Animator's Palate Dining Review (Disney Wonder Fall 2016)

Between our first and second sailings on the Disney Wonder a lot of changes were made throughout the ship. Animator’s Palate, a main dining restaurant was among the locations on the ship that received changes or upgrades.

For those that have not been to Animator’s Palate, it is a main dining location aboard all four Disney Cruise Line ships. The restaurant focuses on the art of animation – the table numbers are on containers of paintbrushes (not real ones, though), the pillars throughout the room are giant paintbrushes and giant palates can be found on the ceiling. The walls are full of drawings of different Disney characters throughout various stages of the drawing process.

The first thing you’ll notice when you walk into the room, though, are the large screens on the walls. Throughout your meal characters and scenes will comes to life on these screens – starting out as simple line drawings and ending as colorful, fully animated and moving characters.

Guests can get involved in the animation process, too! Now when you arrive there will be a paper that resembles a children’s menu/placemat. Guests are invited to draw themselves so that they can become part of the show! Your server will collect your placemats and near the end of your meal your drawings will come to life on the screens! Kind in mind that this does not take place during every meal at this location – we dined here twice on our last sailing took place during our second meal here.

No you know what the amazing Animator’s Palate is all about! What about the food?! We’re glad you asked.

Animator’s Palate features a variety of delicious eats with a mix of American, Italian and English cuisine.

On our first evening the menu was the same as what we had experience on the Disney Magic nine months before. That certainly wasn’t a problem, though, we knew that no matter what we ate it would be delicious.

We tried two appetizers on this particular evening.

The Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup is just like it sounds, delicious creamy potato soup with lots of cheddar cheese and topped with chives and bacon bits. It really does taste like a baked potato.

We also tried the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes. These pasta pockets are filled with creamy truffle cheese and served with a creamy Champagne sauce and crunchy strips of vegetables. The veggies provide a crunch that pairs well with the softness of the pasta.

Between the three of us we tried three entrees.

The Kid’s Mac and Cheese elbow macaroni covered in a generous amount of creamy cheese sauce. There is a LOT of cheese flavor in this dish! Christian opted for fries on this evening, as always they are steak fries – crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.

The Pennete Bolognese is just what it sounds like, lots of menu pasta tossed with lots of meaty Bolognese sauce and topped with cheese. It is also served with a buttery piece of garlic bread.

We also ordered the Herb Crusted Pork Chop. A large pork chop coated in Dijon mustard and crusted with breadcrumbs and herbs. The meat is juicy and full of great herb flavor. It served with creamy sun-dried tomato risotto, asparagus and a Borolo wine sauce.

We finished our meal with two desserts. The Warm Sticky Date Pudding – a moist warm date cake served with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.

And the Deconstructed Carrot Cake. This was one of the best carrot cakes we have ever had, and we eat a lot of carrot cake. It was especially good considering it was a No Sugar Added dessert. Two rounds of moist carrot cake are plated with walnuts, raspberry icing and cube of cream cheese icing. All of this is atop a puree that we’re guessing contains carrots. It was truly delicious.

On the second day we did not try as much – Christian was not interested in sitting still.

On this evening we got to try dishes from the brand new menu. This menu only has one appetizer which really didn’t interest us.

So on this evening we shared the Tomato, Spaghetti and Meatball Soup. This creamy tomato soup is filled with spaghetti noodles and moist, tiny meatballs and topped with basil and cheese. It was like eating spaghetti and meatballs. Yum.

We each ordered an entrée.

The Kid’s Pork Tenderloin came with moist medallions of mildly seasoned, but tasty pork tenderloin. It was served with tender roasted potatoes and watermelon.

The Chicken Schnitzel is a take on a traditional Germany schnitzel. A breaded and fried chicken breast is served with buttered green beans and roasted bacon potatoes.  The chicken was moist and the breading crisp, overall it was a good dish. The potatoes which were topped with bacon and onions were reminiscent of a German potato salad.  

We also tried the Beef Wellington. Moist beef cooked in puff pastry and served alongside steamed carrots and broccoli and roasted fingerling potatoes. The potatoes were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside like a roasted potato should be. The vegetables were standard, but good.  

We finished the meal with a Create Your Own Cupcake. Three mini cupcakes, presented in the shape of Mickey, are served with vanilla icing, white chocolate shavings and strawberry sauce. As the name implies, create your own combination of flavors! We really enjoyed it.

We have dined at Animator’s Palate five times on the Wonder now and one on the Magic. The atmosphere of the restaurant, the show of the animation process and the foods are all amazing. We highly recommend dining at this great main dining location.

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