Tink Tested: Trail's End Dinner

Location: The back of Fort Wilderness, (The Settlement area), next to Pioneer Hall
Parking/Transportation Situation: Park in the main parking lot and take an internal bus from the bus stop. (Busses are named by colors: Orange, Yellow and Purple. ALL busses go to the Settlement stop.) Boat from Magic Kingdom. Bus from Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney.

Meals Served: B, L, D

Characters/Entertainment: No characters, or live entertainment.
Type of Cuisine: Down home, country fare

Type of Menu: Buffet for breakfast and dinner. A la carte for lunch.

Pricing/Dining Plan: $$/ 1 Table Service Point Per Person
Full Menu: Trail's End Dinner Menu

Atmosphere: Rustic mess hall

Dress Code: Theme park casual

Guests Who Would Enjoy This The Most: Families, anyone who likes a good deal on a great meal

Level of Difficulty of Getting a Reservation: Easy

Fun Stuff for Kids: While there's no real entertainment IN the restaurant, there is a small arcade attached to the back end. Just outside of the restaurant, in the outdoor waiting area, there are hoola hoops to keep the kiddos entertained. Oh, and just to the side of the building, there is a playground. And on the other side, a petting farm and stable, which is the home of pretty much all horses that appear on Disney property. (The Main Street Trolley horses, the Headless Horseman's horse, even Cinderella's ponies that pull her carriage.) Kids can ride a pony, for a small fee. If you've never been to Fort Wilderness, I HIGHLY recommend going there for a hang out. Lots to do and so much outdoor fun. I'll share more in an upcoming post.
Rating of Appeal to Kid-Diners: This is cool!!!

Stand out dishes: Fried Chicken, Fresh Cornbread, Ribs, Carved Ham and Brisket, Apple Cobbler, Lemon Bars
Best Use of Dining Plan Point: The only option at breakfast is the buffet, but generally speaking, any all-you-care-to-eat option is a good value on the Dining Plan. I will say, however, being a relatively low price point, you may want to pay cash for this one, and save your point for a more expensive meal.

Experience: I told ya we liked it, didn't I? Yes, I just reviewed breakfast recently, but we ate dinner here a week later, so you're getting that review too! If you missed the breakfast review and want to check it out, click HERE! There's more info there about the atmosphere, etc.
     We were celebrating a special occasion and D loves Trail's End, so we decided to do an early dinner on a Sunday night. We also invited our neighbors, who had never been to Trail's End before. We booked about a week out, just because we (for once) knew when and where we wanted to go. Normally Trail's End can be booked day of without too much trouble. In fact, it's the perfect back up for when you can't get into somewhere else that you wanted to dine. Easy to book and never disappointing! We had a 5:30 reservation and got to the campground at about 4:50pm. Unfortunately, it had once again been raining on and off, as it tends to do in summer, so everything was damp. Looks like no playground or petting farm visit before eating again today! Sorry D and K! We took the bus back to the Settlement area, and walked on over to the restaurant. We checked in, and the kiddos grabbed hoola hoops to wiggle away the time while we waited. They didn't get to wiggle very long though, since we were sat within ten minutes.
     We sat in the lower part of the restaurant, referred to as "Crockett's Tavern". Our server immediately acknowledged K's egg allergy, but since we have eaten here many times, we were comfortable getting started without the chef coming to the table yet. After getting our drinks in mason jars, we dug into the buffet. While I was up getting the kids their first plates, the chef found me and asked if I had any questions and said that he would make K a special dessert out back. Perfect!
     If you've never been to Trail's End, be prepared to be impressed by the variety. Aside from the basic salad bar and side items, the buffet is FULL of meats! In fact, a vegetarian may be a bit put off by it. They would still have plenty of items that they could eat, but the majority of the buffet is meat. There was fried chicken and ribs, (the same as the chicken and ribs from the Hoop Dee Doo!), baked chicken, salmon, pulled pork, and carved brisket and ham. Our neighbors were happy with the selection and the quality is always high here. The fried chicken was tasty and delicious, without being too greasy. The salmon happened to be a cornbread and honey butter salmon and it was savory, with a little sweetness to it. D loves the mac and cheese here because they make the topping with Goldfish crackers, so she gobbled it up. K loves Disney pizza, and ate about 3 slices, plus fried chicken, and ham, and green beans, and pulled pork, and ribs, and corn... K has NO problem tuckering in at Trail's End. The Hubs loves the ribs and chicken, but his favorite item is probably the fresh made cornbread, served in the skillet. It's easy to miss, because they put it on the dessert buffet, so keep an eye out. There's also a baked potato bar with all the fixin's. You'll have SO much to choose from!

