Fabulous cuisine is available throughout Walt Disney World -- and all over Orlando -- and it's getting progressively easier to find it. Now it's almost as easy to find a salade niçoise as it is to find an order of fries. That's the good news. The bad news is that, at least in tourist areas, the restaurant marketing people seem to be calling the shots. And they have made a couple of decisions. First, they think that you want to eat in a restaurant connected to a celebrity.

The marketing wizards also seem to have decreed that all those newcomers must have themes, especially those on tourist strips such as Kissimmee's Irlo Bronson Highway and Orlando's International Drive.

In addition, Orlando has long been something of a laboratory in which corporate America test-drives its new Burger Barns and Lasagna-on-a-Bun outlets to see if they'll make it. In this environment, it's difficult for mom-and-pop restaurants to compete with their big-budget brethren and hard to find a menu that hasn't been subjected to a focus group before it's rolled out before the public. The legions of chain eateries in Orlando often have a certain sameness.

All the same, if you persevere, you can actually find original, one-of-a-kind eateries in Orlando. Fresh, imaginative local restaurants have emerged in sections of the downtown and Thornton Park neighborhoods, driven by the mass influx of white-collar workers making their homes in the central business district. The restaurants there tend to be urbane and not driven by tourism -- you'll dine among the locals. Another good dining area has emerged in the Winter Park Village retail complex in the suburb just north of the downtown area.

The newest area for good dining is the restaurant row on Sand Lake Road (I-4 Exit 30A), just over a mile west of International Drive. Many of the restaurants there are chain offerings, but they are largely good chain restaurants, many of which may be new to you if your hometown is not also one of the restaurant industry's test kitchens.

Currently, all character meals at Universal are dinners served at the theme park's three, on-property hotels and are by reservation only. Characters appearing at the following restaurants vary, so please call the restaurant in advance to see which of the following will be appearing: Shaggy, Scooby-Doo, Woody Woodpecker, and Curious George. Reservations can be made at the character meal reservation line (PHONE: 407/503-3463).

For restaurants within Walt Disney World Resort, reservations are especially easy to make, thanks to its central reservations line (PHONE: 407/939-3463 or 407/560-7277). Universal Orlando, which has become a major player in the culinary wars, also has its own reservations line (tel. 407/224-9255). Guest Services (PHONE: 407/224-6350). Universal has done a good job of providing information and access to these eateries, with a special reservation and information line (PHONE: 407/224-9255) and a Web site (www.universalorlando.com) that includes menus for many of the restaurants.