Garden Grill Breakfast and Soarin...LIVE UPDATE

[VTGirlinNC]

We had an 8:00 GG breakfast today (7/11) with the hopes of riding Soarin with no wait. We got to the park at 7:45 (we were running a little late this morning!). There were about 50 people in line to get in. They didn't let us in until 7:50. Most of the people went to Akerhaus. When we arrived at GG there were only 2 or 3 families ahead of us. We were seated, got the check immediately and we were done eating by 8:35. We walked down to Soarin and there was nobody there. I was expecting people from GG to be rushing down, but nope...we were clearly the only ones in a hurry. We talked to the CM's for a while and then at 8:47 they waved us through. We got a rider swap so that I could ride later. My husband took our son on the ride and I took the baby on living with the land. They rode in the front row and said only a couple people were with them. They practically had the ride to themselves. We were both done with our rides by 9:05. The wait for Soarin was posted at 10 min until about 9:20. It was a slow day at Epcot today. We could've gone again but decided to keep moving on. We did have a disappointing character experience at GG. With only a handful of people in the restaurant, it has the potential of an amazing interaction with the characters. I think we were just unlucky. Mickey was borderline rude. I won't go into detail, but he pretty much just waved by our table and made it clear that he wasn't interested in spending time with us. Very bizarre. I could tell our waitress was embarrassed as she kept trying to make excuses for him. Pluto never came by. Not sure where he was. Chip and dale were awesome. With that said, I will take an early breakfast with first dibs on a popular ride any day over waiting outside in the heat with thousands of other people at rope drop...even if I have to eat with a grumpy Mickey!!

 

[Candycane83]

We had an 8:00 GG breakfast today (7/11) with the hopes of riding Soarin with no wait. We got to the park at 7:45 (we were running a little late this morning!). There were about 50 people in line to get in. They didn't let us in until 7:50. Most of the people went to Akerhaus. When we arrived at GG there were only 2 or 3 families ahead of us. We were seated, got the check immediately and we were done eating by 8:35. We walked down to Soarin and there was nobody there. I was expecting people from GG to be rushing down, but nope...we were clearly the only ones in a hurry. We talked to the CM's for a while and then at 8:47 they waved us through. We got a rider swap so that I could ride later. My husband took our son on the ride and I took the baby on living with the land. They rode in the front row and said only a couple people were with them. They practically had the ride to themselves. We were both done with our rides by 9:05. The wait for Soarin was posted at 10 min until about 9:20. It was a slow day at Epcot today. We could've gone again but decided to keep moving on. We did have a disappointing character experience at GG. With only a handful of people in the restaurant, it has the potential of an amazing interaction with the characters. I think we were just unlucky. Mickey was borderline rude. I won't go into detail, but he pretty much just waved by our table and made it clear that he wasn't interested in spending time with us. Very bizarre. I could tell our waitress was embarrassed as she kept trying to make excuses for him. Pluto never came by. Not sure where he was. Chip and dale were awesome. With that said, I will take an early breakfast with first dibs on a popular ride any day over waiting outside in the heat with thousands of other people at rope drop...even if I have to eat with a grumpy Mickey!!

Sorry about the grumpy Mickey... Kind of sucks especially when you have two little ones!
How was the food?

 

[VTGirlinNC]

Sorry about the grumpy Mickey... Kind of sucks especially when you have two little ones!
How was the food?

The food was good! Can't go wrong with Mickey waffles. The eggs and bacon were typical Disney-style. The enormous cinnamon bun they served at the beginning was delicious and the fruit was very good too. It was soooo much food. We didn't put a dent in the platter they gave us. I felt bad wasting so much food.

 

[disny_luvr]

Sorry the character interaction was lacking. Maybe it was an off day; our character interaction the other week was great! Do you think you never saw Pluto because you left before he made it to your table? I don't know, just a thought...

 

[belle1986]

Thanks for updating!

 

[rubysapphire]

I have an 835 reservation at GG coming up. Does anyone know if it works like BOG and they will let us in early if we're there early?

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I have a reservation at 8:20 and hope to get in early as well. I can't wait. That is exactly what we want to do. As it will just be DH and I it doesn't matter about grumpy Mickey to us, but sorry it happened to you.

 

[jpeden]

I have an 835 reservation at GG coming up. Does anyone know if it works like BOG and they will let us in early if we're there early?

When my wife and I went they sat people who had PPO reservations by order of check in. For example, we had an 8:30ish (can't remember) reservation and they seated us at 8:05ish.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

Thanks for the report.

We have an 8:05am ADR at GG on August 15 and hope to get a jump on the line at Soarin' too.

 

[123SA]

Thanks so much for this report. I'm hoping for a similar morning at the end of the month. I much prefer eating breakfast to standing in the rope drop crowd.

 

[Kidanifan08]

Ha...I think we were there the day after you for a 8:05 reservation. We had a similar experience with the ride as you. Our Mickey did a great job, and was rather playful and mischievous with the server. When we were first seated, all 4 characters came around for a group shot, which was really neat. We've done breakfast there before and that has never happened. For the individual table visits, Chip kept missing us. Our server finally went over to him to let him know we needed to leave and he came over right away.

The server acknowledged right away that it was a good plan to dine and head to Soarin early, so she brought our bill as soon as all of the food was served. We had quick service for seconds, as well. The cinnamon rolls are truly awesome!

 

[julieFitz]

Thanks for the report.

We have an 8:05am ADR at GG on August 15 and hope to get a jump on the line at Soarin' too.

us too for the 22nd!! can't wait

 

[Lisa F]

I think if you do your character meal in half of the time that is recommended, you run the risk of missing out on some characters (Pluto). They may have been pacing them a bit for whatever reason. That said I am sorry Mickey was rude. Maybe Mickey didn't have his coffee yet

Thanks for posting - although I am not planning to do the PPO thing I am planning to RD Soarin' and Living with the Land before a 10am GG breakfast ADR. We are staying at BWV and I don't think RD at the international gateway entrance is as crazy although it is a longer walk to future world. I am thinking that with FEA open and the third theater open, it is taking pressure off of Soarin' as a RD attraction. It sounds like we may even get to ride it a couple of times and then living with the land before breakfast!