New Tusker House lunch

[mom2two]

Help! Can anybody tell me about the new character lunch at Tusker House? Examples of food choices, price, thoughts and opinions..... Thanks!

 

[pwdebbie]

I'd like to know too. I've got it reserved by seriously thinking of cancelling. We don't care for character meals, but we really enjoyed the food for lunch when we were there in 2009 and wanted to eat there again. The characters now being included makes me think that we may no longer want this ADR.

 

[tkillini99]

I am interested to hear about this too...we are a huge fan of the character breakfast at Tusker House, so I would love to try the lunch. What kinds of food do they have? Is it at all similar to Boma's dinner food (which we love)?

 

[lpizzuro123]

We have always loved Tusker House for lunch. Now I am not as sure. We loved the food and the price. Now that it is more expensive I guess we will still go there but not as sure.

I would love to hear from some people that have gone in the past and now and to see what, if anything, has changed besides the characters. We love the food - hopefully it will still be the same.


Linda

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

Thanks for the info. We didn't even know they were doing character lunch now. I just booked it for our AK day Feb 1st I don't know if the menu will really appeal to us but I guess we can eat off the kid's section if we have to

 

[Tiger926]

Just ate there a few days ago.

It is pretty much the exact same lunch as before (African influenced grilled meats, salads, pastas, breads, soups, desserts), just with characters present at tables - Daisy, Goofy and Mickey.

And as has been the case since last March, Donald takes photos outside of the restaurant ONLY. He does not sign autographs. Photopass CM is present, and they will come to table to sell you the $30.00 photo package, but they will let you take photos with your own cameras as well.

As is always the case with this restaurant though, they are seriously always behind. It took us almost 40 mins to be seated for our 12:20 ADR on Thursday.

Not sure why they are so behind, as character interaction is ALWAYS rushed here. We are a very efficient family, and can get autographs and photos done in 2 mins., and I realize not everyone is like us, but the constant running behind schedule here is a big problem!

Hope this helps, Tiger

 

[pwdebbie]

I'm pretty certain that I'll be cancelling our ADR. Don't want to pay for characters when I don't want them in the first place. We loved the food. It's a shame they changed it to character dining.

 

[Hopefully]

I'm pretty certain that I'll be cancelling our ADR. Don't want to pay for characters when I don't want them in the first place. We loved the food. It's a shame they changed it to character dining.

I agree. We will go to Yak & Yeti instead

 

[Tiger926]

I'm pretty certain that I'll be cancelling our ADR. Don't want to pay for characters when I don't want them in the first place. We loved the food. It's a shame they changed it to character dining.

I agree. We will go to Yak & Yeti instead

As stated, breakfast and lunch are characters only, but dinner is character free.

Tiger

 

[Lidian]

Just ate there a few days ago.

It is pretty much the exact same lunch as before (African influenced grilled meats, salads, pastas, breads, soups, desserts), just with characters present at tables - Daisy, Goofy and Mickey.

And as has been the case since last March, Donald takes photos outside of the restaurant ONLY. He does not sign autographs. Photopass CM is present, and they will come to table to sell you the $30.00 photo package, but they will let you take photos with your own cameras as well.

As is always the case with this restaurant though, they are seriously always behind. It took us almost 40 mins to be seated for our 12:20 ADR on Thursday.

Not sure why they are so behind, as character interaction is ALWAYS rushed here. We are a very efficient family, and can get autographs and photos done in 2 mins., and I realize not everyone is like us, but the constant running behind schedule here is a big problem!

Hope this helps, Tiger

We have a lunch scheduled for March and very much looking forward to it ... but is the photo package seriously $30?? I had planned on purchasing the picture, as Donald is DS's favorite character and he picked the meal. What all is included in the $30 picture package?

 

[Tiger926]

We have a lunch scheduled for March and very much looking forward to it ... but is the photo package seriously $30?? I had planned on purchasing the picture, as Donald is DS's favorite character and he picked the meal. What all is included in the $30 picture package?

Yup. All photo packages are usually that price - 1900 Park Fare, Chef Mickey's.

It includes 1 - 5x7, 4 - 4x6, 1 - 4x6 (stock photo of all 4 characters) in an African inspired brown cardboard frame holder.

Hope this helps, Tiger

 

[Lidian]

Yup. All photo packages are usually that price - 1900 Park Fare, Chef Mickey's.

It includes 1 - 5x7, 4 - 4x6, 1 - 4x6 (stock photo of all 4 characters) in an African inspired brown cardboard frame holder.

Hope this helps, Tiger

Yes, thank you very much for the info Tiger! I think the only other ADR we have with a photo is Akershus, and it says it is included in the price on the DDP. I guess I'll just have to budget out a few more dollars to get it at TH!

 

[pwdebbie]

As stated, breakfast and lunch are characters only, but dinner is character free.

Tiger

We leave the parks (all parks) mid-day; going back to AK just for dinner (that's all we would have time for since the park closes at 5:00 or 6:00) wouldn't really be worth it to us. Don't worry, I'm not one that says AK is a half day park -- we will probably do three or four mornings there out of our ten. We never get tired of it.

 

[PoohsFan1]

Thanks Tiger for the info. We will be in Disney in September and for this trip we decided to let the girls pick out the restaurants and of course the one they picked was Tusker House (after I told them that lunch is a character meal now) because we all loved the lunch when we went last May. I am so glad that the food has not changed and having the characters there will be an added bonus (especially seeing Daisy ).

