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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

What Disney World restaurants have you given up on? Let us know in the comments!

 

The post Why We Stopped Going to These 3 Disney World Restaurants first appeared on the disney food blog.