We mentioned mid-week that we were hoping to make some dining reservations now that the 180 day window has opened up for ADR’s – Advanced Dining Reservations and so we did!
It’s a bit tricky trying to figure out when the window will open for the day you are trying to book for – given that there’s a 5 hour time difference between Orlando and the UK. Also we were hoping to book a fairly early breakfast reservation (amongst other evening reservations which we’ll talk about some other time) as the one we were looking at was inside Epcot and is an excellent trick to get into the parks early enough to jump straight onto some of the busiest rides before the queues build up – which then allows you to use your Fastpass selections for other attractions. Breakfast, all the big rides sorted, minimal queuing and plenty of time spare to mill around at your leisure.
So – operation Garden Grill commenced. We were like ADR ninjas toggling in and out of the App and logging in and out of the website to get the time slot we wanted, and whilst fixing the doorbell and making a phone call to the Ring customer service centre! Skills for days!!
Now – if you are just looking to breakfast with the Disney Characters there are absolutely tons of options, in parks and in resort hotels, and there are plenty of time slots to choose from – breakfasts typically run from 7.30 to 10.30am. Have a good look around the My Disney Experience App for a full list of restaurants and character dining options. You have the choice of characters, princesses and everything in between. Some of our favourite options are The Crystal Palace, with Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet, or Chef Mickey’s at The Contemporary Resort Hotel where you get the fab five Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. Also Cinderella’s Royal Table where you’ll find Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Ariel and Jasmine and now and again Belle – so it’s the perfect breakfast if your kid is princess mad! Have a look around and see what suits you and your family and it doesn’t have to be breakfast either – lunch and dinner character dining options are available too. Some of the resort options look fantastic – well worth checking out for some one on one time and photo opportunities with your favourite characters. Menus are available so you know your options and if they will suit you, along with a price guide where $ are the cheaper options, $$ age mid-range and $$$ and above are fairly pricey. Character meals are a set price and the prices are all posted online for you to look before you book.
And so back to our particular plans – to sneak into Epcot good and early so we have ourselves a delicious breakfast, a little chat and cuddle with Mickey, Pluto and Chip and Dale, and be done in time to join the queue for Soarin’ before the masses arrive. Mission accomplished – breakfast at The Garden Grill booked – Mr Oh! snagged the booking while toggling about between times so that we could get our 8am preferred breakfast time, its was full on ‘’operation fiddle-faddle” massive thanks to Molly from Allears.net with her great advice on how to snag ADR’s and Fastpasses with her skills with the My Disney Experience App.
The Garden Grill is situated in The Land pavilion in Epcot – which also happens to be the home of Soarin’ so a quick walk down the escalators and we’ll be in the queue – full of Mickey waffles and all sorts of other yummy breakfast foods, sausage, bacon, breakfast potatoes and various pastries. They even cater well for vegetarians so Mrs Oh! is double happy. Mickey shaped waffles with Mickey – what’s not to love about that.
The Garden Grill serves farm fresh food and is a revolving restaurant – how very exciting. It takes an hour for a full revolve and you have views of the ride Living with the Land. Along with some delicious food Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale wander around to your table and you have photo opportunities and interactions with them. Another good thing about this restaurant is that the food is served to your table rather than a buffet style, which means you’re less likely to miss the characters as they come to your table.
The Land Pavilion hosts the ride Living with the Land, which is a slow moving boat ride through various greenhouses to discover the history of American farming and give you a glance into future innovations. It’s a super little family friendly educational ride, and you’ll see how Walt Disney World gardeners are using new and innovative growing techniques to produce high yielding crops and plants to try and find ways to successfully feed our ever growing planet and population. You’ll find fruits and vegetables from all around the world, that have been grown in new ways, or cross-bred form different plant species to provide new and exciting fruits and vegetables. You’ll also get to see bass, tilapia, cat fish and freshwater shrimp in the fish farm.
The Garden Grill along with Sunshine Seasons, which is also in The Land Pavilion, both serve the fresh produce and seafood produced in The Land Pavilion.
Incidentally you can also book a Behind the Seeds tour for a walking hour long tour of The Land Pavilion where you will get to see firsthand the future of agriculture and get up close to the critters that live there too. It’s $25 for adults and $20 for children, which is a very reasonable price if you are interested in seeing some of the farming techniques and learning more about them. A peek behind any Disney curtain is well worth it in our opinion.
There are in fact 2.5 million square feet of active greenhouses on Epcot property. The produce supplies most of the Disney parks’ restaurants as well as providing research opportunities for new growing techniques. They use vertical growing techniques, hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics – so effectively growing plants without the need for soil. Seriously scientific stuff – along with the fun stuff like Mickey shaped cucumbers as you’d expect. WDW also boasts a record breaking tomato tree. The tree has a special trellis which has allowed it to grow into the shape and size of a real tree rather than a usual tomato plant, and in 2006 it set a record for the most productive tomato plant in the world – it produced 32,000 tomatoes in a 16 month period. Amazing! They even grow Mickey shaped pumpkins for the Halloween celebrations. Fun as well as scientific. And don’t get us started on the record breaking 15 pound lemon! That will fill a lot of Gin and Tonics!!
So, WDW, not only the most magical place on earth, but also providing education, training, self-sufficiency, farm fresh produce and scientific research. If you think WDW is all about Dole Whip, Mickey Mouse, fun rides and happy smiling faces – well you’d be right, but you’d also be drastically underselling just how magnificent the whole operation is. The more you investigate the more mind-blowing the operation is!
But truth be told – breakfast with Mickey Mouse is THE THING!!! So however amazing and educational The Land Pavilion is – you will find us (mouse ears on for Mrs Oh!) dashing excitingly up the ramp to The Garden Grill like three year olds. All we have to do after that delicious breakfast is hope to hold onto our Mickey Waffles while we soar all around the world like birds on Soarin’.
See you there!
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