Looking for help with Tusker House and AK touring

[momdisfan]

We just decided to take a trip to Disney at the end of August/beginning of September. This is my first trip without planning far in advance. And our first trip since Pandora opened. I was able to get an 840am reservation at Tusker House on our AK day which is rated a crowd level of 3. We always do an early morning breakfast at AK for two reasons to get in park early to ride Safari without much waiting and to get pictures in from of the Tree without crowds. I'm thinking it's best to Rope Drop FoP and Na'vi, however and not worry about what we did in the past. What are your thoughts on 840 Tusker House vs Rope Drop Pandora? My other thought is to make a later reservation at Tusker House and eat brunch say around 1030, has anyone done this? thoughts? Can you eat the lunch food once they start switching over? Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[FCDub]

Do the later reservation, if you'd like to ride FOP and NRJ.

 

[DaniMoon]

We are going mid-end August. I have a 10:30 TH reservation. It's our third day, so I will wait and see what FPs I get, but we usually always RD. We will head to FOP and when we get off that, we will see if we want to do Na'vi or Safari.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Can you eat the lunch food once they start switching over?

Yes. Do plan on a two hour time slot for Tusker. You may be waiting up to 30 minutes to be seated and then up to 75 minutes or more to meet all the characters. Pay for your meal when you are seated as some guests have been waiting more than 30 minutes to receive their bill after their meal is complete.

The RoL packages have been creating delays at Tusker and Managers haven’t been “fixing” all the missed FPs.

 

[Alison S]

A meal at Tusker House is 2 hours??? Oh my goodness. I was going to go there but...no. Is that anytime, all day long?

 

[ktlm]

10:30 should be great. Yes, if they start switching the food over while you are there you can eat the lunch food. We have done that and enjoy it. It is nice to get a taste of the breakfast food and a taste of the lunch food. You just never know how long a meal at TH is going to take. We have had it take an hour from when we have checked in, and we have had it take 2 hours. Sometimes, you get right in after check in and sometimes you can have a pretty long wait for a table.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

A meal at Tusker House is 2 hours??? Oh my goodness. I was going to go there but...no. Is that anytime, all day long?

Weird, we had a 945am Tusker breakfast on our last trip, were seated maybe 5 minutes later, and were out of there in an hour after seeing all the characters. We were able to return to the buffet line 2 or 3 times easily.

Hopefully the reports of them taking longer are the exception.

 

[hiroMYhero]

A meal at Tusker House is 2 hours??? Oh my goodness. I was going to go there but...no. Is that anytime, all day long?

It’s because of the RoL package guests. Instead of seating guests according to the character rotation of the restaurant, they are seating people anywhere there is an open table. So, after the first wave of breakfast guests, it begins to slow down. A guest can be seated in a room where Mickey has just left. They then have to wait up to 75 minutes before he returns to that room.

My CM friend often coordinates the entertainment CMs and there has been much discussion with management about speeding up dining for the guests...but it’s dependent upon the seating arrangements for arriving guests.

If you pay as soon as you are seated and if you don’t care about meeting all the characters, you can leave as quickly as possible. If you end up missing a FP window, ask to speak to a Manager as that’s kinda the new standard for a meal at Tusker.

 

[momdisfan]

I hope it doesn't take two hours - we have always had a great experience at Tusker House. but we have also always had early reservations. Thanks for the heads up! Hopefully by the end of August they can get the seating issue figured out. Does anyone know if we have a 1030 reservation and have to wait 30 minutes for a table (which I hope not!) will we be charged the lunch price or breakfast?

 

[hiroMYhero]

I hope it doesn't take two hours - we have always had a great experience at Tusker House. but we have also always had early reservations. Thanks for the heads up! Hopefully by the end of August they can get the seating issue figured out. Does anyone know if we have a 1030 reservation and have to wait 30 minutes for a table (which I hope not!) will we be charged the lunch price or breakfast?

The seating has been a problem since November and because they have to work in all the RoL package diners, you’ll need to plan on a long brunch when booking your FPs for that day.

 

[Dan Murphy]

10:30 should also give you breakfast pricing, but probably will include some lunch items being put out on the buffet.