Tusker House- Breakfast or Lunch?

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

We currently have Tusker House reserved for 1:05pm and I was just able to get a 9:10am reservation as well. We do not want to do both, but would love some advice on which one to keep and which to cancel-

There are 2 adults and 2 kids (1.5yo and 4 yo)- and its our first trip to Disney!!!

Pros for Breakfast we have come up with:

-Characters for the kids (meaning we wouldnt have to wait in line anywhere to get autographs and pics)

-Picture Package with Donald
-Will the CMs take a pic with our camera for us? Can we take our own
pictures with Donald quickly?

-Good reviews

-I am hoping that we would be let in a bit before the 9am opening since we would have to walk there and check in 15 minutes early- right?
-allows us to take a nice pick in front of the tree

- at 9am would we be able to go to safari and get a fast pass before
eating (DH will wait for name to be called while I run and get the fast
pass)so that after breakfast we can get on the ride without waiting?



Pros for Lunch:

-Reserved seating for the 3:15 show of Nemo

-Food that DH and I really want to try

-We already have TWO character breakfasts scheduled (CP and Akershus)


Thoughts?

 

[SGMCO]

We ate at the Breakfast and it was one of the
best Character breakfast we've ever ate at besides Ohanas best friend breakfast. The food was very good and lots of choices.
With the ages of your kids I would do Donalds Breakfast Safari.

 

[Tiger926]

Breakfast is ok - spotty service and characters are rushed at times, but it's very cute as the only place to eat with Daisy. Cute safari costumes!

Lunch - no characters, but if you book between 1:00 - 1:40 (as you have), you get preferred seating tix for Nemo show. Just went last week, and we were in 2nd row at the side stage. Kids loved it! The food is great as well!

We are doing both in July, Tiger

 

[ToyStoryBo]

Can't really advise you on Tusker House, because we will have our first visit there on our next trip too! Just wanted to comment on the Nemo show you mentioned. At the time of our last trip, my kids were 8, 7, 5 1/2, 2 1/2 and they thought it was boring...and so did DH and I. They kept asking when it would be over, and we actually left early.

 

[Tiger926]

Can't really advise you on Tusker House, because we will have our first visit there on our next trip too! Just wanted to comment on the Nemo show you mentioned. At the time of our last trip, my kids were 8, 7, 5 1/2, 2 1/2 and they thought it was boring...and so did DH and I. They kept asking when it would be over, and we actually left early.

Sorry to hear that - it's an incredible show, but I guess it's not for everyone. My kids are 6.5 and 2.5 yrs old, and have seen it before, but we were much farther back, and had to wait a long time. This time, we walked in to our preferred seats, and only waited about 30 mins.

Tiger

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

We ate breakfast there in December. There was a long line of people getting their picture taken with Donald. I really don't like this change in character meals. The CM did take a picture of our family with Donald with our own camera. The food was really good but it was a loud and crowded restaurant. The characters did not spend a great deal of time with the kids because they were just so busy and the tables are close together.

I haven't tried lunch yet but would like to. My DS is a picky eater and I wasn't sure he would find much to eat at the lunch buffet. BTW , our family really enjoys the Nemo show and the reserved seating sounds appealing.

I would think they would let you in early for a 9:10 ADR. Our ADR was at 8:20and we got some really nice pics in front of the Tree. There was even a CM nearby who took the pics for us. I'm not sure about the fastpass for the safari. It is right by the Tusker House so I would think it would work out if you timed it right.

Good luck!

 

[Tiger926]

We ate breakfast there in December. There was a long line of people getting their picture taken with Donald. I really don't like this change in character meals. The CM did take a picture of our family with Donald with our own camera. The food was really good but it was a loud and crowded restaurant. The characters did not spend a great deal of time with the kids because they were just so busy and the tables are close together.

I haven't tried lunch yet but would like to. My DS is a picky eater and I wasn't sure he would find much to eat at the lunch buffet. BTW , our family really enjoys the Nemo show and the reserved seating sounds appealing.

I would think they would let you in early for a 9:10 ADR. Our ADR was at 8:20and we got some really nice pics in front of the Tree. There was even a CM nearby who took the pics for us. I'm not sure about the fastpass for the safari. It is right by the Tusker House so I would think it would work out if you timed it right.

Good luck!

I'm not sure what you are speaking of? You don't wait in any lines at character meals, as they come to your table.

More clarification would be good in case others get confused by this info, as this is not how character meals work. You do wait in line at a few places for packaged photos like at CRT, Akershus or Chef Mickeys, but you don't wait for Donald as he comes to your table.

Tiger

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

I'm not sure what you are speaking of? You don't wait in any lines at character meals, as they come to your table.

More clarification would be good in case others get confused by this info, as this is not how character meals work. You do wait in line at a few places for packaged photos like at CRT, Akershus or Chef Mickeys, but you don't wait for Donald as he comes to your table.

Tiger

After we checked in we were put in a line in the back of the restaurant. Donald was outside. You could forego a pic with him but CMs warned that he would not be inside the restaurant. Our pic was made with him and then a CM brought it by the table for us to purchase, like they do at Chef Mickey's. (I will clarify that the Chef Mickey pic was just a pic of our family with a setup at the front of the restaurant, no characters involved.) The other characters we met were Daisy, Mickey, Goofy, and possible one other I can't be sure, but definitely not Donald.

