Garden Grill Breakfast..."Sucks"?!

[deserrai]

My family loves Garden Grill for breakfast and dinner. The restaurant has rotated every time we have been, we love the food and the character interaction was excellent. We each chose one ADR for our upcoming trip and DD23 chose Garden Grill. She's only been once, but loved it so much that was her one must-do.

 

[Bunnyma]

We were there yesterday for breakfast. It was wonderful from start to finish. The characters came around twice and they were hilarious. Chip even gave my teenager a (pretend) wet willie. The restaurant rotated and the food was excellent. You should totally go. You will love it.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Wow, what a great story with pictures! That sounds like such a magical moment. Does a CM come with the character every time they come to your table? I’d love to have someone take our picture with the characters if at all possible.

It was absolutely a magical moment! Unfortunately, no, a CM does not come around with the characters. I'm guessing one just happened to notice the interaction and mentioned it to a few others. You can't see in the pics, but there were at least 3 other CMs laughing off to the side. As for pics, you could ask your server if he/she could take pics if they happen to be around. If you mention in the beginning of the meal that you'd love to have pics together, they may be able to try to pop on by when the characters come to take a pic, but obviously there's no guarantee and will depend on how busy they are.

 

[Lexx1214]

Everyone has different tastes and opinions. What works for one doesn’t always work for someone else. What your coworker likes doesn’t matter - that you’re excited about the sticky buns and waffles and characters is the only thing that matters.

That being said DH and I are going in September and already have an ADR for GG and we are excited for exactly the same reasons you are (though DH is already trying to make a deal that he gets all the sticky bun and I get all the waffles lol)

 

[DekrRini]

I make a point of eating at GG at least once on every visit. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner doesn't make a difference to me. The food is always good. And I have found the character interaction at GG to be the best of any character meal in the parks. The characters will spend as much or as little time with you as you want.

I hope you have a great experience at GG.

 

[ChimCher-ee]

I've eaten only lunch there, so I'm sorry to disregard your request for breakfast info only. But I love GG so much that I have to put in my 2 cents. I also love Chip and Dale, and both times I've been, they've come around at least twice. And Farmer Mickey is so cute! I love seeing Living with the Land from a different POV, too. It's really well worth it, and I haven't even been with kids!
Enjoy--you won't be disappointed.

 

[yankebabie]

We LOVE breakfast at Garden Grill. A must do for us!!!

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

I can’t speak from personal experience as we’ve never dined at GG - were a QS family.

What I will contribute is the fact that I’ve been on these boards for many years and I can count on one hand the number of negative comments I’ve read about GG.
That’s REALLY saying something.

I’m glad you chose to keep your reservation.

 

[Shanti]

Hello there! I'm hoping someone can help me out here...

I have a trip planned for later this summer with my boyfriend. We rely on dining at QS locations only for our trip, but we splurge on one TS meal towards the end of our trip. (Last summer we did the Sci-Fi Dine-In for one last hurrah.) This summer I was going to switch things up and do a character meal. I booked an ADR for Garden Grill breakfast for our one TS meal. I'm excited because Chip N Dale are some of my absolute favorite characters, and the sticky bun cake looks life-changing.

However, I was talking about my upcoming plans with a co-worker who has gone (and will continue to go) to Disney World with his family every year for the past 12 years. They're like experts in my eyes. I said, "Have you ever eaten at the Garden Grill?" and he responded, "Yeah, it sucks!" He said the food was great but the restaurant is outdated, it didn't rotate when he was there, and the character interaction was short and sweet. He gave me other options that, in his opinion, were better than GG.

Here's my dilemma... We are on the summer quick service dining plan, so I don't want to spend too much money out of pocket on our TS meal. Garden Grill is a big splurge for us and the only reason we decided on breakfast was because it was cheaper than lunch and dinner. (And unlimited Mickey waffles just sounds like heaven!) We don't have children so long character interactions isn't a necessity for us, but I would like to get more than a "hi/bye" from them.

So, if you have dined at Garden Grill for breakfast in the last couple of years, please weigh in! Let me know if my co-worker is right, or if I should keep my ADR (and my excitement) for our breakfast!

Garden Grill breakfast was one of the best character breakfasts we've ever had, right up there with Tusker House.

We had dinner there once, and disliked that as they poorly accomodated gluten-free at dinner, and made us share a booth with another family, but breakfast was great. And even at the bad dinner, the character interaction was very good, better than at most WDW restaurants.

Just be careful if you're a party of one or two, to stand your ground against having to share a booth with another family if you're not okay with that. I was caught off-guard when it happened to us (they basically said tough luck when I asked not to sit there), but I would flat out refuse to be seated in a shared booth if they ever tried that on us again.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Garden Grill breakfast was one of the best character breakfasts we've ever had, right up there with Tusker House.

