Without further ado, let's get down to the business of this report, shall we?
It was arrival day, or rather, it was arrival afternoon. The plan was to eat at the resort for dinner. We had driven from Houston, Texas, so a non-traveling dinner plan was definitely in order. Something that would get us into that fun, vacation mode...and that would be Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge, our home resort.
The verbage in The Silver Star reads: Enjoy a true lodge experience - Western style - as you relax around the campfire, dishing up foods preparedby our Chef "Cookie.' Barbecued and wood-smoked meats are a specialty in the family-style setting. Sit back and relax as our rowdy crowd entertains and you enjoy the best vittles east of the Rockies.
Please let us know if you'd like to have a leisurely meal or if you need to hit the trail quickly.
The restaurant is several steps taller than the resort lobby, from which it is separated by a railing. Should you sit on that side, you would have a lovely view of the massive interior lobby of WL. You can see the restaurant on the lower level here:
Or, you might be seated closer to the wall to wall, floor to ceiling windows that offer a rather uninspiring view of tremendous bushes and trees. At this time of evening, it let in a very welcome amount of natural lighting into the room. I noticed a smaller room-like area toward the back of the restaurant. This room was quite separate from the action, but it seemed cozy, quieter, and offering something of a view of the large fireplace. I think there might have been another fireplace opening on the restaurant side.
You can see this part of the restaurant behind the fireplace facing into the lobby.
Our ADR was for 5:20 pm. When we checked in, there were already several guests waiting. There is a play table filled with Lincoln Logs in the waiting area. We had only begun working on our creations when our buzzed went off, and started speaking to us, telling us in a voice with a serious country twang to report back to the podium. We were seated virtually smack dab in the middle of the main room.
Our server was Mo, or rather, Doctor Mo. He introduced himself with quite a verbose story outlining his food practice and how he treats the most common ailment that he encounters, starvation. While we never actually shouted for extra helpings, he did encourage us to yell Mo' Ribs, or Mo' cornbread, or Mo' whatever, should we desire more treatment.
Before he would serve us, he asked us to pass his reflex test, tossing straws and paper napkins into the air above our table and instructing us to catch at least 50%.
We were very hungry. DH and I ordered:
Canyon Skillet: All You Care To Enjoy: Mixed greens with apple vinaigrette dressing, fresh baked cornbread with mashed potatoes, coleslaw, cowboy beans and seasonal vegetables. Smoked pork ribs, pulled pork, oven-roasted chicken, and smoked brisket.
DS ordered:
Kid's Picks:
Appetizers: Fruit cup
Entrees: Canyon Skillet with ribs with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob Desserts: Chocolate Chip Cookies
Although I had heard much ado about the bottomless milkshakes here at WCC, DH and I prefered to order iced tea. DS, however, was tempted by the idea that he could try each and every flavor of milkshake, and he was challenged by the fact that Mo said he had never had a customer manage to try every shake flavor in one sitting.
DS ordered a chocolate milkshake, which he devoured quickly. Then he ordered a cotton candy milkshake, which he didn't care for. This dampened his enthusiasm for the taste testing; DS didn't order any other flavors. DH and I tried it. It tasted EXACTLY like cotton candy.
I noticed others with a milkshake served in the mason jars that function as drinking glasses at WCC. The child milkshake was served in a paper cup that is commonplace throughout WDW restaurants. I thought that the child portion was adequate for tasting and enjoying the milkshake, without being overwhelming. Had we been interested in exploring other flavors, it would have been fun to designate DS's beverage as the milkshake one, from which we could all share, so that we wouldn't become so overstuffed on milkshakes.
Sitting in the hot tub later that evening, another young gentleman expounded on his LOVE for WCC and the bottomless milkshakes. From him, I discovered that you can even COMBINE flavors to create your own. He had a chocolate caramel milkshake that was AWESOME.
While we were waiting for our skillet, Mo presented us with a lovely basket of cornbread and also the coleslaw from the skillet. It was served in a very small (about 1/2 cup sized) bowl. DH and I each received one. It was a curried coleslaw, with just a hint of curry flavor in the creamy dressing. It was excellent, but then, DH and I are likely to enjoy ANYTHING with a curry flavor. You can just see the little bowl of coleslaw in the background of this pic:
I thought it was interesting that the description for the skillet included the mixed greens salad from the appetizer menu. We were not offered an option to change this appetizer. However, when the bill arrived, we were charged separately for the Mixed Greens Salad - Tossed in apple vinaigrette with tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions.
