Toy Story BackYard Round-Up BBQ Opening Date and Menu

Restaurants are always a great conversation to get into about Walt Disney World. There are so many varieties and types that it would be hard to imagine that they could need another restaurant. However, that is exactly what we have been saying about Table-Service Rests. for the last couple of years at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The Disney Company, true to form, has fixed a need with the announced opening date for the Toy Story Backyard BBQ table-service (T-S) restaurant, and it’s March 23rd 2023.

Using some of his favorite toys, games, and playsets, Andy has created a rodeo arena for his toys … and all honorary toys visiting Andy’s backyard. Chow down on house-smoked meats, a roundup of sides, sweet surprises, and more in this western-themed family-style restaurant, where you’ll see the world through the eyes of Andy’s toys.OK, buckaroos, let’s check out the menu. Yee-Haw!

The Menu looks great and at the base has all the BBQ favorites.  Then as you dig into it you see some really good specialized items that look very good.

Fresh, delicious salads for all to enjoy!

• Tomato Salad: Tomatoes, cucumbers, and pickled red onions tossed in a white balsamic vinaigrette and garnished with fresh dill (plant-based)
  
• Rex’s Romaine and Kale Salad: Romaine and kale mixed with green apples, pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries tossed with green goddess dressing
• Watermelon Salad: Cubed watermelon garnished with freshly torn mint leaves (plant-based)

Enjoy a hearty serving of house-smoked meats, including:

 

• Evil Dr. Smoked Ribs: Fall-off-the-bone pork ribs, slow-cooked for hours in our onsite smokehouse
• Buttercup’s Beef Brisket: Hand-sliced beef brisket, smoked then slow-cooked to juicy perfection
• There’s a Sausage in My Boot: Spiced pork sausage fire-grilled over live oak to give it an added kick
• BBQ Chicken – with Style! Chicken brined for 48 hours, rubbed with our secret backyard BBQ spice and smoked to tender juiciness

Savory plant-based offerings are available upon request:

• Slow-smoked Cauliflower topped with sweet harissa drizzle and crunchy walnut gremolata
• Oven-roasted “Bratwurst” that is tender and juicy, sliced to perfection
• IMPOSSIBLE “Rib Chop” seasoned with spices, then roasted and glazed with sweet BBQ sauce and skewered on a sugar cane “bone”

Choose four of the following sides for the table:

• The Married Spuds: Loaded potato barrels drizzled with green goddess dressing, cheese sauce, and seasoned BBQ spices
• Force Field Fried Pickles: Jumbo pickle spears coated with a dill-flavored breading and fried to perfection
• Slinky Doooooooooog Mac & Cheese: Spiral pasta in a creamy house-made cheese sauce topped with crumbled cheddar crackers
• Buckin’ Baked Beans: A traditional BBQ picnic favorite (plant-based)
• Cowpoke Corn on the Cob: Grilled and seasoned with a chili-lime spice blend, cilantro, cotija cheese, and lime juice
• Mean Old Potato Salad: Homestyle with red-skinned potatoes
• Veggie Slaw: Crunchy shredded veggie slaw that is a summertime favorite! (plant-based)
• Campfire-roasted Vegetables: A variety of roasted seasonal vegetables (plant-based)

These perfectly portioned chuckwagon desserts offer a sweet take on the BBQ picnic classics:

• Cupcake à la Forky: Forky is up to something sweet! A classic chocolate cake with a gooey chocolate ganache center topped with velvety graham cracker buttercream and a sugar cookie
• Lemon and Blueberry Cheesecake: An iconic creamy dessert that balances the tanginess of the cheesecake with the natural sweetness of blueberries and lemon
• Billy’s Chocolate Silk Pie: Layers of graham cracker crust and silky chocolate mousse topped with chantilly cream
• Goat’s Apple Pie: A picnic classic! Tart apples and warm pie spices balance perfectly with the creamy sweet filling under a crumble crust
• Gruff’s Peach-Strawberry Pie: With its silky sweet peaches and tartness of strawberries, this dessert is a fruit-centric delight! (plant-based)

Grown-up Craft Cocktails:

• Snake Eye Margarita: Inspired by a summertime BBQ featuring watermelon, smoke, and a bit of spice!
• Rum Punch: Rum punch with vibrant flavors of passion fruit and pineapple finished with a smoky spiced garnish
• Chocolate with a Grown-up Twist: A blend of chocolate rum, horchata liqueur, cocoa, and flavors of toasted marshmallow
• Frozen Peanut Butter & Jelly: A fun frozen twist on the classic peanut butter & jelly featuring peanut butter whiskey
• Whiskey Lemonade: A fresh take on a strawberry lemonade made with Tennessee whiskey and Italian bitter aperitif
• The Rodeo Mule: A classic “patio sipper,” this mule mixes vodka with fresh juices and ginger beer

Now, at first look, it seems that DHS has a lot of Table-Service (T-S) rests., already. And number wise you’d be kinda right? I see 5 T-S restaurants at DHS. They are the 50’s Prime Time, Hollywood & Vine, Mama Melrose’s, Sci-Fi Drive-In, and the Brown Derby. Compared to Epcot’s amazing amount of 15 T-Ss, the Magic Kingdom’s amount of 8, and Animal Kingdom’s 3. DHS is at the low end of restaurants per park but not the worst. You could argue it is a smaller park but since AK is such a big park and has even fewer T-Ss, that does not hold enough water to count. Here is the thing though, even with the 5 rests. that DHS has, they are for very specific tastes and there are only one ‘family normal’ restaurant. When I say normal, I mean a T-S that has no extra entertainment offered and is affordable to most of us.

The Brown Derby is a $$$$ restaurant and I might even add a 5th $. It is a great place to go for a couple, but once you start adding the kids it will get very pricey and is out of range for most families. The Sci-Fi Dine-in is a fun place to eat and watch a movie in a novel atmosphere.  But again, not a choice for families with young kids or older adults who do not like the low-light atmosphere and noise.  The 50’s Prime Time is another fun restaurant, but, as you know, they have their little jist of the wait-staff acting like your Mom and/or Dad pestering you during your meal.  Some might not like that too much. The menu is great here and you could sit in the bar and eat, but not for more than a couple people.  Hollywood & Vine is a Character Meal location so right there you know if you would like it or not.  In my later years, without the kids, we have avoided most Character Meal locations.

So, what’s left at DHS?  Mama Melrose’s, which is Italian and a very specific menu.  Even with the Californian twist to the menu, it’s still Italian and even though my name says I love it…you need a break once in a while.  By adding the Backyard Round-Up BBQ, Disney has given us a menu choice that we are all very familiar with and a great location to get the family fed.  The Disney Nerds have this on our list for our 10th annual meet-ups coming this Nov. 2023, but this writer will be trying this place out this Summer.  I can’t wait.

What do you think?  Looking forward to it or Meh?  Leave a comment below and let us know.  Thanks!!!