The Death of Pecos Bill
There’s a tall tale called The Death of Pecos Bill. It tells the story of an imitator who pretends to be something he’s not, which I suppose is as good of an allegory as any for Magic Kingdom’s once-best counter service restaurant and how it’s now a mere shadow of its former self. To set the scene, let’s start with the actual tall tale from American folklore:
Now, Pecos Bill didn’t live forever. Nope, not even Bill could figure out how to do that. Here’s how he died.
When Bill was gettin’ on in years, a Boston man came down to New Mexico for a visit. He fancied himself a bit of a cowboy. Got himself one of them mail-order suits, don’t ya know. The ones with the lizard skin boots, a shiny brass belt buckle, a new pair of blue jeans and a huge ten gallon hat with not a speck of dust on it. Well, when Pecos Bill saw him trying to swagger into a bar, he jest lay down on the sidewalk and laughed himself to death!
Before we dig into the downfall of Pecos Bill, I want to draw your attention to a handful of alternate titles for this post:
- The Good, The Bad & Pecos Bill
- The Pecos Bill Incident
- No Country for Pecos Bill
- How Pecos Bill was Lost
- The Not-So-Magnificent Restaurant
- Unforgiven: The Pecos Bill Story
- The Outlaw Pecos Bill
- The Assassination of Pecos Bill by the Coward Robert Chapek
I wanted to use that last title, but…let’s just say that cooler heads prevailed. Apparently, using the word “assassination” in family-friendly blog post title and attributing said murder to a former executive–and insulting him in the process–was just a bit much. That’s fair, it is. But it’s also obviously not a literal accusation or insult–it’s a nod to a classic western and folk song and entirely figurative.
Being from Northwest Indiana, I also have to think Chapek would give an appreciative chuckle–especially since he didn’t seem to mind being the villain with fans. While torn about using that objectively superior title, I found the Pecos Bill tall tale, which seems more fitting given the subject. (That story also could be read differently, and applied to Frontierland more broadly.) But I digress.
Before we dig into my list of grievances about Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe, I want to start by saying its actually a lovely not-so-little spot. We just went over this with a post appreciating Pinocchio Village Haus, and pretty much the same applies here.
Pecos Bill is another ‘old school’ Walt Disney World eatery, and it is similarly well-themed and brimming with detail. The restaurant nails atmosphere despite being such a large restaurant. Although most of the seating areas are large, at least they are split apart to make it feel less like a mess hall.
As with Pinocchio Village Haus, it also gets chaotic and crazy during the midday rush–but not nearly to the same degree. Right now, this whole area of the park tends to be quieter as work continues on the transformation of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Nevertheless, we strongly favor dining at Pecos Bill after the dinner rush. The beautiful lights give texture to the interior, and offer a nice moody atmosphere.
While it is possible that I put more time into brainstorming titles than anything else, this is very much a serious subject that needs to be addressed. The already weak counter service restaurant scene in Magic Kingdom has, against all odds, gotten worse in the last ~4 years.
Prior to the infamous March 2020 closure, Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe was in the conversation for the #1 counter service restaurant in Magic Kingdom. (At the time, we put it a bit behind Be Our Guest Restaurant, which really was its own thing and unlike the other food courts in the park.)
This was due entirely due to what we called the “Chipotlization” of Pecos Bill back in 2015, which is more or less what it sounds like. An initiative to make the Walt Disney World equivalent of Chipotle, an ‘elevated’ Mexican fast casual restaurant with addictively good and–this is key–customizable cuisine.
Disney accomplished this in part by introducing rice bowls, fajita platters, burritos, tacos, and other new items. The second half of the equation was a massive upgrade to the toppings bar. The variety and quality of options was unparalleled, and as a result, Pecos Bill became our personal favorite counter service restaurant and where we ate most in Magic Kingdom.
Unfortunately, it’s taken big steps backwards in the last several of years. Like so many downgrades at Walt Disney World, this can all be traced back to the closure…
When Walt Disney World reopened, Pecos Bill returned with Magic Kingdom–but without the toppings bar. That was unsurprising, as there were still fear about transmission via surfaces or guests congregating in close proximity to one another while serving themselves from the toppings bar. These same fears resulted in buffets transforming into family style offerings. Fair enough–we had zero complaints at the time, understanding that compromises had to be made.
However, it long ago became clear that what was done under the guise of health safety has now become a budget cut. Walt Disney World is as crowded as ever and mitigation measures were dropped nearly 3 years ago, but the Pecos Bill toppings bar has yet to return. Well, that’s not totally true. It still exists.
Here’s what you can grab from the toppings bar at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe now:
Look how they massacred my boy!
