Epcot's Garden Grill to expand operating hours to breakfast and lunch

[ImagineDziner]

Does this mean the restaurant will begin revolving again? I like the idea, but even with the characters, my interest was being able to look in on Living With the Land boat ride below. Good news in that it will alleviate some of the other areas.

 

[aladdin2007]

Does this mean the restaurant will begin revolving again? I like the idea, but even with the characters, my interest was being able to look in on Living With the Land boat ride below. Good news in that it will alleviate some of the other areas.

That was fixed awhile back and has been revolving as usual,,, unless theres some new issue?

 

[Jon81uk]

Exactly! Why can't I eat there with my wife without paying exorbitant prices for character greetings that we don't want and only having "family style" dining as an option? Why can't I order off of a menu? These character meals are out of control. I understand they need to have some, but it's just way too much. I wish they offered at least one mealtime at the Castle (Cinderella's) without characters. It really makes it seem more and more like they don't care about adults without kids. That was what made Disney different in the beginning from other parks, but it's becoming less and less prevalent.

Why do you need kids to go to a character meal?
I loved dinner with Chip and Dale at Garden Grill was great fun watching the characters. I also had a very memorable 29th birthday with the Princesses at Cinderella's Castle.

Also you have the whole of world showcase for non-character dining (excluding Akershus of course). There aren't that many restaurants that have characters really.

 

[wdwmagic]

Does this mean the restaurant will begin revolving again? I like the idea, but even with the characters, my interest was being able to look in on Living With the Land boat ride below. Good news in that it will alleviate some of the other areas.

Epcot's Garden Grill Restaurant rotation resumes at The Land Pavilion

 

[nelsonj3]

Why do you need kids to go to a character meal?
I loved dinner with Chip and Dale at Garden Grill was great fun watching the characters. I also had a very memorable 29th birthday with the Princesses at Cinderella's Castle.

Also you have the whole of world showcase for non-character dining (excluding Akershus of course). There aren't that many restaurants that have characters really.

Point taken, but I actually want to enjoy some of the specific restaurants that offer solely character dining without the characters if possible. We've been to character dinners together, and that's fine, but it would be nice if they offered at least one meal a day without characters.

I guess that's just my preference, and I wish I had an option to go to those specific restaurants without characters once in a while. Maybe I'm weird, but even when I was younger, the characters weren't a big deal to me. They just weren't. I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm not saying to get rid of character dining at all. I know some people love it, and that's great! I'm just saying that it would be nice to have an option sometimes, that's all.

 

[SYRIK2000]

Why do you need kids to go to a character meal?
I loved dinner with Chip and Dale at Garden Grill was great fun watching the characters. I also had a very memorable 29th birthday with the Princesses at Cinderella's Castle.

Also you have the whole of world showcase for non-character dining (excluding Akershus of course). There aren't that many restaurants that have characters really.

Chip and Dale are the characters that are the most fun to meet. The only possible exception would be Gaston if you get a good one.

 

[Jon81uk]

Point taken, but I actually want to enjoy some of the specific restaurants that offer solely character dining without the characters if possible. We've been to character dinners together, and that's fine, but it would be nice if they offered at least one meal a day without characters.

I guess that's just my preference, and I wish I had an option to go to those specific restaurants without characters once in a while. Maybe I'm weird, but even when I was younger, the characters weren't a big deal to me. They just weren't. I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm not saying to get rid of character dining at all. I know some people love it, and that's great! I'm just saying that it would be nice to have an option sometimes, that's all.

Although I enjoyed the food at Garden Grill. I'm not sure any character meal driven restaurant is worth going to just for the food. Except Tusker House, but then I've only been before they added characters.

 

[nelsonj3]

Although I enjoyed the food at Garden Grill. I'm not sure any character meal driven restaurant is worth going to just for the food. Except Tusker House, but then I've only been before they added characters.

We just loved the view of the Boat Ride as the restaurant turned. I don't even remember the food. Lol. The draw of these restaurants is the atmosphere and location, and I realize the characters can be part of that, but I remember eating at Cinderella's Castle when it didn't have characters, and it was still pretty awesome!

 

[ABQ]

Point taken, but I actually want to enjoy some of the specific restaurants that offer solely character dining without the characters if possible. We've been to character dinners together, and that's fine, but it would be nice if they offered at least one meal a day without characters.

