A popular Disney World restaurant recently reopened with some big changes!

Trail’s End Restaurant was closed at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground for a little while to get a big refurbishment. When it reopened at the end of July, it was remade into a quick service spot with market-style service. I stopped by during the soft opening to check it out, and now I’m sharing my FULL review with you. Is Trail’s End worth your time? Let’s find out!

Atmosphere

You’ll find this restaurant at Pioneer Hall at Fort Wilderness, and you’ll know you’re in the right place thanks to the sign out front! (It’s directly next door to Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue.)

Stepping inside, you’re immediately met with the market-style food setup. On the left, there’s a pizza oven and hand-scooped ice cream, in the middle you’ll find prepackaged treats and baked goods, and on the right is the warm foods section.

First up on the counter, I spotted pre-packaged s’mores kits for sale. You can buy these to use at your campsite, or you could take them to the nightly campfire!

After that, you come to the pizza kitchen. The pizzas here are made fresh, and you can purchase by the slice or by the pie.

This counter space is also home to hand-scooped ice cream. Sounds delicious! They had quite a few flavors available when I stopped by.

After that, we come around to the refrigerated section. The left fridge is filled with a variety of bottled and canned drinks.

The right fridge is home to the cold food items. Here I spotted everything from sandwiches to desserts to parfaits to salads. 

Moving along to the next wall, there’s a display case for hot foods. Here, you can pick up fried chicken, ribs, hot sides like mac and cheese, and other warm meal options.

Among the sides, I also spotted cowboy beans, chili, and mashed potatoes.

One thing that really struck me over here is how much this setup reminded me of Costco. Ya know the section of the store where you can buy entire prepared meals, whole chickens, and containers of pre-made sides? That’s the vibe here. Everything is in family-sized prepackaged tubs that are probably too big for a single person to eat alone. 

Finally, let’s stop at the table in the middle of the market setup. On one side, there are plenty of prepackaged snacks. You’ve got chips, crackers, cereal, and even some fruit.

The other side of the table is home to the bakery case. Inside, I spotted several cookies, pastries, and even some cupcakes. 

After you’ve selected your pre-made items, you can come to the checkout counter. Here you can pick up refillable mugs for the resort, pay for your meal, and place any orders from the made-to-order menu. (This is ALSO giving me Coscto vibes — it’s like the counter at the front of the store where you can order cheap meals after you shop!)

Near the checkout, you’ll also find other amenities like the drink station, as well as a microwave and toaster to warm up your pastries.

Now we’ve arrived at the seating area! There is plentiful seating on the upper level of this restaurant, with tables for parties of varying sizes.

Admittedly, this section feels LESS like Costco.

You can also walk around the corner and find even more tables. These are a bit more private and tucked away from the rest.

The lower level of this restaurant is home to the seating for Crockett’s Tavern, the lounge at the resort. It reopened the same day as Trail’s End, but I was there earlier in the afternoon, so some people were using the Crockett’s Tavern seating for Trail’s End as well. I can’t guarantee that this will be an option every day, but it might be available if it’s before the open hours for the tavern.

Now that we’ve taken a full tour of the restaurant, let’s talk about the menu.

Menu

Besides all the offerings that are pre-made, there’s an additional made-to-order menu that’s available at the counter. They have both a breakfast menu and a lunch and dinner menu.

For lunch and dinner, you can get classic fare that includes a Cheeseburger, a Vegetable Burger, a Pulled Pork Sandwich, and a Chicken Nuggets meal.

They also have two “home-style meals” which are the Barbecued Ribs Half-Slab Meal and the Fried Chicken 2-Piece Meal. Besides that, you can order whole pizzas or a side of fries. 

You can also purchase a fountain drink to go with your meal, though it’s not listed on the menu.

Who’s ready to order some food?!

Food

I ordered quite a few items to check out, starting with the 2-Piece Fried Chicken Meal from the made-to-order menu. This meal is $10.49 and comes with two pieces of chicken, cornbread, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a cup of coleslaw.

I confirmed with multiple Cast Members that this fried chicken is the same that’s served over at Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue next door, but I wasn’t quite as impressed with the quick service portion, since the breading was on the chewy side. The chicken thigh meat was also a little underdone, but not alarmingly so.

The mashed potatoes were one of my absolute favorite things that I ate! They were delicious and lumpy, with lots of butter. They would be REALLY good if you ate them warm, but alas, I had to wait until I took all my photos first.

The cornbread was also pretty impressive — light and buttery without being gritty. It tastes like the same cornbread that was here before.

I’m not even a coleslaw fan, but I enjoyed the one that comes on the side of this meal. It was very crunchy and not soggy, more on the salty side. It wasn’t too mayonnaise-forward like some other coleslaw I’ve had in the past, and it’s a HUGE portion.

Overall, the chicken meal is a REALLY good deal. You get a lot of food for the price, and even though the chicken didn’t wow me substantially, I think that’s something that would vary depending on the day.

Next, let’s talk about the Pioneer Berry Salad for $9.29. This comes with mixed lettuce, pecans, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and blue cheese. The dressing is a raspberry walnut vinaigrette.

First of all, this is one pretty salad! It’s very colorful and it made my mouth water just looking at it — which is an impressive feat for a salad I got out of the refrigerated foods section. The whole thing was very fresh and bright, and the dressing was sweet, a little on the sugary side.

The candied pecans on top added a nice crunchy texture to the mix, and all the berries tasted fresh and sweet. I think this is a really good salad for the spring or summer, but you’ll want to be in the mood for sweet over savory. The only thing that wasn’t on the sweet spectrum was the blue cheese.

