Update: Wilderness Waffles are no longer being served at Roaring Fork. They are now on the menu at Whispering Canyon Cafe.
Join me in welcoming back Marc Stumbo with a review of the sweet breakfast waffle dishes at Roaring Fork at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. I’ve been wanting to share these for a long time!
“Roaring Fork,” which I believe translates roughly to “Fishy sign, hidden Mickey Waffles” is located deep inside the majestic Wilderness Lodge on Bay Lake.
My Google translate window might be a bit off, but the point remains that Roaring Fork is a hidden gem in an amazing resort that doesn’t force you to pay for a buffet to get at those tasty, tasty Mickey Waffles.
Does the eatery live up to its potential? Find out LIVE in two nights on NBC prime time.
Wilderness Lodge Lobby
Atmosphere
Above you can see the stunning lobby of the Wilderness Lodge, home of the Whispering Canyon Café serving all-you-can-eat Mickey Waffles for breakfast. One day, you’ll graduate to that level of waffle consuming prowess, but today is a training run at an eatery around the corner.
Resist the temptation that is the Whispering Canyon Café and look for this long hallway to Roaring Fork. It will serve as today’s gateway to flavor country.
Wilderness Lodge Hallway
I know what you’re thinking when looking at that photo…how did he get a shot with nobody in it? Disney Magic, my friends. At the end of this long hallway is our prize: the Roaring Fork quick service dining location where we’ll be eating breakfast.
Roaring Fork Sign
One of the nicest entrances to a quick service dining location you’ll see at Walt Disney World awaits you as you speed past, shoving your way to the front of the waffle queue (now mind your manners and apologize to that nice family from Kansas).
Roaring Fork Entrance
Roaring Fork Queue
The dining room of Roaring Fork seems a little pedestrian given the gorgeous hallway heading to the venue, the entrance, and what lies just outside the entrance; but it is quaint and comfortable.
Roaring Fork Seating Area
And seriously, this vista is just outside Roaring Fork. The scenery and atmosphere to accompany those Mickey Waffles is amazing, so feel free to take yours outside and dine at one of the many outdoor tables.
Outside the Wilderness Lodge
Eats
The main difference between Roaring Fork and other locations serving the famed Mickey Waffle is that they offer a series of toppings that you really can’t find anywhere else.
Roaring Fork Breakfast Menu - click image for larger version
The options include the Wilderness Waffle (maple butter and candied pecans), Bananas Foster Waffles (warm bananas in a buttered rum sauce), Strawberry and Orange waffles (fresh strawberries and orange whipped cream), and of course the Chocolate Lovers Waffles (chocolate chips, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce).
Bananas Foster Waffles
Strawberry Waffles
My wife chose the Chocolate Lovers Waffle because it is honestly hard to resist Mickey Waffles to begin with, let alone when they are covered in chocolate chips and further doused in chocolate sauce.
Let’s just say those waffles started cowering the moment they saw us coming into Roaring Fork.
Chocolate Lovers Waffles
I, as a fan of the savory over the sweet in most circumstances, chose the Wilderness Waffle.
As you can imagine, Amy loved her chocolate smothered waffles, noting that the cast member may have been heavy-handed with the chocolate chips (not really a problem apparently) but nailed the amount of chocolate sauce to provide adequate moisture to the waffles without overpowering the flavor.
My Wilderness Waffles were some of the best Mickey Waffles I’ve had on property (if only these were all-you-can-eat). The candied pecans add a sweet, crunchy note to the already amazing waffle.
Wilderness Waffles
Oh…I hadn’t mentioned the bacon yet? Like it even mattered after you read that this review was covering Mickey Waffles. It is a delicious bonus however.
Overall
The short answer is: go. The long answer is: this has to be one of the best (and most affordable) methods to get your Mickey Waffle fix on Walt Disney World property considering most make you pay the buffet and/or character dining up-charge.
The waffle, as any reader of this blog should already know, is delicious enough on its own or with a little syrup; but adding one of the four specialty toppings really set these apart from their competitors. Next time, I just have to try that Bananas Foster Waffle because the concept sounds amazing.
