Hoop-Dee-Dooped

[TruBlu]

Well where do I start? The show was silly, but cute. Not Disney caliber IMO, but we did laugh (a little).

Now for the food:
We started with salad and cornbread. The salad had a slightly sweet vinegar based dressing that was pretty good. The cornbread was average at best.

The main dinner was fried chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, and baked beans. The chicken breading was not very crunchy and had little flavor - mostly flour. The ribs were fantastic! They were very meaty and smothered in sauce. The corn seemed to have been frozen before being boiled too long. It was sticky and mushy. The beans were uneventful and could have been canned. We all filled up on ribs.

Dessert was strawberry shortcake. YUCK. It tasted as if they had covered the cornbread with whipped cream and strawberry syrup.

Then, after riding the boat back to the MK... we all started to get sick one by one. Our trip was completely ruined!!! We never made it out of our room again. Three days later we had to fly home very sick. Today (7 full days later) we finally ate a full meal again!!!!!

NEVER! NEVER! AGAIN!

 

[spookyuki]

Oh gosh!! I am so sorry!!
I can't say anything to make it any better... Hope you go back and make up the bad memory..

sorry

 

[Princess4Eeyore]

Thanks for your review - sorry that you went through that bad experience

 

[Liz]

Oh dear! I'm sorry that happened to you. I seem to remember in the last week or so reading another report of someone who got sick after going to the HDDR. We are going there in December for the first time - YIKES! I'm nervous now!

 

[BeckWhy]

My experience with Hoop-Dee-Doo was bad also (more for other reasons than the food).

We actually got our ressie like 2 weeks before we went - someone cancelled. We were told to check in like 30 min prior to the show which we did. Had to stand in the cold. We were seated upstairs (I think not facing the stage). Anyways, I loved the salad and the bread (I don't think it was cornbread when we went though, just a white bread). They start their performance (my sister wanted to eat here, not me). Blah Blah Blah. They brought out the ribs, chicken, corn and beans (I think it wasn't corn on the cob). The ribs YUMM. Chicken was good, I don't remember the corn or the beans. I went through the ribs like it was my job. The waitress never came around. So finally she was walking by and we got her attention. Then it took her like 20 min to bring the rib refill out. And lemme tell you they were GROSS. I thought I was gonna reguritate (sp). They were raw. The character that was assigned to our side was a guy. He was a jerk. I wanted to hit him (and you really have to tick me off for me to want to do that). Even if it was his character, he could have gone to any of the other tables and did his act with them. The shortcake was good, I thought. But it didn't seem to be enough time to eat. The show is only like 2 hours. We didn't have enough time for the entrees (trust me I inhaled those first ribs).

My problem arose when the show was over. We asked a CM how to get back to Pop. It was downpouring (and 30 degrees) and we wanted the fastest way back. He said go to the dock and wait for the boat to MK. 20 min later, no boat. Finally some very nice people came over and told us that the boat stopped running like an hour before. I was #$&*ed. So we went back and asked another CM. They said we had to wait at the bus thing take a bus to another bus thing and then get on a bus to DTD. We got on the first bus and got off at the bus stop (there was about 8 of us). We waited about 45 min and the only buses we saw were Epcot. DTD buses kept driving by but never stopped. So finally I took it into my own hands (felling nausiated (sp) and tired and cold and wet) and went up to the bus driver and told him the situation. He called someone on the radio and told us it was ok for us to go back to Epcot to catch the very last buses back to our hotel. (BTW from what I've heard, if you are in a place that you aren't supposed to be, it is very hard to get back to your hotel after the parks close). So we finally got back to our hotels.

I was not a happy camper.

 

[deany]

Wow! I feel so bad for you guys. I sure hope that you had several good days at WDW before you went to HDDR.

In 1994 I booked the HDDR for DH, myself and 3 kids. By about noon that day we had to cancel as middle child was quite ill. I am sure it was OK in 1994 but I have never regretted not going. Now, I really won't ever go. I can't imagine being sick for 7 days.

 

[Cookie Princess]

We tried it once, and now we can say we did it. We didn't think the food was very good either. The show was a little cute/hokey, but we have no interest in returning. I know this place gets a lot of repeat customers. Sorry to hear your family got sick!

 

[tinkerbeth]

Wow - totally different from my experience. We've twice and loved it both times. Sorry you had a bad time.

Beth

 

[JulyGirl]

So sorry to hear about this experience. However, I loved the title of this thread. Made me laugh.

