by Beth Keating
Review
DisneyBizJournal.com
April 25, 2024
Back in the day, Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe at Disney World was one of our favorite quick-serve stops. It was a great place to grab a late night on-the-go dinner while waiting for the nighttime parade to come through (remember those?). We’d grab our entrées from the counter, load up at the thrilling all-you-can-fit-on-your-plate fixins’ bar, and park ourselves on the curb out front, claiming a front row spot for the parade while enjoying our meal.
Post-COVID, though, the fixins’ bar did not return when Pecos Bill reopened. So sad, but thoroughly understandable. Unfortunately, it also meant that we now tended to blow off Pecos Bill, and head to other spots like Columbia Harbor House instead.
That perhaps was a tactical mistake on our part. On a recent visit to the Magic Kingdom, we decided to once again lunch at Pecos, due mainly to speculative rumors among the bloggers and vloggers that with all the construction in Frontierland, Pecos Bill’s place could be in for some updating. (Hmmm… beignets, anyone?). While Disney itself has been tight-lipped about any potential changes to that area of the park once Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opens, and with a refreshed show coming to the Country Bears, we decided that, just in case Pecos Bill was due to ride off into the sunset, we’d pay him another visit.
The lunch menu at the restaurant is the same as the dinner one, and while it is a very limited menu in scope, it is a very good one. We opted for the Taco Trio ($10.99), a set of three flour tortillas served with lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream and salsa, and a good amount of the various meat fillings. This eminently affordable dish was pretty substantial for the price, and offered one each of the seasoned ground beef, seasoned chicken, or pork carnitas. (We also found out from the cashier that you can mix and match those fillings as you’d like. You can have all three of your tortillas in the same meat choice if you want.)
We opted for the three different fillings in our tortillas. The meat was very tender and moist, nicely seasoned, with just a hint of a kick to the ground beef. Totally fine for the spice-adverse! While the unlimited fixins’ bar is long gone, the restaurant does serve up most of the toppings alongside the taco trio – you can assemble them as you like. We received two packets of sour cream, a small tub of salsa, a paper tray of lettuce and diced tomatoes, and 2 small containers of shredded cheese with the order. Be warned, though, you’ll have to pick up a lot of extra napkins. This was a satisfying, but very sloppy meal.
The taco trio was also an excellent bargain in the world of Disney restaurants, and as we were eating in the late afternoon, it kept us full all the way through park closing. The cost of the three tacos with all their toppings was far less than most other entrées in the parks.
Even the giant turkey legs at Prince Eric’s Village Market are $15.49, almost $5 more than the tasty tacos! Eric’s jumbo pretzel is even pricier than Pecos’ trio…. Eric hawks his jumbo pretzels at $11.29. Want a plain foot-long hot dog at Casey’s Corner? Pony up $12.79. Add a few toppings, such as the pulled pork and slaw, and you are looking at $15.79. So, Bill’s taco trio is looking like quite the bargain!
Pecos Bill is themed as a frontier hall, with a large “fireplace” in the entry, and even a flower and fountain bedecked indoor courtyard. There’s an outdoor courtyard, too, and if you time it right, you might be able to catch some of the afternoon’s Festival of Fantasy parade from your table.
There’s lots of themed art and decorative objects tacked to the walls to keep you entertained as well. But look carefully as you sit under them – you might find out that you are seated near Davy Crockett’s cap. Pecos Bill is a bigger café than you realize from the outside. While it is often crowded, especially at peak dining hours, you can usually find a seat without too much trouble, especially if you head further back into the room(s). Most people stop further to the front, grabbing the first open table they spot.
In addition to the tacos that we tried, Pecos serves beef or chicken nachos ($11.49); cheeseburgers ($12.99 or $13.29, depending on toppings); a pork carnitas or chicken rice bowl ($12.29 or $12.49); and mixed green salads with chicken or pork carnitas on top ($12.29). The most expensive meal here is a fajita platter ($15.49).
There are a few sides available to round out your meal, too, including tortilla chips ($5.49); pinto beans ($4.99); guacamole ($2.50); and some cilantro rice ($4.99). Kids’ meals include cheeseburgers ($8.49); a beef or chicken taco ($7.79); a chicken or pork carnitas rice bowl ($8.49), or a veggie rice bowl ($7.49); and, of course, the ubiquitous mac and cheese ($6.99). Kids’ meals come with choices of sides and drinks for the young cowpokes.
Did someone inquire about desserts? We believe you did. There are mini churros with chocolate sauce ($6.79); peach and raspberry trifle ($5.99); Greek Yogurt ($3.19, but who thought that was “dessert”??); and powdered cinnamon-sugar doughnut holes ($5.79).
So, who was Pecos Bill, besides a Disney cartoon short from the 1950s? Well, according to the D23archives, Pecos Bill was actually a segment of the film Melody Time, and the tale was told and sung by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers. Roy tells the story of the life of the legendary American folk hero, Pecos Bill, and how he fell in love with Slue Foot Sue. Roy’s song, “Blue Shadows on the Trail,” is included in the cartoon. Originally released as Melody Time on May 27, 1948, Pecos Bill was re-released as a cartoon short in 1955. If you are a fan of the late Patrick Swayze, you can also catch him playing a version of Pecos Bill in 1995 in Tall Tale on Disney+.
Before Disney came along though, the legends originated from a series of mythical re-countings written down by Edward O’Reilly. He published the tales beginning in 1917, claiming to have heard them from actual cowboys, who often told the stories around the campfires at night. The Saga of Pecos Bill was published in 1923. And, as is often the case, the stories were added to as time went on.
Folklore tells us that Pecos Bill was “the greatest cowboy that ever lived.” He was born in Texas in the 1830s, but grew up raised by coyotes because, as his family was traveling west in a covered wagon, the infant Bill bounced out of the wagon near the Pecos River (hence the name), and he was raised by the coyotes who took pity on the baby. He was so tough as a baby that he used a bowie knife as a teething ring!
Among Bill’s constant companions were his rattlesnake named Shake, and his horse, Widow-Maker. He often used Shake as a lasso, and in one of the tales that grew up around Bill, he used that lasso during a drought to create the Gulf of Mexico by lassoing a storm cloud in California and pulling it all the way to Texas, where it rained so much that the Gulf was formed. In a painting over the fireplace at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café at Disney World, Pecos Bill is depicted riding on Widow-maker with Shake whirling around overhead. Shake was also a tough one, helping Pecos Bill to lasso a tornado to ride. That tornado? It helped to form the Grand Canyon as Bill rode it this way and that, until it spun itself out of energy.
If the old stories are to be believed, Pecos Bill also formed the Rio Grande River. Again suffering a severe lack of water, Bill grabbed a big stick and, dragging it along, dug a deep ditch that filled with water, becoming the Rio Grande.
Also included in many of the Pecos Bill tall tales is his companion and girlfriend, Slue-Foot Sue, who rode a giant catfish. Want to know where the “Lone Star” nickname comes from for Texas? It was said that Pecos Bill shot all the stars from the sky except for one, just to impress Sue. It became “the Lone Star.” (Some versions credit Bill with creating the Lone Star before he met Sue, so choose the story you like best.)
And you thought “Pecos Bill” was just a random name for a quick-serve restaurant. Not in the Imagineers’ world! You just have to peel back the layers and look a little deeper.
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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.
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