Some stations in the toppings bars are closed entirely, whereas others offer up condiments. Trust me, a rice bowl piled high with ketchup and mustard just doesn’t hit the same as one with fresh salsa and guacamole.
Walt Disney World’s “solution” to this problem is providing pre-portioned toppings on the side of each dish, which typically means smaller amounts of everything.
When I was handed the above portion of lettuce and tomatoes, I actually chuckled. I feel sorry for the poor Cast Member who, presumably, is using tweezers to portion out the diced tomatoes. Gotta be sure guests don’t get too many tomatoes–gotta keep those numbers looking good!
But it’s not just the laughably small portions. It’s also the quality of the toppings. No offense to the fine folks at PepsiCo, parent company of Tostitos, but their salsa is just not good. Same goes for the cheese and everything else in the above photo–it’s like the found the cheapest, lowest-quality supplier and went with that.
Truthfully, it’s probably not “like” that–it probably is exactly that.
You all probably remember a couple of years back when dearly-departed Disney CFO Christine McCarthy made the infamous “good for guest waistline” wisecrack. Well what you might’ve forgotten is that she was asked about cost-cutting on food in the face of inflation, to which she said this: “We can adjust suppliers. We can substitute products.”
Similar comments were repeated on other earnings call, and nowhere is this philosophy more apparent than at Pecos Bill. It’s not just the quality of the toppings–it goes for everything in the above photo. To some extent, we understood this a couple of years ago–but again, inflation is coming down and quality has improved at countless other restaurants around Walt Disney World. Pecos Bill is a laggard, continuing to get worse relative to even other Magic Kingdom counter service restaurants. (And that’s saying something!)
For those who didn’t live through the glory days of Pecos Bill, above is a look at one of my Pork Carnitas Rice Bowls piled high with toppings. Some of the choices are evident from the photo, but here’s a full list of what was on that: Monterey Jack cheese, banana peppers, onions, sour cream, roasted corn, tomatoes, Chipotle Ranch dressing, salsa verde, salsa, limes, Pico de Gallo, and Guacamole. You read that list correctly–and it included guacamole, which was available without upcharge.
The loss of the toppings bar is huge for the rice bowls and fajita platters. It previously offered fresh, decent-quality veggies and salsas and really elevated the dishes at Pecos Bill. Now in fairness, even at the time, the caliber of the chicken, pork carnitas, and beef wasn’t top shelf. It was only okay, but it didn’t really matter because those excellent toppings more than made up for it.
Now, there are no toppings to speak of and the meat is one step above the grade of the stuff they put in dog food. It’s a losing combination across the board. It’s also one that’s especially egregious given the price of the fajita platter, which is $2 more expensive than anything on the menu at Cosmic Ray’s or Pinocchio Village Haus, and on par with the Lobster Roll and New England Seafood Boil at Columbia Harbour House (it costs more than the Grilled Salmon there, which is infinitely superior).
Some defenders of Disney are going to claim that guests did this to themselves by abusing the toppings bar. And you know what, I will actually partially concede that point. It is true that some guests piled toppings way too high and essentially made little side salads to accompany their entrees.
But you know what? I vividly recall doing that when we were broke college students in 2007-2009 at both Cosmic Ray’s and Pecos Bill. I also know we weren’t the first or only ones–I remember reading that “advice” on a forum beforehand. So this practice had existed for at least a decade before Walt Disney World opted to expand and improve the toppings bar at Pecos Bill in 2015. In other words, it was a known practice and was not deemed a problem at that time.
The fact that it didn’t change (for the worse) until the closure in 2020 tells me everything I need to know. It was not guest behavior that motivated this. It was health safety at first. Then, once Walt Disney World got a taste of the cost-savings by not having a toppings bar, they developed an appetite for it. Management decided it made their numbers look too good to give up, so they didn’t. That’s it.
Nevertheless, I can appreciate Walt Disney World’s newfound position in wanting to reduce costs, guest abuse of the toppings bar, or whatever. But there’s gotta be a middle ground compromise. As it stands, Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe is completely out of play for us because the value and quality proposition is entirely out of whack.
The dishes we’d order are expensive and low-quality, and without a proper toppings bar, there’s nothing to elevate the flavor. Personally, I am all for a compromise. Heck, we’d pay a couple of dollars more per dish if it meant access to a toppings bar. We’d also be perfectly fine with the toppings bar to be staffed instead of self-service, or whatever other measure Walt Disney World wanted to introduce to reduce abuse. (Honestly, I’m guessing it was never that bad in the first place or they would’ve done that years ago.)
