Boma or Tusker House?

[SBWB48]

DBF and I will have FD for the first time! He's a semi-adventurous eater, but was nervous at first when I proposed the idea of trying an African inspired TS with FD since I wouldn't feel as bad as paying OOP if he didn't like it. However, when he first saw the dinner menus ...which meant I gave up initially.

Out of the blue today (well not really because we were discussing restaurants at Disney), he asked if we could YouTube TH and Boma to see what the food looks like and to see if there may be things he would like

After watching a few videos, he decided there would definitely be enough that he would eat and other things he saw that he would like to try!

Now, the difficult part becomes deciding between TH and Boma! I've heard great things about each and I personally looooove character meals but the Boma's menu looks just absolutely amazing and it would give us an excuse to check out AKL. TH also seems to be constantly touted as one of the best buffets along with great characters interactions, so I'm caught in the 'dilemma' of deciding between the two

It will just be the two of us, so no worries about kiddies.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Disneylover99]

Definitely Boma! I like TH too, but the atmosphere at AKL and Boma is more relaxing and the food is really good. Boma is our "must do" on the ddp. TH is our "might do" because there are other restaurants we'd like to try.

 

[Lala Lani]

Tusker House is the best. Food is great. Atmosphere is great. Characters are great. In comparison I think the characters spend more time at each table at TH. Could be wrong. Just seems like it.

 

[SBWB48]

Definitely Boma! I like TH too, but the atmosphere at AKL and Boma is more relaxing and the food is really good. Boma is our "must do" on the ddp. TH is our "might do" because there are other restaurants we'd like to try.

Tusker House is the best. Food is great. Atmosphere is great. Characters are great. In comparison I think the characters spend more time at each table at TH. Could be wrong. Just seems like it.

Thanks! What may throw a wrinkle into this is what happens with ROL and potential dinner packages...with FD I would love to take advantage of the JB-like dinner packages, which would probably default the decision to TH, which I wouldnt be heartbroken about (love characters), but Boma is soooo hard to pass up! I guess this brings me back to the original problem!

 

[wifey]

We tried Boma last year some of the food was quite tasty and being buffet style meant you could try as much or a little as you wanted. That said our "server" was quite rude and kept trying to rush us out before we even got one plate each and those plates are not huge. After being asked twice if we were ready for our bill I got quite fed up with him TBH, we didn't enjoy that part at all.

If you have allergies (I do) please make a note of it on your reservation or check out the menus before you go. There are some spices I simply can't go near and checking out the ingredients before we got there sure helped eliminate those items I can't eat. Not all items on the buffet will list those things just a name of the dish usually. Be prepared for long lines at prime dining times I think our adr was for 18:30 pm and it was buzzing already before then.

 

[EpcotGuy]

both are very good, but I'd say Boma over TH

 

[Lisa F]

while both experiences are unique to disney, you can only get the characters at disney. So I'd be inclined to TH if I had to pick one.

That said if you have other character meals already then I might be inclined to boma. I have an 8 year old kiddo and we are doing deluxe dining so we're doing both, lol, along with a lot of other character meals.

 

[Momof2Singers]

Wow, that is a hard decision. Do you want characters? If you don't, then I would say Boma, because it is really a beautiful place and has so many options. There are plenty of African inspired dishes along with American, it was fun to try a variety.

If you want to be in the parks, then Tusker, we love Tusker and are eating there in a little over a month. Great variety, very casual atmosphere.

My girls were 15 and 20 the last time we went. Both wanted to go back to Tusker, one was on the fence about Boma, the other said just skip it. But really glad we went. Boma is dark, lots of Africian decor, yet somewhat elegant to me. I personally loved it. Tusker very bright and like I said casual, loved the characters. You will get reviews here from people that may not enjoy characters or think the meals are overpriced. All meals are overpriced, its Disney.

You have to decide what atmosphere you would prefer, and do you want the convenience of just walking in from the park. I did find Boma had staff that checked on you and were more attentive than Tusker.

Again, hard decision. But if you love Character Meals, there is only one choice.

 

[JZCubed]

DBF and I will have FD for the first time! He's a semi-adventurous eater, but was nervous at first when I proposed the idea of trying an African inspired TS with FD since I wouldn't feel as bad as paying OOP if he didn't like it. However, when he first saw the dinner menus ...which meant I gave up initially.

