In October, my family and I went on a 4-night cruise on the Disney Wish. (You can take a tour of our deluxe family room with a HUGE verandah.) Several weeks before, I figured out the Disney Wish dining rotation pattern and put in a request for my preferred schedule.
Yes, you can really do that – and I got what I wanted!
I’m going to discuss all the available Disney Wish dining options (and we used ALL but one of them) to explain how I arrived at my preferred dining schedule.
The Disney Wish food was truly outstanding no matter where or what we ate – though some restaurants were certainly better than others.
Disney Wish Dining & Food Options
Main Dining Restaurants
1923 Restaurant
The only MDR (main dining room) without any kind of dinner show, 1923 is named for the year Walt founded the Walt Disney Company.
There are two dining rooms: the Roy O. Disney room and the Walt E. Disney room.
It is an elegant restaurant with a 1920s theme (you’ll see many cruisers dressed to match), filled with glass cases showing off sketches, storyboards, and props from dozens of Disney movies.
The layout is tight, and it’s difficult to leave for the restroom during dinner without clashing with servers.
On the other hand, 1923 has some of the best food on the whole ship (it was a very close second favorite for us). We also found it to have the strongest cocktails. 😉
A sit-down embarkation lunch is usually offered in 1923, likely because it is the closest restaurant to where you board and exit the ship (you’ll see it on your left when embarking).
By the way: 1923 is on the same deck as the Disney Wish Star Wars bar! This makes Hyperspace Lounge a great choice for a pre- or post-dinner cocktail.
Arendelle (The Disney Wish Frozen Restaurant)
Arendelle was my favorite of all the Disney Wish dining rooms. That could be because we spent so much time in it!
There’s a long hallway that leads to the restaurant, just like the one Anna rides her bike through in the movie – complete with knights of armor, a grandfather clock, and Joan of Arc artwork.
Arendelle is the most spacious of the three main restaurants, with high ceilings and one giant dining room with a stage in the middle.
The wallpaper, artwork, and other decorations were very beautiful, just like it looks in the castle in Frozen.
During your dinner, there’s a dinner show filled with music, dancing, and all your favorite characters. They perform onstage as well as walking around to each individual table!
The food at Arendelle was, to us, the best on the entire ship, from the appetizers to the entrees and most certainly to the desserts.
Interested in meeting the Frozen characters for a photo? Check out my guide to all the Disney Wish characters and where to find them!
Worlds of Marvel Restaurant
The Marvel restaurant on the Disney Wish was a loud, somewhat intense experience.
Whether or not that’s bad depends on your desires and perception.
Worlds of Marvel is very heavily themed around Ant-Man and The Wasp, with the walls and decor making you feel like you’re inside a futuristic laboratory.
Giant TVs are on every single wall, and a “real” Quantum core is on every table.
The dinner show (which mostly takes place on TV screens, save for a special appearance near the end) is extremely distracting.
The din of everyone talking sometimes makes it hard to hear what the characters are saying.
Even when Ant-Man and The Wasp aren’t talking to you on screen, there are clips from Marvel movies playing throughout the entire dinner.
Our kids’ eyes were fixed on the screen behind my husband and me the whole time. Funnily enough, this was the only dinner on the whole cruise where they ate all their food! (Mindless nibbling, perhaps?)
Unfortunately, we found the food to be lacking in a lot of things at Worlds of Marvel. For food allegedly inspired by Wakanda and other locales from the superhero series, it was remarkably bland.
The best parts, to us, were actually the bread service with red bell pepper dip at the beginning and the Pym doughnut sundae at the end.
Adult-Only Restaurants
There are two restaurants on the Disney Wish where children are not allowed to eat. We didn’t get an opportunity to eat in them, but I did get to take a tour of one while it was totally empty!
On a three-night cruise, I personally wouldn’t want to eat dinner at either of these and miss out on any of the great Disney Wish restaurants that are included in your fare.
For a four-night cruise, however, Pirate Night is a great night to try and grab a dinner reservation, as the pirate menu is… not great.
But if you can snag a brunch (or dessert experience), go for it – because they are hard to get on this ship!
PALO Steakhouse
A mix of Italian and American cuisine, PALO on the Wish has a subtle theme around Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast.
Both brunch and dinner are served here with a reservation, and both have an upcharge (either prix fixe or a la carte).
Enchante on the Disney Wish
Featuring French cuisine and the highest elegance, Enchante is the most expensive restaurant on the Wish.
If you’re not a foodie, you may be surprised by the tiny portions served for the money (though many courses are provided).
Just like PALO, Enchante offers brunch as well as dinner reservations.
They also have a Dessert Experience with several courses of sweets (with the option to pair them with various wines).
I was devastated when I wasn’t able to book the Dessert Experience at the Enchante restaurant because Beauty and the Beast is my all-time favorite Disney princess movie (and I didn’t want to miss the regular dinners).
