The Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue is a Wild West style family dinner show at Disneyworld. It’s hilarious and full of crazy good fun and Southern food. My gluten free Hoop Dee Doo dinner was plentiful with just a few flaws.
We had such a roaring good time at the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue at Fort Wilderness Resort on our Disney vacation! This time was extra special because my nephew was brought on stage and did a FABULOUS job (that’s him in the pic above right in the middle)! We were all so proud of him!!!!!
There were 12 of us on a long table in category 2, which is towards the back of the room on the lower level. I had no idea Chase had been pulled up on stage until I saw him up there!! It was the cutest thing ever and it really made our night💙
Gluten Free Hoop Dee Doo Menu
When you first arrive and sit down at your table, your waiter or waitress begins bringing out all the food in buckets. It’s almost a dance how they do it, too. The buckets are shared among your family and if you have a family as large as ours, they’ll bring two of everything.
Hoop Dee Doo doesn’t have a separate gluten free menu. Instead, the chef will come out and tell you what you can have. The ribs, vegetables, mashed potatoes, baked beans and salad (which isn’t listed on the menu below) are all gluten free. He brought me smoked chicken, gluten free cornbread, and gluten free strawberry shortcake for dessert.
I started with the salad, which was just a basic garden salad but it was really good. There was a hefty amount of grated parmesan on top, which I loved, and the dressing was pretty tasty.
I normally love baked beans and ribs, but decided not to fill up on those. My family said they were amazing, though. The mashed potatoes were made with red skin potatoes and had little bits of the skin smashed throughout. They were so creamy and thick and delicious!
Gluten Free Entree and Cornbread
Instead of getting fried chicken like everyone else, the gluten free offering is smoked chicken. I am a huge smoked meat fan, so I was excited to try this chicken.
The chicken was a mahogany color with nothing on it but salt and pepper. But it didn’t need anything else because that smokiness really came through and made it perfectly flavorful. It was nice and tender, too!
As much as I loved the chicken, I equally didn’t love the cornbread. It was dense and extremely dry. It was almost rubbery and inedible. I was so disappointed as I had seen others rave about the gluten free cornbread at Hoop Dee Doo. I was really looking forward to tasting it.
You might have seen my gluten free Hoop Dee Doo cornbread recipe. That recipe is the best cornbread I’ve ever had and just happens to be Disney’s recipe for their original cornbread! So I don’t understand why they can’t substitute the flour and make it just like I did!!
The Gluten Free Dessert
Sad that the final two things I ate that night were flat out not good. The gluten free strawberry shortcake was a cake piled high with non-dairy whipped topping and a strawberry slice on top. There was a strawberry sauce around the cake in the bowl.
When I tried to use my spoon to cut a small piece of the cake, I almost knocked the whole thing across the table! It was so tough I could hardly cut into it. I really didn’t get why it’s so hard to make a good gluten free cake.
I learned a lot while on this recent Disney vacation, so I think I know the answer to my own question. What they’re trying to do is make things that are completely allergen free, not just gluten free. Often my daughter, who is vegan, and I would get the same exact breads and/or desserts delivered to the table.
While I totally understand the reason for doing this (to make it easier on them), part of me doesn’t think it’s fair to those who have just one allergy. When I think about how much money my parents spent on each meal, you’d think Disney could make something gluten free, or something egg free, or something dairy free.
These “allergy-free” items became more and more common with each meal I had throughout our vacation. The quality isn’t where it was years ago when I first went to Disney after being diagnosed with Celiac. I guess beggars can’t be choosers though, eh??
My Final Thoughts
If you love Southern food and a roaring good time, then Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue is for you!! The singing, the dancing, the comedy, the food, and memories to last a lifetime are worth the trip out to Fort Wilderness. Check it out here for more information and showtimes.
I have also been to this dinner show & it should not be missed! It’s everything you mentioned & more!
I’m sorry you had some duds in this meal. We went for my birthday 3 years ago and the cornbread was out of this world! Couldn’t believe how good it was, sweet and soft. Dessert was a choice of either a packaged cookie or brownie with that horrible cream. I didn’t care for dessert. Too cool your nephew got on stage!!!
Yeah, I was a little shocked that the cornbread was so bad this time. But I won’t hold it against them. I know restaurants sometimes just have off days.
We were all so proud of my nephew 🙂
I went with my family in May 2019. The cornbread was delicious and moist. They were using the little corn shaped molds. Each gluten free person at the table got 2. So I think it just depends on who fixes it the night you go. That being said I totally agree with the strawberry shortcake experience. Holy cow, it was so hard I could have broke a tooth. Since at that point everyone’s knife was removed, we had to settle for strawberries and whipped cream. All the rest of the food was amazing. My Mom and daughter are also celiac.
I agree, Kathleen. I don’t fault places for one not so great thing. Sometimes they have off nights. I was generally very happy with the meal itself and we had so much fun, it didn’t even matter 🙂