pm! While the brunch is delicious, dinner is my favorite! While I am typically the type of person who tries something different every time I dine somewhere, this is not the case for Olivia’s. I get the same meal every time I am there, and that meal is the Slow-cooked Prime Rib. The meat is accompanied by seasonal vegetables, the perfectly cheesy Olivia’s potatoes, and a delicious demi-glace sauce. While not necessarily revolutionary in terms of Prime Rib meals, everything compliments itself perfectly, and it has that home-cooked feel to it that I love.
Olivia’s is also not the place to skip dessert! While I am partial to the Key Lime Tart (it is so tough to find good key lime pie here I live), Olivia’s Bananas Foster has all the makings of a perfect dessert. The warm banana bread and the cold ice cream mix perfectly with the sweet bananas foster sauce, making it a delicious and unique dessert choice to end your meal!
Now last, but certainly not least, is Sanaa. Located at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas at Kidani Village, Sanaa is, in my opinion, the perfect restaurant in Walt Disney World. While it does have amazing food (don’t worry, I’ll get to the food), the restaurant itself is so beautiful. The African feel of the resort can be felt through Sanaa, from the ornate chairs and gorgeous light fixtures to the jungle canopy on the ceiling. The decor is so breathtaking it is easy to miss something taking it all in. Sanaa also sits on the Sunset Savanna, so you can look out the windows and see animals grazing the savanna while dining. Sanaa is such a unique dining experience, and it makes the whole trip so fun!
Now, onto the food! (I told you we would be back.) Sanaa offers quick-service breakfast options, as well as table-service lunch and dinner options, and the menu highlights African cooking with Indian flavors. While I have not yet had the chance to try the quick service breakfast, I have heard it is a great option for guests staying at Kidani Village rather than having to walk over to The Mara for a quick breakfast. For lunch and dinner, my favorite thing on the menu is the Indian-style bread service. Like the Tonga Toast at Kona Cafe, this is a pretty unsurprising opinion, but it is so delicious! The Bread Service comes with five different types of bread and nine different accompaniments to eat with the bread. All of the dips and spreads are so different, really highlighting the African and Indian cuisine for which the restaurant is known. It is arguably the perfect appetizer and definitely a crowd-pleaser to share with your group!
For an entree, you have to try the Potjie Inspired! In the same vein as the Bread Service, the Potjie Inspired gives you the choice of one meat dish, one plant-based dish, and a dish of Basmati Rice. Both the Butter Chicken and the Braised Beef are so incredibly tasty, and the Lentil Daal is the perfect pairing. This entree can be different every time you dine here, giving you a chance to try it all! Everything I have tried on this menu has been excellent, and the meals are so different from most of what is offered at Walt Disney World!
Like all of the other amenities at a DVC Resort, the dining is top-notch and not to be missed! These three resorts are just some of my favorites, but there are still so many I haven’t tried, and I am looking forward to trying more on my next trip to Walt Disney World!
~Alyssa
