Can’t wait for lunch? Head over to The Lunching Pad with us!
You’ll find this snack stop in Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. And while it looks pretty unassuming, it’s a great place to enjoy Cream Cheese Pretzels, or even Mickey Soft Pretzels!
But in addition to some of our favorite soft pretzel snacks and carbonated frozen drinks, they’re also an outlet for those delicious and inventive Gourmet Hot Dogs that you’ll find around the resort.
Today, we’re taking a look at not one, not two, but three of these deluxe dogs for lunch. C’mon!
Atmosphere
So, atmosphere at The Lunching Pad…well, what you see is pretty much what you get.
The Lunching Pad at Rocketeer Plaza
If you’ve been to Tomorrowland, you’ve seen the atmosphere of this spot. It’s really just a walk-up window.
Ordering Window
There are a few tables scattered nearby, complete with those awesome, padded Tomorrowland seats.
And because The Lunching Pad is located beneath the PeopleMover and Astro-Orbiter, the overhang provides some much-welcomed shade when you stop here for a quick meal or snack.
Seating
But now that we’ve taken a (very quick!) tour around The Lunching Pad, let’s see about those dogs!
Eats
The menu at this snack stop is very small. You have a handful of frozen, carbonated beverages, which are so amazing on a hot day! And you can get them in plain cups or sport bottles. And as we mentioned before, this is also a good place to snag a soft pretzel.
Mickey Pretzel with Plastic Cheese
But the star attractions here, if you’re looking for real sustenance, are the line up of over the top hot dogs.
Menu — Click to Enlarge
Let’s just take a moment to admire them, shall we?
Today’s selections include, left to right, the BLT Hot Dog, the Coney Island Dog, and the Philly Cheese Steak Dog. [Editor’s Update: The Lunching Pad menu has been streamlined since the original writing of this post, and the Coney Island Dog is currently the only specialty hot dog available.]
Specialty Hot Dogs from The Lunching Pad in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
We’ll start with the brand new-to-the-menu BLT Hot Dog. So I gotta admit that at first glance, this one was a little weird. I mean, there was a salad on my dog.
BUT — there was also bacon. So that’s, you know, a salad I can get behind.
BLT Hot Dog
At any rate, if you distill this down to the sum of its flavors, it actually made more sense. After all, hot dogs have that same smokey, meaty flavor that you get in bacon. So, shockingly, this worked.
BLT Hot Dog — Cross Section
Next, I came to what was completely familiar territory for me — the Coney Island Dog. Now this is more like it. Hot dog, chili, mustard, onions, done. The way it should be.
Coney Island Dog
And it was every bit as good as it looks! Your GI system may not thank you, but your taste buds sure will.
Coney Island Dog –Cross Section
Finally, we arrived at our third variety — the Philly Cheese Steak Dog. This one was BY FAR my favorite! PLASTIC CHEEEEEEEEESE!!!
This is hot dog, topped with cheese steak, onions, cheese, etc. or so it says. The authoritative statement that this is “cheese steak” may be challenged, and everyone knows that the cheese on a Philly Cheese Steak is hotly debated; but I don’t care what it is. It was gud.
Philly Cheese Steak Hot Dog
Plus, did I mention plastic cheese?
Philly Cheese Steak Hot Dog — Cross Section
You can’t go wrong with meat on meat.
IMHO.
Overall
I’m a hot dog fan, so all of the hot dogs at Lunching Pad sounded pretty good, and tasting made a believer out of me. While we certainly had our individual favorites, I enjoyed them all.
The main issue with all of these, however, was that the bun was a foot-long, but the dogs were regular sized. Wha??!! Just eat accordingly.
So don’t worry if you find yourself famished, advance dining reservation-less, and the counter service location lines are snaking around your favorite attractions. You’ll find a hearty meal in the form of a hot dog at The Launching Pad.
Which Launching Pad Hot Dog will you be trying on your next visit to Walt Disney World? Tell us your pick in comments!
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They look pretty good, but if I want to snack on all three of these it’ll cost me over $26! For that price, there are much better meals you can get around the area, even at counter service locations. I don’t mind paying Disney prices for Disney food, but for just hot dogs, it’s a bit much.
Wow the first one to me looked amazing. Yes the BLT one, I’m going to say I have to try this on my next trip… I just hope I can remember, I have over a year to go.
🙂
what kind of meat was on the Philly, it looks shredded in your picture ?Is it like shredded brisket or is it like Steak ums ?
I think the BLT dog is the only one I’d go for.
The others looks yummy, but a tummy ache to be sure, and I wouldn’t want to risk that on a park day!
They used to have the cheese filled pretzels there. Whatever happened to those?
I can tell I’m getting old. 10 years ago, I would have been drooling over these. But now, the photos alone have reaching for the Tums!
Ice recently had all three and they are awesome. But one is more than enough to fill ya up. The pricing is commensurate with Casey’s or any other counter servuce in the world so it’s a good deal considering. Just eat what your kids don’t.
I wish they made veggie dogs!
Following up on my question about no foamy stuff on the frozen drinks, they still serve absolutely plain hot dogs still, right? No mustard, no cheese, no onions, no salad, no nothing. Just meat and bun.
DebC — Absolutely. You can get any item on a counter service menu without all of the toppings (or sides).
Anyone remember when there was a taco hotdog on the menu at the Lunching Pad? It was a hotdog topped with taco meat and other taco toppings. My kids dreamed about it after having them on our 2011 trip. When we went back last summer it was no longer on the menu. Not at Casey’s either. Thankfully they are easily recreated at home, but it’s not the same.
The Coney Island Dog has 3 of my 4 favorite things to put on a hot dog. But where is the sauerkraut? 🙁
Going to eat all 3
I don’t know if I’d like the cheesesteak dog or not (I love real cheesesteaks). I do like plain hotdog and cheese dogs once in a while. The problem with hotdogs at busy eateries, though, is a lot of times, they’re not hot; they’re cold dogs.
OMG!! my sister, mom and I did a hot dog crawl the last time we were in Disney in January. We totally forgot about this spot! for shame on us!
It’s funny, growing up in NYC, I only would eat my franks with sauerkraut and deli mustard. But then I experienced hot dogs at Old Man River in Tonawanda NY, on the Niagra river and learned to eat them loaded. All of the dogs in the photos look great.
Funny thing, I’m sitting here watching PBS and there is a cute show on about unusual buildings. They were at one of the best hot dog joints in LA. Price? About 3 bucks. Come on Disney, 9 bucks for a hot dog! Go over to Harbour Inn and get lobster for a buck more.
Mark, I agree. Even by Disney’s standards, $9 for a snack item is quite high. Make a meal out of it by ordering all three and you’ve got a $26 hot dog meal. Feed a family of four, and it’s $100 for hot dogs? They better be some really gourmet hot dogs for that kind of money.
Can you use a snack credit for these?
Jennifer — No, but many of the beverages and pretzels are snack credit eligible.
I tried the “cheesesteak” one today. The meat was not like cheesesteak meat. More like pot roast. Also they did not have gluten free buns. They told me to go to Cosmic Rays even though they do not serve the special ones. I can eat some gluten so I tried it anyway.
Michael — They have the sweet cream cheese pretzels here in addition to the Mickey soft pretzel.
Those are some fab hot dog photos! Thanks for the thorough review. I’ll definitely check out at least the BLT or the Coney Island. No longer must we buy separate sides from different places to create a chili dog. 😀