Disney History buffs are going to love this news out of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom!
More Fun Dining News Out of Magic Kingdom Today!
After a hiatus of, oh, about forever — it seems that Aunt Polly’s on Tom Sawyer Island is serving food and beverages once more!
This is one for the books! After all, it’s been eons since we’ve seen anything substantial for sale here. Even the vending machines that have been in place here in recent years hadn’t been in service.
But thanks to Disney Food for Families columnist Erin Foster for giving us the heads up that Theme Park Insider is reporting the spot is open for business!
Now, before you get too awfully excited, you should know that the menu is limited. Very limited. Make the trip over to Tom Sawyer Island looking for sustenance, and you’ll find Sandwiches (Turkey and PB&J), Veggies and Hummus, Chips, Fresh Fruit, and an Assortment of Cold Beverages, including Lemonade. Note that, at least for now, they are not offering fountain drinks.
While it doesn’t sound like much, there are two reasons to love this move by Disney:
it’s truly amazing that a spot that hasn’t served for so long is back open; and Magic Kingdom desperately needs more dining spots. So even though it’s fairly remote — you know, being an island and all — this fits the bill nicely.
We are hearing chatter that right now, Aunt Polly’s is only slated to be open through the end of the Spring Break rush, and Cast Members have said that it will be shuttered once more April 11. Still, if there is enough business at the rustic spot, it could be opened during other busy times of the year.
And think about how fun a menu could be here! Personally, I vote for the return of the Cold Fried Chicken you used to be able to enjoy in the shade of Polly’s Gazebo…
We’re Dreaming of Fried Chicken on Tom Sawyer Island!
After all, this is a great, often under-appreciated corner of Magic Kingdom, shunned in favor of flashier attractions. But can you really beat exploring old forts and taking perilous trips across old-fashioned bridges? I think not. 🙂 And after all of that playing, a hearty meal or snack, or even a cold glass of lemonade — bingo! Frozen Lemonade! — would be the bee’s knees.
So, let’s hear from you now. Will you visit Aunt Polly’s if it’s open during your next Magic Kingdom visit? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!
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OMB! (Oh My Bear!) I’ve been dreaming of Aunt Polly’s opening!
I’m all for the cold friend chicken returning to the menu!
I can Remember going over to Aunt Polly’s in the early 80’s for a BIG DILL PICKLE during the Hot summer months to relax and people watch ( I was like 10 years old then)
We were just at the Magic Kingdom this past Saturday, and as we were passing by on the Liberty Belle we noticed that it was open. I wish we had made a trip over to Tom Sawyer Island!
I’d love to see Aunt Polly’s open again with picnic foods like the cold fried chicken, shaved turkey sandwiches, tuna salad sandwiches, etc.
My son’s first trip we went to Aunt Polly’s and split a PB&J and a soda. So pleasant sitting on the porch. It would be really nice to even get a bottle drink and a piece of fruit or a big cookie there again.
we always loved relaxing with a cold lemonade while the kids wore off some energy running around the fort….now I can take the great grands there!
Bring back the pickles!
They used to serve a cold ham and cheese sandwich that was filled with ham and a very refreshing alternative to hamburgers when all you want is a good counter service sandwich! Miss that sandwich!!
Yay!! Even though I don’t think I ever ate at Aunt Polly’s, I still love that it has been reopened. I absolutely love the Disney movie Tom & Huck and each time I walk past the closed restaurant I always wondered if it would be open again. Brings back such great memories.
That was a highlight of one trip. Eating cold fried chicken and half a ham sandwich…with an oatmeal cookie and bottle of cold coke.
You could hear sounds of the haunted mansion coming across the river.
Maybe they could re theme it with a princess and the frog theme. With some poor boys, a Gumbo, Bignetts and coffee, and of course the chicken and ham sandwiches. I know they don’t have a kitchen but all that stuff can be made off site and stored there in hot or cold buffet lines.
The big problem is that all of Tom Sawyers Island is pretty much overlooked by most guests. There’s really not much of a draw there.
