Story Book Dining at Artist’s Point Review
And if you hear it echoing
Your wish will soon come true - I’m Wishing (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
I finally got to experience Story Book Dining at Artist’s Point with Snow White at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge! I must admit I’m not a very adventurous eater and sometimes when restaurants make the menu sound super fancy, I assume I’m not going to like it. In honor of truly experiencing everything “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” at the Parks and Resorts, I felt like I had to just go try it. In short, I’m SO glad I did. I’ll go into much greater detail below, but this was one of the best dining experiences I’ve had in a long time at Walt Disney World. Read on for details!
For those that aren’t aware, the is a dinner-only character dining experience at one of the Walt Disney World resorts. This space was a restaurant simply named “Artist Point” which was a beloved location and skewed towards the adult crowd and no characters. There is still a large portion of Disney fans that lament the loss of their signature dining location. I will admit I’m not one of that crowd as the menu was always a little “too fancy” for this plain eater.
As I mentioned before, the theme is what drove me to book this reservation, but also, I gifted this experience to my parents and my Mother-in-Law. I love to gift experiences versus physical stuff if I can as I feel like we all have a lot of “stuff”. This movie has a special place in my family’s heart as it was a favorite movie of my grandpa’s (my dad’s dad!)
My grandpa and Dopey in December of 2008 in Epcot
My dad also has a personal love for Grumpy – we like to say that he can easily relate to him.
My dad with Grumpy during a visit to Story Book Dining in December 2023
Arrival/Atmosphere: When I think back on this experience, the thing that left a lasting impression was how the entire experience was blended together for one great experience. This includes the beautiful restaurant setting. When we arrived, it was still light outside, and as we continued throughout the evening, the outside became darker which enhanced the lighting inside even more. As we were led to our table, I wasn’t sure what to expect, most of the photos I’ve seen have been of the food at tables or of the Evil Queen. I was greeted with a dining room that looked like it truly belonged in a resort themed to the Wilderness. We had a table along the windows where we could take in the décor of the restaurant which consisted of trees with fairy lights and if you looked beyond the trees, you could see the beautiful artwork that was featured as part of the décor before Snow White was invited to the restaurant. At the table there was a tree shaped, lazy Susan-esque turn table that wasn’t necessary but a beautiful detail that I enjoyed!
Characters: The typical characters you will see at this location are Dopey, Grumpy, Snow White, and the Evil Queen. Keep in mind as with all Disney character meals, this is always subject to change without notice. Dopey, Grumpy, and Snow White will come to your table like a typical character meal. You will be invited to meet with the Evil Queen after your meal is completed and you will go visit her in an area in the middle of the restaurant. I will say that I really appreciated the controlled meet and greet of the Evil Queen, but when it was our turn to visit, we were waiting about 15 minutes, which isn’t long for a special Meet and Greet, but for a character dining experience where they normally come to you it was. The line had been shorter earlier in the evening though. We just timed it poorly and ended our meal when many other families did.
Beverages: I love a themed food and beverage item, so seeing how perfectly named these cocktails were, I knew I had to try one!
I chose the Enchanted Apple which is not something I’d normally choose as I cannot stand green apple flavor, but I felt like I had to do it for the theme of it all. I was so pleasantly surprised when it arrived at the table, and it was more red, not green! I would order this cocktail again, which is a huge deal for a girl that doesn’t love sour apple flavored things, but I didn’t find it to taste like that “green sour apple” fake taste that I expected to get from the Pucker liqueur.
My mother-in-law ordered the Evil to the Core. Tequila is more my liquor of choice and blackberry is one of my flavor weaknesses, but I was not a fan of this cocktail. It tasted too “pepper”-y from whatever Habanero ingredient they mixed in, but if you are into that flavor, this might be for you!
Evil to the Core Cocktail
Here's a clip of the menu from the Disney website at time of dining which was in December of 2023.
Appetizer: When you are served the appetizers, they are presented as shared as in the portions for everyone are individual but served on a shared plate. They use my favorite table tree to display them, so it doesn’t take up as much space on the table, which I thought was clever!
We were served Wild Mushroom Bisque, Hunter’s Pie, and Wicked Shrimp Cocktail.
My favorite of the bunch was Hunter’s Pie. I think we were all given the Gluten Free Version as photos I’ve seen of this show the meatballs in a tart-like bottom. My mom does have to eat Gluten-Free so they may have just marked our whole table as glute green. To be honest, I don’t really feel like I missed out. These meatballs were SO tasty!
I will say I didn’t even try the Shrimp, because I despise all seafood. I have officially given up trying, because it doesn’t matter if it’s fried, grilled, a fish, or a mollusk, I don’t like any of it, but my family seemed to enjoy it.
I don’t like mushrooms AT ALL, but I was encouraged to give the bisque a try by a lot of non-mushroom eaters. I also read that this soup is a favorite of most people who visit. Mushrooms are on my list of foods I desperately wish I liked, but I just don’t. That all being said, I tried it just in case I changed my mind. I didn’t, but I really appreciated the presentation of it in its cute cauldron.
Here's a clip of the menu from the Disney website at time of dining which was in December of 2023.
Entrée: My table experienced 3 different entrees.
I had the Royal Prime Rib Roast. I saw on the kid’s menu that they had some mashed potatoes that were NOT horseradish, so I asked if they’d substitute them and they happily did, which made this picky eater THRILLED! My mother-in-law also had this dish, but had as is on the menu with the horseradish potatoes and she enjoyed it.
My mom chose the Magic Mirror’s Slow-braised Pork Shank. This was on the allergen friendly menu for gluten free. She had many options to choose from, which is a great perk.
My dad ordered the Stroll Through Nature and was very impressed. This is a big deal as he’s a tough critic!
Here is a clip of the menu from the Disney website at time of dining which was in December of 2023.
Dessert:
I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the desserts but let me dive into the details, I was so pleasantly surprised!
3 of the desserts get served family style on the tree in the middle of the table which I’ve already said how much I love, so dessert wins for presentation alone.
I’m starting with the “Fairy Tale Gooseberry Tart”. I was looking forward to this one due to all my research on Gooseberries (If you don’t know what I’m talking about…check out this post: www.wecanshowyoutheworld.com/blog/snowwhitebeverages ). I can confirm I really don’t like gooseberries. However, this was better than the gooseberries I tried alone. This gave a more apple pie type texture and flavor which is not my favorite thing.
Next was the “‘Poison’ Apple”, I was nervous for this one as I’m not a big sour apple flavor fan. This ended up being my favorite dessert of the bunch! It was similar to a truffle and the perfect size!
Last up on the table was the “Miner’s Treasures”, It was exactly what you’d imagine a cookies ‘n’ cream panna cotta would taste like. I love anything Oreo-like, so it was good, it just didn’t wow me like the Poison Apple which is why that ranked higher for me.
The surprising highlight of the desserts was “The Hunter’s Gift to the Queen”. Our server brought out a box that looked like the Huntsman’s box in movie. Not only that, but it was smoking with dry ice! When it was opened, there were 4 heart shaped chocolates in the box which was the perfect palette cleanser for the entire experience.
Here is a clip of the menu from the Disney website at time of dining which was in December of 2023.
Rating:
If you are unfamiliar with my ranking system – know that the ranking from each person is a combination of 3 rankings averaged together (Atmosphere, Service, and Food). Average ranking between the 4 of us: 9.08
