birthday at the garden grill for 8 yr old

[MinnieNH]

Hi All,

Just wondering if the Garden Grill is a good place to celebrate our soon to be 8 year old DD? Also, should we order a cake or do they have a good dessert that we could have instead? Also, are there charaters there that would help celebrate her b-day?

 

[mom2aredhead]

Garden Grill was actually my least favorite character meal during our trip last month. The food and atmosphere were just OK for me. Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale are there. The dessert we had was a custard filled puff pastry w/mixed berries on top. I would assume you can order a cake there as they are available at many TS places.
We celebrated our son's B-days at Chef Mickey's and it was lots of fun. I know you can order a cake there for sure.
Good luck in whatever you decide.

 

[janloz]

We had our 5 year old daughter's birthday dinner there and we were VERY disappointed. We did not get any extra attention from the characters or staff not even singing Happy Birthday! Later in the week, we ate at Chef Mickey's and she was still wearing the button and they brought out Special placemats that were laminated so they could take them home, decorated cupcakes and sang. Whispering Canyons in Wilderness Log would probably also be a great birthday spot but no characters.

 

[solferino]

We were there for the week of DD's 7th bday (and will be there again for her 9th) and the characters noticed her birthday button and wrote happy birthday in her autograph book. Goofy even drew her a b-day cake I don't expect any of the restaurants to do anything special- if I want that I'll order a cake ahead of time.

 

[RutgersAlum]

We had a great experience at GG for our DS's 5th birthday. He had on his birthday button and we simply mentioned it to the host that we were celebrating his birthday. After the meal, they brought out a cake that would probably have fed 8 people (About 9" in diameter, I'd say) that said Happy Birthday. No singing, but that was just fine with us. DS was thrilled and we were certainly not expecting such a treat--a Happy Birthday wish or card maybe from the characters but certainly not a full cake. Next time, to be sure, we will order the cake.

He did get a cute cupcake at some other restaurants in the past...H&V, and Crystal Palace, that I recall.

We also liked Garden Grill as a character meal a lot in that it is a smaller restaurant, seems less chaotic than, say H&V (though the kids love Little Einsteins so we go). More quiet time as a family and quiet time with characters, that was right up our alley.

Hope you have a good experience, whatever you choose.

 

[december]

Garden Grill was our favorite character meal last year (also did CRT, CP, and Donald's). My son celebrated his 9th birthday there. We got a free cake instead of the usual dessert, the characters came and played with the kids repeatedly, and Dale delivered the cake, along with a card signed by all the characters.

 

[Sammi2]

Okay, so I see that this can make one crazy. I, too, just made an ADR for Garden Grill to celebrate dd's birthday. So I searched on what to expect and came up with 'it was our favorite' and 'it was our least favorite' in the same short thread. Now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if I should have picked a different place. I went with Garden Grill because a book said the setting was nice and that it was relatively quiet. (Loud and busy is pretty overstimulating for our crew.)

 

[budbeerlady]

We did DD's birthday celebration at Garden Grill. She picked out where she wanted it to be at. It was our first meal there but we will be back.

The characters where wonderful, by far the most character interaction we had anywhere to date.

I requested a cake at the podium (it was the standard frozen chocolate cake) that was delivered in place of dessert. It was fine, dd was thrilled.

I had contacted the Disney Florist and they had delivered with dessert and giant stuffed mickey mouse with happy birthday balloons. Mickey the character was poking at mickey the stuffed animal for the rest of the meal.

The food was great, I am a vegetarian and had the risotto. Dd had the kids chicken strips, dh had the regular family platter in a smaller size.

We loved our meal there, it was something different and it worked for us. So I vote for having the celebration there.

 

[budbeerlady]

Okay, so I see that this can make one crazy. I, too, just made an ADR for Garden Grill to celebrate dd's birthday. So I searched on what to expect and came up with 'it was our favorite' and 'it was our least favorite' in the same short thread. Now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if I should have picked a different place. I went with Garden Grill because a book said the setting was nice and that it was relatively quiet. (Loud and busy is pretty overstimulating for our crew.)

You will get all sorts of answers on this board, we all have different tastes. I look at the menus and if it appeals to us, we give it a try!

It is quieter than most character meals, the service was good and it wasnt a buffet which can be a plus for some people.

 

[RussellDisney]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1673807

Seems GG is suddenly popular on the DIS!!

We are there in Dec, the food and character interaction were both great. It was quieter than other character meals (1900PF for instance) and the family-style was a plus for me.