Question, does the liberty bell riverboat stop at Tom Sawyer’s island. I’ve never been on the LB, and took the little shuttle boats to TSI.
We loved exploring the island and then stopping for a snack at Aunt Polly’s! I bet more people would take the keel boats over if you could purchase a picnic lunch and then enjoy some “down time” away from the center of MK. I know that at one time you could pre-purchase a picnic at Animal Kingdom.
the huge ice cold dill pickles out of the barrel are the best ever on a hot day
Yes. I would totally love it.
I think it’s wonderful! I’ve been to the island, but I’ve never eaten at Aunt Polly’s. If it was ever open off season, however, I’ll eat there just to support it. It brings back such great memories of old time WDW with the Mr. Toad, 20,000 Leagues and running thru TSI.
We will be going!
@lynn
The idea of a picnic there would be great thing for that venue even for TSI in general.
With iphones and shore based kiosks you could pre order lunches “on the mainland” ready for pick up at Aunt Polly’s. A shore based Kiosk for ordering would let people on the shore know the place even exists.
dissapointed it would’ve be open for the summer months
YES! We looked for it during our trip in Jan 2015, disappointed it wasn’t open. Please be open in the fall and next Jan! Please!
I wonder if it’s remote location is the main problem with why they don’t have any actual hot food there. Back in the day it was probably easy to make sure the kitchen would have enough food for the day, now there’s a very real possibility of them running out if it was anything special, imagine seeing big carts of food on the rafts!
This is rarer than a sighting of the near mythical Tomorrowland Terrace! I was told by my friend who used to briefly work on Tom Sawyer’s Island (before she moved to becoming a lighting operator) that one of the reasons Aunt Polly’s wasn’t open that much was trash in the river. People didn’t throw things there intentionally. Rather straws and napkins ended up being blown into the Rivers of America and were hard or impossible to clean up. That’s in addition to being a low traffic area that’s difficult to service. The bad show of a stack of napkins being blown into the rivers took a lot away from the good show of people eating and enjoying themselves on the banks of the river.
The Liberty Bell needs to move to bay lake. With an on board restaurant…fire work cruise and general transportation.
That would free up TSI for a bridge..and let them re-image the island with a “Princess and Frog” theme…resturants and rides. A dark swamp ride would be cool. A Voodoo ride would mesh nicely with the proximety of the haunted mansion.
But it would have to have a foot bridge.
The lack of a foot bridge is main reason TSI isn’t used.
I remember eating here as as kid and ordering pb&j! So excited!
Too bad this won’t be open when I go at the end of April… 🙁
A little off-topic, but I was thinking about grabbing something to go from Pecos Bill’s and taking it over to TSI for a quiet lunch. Have you guys ever done that or can you think of a reason that it would be a bad idea?
We went there when our kids were small, (now 35 &26). We loved Aunt Polly’s! We now go with our grandsons (8 & 5) and them. Hopefully our grandsons will get to experience Aunt Polly’s.
We will definitely eat at Aunt Pollys. We use to spend a lot of time on that island when I was a kid. My dad would hide in the caves and jump out and scare us!! So many memories there! I agree with bringing a fuller menu back! It’s also a great place to picnic!!
Maybe don’t serve straws or only use biodegradable like AK
Would be nice to have some sort of food options there. It is a nice place to let the kids run.
Maybe a brand new restaurant would be a good idea.
You made my day, Aunt Polly’s is open again hooray hooray I went there many times when it was open I will be going there tomorrow thanks again for all the news concerning food at the happiest place on earth.
Sam, the riverboat doesn’t stop at the island. It just picks up passengers at the Liberty Square boat dock and does a circuit. If they got rid of the riverboat there would be hell to pay in my household since it is my husband’s favorite MK ride now that there is no more Nautilus or Mr. Toad. I would definitely enjoy a box lunch over there though, if they could solve the trash problem.