This counter-service spot, due to the out-of-the-way nature of its location, is rarely super crowded, which is a huge plus when so many guests make breakfast a priority before storming the parks.
The next time you find yourself near the Magic Kingdom for breakfast, do yourself a favor and take a boat from one of the docks on the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Wilderness Lodge, make your way to the Roaring Fork and order up some waffles. You’ll thank me.
Please share both in the comments below and to our twitter account @PlazaAndMainSt which of the four waffles you would order. I’ll encourage my wife to eat the winning waffle next time we visit the Roaring Fork. Feel free to follow us on our merry adventures through the Disney Parks. See you all at the Food & Wine Festival.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to Roger Weeks for the use of his gorgeous photos!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
wow, those are something! how hard is it to get to the Wilderness Lodge in the morning? I know it is a boat from Magic Kingdom, but without food in the belly we are grizzly bears, is there much navigation?
also how late is breakfast served? Debating if 2 breakfasts would be the answer? (no we are not hobbits!)
The Wilderness waffles really are amazing! I got those everyday on our honeymoon for breakfast..which means I ate them 10 times! 🙂
It says above “Does the eatery live up to its potential? Find out LIVE in two nights on NBC prime time.” What does this mean? Will Wilderness Lodge be on a TV show and specifically which one?
Thank!
I looooove Roaring Fork! They have such great food!
On our last trip, I tried the bananas foster waffles. I am a sucker for anything labeled “bananas foster”, so I had to get them. They were so good. The sauce was maybe a little lumpy (the only word I can come up with) but it didn’t matter because it was still super yummy. 🙂
Jill D – Navigation is easy from MK. Take a boat to WL. Walk up the dock, up the path past the pool. There’s a door towards your right. Thru the door, up the ramp a little ways, and Roaring Fork is on your right. From the looks of those waffles, if I needed a GPS to find them it would be worth it! WL is one of my favorite resorts to begin with. This may make them tops!
Jill D — As Kathy mentioned, you can take a boat from MK to WL very easily — Roaring Fork is one of the first places you’ll encounter after walking into the lodge from the boat dock. Also, you can drive there and park in self-parking at the resort, or you can take a bus there from any Disney World theme park or Downtown Disney. If you need food as soon as you get up, have breakfast early, then make this a mid-morning snack. Maybe get one or two to split between the fam. 🙂
Katie — Oh my goodness! You don’t have a picture of them for us, do you?
Tricia P. — I’m pretty sure Marc was just livening up the text a bit and making a joke. 🙂
Victoria — I’m so glad you enjoyed them!! I’ve been trying to get to these waffles for three trips and just haven’t gotten over there, so I was thrilled when Marc said he’d be willing to do a review!
Kathy — Thanks for the details! Agreed that these make WL even more of a destination!
Jill D the menu says they serve the waffles until 11 am. Can’t wait to get these in Oct. I am glad someone else asked about the comment “we will see in two days”
1) Roaring Fork & Wilderness Lodge in general is very easy to get to via car or boat from any of the docks surrounding the Magic Kingdom resorts.
2) The “live in two days” line was a jab at NBC’s Olympic coverage that probably made more sense as I was writing it, since I did so while watching the Olympics. Long story short, NBC was getting a lot of heat for airing events “live” during prime time despite the event having occurred long prior.
Oh my!! I had no idea these had been added since my last visit!! I just LOVE Roaring forks!! Roll on my next stay at the Lodge….just over 6 weeks and counting 🙂
thanks for all the tips…
do you all think free dining will be back in January? (just looking for opinions)
Thanks for posting. Prior to our visit last year it was very hard to find out any solid information on these. All of them are fantastic including the Wilderness Waffles Mickey waffles with maple butter and candied-pecans http://fourweeksphotography.smugmug.com/WaltDisneyWorldFood/Roaring-Fork/i-wWGfzD2/0/L/WDW-Aug-11-pm-1-of-222-L.jpg
Sounds delicious and a definite must for our next trip! Where’s the pic of the Wilderness Waffles? – The strawberry ones look divine!
