People can eat themselves out of house and home, eat until they can't take another bite, or eat to their heart's content. But eating around the world? It's a thought that might make even the greatest gourmand wince.

Eating around the world is a much easier task if "the world" is Walt Disney World Resort, home to at least 60 theme park and resort table-service restaurants.

At the Vacation Kingdom's 22 sit-down theme park restaurants, guests can find a wide range of fare and flair, from sushi at Tempura Kiku at Epcot to meat loaf at the 50's Prime Time Cafe at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Fantasy Fare at Magic Kingdom

• Meeting Cinderella in her royal castle is a dream come true at Cinderella's Royal Table, which specializes in prime rib and other feasts fit for royalty.
• Lady and the Tramp fall in love over a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs from Tony's restaurant in the animated classic, "Lady and the Tramp." Magic Kingdom guests will fall in love with the innovative pasta and seafood specialties at Tony's Town Square Restaurant, themed after the movie restaurant.
• Liberty Tree Tavern is an authentic re-creation of a colonial inn. A family-style dinner menu delivers large portions of entrees and side dishes to the table. Popular Disney characters, including Mickey Mouse, greet guests at dinner only. Lunch is a la carte.
• Gigantic ice cream sundaes and all-American foods such as deli-style sandwiches and burgers make up the menu of The Plaza Restaurant on Main Street.
• At The Crystal Palace, guests can enjoy hot or cold fare and a children's buffet during all-day character dining with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and friends. And Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland serves up an array of fresh tossed salads, soups, burgers and rotisserie chicken with trimmings.
• Pecos Bill Cafe in Frontierland offers burgers and wrap sandwiches, accompanied by a delicious cider-lime juice slaw.

An International Experience at Epcot

World Showcase in Epcot truly offers "dining around the world."

• United Kingdom is home to the Rose & Crown Pub and Dining Room, an authentic British pub featuring fish and chips, prime rib, meat pies and British beer and ales.
• France features the Chefs de France restaurant, operated by famous French chefs Paul Bocuse, Gaston Le Nôtre and Roger Vergé. Specialties include beef burgundy and fresh salmon.
• Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco uses exotic spices to make food flavorful, not hot. Belly dancers and Moroccan music add to the ambiance of this restaurant, where couscous and bastilla (fried ouarka pastry) are favorites. Tangierine Cafe serves salads and sandwiches with Moroccan flair.
• If Japanese fare is preferred, visit Tempura Kiku or the Teppanyaki Dining Rooms, where chefs prepare beef, seafood and chicken entrees at the table.
• Classic Italian decor and strolling musicians make L'Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante a perfect setting in which to enjoy the various pasta dishes, including the original fettuccine all'Alfredo.
• Biergarten Restaurant in Germany features an Oktoberfest buffet, including bratwurst and sauerbraten, spit-roasted chicken and authentic Bavarian entertainment in banquet-style seating.
• Dine on the edge of a slow-flowing river during sunset at San Angel Inn Restaurante in Mexico. The authentic Mexican fare includes mole poblano, a chicken dish with an unorthodox ingredient -- cocoa.
• Oriental grandeur comes to life at Nine Dragons Restaurant in China. The menu offers cuisine from five Chinese provinces, such as Kiangche-style stir-fried scallops and Cantonese-style sirloin.
• A medieval castle in Norway is home to Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, a traditional Norwegian smorgasbord featuring imported smoked salmon, venison strips in cream sauce and fisketerrian (fish mousse with herb dressing). Princess Storybook Dining features Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas, Mulan, Cinderella, Ariel, Alice and Mary Poppins for a family-style dining experience.
• The Le Cellier restaurant in Canada offers a full menu of Canadian foods, including excellent cuts of beef and maple-glazed salmon.

Future World, also in Epcot, offers two unique settings for American cuisine.

• Garden Grill in The Land pavilion takes visitors on a revolving journey through scenes of Living with the Land while they enjoy family-style character dining at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sunshine Seasons offers fast-casual cuisine from wood-fired grills and rotisseries to a Mongolian barbecue and wok station.
• Visitors to Coral Reef at The Living Seas pavilion sight sharks and other sea creatures swimming in a giant aquarium. Specialties of the restaurant include tandoori-spiced mahi mahi at lunch and whole roasted red snapper with fennel and fresh vegetables at dinner.

The Star Treatment at Disney's Hollywood Studios

• Celebrities of the 1930s made the original Brown Derby their second home, a place to see and be seen. That chic atmosphere is re-created at the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard. Guests bask in the elegant atmosphere as they dine on the most-noted entree first created at the original Brown Derby, the Cobb Salad, and the famous grapefruit cake for dessert.
• At Hollywood & Vine, guests choose from a sumptuous buffet of hot and cold entrees, an all-you-can-eat extravaganza with Minnie Mouse often dropping by to greet diners.
• The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant specializes in milkshakes, stacked sandwiches, burgers and atmosphere -- visitors sit in vintage '50s convertibles watching campy sci-fi movie clips on a drive-in movie screen.
• Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano features a California-influenced Italian setting. Favorites include brick-oven baked pizza, pastas, chicken and seafood.
• Diners are sit-com kids with "mom" as waitress in a yesteryear's kitchen at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. Meat loaf, chicken pot pie and pot roast are the specialties. And "mom" will make sure all veggies are eaten!

Quick Service, Delicious Food at Disney's Animal Kingdom

There are five restaurants and myriad food carts throughout Disney's newest theme park, with an interesting array of options: freshly baked pizzas, slow-roasted barbecue, rotisserie meats and salads freshly tossed with signature dressings.

• Rainforest Cafe near the park's entrance offers sandwiches, salads and other specialties in a rainforest setting with gushing waterfalls, thunder, lightning, tropical birds and chattering gorillas.
• Discovery Island has two restaurants -- Flame Tree Barbecue, featuring beef, pork and turkey, and Pizzafari, with pizzas, muffaleta sandwiches and salads. In DinoLand U.S.A., Restaurantosaurus is the place to start the day with breakfast with the Disney characters; for lunch and dinner, the restaurant serves sandwiches, salads and McDonald's french fries.
• In Africa, the Tusker House Restaurant adds the aromas of roasting meats to the ambiance -- rotisserie chicken, crispy fried chicken and spit-roasted prime rib are the specialties.

The Options Are Endless

Theme park table-service restaurants are just the tip of the iceberg for food choices at Walt Disney World Resort. There are more than 6,000 different food items available at food locations throughout the 47-square-mile property.

For more information about Walt Disney World dining, call (407) WDW-DINE.

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