How I have missed going over to Tom Sawyer Island and heading straight for Aunt Polly’s! My then-partner introduced me to this place in the early 90’s, when we were on vacation together for the first time in September 1993. I was a little hesistant to try the cold fried chicken, since I prefer it warm, at least. But one bite into my chicken leg and I was hooked. It’s good to see that some of the classics eateries may be returning, whether in their original state or in another form and serving different food. Here is hoping that Aunt Polly’s is returning for the long run.
I would LOVE for Aunt Polly’s to reopen. Brings back a lot of memories and I remember the food tasting extra good after exploring Tom Sawyer’s Island with the kids!!
@Megan – I think the issue with bringing the food over is that they wouldn’t allow it on the rafts that take you there unless it’s in a closed container. Maybe you can put the food in a bag and then put the bag in a backpack. I have seen people that bring their own lunches to the park (yes it’s allowed) eating on the island. It seems like a great place for a picnic.
Wouldn’t cold fried chicken paired with a small cup of potato salad or cole slaw and a nice soft roll be an ideal lunch for this location. Homemade chips with a dipping sauce plus a couple of choices of cold deli sandwiches could also be served here. This would be a nice change from hamburgers and hot dogs.
Yay I wamt to go back to Aunt Polly’s. My brother and I ran all over the island and my mom, dad and Nana sat and drank Lemonade . I want Lemonade this time 🙂
I would love to have this open. We have trekked around the island numerous times and have always said how great it would be to have refreshment there (we have even brought our own sandwiches and at them there!). It is a nice escape from the hustle and bustle, provides a respite for the kids. Cheers for the cold chicken. A nice strawberry shortcake ate when sitting in a nice rocking chair in the summer would be fab! Open it up Disney!
PS – caught the Diamond Horseshoe open last trip and loved that experience. Should be open more too!
I would love if Aunt Polly’s stayed open year round! Great place to take a break and I still remember as a kid eating that yummy PB&J!
We would love to see it open again and serving food. I sat in the rocking chair last Sept. while waiting for the rest of my family to tour the island. It brought back a lot of memories when my kids were young and eating those yummy dill pickles.
I had to go, I just had to. When I saw that this short term limited opening matched up with my upcoming vacation I just knew I had to get to Aunt Polly’s.
We made the trip out to the island on April 9th but found out after we got out there that along with the limited dates, Aunt Polly’s had really limited hours and closed at 3 so that turned into a trip to Tom Sawyers island to play on the island so not a waste of time. We actually had to go back to the Magic Kingdom on the 10th just for lunch on the island (Oh the advantages of a park hopper annual pass). There was no way I was going to miss being able to say I ate at Aunt Polly’s on this trip.
I had the Turkey sandwich and the wife and kid had a Hummus Veg Chips each, PB&J was not an option for us as our child gets sick from grape jelly and that is all they had. Everything was pre packaged but it was of good quality, this was not your made a few days ago vending machine prepackaged food. We had water, Diet Coke and Blue Power Aid to drink, all were in bottles. Something interesting about this location was the unique at Disney world experience of placing your order, paying and receiving your food all in one place at the counter as they do not have the “forward deployed” ordering stations here, this is still like the old days before the register was away from the counter.
My wife called me a geek several times as she photographed me ordering and eating and chatting with the cast members about how one of them actually worked there years ago when it was always open. They said that there were a lot of people like me that had made the trip over to the island just to eat at Aunt Polly’s. The cast members were also lamenting that the 11th (Tomorrow when I was talking to them) would be the last day that they would be open because they were enjoying working at that location.
Overall I think that for what this was I enjoyed the experience and I would probably go back if it was open full time and the menu got a little longer. Aunt Polly’s could be a really good place to enjoy a light meal that isn’t a burger and fries or chicken strips. For now I will have to just enjoy my memories both from when I was a child eating there with my family and friends, and of this last trip when I ate there with my wife and my daughter who got to eat at this restaurant.
I hope it is popular and WDW decides to keep Aunt Polly’s open year round. This was a favorite childhood activity. Tom Sawyer’s Island was a quiet retreat to break away from the crowds for a while and enjoy a PB&J sandwich at Aunt Polly’s. I was heartbroken when it closed. With the difficulty finding available dining, this is a welcomed re-opening.