As soon as I booked our stay at Wilderness Lodge, I knew I wanted our family to experience Storybook Dining at Artist Point.
As adults, character dinning isn't a must do for us but since we were already going to be at Wilderness Lodge, I was really hoping to get a reservation. I knew the menu was going to be unique and the characters would just add to the ambiance.
Once my booking window opened up, I tried practically every day ( multiple times a day) to get this reservation and nothing was ever available. I tried even up until the day that we left for Disney, and still nothing.
My only hope was that we could be on the waiting list as soon as the restaurant opened at 4pm.
We checked into Wilderness Lodge about 8:30 am and while we were in the lobby adjusting our bags to determine what we would give to the concierge and what we would keep with us for the day, I randomly checked one more time for a dinner reservations for Storybook Dining and I was over the moon exciting when a reservation for 4 came up for 6:50pm that same evening! This was just perfect! I could not have planned this better!
Although we had a reservation, we did receive one of the buzzers when we checked in for our Storybook Dinning dinner. We checked in a few minutes early and were even seated a few minutes prior to our reservation time.
The decor in the restaurant even adds to the ambiance. It appears to be set up as a cottage in the woods. Be sure to look up because you will see tree branches and lots of leaves with twinkling lights.
We had a table right next to where the Evil Queen was set up and by the end of the evening, my parent's would have told you we had the best seat in the house!
The characters you will see here are Snow White, Dopey, Grumpy, and the Evil Queen ( AKA Lady Tremaine) .
Only Snow White and the Dwarves will come to greet you at your table. You will have to be "summons" after your meal to go see the queen. As we were told, it is beneath the queen to come visit us!
Before we were even served our drinks or food, we were already treated to a nice show. There was music and dancing by all of the characters and we had a front row seat for it all.
When we sat at our table, we had a 3 tiered stand shaped like trees on the table. This is where they would bring all the appetizers. Everybody gets the same three appetizers to share. I've seen different pictures of these apps over the past few months and it seems that some of them are plated a bit differently.
For instance, I've seen the shrimp served in little jars, but ours was served on a plate.
The appetizers included a Wild Mushroom Bisque served in a tiny cauldron, Hunter's Pie, and Wicked Shrimp Cocktail. I am not a fan of mushrooms but every review I've ever read about this place people just raved about the mushroom soup. The raves were well deserved because it was good.
The Hunter's pie was more of a meatball in a puff pastry. It wasn't anything special, but it wasn't bad. The description on the Disney site describes it as being more elaborate. Maybe we missed something?
The Wicked shrimp cocktail was really great. It was served on what I thought was arugula ( even though the Disney site says it is seaweed) and it had a great dressing on it. According to the Disney site, the dressing is a Bloody Mary Vinaigrette. We were only on the appetizers and we were already impressed. The server left us know that we could have another serving of any of the appetizers, so he did bring out another tray of soup and another tray of shrimp cocktail.
For the Main Course, everyone gets to choose their own. For the entrees, there are 7 options for adults and only 3 options for children. There were 4 adults in our party and we each got something different.
My mom ordered the sustainable fish of the day, which was Salmon. It came with Farro, Fava Beans, English Peas and Gremolata ( which is a sauce made of chopped parsley, lemon juice and garlic)
My dad ordered the Royal Prime Rib Roast with horseradish-mashed potato, carrots and jus.
My sister ordered The Stroll through Nature which was Gnocchi with asparagus, leeks, arugula, sage, and parmesan.
I ordered the Cottage Beef Stroganoff which was tender beef, preserved vegetables, spatzle, mushrooms and aged cow's milk cheese.
Everyone thought their meals were very good. No complaints and every dish was empty!
Desserts were served the same way the appetizers were. There were three different types of desserts.
The Miner's Treasure was a little cookies and cream panna cotta with with a purple whipped topping and a Dopey hat. This was a light and fluffy dessert. The Gooseberry Tart was like a mini apple pie, but more tart and it had meringue on top. The Poison Apple was just like a ball of chocolate mousse decorated in the form of an apple. I think it was suppose to be sour in the center but I didn't really get that taste. None of them were awful but they weren't fabulous. It was nice being able to try three different things and they all satisfied us as a dessert.
The unique offerings at this restaurant, along with the atmosphere and character interactions is really what made this special. I felt as if we were at a dinner theater. We did not have any children in our party, but the characters still spent equal time interacting at our table.
We had a table right next to where the Evil Queen stands and I think that just made our night! Our parents just loved watching the Evil Queen interact with the children as they came up to visit her. As per the part of the Evil Queen, she is not very fond of children (or anyone) and it shows! She definitely made the experience here worth going to.
When we were finished with our meal, the server brought our check along with "The hunter's gift to the queen". This was a box with fog ( or dry ice) with little heart candies in it. I've noticed from other reviews that some boxes also had caramel corn around the hearts, but ours did not.
Once our bill was settled, we were summons to be able to see the queen. Don't expect to have polite conversations with this character. She is blunt, and a little sarcastic and does it all with a straight face which makes it hilarious.
This is a pricey dinner, but think of it as "dinner and a show". This was by far one of the best Disney dinner experiences my family has had. My parents were talking about it for days later!
Note: The lighting in this restaurant was not the best so take that into consideration if you want professional looking photos. You may want to bring an additional light source. Disney Photo Pass photographers were there to take pictures of your family with the Evil Queen, but they do not come around to your table for the other characters.
What memorable dining experience have you had while on vacation? -M
At the time of our visit, Storybook Dining was $60 per adult. We were not on the dining plan and this was just our personal experience.
Learn more about Disney's Wilderness Lodge by reading our Complete Review of Wilderness Lodge HERE.
best disney experience ever, worth the money
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DeleteGuess what?!? We booked a surprise trip for the family to Disney World so I need your help!!!! We've done character dining in the past but I wasn't going to drop the $ this time as the girls are getting older and I don't think they will care for it as much, plus the trip is adding up to be a LOT. LOL! But after reading this, I may rethink that. Send all tips and advice my way girl, especially budget friendly ones.
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This is wonderful news! I look forward to sharing all my tips with you!
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