Fortunately, they were kind enough to allow me into the restaurant to take pictures one morning when there wasn’t a brunch happening. I had the whole place to myself!
Disney Wish Buffets
Marceline Market on the Disney Wish
There’s only one true buffet on the Wish, and that’s the Market. While there’s no actual Marceline Market menu, the food offered throughout our cruise remained pretty consistent for each meal.
My favorite Disney Wish breakfast, by far, was at Marceline Market. They had eggs benedict ready-to-go every day, topped with hollandaise sauce – my favorite!
I always grabbed it with a side of bacon or sausage (they had turkey options available too!).
After washing it down with a glass of POG juice (or some nice, hot coffee), I would have a perfectly covered chocolate donut as a “breakfast dessert.”
There are five food stations on each side of the “loop” (and they are the same on each side). At breakfast, they included various types of eggs, meat, and potatoes, Asian-inspired fare, kid-friendly waffles and pancakes, pastries, yogurts, fruits, and even a cereal bar.
At lunch, we found the offerings much more varied. While that meant there were fewer things to choose from that we personally liked, that means it’s much more likely to have something that everybody likes.
Naturally, my favorite station at lunchtime was the dessert counter. If you need a fix of free sweets while on board, Marceline Market is without a doubt the place to go!
Marceline Market is NOT open for dinner.
Festival of Foods
The Festival of Foods is a series of quick-service stations that loop around one end of the pool deck. The five stations include barbecue, Mexican, pizza, burgers and hot dogs, and soft-serve ice cream.
I’m not going to lie – while we enjoyed our dinners in the main dining room, my favorite food during the cruise actually came from these stations!
I preferred getting a bratwurst or a slice of pizza followed by some banana ice cream over anything I could get at Marceline Market.
The kids also loved being able to eat a cheeseburger after swimming – so they could hop right back into the pool afterward.
Unfortunately, the only station that seemed to be open at dinner time was Daisy’s Pizza Pies… Thought this would certainly have been more than adequate if we hadn’t wanted to dine in our scheduled restaurant.
Disney Wish Room Service
We ended up ordering room service way more than I expected, considering how many other places there were to eat on the ship.
The first day after embarking, we weren’t hungry enough for a full lunch, so we ordered a fruit and cheese plate to nibble on instead. That night, I ordered coffee to have for the morning (their carafes stay hot all night!).
Midday the next day, we ordered Mickey bars, and chocolate cake (and enjoyed some still-hot coffee) while we relaxed for a bit in the room.
The following morning, we had room service breakfast so we could get dressed and get in line to meet Spider-Man early. We were able to order muffins, bagels, donuts, fruit, chocolate milk, apple juice, and coffee!
That same afternoon, my son and husband wanted to spend a few hours hanging out (they are easily tired), so we ordered ANOTHER fruit and cheese plate and Mickey bars.
We didn’t use room service for any full meals other than breakfast, but there was definitely enough on the menu to do so.
The Disney Wish Dining Rotation Pattern
Disclaimer: While the following information is usually true, Disney sometimes changes up their rotation pattern on certain cruises.
If you have a specially-themed cruise or are cruising during a holiday, these rotations may not be accurate. You can call DCL at 1-800-951-3532 to inquire about your specific cruise’s dining rotations!
3-Night Cruise
Since there are only three main restaurants on the Wish, you will eat in each of them one time on a three-night cruise.
Instead of a special pirate menu on Pirate Night, you’ll get to experience the special cuisine offered in each dining room. You’ll also get to watch the dinner shows at Worlds of Marvel and Arendelle, even if you’re eating there on Pirate Night.
The order of rotation is as follows: 1923, Worlds of Marvel, Arendelle.
So if you’re assigned Worlds of Marvel on your first night, you’d eat at Arendelle next, then 1923.
If you start at Arendelle, you’ll eat at 1923 next, with your final dinner at Worlds of Marvel.
4-Night Cruise
With four nights on the Wish, you’ll repeat one restaurant on Pirate Night. You’ll also get to order your food from a special pirate-themed menu!
The order of rotation is the same as the three-night cruises: 1923, Worlds of Marvel, then Arendelle.
But the repeated restaurant is on the third night of the cruise with an ABBC pattern.
So if you eat at 1923 on embarkation day, you’ll eat at Worlds of Marvel the following two nights, then at Arendelle on the last night.
Our Chosen Disney Wish Dining Rotation
I emailed Disney Cruise Line ahead of our cruise and requested that we be assigned Worlds of Marvel for our first dinner. (Check out some other useful tips in my full Disney Wish review!)
This way, I knew that Arendelle would be scheduled for nights two and three, with 1923 falling on the final evening.
