Grand gathering questions?

[sandymandr]

Hi! I know gg's are for 8 people and up, but am having trouble finding out what they are? I mean, what are the gg options? Also, do you have to do gg if you have 8 people? And does gg cost more? It says they count as 2 ts meals? So, what is so special about them? Is it worth it? TIA!!

 

[momtoejanda]

There are 3 GG events that you can participate in if you have 8 or more paying (doesnt include under 3yo) people.

1. Tonys Good Morning Breakfast (my all time favorite) tony greets you and he and Mickey, Minne, Goofy, and Donald serve you breakfast and have a little show. You also get a FP for Philharmagic. (1 TS )

2. Safari Celebration (very fun). slo mo through Kilimanjaro safari after park closure, dinner at tusker house, animal interactions, Rafiki and Timon are there, live music and dancing. (2 TS)

3. Illuminations dinner and desert (havent done this one) There is a character experience but not sure who. Special viewing area for illuminations (2 TS)


You dont have to do these, they are just available to you. Besides these, I have not found any other perks associated with the grand gathering. They do try to put your rooms next to each other, but I think that it is. I have never gotten any other benefits from being a grand gathering. I just highly recommend the breakfast!

 

[sandymandr]

Great thanks!! It looks like fun!
What kind of animal interactions? We all love animals!

 

[momtoejanda]

I dont remember, sorry. Small hand held animals and birds.

no matter what you decide, when you book, get a grand gathering number assigned to your group in case you do want to sign up for any of these. it will save a bunch of steps later.

 

[Tyme4wdw]

The Grand Gathering events cost additional money. There is Tony's shown above, there's the Illuminations Dinner and Dessert Party, a Pirate Cruise for Wishes and one an Animal Kingdom Safari and dinner. Our family did the Illuminations Dinner and Dessert Party and were very disappointed. The entertainment was not up to Disney Standards in our opinion...a Genie and a DJ. Small kids enjoyed dancing with characters, but my older teens and adults in the party were not impressed at all. The food was set out buffet style, was cold and tasted like it had been sitting under the warmers all day long. The dessert part was the best part of the evening, but it was held outside in the VIP viewing section for Illuminations...no tables or chairs, standing room only and crowded. Very hard to enjoy desserts and drinks standing up with everyone bumping into one another and jostling for a place to watch Illuminations. I'm glad we tried it once to see what it was like, but it's something we'll never do again.

 

[momtoejanda]

The pirate cruise mentioned above is actually now available to be booked by anyone. Havent done it yet but we are trying it out on the next trip!!

I didnt want to say it before, but that is why we havent done the illuminations event, I have yet to see very good reviews about it. They are usually "could take it or leave it, but wont do it again" type reviews

 

[2ofUs]

Great thanks!! It looks like fun!
What kind of animal interactions? We all love animals!

When we did the GG Safari, they had us gather at the Flights of Wonder area in AK where they discussed and displayed some of the birds. We were a group of adults and kids - and we all enjoyed this part.

We then went on a more personalized safari - off script - which was much nicer than the normal one. After that they had a really NICE dinner with food brought to our table Family Style. Everything was wonderful. My personal favorite park was walking out of AK and seeing all the wonderful evening lighting in the park - something you normally don't observe at AK.

The International Dinner was another we enjoyed. I agree that there really wasn't much of a 'show' but rather a chance for the kids to dance with Goofy & Minnie. The buffet dinner offered a variety of foods from 'around the world' after which each group had the opportunity to have a photo taken with Mickey before heading over to the Illuminations Dessert area.

We also found it to be crowded and if you are not among the first to arrive in the area, there is no chance to get a place by the rail, thus you are left with a limited view. Still, it is an interesting experience and if you can get the kids on top of a trash can (they are covered so it's not as bad as it sounds) they enjoy the show.

We did not have the opportunity to do Tony's though in retrospect, I wish we had. We just didn't want to sacrafice early morning park hours at MK. If we were on a longer visit, it would have been an option.