What's going on at Whispering Canyon?

[NoFriction]

Let me start off by saying that we are die-hard Disney fans, so much that we now live within 12 minutes of Magic Kingdom!!

Like everyone we have our absolute favorites, our go-to's where we can expect real Disney quality - imagine our disappointment on returning to Whispering Canyon (we've lost count how many times now), a must-see we recommend to everyone we meet, and encountering a meal on a par with what Disney USED to offer 30 years ago.

We decided one evening to grab an evening meal at Whispering Canyon, the bar-b-q, at short notice - we thought we'd be out of luck but they had openings, yay, or so we thought. The server appeared engaged and we ordered four of the unlimited BBQ skillets (BTW if you didn't already know they now have options, and my wife tried the one with Salmon - The Land and Sea). They were pretty prompt, although the restaurant was probably only half capacity. My wife's dish was missing Chicken, ok, no problem, we asked and it came out 5 minutes later. Then we noticed no coleslaw, ok, no problem, another 5 minutes we had coleslaw. We then re-ordered brisket, salmon, mashed potatoes, some sausage, and a little more coleslaw. The salmon came back raw, the brisket was all fat, the masked potatoes were extremely watery, and the coleslaw never came back. We asked to replace the salmon, and the server said rare was how most people liked it, ok, can we get it medium? Sure, and 10 minutes later we had the same salmon we had before. I picked at the brisket, and then ordered some more. When the brisket came back it was in not much better condition so I left it. The ladies decided to split a couple of deserts, Apple Pie a la mode and the Pioneer Chocolate cake. The a la mode was missing, and the chocolate cake was all mush. We left feeling rather disappointed...

I could say that for the cost of the meal which is not insubstantial we would have good reason for complaint alone, but you expect Disney prices, and with it comes great service, and a good quality meal. Not this time. And honestly the issues individually were not anything to really get worked up about - but when you leave the restaurant and add up all the little gotchas you kinda feel that it just isn't worth going back...so you have to ask, is that how Disney wants to treat/retain customers?

 

[KenHutch]

Our issue this past June was average (very average) food and no antics. When I did a small review of the place I mentioned if your staying at WL it might be worth it but to waste time and effort to get there? Not so much. My issue on the food is one I have at a lot of Disney restaurants. When I and my daughter order a steak rare we do not want it medium. I have sent a lot of steaks back and they can't magically cook the same steak again to turn medium into rare (at Le Cellier once they actually took the medium, turned it into well done and argued that it was rare).

 

[NoFriction]

Agreed - what surprised us was the "drop" in quality since our last visit. As I mentioned we are regular visitors to Whispering Canyon and therefore can make comparisons. We've theorized that adding the BBQ options has lowered the output from the kitchen, but that doesn't explain the general malaise of the entire experience.

I guess if you can get away with lowering the quality and increasing the prices and people still come then "so what?"... shame, we'll be voting with our feet.