Out of Walt Disney World’s four theme parks, Animal Kingdom is the one where it makes the most sense to eat breakfast. DAK routinely opens at 8 a.m. with Early Entry at 7:30 a.m., which means arriving during the six o’clock hour if you want to rope drop Pandora and be the first to ride Avatar Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey.
There have been mornings I’ve left my hotel room at around 5:50 a.m. on Animal Kingdom days, which is absurdly early and means I am, at best, grabbing a cup of coffee and protein bar on the way out the door. There have also been mornings when I’m at least a half-dozen attractions deep into my DAK plan of attack by the time 9 a.m. rolls around–and “done” with all of the difficult ones.
Suffice to say, when you’re on hour 4 of being awake by that point and feeling a sense of accomplishment with a successful rope drop run, it’s time to switch gears and fuel up. And all of that is precisely why Animal Kingdom is the best park for breakfast at Walt Disney World. I’ve had some very satisfying morning meals here over the years, including ones that probably weren’t that great–I was just a weird mixture of tired, hungry, and exhilarated from knocking out so many rides.
Until recently, my “favorite” breakfasts at Animal Kingdom have included the following:
- Kusafiri Bakery – Breakfast Totchos, Colossal Cinnamon Roll & Overnight Oats
- Tamu Tamu Refreshments – Colossal Cinnamon Roll
- Pongu Pongu – Pongu Lumpia
That’s it. Aside from these, Tusker House is the obvious top option for breakfast, but it’s now $49 per adult and I was underwhelmed when it was only $21 (that was only about a decade ago–not ancient history!). I’d much rather do lunch or dinner there for a more ambitious spread and better bang for buck.
There are also breakfast sandwiches at a few of the quick service spots, but I’ve generally have hit or miss success with them–too many instances of stale biscuits or rubbery bagels, and subpar quality toppings. I’m also averse to hitting Starbucks first thing, as the line is interminably long.
Aside from the breakfast totchos at Kusafiri–which has been the best location for at least 5 years and has cycled out some great short-term dishes, too–there really isn’t much in the way of savory dishes that are reliably good. I’ve had far more awful ones than awesome ones, and that’s even when grading on a curve when I’m really tired and hungry.
On the other hand, Animal Kingdom’s pastry game is strong, and there are more good-to-great options on that front than what I’ve listed. But I can’t survive on a Pistachio Honey Croissant or Guava and Cream Cheese Danish.
Thankfully, there’s a fantastic “new” option for counter service breakfast at Animal Kingdom…
Walt Disney World has finally restored the breakfast menu at Satu’li Canteen in Pandora – World of Avatar. This is already the #1 counter service restaurant in Animal Kingdom (sorry, Flame Tree BBQ, but you lost me with the cost-cutting measures and smaller portions), and that unsurprisingly remains true for breakfast.
Breakfast at Satu’li Canteen was actually discontinued only a few short months after Pandora debuted. The meal service launched with Avatar land in May 2017, and was gone by the start of the 2017 off-season. Its heyday was a summer when Animal Kingdom had very aggressive hours, and was trying–and succeeding–at getting guests to stay after dark. It could’ve returned during the holidays once demand returned, but that didn’t happen.
Fast-forward to January 2025, and breakfast at Satu’li Canteen is currently offered daily from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m. We have yet to see a 9 a.m. opening date since the meal service returned, so it’s unknown whether breakfast is only offered for an hour on those days, or the end time would get pushed back for another 30-60 minutes.
My breakfast at Animal Kingdom came at the end of Early Entry and rope drop testing.
On a normal day in DAK, I would try to knock out every single ride in the entire park as part of a rope drop run. That’s actually fairly easy to do, with the perfect plan laid out in Animal Kingdom Park Opening & Early Entry Ride Strategy. There’s a reason DAK is the park where I do the least Early Entry and rope drop testing: it’s the easiest. (Well, that and not wanting to get up so early.)
However, I also don’t mind logging 30,000 steps in a day. Now that I have a toddler, I’m finally having the “epiphany” that maybe not everyone is willing or able to zig-zag all across the park and ‘close those rings’ by 10 a.m. Who knew?!
My goal for this morning was to see how much I could do in Pandora – World of Avatar before the crowds built.
Not to spoil a future photo report, but it was a mixed bag, with two rides on Avatar Flight of Passage but only one on Na’vi River Journey. I probably could’ve pushed it and done a second boat ride, but I didn’t want to get caught in the wave of crowds and end up waiting ~45 minutes or more.
So after bouncing over to Kilimanjaro Safaris and doing that with a minimal wait, I headed back to Pandora for breakfast at Satu’li Canteen. If you really want to minimize backtracking, you probably could do Kilimanjaro Safaris after a quick breakfast and still be just fine on most mornings. But I didn’t test that–I headed over to the other side of the park, which was also still just fine.
For my breakfast at Satu’li Canteen, I started with the Slow-roasted Pork Shoulder Potato Hash served with Chorizo Sausage and Charred Onion Sauce for $13.29.
This is fantastic. The chorizo sausage has a bit of a char to it, and a crispy exterior that gives way to a tasty sausage with a slight bit of heat. Not enough that it should scare you away–just the right amount for flavor.
My only complaint about the chorizo is that there wasn’t more of it. That’s going to be a recurring theme with this dish.
Underneath the sausage is a decent slathering of charred onion sauce–which is a lot like chimichurri–that works well with everything. It’s especially good for rounding out the flavor of the potato hash and preventing it from being too dry. But that’s good even on its own. I do wish there were more of the sauce, though.
