Review: Crispy Beef Dumplings Take Over at Sunshine Tree Terrace Magic Kingdom

Sunshine Tree Terrace changed their savory menu item again. The switch to Crispy Beef Dumplings at Sunshine Tree Terrace offers an interesting experience.

Earlier this month, Sunshine Tree Terrace at Adventureland at Magic Kingdom replaced the pot stickers savory item with Crispy Chicken Dumplings. Dumplings have been a recurring item at Magic Kingdom in recent months. For example, the food and beverage kiosk near Tron Lightcyle / Run, Energy Bytes, used to sell some dumplings. Those have left the menu at Energy Bytes.

However, dumplings took over the savory snack portion of Sunshine Tree Terrace’s menu earlier this month. Even though the Walt Disney World website fails to update the menu at many of their quick service locations, the Fried Potstickers were replaced with Crispy Chicken Dumplings a few weeks ago.

Yet, when we visited Magic Kingdom this week, we noticed Crispy Beef Dumplings on the menu. The chicken version received a lukewarm response from guests.

Nonetheless, the Walt Disney World website needs to update another thing, apparently. During our visit, Crispy Beef Dumplings were the only savory option on the menu board.

Crispy Beef Dumplings – $8.49

These beef dumplings come with orange ginger sauce. This same sauce also came with the pot stickers and the chicken dumplings when they were on the menu at Sunshine Tree Terrace.

Guests receive five small dumplings following the pattern at Energy Bytes. The star of this snack is the orange ginger sauce. If you enjoy those flavors, then this snack might be for you.

However, we found the rest of the snack to be less positive. In fact, our biggest complaint revolved around the fact that the dumpling shell did not hold the sauce. A large portion of sauce retreated to the bottom of the bowl wasted.

Outer Shell

The outer shell felt too hard for this type of theme park snack. The meatball inside offered reasonable flavor. Still, our order must have stayed in the warmer too long since it arrived very dry. These dumplings appear to be baked, not fried, creating the possible dryness issue. Maybe it was a miss on our day, but these dumplings were not prepared properly.

We think this savory snack offers potential based on its contents and sauce. However, based on recent history with dumplings at Magic Kingdom, we do not see a better preparation process happening.

Overall, these dumplings are basic meatballs with a thin shell and some sauce. We do not know why the pot stickers or the recent addition of the Crispy Chicken Dumpling fell by the wayside. However, we do not think this item makes good use of your theme park food budget.

During our next visit to Magic Kingdom, we will look to see if these dumplings remain on the menu. Of course, you can buy some tasty, sweet treats instead at Sunshine Tree Tavern. Do not forget to use mobile order here also.

As always, eat like you mean it!