At CRT and Akershus the photo is included in the price of your meal, but not at DSB. Maybe this has changed since we were there in December but I have read other dining reviews where they also only met Donald before their meal for the photo. My hope is that other character meals will not go to this format like we experienced at DSB.

Hope this clarifies our experience.

 

[Leota]

I love the food at lunch, but when my son was little, we did as many character meals as possible. He just loved them & we have very happy memories of those meals.

I would actually do both as they are two totally different experiences.

 

[Tiger926]

After we checked in we were put in a line in the back of the restaurant. Donald was outside. You could forego a pic with him but CMs warned that he would not be inside the restaurant. Our pic was made with him and then a CM brought it by the table for us to purchase, like they do at Chef Mickey's. (I will clarify that the Chef Mickey pic was just a pic of our family with a setup at the front of the restaurant, no characters involved.) The other characters we met were Daisy, Mickey, Goofy, and possible one other I can't be sure, but definitely not Donald.

At CRT and Akershus the photo is included in the price of your meal, but not at DSB. Maybe this has changed since we were there in December but I have read other dining reviews where they also only met Donald before their meal for the photo. My hope is that other character meals will not go to this format like we experienced at DSB.

Hope this clarifies our experience.

This is totally baffling me - I haven't heard that this has been changed. We were just there in July, and if this is the case, this is not a great idea at all. Donald is the star of the show there, so to limit his interaction time, doesn't make sense to me.

I don't remember reading about this on these boards at all - I'm off to do some research.

Thanks for the clarification, Tiger

 

[MSLRAC]

After we checked in we were put in a line in the back of the restaurant. Donald was outside. You could forego a pic with him but CMs warned that he would not be inside the restaurant. Our pic was made with him and then a CM brought it by the table for us to purchase, like they do at Chef Mickey's. (I will clarify that the Chef Mickey pic was just a pic of our family with a setup at the front of the restaurant, no characters involved.) The other characters we met were Daisy, Mickey, Goofy, and possible one other I can't be sure, but definitely not Donald.

At CRT and Akershus the photo is included in the price of your meal, but not at DSB. Maybe this has changed since we were there in December but I have read other dining reviews where they also only met Donald before their meal for the photo. My hope is that other character meals will not go to this format like we experienced at DSB.

Hope this clarifies our experience.

It was the same for us at the end of February. But we really didn't have to wait fr our picture with Donald.

I would do breakfast. Like previously mentioned, it's your only chance to see Daisy and the food is pretty good. Our server was good and the characters didn't really seemed rushed to us. But my kids are not really into Nemo so the reserved seating at lunch did not appeal to us at all.

 

[angdbinkc]

This is totally baffling me - I haven't heard that this has been changed. We were just there in July, and if this is the case, this is not a great idea at all. Donald is the star of the show there, so to limit his interaction time, doesn't make sense to me.

I don't remember reading about this on these boards at all - I'm off to do some research.

Thanks for the clarification, Tiger

I am confused too...have been at TH twice for breakfast and they would take your pic out front but Donald was no where to be found (but did come around inside). We have an ADR for next month so I guess we will soon find out! Regardless, Tusker House breakfasts are AWESOME! Always one of our best breakfasts we have on our trip!

 

[SlipKid918]

I would check out the lunch myself because the menu looks really interesting. On our last trip, we did 3 character breakfasts and felt it was too much. By the last one, even my DS2 wasn't that excited about the characters anymore, it was old hat to him at that point. The Nemo show is pretty incredible and has held my DS2's attention since he first went to WDW at 6 months old. Tusker House is also right next to the Safari so you should have no problem picking up FPs and by the time you're done eating, it should be your FP return time.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Breakfast

 

[CrabbyPatty]

We went in August, so crowds were quite a bit smaller - but we had an early breakfast at Tusker House. Can't remember the time, but it was right before opening. We were able to get in a bit earlier since we needed to walk to Tusker House and check-in 15-20 minutes before our ADR.

We waited about 10 minutes to get seated. The safari is right by Tusker House (about 1 minute walk), so I took our cards and got FastPasses for us, and after BK, we went on safari.

Donald was in front of the restaurant doors and you could get your picture taken with him - which was an additional charge if you purchased the photo packet. The line was fairly short - maybe 3-4 people ahead of us - and I used our own camera to get a picture of the girls with Donald.

I really enjoyed the breakfast at Tusker House and thought it was a nice way to start out our AK day. We did both Nemo and Lion King later that day, and DD just told me the other day that she didn't like Nemo that much (she's 9) but we ALL loved Lion King.

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

Thank you all so much for the help! Your comments are really helpful!!! I would love for the kids to get to see the characters, since they aren't at our other dining experiences- I would also love to try the lunch buffet there. Hmmmmm.........

I am thinking that since we will only be at AK for one day, scheduling both would be too much- We just need to figure out what to do this trip, and what can wait for the next.

When you book your character dining do you plan on different meals- meaning right now we have 3 character breakfasts scheduled- would you recommend moving one (Crystal Palace is the only one we would be able to move) to lunch or dinner?

I swear- making and deciding on ADRs makes the wait for our trip go by that much faster