Being big fans of Woody’s Lunch Box in Hollywood Studios and family style served meals, all you can eat Disney, we were excited when we heard Woody’s Round Up BBQ was opening as an indoor seated dining option in Toy Story Land. Today, we got to try it for ourselves.
The Atmosphere
When your table is called after check-in, your waiter comes to bring you to your table and kids are offered stick horses to ride in to dine. Despite being kid-free, our waiter, Gentry, came out to grab us and gave us a quick tour of the restaurant, and stayed “in-character” while going through the menu, pointing out drinks that were “for all toys” and adult beverages that were for “us classic toys that have been around a while”. His high energy for things helped make the experience.
A big plus for me over Woody’s Lunch Box is that we had AIR CONDITIONING and that you ordered and were served at the table instead of fighting for it. The décor in the restaurant was similar to the line décor in other areas of Toy Story Land with Andy having colored on posters and toy box pieces, but with sections more borrowed from Andy playing with the toys from the movie such as a wild west building façade themed section. There were characters throughout in statuary or cardboard cut out form. We ate next to Jesse riding on Trixie. Overall, I have always liked the Toy Story Land Premise of being toy size yourself.
Throughout the meal, other characters from the movies would come over the music to give the toys updates including the stunt jumper making a jump and a thankfully, false alarm regarding a yard sale. The biggest update was when Andy was coming. The entire restaurant freezes so that Andy doesn’t know that us toys are alive.
Overall, I thought the atmosphere and service were great. The place really did feel like you were at a BBQ, maybe even a family one where you got some of everything and the real but look like paper plates was a cute touch. Click the button below to watch a short video on our YouTube channel.
Andy's Coming!The Food
You will not leave this place hungry. The meal consists of bread service, salads, a main platter of options, sides, and desert.
The bread service – they have the Prospector’s Cheddar Biscuits that were awesome. They were similar to the Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster, but instead of butter, you get a Sweet Pepper Jelly. This was a little concerning to me because I am not a fan of spicy food, but it went perfectly with the biscuits and was more about red pepper flavor than spice. These were honestly my favorite food the whole meal.
The salads- the salads on offer are a Rootin’ Tootin’ Tomato Salad, Rex’s Romaine and Kale Salad, and Wheezy’s Watermelon Salad. No choices here, you are getting all three included. All three salads were fresh, light, and seemed to have just been made. I think these are mostly a matter of personal preference. The tomato salad, which includes both regular and heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion, was tasty and hit a totally different craving than the Romaine and Kale Salad which was more hearty and included apples, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and a green goddess dressing. The watermelon salad was honestly just chunks of watermelon with some fresh mint on it, but there is nothing wrong with some watermelon on a hot day, so I was a fan.
Main Platter!
The main platter- here there are two choices, meats or plant-based options. We had the meats, which consisted of beef brisket, ribs, chicken, and a spiraled sausage. We also had the cedar plank salmon which comes separate from the platter and only on request, but without additional cost. I expected some pulled pork, as is typical for most BBQ sampler platters, but apparently Hamm was not having it. There are three sauces to choose from: Sweet (less sweet with some smokiness), classic (more sweet with a lot of pepper), and spicy (very spicy!). Overall, the meats were good, but could have been better. The ribs and brisket could have benefitted in my opinion from a little more moisture or fat content and the ribs didn’t have as much meat as I would have liked. The chicken did have the moisture I was looking for but not as much seasoning as they could have. The sausage spiral, which is honestly something I would never have ordered if I was picking meats off a menu, was probably the best with an appropriate level of seasoning (not spicy, just seasoned) and also an appropriate moisture level.
Sides- There are eight side options: Slinky Doooog Mac and Cheese, The Married Spuds, Campfire Roasted Veggies, Buckin’ Baked Beans, Mean Ole Potato Salad, The Claw! Veggie Slaw, Force Field Fried Pickles, and Cowpoke Corn on the Cob. The table as a whole gets to share four from the list.
We had the first four options listed. The Slinky Doooog Mac and Cheese was good but not amazing. It was a serviceable mac and cheese. The fun thing about it was that the noodles are spiral noodles so that they look like Slinky Dogs. The Married Spuds are the “loaded” potato barrels available at Woody’s Lunch Box a.k.a. tater tots, but I am not sure loaded is the right term as they are actually just covered in cheese. One thing I noticed was as the cheese sat on the tots, they lost their crispiness. I suggest asking for the cheese on the side and dipping to ensure a nice, crispy tot experience. The Campfire Roasted Veggies were what one might expect in the sense that they were mixed vegetables that you would roast including squash and broccoli. They were not what you would expect in the sense that they had some of the Carolina BBQ rub on them so they did have a kick. Don’t be afraid of the spice level, but do be aware of it. The Buckin' Baked Beans were typical baked beans but they did have small pieces of bacon and onions in them, which created little pops of flavor.
Desserts- There are four “adult” desert options and a Forky Cupcake for kids. The adult desserts include a blueberry cheesecake, an apple pie, a chocolate silk pie, and a peach/strawberry pie and each comes in a small jar. These were picked individually and we got the chocolate pie which was very smooth and chocolatey. The Forky cupcake was a chocolate cake with a filling and white icing that basically gave us Hostess Ding-Dong vibes with a Forky sugar cookie sticking out. He was hard to get out of the paper cupcake wrapper and we were warned before we tried to pull him out that the Forky cookie has a tendency to jump out of the cupcake if not removed first.
As a bonus, there is a large drink menu for adults and soft drinks and kids’ drinks are included. I got the Rattler Rum Punch ($14.50) which was very refreshing but the sweet and spicy rum garnish kept it interesting and from being too sweet. We highly recommend this one!
The Pricing
The price point for this sit down restaurant was worth every penny in our opinion. Lunch and dinner cost the same: $45 for adults and $25 for children ages 3-9. While some think this is high for BBQ, we did not. When you take into account the theming, service, and all you can eat aspect you get a lot of bang for your buck! In comparison, O’hana dinner at the Polynesian Village Resort will cost you $59 for adults and $38 for children ages 3-9.
