Restaurant Review: Whispering Canyon Cafe

This restaurant is located in the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge, a Magic Kingdom area resort. At this unique restaurant you can choose from an array of dishes or choose the all-you-care-to-enjoy platter. The food branches off of the theme of the restaurant and resort: Wilderness. The restaurant itself is nothing impressive. You’ve got wooden tables and chairs. Some tables are square, others are round. It’s a small restaurant.

What makes this place special are the servers. This restaurant is a family reunion atmosphere. And I don’t mean the family you don’t want to see. I mean the family that has all kinds of inside jokes, where the fun and laughter starts when you walk in the door and doesn’t stop when you leave. When you are sitting and waiting for your table you can hear the fun and excitement going on and can’t wait to join in. They have a couple bits that play out throughout your meal that create a fun evening, and I won’t share them. Don’t want to ruin the fun! Because of this kind of atmosphere you’re experience is primarily dictated by your server. The first time we came here we were floored. I had wanted to come to this restaurant to check out the resort and decide if we would stay here on our next vacation. We were already blown away with the lobby and then to go into the restaurant and have a blast was more than we expected. The second time we went our server was not up to par. He wasn’t enthusiastic and we felt left out of all the fun going on around us.

The food is delicious. On the menu you’ll find lots of buttermilk options for breakfast and fish and pork options for dinner. But their shinning star is the all-you-care-to-enjoy skillets. I’ve never been for breakfast so I can not speak to that meal but for dinner, the all-you-care-to-enjoy skillet is mouth watering. You could expect to be impressed with the amount you get but the quality of the food is also impressive. My favourite is the oak-smoked beef. And be sure to hold yourself back on the corn bread, it’s so good but can so easily ruin the rest of your meal.

This restaurant is a great option for a family with young ones not old enough to be on the dining plan but old enough to be eating. Order the skillet and everyone will be able to enjoy their fill.

If you have never ventured over to the Whispering Canyon Cafe, it’s a must. The resort its nestled in is breathtaking. Enjoy your meal and then walk around the resort and take in all the beauty of the waterfalls outside and the bridge in the lobby. A great way to walk off the meal. A fun outing for a non-park day. This is a bit of hidden gem, so you can sometimes find a reservation here last minute.

Hours:

Breakfast 7:30am-11:15am

Lunch 11:45am-2:30pm

Dinner 5:00pm-10:00pm

Dining Plan: 1 meal credit

Location: Wilderness Lodge Resort

How To Get There?

Take transportation to any park and then take the Wilderness Lodge bus. Be sure to get off at the Wilderness Lodge and not Fort Wilderness. These are two different resorts.

Take transportation to the Magic Kingdom and then take the boat to the Wilderness Lodge. The boat launch is directly across from the Magic Kingdom exit. It will say Boat for Contemporary Resort, Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness.