Disney Clarifies Changes at Whispering Canyon Cafe
If you were on social media this past weekend, you would have noticed the social eruption. No, it wasn’t because of Maleficent catching on fire on Friday….instead it was because of a tweet that was making the rounds about changes occurring at Whispering Canyon Cafe. The tweet indicated that the Walt Disney World Resort would be making changes to the restaurant’s high jinks and that they were reassessing the restaurant’s offerings.
For those who don’t know anything about this Disney’s Wilderness Lodge table service restaurant, Whispering Canyon Cafe was a high energy dining experience, with many fun and zany antics that would occur. These include things like throwing straws at Guests, bringing LARGE sodas to people who ask for refills, pony races, and, yes, of course, the yelling for ketchup. Personally I have very fond memories of dining here and taking part in the antics myself, with me joining the kids for the pony races (I think it had to do with the fact that I’m vertically challenged), my husband and a friend having to get up and sing “I’m a Little Teapot”, and there was even one trip where for some reason, my husband ended up being put in time out.
Many Guests enjoy the antics that occur at this restaurant, however, for many, they would also prefer to not participate, so recently the restaurant started offering Guests to be able to choose if they wanted to participate in the fun by placing a coaster on the table green side up. (If you did not want to participate, the other side of the coaster was red and indicated you weren’t down with the shenanigans that occurred.)
Now, after the internet lost their collective mind this weekend, I started seeing some conflicting information. People were saying that the fun was still occurring at Whispering Canyon Cafe, so I thought I would go straight to the source. This morning, I asked Disney via the @WDWToday Twitter account just what was going on and definitely got some clarification.
So, as you can see, courtesy of Disney themselves to me personally, Whispering Canyon will still be offering up the “rootin’ tootin’ good time” but that things will just be a little quieter on your next visit.
I hope that clears things up for everyone and I’m looking forward to dining at Whispering Canyon soon to see just how things have changed at this restaurant I love so much.
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We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and had a room directly above the restaurant. The restaurant was a lot of fun, and the food was great! But paying $350/night for a bedtime that could not begin before 9PM was not fun (our 5 year-old’s bedtime was definitely before 9PM). I am all for the antics of the restaurant, but while we stayed there, we would have liked them to turn down the volume at 8PM. Having said this, I loved the restaurant but not the hotel. I would return to the restaurant in a heartbeat, but the room was not worth $350.
My guess is that the guests staying in the extremely expensive rooms off the Wilderness Lodge lobby were upset by the amount of noise coming from the restaurant – especially in the morning at breakfast time, rather than complaints coming from restaurant guests.
I agree. It can get old after many hours.
“Clarify” is one of our young century’s funniest euphemisms. These days, it is used to mean “walk back” and/or “explain away.”
We are there Friday night. Will probably never go back. It’s been a staple in my family for over 10 years. We go every visit at the request of my children. All of my children have fond memories of time spent at this entertaining restaurant. We were there for over two hours and no pony rides occurred. Our waitress was amazing and ended up having to explain all of the changes because I quickly saw the definite difference in the atmosphere and we had brought girstctime guests with the hopes of them enjoying what we always have. My kids were extremely disappointed. No more LARGE teas, no more yelling for ketchup, no more throwing straws, etc. if this restaurant is going to stay afloat it won’t be for the delicious food or the fun! The food was just mediocre but of course the milk shakes are always good. So sad to say we will not being going back and all we have are very fond memories of this special restaurant!
That they have to change the volume level or antics at all is just sad. The food here used to be awesome but over the past several years the menu has changed and it is just not quite as good. My favorite was the all you can eat, with the lazy susan in the middle of the table. They don’t have that anymore. Now the other thing that made this restaurant awesome, the atmosphere and antics, has to change as well because some people get offended. This was me and my wife’s favorite restaurant in all of Disney. We got married in Disney and ate dinner here the next day. The waiter noticed my wife’s wedding veil and made me stand up and sing ” You Are My Sunshine”. Though I was embarrassed at first it was all worth it when the waiter made her run around with a stick horse saying how much she loved me. I ask the next time you go to a restaurant like this and it is not yoy cup of tea, just find another one of the many great restaurants in Disney to go to. Don’t be a fuddy duddy and complain and then ruin it for everyone else.
So many restaurants to choose from and the party poopers have to ruin our family’s favorite. This is where I chose to celebrate my 50th birthday: Not because they have great food; not because they have great service; not because I wanted a nice, quiet romantic evening, etc. This will always be the restaurant where 18 friends and family watched Dad sing “I’m a Little Teapot” and carry dishes to the kitchen before he could have any dessert.
I guess the whole “Making Memories” marketing plan has run it’s course because now we have just a plain vanilla approach and diminishing creativity. With all the other “problems” that exist at WDW, this is what they choose to “fix”? Thank goodness Nine Dragons at Epcot still fails to remind anyone of a P. F. Chang’s. Oops, shame on me for pointing out the Yeti in the corner of the room; hope I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings.
I must be missing something as unlike most places in Disney we found WCC to be really odd and didn’t enjoy the ‘fun’ at all. We actually thought the food was good but our server gave us the creeps.
Without the antics, I have no reason to eat there. The food is good, but nothing incredible. If they tone it down, it’ll just be a boring hotel restaurant.
Amen.
Went there years ago when they first opened and it was a hit with my kids and all the adults there. That is what makes it so much fun. If you don’t like the hijinks and loudness there are many other restaurants to go to. It’s sad that a few bad apples ruin it for everybody.
I don’t think turning down the volume is ruining for everyone! Or that they are bad apples. more like you want your cake and eat it!
We ate there last night and there were still pony parades and calls for ketchup. But our waiter didn’t do the ketchup thing with us and just brought a bottle. Kinda sad.
I would demand a refund* if they didn’t do the ketchup thing.
*sorta kidding