Magnolia Terrace America Menu & Food Review: EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival

Magnolia Terrace is the Outdoor Kitchen in the American Adventure pavilion of World Showcase during the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival. In this Walt Disney World dining review, we’ll look at the menu prices, share food photos, and offer thoughts on what is worth your money and what to skip.

This is the second year of the American Adventure’s new Outdoor Kitchen, replacing the Smokehouse after years of being a perennial fan favorite. That booth was retired as redundant, having been replaced a few weeks before last year’s Flower & Garden Festival started by the excellent Regal Eagle Smokehouse.

All of that happened only a few weeks before the closure of Walt Disney World last year, so Magnolia Terrace didn’t have much time to make a strong first impression with guests–despite having a solid lineup. Fortunately, it’s back this year with mostly the same menu–one item has been swapped out and another has had its recipe tweaked for the better…

We’ll start with a rundown of the Magnolia Terrace Outdoor Kitchen food menu:

  • Southern Seafood Boil: Shrimp, mussels, crawfish, potatoes, corn, and Andouille sausage
  • Spicy Chicken Gumbo with Andouille sausage and BEN’S ORIGINAL Long Grain & Wild Rice (New)
  • Grilled Oysters with Cajun butter (Gluten/ Wheat Friendly)
  • House-made Boudin Bites featuring BEN’S ORIGINAL Long Grain White Rice
  • Pecan Praline (Gluten/ Wheat Friendly)

Now our photos and reviews of each item…

Spicy Chicken Gumbo with Andouille Sausage ($6.25) – This is yet another standout soup-like dish at the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival. There’s a lot of chicken and sausage in this large, filling dish that is practically entree-sized.

It packs a powerful punch and is a great mix of rich flavors and textures. It’s also spicy by real-world standards, which means it’s very spicy by Walt Disney World standards. The only other downside is that it’s another hot and heavy dish, which is perplexing for a spring and summertime event. If that doesn’t bother you, or the weather is cool during your visit, we highly recommend this.

Cajun-style Roasted Oysters ($7.50) – When this dish was announced a year or two ago, it sounded like a recipe for disaster. Oysters in the setting of a festival food booth?

As it turns out, these are pretty good. You’ll receive three Gulf oysters of varying size, all bathed butter and seasoned. The preparation has changed a bit since last year, with panko, parmesan, parsley, and scallions added to the mix for flavor. In our view, this is an upgrade, as the texture and flavor is better. We recommend this to those who enjoy oysters but aren’t seafood snobs.

House-made Boudin Two Ways with Spicy Mustard ($5.50) – Despite being surprisingly spicy, this sausage-centric dish sort of fell flat for us. The prevailing flavor of the fried ball is just spiciness and rice, with the meat and breading itself not adding much beyond texture. The two slices of sausage links were tasty, though.

It’s not a bad dish by any means, just nothing we’d go out of our way to order again.


Pecan Praline ($4.25) – This is basically congealed sugar with pecans inside. It’s like the culinary team forgot every ingredient needed for praline except sugar and pecans. I’m not even kidding–take a bite and it falls apart in your mouth into fine grains that simply taste like concentrated sweetness.

If you’re looking for a single dessert that contains 3,000% of your weekly sugar intake, this is a great pick. If you’re not a toothless sugar fiend, it’s going to be way too sweet for you. Literally one of the worst desserts we’ve had at any EPCOT festival–and that includes the Publix-caliber cookies and all things almond milk-infused. Disgusting.

There are plenty of options on the alcohol menu for this Outdoor Kitchen:

  • Bayou Cocktail: Bayou Spiced Rum, Coconut Rum, Fruit Punch and Minute Maid® Orange Juice
  • 81Bay Brewing Co. Orange Coriander Wheat Ale, Tampa, FL
  • Wicked Weed Brewing Day Light American Light Ale, Asheville, NC
  • Parish Brewing Co. Ghost in the Machine Double IPA, Broussard, LA
  • Beer Flight

Finally, I wanted to end with our customary “full spread shot” but we had two uninvited dinner guests, making that impossible. Instead, above is a behind the scenes look at our meal. These Ibis are common throughout Walt Disney World, and are often overly aggressive and familiar with humans because guests feed them. (They’re especially common around turkey leg carts.)

We did not and would never feed the birds, nor did we touch them. Nevertheless, they made our dining experience a little uncomfortable because we had to constantly “block” one that was poised to jump on our table throughout the meal. The moral of the story is that you really should not feed Walt Disney World wildlife. As my grandma says, “it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye…then it’s just a game of find the eye.” It might seem like harmless entertainment, but each handout makes these birds more assertive and daring, which can have negative consequences (for them and all of us) down the road.

Birds aside, we really enjoyed the Magnolia Terrace Outdoor Kitchen at the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival. Sure, the praline was an abomination and the boudin was just fine, but there were still 2 savory items that were exceptional and ambitious, plus one gloriously sweet dessert. That’s a pretty good showing from the American Adventure, which is often home to unambitious comfort food.

Check out our Outdoor Kitchen Booth Menus & Food Photos at the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival post if you want to see and read more about every menu this year. You’ll also want to read our full Guide to the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival before you go to get an idea of what to do, strategy for the festival, photos of the topiaries and floral displays, and much more!

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of the Magnolia Terrace Outdoor Kitchen? Have you tried any of the food items at this food booth? What did you like or dislike? Portion-size or quality-wise, did you have better or worse luck than us with what you ordered? 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!

12 Responses to “Magnolia Terrace America Menu & Food Review: EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival”
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