NOTE: Tusker House restaurant reopened in June 2021 after being closed for over a year due to Covid. From this time until their buffet service returned on November 1, 2022, their food was served family-style at your table. So in other words, this Tusker House breakfast served family-style that we experienced no longer exists. However, most (if not all) of the food we had is still offered at the buffet and the same characters are present.
Now on to our review. We checked in a few minutes early for our 9:25 reservation so by 9:26 we were seated and I took this photo showing how few tables there were now in this area of the restaurant…
I’m pretty sure they removed several tables from this area, probably to allow for more social distancing during Covid.
We immediately gave our (included) beverage orders to our server. I requested both coffee (with cream) and Jungle Juice (aka POG Juice, or Passionfruit, Orange and Guava Juice)…
The juice was good as usual and the coffee was strong. The carafe was left at our table for easy self-service refills.
Note that for an extra cost there were some non-alcoholic and alcoholic specialty beverages available. Cocktails included an African Bloody Mary or Mimosa (made with Jungle Juice and Graham Beck Brut Rose) and an alcoholic version of the Jungle Juice with vodka and peach schnapps added. Currently (as of their Feb. 2024 menu) these three cocktails are still available for a price of $15 or $16. We however stuck with just the beverages that were included in the price of our meal, which in 2021 was $42. The current price for breakfast though (as of Feb. 2024) is $47 for adults and $30 for kids. Lunch and dinner here are now $62 for adults and $40 for kids.
Soon after our beverages arrived Mickey Mouse (in cute safari attire) made an appearance…
He remained in the center aisle of our dining room and waved at guests seated at their tables and posed for socially distanced photos. This is what was called a “modified” character experience. NOTE: This breakfast (along with lunch and dinner) has since returned to a “full” character experience with all of the characters greeting you at your table.
The first food to be brought to our table was this platter of breakfast pastries…
Along with the pastry platter came a bowl of Fresh Fruit and Honey Greek Yogurt…
The fruit included watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melon, pineapple and sliced strawberries. Unfortunately the melons (which there was the most of) were all pretty tasteless, as they didn’t seem ripe enough to be sweet and flavorful. The yogurt also tasted plain, with no honey taste.
Goofy was the next character that we saw…
It was actually easier to take a photo of him from a distance, as (because of his height) it is easy to cut off the top of his head in pictures that are taken when he is close to your table. I speak from experience so beware! Haha
Now moving on to the platter of hot food that was brought to our table…
The breakfast skillet included two Simba waffles and a Mickey waffle, two sausage patties, scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, and a pile of crispy bacon.
Of the two meats, we preferred the bacon. The sausage patties weren’t cooked (browned) as much as we would have liked. In fact, if these had been served on a buffet we probably would not have taken any.
The scrambled eggs were fine…no complaints or compliments.
While both the Mickey and Simba waffles (tasted the same, just shaped differently) were good, our favorite item on the platter was the potatoes…
They were perfectly crisp on the outside but soft on the inside and very nicely seasoned. This was the only thing we requested seconds of…
Unfortunately by the time our server brought our second helping of the potatoes we were too full to eat them.
In addition to the standard breakfast foods on the platter we also received a pan of Durban Chicken & (Hard-boiled) Egg Curry served on a bed of Jasmine Rice…
When we were nearly finished eating (and about 35 minutes after we were seated) Donald Duck, the host of this meal, made his appearance…
And about 10 minutes later, just after we had paid our bill and were getting ready to leave the last character made her appearance, Daisy Duck…
As we were walking out I took a quick photo of the large room where the buffet stations used to be located…
Ahhh, so that’s where they put all those tables that had been removed from our dining room, lol.
So overall the family-style dining experience took 50 minutes from the time we were seated at 9:26 until I took this photo on the way out at 10:16. This worked out well for us in this case, as we wanted to see the 10:30 Festival of the Lion King show. I’ve eaten here several times when it was a buffet and I’m sure it took longer with going back and forth to the buffet area for food. But even though it took more effort and time to serve yourself at the buffet, I felt it was worth it because the buffet had many more options to choose from. There are a few other negatives though besides the time factor for the character buffet meals (vs. the family-style ones that still exist, like Garden Grill at Epcot). First it can be very inconvenient for families with small children that require help choosing their food at the buffet. My husband and I had three young children when we first started coming to Disney World, so I’m speaking from experience when it comes to buffet dining, especially character buffets. Also, inevitably there would be characters visit your table when at least some of the family was gone getting food at the buffet, which was a bummer. But if there are specific characters you want to see, like Pooh characters for instance, then the buffet-style dining might be your only option at Disney World currently. So my advice is to weigh the pros and cons and choose your character meals based on your family’s needs and preferences.
NOTE: During my upcoming trip (with a family group of 7 adults) I currently have both a family-style character breakfast (at Garden Grill) and a buffet breakfast (here at Tusker House) scheduled. Both are currently priced at $47. If they don’t change their minds and insist that I choose only one, it will be nice to get multiple opinions on which of these two character meals is better.
Taste of Disney 