Out of the blue today (well not really because we were discussing restaurants at Disney), he asked if we could YouTube TH and Boma to see what the food looks like and to see if there may be things he would like

After watching a few videos, he decided there would definitely be enough that he would eat and other things he saw that he would like to try!

Now, the difficult part becomes deciding between TH and Boma! I've heard great things about each and I personally looooove character meals but the Boma's menu looks just absolutely amazing and it would give us an excuse to check out AKL. TH also seems to be constantly touted as one of the best buffets along with great characters interactions, so I'm caught in the 'dilemma' of deciding between the two

It will just be the two of us, so no worries about kiddies.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!

If your only consideration is food quality - Boma.

But if you have an alternative calculus - Tusker House can be the 'better' choice for no other reason(s) than, "Location, location, location," to follow the business axiom.

More personal calculus - is traveling to Animal Kingdom Lodge worth your desire to seek out exotic flavors? Tiffins?

Personally, we prefer Boma for breakfast and the view from Sanaa for lunches & daylight dinner....but only if we are staying at Animal Kingdom.

Some families are comfortable traveling for food, others are not so inclined.

 

[SBWB48]

while both experiences are unique to disney, you can only get the characters at disney. So I'd be inclined to TH if I had to pick one.

That said if you have other character meals already then I might be inclined to boma. I have an 8 year old kiddo and we are doing deluxe dining so we're doing both, lol, along with a lot of other character meals.

We have a few other character meals, but mostly dinners since neither of us eat much for bfast despite REALLLLY wanting to do a bfast just for characters . We are on the DDP for 8 nights, but even then it feels like it's not nearly enough for us to try all the places we want to go to! So jealous you have the DxDDP and can do a mix of each, which means more character meals!

And that's what I am struggling with, characters during meals ARE only at Disney, but we have 3 scheduled (not quite the most popular on the boards: CM, CP, and H&V) so far, which still doesn't seem like much, but for that reason, we may lean towards Boma...

Wish we had just one more night, so we could do both because while we wouldn't mind paying OOP for a meal, not sure where we would fit it in between everything else!

 

[SBWB48]

Wow, that is a hard decision. Do you want characters? If you don't, then I would say Boma, because it is really a beautiful place and has so many options. There are plenty of African inspired dishes along with American, it was fun to try a variety.

If you want to be in the parks, then Tusker, we love Tusker and are eating there in a little over a month. Great variety, very casual atmosphere.

My girls were 15 and 20 the last time we went. Both wanted to go back to Tusker, one was on the fence about Boma, the other said just skip it. But really glad we went. Boma is dark, lots of Africian decor, yet somewhat elegant to me. I personally loved it. Tusker very bright and like I said casual, loved the characters. You will get reviews here from people that may not enjoy characters or think the meals are overpriced. All meals are overpriced, its Disney.

You have to decide what atmosphere you would prefer, and do you want the convenience of just walking in from the park. I did find Boma had staff that checked on you and were more attentive than Tusker.

Again, hard decision. But if you love Character Meals, there is only one choice.

It's funny, we love both restaurants for the food and different atmospheres! And I LOVE characters in general, but yet want to explore AKL...see why we can't make a decision and stick with it haha? We are also indifferent to eating at AK or AKL since AKL would be great to check out, and it never hurts to have the convenience of the parks. Any ROL dining package with TH may ultimately sway us, but we are SO indifferent to both because they both seem to be reviewed reallly well, that it will ultimately come down to the little things, but yet I have to make an ADR before the slim pickings that are available become gone!

 

[SBWB48]

If your only consideration is food quality - Boma.

But if you have an alternative calculus - Tusker House can be the 'better' choice for no other reason(s) than, "Location, location, location," to follow the business axiom.

More personal calculus - is traveling to Animal Kingdom Lodge worth your desire to seek out exotic flavors? Tiffins?

Personally, we prefer Boma for breakfast and the view from Sanaa for lunches & daylight dinner....but only if we are staying at Animal Kingdom.

Some families are comfortable traveling for food, others are not so inclined.

