Dining at Whispering Canyon Cafe at Disney's Wilderness Lodge

Whispering Canyon Café is located in Wilderness Lodge at the Walt Disney World Resort just inside the main lobby and to the left.  Whispering Canyon Café serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner and is a rustic respite from the hustle and bustle of the parks.

We had dinner and enjoyed a family “skillet” which included pulled pork, ribs, chicken, vegetables, and potatoes served family style with refills on any of the items.  Speaking of refills, Whispering Canyon Café also offers refills on their shakes.  This appealed to the boy and the husband.  They each started with one flavor, finished it, and ordered another flavor.  Their appetites kept them from ordering thirds! The caramel shake was delicious!   I ordered pomegranate lemonade but soft drinks are also available.

Our meal also came with dessert with a trio of favorites including a raspberry cobbler with cream.  Dessert was also served “family style” with individual plates for each of us.

The atmosphere is fun, yet family friendly.  Don’t be surprised to hear a Cast Member yell a request, hello, or good-bye across the restaurant.  And, if you ask for ketchup, be prepared to receive every bottle in the restaurant at your table and then you will be responsible for transporting the bottles to the next table that makes a request for the condiment.  It is a fun thing for the kids to do.  I wonder how many bottles of ketchup have been dropped on the floor.

Getting to and from Wilderness Lodge, if you are not staying there as a guest, is part of the fun if dining at Whispering Canyon Café.  While buses serve the resort from all of the parks and Downtown Disney, boat service is available from Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary Resort, and Fort Wilderness.  We took a boat from the Contemporary, that dropped us off at the dock in the back of Wilderness Lodge.  We then followed the winding trail to the main building.  Once you find the lobby, finding Whispering Canyon is easy.  We then hopped a bus to the Magic Kingdom and transferred to a bus headed to our resort.  Bathrooms are located to the left of the restaurant entrance if looking towards the entrance.

Be sure to make time to explore the resort both inside and out.  We were greeted with a large fireplace, massive chairs just perfect for napping, and a picturesque Christmas tree complete with Photopass photographers to capture the occasion. (I’m sure they are only there seasonally.)

Hints and tips for enjoying Whispering Canyon Café:

• Come with a big appetite and ready to play or enjoy others playing
• Give yourself enough time to get to and from Wilderness Lodge.  You will want to linger and explore either before or after your meal.
• Ask how to find the train room at the Lodge from the concierge.
• Sit in at least one chair in the lobby.  There are several including rocking chairs in front of the fireplace.  Trust me.  Try any chair.
• Caramel shake.  Enough said.
• The ribs are okay.  The ribs at Cookies on Castaway Cay are better.  Disney, are you listening?
• Bring your camera!

We are so glad we gave Whispering Canyon Café a try, even it if took 10 trips to get us there.  It was a great place to eat and be transformed to another time and place as only Walt Disney World can do.  We ate there on a day planned for exploring Downtown Disney and Resort—basically a non-park day and Wilderness Lodge was a great place to explore.