But the status quo is a worst of all worlds scenario where the entrees are underwhelming, expensive, and there are no good toppings to redeem them. If this is going to continue being the case and a return of the toppings bar is a total nonstarter, just overhaul the entire menu again and start from square one. The “Chipotlization” of Pecos Bill only works if there are toppings like Chipotle!
Ultimately, we’re just ready to see something change–anything change–at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe. We’ve been holding off on writing this article for a while, because this is almost exactly how we felt about French Market at Disneyland…and then that was transformed into Tiana’s Palace Restaurant. (In case you haven’t read our review, that’s now the #1 counter service restaurant Disneyland, featuring an ambitious and envelope-pushing menu. A marked improvement over what it replaced.)
For a while, it really felt like Walt Disney World was setting up a similar scenario–make Pecos Bill so bad that when the inevitable announcement came of it being reimagined into Tiana’s Palace Restaurant, no one would care. There wouldn’t be the normal complaints from diehards–or at least, there’d be far fewer of them.
With rumors swirling late last year and early this year that Pecos Bill would be reimagined, it seemed our article would be obsolete within days of hitting publish. After waiting and waiting…it now seems increasingly unlikely that Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe will be reimagined into Tiana’s Palace Restaurant.
It still makes complete sense–and should happen–but with current rumors pointing to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opening ahead of schedule, there’s not much time left for such a transformation. We cannot fathom this high-capacity restaurant being closed once the attraction debuts, so that leaves only about 6 months for a reimagining of Pecos Bill. Unless it’s the least-ambitious overhaul ever, that’s too tight of a timeline. In order to become Tiana’s Palace, much more work would need to be done here than happened at Disneyland.
Tiana’s Palace Restaurant seems like something that would’ve been announced a few months ago at Destination D23. It wasn’t, so at this point, we’re guessing Pecos Bill limps along for at least another few years like this. (Not to get too far off-topic, but if Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge really is revived, that could explain why Tiana’s Palace isn’t coming to Magic Kingdom.)
Regardless, it’s really a shame that something isn’t being done with Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe–whether that be bringing back the toppings bar or a new concept entirely. Both the new nearby attraction and guests deserve better. But maybe profit margins on the current lackluster menu are too appetizing for Disney to give up.
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Your Thoughts
Have you eaten at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe since they eliminated the toppings bar? What are your thoughts on cuisine quality with the pre-portion toppings? Is Pecos Bill still worthwhile, or is it off your list of places to dine in Magic Kingdom? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
If savings are the name of the game, please close Tortuga Tavern and give up that space to Pecos Bill. Chapek and his cronies caused a lot of problems for Disney, loss of a toppings bar is small compared to other crap they pulled “to save money and increase income”, but it is way more visible to guests when you remember how nice it used to be.
Let Tiana have a restaurant in the complex next to the ride, don’t go screwing things up by eliminating Pecos Bill restaurant.
Disney has removed all the food toppings bars. The quality and portions have failed, they are terrible. Disney has not reduced the price on any thing, they keep going up. Quality and portions have gone down but prices have gone up. I am not happy with eating there anymore and disappointed. Thank you for writing this article, I hope someone at Disney sees it. It is true about all the food service there.
I went to WDW shortly after the post Covid reopening. Mind you I have never been in jail but the fajitas are the closest thing to prison food I can imagine both in taste, texture and presentation. There was no discernible difference in color between the meat, tortilla and molded fiber plate. Everything was a shade of beige. The taste was just bland with an afternoon of burping a most vile after taste that reminded me of a wild west outhouse. It was just bad, phenominally bad
if WDW is going to add a Tiana’s Palace restaurant, it needs to be at Port Orleans, or should have been years ago.
I remember when Pecos Bill’s had a GREAT salad that had Jicama on it. After they did away with that, the burgers were halfway decent due to the toppings bar. Now they’re barely edible. What a shame. This used to be one of our go-to places in MK.
Totally agree! After eating there for 20 years, we stopped going there! A shame !
Let it fall into disaaray. Proclaim it outdated. Run a self serving fake poll with prearrainged results. Reimagine it as whatever your new revenue generating statics tell you.
Shut it down and repeat the results of the failed poll declairing it is the least enjoyed or used restraunt, due to cronic mismanagement and self fullfillng disregard for customer service. Retheme it to the cheers of park goers who could not stomach the purposeful mismanagement.
Reopen with rebranding intended to quell dissatisfaction of rethemeing that may not be popular. Problem Solved.
see: Great Movie Ride
I recently had the opportunity to eat at Tiana’s Palace in Disneyland park in California and it was far superior to Pecos Bills in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. I wish they would reimagine Pecos Bills as Tiana’s Palace!
