Those of you who have been following my blog, know that I’ve been absent for a few weeks. My apologies, but I’m back and settled in at my new apartment in Orlando, Florida! If you’ve been following, you also know that I decided to eat at Liberty Tree Tavern for my first meal in the Orlando area. I know you’ve had to wait, but I’m back with the review of my experience. I’ve been to Liberty Tree Tavern several times in the past few months and I have really enjoyed every dinner I’ve had. I have yet to make it over there for lunch, but it’s on my list of things to do! Liberty Tree Tavern serves Thanksgiving Dinner all year round and it’s one of my favorite dining experiences at Walt Disney World. The Colonial Tavern theming perfectly matches the rustic home style food they serve. I also appreciate that every single time I’ve been there the service has been above average, even though the dining room is always busy and I can frequently tell that the servers are over loaded with tables!

When you arrive at the Liberty Tree you are greeted by hosts dressed in Colonial garb and welcomed into the check in area, which is just to the left of the door. I’ve noticed that this area can be particularly congested right at dinner time. Reservations are almost certainly necessary for dinner, as I’ve seen lots of disappointed guests turned away right at the door. You may be able to walk up for lunch, your best bet is to try right around 11:30am, before the lunch rush starts! After checking in, you’ll likely be given a pager and be told to wait in the spacious Great Room. There are several sitting areas scattered around the outside edge of the room and a table set up with crayons and patriotic Minnie and Mickey designs for the kiddos to color. Of course, if there’s room, the adults are welcome to color as well! When the buzzer goes off and your family name is called, you’ll be escorted into one of several dining rooms. Each dining room is themed to a particular Colonial Era leader: George and Martha Washington, Ben Franklin, and Betsy Ross are just a few of them.

On my most recent visit I was seated in the John Paul Jones Dining Room, which has a nautical theme.  John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor who is considered the first hero of the American Navy. He commanded several different ships during the American Revolution and was responsible for the conquest of many different British vessels during the war.

After being seated, your server will take your beverage order. All non-alcoholic beverages are included in the cost of your meal, except for Patriot’s Punch and Glowing Character Punch, those come with a take home Liberty Tree Tavern mug and will run you just over $8.00 extra. Dinner costs $35.99 for adults and $17.99 for children and is an all you care to eat meal.

The sponsorship at LTT has changed recently. Stouffer’s is out and Craisins by Oceanspray has taken over. This has resulted in some menu changes, but the mac and cheese is still the Stouffer’s variety.

After your drinks arrive both rolls and salad arrive at the table. The rolls come with maple syrup butter, which is definitely on the sweet side. I noticed that the rolls themselves have changed slightly and are flatter and more airy then I remember from past visits. Don’t fill up on bread, there’s plenty more coming! The salad is a garden salad with tomato, cucumber, lettuce and onion and is dressed with a strawberry vinaigrette. The vinaigrette is again sweet, but I find I really enjoy it! One of the things I noticed on this visit is that they have adjusted the portion size for solo diners. In the past, I’ve had a huge bowl of salad arrive that takes up most of the table for two, when you figure in the salad plate and the rolls that are still on the table. I was pleased to find that a serving for one, on a salad plate, was delivered to my table on this visit. This is a vast improvement for solo diners. You can always ask for more salad if you’d like it!

After the salad course, the huge Thanksgiving themed spread begins to arrive at the table. Once again, in the past I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of plates that arrived at my very small table. This course has been redesigned for the solo traveler as well. I ended up with one plate with a little bit of everything. Liberty Tree Tavern has added zucchini as an additional veggie and I was excited to see more green on my plate and slightly less of the offending orange mac and cheese. I’m not a huge fan of Stouffer’s mac and cheese and my visits to LTT have not increased my love. (They don’t sponsor anymore, so maybe we could get some yummy homemade mac and cheese, couldn’t we?)

In addition to those two items you’ll find green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, strip steak, and another change! LTT used to serve what I thought of as holiday ham, that’s been replaced by a very tasty pork loin! I only had a few slivers of the pork on my plate and after the first bite, I immediately asked for more! I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the beef on my plate was closer to medium rare than the medium well I usually find. I’ve always been amazed that LTT cooks so many turkeys every single day and I’ve never had a single piece of dried out turkey wind up on my plate. I’ll probably never cook another turkey at my home, so if I’m going to eat it–this is the place!

The major change at Liberty Tree Tavern over the course of the last few months has been the dessert course. The old apple crumble with vanilla ice cream is a thing of the past. I was initially concerned about this because nothing says Thanksgiving like apple pie to me and the dessert at LTT was a pretty close second to my Grandma’s apple pie. Fear not! The new apple and craisin cake, which is still served with vanilla ice cream is fantastic. I think I like it better than the old dessert option. I know that I managed to polish off the entire thing. Then I promptly needed a nap!

This was the perfect first meal in Orlando for me! It gave me a sense of home and was full of things that I never cook for myself. If you haven’t been to Liberty Tree Tavern, you should make a point to stop in on your next trip. It certainly isn’t gourmet, but it is the essence of comfort food in America!

Have fun Dining Out Disney!