The crown jewel of the Walt Disney World Resort’s dining program is hidden gem that is well worth talking about, and so we’ll be going into a nice overview of Victoria & Albert’s.
This Victorian-themed dining room at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort brings together the high-end culinary adventure with a little Disney magic sprinkled throughout the experience.
Before we start, it’s important for me to share that the opinions of this piece are 100% my own – and it should be, as this meal was NOT comp’d and we paid full price on our own.
Reservations
For those of you who know me, I absolutely love the challenge of getting Disney Advanced Dining Reservations, but there are times that even I get worried on my specific skillset.
We had attempted to secure reservations 60-days in advance, but decided to try a couple other strategies.
- I went onto the Disney World app multiple times a day, including first thing in the morning and late at night.
- I emailed [email protected] and asked to be placed on the wait list.
- I called the reservation line (1-407-939-3862) biweekly leading up to our trip.
The actual way that I secured the reservation was anti-climatic, as I was scrolling through the app on September 12th at 1153pm and got lucky.
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Dress Code
Once you have the reservation, the mood for the trip changes dramatically.
We ended up bringing down the basics:
- Jill brought a dress
- I brought a blazer.
In Florida, my goal was to find a pair of dress slacks and a pair of dress shoes, as packing my own collection would get in the way of valuable suitcase space and it would make more sense to buy something on property.
Long story short, everything was either out of my size or completely unreasonable in price that I ended up visiting a local department store just off-property and that made my outfit complete. It was a stressful situation, until it wasn’t. Don’t overthink the “dress code”, as you’re just wanting to have a great evening of being “fancy”.
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Pre-planning
We knew ahead time from our previous meals at Victoria & Alberts (this was our 3rd time) that we would be contacted by the restaurant to confirm various dining preferences and other details.
This time, because of the communication trail from the wait list, I was able to confirm all details via email.
Welcoming
We arrived to our 7pm reservation around 530pm via UBER.
We were incredibly excited, and although the weather was torrential rain storm-y, we ended up taking the monorail to the Polynesian Village Resort to check out some of the shops and enjoy the time before our meal in a non-Victorian location. Sometimes the Grand Floridian Resort can make folks uncomfortable – and we didn’t want that before the experience.
We actually went to the check-in desk to take photos around 615pm and was able to start our meal early. Don’t worry – the meal lasted until 10pm.
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Food
Anytime I discuss the Victoria & Alberts experience, the food takes centre-stage (as it should).
The meal includes a multi-course culinary journey that changes seasonally, so please keep this in mind when you look at the menu.
We opted for the traditional menu, which is priced at $295 for seven courses. The optional wine pairing was valued at $150, which we passed on and instead decided to order drinks throughout the evening on a case-by-case basis.
There is a 10-course menu for $375 ($200 wine pairing).
Plant-Based Menu
This is one of the main reasons why we continue to return – Jill has the opportunity to taste things that are incredibly unique to her diet. She’s been vegetarian for years, so eating something different is always a draw and well worth the price for us.
Price
There has been discussions on the price increase of the re-opening of Victoria & Albert’s after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, and the comments are completely valid.
The original price was $100+ less per person. That fact can’t be avoided and is definitely not something to overlook in your opinion of the establishment.
We reserved the meal because it coincided with a huge celebration – our 10 year anniversary. It was also part of our Disney World experience that we’ve missed since the beginning of the pandemic, so the cost-blindness was fully in effect.
Our budgetary process was different than others, but we did the following to afford the meal:
- We stayed off-property.
- We put money aside during the pandemic for our eventual Disney vacation.
- We re-allocated funds from other vacation categories, including souvenirs and other dining.
When you look at our cost savings, we actually only paid $1400 for airfare and 7-nights for two people. Instead of staying on property or on Disney Springs Hotel Boulevard, we just knew that this could happen and we splurged on the memory vs the hotel.
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General observations
Victoria & Albert’s is the gold standard of Disney hospitality and although it is expensive, the overall meal is something that will create a memory that other experiences just can’t compete with.
There are one-and-done experiences on property. There are also things that would never cross our minds to do, like a dessert party at an extra-ticketed holiday event.
This is something that we’ve done three times and, in our personal opinion, can’t wait to go back for a forth!
The Rest of the Experience
We have a lot of visitors who ask for images to show off the rest of the meal, but I would preface this with saying that every experience will be unique. Food is subjective, which is how I can get into “heated discussions” over the cuisine quality of established restaurants on property…and how Crystal Palace is a waste of money.
All that being said, I’d like to share images from our Victoria & Albert’s experience.
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The Plant-Based Meal
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The Meat-Eater’s Meal
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Bread
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The “vacuum percolator”
Not a “Coffee Bong”
The Goodie Bag
Victoria and Albert’s does not have a gift shop or any merchandise, so the takeaways are your personalized menus and a paper bag.
Additional Images
