Garden Grille Experiences?

[laurainsem]

So I just made my dining reservations (surprised how many places I got that I wanted considering its past the 180 days) and we are trying GG for the first time. We have a 2.5 y/o with us on this trip so thought maybe this would be a calm character dining experience for her.

What characters are there besides Chip and Dale? Also, what are your experiences with the restaurant? Any and all feedback is really appreciated. So excited that this surprise trip is happening! The friends I'm bringing along have never been to WDW (the husband has never been to any Disney parks period) so it will be a blast.

 

[rg35]

Can't be any help (sorry), but we are also going for the first time this year for lunch with our 7 year olds.

 

[peanutmomma]

Chip, Dale, Mickey (in farmer overalls) and Pluto.

For our 2014 trip, it tied for best character interaction with Tusker House. We are trying breakfast next month.

Have fun!

 

[K_Jordan]

Farmer Mickey in a plaid shirt and Pluto was wearing a plaid collar (I think!), plus Chip and Dale.

Our experience seemed to be a little out of the norm. We had the first reservation of the day (before opening) and we had really disappointing character interactions (which was upsetting because I wore and Chip and Dale shirt and everything! haha). From what I read, most people had stellar interactions and the characters visited multiple times, so take our experience with a grain of salt.

The only thing that made our experience go from bad to decent was the food! It's great and super fresh! Excellent fruit salad (seriously some of the best fruit I have had), bacon, waffles, tator tots, eggs, and a giant cinnamon roll (so so so good!). I highly recommend the breakfast food (no experience with lunch or dinner, sorry!)

 

[DisneyHardin]

We had dinner there two years ago and it was great. The restaurant is fairly small, so the characters came around twice while we were there. We thought the dinner food was very good. They have big fluffy dinner rolls (like the ones at O'Charleys); I could have made a meal out of those. The platter of food was really good too - we liked the beef and mashed potatoes the best and even asked for more. I don't like cobbler, so I asked if they had other desert choices and the server was super nice and brought us a whole plate of the little cupcake deserts from the kids menu.

 

[mocame]

We had dinner at the Garden Grill in May. My family consists of me, dh, dd (16), and ds (13). We loved it! We saw Chip, Dale, Farmer Mickey, and Pluto and they each came around 3 times and we had the best character interactions of our trip here. The service was good, the food was good and there was a lot of it. It took about an hour to eat which is about the same amount of time it takes for the restaurant to go completely around one time. We highly recommend it!

 

[disney world dreamer]

chip, dale, pluto, and micky

we absolutely love it there!
its the most relaxing character meal i've ever been to.
its just a very relaxed atmosphere in general.
i also like that ids not loud.
the character interaction is great.
and don't even get me started on the food!
its truly delicious!

 

[wdwrule]

We've eaten there a few times for dinner. The food is decent and the character interaction was great! They each came around several times to us and had fun with us. Great photo ops! We've always had a table on the outer loop and it always feels very private and peaceful. We enjoy the Land ride and it's nice to be a "part" of that during our meal.

 

[minera]

We have had dinner there. My daughter absolutely loved the spinning restaurant, and the character interaction was fantastic! Even my husband got in on it, and those are some of our best pictures at disney!

 

[OneOftheB's]

I'll echo wdwrule's comments. The food was very good, the character interaction was fabulous and it was a really calm, no stress character meal. I would definitely recommend it!

 

[farrahalex76]

We had dinner and loved it. Make sure you ask for a booth. My husband checked us in while I was doing some pressed pennies and told them we needed a high chair so we got a table on the upper level (he didn't know and I didn't tell him). It is still one of the best character meals we have had.

 

[Marshypooh]

My family has ate here numerous times and we love it. Have never had a bad experience at all. As others have said character interaction is great and they normally make it around to all the tables at least twice, and, if you are slow eaters like we are, sometimes a third time. Food is hot, fresh, and plentiful. Nice to have a dinner with some resemblance to a home-cooked meal, too. A little more quiet here than some of the other character meals, plus food is brought to the table so you aren't running back and forth like at the buffets. Nice for those with little ones, like yourself laurainsem. I also enjoy the changing scenery.

 

[dislovefrommn]

I've only heard good things about it! We are going there for the first time in Sept.

 

[laurainsem]

You guys are getting me so excited! I actually forgot its the spinning restaurant so that makes it even more special. A relaxed atmosphere is what I crave (one of the reasons I don't like Chef Mickey's) and having really outstanding character interaction will make it so special.

 

[jillt2ph]

Had breakfast there in May and it was fantastic! Food was great and the characters were a blast. We were on the lower level, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It is a rare thing to have a meal at a TS restaurant at Disney and actually feel like you are a private dining party.

 

[donac]

I took dh there last Oct and we had a blast. The character interaction even for adults was a lot of fun. We also celebrated dh's birthday so he got a card signed by the characters and a piece of birthday cake. We had a lot of fun.

 

[WDWNY]

We ate there for dinner once and never again. We all thought the food was gross.

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

We went years ago, the interaction was great and we really liked the restaurant but the food was just ok. I have heard they changed the menu and the food is better now. DD is too cool for the characters meal now (17) hopefully in a couple years she will be out of this phase and we can start going back to them...

 

[stitchfan18]

We had dinner and loved it. Make sure you ask for a booth. My husband checked us in while I was doing some pressed pennies and told them we needed a high chair so we got a table on the upper level (he didn't know and I didn't tell him). It is still one of the best character meals we have had.

Can you sit at a booth with a high chair? I've always been seated in a booth when we didn't have a high chair, and always upper level with a high chair. We'll definitely request a booth on our next visit if we can have a high chair at one!

 

[Winniebell10]

We're going for the first time this December. I'm excited after reading this thread!