Garden Grill to lose characters for lunch 9/08

[BlondeAlligator]

I saw here that LTT and GG were losing their characters in 1/09 but...yesterday I called to make my ADRs for 11/08 & was told that as of September Garden Grill would no longer have the characters at lunch. I booked a dinner there instead so my DD could see Mickey. I don't know if this update has been posted yet but I thought I'd let you all know!

Happy Disney Dining!

 

[angikay30]

I'm bumping this - as we have lunch adr's at Garden Grill in beginning of September....would reconsider this adr if there's NO characters!!

Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks for your time!

 

[LadyOmega]

I believe the deal is that Garden Grill will no longer have lunch at all beginning Oct. 6. LTT will no longer have characters at dinner after Jan. 5. Hope that's right.

 

[momatater]

This is from allearsnet.com:

Liberty Tree Tavern - Beginning January 5, 2009, the Magic Kingdom's Liberty Tree Tavern will no longer offer character dining. The last character dinner at the Tavern will be on January 4, 2009. (Posted July 1, 2008)

Garden Grill Lunch - Beginning October 6, 2008, Epcot's Garden Grill will no longer serve lunch. The Garden Grill will continue to serve dinner.


Hope this helps!

 

[angikay30]

BlondeAlligator - are you sure it was September that you were told that this would effect? Were you told this by a CM? ....I'm about ready to call - I just always hesitate calling to change/question adrs --- always paranoid that the CM will inadvertantly delete all my adrs.

Wish they had an ability to allow you to at least VIEW your adrs online...or send you an email confirmation with all your adrs.

 

[BlondeAlligator]

BlondeAlligator - are you sure it was September that you were told that this would effect? Were you told this by a CM? ....I'm about ready to call - I just always hesitate calling to change/question adrs --- always paranoid that the CM will inadvertantly delete all my adrs.

Wish they had an ability to allow you to at least VIEW your adrs online...or send you an email confirmation with all your adrs.

Yes...a very nice, very helpful CM told me that starting in Sept. there would be no characters at GG lunch. She said we could have lunch there in Nov., just that there would be no characters. So I decided right there to switch to dinner. She really seemed to know her stuff, so I trusted her. Perhaps calling the restaurant directly & ask to speak to the manager would be best if you need info about a specific date. Keep me posted...now I'm curious!

 

[LadyOmega]

Yes...a very nice, very helpful CM told me that starting in Sept. there would be no characters at GG lunch. She said we could have lunch there in Nov., just that there would be no characters. So I decided right there to switch to dinner. She really seemed to know her stuff, so I trusted her. Perhaps calling the restaurant directly & ask to speak to the manager would be best if you need info about a specific date. Keep me posted...now I'm curious!

I think you just had a very misinformed CM. There have been several threads covering this, indicating that there will be no lunch seatings at GG after the first week of Oct. Another call to a different CM would most likely give you the correct info. It's good you got your dinner ADR with the characters.

 

[angikay30]

Anyone else had a CM tell them that Garden Grill will be dropping the Characters for their lunches starting in September?

 

[tnmomof4]

I had a lunch ADR for GG in November, and when I called to ask about it I was told that they were no longer going to serve lunch after Oct. 5. The CM told me the characters would still be there for dinner.

 

[saraheeyore]

i have one too but luckily we decided to change and go to Boma for dinner instead that day guess we made the right choice as there is now no lunch there at all

 

[BlondeAlligator]

I had a lunch ADR for GG in November, and when I called to ask about it I was told that they were no longer going to serve lunch after Oct. 5. The CM told me the characters would still be there for dinner.

What if you had not called? Would they have contacted you to let you know that lunch was not being served anymore? Hmmm...no I'm even more curious!

 

[tinkerbell60]

We were just at the GG on Sunday July 6th - the CM told me that as of October they would no longer be serving lunch, dinner only. He did not know why they are making this change since they are always booked up.

 

[TDC Nala]

It is my understanding that they will not be serving lunch at all.

 

[Dolce27]

What if you had not called? Would they have contacted you to let you know that lunch was not being served anymore? Hmmm...no I'm even more curious!

Probably not. The same thing happened to me: I had a lunch ADR scheduled for Christmas day. I had to call last week to add another ADR. Chatting with the CM we began discussing the removal of characters at LTT which led to the CM making an off-hand comment about GG. She never once mentioned that I should change my lunch ADR, if she hadn’t made the comment she had in relation to LTT, I’d still have a *non-existent* lunch ADR for GG on Christmas day – when the park is packed and food options will be rough.

So, this removal of lunch at GG is recent as I made the lunch ADR two weeks ago and everything was fine then.

 

[kathie859]

Lunch at the GG had great interaction with the characters!! The food was okay (not great/not awful/certainly plentiful) but Mickey and Chip and Dale, et al, were very attentive. This is a real surprise to cut this character meal--they always seemed busy when we were there

 

[scjo68]

I agree, the character interaction was good there.... maybe that's why they are dropping it. More characters per guest= less profit.

I don't have such a problem with them moving to dinner-only. It's their right as a business to do what they feel is best.

However, it is absolutely awful that they are cancelling meals for which they have taken reservations. And even worse that they did not notify everyone effected immediately, so they can make alternate ADR's. That is just plain unprofessional and poor customer service. What exactly are people supposed to do when they find out at lunch time, the day of, and they have plannned the whole day around this lunch? If it's a busy day, they may not get in somewhere else where they want to eat. What if they are on the DDP, meaning they have already paid for the meal, and it's their last day?

Sorry, I never rant on here. Every time I read a thread about this, I get madder, and just couldn't hold it in any more.

And this doesn't even effect me, because we don't even have a trip planned. I just feel for those effected.

 

[tavettava]

Disney is losing 2 characters meals, this and Liberty Tree Tavern.

 

[tnmomof4]

What if you had not called? Would they have contacted you to let you know that lunch was not being served anymore? Hmmm...no I'm even more curious!

The CM told me I probably would not have been contacted. She said that I would have found out when I arrived to eat lunch. The other thing that made it frustrating was that we were going to eat lunch at 11:30. The only ADRs left for the same day were for dinner and they were really late.

 

[aubriee]

Are you sure on the 09/08 date? We have a lunch ADR there for 09/06.

 

[angikay30]

All the rumors say that the Character lunch at Garden Grill will end the beginning of October - but the OP heard directly from a CM that the character lunch at Garden Grill will end the beginning of September. (maybe not the lunch itself but the character interaction at least).

This would effect me too - I'm going to call in and see if I receive the same information as the OP - I'll post back my findings.