Animal Kingdom Restaurant- Help Please

[zuzanne]

We plan to visit Animal Kingdom early AM and then head over to MK for dinner at LTT. We have PS there for 5:30 prior to MVMCP at 7 PM. We have never eaten at any of the restaurants in AK. Where would be a good place to have a sit down light meal early in the day? We are not picky eaters as long as the food is good & well prepared. We would be combining breakfast & lunch, but since dinner PS is at 5:30 don't want to overstuff ourselves. TIA
Suki

 

[disney queen]

we have eaten several times at tusker house there in AK. they serve both breakfast and lunch. both are very good. be sure to get a cinnamon roll(bun) from the bakery there at tusker house. yum!!

 

[Pammy_from_WI]

I agree with Tusker House, they offer a pretty good breakfast and they have great choices for lunch. This place just about always gets good reviews.

The other is Flame Tree BBQ. This would be a lunch option. Also gets pretty high marks if you like dry rub bbq.

You can check out their menus on www.wdwig.com

AK has some nice choices for eating, we've always had good luck there.

Pam

 

[disneysteve]

I'll second the recommendation for Tusker House. We eat there every trip. Usually a mid-morning snack - great danish - and then lunch later in the day. Its one of the few places in the parks where you can get something that isn't typical fast food.

Steve

 

[webray]

Tusker house!

 

[jerseydizdreamer]

Flip a coin, because both of the restaurants getting votes here are primo. I'm a big fan of both Tusker House and Flame Tree Bar-B-Que. Both have fantastic food, both have nice places outside at which to eat...

tough choice!

Richard

 

[kda]

I agree --- we really like Flame Tree, but not everyone likes barbeque --- and have had good meals at Tusker House. You could always split a meal there if you want to eat light, and supplement with a snack mid-afternoon if you're hungry.

 

[merrywether]

My family and I tried Flame Tree for the first time in June. For counter service, I thought it was excellent. I had a barbecue chicken salad which was extremely tasty. It came in an edible bowl. My MIL had a fresh fruit plate that had strawberries, pineapple, grapes, and a couple other things on it. It was an excellent choice for a fresh, quick lunch. The covered seating areas behind the restaurant were very nice as well. You follow a trail to get to them. We chose the area by the water. We had a nice breeze from the ceiling fans and the lake to keep us cool. Napkins, spoons, forks, and condiments were provided in the seating areas.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Flame Tree was our favorite until it went seasonal, and since we go off season, it was unavailable. We tried Tuskers last visit and it got a big thumbs up from all of my family - Rotisserie Chicken is great!

 

[corky805]

I didn't know Flame Tree was seasonal. WHen are they closed??

Thanks,

 

[zuzanne]

Thank you all for your help. Tuskar House sounds like just what we need. We will have late breakfast early lunch there return to condo take a nap & then head over to MK for LTT PS and the Party. We are so excited. Now if they would just put the CP packages at Epcot on sale I could have this trip all set up.
Mouseland here we come.
Suki

 

[CRCrazy]

Corky - when business dies after 9-11, Disney decided to close down Flame Tree seasonally. It stayed closed for the winter/spring of 2001-2002. It finally reopened for summer 2002, and to the best of my knowledge, it has been open steadily ever since. I know that we ate there both in mid December 2002 (Not holiday time) and in June 2003 with no troubles.

Be sure to check out the meal deal - especially if you are eating early.

 

[merrywether]

I'm glad Flame Tree is back to year-round! We're headed back to WDW in Nov. and DH would have been disappointed - he loved it there!

 

[erinch]

We just ate at tusker house last week. My hubby and I both had the grilled chilled chicken salad with foccaccia bread and my son had a "fried" chicken sandwich which was very good. The only problem was for our 7 yo picky DD; the only 2 kids' options are pbj (which she doesn't eat) and mac n cheese--which she wouldn't eat because it had "fat" macaroni as opposed to the Kraft narrow macaroni with the powdered cheese which is one of her 3 food items.

They let me purchase some of the corn chowder separately, which was very good (I know, because she wouldn't eat it) and we gave her some of our salad and chicken, which she did eat.

Another option would be Donald's breakfast o saurus, right at closing, which would give you a very late breakfast, although perhaps more food options than you'd like. It works out well in a touring schedule, because it gives you time to go to Africa for the safari, see ITTBAG, then go get a fastpass for Dinosaur and eat at donald's while you wait.

 

[CindyAnn]

Zuzanne - I noticed you asked about sit-down restaurants. If you're really looking for a sit-down restaurant at AK, then there's only one - The Rainforest Cafe near the entrance. All of the other restaurants are counter service.

Tusker House has a pleasant atmosphere, and we've eaten one wonderful meal here (Villager Special - peanut crusted chicken on skewers with dipping sauce, rice, and vegetables) and one pretty awful meal here (it involved very wet lettuce on top of very wet bread - perhaps with chicken)- and was truly awful). I thought Flame Tree had a decent choice of BBQ'd foods, too.

I agree with CRCrazy - the Animal Kingdom Meal Certificates offer a great deal for $11.99 each for adults. They're available at the restaurants and allow you to order an entree, a beverage, and you also get certificates to order an additional beverage and a popcorn or ice cream snack later in the day - good value especially when most entrees alone cost between $7 and $8 at the above two restaurants.

 

[zuzanne]

Thanks for the heads up Cindy. We do want a sit down meal as aftering several hours at the park our feet will be saying sit. We have enjoyed meals at Rainforest Cafe in other areas and we are familiar with their food & atmosphere. So that will be a better choice for us. I did not know that Tuskar House was counter service, so really appreciate your setting me straight on that. We are looking at a very long day. Opening to around 2 PM at Animal Kingdom and then a short rest and Magic Kingdom around 3:30 PM til they close and tell us to leave after the Party. Then we are doing the same thing on Wednesday only it will MGM morning and then Epcot for dinner & CP. We only have these two full days in Orlando with a half day on Thursday before we have to head home, so Hubby & I are getting every in second that we can before we have to leave. We are so excited.


Suki

 

[CRCrazy]

Although you will not be waited on at Tusker House - it is a seriously NICE counter service - more like a cafeteria style. Nice tables to sit at to enjoy your meal, and the food is good, healthy sit down type food.


If time is a factor - you may wish to go this way instead of a sit down at the Rainforest, although we enjoyed this restaurant - it took a LOT of time - even with a PS - we had to wait about 20 minutes for our table, and the service was pretty slow - I'd say we were in there at least 1 1/2 hours!

 

[TDC Nala]

personally I would go to Tusker House over Rainforest Cafe. We have a Rainforest Cafe at home and I don't like it at all. I've never tried the ones at WDW.

Tusker House, like all eateries within the AK, will probably close about an hour to a half hour before the park closes. Lunch should be fine. They've got very good grilled salmon there that is a lot better than anything I've ever had at the local Rainforest Cafe.