On the Wish, you can also eat your final breakfast (and say goodbye to your serving team!) at the last restaurant you ate dinner in. So this made 1923 our breakfast restaurant as well.
WHY did I choose Worlds of Marvel first?
The main reason is that I had been fortunate enough to book Olaf’s Royal Picnic and tickets to the Royal Gathering of princesses on the second day of our cruise.
In my mind, that meant my daughter could keep her preferred princess/Elsa dress on all day, from meeting the princesses in the morning to the royal picnic and all the way through dinner at Arendelle.
I thought that would save us some wardrobe changes. (I was wrong, but we’ll get to that.)
Since we all really love Frozen, too, spending two nights in Arendelle sounded good.
Also, since 1923 is on the same deck where you debark the ship, I thought it was smart to be able to hop out of the restaurant after the final breakfast and walk off the ship without navigating the stairs (or busy elevators) with our bags. (I was right about that part!)
Was my rotation actually the best one to have?
Without hesitation, I say yes! I DO believe the rotation I chose was the best for our family, for several reasons.
As mentioned earlier, Worlds of Marvel is a pretty intense environment. But since it was our first night on the ship, my kids were still amped up, full of energy, and excited to experience everything.
I’d packed my son’s Spider-Man costume to wear to that dinner, and we were lucky that our luggage was delivered to our room in plenty of time to change into it before dinner.
Not everyone gets all of their luggage before dinner the first night!
Also, we thought the food at Worlds of Marvel was the worst of the three. That’s not to say it was bad – it wasn’t – but it was definitely not our favorite. So I ended up being very glad we started with it because it was all uphill after that!
However, the second day didn’t go quite as planned. First, Olaf’s Royal Picnic was bumped to the third day – so the Elsa dress was to be worn then.
Plus, my daughter decided she’d rather wear her Belle gown to meet the princesses anyway. (And since I didn’t want her wearing it to breakfast, it was a mad dash back to the room to change before the Royal Gathering!)
And finally, the second night ended up being the Halloween night on our Halloween on the High Seas Disney Wish cruise – so she wore her Isabela dress to dinner anyway (we were all Encanto characters for Halloween)!
Still, Arendelle was overall our favorite restaurant, so I was happy to eat two of our dinners there.
As for eating at 1923 on the last night, you might think it was disappointing or “boring” to the kids after the exciting shows in the other two restaurants.
NOPE. They were both so pooped by the fourth night of the cruise, they required no stimulation during dinner at all. So 1923 was actually a really nice atmosphere for taking it easy on the final evening.
We did decide to dress up a bit fancy and somewhat 1920s-ish for the meal, which my kids actually thought was cool. (My son loved wearing suspenders, and he matched his daddy.)
And I definitely loved eating breakfast at 1923 – both because of the coziness of the restaurant and the quick access to exit the ship when our luggage tags were called.
Final Thoughts
In the end, the dining rotation you choose will depend on your family’s plans and favorite things.
Perhaps you’ll want to start at the most low-key restaurant, 1923, and work your way up to the high-energy shows of Worlds of Marvel and then Arendelle.
Or maybe you’re a family of Avengers fanatics, and you want to spend as much time in the technologically advanced venue as possible.
But also keep this in mind: just because you request a specific dining rotation (or first night’s restaurant) doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to get it. It’s possible we just got lucky as first-time cruisers.
On the other hand, I’ve never heard of anyone requesting a specific rotation ahead of time that didn’t get it!
And now, in the Disney Cruise Line app, there’s even an option to request a certain type of table at the restaurants, such as one closest to the action or one that’s away from all the noise.
So it certainly doesn’t hurt to plan ahead and ask for what you want!
If you’d like to do some more planning ahead of your cruise on the Disney Wish, check out my post on snorkeling at Castaway Cay. It’s a must-do activity, even for total beginners (like us)!
Hi! Thank you for this article, this is extremely helpful information!
You mention that you email DCL ahead of your cruise to request a specific starting restaurant for your rotation. How far in advance did you email them? Did you have an email address for DCL or did you use the “Contact Us” web form?
Thank you!!!
Great questions!
I did not email DCL until after the Pay In Full date for our cruise had passed, which may be 60 or 120 days before the sail date (depending on the terms of your booking).
I used the form on their website here: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/help/email/
Be sure to include your reservation number so it’s easy for them to note your preference!
Hi Michelle! On your repeated restaurant night (pirate night), is the menu the same as the other night you eat there? You mentioned a pirate-themed menu, but is it just decorated different or are there actually different dishes offered that night? Thank you!
Hi Jennifer! On Pirate Night, the menu is completely different from the other night’s menu for the same restaurant. ALL three restaurants serve the same pirate-inspired menu on Pirate Night, which includes a lot of seafood! This menu has remained the same across all Disney Cruise Line ships for a long time and is no different on the Disney Wish.