I was half hoping there would be a new claim from Disney to revive the restaurant that you had heard about and would magically reveal. I never got to eat there but it was on my list (after watching Allears and DFB reviews online in early 2020) when covid shut down the park. And we all know the rest is history. So I don’t have the misfortune of missing something great. However, I did hone in on your quick sentence about rumors of Tiana’s bayou adventure opening ahead of schedule… do tell! I would love to hear late summer 2024!
I am confused by this statement: “Not to get too far off-topic, but if Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge really is revived, that could explain why Tiana’s Palace isn’t coming to Magic Kingdom.”
Could you clarify?
Tiana’s Palace was previously announced for Reflections: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/princess-frog-restaurant-a-frame-treehouse-suites-disney-world/
great article, review, commentary.
Pecos Bill is really a micro-cosm to changes (both pulled by the market, and pushed by DisneyCorp) at WDW.
We went A LOT from 2002 ~ 2010, almost always during non-Peak, and seemed to always enjoy and get good value.
Ah well, things change.
Pecos was my favorite restaurant in MK. I would look forward to lunch and/or dinner there each time I entered the park. Toppings bar is what made it good. I understand that health safety must come 1st. But now that the pandemic is over, it should be brought back. Charge more if necessary. I would rather pay more for good food than pay less for bad food. The food is part of the overall experience, and if I leave with a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended), I am not going to want to come back.
With all these changes, in the name of health and ultimately budget, downgrading the experiences, the value is just not there anymore. My wife and I are going in February. But only because we have DVC points that are going to expire and APs. But after that, we are not renewing our AP and are placing our DVC up for sale. And it appears we are not the only ones doing the same. The price of DVC resales are coming down. At least for the properties we own.
A useful and factual article without political commentary, rare for Disney blogs these days. Thank you!
Wait, you’re from the Region?
All your points are valid but that’s still my takeaway…
Sorry, I wasn’t saying that I’m from Northwest Indiana–but that Chapek is.
We went to school and lived there for ~8 years before moving to Indianapolis. Frequented many dive or townie bars in our college days, and became well-acquainted with the local brand of humor. Given all of that, I think he would’ve appreciated that title.
Hi Tom! I’m glad you addressed this. It has always been one of our go to’s when we’re in MK. We are a sentimental WDW family . We always loved their portions, theme and food itself. We have been in there many times since the topppings bar demise, shrunken food choices and sizes, and fraankly flavor. I’m so happy to see your blog regarding this. I feel like I have so many disappointments with WDW over the last few years, this fell to the background and lower on the list. I really hope, they revamp our old friend Pecos. We have found ourselves skipping it over the last few visits or popping in if everything else is crowded . Couldn’t agree more and glad you brought this to light.
I was ready to defend Pecos when I clicked on this. I was ready to complain about another blogger using clickbait and exaggeration to create a story where there was none. Everytime I go to Pecos, I have trouble finding a seat.
But I absolutely agreed with everything said in this article.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m especially aggrieved about their new post-pandemic salad, which includes strawberries. Nothing says Tex-Mex like strawberries in my salad. The salad also includes tomatoes. It really feels like they just searched for whatever vegetable they already had in the kitchen to add to it. I’ve had other salads with strawberries before, but never paired with tomatoes. Just a weird salad.
I’m following up on my own comment to note that I guess technically tomatoes are fruit, but whatever. I stand by my claim. The strawberries and tomatoes salad is disappointing.
When my kids were little they lunched on the pickles from the toppings bar! ( I had bought entrees for the adults!)
I think it was prepandemic but I really enjoyed the cauliflower tacos there. Haven’t eaten there recently ( mainly cos I follow a keto diet now)
Pecos Bill used to be our “go to” restaurant in Magic Kingdom. We stopped eating there a couple of years ago. We have no plans to go back to eating at Pecos Bill’s without the toppings bar. The food is just no longer good.
Fave was the nacho challenge!!!! so fun!
Was there Sunday afternoon; Place was empty.
Service was my problem.
We ordered 2 burgers, 2 sodas. While standing at the counter, they gave us one burger, and said they had to make the other one. About 6 minutes later, they bring the other one. At this point, the first one is cold; so I asked if we could have a fresh burger.
Well, they have to cook it.
So now, the burger they just gave us, is getting cold, while we’re waiting another 6 minutes for a new burger. I said, “this routine can go on forever! Can’t you just cook 2 burgers at the same time?”
After 20 minutes-we finally got 2 fresh burgers.
Would’ve also been nice to get fries or potato chips, instead of dry, bland tortilla chips-which we didn’t eat.
We Did have a positive experience after reading the Pinocchio Haus review, and learning about the balcony. It was great to eat in peace, above the crowd!