“A hilarious, high-spirited hootenanny the whole family will enjoy, accompanied by a finger-lickin’ countrified feast.”
As advertised by Disney, this dinner show held 3 times (at 4:00, 6:15, and 8:30) every evening at Fort Wilderness’ Pioneer Hall, is something that can be enjoyed by the whole family, young and old alike. What you might not know though is that the Hoop-dee-Doo Musical Revue started in 1974 and is therefore one of the longest running dinner shows in the United States. While this is an every trip tradition for my friends, Paula & Hunter, it had been many, many years since I had been to the HDDR.
So let’s start with our arrival at Fort Wilderness. We had caught the boat from Magic Kingdom, which I think is the easiest way to get there…unless you are staying at the Wilderness Lodge or the Contemporary (which share a boat that runs between the three resorts). Anyway, outside the front entrance of Magic Kingdom you just need to look for this sign…
This boat will take you directly to the Fort Wilderness dock, which is a very short walk from Pioneer Hall (where HDDR is held). FYI: This is also where the Trail’s End Restaurant is located. Trail’s End offers a great breakfast buffet during the week and a brunch buffet on the weekends, both of which I’ve reviewed.
But getting back to the HDDR, shortly after checking in for our pre-paid reservation, we were called to have our Photopass photo taken…
We attended the last show (8:30) because that is the only one where the Tables in Wonderland 20% discount is offered. I believe there is also a 10% Annual Passholder discount offered, which is not restricted to just the late show.
When making your reservation for the HDDR, your seat is pre-assigned. You will be given three seating options…
Again we went with the least expensive option (Category 3) and were seated in the right side corner of the balcony (as pointed out above). FYI: Category 3 seating is all on the second level, either on right or left-hand side of the balcony (the section of tables in the center of the balcony were considered Category 2). So when we were seated at our table we were all facing the wall, which then required a turn-around of our chairs and/or bodies in order to look over the rail of the balcony to see the stage below…
Here was our view of the stage…
And the tables below on the main floor…
As far as the cost of my ticket, I paid $56.02 with the discount. This included both tax and gratuity. One other note regarding seating/cost, if you are using the Disney Dining Plan, HDDR requires two DDP credits and you are restricted to Category 2 or 3 seating.
Anyway, I don’t recall when exactly they began seating but I do know that we were seated at our table by 8:40 when I took this photo of my place setting…
And here is a photo of their menu…
And moments later our drink orders were taken by our server. Unlimited draft beer (Bud Light and Yuengling) , wine (Frontera Chardonnay or Merlot) and Beso del Sol sangria are included for guests 21 years of age and up. There were also many non-alcoholic beverages available (as listed on the menu above) and included in the price. While Paula and Hunter went with their usual red sangria, I decided to try the white sangria…
I didn’t really like their white sangria, as I thought it had a weird aftertaste. The red sangria was better.
Now on to the food, which is all served family-style to your table and began with a loaf of Cornbread and honey butter…
This was served along with a bucket of Salad…
And a close up…
My plate…
The salad was the usual iceberg lettuce with shredded carrots and red onion plus grape tomatoes and slices of cucumber. I liked that it was topped with a generous amount of shredded parmesan cheese. I also liked the vinegar and oil dressing, which tasted similar to the house (Italian) dressing at Olive Garden. The cornbread was also good, especially with the addition of the honey butter.
I think it was about this time that the Pioneer Hall Players performed their opening number (around 9:00 I think??)…
Then soon after our table was covered with silver tin bowls and pails of food, including these three side dishes of Mashed Potatoes, Corn, and Cowboy (Baked) Beans…
And two meats, Fried Chicken…
And Smoked Barbecued Pork Ribs…
I tried all of these except for the ribs, which aren’t really my thing (especially when covered with sweet bbq sauce like these were)…
So let’s start with the fried chicken. My chicken breast was fine, but was a bit on the dry side. As far as Disney World fried chicken, I think it’s better at 50’s Prime Time Café. The corn and beans were good. The corn had a generous amount of butter and seasoning and the “Cowboy” beans had bits of pork (bacon) and brown sugar to give them both good flavor. The potatoes were a fail for me though. I like my mashed potatoes to be fluffy and buttery. These were thin and pasty with little flavor.
As an added bonus, Hunter asked for and received (with no additional charge) some items from the Kids menu, Chicken Fingers (Tenders), French Fries, and Mac & Cheese…
Meanwhile the show continues on, complete with singing, dancing, corny jokes, and of course, some audience participation…so be prepared to wave your napkin!
And play a washboard…
Because those washboards aren’t just sitting around for decoration…
Or you might even be one of the chosen few to come up on stage to do some role playing…
Then before you know it it’s time for dessert…
Which their song and dance announces to be Strawberry Shortcake…
This was the portion served for the 3 of us to share.
Here is my tin plateful of the deliciousness…
So overall my opinion of this dinner show is favorable. While attending HDDR does eat up a lot of your valuable park time ( 2 hour show plus transportation time to and from Fort Wilderness), I think it’s worth it…especially if you have a longer trip planned or you’ve been to WDW a few times already and are looking for new experiences to try. I enjoyed it twice during our family trips to Disney World when my three children were young. And 15 or so years later I again enjoyed the show with my friends. While this is not something I need to do again soon, I would definitely return someday. As for the ratings, overall I would rate HDDR (for both the food and the show) about a 4. The ratings though on both Yelp and Trip Advisor are higher than mine, as both have rated HDDR a 4 1/2.
Taste of Disney 