     One little tip we did learn from eating here a number of times... try to avoid eating dinner here until 5:30pm or later. The way the buffet is set up makes it hard for a lot of people to access the food at one time. If everyone is just starting at the same time, you end up waiting in a rather long line to get food. By the time you get through the line, you won't want to go up for seconds because you don't want to wait again. After about 5:30, things even out and you won't run into that problem as much.
          As we were just finishing dinner, we heard some pretty loud thunder and looked outside. Oh my. Right then and there we decided that we were going to take our sweet time eating dessert because there was no way we were walking back to the bus stop in a typhoon. The majority of the restaurant seemed to feel the same way, since just about everyone was sitting around, picking at their desserts. Our poor neighbor had to use the restroom and didn't realize that the only restroom is not only outside of the building, but down past the Hoop Dee Doo. He came back looking like a drowned rat. Thanks, Florida.

     Dessert here will make a Southerner (or anyone) swoon. Lemon Bars. Red Velvet Cake. Banana Pudding. Bread Pudding. Strawberry Shortcake. Apple Cobbler. Snickerdoodles. Not to mention Chocolate Bundt Cake, Chocolate Chip Cookies, fresh fruit and Soft Serve Ice Cream with M&Ms and Gummi Bears for toppings. They brought K a plate with egg free ice cream and cookies, along with Gummi Worms. So for dessert, K pretty much ate gummies and M&Ms. D likes the Apple Cobbler the most, as do many people, which is why every time they bring the hot pan out, there's a line waiting and the pan is scooped clean within ten minutes.

     After having what may have been a 45 minute dessert, the rain finally started letting up, and we moseyed on outta there. Another great Trail's End meal, with even better company. I stand firm on my declaration that Trail's End is a "Hidden Gem" of Disney Dining!
Tink's Tots Try It Out: According to D (6 yo girl) I know I don't even need to ask, but you liked Trail's End for dinner, right?   "Yeah, I liked dinner. The fried chicken is real good and I like that macaroni with the Goldfish in it."   Yeah, you seem to enjoy that. What do you think of dessert at Trail's End?   "I like the Gummi Bears."   Oh, I thought you were going to say that you loved the Apple Cobbler.   "Well, I DO, but I also love Gummi Bears."   Well you do have that well rounded palate.  "Huh?"

Tink's Tots Try It Out: According to K (2 yo boy)  Was dinner yummy, Bud?   "Yes. I eat the chickin an the bone."   They are called ribs. You ate ribs. Not bones. You don't eat bones.   "Bones yucky."   Well, yeah. You had another special dessert huh? What did you think of that?   "Diz-urt good, Mamma. Num-num-num-num-num Num-num-num-num-num."   Are you pretending to eat dessert now?   "Yeah. Ice keem, Mamma. Eat."   Num-num-num!   "It gooooood, Mamma?" (stares me down like he might shank me if I say no)   Oh, yeah. It's delicious! (Does anyone else's toddler freak them out sometimes? Like, you look at their face and wonder, 'Are you gonna turn on me in my sleep at some point?')

Will we be back: Absolutely! Probably more frequently than to any other restaurant on Disney property. Cheapest dinner buffet and really high quality food.