 

[LorieR]

Sorry you had such a terrible time! My DH and I will be going for the third year in a row in November. We have had a great time every time and are looking forward to the corny jokes, the salad, chicken, ribs, and the beer. We have been seated upstairs both times so far and have had attentive waitresses! I will say though that the strawberry shortcake was less than wonderful the first time but delicious on our last trip!

Lorie

 

[mousebit]

I am so sorry to hear all the negative reviews. We loved HDD when we went last year (tho transportation was stressful). DGD keeps asking if we can go back, but I've read two reviews now of people getting very sick after eating there and I'm a little afraid to try it again. Who wants to risk getting sick and possibly ruining your entire vacation--especially when there are so many other dining choices!

 

[luv'sMickey]

I'm sorry to hear you got so sick. We went last year and we did not enjoy the food. We thought the show was cute but wont go back again.

 

[NMW]

So sorry you all got sick. I can't imagine how horrible that must have been.

 

[Bunchkin]

So sorry to hear you had a bad experience there!!

Count us in as another family who did have a great time at HDDR!!
Good food, great service and a lot of fun!! In fact it was my b-day and I had on the Mickey flashing lights b-day cake hat, and they picked on DH not me!!! The blonde lady singer (can't remember her name) came up to our table during their skit and teased DH. What she didn't know was that DS, who was only 1 1/2 yr old at the time, was sleeping across his lap!! When she looked down she noticed him and announced "OH my, he has a little man in his lap!!" ! OMG, the whole crowd was in an uproar and DH turned so red!!!
We were all laughing so hard!!!
Later she came back, and in her normal voice, appologized for not seeing DS sleeping and hoped that she hadn't woke him up. She was very nice and it turned out to be one of the most memorable times we've had at WDW!!!

 

[averill94]

Could it be a conicidence that both families got sick after HDDR?

Ive had both virus and food poisoning and seemed to spring back faster after the food poisoning- just my personal experience!

 

[Belle for President]

My problem arose when the show was over. We asked a CM how to get back to Pop. It was downpouring (and 30 degrees) and we wanted the fastest way back. He said go to the dock and wait for the boat to MK. 20 min later, no boat. Finally some very nice people came over and told us that the boat stopped running like an hour before. I was #$&*ed. So we went back and asked another CM. They said we had to wait at the bus thing take a bus to another bus thing and then get on a bus to DTD. We got on the first bus and got off at the bus stop (there was about 8 of us). We waited about 45 min and the only buses we saw were Epcot. DTD buses kept driving by but never stopped. So finally I took it into my own hands (felling nausiated (sp) and tired and cold and wet) and went up to the bus driver and told him the situation. He called someone on the radio and told us it was ok for us to go back to Epcot to catch the very last buses back to our hotel. (BTW from what I've heard, if you are in a place that you aren't supposed to be, it is very hard to get back to your hotel after the parks close). So we finally got back to our hotels.

I was not a happy camper.

Everytime we've been to HDDR, there are always busses waiting for each of the resorts of people who had reservations. In fact, I think I remember them explaining this to us when we booked the reservation.

We always make sure we look up transportation schedules in advance so this type of thing doesn't happen.

 

[Kaycee]

Oh dear! I'm sorry that happened to you. I seem to remember in the last week or so reading another report of someone who got sick after going to the HDDR. We are going there in December for the first time - YIKES! I'm nervous now!

I think you may have read TruBlu's report on the trip report board earlier this week about this same experience. I had read it a few days ago too and thought it might be the same poster - just went to the trip reports board to make sure, and it was.

TruBlu, I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience at HDDR, and I'm especially sorry to hear you were all so sick. That must've been so miserable.

 

[toyman70]

delete

 

[BeckWhy]

Everytime we've been to HDDR, there are always busses waiting for each of the resorts of people who had reservations. In fact, I think I remember them explaining this to us when we booked the reservation.

We always make sure we look up transportation schedules in advance so this type of thing doesn't happen.

I'm sure there could have been buses waiting after the show. But like I said we waited at the dock for 20 min, so I would have assumed the buses were gone. I honostly never thought it was going to be such a hassle. But if I ever go to Fort Wilderness again, I'll remember about the buses.

Anyways, my uncle always goes to the Hoop-Dee-Doo when he and his family goes to WDW. They swear by it. It just goes to show that first impressions make a big difference.

 

[Liz]

The transportation issue was always what made us skip HDDR. But this year we are staying at Ft. Wilderness so I figured if we are ever going to try it now is the time.

Thanks Kaycee for clearing up the confusion on one family vs. two getting sick from HDDR!