Garden Grill/Living with the Land Refurb

[britlightyear]

Does anyone know while they are doing this upcoming Living with the Land refurb if the Garden Grill restaurant will be walled off from seeing into the ride? :shrug: We want to eat there on our first night at Epcot but if the restaurant is just going to be rotating to the view of a wall then we will eat somewhere else. Thanks :wave:

 

[wm49rs]

I believe the refurb is mainly focused on getting new boats into the ride, although some have reported there may be some other changes. But I have no idea what areas of the ride will be shuttered during the process, if any....

 

[Andrew54]

This ride could really use some show updates. The video footage is way outdated, Id venture to guess from the 80s due to the awesome hairstyles.

 

[kangaand2roos]

I have no idea what the answer to your question is but I would recommend a different restaurant. We ate there for the first time our last trip and the food was horrible! Really the only thing we ate was the salad. We still to this day talk about what a horrible meal that was.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I don't think that the ride area will be walled off. You probably won't see the sets in all of their usual glory, but I think you should be able to see in to the attraction itself. If you are really concered, your best bet is to contact the restaurant directly and ask for sure.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Is it closed now? And when is it reopening?

 

[lumpydj]

Living with the Land is closed through 2/5.

 

[The MadHatter]

I would have to agree with kangaa. I wanted to like this restaurant so much because of the views into the ride but the food is extremely bland. Unless you are really against seafood the coral reef restaurant is a little better and has views of the fishtank, but once again the food is pretty subpar and i was dissapointed

 

[RiversideBunny]

I don't think they know what to do with The Garden Grill.
It used to be a very good restaurant.

We used to love eating breakfast there. Do a few big rides in EPCOT and then go to Garden Grill for breakfast. All you can eat, good quality, and the characters came around to your table.
Then they discontinued breakfast.

This was back in the days when Soar'n was not there. Maybe they had trouble getting enough people over to the Land to eat there.

Later they tried making it a signature type restaurant. That didn't last long. Then they tried an ice cream social in the afternoon.

What I don't I don't understand is, now that Soar'n brings thousands of guests right by the entrance to The Garden Grill, why they can't make a go of it.

My recommednations would be these:

1. Serve breakfast there again as well as lunch and dinner.
2. Keep the characters.
3. Important-
Change the name of the restaurant. The current name does not attract people. 'The Garden Grill' sounds like some upity noveau fresh food place. Rename it to 'Goofy's Carousel Restaurant' or 'Mickey's In The Round', or something creative that sounds inviting to guests.

And, of course, the food quality must be good.

 

[Dwarful]

We haven't been there in a few years. But the food was good back then. Of course if you don't like fried catfish you might not like the offerings.

We liked the ice cream social. It gave you the chance to sit down and take a nice break in the middle of the day.

 

[Master Yoda]

I don't think they know what to do with The Garden Grill.
It used to be a very good restaurant.

We used to love eating breakfast there. Do a few big rides in EPCOT and then go to Garden Grill for breakfast. All you can eat, good quality, and the characters came around to your table.
Then they discontinued breakfast.

This was back in the days when Soar'n was not there. Maybe they had trouble getting enough people over to the Land to eat there.

Later they tried making it a signature type restaurant. That didn't last long. Then they tried an ice cream social in the afternoon.

What I don't I don't understand is, now that Soar'n brings thousands of guests right by the entrance to The Garden Grill, why they can't make a go of it.

My recommednations would be these:

1. Serve breakfast there again as well as lunch and dinner.
2. Keep the characters.
3. Important-
Change the name of the restaurant. The current name does not attract people. 'The Garden Grill' sounds like some upity noveau fresh food place. Rename it to 'Goofy's Carousel Restaurant' or 'Mickey's In The Round', or something creative that sounds inviting to guests.

And, of course, the food quality must be good.

I'm with you. With all of the health woo-woo going around these days you would expect the place to be booked solid 6 months out. A name change would be a good idea. About the only legit reason I can think of that the place is not more popular is all the competition. Epcot has more TS dining than any of the other parks and GG tucked back in its little corner gets kind of lost in the shuffle.

 

[RiversideBunny]

Economically, I wonder if they have enough table space and guest turn over to make it work?
Maybe the math just doesn't work for the number of meals served per day vesus the overhead cost to run the restaurant.
Maybe it's just too small.

But, on the other hand, Liberty Tree Tavern does well.
It seems to be about the same size but I don't know for sure.