Tony's Grand Gathering B-fast

[TikiGoddess]

Has anyone done the Tony's character breakfast that's available to grand gatherings only? I'm wondering how it is. We've eaten dinner there and it was so so, but I'm thinking the breakfast will be pretty standard (I'm guessing the same as CP). Anyone have first hand knowledge and were there lots of other GGs there? TIA!

 

[HannaBelle]

We did breakfast at Tony's in 2006. The food was not anything wonderful, but we loved being able to all sit together and not having to wait 30 minutes for tables near each other. The entire event was for Grand Gatherings groups. They will recognize each group and have characters and activities for the kids.

As I recall, you had a choice of meal A or B. You could order additional plates or single items, but it was not a buffet or a family style meal.

We especially liked the fact that we all got special admission/fast passes for Phillharmagic. That is icing on the cake!

Whatever you do...don't pay for Illuminations! The food and the show are terrible!

In my personal opinion, Disney does a great job of marketing to big groups/families but does a terrible job of accommodating large groups (12+) for meals. There are 15 of us now and we all like to sit together. We do not like to have a kids table and an adult table, we do not like to sit "near" each other either. I am sure many posters would think we are being unreasonable, but if I make "reservations" 180 days in advance and arrive 15 minutes early for check-in...you knew we were coming...push a couple of tables together for goodness sakes!

The GG Safari at AK is the best GG event by far!

 

[SciGirl]

We did the GG at Tony's 3 years ago. We liked it, the food was pretty good. It was served plated, but you can ask for more of whatever you like. It was Mickey waffles, eggs, bacon and some kind of hash browns. Maybe sausage, I don't remember. It's nice that you don't have to get up and get food.

The character interaction was fun, they had a dance for the kids, and lots of photo ops w/ Mickey.

It was nice that we got to eat together and afterwards, we all got special pins for doing the GG there.

 

[princessreilly]

Did it last year and it was very nice, but part of our Grand Gathering did not cancel and when they did not show we had to pay for their meal. They did not tell us and I wish I had known it advance!

 

[eeyorefanuk]

We did breakfast at Tony's in 2006. The food was not anything wonderful, but we loved being able to all sit together and not having to wait 30 minutes for tables near each other. The entire event was for Grand Gatherings groups. They will recognize each group and have characters and activities for the kids.

As I recall, you had a choice of meal A or B. You could order additional plates or single items, but it was not a buffet or a family style meal.

We especially liked the fact that we all got special admission/fast passes for Phillharmagic. That is icing on the cake!

Whatever you do...don't pay for Illuminations! The food and the show are terrible!

In my personal opinion, Disney does a great job of marketing to big groups/families but does a terrible job of accommodating large groups (12+) for meals. There are 15 of us now and we all like to sit together. We do not like to have a kids table and an adult table, we do not like to sit "near" each other either. I am sure many posters would think we are being unreasonable, but if I make "reservations" 180 days in advance and arrive 15 minutes early for check-in...you knew we were coming...push a couple of tables together for goodness sakes!

The GG Safari at AK is the best GG event by far!

Hello

I notice you said the safari is the best event.

How is it different to say, going on the safari yourself (as ride) then eating at tusker house? I also was told the animals they bring in are insects etc.

Can you give me a bit more info please

 

[HannaBelle]

We met at the Flights of Wonder and they did a short welcome and told you what was going to happen. If I recall, they did have a few birds as well. We all walked over to the safari ride and loaded on to the buses. We took an extended tour and were able to ask questions of our guide, we stopped frequently for pictures. It was not like the attraction at all, lots of cool animal facts and extra time spent looking and talking about the animals. The only thing that could have made it better was if we had gotten to get out and walk around.

We went back to the Tusker House for dinner. It was African inspired and served family style. For our family, that is our favorite dining “style” at WDW. It is fast and super easy for families with little kids. They do not have to order and then wait nor do they have to make trips to the buffet for themselves and the kiddos!

After dinner was underway, they had African performers singing and playing instruments, the kids all got to go up and play with the group. There were characters for photo ops and we had insects and reptiles for the kids to play with. We had a great time! We were not able to get reservations on our 2nd trip due to scheduling, but it is activity #1 on our plans for the next trip in 2011!!!

 

[TikiGoddess]

HannaBelle,
You've given me excellent information...thanks so much. We've been to Disney quite a bit in recent years, but this is my first to plan with a huge grand gathering. If you don't mind me asking, how many were in your group?
I'm glad to know that we won't necessarily all be seated together..I don't especially like that, but at least I know what to expect.

To the other posted, I'm also glad to know that if part of your party doesn't show you have to pay for them.

We took a family poll on survey monkey(yes, I am the dorky overplanner) and everyone voted to go on the Animal Kingdom safari so I'm glad to hear it's good. Hopefully we'll be able to get in. Is it only certain days like the Tony's meal? Our group is a large span of ages (75yo-2yo) so I was glad to see that we all agreed on something.

Tell me the grand gathering is fun!!! Please!! I'm excited, but I'm trying to talk myself into there being several bumps in the road...I believe I can be flexible enough to roll w/them. With this group it may be the trip of a lifetime. Some of our elders may not be up to this type of trip in future years so I'm trying to make it special for them too.

Any feedback about GG in general would be much appreciated.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

I am sure the breakfast was on three days a week.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wd...?id=GrandGatheringsSpecialProductsPage&bhcp=1

I gave disney grand gathering a call and they tell you what dates are available. Very friendly and helpful

 

[HannaBelle]

I love that you did a survey! How funny is that!!! What did you ask your group? Did everyone take the survey?

A group of 27 sounds great! lol I might actually recommend going to the Illuminations dinner so you can all eat together and have time to “mill” around...especially with the fireworks viewing. You will definitely not be able to eat together at a normal resturaunt!

