Mickey's Backyard BBQ

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

For those of you fiends who have done this meal...is it worth it?  Looks like the same food they serve for the Hoop-Dee-Doo (which we think is "ok").  Do the characters come to your table for pictures... or is it basically a show (like the Hoop-Dee-Doo) with Mickey and friends?

[Beckers 1,136]

I thought it was a giant mess of chaos when we went but others love it.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

The food is similar (sides are the same, BBQ chicken instead of fried). We love it. The characters pose for pictures before and after but not during. The kids get to dance with them. I have pictures of it in the April trip report in my signature. I also did a separate thread about it. I'll see of I can find it.

I consider it a must do for people with kids that like characters.

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

Even though we're "old folks" :) we prefer it to the HDDR. As Kelly said the chicken is BBQ and not fried and there is a little more variety. We enjoyed watching the kids interact with the characters (dancing, parade etc) which you don't get at the HDDR. The only problem is it not a nightly event so you need to do a little more planning in order to get tickets.<br />

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Here's my write up including an awesome picture of me dancing. The reason we went a second time was because Zachary and his friend were still talking about it. http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/6088-mickeys-backyard-bbq/?fromsearch=1

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

Here's my write up including an awesome picture of me dancing.

Go Kelly!

[.....Gary 85]

My grandkids loved the ice cream freezers.  I liked the beer.  Marilyn liked the wine.   See..... something for everybody.

 

Seriously, we will do it again.

[Laura 17]

We loved it. We loved that is was outdoors, My daughter could pretty much roam around within our view and the Character greets were the best we have ever had!  I thought it was hilarious watching the kids stalk the characters as they danced around the room. My HD is not a fan of buffets so I was worried when we first got there, but the food proved to be very good, hot and alot of it. It was Mickey Bar city too. I do not know if they still do it, but the treats were self serve. I don't even remember how many we had and we got to each take one home. I think there was beer too, I am not much of a drinker so I can't remember that part.

SO WORTH IT! Do it once.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Thanks for all the feedback!  Thanks Kelly, for the great review :)

 

I think we may have to try this out...they're closed in February, but we've got a May and October trip planned as well so... we'll shoot for one of those trips.

 

Thanks again!!

[Beckers 1,136]

Maybe we just got it in a bad night?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Thanks for all the feedback!  Thanks Kelly, for the great review :)

 

I think we may have to try this out...they're closed in February, but we've got a May and October trip planned as well so... we'll shoot for one of those trips.

 

Thanks again!!

 

Glad it was helpful!

 

Maybe we just got it in a bad night?

 

Maybe. We've really enjoyed it both times.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Way to bust a move Kelly.

After reading this thread I might have to look into trying it. We love HDDR and have always went with it. But the BBQ looks like a lot of fun.

[Retired and Happy (Ken) 101]

We usually hit the BBQ once each Christmas trip.  The kids and DW enjoy the action and I enjoy the food. last year we went for the BBQ and they served turkey and dressing.  I was all for it, but DW wanted the traditional BBQ foods. It's a lot of fun and there are a lot of characters who participate in the dancing and wandering through the crowd for pictures.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

My parents have made plans to join us in October, so I've made reservations for the BBQ for that trip.  Question that I have, is do you think that we'll have a lot of trouble getting a seat "in the front"?  What I mean by that, is looking at the seating chart there are about 5 tables that look straight at the stage. The thing is, my mother has bad health and one of her afflictions, is her neck.  She had spinal surgery several years back and they ended up fusing two or three vertebrae at the base of her neck, so turning her neck is very tough and ends up putting her in a lot of pain.  The system would not allow me to select a seating area and when I called the reservation number, they could not help either.  I'm willing to sit in line an hour or two before the meal if we need to... but wondering thoughts (on those of you fiends who have been), how tough it will be to get a seat that will work for her.

 

We'll be at the Fort in a couple of weeks, and I may stop by and try talking with the GM of the venue as well. 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

No need to do any of that. Get there early. I don't remember how early but I probably said in my TR or my review. I'll look back at my stuff too. Getting there early also allows you to meet some characters and get pictures. Plus, they have drums and hoopla hoops to keep the kids busy.

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

It is open seating and as Kelly said the earlier you are line the better chance of getting the table/seats you want. You go through the buffet and then you pick a table.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

OK, so I looked back, get there an hour before the show starts. We always sit and take turns getting food. If your mom has a hard time turning her neck, I'd actually sit on one of the sides because of the way the tables are turned. If she's at one of the side tables and faces the stage that will be less turning than sitting in the middle because your neck is at a right angle the whole time there. 

