Santa's Holiday Grove Menu Starts November 13, a Week After the Rest of Animal Kingdom's Holiday Treats

Disney published its Foodie Guide to Holidays at Walt Disney World Resort on Monday, and it gives a start date for the food at Santa's Holiday Grove, the new Santa spot at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The Grove's menu is listed for November 13 through January 3. The guide dates the menu only, not the Grove itself. When we first reported on the Grove earlier this month, Disney had not said when it would open or what it would serve.

The short version: The Grove gets 11 items, 10 of them marked new, the most new items at any one location in the guide. Five other Animal Kingdom dining spots start a week earlier, on November 6. Hollywood Studios starts November 7, most of Magic Kingdom starts November 8, and one Magic Kingdom restaurant starts November 1. EPCOT has no section of its own, and the guide lists no prices.

What the Grove is serving

Disney lists the Grove's location only as near Theater in the Wild. The menu is mostly bakery items, plus a savory pretzel, a milkshake and a wine. These are the 10 new items:

• Peppermint-Chocolate Cookie Dough Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich
• Pistachio Cookie, with pistachios, cranberries and candied orange
• Pan de Jamon, a ham and olive bread roll
• Chocolate Tree Croissant
• Santa Hat Croissant
• Jalapeño-Cheddar Pretzel
• Cookie Butter Milkshake
• Chilled Mulled Wine, a spiced Cabernet Sauvignon served cold
• Festive Chocolate Chip Cookie (also sold at Creature Comforts from November 6)
• Mixed Berry Focaccia with lemon icing

The 11th item, a Chocolate-dipped Mickey Gingerbread cookie, is not marked new. Pan de jamón is a traditional Venezuelan Christmas bread, rolled around ham, olives and raisins.

The rest of Animal Kingdom starts a week sooner

The five other Animal Kingdom locations in the park section are all listed for November 6 through January 3. They are Terra Treats, Flame Tree Barbecue, Creature Comforts and Isle of Java on Discovery Island, and Kusafiri Coffee Shop & Bakery in Africa. Every holiday item at those five is marked new. Terra Treats has the Reindeer Sundae and a Festive Cookie Dough Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich. Flame Tree Barbecue has a Gingerbread Cheesecake Pop. The coffee and bakery spots share a Snowflake Cinnamon Roll, a Festive Chocolate Twist and the Festive Chocolate Chip Cookie.

So from November 6 to 12, someone at Animal Kingdom can get the park's other holiday treats and that one chocolate chip cookie, but not the rest of the Grove menu. Zuri's Sweets Shop also appears in the guide, in a resort-wide list of packaged sweets like caramel apples, with no date given.

November 13 is also the day Disney's holiday season at Walt Disney World begins, and the season runs through January 6, 2027. The Grove menu ends three days earlier, on January 3.

Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

Most of Magic Kingdom's holiday food runs November 8 through January 2. The exceptions are The Plaza Restaurant on Main Street, U.S.A., which starts November 1, and Aloha Isle, whose Santa Surf Shack Float ends on December 25. The Plaza Restaurant has the only two new items in Magic Kingdom's park section: a Classic Reuben Sandwich and a Red Velvet Cheesecake. Items not marked new include the Gingerbread Milkshake at Plaza Ice Cream Parlor and the Gingerbread Cake at Columbia Harbour House. New caramel apples, cupcakes and a marshmallow pop also turn up at Main Street Confectionery and Big Top Souvenirs in the resort-wide sweets list.

At Hollywood Studios, the holiday items run November 7 through January 5. The one new item is the Life Day Wookiee Cookie, two oatmeal cookies with cassis eggnog buttercream, sold at both Backlot Express in Echo Lake and Milk Stand in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. The Hot Cocoa Lunch Box Tart at Woody's Lunch Box runs through January 31, the latest end date anywhere in the guide.

Two of those start dates fall on the first nights of the after-hours holiday parties. Disney Jollywood Nights begins November 7 at Hollywood Studios, and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party begins November 8 at Magic Kingdom. Disney says separate foodie guides for both parties are coming.

Disney Springs

Disney Springs has the longest list, but only eight new items in its section, six of them at Amorette's Patisserie, including a Gingerbread Crème Brûlée and a Hot Cocoa Mickey, available November 10 through January 11. Elsewhere in the Disney Springs section, the new items are a Gingerbread Mickey Cone at Swirls on the Water and a White Chocolate Margarita at Dockside Margaritas. Goofy's Candy Company and Disney's Candy Cauldron add new caramel apples, cupcakes and popcorn in the resort-wide sweets list. Earl of Sandwich's Holiday Turkey Sandwich is available now. Paddlefish, Terralina Crafted Italian and City Works list Thanksgiving Day dinners on November 26, and Raglan Road lists a Christmas Day turkey dinner.

What Disney did not say

• Whether November 13 is also the day Santa starts meeting guests at the Grove. The guide gives dates for the food only.
• Any prices. None are listed for any item.
• EPCOT's holiday menus. Apart from caramel treats at Karamell-Küche, EPCOT food will come in a separate Festival of the Holidays guide, which Disney says is on the way.

Disney notes that all offerings are subject to change.

Source: Disney Parks Blog, Disney Eats: Foodie Guide to Holidays at Walt Disney World Resort 2026 (October 26, 2026).