By: Minnie Diva
My family’s favorite character meal is one of the less common ones: The Garden Grill in Epcot! The Garden Grill is a delicious, healthy option at Disney, and has the best character interaction out of any restaurant I’ve been to. On our last trip we decided to stop by and it did not disappoint!
The Garden Grill is located inside The Land Pavilion in Future World in Epcot. It’s on the second floor, right above Living With The Land, which is where some of the food in The Garden Grill comes from!
When you enter the restaurant, you will notice one thing: the restaurant rotates. As you eat, your table will slowly move, showing you scenes from the Living With The Land ride. Depending on the day, it can take anywhere from 45 minutes to one hour for you to make it full circle. (No, it will not make you dizzy! I promise.) It’s by far one of the most interesting restaurants to eat in.
Once seated, your waitress takes your drink order and shortly brings out rolls and the most heavenly orange blossom butter you will ever eat. Then you are offered a salad before the meal is brought out.
The meal is a la carte, and all of the rest of the food is brought out at once. The food options are: some sort of meat (grilled beef or roast turkey), the fish of the day, macaroni and cheese, garden vegetables, sweet potato fries, stuffing, and mashed potatoes.
Courtesy of Dopey Diva
Courtesy of Dopey Diva
After that you will get a selection of desserts. They have a cupcake cone that’s my favorite thing in the world.
Since some of the vegetables used are grown right there in Epcot, the exact food you get each visit varies, but the food is delicious every time. My favorites are the mac n’ cheese and sweet potato fries. Yum!
For drinks, they offer Coke products and a selection of speciality wine and other drinks. Fun tidbit: the booths in the restaurants are circular, making it easy for small children to slip out if they’re sitting on the outside. There was a little boy running throughout the restaurant (Disney Don’t!) and at one point he came up to our table and stuck his finger into my drink. My family cracked up, and our waitress brought me a new one shortly after.
The best thing about this meal, however, is the characters. While visiting the Garden Grill you will dine with Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale. I don’t know if it’s the fresh veggies or what, but the characters at this meal spend so much time with you and take so much time to make sure you’re having a ball.
If you are a character lover, I recommend booking a meal late during the dinner hour, past 7:30, because as the restaurant clears out the characters keep coming by! They came to our table at least three times each. By the end of our last meal we had a joke running with Mickey because he couldn’t find Pluto! The characters absolutely make the meal; it’s one you cannot miss!
RIP selfie sticks at Disney.
This restaurant is on the more expensive side at $30-$59.99 per adult, but it is definitely worth budgeting for. For resort guests, it’s on the Dining Plan, and costs one table service credit.
As always, book six months in advance to ensure a table!
Happy gardening!
Excellent article. Vivid descriptions of the eating experience were terrific and makes me want to go to Disney soon.