Staying on top of the toppings at the Disney theme parks

August 14, 2014, 4:06 PM · The Golden Oak Outpost in Frontierland at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom is now serving "Specialty Waffle Fries" — cross-cut fried potatoes served with a variety of toppings.

The selections include:

• Barbecue pork and coleslaw
• Bacon, lettuce and tomato, with a drizzle of ranch dressing
• A "Tex-Mex," with black bean relish, cheddar and slice jalapeño peppers
• Brown gravy and white cheddar cheese (a Yankee-fied version of Canadian poutine?)

Each is available for $5.99.

This continues Disney's recent fad of adding toppings to a classic side dish to make it an entree by itself. Within the past year, Disney started serving speciality macaroni and cheese at the Friar's Nook in Fantasyland. The options there [each for $8.99] include a Pot Roast-topped mac 'n' cheese and a "bacon cheeseburger"-topped mac 'n' cheese... not to be confused with the mac 'n' cheese-topped burger from Epcot's Electric Umbrella. ;^)

If you're not in the mood for waffle fries or mac 'n' cheese as a toppings-delivery medium, Disney also serves a variety of topped hot dogs, including a BLT and a Philly Cheesesteak dog at the Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland [$8.99 each], as well as a more traditional Coney Dog at the same location [$8.19]. You might find it interesting that Casey's Corner, just down the street on the corner of Main Street USA serves a Chili-Cheese Dog for $9.79. The big difference between that and the Lunching Pad's chili dog appears to be the melted cheddar sauce on the Casey's dog. (That works out to $1.60 extra for the cheese sauce.) There's a barbecue-and-slaw-topped dog at Casey's for $9.39, too.

On the west coast, at Disneyland, Disney's gone with baked potatoes as its preferred toppings delivery method. The Harbour Galley in New Orleans Square serves a potato topped with shrimp salad for $6.99 as well as one topped with barbecue chicken and coleslaw for $6.39. (I guess we get chicken instead of pork out here.) You can get a potato with bacon and sour cream, instead of the barbecue and slaw, for the same price.

Continuing our raft ride down the stream of consciousness in this post, if you'd like to make an apples-to-apples price comparison between the two coasts, let's make a chili-dog-to-chili-dog comparison. The Refreshment Corner on Main Street USA in Disneyland, located in the same spot as Casey's in the Magic Kingdom, serves its Chili Cheese dog for just $6.99, as opposed to the MK's $9.79. (Chips or apple slices are included in the cost in both parks. If you'd like to save $1.50, ask for the dog without chips.) The only difference I saw the last time I ordered these two was that Disneyland used shredded cheddar, while Disney World poured that cheese sauce.

Or, let's try a comparison of mac 'n' cheese-topped dogs. You can find one at Friar's Nook in Florida for $8.59, or the same dog at Disneyland for $7.69. That's a bit closer than the chili-cheese gap, though I'm not sure if the Disney World version comes with chips or not. (Disney's online menu doesn't say that it does.)

Have you tried any of these concoctions? Please tell us about them, in the comments. I've tried three: The barbecue chicken potato at Disneyland was delicious, but I found both the mac 'n' cheese and the hot dog on the Disneyland mac 'n' cheese dog tasteless and not worth the price. But even that was better than the greasy mess masquerading as the Pot Roast-topped mac 'n' cheese from the Friar's Nook, which I couldn't stand to finish.

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