I should have really figured out the multi-quote feature before replying hah! If only it were "all else equal", then the deciding factor would definitely be food quality since we don't mind traveling for food (we will have a rental car). "Unfortunately", characters have to exist at TH, so we are stuck in a limbo...but with 3 character meals scheduled (and maybe 4 if I can manage to get DBF to agree to a bfast AND more importantly, find somewhere to fit it in), maybe we will go with Boma and see Mickey and Donald in their safari outfits via M&Gs around AK

 

[Lisa F]

We have a few other character meals, but mostly dinners since neither of us eat much for bfast despite REALLLLY wanting to do a bfast just for characters . We are on the DDP for 8 nights, but even then it feels like it's not nearly enough for us to try all the places we want to go to! So jealous you have the DxDDP and can do a mix of each, which means more character meals!

And that's what I am struggling with, characters during meals ARE only at Disney, but we have 3 scheduled (not quite the most popular on the boards: CM, CP, and H&V) so far, which still doesn't seem like much, but for that reason, we may lean towards Boma...

Wish we had just one more night, so we could do both because while we wouldn't mind paying OOP for a meal, not sure where we would fit it in between everything else!

I am doing a split stay and have 5 FULL days to use my 4 nights worth of credits so it works out to 2 meals a day with some being 2TS. But I LOVE CP, have never been to CM (and won't this trip) and are doing H&V dinner for the first time. It will be interesting! I would probably lean toward boma because two of your other meals are basically the same characters too.

 

[SBWB48]

I am doing a split stay and have 5 FULL days to use my 4 nights worth of credits so it works out to 2 meals a day with some being 2TS. But I LOVE CP, have never been to CM (and won't this trip) and are doing H&V dinner for the first time. It will be interesting! I would probably lean toward boma because two of your other meals are basically the same characters too.

Definitely makes sense for you to maximize your DxDDP with 5 full days and signatures mixed in. We have 8 nights (via FD) on the DDP over what will be essentially 7.5 days since our flight arrives around 11:30am on arrival day. The only character meal of the 3 we are going to (CM, CP, and H&V) that we've done before is CP, but I'm going back because I too LOVE CP, so couldn't give that up to do TH AND Boma. CM we had to do since I probably wouldn't want to pay OOP for it normally and DBF was intrigued with the idea of the monorails passing by as we eat (we are 28, but very much have a love for Disney like children hah!). H&V made us nervous as well, but excited to see the characters in Halloween costumes and that in itself is unique enough; on top of the fact that it's the F! package we are doing, so makes sense with FD.

Certainly leaning towards Boma because as you said, characters will be similar at CM and H&V where the chef and halloween outfits will be unique and not available during M&Gs (unless we are willing to sacrifice MNSSHP time for Minnie that night) while I can get a picture with safari Mickey/Minnie and Donald in AK (lines weren't terrible last time). May have just talked myself into booking Boma...only until ROL packages come out probably and puts a wrecking ball into my plans but we are going the last week of September, so who knows of ROL will be ready by then and we aren't really interested in JB, so no need for a JB dining package.

Now if only I can manage to find a way to squeeze in a late bfast perhaps...

 

[CaptJacksWench]

I have ate at both places and they are both fantastic. Boma however is always a must eat spot for my family each vacation as it is one of our favorite restaurants in all of WDW. Even my 11 year old DD likes the selections and we all love the Zebra Domes.

 

[SBWB48]

I have ate at both places and they are both fantastic. Boma however is always a must eat spot for my family each vacation as it is one of our favorite restaurants in all of WDW. Even my 11 year old DD likes the selections and we all love the Zebra Domes.

I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but DBF is, so the zebra domes were a huge selling point lol. I would also like to be able to try one without outright paying for them and not liking it (seemingly impossible given the rave reviews here)

 

[CaptJacksWench]

I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but DBF is, so the zebra domes were a huge selling point lol. I would also like to be able to try one without outright paying for them and not liking it (seemingly impossible given the rave reviews here)

I am not sure if there are any other areas either in the Animal Kingdom or the Animal Kingdom Lodge that you can just purchase a single Zebra Dome. They should sell them in the freezer section in the little store in the AKL.

 

[MeganMango]

I ate at Boma on my last trip 3 months ago. Good, but Tusker House was WAY better. Zebra Dome's were good, but that's about the only dessert that was good. The rest of the dessert was similar things, tasty, but there should be better desserts for the price you pay. There were cookies out that were obviously prebought.

 

[KJTex]

I have never been to Tusker House, but my family went to Boma last week and loved it. We ate, walked around the hotel and just enjoyed the AC until we were ready to brave the heat again and go back to Animal Kingdom.