Changed Park Hours Impacted Our Plans

Last week, Walt Disney World released park hours for the remainder of 2014 along with changing park hours for July 2014.  The change in park hours impacted our plans, especially for our day at Disney's Animal Kingdom.  So, it was back to the drawing board. . .

Originally, we had planned to visit Disney's Animal Kingdom on a day with morning Extra Magic Hours--when the park opens an hour early for on-site resort guests.  Our plan was to ride Kilimanjaro Safari first thing, when the weather was a bit cooler which means more animals out and about, then go to breakfast at Tusker House with a 8:45 am Advanced Dining Reservations.  The rest of the day was full of FastPass+ selections for Festival of the Lion King, Expedition Everest, and Kali River Rapids.

With the change in the park hours, our 8:45 am ADR for Tusker House was still doable, but it meant adjusting the rest of our FastPass + selections and getting to Kilimanjaro Safari later in the day.

I called Walt Disney World Dining with our current Tusker House confirmation number in hand and adjusted our ADR to 9:20 am.  The park would open at 9:00, we would walk to Kilimanjaro, ride the 19 minute ride, and have to make it to the restaurant no later than 9:35 am to not miss our reservation and be charged $10 per person no-show fee.  I slept on the plans and decided it was cutting the time too close.

I called Walt Disney World Dining again in the morning and changed the reservation to 9:45 am.  We will most likely arrive sooner and it will make it tight to get to our 10:50 FastPass+ for Festival of the Lion King, but I think we can make it work.

Looking forward to a great breakfast with characters at Tusker House and a great day at Disney's Animal Kingdom!

Fewer Characters to Be Found at Disney's Animal Kingdom

The news on the street is that some changes to character meet and greets are coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom as soon as December.

Sounds like Lilo and Stitch will no longer meeting guests near the Mercantile or anywhere in Animal Kingdom.

Terk will be taken out of the character greeting trails in Africa.

And, Pocahontas and Jiminy Cricket will no longer be found at Rafiki’s Planet Watch.  Click here to read more about Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

The changes come at the same time that Tusker House, a table service restaurant located in Africa, will be adding a character lunch to the daily line-up.  Tusker House already hosts a breakfast with Donald and friends.  Click here to read more about dining at Tusker House.

While guests may be able to find Pocahontas in other locations—Camp Minnie Mickey at Animal Kingdom, or the American Adventure Pavilion in EPCOT, Terk and Jiminy Cricket will not be found anywhere else at the Walt Disney World Resort.  Guests wishing to meet Lilo will have to make a reservation for breakfast at ‘Ohana’s, as that is the only other location Lilo can be found.  Stitch is often found in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom, the entrance at EPCOT, and the courtyard at Hollywood Studios. 

It is unfortunate that guests will now have to not only give their time to hunt for their favorite Disney characters, but money as well, if character greeting is going to be limited to dining events.

Hopefully, Disney will announce new characters to replace the ones that are being removed.

Dining at Tusker House

Tusker House, a table service restaurant, is located in Africa in Disney's Animal Kingdom and is the only character dining experience in the park. Tusker House serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily via buffet and hosts Donald's Safari Breakfast each morning. Traditional American breakfast favorites are on hand in the morning and the buffet has a more authentic African theme for the lunch and dinner menu. We have eaten breakfast at Tusker House.

Donald's Safari Breakfast begins with a family photo taken in front of an African marketplace themed background. I don't remember if the photo is included with your meal or it is extra, but it does come in a commemorative folder along with wallet size photos and can be added to your Photopass account. Click here to read more about Disney's Photopass service.

Update for 2014:  Tusker House Dining Photo is now taken with Donald and the Dining Photo along with digital access is included with Memory Maker, formerly Photopass+.

The characters rotate throughout the restaurant and come to your table. Goofy is ready for a safari in the photo above.

Daisy looks lovely in her safari gear. I'm sure this adventure gave her a reason to go shopping, which is her favorite pastime.

Here's the mouse himself ready to join the safari!

We were visiting during the husband's birthday and he received a birthday card and celebratory cupcake and candle at breakfast!

Of course, Donald is the host of the event. After all, the meal is called Donald's Safari Breakfast.

OK, here's our take on Tusker House and the breakfast: The restaurant is very large, which is a good thing in terms of sitting lots of guests, but it makes it a long way to the buffet. We were very far away. Our service was slow and lacking. We had to remind several times of items we needed. The food was OK. The restaurant was noisy as it should be during a character meal, and the wait was incredibly long. I was dismayed by the lack of Disney efficiency. We wasted quite a bit of "park time" waiting outside to get in and then waiting for our server, waiting in the buffet line, etc. The theming was very authentic, not that I have been to an African marketplace yet, but it seemed very authentic. Now, our experience may be unique or might have happened during an "off" day, but it made such an impression that we won't be back to Tusker House anytime soon. In terms of character dining, this can be a unique experience. While Donald can be found at Chef Mickey's, Daisy is not typically a part of other character meals. Click here to read about dining at Chef Mickey's.

Update:  This original post was written in June of 2010.  We ate breakfast at Tusker House again in July of 2013--see, I told you it would be a while before we returned.  We had much better service and enjoyed our location in the restaurant, food, and character interactions so much more that we are returning to Tusker House in July of 2014. 

Advanced Dining Reservations are recommended.