Then there’s the slow-roasted pork shoulder, which is almost hard to see in my photos. This also tasted great, and when paired with the potatoes and sauce, every bite was flavorful and delicious. There just wasn’t nearly enough of it.
In the end, my biggest complaint about this dish is the portion sizes. It left me wanting more, and wondering whether I would’ve been better served by ordering one of my two favorite lunch bowls, which are about a dollar more expensive but (last I had them) quite a bit larger.
Honestly, I wish this were priced at $14.99 and about 20% larger. This is right up there as one of my favorite entrees in Animal Kingdom, and I’d happily order it for lunch or dinner–there’s nothing about it that screams “breakfast” to me, especially since I’m ordering that same potato hash base with all of the bowls I get at Satu’li Canteen.
Next up, the Cinnamon French Toast served with Blueberry Cream Cheese, Passion Fruit Anglaise, and Sausage for $12.99.
This isn’t just straightforward sugar-rush french toast. The bread is thick and has some heft to it, making what seems like a fairly small portion pack a powerful punch. It tastes fresh, with the cinnamon coming through and working well with the powdered sugar. The interior has just the right amount of doughiness. Otherwise, the french toast itself is mostly what you see is what you get.
What really elevates this dish is the Blueberry Cream Cheese and Passion Fruit Anglaise. There’s more than enough of both, and these take well-executed but fairly standard french toast to the next level. The fruity flavors are pronounced and, at least for me, made this dish an all-star.
They also made this a very heavy, very sweet, and very overwhelming dish.
After finishing the breakfast bowl with no problem, I looked at this french toast and figured I’d still be hungry after eating it. That was very wrong. I did eat it all, but the second piece of french toast was my knockout punch. It’s a good thing I’d be spending the rest of the day zig-zagging around Walt Disney World’s biggest park!
My strong advice here would be to either order this french toast “for the table” and have it serve 2-3 adults, or order from the kids’ menu. That version of this dish is exactly the same in terms of quality and preparation, but with a single piece of french toast as opposed to two. You also get a drink and it costs $5 less. This is so obviously the solution that I really wish I would’ve done it. The drink alone might be worth opting for this (even times two) as opposed to getting the normal french toast to share.
Speaking of drinks, Satu’li Canteen is one of the rare restaurants with a self-service beverage station.
This also makes it an exceptional option for breakfast–or really any meal–if you’re in need of caffeination or hydration (or both!) and don’t want to settle for a single cup.
For this reason alone, we often find ourselves dining at Satu’li Canteen. Even if it’s just for water–this beats having to repeatedly go to the counter for small cups, or even refilling our own bottles.
Finally, the other two items I didn’t get to are the Frittata & Beef with Vegetable-Goat Cheese Frittata with Wood-fired Beef tossed in Chimichurri for $14.29, and the Tropical Pandoran Forest Fruits served with Fresh Yogurt, Muesli, and Honey for $11.99. The first of these looks good from what I saw on nearby tables, and I debated waiting to review breakfast at Satu’li Canteen until trying that.
Then I told myself that if I just publish the review now, I can not worry about it and continue ordering the Slow-roasted Pork Shoulder Potato Hash and kid-sized Cinnamon French Toast going forward. I’m not huge on frittata in the first place, so I cannot imagine that surpassing the breakfast bowl for me. As you can see, the latter approach won out.
At a total cost of ~$20, that will be a very pricey breakfast by counter service standards. But it’s excellent, and when you’ve been up since 5:30 or 6 a.m., a breakfast at 10 a.m. is really more like an early lunch. (On this particular day, I didn’t eat again until like 3 or 4 p.m.)
Ultimately, breakfast at Satu’li Canteen is excellent and earns an easy recommendation from me. Both of the dishes I ordered were delicious and high quality–exactly what you’d expect from Satu’li Canteen.
Which is precisely the “problem.” Satu’li Canteen is really good all day long, so should you do breakfast here, or save the stomach space for lunch or dinner? I’m inclined to think there’s an approach that would allow you to breakfast here as well as lunch and dinner elsewhere–perhaps some combination of Nomad Lounge, Tiffins, Flame Tree BBQ, and/or Yak & Yeti. Perhaps what really needs field testing at Animal Kingdom is a food itinerary!
Either way, it’s a good problem to have. And it’s really hard to complain about Animal Kingdom getting better at breakfast, which was previously the weakest meal (by far) at this otherwise-excellent food park.
We’d also be remiss if we didn’t give Walt Disney World kudos for bringing back this fan-favorite breakfast at Satu’li Canteen. This is a minor thing–no one is booking a trip upon hearing news about a counter service breakfast being back–but the minor things matter! Sitting there, absolutely stuffed at the end of my breakfast feast in a peaceful seating area after knocking out Early Entry in Pandora was a satisfying–and memorable–experience.
It’s these types of quiet moments and minor things that have an outsized impact on the guest experience. This is a drum we’ve been banging on repeatedly–that it’s the missing “big little things” that make a BIG difference at Walt Disney World. We’ve been stressing for the last couple of years that Walt Disney World needs to relearn how much attention to detail and plussing the guest experience like this matters. Silly as it sounds, it’s what makes people fans in the first place, and keeps us coming back. And we will absolutely be returning for more breakfasts at Satu’li Canteen!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Excited to try any of these dishes again–or for the first time? Have you dined at Satu’li Canteen recently? Which dishes do you like or dislike during breakfast, lunch or dinner? Would you choose to do breakfast or lunch/dinner here? Do you agree that Satu’li Canteen has claimed the throne as the #1 counter service restaurant in Animal Kingdom? Think that Animal Kingdom “quietly” has one of the best restaurant scenes at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our review? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