This was a very large portion for one person. DH and I each received one of these, but we could have easily split one. The salad was nothing special, but the ingredients were very fresh. I tried to not eat too much to save room for the skillet still coming. Given a choice, I would definitely have tried something else from the appetizer menu. If you order the skillet, and especially if you are on the deluxe plan, then I would definitely NOT order one of these salads for each diner. WAY too much food. If you want it, share it. It'll save you on the tip side of the bill.
While we were waiting for our skillet to arrive, the long awaited first call for ketchup occurred. I admit that I was extremely curious to see the famous ketchup in action. Apparently, this was the first call for ketchup of the evening. Many of the tables were still empty. In short order, several servers arrived with several bottles of ketchup each to give to the young gentleman that had requested the condiment. Brief instructions as to how he was now in charge of ketchup followed.
Soon after, there was another call for ketchup. The young man and his even younger brother carted all the ketchup bottles over to that table. Throughout the evening, there were several calls for ketchup, and it was rather disappointing to see that not everyone who had requested ketchup paid attention to continue the game. Several times the server and an entire table would be screaming for ketchup without any response from anywhere in the room. All the tables would look around for who had the ketchup and try to make that table aware of their responsibility. I thought it dampened the fun. And I post this as a warning to all that, if you have high hopes of some sort of hilarious ketchup event, you just might be disappointed, because it is entirely dependent on the participation of the guests present.
Presently, this was brought out for DH and myself:
And for DS:
Now understand that I am a rib-loving woman. I had high hopes for these ribs, becuase the ribs I enjoyed at MBYBBQ two years prior had been wonderful. These ribs, not so much. They had some hard edges and were a little tough. The flavor was good. But I've definitely had better ribs. The brisket was tender, but it was a little greasy, as the layer of fat on the brisket hadn't completely melted during the cooking process. The chicken had a nice flavor, too, but it was drier than I prefer. By far, the best meat in the skillet was the pulled pork. This was moist and tender.
BBQ sauce was served on the side in a cute little ceramic pitcher. It was a dark, thick molassis type of BBQ sauce. If you like KC Masterpiece, then you would like this.
The corn was typical of corn that is premade and soaking in water to keep warm. It was tasty still, but again, something of a waste of caloric intake.
I was not disappointed in the skillet overall. It lived up to expectations. It was a tremendous amount of average meat, which was exactly as I had read in other reviews.
I had preordered a personalized cake celebrating our anniversary. After it was clear that we were finished with our meal, Mo disappeared for quite a while. When he reappeared, he brought out two lovely glasses of champagne with strawberries on the glass rims. He announced to the restaurant at large that we were celebrating our anniversary. How many years? Twelve years! Now because Mo wasn't present during our wedding ceremony, we needed to reinact the kiss for him. For FIVE seconds. And he counted very, VERY slowly, and repetitively, and backwards, and with halves while DH and I were laughing and kissing before the restaurant audience.
Mo then lit the candles on our cake.
The cake was a vanilla cake (I had wanted white, but it came out more yellow), with chocolate mousse filling, and whipped frosting. It was melt in your mouth delicious.
We took the cake and the dessert we were entitled to with the dining plan back to the room. Later that evening, DH and I each enjoyed our own pecan pie, which I don't see on either the allears or wdwinfo menus. This was NOT a traditional pecan pie, as it had a chocolate flavor added and the filling for the pecans was mousse-like. I didn't finish mine. I didn't enjoy it. I like regular old pecan pie, and this spin off was not worth the calories.
In my huge stack of receipts, I regret that I can't find the one from this night. If my memory serves me well, then it amounted to:
Adult Skillet (2) $53.98
Mixed Greens (2) 13.98
Adult Beverage (2) 4.38
Pecan Pie (2) 10.98
Kid Skillet 9.49
Kid Shake 4.79
Total $97.60 (before tax)
Entitlements used: 3
Personalized Cake $45.00 (before tax) an OOP expense.
This was a very fun meal. Seated in the main room, even if you weren't participating in all the merrymaking, it was still fun to witness. We saw several gags throughout the evening.
At times though, some of the merrymaking seemed to be a bit forced. There were several reluctant children that were coerced into participating in the horse race around the restaurant. Parents then jostled for position around the tables to capture the moment on a memory card. More enthusiastic participants in the race did run roughshod over those less speedy than themselves. One poor runner fell and was quite upset. So a word to the wise. If you have a younger participant, then you might want them to start closer to the back of the pack.
Overall, I am happy that we experienced WCC. If I were staying at WL, I would eat here again, and I would order something other than the skillet.
If you have plans in the park, then definitely let your server know. I saw that several families were able to eat and run much faster than our table.