Our 1st GG was in 2006 with 12 people. It was my parents, my bro and his family (DH/DW, DS4 DS2), my family (DH/DW DS12, DD8), my younger bro and his wife (no kids). We all stayed at AKL, but did not spend all day together. We did meet for one table service meal a day.

We did a second GG over NYE in 2007. Same crew plus 10 month old twins (younger brother's new babies) and older bother had one on the way.

I prepared a spreadsheet of our itinerary for everyone. Most days we split up and then had 1 meal a day together. We would do late breakfasts or early dinners. Group dining will definitely steer you to off peak times.

We also did the Hoop Dee Do Review and the luau at the Polynesian and both were a lot of fun for our group. I would recommend the Hoop Dee Do over the luau though.

We have some "ground rules" when traveling together...

- No griping if you did not take the time to help plan.
- If you are late, we are not waiting on you and you do not get to be mad about it.
- If someone stops to go the bathroom, then everyone has to go...even the grown-ups! (Otherwise you are waiting in the bathroom line all day!)
- Don't expect to spend all day together in the parks and no one is allowed to have their feelings hurt if your family needs some alone/down time.

We like to stay on property. We also make a point to request connecting rooms so that when the couples with young kids go back to the resort, they can use the other families' rooms to move around/watch TV without disturbing the napping babies/kiddos.

It has worked well for us. My “side” of the family is planning to go to WDW together again in 2013, but we are currently planning a trip for 2011 with DH’s “side” of the family! I am definitely an over planner, but with big group it pays to be organized.

One thing I would recommend is that if you call in and get a CM that is less than helpful, just apologize that something came up and tell them you will have to call back later. I then call back and 9 times out of 10 get someone more helpful. I have also found that I usually knew more from researching the boards and the Disney website than the CM did. I just worked through it and tried to remember that this is their job...not their obsession like me!!!

If you have a question about Grand Gatherings events, call them specifically. Do not rely on Group Dining to be in the “know”. Be prepare to be on the phone a lot!

None of the restaurants will guarantee reservations for you all to sit at the same table to eat. It was our experience though that most places we were all at the same table if our party was 12 or less. Ohana’s was a good place for a big group. We only went to buffets and family style dining locations as a big group as well. We did not try to “order” from a menu with all of the kids there!

 

[TikiGoddess]

HannaBelle,
We did an early survey to get the preliminaries out of the way. My cousin is my asst. planner. She is making shirts for everyone for 2 of the days (we thought more than 2 would be pushing it for the guys) and she's also making up games. One of which will be putting baby pictures on a button that everyone will wear and we all have to guess who the babies are.

Our initial survey asked if you were going to drive or fly to Orlando (we have 3 retired couples who will all probably drive) and whether or not they wanted to stay a value or moderate hotel (we were going back and forth between the cabins at Ft. Wilderness and one of the allstars) The allstars won out and I'm glad b/c I think it will give us more alone time since we were going to share the cabins. We also asked if everyone was interested in doing the dining plan. I told them up front that it needed to be either all on the plan or all off the plan b/c I didn't want to mess w/it when I was planning meals. The other question was about the gg special events. It was a landslide to the safari. We did have at least one representative from every family take the poll after I hounded them forever and reminded them they can't complain if they don't vote.

It's our plan to get together for one sit down meal a day. I am trying to choose places I think will accomodate us well. Ohanas, Tony's b-fast, Tutto Italia, Prime Time, AK Safari dinner, Coral Reef (which I know will not be that accomodating b/c of the way it's set up, but lots of people chose it).

I too have told them that when we get up and are ready to go, we are going whether anyone else is there or not. I'm not planning to be w/everyone all day as I don't think that's realistic. I will give them our itinerary and if they want to follow it that's great and if not, that's great too. I am going to schedule the Pirate League for the 5 boys who are going. I'd like it if were at least all at the same park at the beginning of the trip, but don't really care if everyone else doesn't want to do that.

I like your rules and I will definitely implement some of them and add some. One of which is, "There's no crying in Disney World." My cousin is coming up in a few weeks and we're putting together a powerpoint to present to all the matriarchs this summer. I know we're completely overboard, but planning is part of the fun and I don't want anyone complaining that they didn't have enough information.

I appreciate all your info. It's been hard to find many gg people to get tips from. I'll let you know how it went when I get back...if I make it back alive I just hope I still like everyone when we get back.

 

[Reese]

Tony's is our favorite breakfast now. Our last trip there was last Sept. The character interaction is amazing. Mickey has his own little session with each family. There is plenty of time for pictures and autographs. I find none of the characters that came to your table were rushed to leave as they are at other meals. If you are celebrating something Tony will seranade you. This is my DD's pick for her birthday meal in Oct.
The food was your standard Disney breakfast, eggs, waffles, bacon. It comes out pre-plated and they will bring you out seconds if you would like.
You also get a pin which doubles as your fast pass to philharmagic.

We did the safari with 18 of us Dec 08 and it was okay. You meet at he flights of wonder and recieve a pin. From there you head off to the safari with other families. After that it is to Tusker House for dinner. Nothing spectacular the same food they noramlly serve. The surprise guests were Raffiki and Timone and the animal handlers had some bugs, snakes that the kids could go outside and look at.

 

[HannaBelle]

I like your rules and I will definitely implement some of them and add some. One of which is, "There's no crying in Disney World." My cousin is coming up in a few weeks and we're putting together a powerpoint to present to all the matriarchs this summer. I know we're completely overboard, but planning is part of the fun and I don't want anyone complaining that they didn't have enough information.

You have to share your power point... I would love to see it!

I think being up front and honest with everyone is the best way to go with a big group. That way everyone is aware of the game plan!

It will not go perfectly, but planning does help!