Photo by Mike Thomas http://magicnmemories.tumblr.com
Over the weekend, I went to dinner at one of my favorite Disney resorts, the Wilderness Lodge. If you’ve never visited, I highly recommend you stop by this resort inspired by Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Inn, on your next trip to Disney. I still remember the first time I entered the grand lobby, all decked out for Christmas, with a tree stretching up more than four stories tall. I fell in love with that first look and dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe has become a staple when my extended family visits Disney.
Whispering Canyon is a fun experience offering horse races for kids and adults alike, the hokey pokey dance, and boisterous servers who make you feel right at home. The menu has always included the option of a family-style, all you can eat skillet with beef brisket, ribs, roasted chicken, and pulled pork, baked beans, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob. The beef brisket was amazing! For those who aren’t big eaters, there were individual entrée options as well.
When we were seated, I opened the menu and realized right away something was different. All of the individual entrees were gone. Our server sat down to tell us about the menu and I learned the changes had happened a month ago. Gone is the beef brisket, gone is the pulled pork, gone is the skillet. What was once a comforting, cowboy-style dinner, is now a petite, sleek platter. The pork ribs and chicken are still offered, along with citrus-crusted fish, beef strip loin, and sausage, but everything is smaller.
Our plate came with chicken, which consisted of two wings smaller than those on my last Cornish hen, one piece of fish, three slices of beef, baked beans in a ramekin appropriate for one serving, the corn on the cob appeared to be one ear of corn broken into fourths, and the seasonal vegetables were a handful of zucchini, snow peas, and squash. The potatoes, however, were abundant. It’s too bad they couldn’t decide if they were mashed or baked and had an overpowering amount of rosemary in them. They went relatively untouched, which is unheard of in my household.
Our server also told us that due to popular demand, the pulled pork was available the night we were there so we had a scoop of that on the platter also. As a general rule, I don’t eat pork, but my friend tried it and said it tasted like horse meat. On a positive note, the $32.99 meal now includes a dessert sampler. Sadly, the desserts, while good on paper, left a lot to be desired in execution. We were told this new menu is a work in progress and our server did ask how this dinner compared to my meal back in July. I gave her my honest opinion of the drop in quality and quantity, so hopefully things will go back to the way they were before my family visits again.
Rebekah Lyn's Kitchen 