 

We've arrived at 45 minutes and 1 hour early and both times had our choice of seats along the dance floor. 

 

Enjoy! It's a lot of fun. 

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

OK, so I looked back, get there an hour before the show starts. We always sit and take turns getting food. If your mom has a hard time turning her neck, I'd actually sit on one of the sides because of the way the tables are turned. If she's at one of the side tables and faces the stage that will be less turning than sitting in the middle because your neck is at a right angle the whole time there. 

 

We've arrived at 45 minutes and 1 hour early and both times had our choice of seats along the dance floor. 

 

Enjoy! It's a lot of fun. 

 

Thanks!! :)

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Feedback:   We did go to the BBQ this last trip and had a GREAT time.  For us, this is a better fit than the HDDR.  I like the larger variety of food, the fact that you can get up and dance and I personally like country music so...it was a win/win.  Very expensive, but all the dinner/shows at Disney are.  This is one that we will try and do every couple of years.  Had a lot of fun.

 

Oh... and on the seating, we arrived almost an hour early and there was already a long line waiting to be seated.  However, God blessed us as they took some of the crowd one way and then another part of the crowd a different way so we were still able to get a table that worked well for my mother.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

So glad you enjoyed it! We do too.

[Starbuc71 162]

Didn't want  to duplicate the same topic but I wanted to give my comments about Mickey's backyard BBQ. This trip, we wanted to do stuff that we haven't done before. And my kids have been bugging me for years to go to the barbecue. So, good old dad, splurged and got the four of us reservations for Mickey's backyard BBQ.   All I can say, is if your kids like to dance and like to see the characters and don't really care about the food, I guess they would enjoy the show. Me on the other hand,  being a chef in my former life, the food was horrible. I guess the best thing about the food was all the Mickey ice cream bars you could have, but how many can you really eat… LOL    I ate one.   I don't know if the buffet has changed over the years, but this is what they had. Real cheap hotdogs, burgers floating in water, hard buns, potato salad,  Caesar salad, watermelon, pasta salad, pulled BBQ pork, dried out corn on the cob, and barbecue ribs. The dessert was three types of novelty ice cream bars, And a strawberry shortcake bar which was pretty good. My kids are kind of over the characters now, since we have come here so much. They each had a hotdog and barely ate it, and they really didn't want to get up and dance because it was so hot.  I'm not saying it's a horrible program, I guess it's just not for us. But it's something we can cross off the Mickey bucket list.  For the $260 I spent, we could've had better food at trails end, or even went to a nicer restaurant at the swan or dolphin.  I'm sure if you book this place in the cooler months, it's a lot better atmosphere. They told us to be there 45 minutes before they opened, which meant we stood in line in the hot sun for 45 minutes. That was not cool… LOL 

[Travisma 1,317]

We did the Luau, first time since 1977.

It sure had changed.  Food was good, beer was great, but I was a driver so I cut myself off at 2.

My Granddaughter had the appetizers, then they brought out the main courses.  I asked her how it was and if she wanted more.  She said she was waiting for the menu to pick her food because she had seen the younger kids with menus.  Once I told her she was just having the ribs, pork, chicken, she went to town.

I felt they gave you more time to eat at the Luau then at HDDR.  

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

We've always enjoyed MBYBBQ. A lot of the food is the same as Trail's End or HDDR. I've never gotten a hot dog or hamburger. I stick to the ribs and chicken.

We've also never gone during the summer.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

7 hours ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

We've always enjoyed MBYBBQ. A lot of the food is the same as Trail's End or HDDR.

We enjoy it more as well. It's fun watching the kids and their interaction with the characters.

 

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Since I posted this back in 2014, we've done the MBYBBQ twice    For us, it's a great fit because I love country music (kids do as well, Tom is getting there ) and it's fun to watch the kids dance (our kiddos are little, so they still get into it).  The cowboy who does the rope trips is amazing. We actually like the food however... we are (very) simple food people.  Basic meats/potatoes kind-of group, so it's a good fit.  Plus a buffet always works well with little ones as there is no waiting.  The only downside for us, is the cost.  It is not cheap.  Most things at WDW are not, I get that...but this one definitely hurts.  I'd like to go back for our next trip, but I think we'll have to push it off till October of next year.  Just can't justify the cost, three years in a row.  Of course... I say that now, but we may get there and I'll remember that our miracles are only this size once (and that it's already going by too fast) so... who knows