#5 - Casey's Corner

Category: Restaurants
Category Rank: 1

Park: Magic Kingdom
Park Rank: 5

It's time to hearken back to small town USA with our top restaurant from WDW.  Casey's Corner, the quick-service restaurant at the end of Main Street on the corner provides hot dogs, cracker jack, and all the best baseball-game fare.

On our very first trip to Magic Kingdom, we happened to get to the park a bit before 3:00 pm.  Having gone without lunch, we were pretty famished.  Of course, the sights and sounds of Magic Kingdom were very intoxicating, and we couldn't wait to get started seeing things.  But, we were pretty hungry.  And, finding a place that pleases children ages 4, 7, and 9 is pretty difficult to do.

And then, like a beacon in the dark (except it was only slightly overcast), we found Casey's Corner.

Imagine our surprise when we ordered our food and were overwhelmed with ginormous hot dogs or corn dog baskets, a ton of fries, a whole cracker-jack box, and what felt like a gallon of pop.  Oh, and cotton candy.

Admittedly, we were not used to the excess of Disney restaurants.  It didn't take long for us.

If you haven't been to Casey's Corner, there isn't much seating.  There actually used to be even less, though they recently took out their "bleachers" where you could sit and watch old black-and-white clips form different sports-related cartoons.  We actually are pretty bummed they took it out; that was a big part of the charm of the location.

Regardless, I think there was only one other family eating at this time.  It's not as though it was the quietest time of the year either... it was only two days before Christmas.  Regardless, we were able to eat our feast and soak in the decor, hearing the piano player outside playing ragtime music, all in more peace that we have ever had at a Disney restaurant since.

There are two big pieces of decor still left now that the screen with the cartoons has been removed.  The restaurant is still themed for baseball, featuring pictures, scoreboards, and other memorabilia from Ernest Lawrence Thayer's "Casey at the Bat" poem.  And as mentioned, there is a ragtime piano player who plays periodically outside.  Both of which help build that small town feel for your dining experience.

Casey's Corner ranking relies primarily on it being the "first day attraction", namely the first stop that we had within Magic Kingdom.  You probably have your own restaurant that holds a special place in your heart, that you stop at every time you revisit.

Our next item represents the 2nd best day ever at the park, and features our top seasonal event.