I will be staying at Wilderness Lodge in 58 short days!!!! I love how just before each trip, magically each DFB post pertains to me, haha. These looks AMAZING and I will definitely be trying the bananas foster waffles! Thanks for the great post 🙂
Just there last week – my son had the chocolate version and devoured the whole thing! We were leaving at noon that day so we took the boat from MK to try breakfast somewhere different, so enjoyable. Tiny, tiny, food court though – long lines to check out.
I had no idea this even exsisted! Do you know if this would be considered a counter service credit on the DDP?
As a result of over excited typing existed was typed as exsisted.
At our recent Wilderness Lodge stay, we ate the breakfast waffles 3 times 🙂 the banana foster version is amazing, as is the maple pecan one mentioned in the blog. Yum!
Hi Heather – yes they are 🙂
Does anyone know if the kid menu waffles are just plain or smaller versions of these?
I am not a waffle person……Well really not a maple syrup person! I can’t wait to try the the chocolate lovers and the bananas. I already know the strawberries are great! We love everything about WL!
Tracy,
The kids version is two waffles instead of three with a side of apple sauce & milk.
They need to have a build your own waffle plate so I can try three at one time. I have no idea which one I’d try first, but it’d be either the Wilderness waffles or the banana fosters ones.
Umm the chocolate ones look delicious. Wish I’d know about this place when we visited the Wilderness lodge in July – we must have walked right past it too – ah well next time:)
One thing I really don’t get though – why serve bacon with sweet waffles? I’ve noticed Disney do this a lot, we laughed so much when we first saw that choc chip pancakes were served with bacon and sausage when we stayed at Pop. Its just SO weird, is this normal? – Guess I’d better explain I am from the UK.
I showed my daughter the blog post and she saved the chocolate chip waffle as her wallpaper for her computer! I guess we are going to have to take a side trip for breakfast when we are there next month.
Roaring Forks is ok…as long as you aren’t staying at WL. The place is WAY too small for the size of the hotel if this is your option for the morning. Breakfast there each morning during the off season was just plain awful. You almost had a guarantee that you would have to sit outside because of the limited seating inside. This would normally not be so bad, but if you are here in December/January time frame, be prepared for sitting outside in 40 degree weather for your breakfast. I shudder at what this place looks like on a busy morning! Also, still no fresh brewed coffee. I find that hard to believe that a deluxe level hotel doesn’t offer this unless you pay $400/night for concierge level.
Regardless, the waffles were really good. They just have to work on making the place bigger since its the only quick service in the entire hotel.
I am incredibly happy to see the strawberry orange waffles on the menu! My hubby and I stayed at WL last year and we had those and the bananas foster waffles and somehow they are just more magical with these yummy toppings!
O wow, we have to go at least twice because I can not choose!! (first 2 sounds soooo good) Thanks for the report, I was thinking of going to Roaring Fork for lunch or dinner, but now we are def going for breakfast 🙂
Hi Julie – I’m from the UK and agree that I thought the maple syrup, pancakes and bacon thing was a bit weird when I first visited, however I’m a convert! It’s the whole sweet/salt thing that’s so good (a bit like the salted chocolate caramel you can get from Karemel Kuche in Germany!)
We’ve just come back from the Wilderness Lodge after two weeks there (we flew home to the UK on 28th August) and they’ve made some changes to the waffle menu. The Wilderness Waffle is no longer on offer at the Roaring Fork, but it’s on the menu at the Whispering Canyon (it’ll cost you more though!). The other change is that the cream with the strawberry waffle is no longer orange cream, it’s just whipped cream. I did have the orange cream our first morning and it was Ok but a bit sweet for my taste. The staff were very good at adapting the menu – my fussy younger daughter asked for chocolate chips and whipped cream ‘on the side’ without bacon or sausage and they were only too haooy to oblige.
Bananas Foster Waffles – had them for the first time last Novemeber, at the Roaring Fork. Oh, man! I couldn’t stop thinking abut them—even now! Ready to fly back down there, just to enjoy them once again!