I guess that's just my preference, and I wish I had an option to go to those specific restaurants without characters once in a while. Maybe I'm weird, but even when I was younger, the characters weren't a big deal to me. They just weren't. I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm not saying to get rid of character dining at all. I know some people love it, and that's great! I'm just saying that it would be nice to have an option sometimes, that's all.

You're not alone. Have not been to Norway for a meal since it went princess.

 

[Clamman73]

So I take it that the September Living 'Land refurb will actually do some good for those interior scenes.

 

[OneDNP]

Have not eaten here since it was The Good Turn. I have not been that interested in eating here in modern times for just me and hubs, but with the little man, it could be fun. Glad they expanded the meal times and hope it lasts.

 

[aladdin2007]

So I take it that the September Living 'Land refurb will actually do some good for those interior scenes.

same here, and that is the one place I wish they would go back to offering one meal without the princess mess.

 

[doctornick]

Really glad to see this. It's a nice novel experience with the spinning/view of LwtL and the food (at least for dinner) is higher quality than a typical character buffet. And Epcot has plenty of places to eat sit down meals, so it's reasonable to add more character dining (especially since Akershus skews towards young females, whereas Garden Grill is more unisex and I would argue more likely to be enjoyed by families without young children).

 

[Fox&Hound]

Great news!!!! Just curious: am I the only person who felt nauseous with the very cool super slow moving affect? It's pretty pathetic, but I felt so weird last time I ate there as it rotated...

Great food! Excellent decision Disney!!!!

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I happily snagged a reservation there this morning for our upcoming trip. I was happy to see it available. As we are travelling with 2 boys, princesses are kind of out. It is nice to have an alternative at Epcot!

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

So I take it that the September Living 'Land refurb will actually do some good for those interior scenes.

Articos said a month ago that the ride should be getting some polish in this refurb, and I do generally trust what he has to say. Though I worry how much they can really accomplish with just a 10 day refurb. It's a relatively short refurbishment (similar length ones in other rides usually don't even address noticeable show issues), the sort of work this ride requires i'd think would need considerably more time. It has a good deal of broken elements or things in need of tweaking such as lighting, animatronics and other moving parts. But parts of the ride are also becoming dirty or dull, i'd really like to see a large scale deep cleaning and repainting to get the ride spotless again.

The interior scenes have been a mess for quite a while now. I don't know if they've been doing any third shift work lately since I visited in May, but many of the animatronics have been either stationary or stuck with only partial motion since at least October of last year if not before (especially the jungle/rainforest animatronics with the monkeys, crocs and bugs). I did notify a cast member when exiting the ride, who acted apologetic and seemingly surprised. Seemed genuine and she went to contact maintenance about it (though I don't assume anything was actually done about it). The rain effects from the first scenes have also been subdued lately, some of the lights that shine along the wires used to achieve the effect are apparently misaligned (some may even be burned out).

The door separating the farm scenes and greenhouse has been stuck open for quite a while now. I've noticed the ride has been considerably hotter than it ordinarily should be, which may or may not be related to the busted door (may not be related at all however, there are a ton of other rides/attractions/locations around WDW with heat issue as well due to cutbacks on air conditioning to save money).

I will say that it seems the greenhouse exhibits are generally kept in decent condition. They're continually altered or new exhibits are brought in and refreshed. I guess that's one segment of the ride they can't really allow to deteriorate. This past May there were a lot of cast members there, they were working on the rockwork features on the right side near the beginning. I think the rock feature had previously been dry and filled with soil or sand for years, but it was recently converted to a water feature with wet vegetation (with some nice small waterfalls).

 

[pajammies]

I actually enjoyed the food at Garden Grill. Can't figure out if I want to do breakfast or lunch on our last day in the World. Breakfast is cheaper but I think it might be like all the other breakfast buffets.

I happen to agree however, I could do without the characters and wish one meal was without them. But I like the food and atmosphere there so we will do one of the meals.

 

[Mukta]

I already had a dinner booked there for my Dec trip and now I have added a breakfast ADR. Looking forward to reviews and pics of the food.

 

[marni1971]

Now for Odyssey to reopen with an affordable breakfast. Like it used to.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Now for Odyssey to reopen with an affordable breakfast. Like it used to.

Wouldn't that be nice? Granted, they have a tasty breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, which is pretty unique for the parks nowadays. Starbucks doesn't count to me.