 

[kristennn]

I was just on the phone with dining and happened to ask the price of this meal for our non-peak time trip in early may and was told
lunch adult - $27.68 and child - $15.97

I am debating whether we want to do this meal or just do counter service someplace in the park.

 

[mariethecat]

We did the lunch in December and our group of eleven all enjoyed the meal. There was a good variety and it was very tasty. Everyone was very pleased with it.
We paid $27.68 per adult and with tip and tax it was around $32. We thought it was well worth the price for the food and characters. I have done a lot of other character meals in the past and this was one of the best for food.

 

[Tiger926]

I was just on the phone with dining and happened to ask the price of this meal for our non-peak time trip in early may and was told
lunch adult - $27.68 and child - $15.97

I am debating whether we want to do this meal or just do counter service someplace in the park.

Sorry, I should have included the price. I started a thread last year with all buffets listed, and attempted to do that the other day while I was in WDW, but not many people viewed the thread.

The prices you got are correct, and the breakdown is $25.99/adult plus tax as you quoted, and $14.99/child plus tax. It went up by $2.00 for 2012.

We enjoy AK, but find the food offerings aren't that great. We used to always eat at Rainforest, but hubby was just diagnosed with Crohn's, so no Rainforest at this time.

We also don't really eat counter service either, but there are several options at AK - Pizzafari and Yak and Yeti may interest you?

Happy eating, Tiger

 

[kristennn]

Sorry, I should have included the price. I started a thread last year with all buffets listed, and attempted to do that the other day while I was in WDW, but not many people viewed the thread.

The prices you got are correct, and the breakdown is $25.99/adult plus tax as you quoted, and $14.99/child plus tax. It went up by $2.00 for 2012.

We enjoy AK, but find the food offerings aren't that great. We used to always eat at Rainforest, but hubby was just diagnosed with Crohn's, so no Rainforest at this time.

We also don't really eat counter service either, but there are several options at AK - Pizzafari and Yak and Yeti may interest you?

Happy eating, Tiger

Sorry to hear about your husband - I have a couple of friends with Crohn's and it's a rotten condition to have. Hope your husband responds well to treatment and doesn't have to live with a lot of pain.
We have done counter service at both pizzafari and yak and yeti and thought they were both decent. We've never been to Tusker house but have done Boma twice for dinner and enjoyed it.
We've always done Chef Mickeys for breakfast and I am thinking of skipping it this year which makes my dd sad so i was thinking of *maybe* doing this one instead ... But I am also thinking maybe she can just see those characters in the park too.
This is really our first time paying out of pocket so we are doing fewer table service meals. I keep going back and forth with stuff this one thinking - it's STILL cheaper or about what we paid on the dining plan so why not .... then I think in normal every day terms and think $27 each is a lot to pay for a moderate quality buffet lunch ...
and THEN I think ... it's maybe $15 more each than we'll pay eating counter service - the food should be a step up plus better atmosphere and easy access to characters so maybe it IS worth it.

This is the kind of back and forth that goes on in my head where I really can come up with a fairly good argument for either decision.

 

[Tiger926]

Sorry to hear about your husband - I have a couple of friends with Crohn's and it's a rotten condition to have. Hope your husband responds well to treatment and doesn't have to live with a lot of pain.
We have done counter service at both pizzafari and yak and yeti and thought they were both decent. We've never been to Tusker house but have done Boma twice for dinner and enjoyed it.
We've always done Chef Mickeys for breakfast and I am thinking of skipping it this year which makes my dd sad so i was thinking of *maybe* doing this one instead ... But I am also thinking maybe she can just see those characters in the park too.
This is really our first time paying out of pocket so we are doing fewer table service meals. I keep going back and forth with stuff this one thinking - it's STILL cheaper or about what we paid on the dining plan so why not .... then I think in normal every day terms and think $27 each is a lot to pay for a moderate quality buffet lunch ...
and THEN I think ... it's maybe $15 more each than we'll pay eating counter service - the food should be a step up plus better atmosphere and easy access to characters so maybe it IS worth it.

This is the kind of back and forth that goes on in my head where I really can come up with a fairly good argument for either decision.

I wish you luck in your decision.

It would depend upon the ages of your children, and they may help you with your decision. If they are under 9, then the buffets aren't too bad. If they are Disney 'adults', then that is a much higher price to pay.

We have done every character meal on property multiple times, as we always go for 2 weeks each July, so waiting in over 100 degree weather for characters isn't a good thing! Plus, we like the rest and sitting at a table.

We don't care for counter service at all - we don't eat fast food at home, as we cook all of our own meals, so fighting for a table, and eating subpar fast food type of items isn't our thing.

We have noticed that counter service has improved over the years though, so if you think you would enjoy that, then you will save money over a character buffet.

We did a few this time, as we had to cancel our entire 2 week trip cuz hubby ended up in hospital with his Crohn's, so we ate at 3 meals that we knew could accommodate hubby's issues. We also pay cash, and do not do the Dining Plan, and we have 2 adults, and 2 children under 9, so our total price isn't too bad.

Character meals are expensive, busy, noisy, subpar food and service, and they are rising to very high levels, so don't feel badly if you don't eat at a character meal.

We can get some pretty decent TS meals for much cheaper prices than character meals!

Happy eating, Tiger