If you told us a few years ago that we would swear off certain Disney World restaurants, we might’ve laughed at what felt like a big joke.
We’ve got some restaurants we just don’t want to go back to now
Now, don’t get us wrong, we’re always finding our NEW favorite restaurants in Disney World, and sometimes those that we weren’t fond of in the past just all out surprise us in new ways (ABC Commissary, we’re looking at you), but sometimes the restaurants we might have recommended before aren’t ones we’d recommend now.
There are THREE Disney World restaurants, in particular, that we no longer go to. This makes us sad, but sometimes restaurants change — and not for the better.
Be Our Guest
Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom has gone through some changes, most of which we think have hurt the quality of the restaurant. In 2018, the dinner menu became a pricey prix-fixe menu, meaning that the quality of dinner went downhill because we were basically eating mass-produced food. However, Be Our Guest also had a great counter service breakfast and lunch option that was more affordable. Then 2020 arrived, and EVERYTHING changed.
Inside Be Our Guest
When Be Our Guest reopened in 2020, both lunch and dinner became exactly the same: a pricey prix-fixe meal. Seriously, who wants three courses for lunch? We don’t! We think it says a lot that this was once one of the hardest reservations to get in Disney World, but now, it’s one of the easiest to get.
How Be Our Guest Restaurant Lunch Slowly Declined From Perfect to Pathetic
Landscape of Flavors
Landscape of Flavors, the food court at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, once lived up to its name. This food court set itself apart from other hotel food courts by serving unique menu items you couldn’t get anywhere else in Disney World.
Landscape of Flavors
We also loved that at the time, the food court offered a lot of options for customizing your dining experience, with loads of “pick your own” options like a make your own soup/salad option, a “World Flavors” area with things like Tandoori shrimp with naan bread, and more. Y’all, this food court had its own GELATO BAR.
A gelato bar!
Now, Landscape of Flavors is basically a copycat of EVERY OTHER VALUE RESTAURANT food court. there’s nothing truly unique about it, and most of the fare is your standard burgers, fries, and sandwiches. Tandoori chicken? Forget about it. That gelato bar? GONE. In fact, Disney has pretty much standardized the menus for all its value resort food courts, and now, they’re all just BORING.
The Deterioration of Landscape of Flavors Food Court From Awesome To Awful
Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe
Pecos Bill in Magic Kingdom was once a counter service STAPLE. It was one of the best places to get a burger in Disney World. Now, the burgers were standard Disney burgers, but Pecos Bill had a toppings bar with just about anything you could think of, including peppers, pickles, salsa, sauteed mushrooms, shredded cheese, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and more. You could even get plastic cheese (!!!) from that toppings bar.
Peppers and Pickles at Pecos Bill’s Condiment Bar
Even after the menu was updated in 2015 with more Mexican-inspired fare, the toppings bar was still LIT, with things like sour cream, diced onions, chipotle ranch, banana peppers, shredded cheese, verde sauce, guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo, roasted corn, and more. Pecos Bill REMAINED one of the best counter service spots in Magic Kingdom.
All Of The Toppings From The Toppings Bar
Then 2020 hit and when Pecos Bill reopened, the toppings bar had disappeared. All you could get was sugar, salt, mustard, and more boring condiments. You CAN request toppings when you place your order (or through Mobile Order), but it’s not the same as the level of customization we once had here. More importantly, though, the rest of the food didn’t improve to make up for the lack of toppings bar. Sometimes, we get some decent things here, but it’s been pretty inconsistent.
How Pecos Bill in Disney World Slowly Declined from Perfect to Pathetic
So although we might have once been huge fans of these three restaurants, we’re not likely to recommend them anymore. So which ones DO we recommend? Well, be sure to get our DFB Guide to Dining at Walt Disney World. We have reviews, pictures, and details about every restaurant all in one digital download – along with ALL of our best tips and strategies from decades of Disney World trips. We’ve got a special discount code for DFB readers, too! Use WDW2023 at checkout for 25% off!
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I don’t think you could be more wrong about BOG and frankly it seems like you and I ate at two different restaurants. I had a delicious steak and salad there, and a yummy gray whatever. Granted this was Dec 2022 so if this radical departure in good food occurred since then I could be wrong.
I completely agree with your assessment of these three restaurants. The former lunch, both food and format, at Be Our Guest was excellent and very reasonably priced for such a high quality lunch. And Pecos Bills was the must-do place for lunch for the first 30 years or so I went to The Magic Kingdom. Their burgers were outstanding — make mine a double!
I agree also. BOG has gone to the dogs We ate there in April and it was worse than awful. So sad because it was one of our favorites. As far as Pecos Bill my husband and I both got sick from the food there. The mushrooms
On the condiment bar were bad and we got super sick. Never again!
It is called CHEAPening. Loved Peco Bill’s it is actually horrendous now. Burgers are hockey pucks, the fixin’ bar was SPECTACULAR
I know that each of the restaurants are unique. What alternatives would consider if you are in Magic Kingdom?
Really bad takes re: BOG.
* Complaining about “mass produced food” in a restaurant is a silly comment. This is true for every restaurant.
* Pre fixe is a simpler menu, yes, but as long as the options are good – who cares?
* Who wants a gimped experience? I’d much rather a full 3-course meal for lunch if that was the only slot I could get.
Cinderella’s Royal Table too! Ridiculously expensive and the wait staff is terrible! Since the tip is now included once they serve your drink and food, you don’t see or hear from the wait staff at all. They don’t even check to see if your meal was properly cooked or if you even received what you ordered. I won’t go back! Not worth it!
Not a fan of BoG. Used to be good, but has lost a lot of its luster.
Never been to Landscape of Flavor so can’t comment.
Pecos Bill is still a good stop for lunch compared to other options at MK. You DON’T get a hamburger in MK. Just bad. However, the fajitas are very good, but really miss the fixins bar. It may have been the best part of the restaurant.
I agree with Beauty and the Beast. When they went to Pre-fix for Lunch and dinner, we had no desire to go back. Especially since we have French food.
Pecos Bills was so worth the money when they had the toppings bar. But Stupid covid messed everything up.