Now it’s time for the thing I was most interested to try, the Macaroni and Cheese. I had to get this from the to-go section in a GIANT cup (that was the only option) for $9.49.

This mac was thick and creamy, and in the rankings of quick service macaroni and cheese, I think it’s better than the typical options. (But not quite as good as the one we love from Gasparilla Island Grill!) It’s buttery, but you’ll want to eat it quickly because it sticks together after sitting for a little while.

The next item on my list was a highly-anticipated one. This Chicken Wrap is $9.99 and made with a blueberry BBQ sauce. MULTIPLE Cast Members came up to me after I ordered this and raved about how much they liked it and how good that BBQ sauce is…

…but sadly, I was left wondering if I’d missed something! My wrap was like 80% kale (which I don’t mind, but there was a LOT of it), and it took me a few bites to even get to the chicken. When I got to the chicken, there wasn’t very much of it, and it really just had a vaguely fruity taste. I couldn’t quite tell that the sauce was blueberry OR barbecue-flavored. 

For something that was absolutely raved about, I was hoping for a little more. Maybe I just got the one that was made with the last bit of sauce and chicken that morning? I’m not sure, but I don’t think this was worth the nearly $10 I paid for it. (I would pick the salad instead if you’ve got a hankering for greens!)

And finally, my last entree was the Smokehouse Pizza. I got a BIG slice of it for $9.79, and it’s a really decent portion for a slice of pizza (though I wish it would come with a side dish for that price!). Of the entrees, this turned out to be my favorite. It’s topped with several meats, including pepperoni, ham, sausage, and pulled pork, and had a LOT of cheese. The sauce paired perfectly with the toppings and the whole thing was warm, savory, and comforting.

I would love to order one of these as a whole pie and then take it back to my Fort Wilderness Cabin to eat with friends or family. That’s the ideal night! (And also, ordering the entire pizza would be wayyyy more cost-effective than the individual slice.)

Okay…you can’t get full yet because we’ve still got dessert! Take a breath, and let’s trudge on!

My first dessert was the Strawberry Shortcake for $5.99. Now THIS is a good portion for the price. Spoiler alert — it was also one of the best things I ate all meal.

The cake is a teeny tiny bit dry, but the strawberry juice and the whipped cream balance it out. The cake is lightly sweetened and tastes like vanilla, which is the perfect complement to the sharp sweetness of the strawberries. I was told that this is a similar recipe to what’s made next door at Hoop-Dee-Doo, and I totally get why it’s so popular! This was a perfect, classic, southern dessert. YUM.

And last but not least, let’s talk about the PB&J Cupcake for $5.79. I’m so sad to say it y’all, but I was REALLY let down with this cupcake.

First of all, it’s an absolute ridiculous amount of sugar! The frosting has a very strong peanut butter flavor, but is very sugary and coats your mouth in kind of a weird way. There wasn’t much flavor in the cake itself, but it was SO dry and pretty disappointing. The filling is where you’ll find the jelly, but it tasted like they just shoved some grape jelly out of a jar and into the middle of the cupcake. Once again, SUPER sugary. 

I really, really wanted to like this — I love PB&J. But this just wasn’t it. Disney cupcakes can’t all be winners, sadly!

Overall

Now that we’ve tasted everything, let’s get down to business! (To defeat the Huns? No! To talk about what we’d recommend from this restaurant!)

The pizza and the strawberry shortcake were standouts for me, and I think the 2-piece chicken meal is a great choice for value if the chicken is on point that day. The mac and cheese is pretty good, and worth a try if you’re a fan of cheesy pasta. And that berry salad would be nice and refreshing after a day at the pool!

The only REAL letdowns were the PB&J cupcake and the chicken wrap. I probably wouldn’t order those again on a return trip. And even though I loved that pizza, it’s very expensive for a single slice — I recommend ordering the whole pie and getting more bang for your buck!

For those who love the Costco-esque atmosphere of buckets of sides, pre-packaged eats, and ordering entire roast chickens and racks of ribs, this might be your dream!

Nosh or Not?

Head to the Wilderness and get some grub if…

• You’re already staying at Fort Wilderness. There are only a few food options at this resort, and Trail’s End is probably the best one for grab-and-go or quick service eats. There’s indoor seating, lots of variety, and it has plenty of options you can take back to your campsite.
• You want to buy a whole meal and eat it elsewhere. If you’re planning a picnic or taking some eats back to your hotel room, camper, tent, or cabin, this would be a good option. You can buy entire chickens and whole pizzas, as well as tubs of sides to go. It’s a good deal!
• You want some Hoop-Dee-Doo faves without the reservation. If you’re a longtime Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue fan and you want to indulge in the fried chicken or the strawberry shortcake, you can stop here and get them for cheaper!

Pitch your tent elsewhere if…

• Fort Wilderness isn’t already on your must-visit list. It’s not really worth going out of your way to get to this restaurant, since the menu is pretty simple. If you’re already going to be here, then it’s a great choice, but otherwise, you have to take a boat or bus to get here (and possibly an internal resort shuttle), and that can be a pain.
• You want something unique and special. Like I said, the food here is pretty standard — homestyle favorites. The environment is also nothing too over-the-top. So if you want unique eats or a special experience, this probably isn’t your meal.

That’s a wrap on my visit to Trail’s End Restaurant at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort! Stay tuned to DFB for more restaurant reviews from around Disney World, and all the tips you need for your vacation.

Click Here to See Our Review of Hoop-Dee-Doo Next Door!

 

Have you ever been to Trail’s End? Tell us in the comments!

The post REVIEW: Trail’s End Just Reopened and Is Giving Serious Costco Vibes first appeared on the disney food blog.