Character meal at Ohana or Tusker house

[Lexje06]

I will be in Disney for 3 days with a 4 year old aug 24-27. I cannot fit ant character dining into our plans until the 27th. On the 27th we have Disney after hours at AK. That day we are not going to any parks, just going to swim, relax, pack and maybe nap to prepare for that night.

I really want to do at least one character dining. That day we could either

1. Sleep in, uber to Ohana for breakfast at 10 am and then come back to the resort (Akl) and relax and hang until it’s time to head to the park at 6:30 or

2. Spend the entire day at AKL, have breakfast there, and have dinner at tusker house at AK at 7:30.

Has anyone done both dining experiences? In your opinion, what is better for a 4 year old? How long would you estimate both experiences to take in comparison to each other?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Hi @Lexje06, FYI, I moved your thread to the Restaurants board.

 

[Jacq7414]

Do you want to spend some of your time during after hours at Tusker house? If not I would go to ohana breakfast. Unless your 4 year old would rather see Donald, Daisy and goofy (since Mickey is at both) vs Pluto, lilo & stitch.

Although, I think my 3 year old would like the characters at Tusker house better because she’s not really into LILO and stitch.

 

[westie55]

I prefer Tusker House, personally. I would do Ohana only if your child realllllly wants to meet Lilo and Stitch. Otherwise, Tusker at dinnertime offers WAY more variety in food. Ohana's breakfast is family style and is rather limited in choices, IMO. Tusker is my favorite character dinner on property.

 

[Dumbo777]

Hands down Tusker House. In my opinion, it better because there are more choices of food for kids, more characters, and the characters interact with the kids and lead them around in a parade. It's really cute, plus the food at Tusker House is delicious.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Do you want to be served, or do you want a buffet. Apples and Oranges. Which characters does your child like best? Will the TH interfere with your after dark event? I wouldnt waste time dining during the event You could be there 90+ minutes if you want to see all the characters.

 

[rosiebean]

At that age, it’s really about which characters your kid likes most. Food at both is appropriate for a toddler/pre-school age. Characters interact with kids at both restaurants. And lead them on parades at both. Personally, I found the food and character interaction better at ‘Ohana, hands down...but if this is solely about making your four-year-old happy, food is comparable and it really comes down your party would enjoy meeting.

 

[Sandiz08]

Tusker, ohana breakfast and dinner both need a service overhaul. It isn’t what it used to be, pains me to say that because we loved it.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

We've never been to Ohana for breakfast, but I would definitely pick that in your situation. DAH is expensive and I wouldn't want to waste valuable event hours eating a TS character meal in the park. You probably wouldn't get out of the restaurant until around 9 and you wouldn't really have time to do anything before your ADR, so it would really limit your time to enjoy the event.

Also, personally we really don't care for TH. A lot of people seem to praise it as one of the better character meals, but it is easily the one we dislike the most. Last time we went for dinner, we waited a good bit past our reservation time to be seated (this seems to be common with TH), the characters took forever to come around and were extremely rushed, and there was no parade with the characters or anything. We also couldn't see the table from the buffet area so it was stressful going up for food since we didn't want to miss the characters. We had a child, a toddler, and adults who ranged from vegetarian to carnivore, almost all of whom are extremely adventurous eaters and love ethnic and Indian foods... we were all disappointed in the food options and thought everything had the same almost sweet taste. I've had similar not-so-great experiences there over the years, so it's likely off the table for us unless they do some changes.

 

[KenHutch]

We have eaten at both places multiple times for breakfast. For character interaction I would do Ohana. They bring you the food so you won't miss any characters. Now for breakfast the food at Tusker House is better but with a 4 year old you are probably going for the characters. According to my notes we spent about 60-75 minutes at both places.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We prefer 'Ohana. True, service has been mixed of late, but we always seem to get the short stick when we dine at Tusker and wind up on an off day for food. I also like the setting more and getting to see Lilo and Stitch. Ultimately, these meals are notoriously inconsistent, so I prefer to let character preferences guide me when it comes to choices.

 

[Meldickerson]

I like both but prefer Tusker House... It seems to me to be more relaxed and not your typical breakfast food...

 

[jlb727]

I’ve been to Tusker House for dinner, and we really enjoyed it. There was something for everyone on the buffet, and everyone agreed the food was good. Our waitress was great. The atmosphere was relaxed. We must have gotten lucky because the characters came around shortly after we were seated. My son, who was 3, was scared of Mickey at first but he spent a lot of time with us until my son was comfortable and then came back around AGAIN and spent time so we could get a picture with my son and Mickey. The character interaction was much better than the princesses at CRT, which was the other character dining we did that trip. I was really impressed.

Then, as we walked outside after dinner, some of the performers from the Lion King show were doing street entertainment right in front of the restaurant. It was probably our best meal of the trip! I loved Animal Kingdom in the evening better than the day! We didn’t have anything planned after it, though, so we could really relax and enjoy it. I don’t know how you’d feel if you were pressed for time.

We’ve never been to Ohana, but we are planning to go next trip for breakfast because my kids are into L&S now.

 

[senadler]

Is this your only day at AK? If so, then I would not spend the time at a character meal. I think you definitely would want to do the safari, and that is not running during DAH. While Ohana is a must do for us every trip, it is because both my sons are fans of Stitch. For your 4 year old, if strictly going for characters and not the food, I would actually say maybe an early dinner at Chef Mickey's before DAH might be a better choice. For us, food has been very hit and miss there, but we have still gone mainly for characters for our youngest.