Five Walt Disney World Chefs on What Actually Makes a Park Meal Memorable

By entgrove · July 23, 2026

Walt Disney World spotlighted five chefs for National Culinary Arts Month, from a Be Our Guest sous chef leading nearly 100 cast members to a chocolatier at The Ganachery working Salvadoran flavors into the case. Their kitchens span Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Disney Springs.

Walt Disney World marked National Culinary Arts Month by spotlighting five chefs working across four theme parks and Disney Springs, each of whom came to Disney kitchens by a different route. Their menus run from Beast's castle to a Na'vi mess hall to a chocolate shop, and the throughline in all five is the same: food as a way to make a day at the parks stick in memory.

Chef Alex and the kitchen behind Be Our Guest

Ask Chef Alex about her career and she starts with her team rather than her menu. As a sous chef at Be Our Guest Restaurant, the Beauty and the Beast themed table service spot tucked into Fantasyland, she helps lead close to 100 culinary cast members and feeds thousands of guests a day.

"You might have the same meal twice, but it's the cast who make it different," she said.

Alex came up through the Disney Culinary Program, the internship track that has fed Disney kitchens with young cooks for years, and credits the chefs who pushed her early on. She now aims to do the same for the cooks coming up behind her. Her argument is that guest experience starts backstage, in whether the people plating the food feel supported.

"When people feel cared for, they naturally pass that feeling on," she said. "Our guests may come for a meal, but what stays with them is the people behind it."

Chef Carlos brings Canada to the table at Le Cellier

Chef Carlos grew up in Puerto Rico, where the meaningful moments happened around a crowded table. At Le Cellier Steakhouse, the wine cellar styled restaurant in EPCOT's Canada pavilion, he works to get guests to that same feeling, partly by leaning on the Cultural Representatives who staff the pavilion through the Disney International Program.

"Every conversation, every cultural perspective, every idea shared in the kitchen helps shape the experience guests have at the table," Carlos said. "That's what makes food powerful. It can help someone feel connected to a place they may be visiting for the first time."

That fits the assignment at World Showcase, where 11 pavilions ask guests to believe they have stepped into another country for an hour. Carlos frames the connection as starting with people rather than with the place itself.

Chef Koli takes his cues from guests at Hollywood Studios

Chef Koli's research method is conversation. During table touches and walk throughs he asks guests what excites them, what flavors caught them off guard, and what would have made the meal better. Some of his strongest ideas have come out of those exchanges rather than a cookbook.

The habit goes back to his childhood in Africa, watching his mother turn ingredients from the family farm into meals for the wider community. What stayed with him was less the cooking than the way people talked about it afterward. Guests who spot him working the room at Backlot Express, the quick service spot near Star Tours, are getting the same interview.

Chef Charles builds Pandora on a plate at Satu'li Canteen

Satu'li Canteen opened with Pandora, The World of Avatar in 2017 and quickly became one of the most copied ideas in theme park dining: a build your own bowl format with grain bases, proteins, and sauces that reads as alien without scaring anyone off. Chef Charles works the line between comfort and curiosity, and the moment he chases is a guest trying something they did not expect to like.

"A dish should never feel interchangeable," he said. "It should taste like it belongs exactly where you found it."

At Animal Kingdom that standard applies whether the source is a real culture or an invented one. The food is asked to carry the same environmental storytelling as the rockwork and the soundtrack.

Chef Gregory works in chocolate at The Ganachery

The Ganachery sits in The Landing at Disney Springs and does one thing: handcrafted chocolate, made in view of guests. Gregory, an assistant sous chef chocolatier there, is happiest when the case features tropical flavors such as guava, passion fruit, and coconut, which let him put his Salvadoran heritage into the work.

What he values most is the counter conversation: helping someone pick a flavor, or watching a first bite land. Those thirty second interactions are the part of the job he describes as lasting.

What this means for guests

None of these five chefs runs a signature dining room with a months out reservation window, and that is the point. Two of the five locations, Backlot Express and The Ganachery, take walk ups. Be Our Guest and Le Cellier are worth setting an alarm for at the 60 day booking mark, and Satu'li Canteen is one of the better quick service values at Walt Disney World. If a trip is being planned around food, these are the kitchens doing the interesting work.