We had dinner there once, and disliked that as they poorly accomodated gluten-free at dinner, and made us share a booth with another family, but breakfast was great. And even at the bad dinner, the character interaction was very good, better than at most WDW restaurants.

Just be careful if you're a party of one or two, to stand your ground against having to share a booth with another family if you're not okay with that. I was caught off-guard when it happened to us (they basically said tough luck when I asked not to sit there), but I would flat out refuse to be seated in a shared booth if they ever tried that on us again.

Wow, that is not cool, I'm shocked they sat two families together in a booth, it's not like this is Biergarten where you expect it.

 

[Shanti]

Wow, that is not cool, I'm shocked they sat two families together in a booth, it's not like this is Biergarten where you expect it.

Yes, there are some booths that have a table separated into two separate yet close sections. Those are the ones that people share at. Didn't like it and wouldn't accept it again. Garden Grill is too expensive for paying customers to be forced to share a booth with strangers.

 

[djc9699]

Garden Grill breakfast is by far our favorite breakfast. The food is great and the characters are awesome. We do a PPO breakfast every trip and have never had a bad experience or bad food. It is our one can't miss reservation. I think you will enjoy it. Let us know how you like it when you are done with your trip.

 

[Arielfan98]

I went in January 2017 with my sister (we are both adults). It was my first and only time dining there for breakfast. It seems to me like your coworker had a bad fluke. I have walked by the restaurant a thousand times on several WDW vacations and I always saw it rotate (sounds weird, but I liked to look at it rotate because I always wondered what it'd be like to eat there). So finally, in Jan. 2017 I did and it was by far the best restaurant experience I had at WDW. We purposefully made reservations 30 minutes after rope drop so we could rush right on over to Soarin'. We rode Soarin' 3x without FP and walked right on. Next, we went to our breakfast ADR and we were seated immediately. Our waitress was wonderful and we received a ton of character interaction. We took pictures with Chip n' Dale twice! Also, the food was fantastic, just like the reviews said (tip: order the POG juice). The platform rotated just fine when we ate there. I suppose the decor statement is more of an opinion, but to me the decor was fine. I mean you don't really notice the decor because that's not the point of the meal. It just didn't stick out to me as really good or really bad? I am a Disney veteran and I highly recommend you give GG a fair shot. I always encourage people to try things out for themselves (including the infamous Tony's Town Square) if they truly want to try something.
In terms of $$, you will definitely save money. For the two of us, it came to $80 with tax. It was well worth every penny. The food, character interaction, awesome platform rotation aspect, and friendly service were fantastic. Plus, we were so stuffed we didn't need to eat anything but a light snack later that night.

 

[agavegirl1]

Thank you for your thread. I will be trying for a PPO Garden Grill ADR on one of our early Epcot days because I need to book one PPO breakfast for DH and I and after showing him photos of the food, he is on board completely. I would hate for it to "suck". There was a period of time where the rotation didn't work. It is now.

 

[WedWayPilot]

GG is one of my favorite experiences at Epcot. The cinnamon bun bake is great, I enjoy looking at the Land ride and I usually book it PPO which allows us to walk into an almost Empty Epcot and get a pre rope drop ride on Soarin. My daughters love chip and dale so that is an added bonus for us.

 

[22Tink]

We just had breakfast there on Friday and it was great, just like I remember from our trip in 2015. Delicious food, great character interaction and yes, the restaurant was spinning! We prefer PPO to see an empty Epcot!

ETA I obviously highly recommend it!!!

 

[Barbydoll8]

Food is very subjective. I've done both breakfast and lunch at GG. The character interaction is incredible at either but we were greatly disappointed with breakfast. It's WAY to bread-y for us. Too many heavy carbs and while the cinnamon bun was good, I wasn't blown away. I'd much rather a Trails End breakfast or dinner and then go see Chip & Dale for free at the campfire sing along at Fort Wilderness. That's just me.
I'd do lunch again but I'd skip breakfast there.

 

[JerseyJanice]

There isn’t a restaurant in the world (Disney World and the rest of the planet) that doesn’t “suck” to someone.

I would never eat breakfast at Garden Grill because I hate powdered eggs, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give it a try.

 

[Crystal824]

I think GG has a great breakfast. Much better than dinner at GG IMO. The characters are great, it rotates, and if you get a PPO time, you can be one of the first people are Soarin

 

[mamamelody2]

We have had dinner at GG twice and loved it both times. Great character interactions and it was rotating like it was supposed to be. We had free DDP or would not have done it due to cost.

This September we have an ADR for GG breakfast as a splurge and because it is cheaper than dinner. Can't wait! It is our only table service meal of a 9 day trip.