Taste of Disney

The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue turns 50 years old this year, as this popular dinner show first opened at the Pioneer Hall (located at Ft. Wilderness Resort & Campground) on June 30, 1974. I had previously been to the Hoop-Dee-Doo three times, with my first time being in 2000 (along with my family, including three children ages 5 – 11) and my last being with friends in 2017. But I decided that a 4th visit was warranted in order to commemorate their 50th anniversary.

And so on the first day I could, on Jan. 29th (exactly 60 days prior to the start of our trip), I booked my reservation for the first show (4:00 p.m.) on Saturday, March 30 and chose Category 1 Main Floor seating.

Ok, now on to Show Day!

You are advised to arrive at Pioneer Hall 30 minutes prior to your reservation time, which was 4:00 for us. Through some research I had discovered that the Blue Flag boats had resumed service on October 1, 2023. These small boats transport guests between the Contemporary Resort, Wilderness Lodge, and Fort Wilderness. The one change from their previous service was that they are now only available from 3:00 p.m. – 10:45 p.m. (previously they started very early in the morning). But the later start time still worked for us and was a very convenient way to get from the Contemporary (our resort) to Ft. Wilderness for the 4:00 Hoop-Dee-Doo show. We made our way to the Contemporary boat dock a little before the first boat was scheduled to arrive at 3:00. We had enough time for a couple of rounds of foosball (located by pool/dock) before the two Blue Flag boats arrived, which was a little later than 3:00. One of the boats was headed to the Wilderness Lodge and the other (the one we boarded) headed directly to the Ft. Wilderness boat dock. It was a pretty quick boat ride and then a very short walk from the Ft. Wilderness boat dock to Pioneer Hall. We arrived before they started checking in guests at 3:30 so we sat down at a picnic table and struck up a conversation with some other guests waiting there. I was then one of the first in line when they began checking people in, however it doesn’t really matter because I believe your table is pre-assigned at the time of booking. All I had to do to check in was give the cast member my name and they then printed out and gave me this Seating Admission ticket…

I then took this ticket to the nearby Pioneer Box Office window along with my Disney VISA card (that I’d originally used for payment when booking online) and requested my 10% refund. They quickly processed my refund of $12.90 (crediting this amount back to my card) and gave me a receipt. At first I wondered why I received $12.90 and not $14.80 (10% of the $148 that I’d paid for two tickets) but didn’t bother taking the time to inquire since it was only a difference of less than $2.00. However, I just now figured out the difference when looking at the receipt I received at the time of booking, which broke down the total price of the tickets…

Ok, let’s get on with the show!

At a little before 4:00 they opened the doors, with guests being told to get in one of the two lines based on their assigned table number. The seating process went very quickly so by 4:02 we were seated at our table (#11) which was located on the far left side and right next to the stage…

We were given this menu…

However, the only choice to be made was our beverage, which was included in the price of our meal. The available alcoholic selections were two wines (Chardonnay and Merlot), two beers (Bud Light and Yuengling), and both red and white sangria. There were also several non-alcoholic options which included soda, juice, milk, tea, coffee, etc. There were unlimited refills available on these beverages, even the alcoholic ones.

My husband chose Yuengling, as it is a beer that is not available for purchase in our home state. Our server brought him both a glass jar of beer plus a full carafe so he was set. I don’t drink beer and don’t care for either Chardonnay or Merlot. I considered the sangria but remembered that I didn’t like the sangria that I had here last time. I probably would have ordered the sweet tea had I noticed that it was available but I didn’t so I ended up just getting a Sprite. Our server brought me only one glass (jar) of Sprite, I didn’t get a carafe like my husband received, so either she liked him better or thought he looked thirstier. Haha. Anyway, I did request and received a refill later in our two hour meal.

Then the first course was delivered to our table…

The first course included a loaf of Fresh-baked Cornbread…

This was excellent! It tasted very fresh and was moist and sweet. The whipped honey butter was a perfect addition. This was everything you want in a cornbread and a great start to our meal. We gave this a perfect 5 rating.

Another starter was this Tossed Salad…

This was your typical salad of mostly iceberg lettuce, cabbage, grape tomatoes, shredded carrots, cucumber slices and shredded mozzarella cheese. The highlight of this salad was the dressing. I asked our server what it was and was told it was Ken’s brand Creamy Italian. So anyway the dressing elevated this salad to a rating of 4.

The last item of our first course was Coleslaw…

This was creamy and crunchy and I really liked it. My husband wished it was a bit sweeter. We gave the coleslaw a rating of 4.

Around 4:20 – 4:25 the show started…

In this slightly blurry photo you can see how close we were to the performers on stage. We could have reached out and touched them…

The Main Course was then brought out to our table at about 4:30…

Let’s begin with the three side dishes…

The Cowboy Beans were by far the weakest link of the three, and actually of the entire meal. They had a smoky sauce which I didn’t care for. We both thought the baked beans were pretty much a waste of space both on our (crowded with food) table and in our stomachs, especially when there was so much better food to eat. Consequently we gave the baked beans a rating of only 2.

The mashed potatoes were good though. They were skin-on and nicely seasoned. We gave them a 4.

But the best of the sides by far was the Macaroni & Cheese…

This was cheesy and creamy…a comfort food classic. We both really enjoyed the mac & cheese and gave it a perfect rating of 5.

Next we have the meats…

The Smoked BBQ Pork Ribs were tender and meaty. I liked the tangy flavor that was provided by the barbecue sauce. I’m not generally a fan of ribs but I thought these were good. I gave them a rating of 4. My husband enjoyed them more than me though and rated them a 5. So our average rating for the pork ribs was 4 1/2.

In my opinion, while the ribs were good, they paled in comparison to the fried chicken. We were served 1/2 a chicken on this platter (with one each of breast, wing, thigh, and leg). Since we both prefer breasts, I asked for and received a second chicken breast. And I’m glad I did because it was excellent. Crispy on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside. No salt needed to be added because it was perfectly seasoned. I suspect that this chicken was brined for several hours before frying. We both gave our chicken breast a perfect rating of 5.

And that just leaves dessert…

This was good but would have been much better if it had fresh strawberries, more than the one on top. The strawberry compote/sauce tasted like something out of a can. The pound cake style shortcake was good though so that boosted our rating to a 3 1/2.

Now a few more show pics…

The show was fun and the performers interacted well with the audience. They had us waving our napkins and playing our washboards…

And some audience members are chosen to participate in the show on stage…

Overall we really enjoyed ourselves at the Hoop-Dee-Doo dinner show. The show seemed to be about the same as it was when I last saw it 7 years ago but I still found it to be entertaining. The food was better than I’d remembered it to be, with the highlights being the cornbread, the macaroni & cheese, and the fried chicken. All of these were excellent and received ratings of 5 from both of us. That’s pretty impressive for food served “en masse” like this. And another “thumbs up” for the price. I thought $74 (including tax and tip) was a very reasonable price to pay for 2 hours that included a very large amount of food and unlimited beverages (including alcoholic options) plus a live show. So congratulations to Hoop-Dee-Doo for 50 years of success. You can count my husband and me among your millions of satisfied guests. Bravo!