On your next Animal Kingdom day, you can book Walt Disney World Character Dining at Tusker House. This buffet restaurant features characters at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Dining Plan:
This is a table service restaurant. You will use 1 table service credit when you dine here. Reservations recommended.
This restaurant starts accepting reservations 180 days in advance. To book your reservation, visit Disney Dining online or call 1-407-WDW-DINE or contact your Disney Travel Agent (I recommend Destinations in Florida).
Meals offered:
Breakfast Buffet from 8 am to 10:55 am; Features African dishes and American favorites that are really good!
Lunch Buffet from 11 am to 3:30 pm; Features entrees like Spit-roasted Beef Top Sirloin, Spit-roasted Chicken, Mango Chutney and more.
Dinner Buffet from 4:00 PM – 9:30 PM; Features a variety of African dishes.
Characters:
Donald, Mickey, Goofy and Daisy or Minnie.
Special Event:
There is a parade with the characters throughout the restaurant.
My recommended reservation times:
8:00 am so you can get into the Animal Kingdom before it opens.
My experiences:
We ate here on our first trip and again on our third. Both meals were absolutely wonderful and we had an amazing time. It is such a fun environment.
Would I do it again:
Yes!
Your opinion:
If you have dined at Tusker House for breakfast, please leave your opinion in the comments section!
You might consider booking a dinner reservation at Garden Grill.
Learn more about Walt Disney World Dining and get suggestions for where to eat, how to use the Disney Dining Plan and more.
On my boyfriends first trip to Disney, I decided to bring him here, because he wasn’t really interested in characters. I thought it would be fun to meet the “classic” characters. He loved it! He had so much fun with the characters and the food was delicious! And the jungle juice – our amazing waiter brought us THREE pitchers! So great, definitely will be going back with my parents!
We have eaten @ Tusker House for breakfast three times. After our first late breakfast check in we decided to have early breakfasts there from then on out. So, we made ADRs for 9 and on both occasions the CMs let us in upon our arrival @ 10 to 9. We walked to the back and had to wait, soon after our arrival the park opened so we got fast passes for the safari which worked out great b/c as soon as we were done we hopped on there. For whatever reason, we always end up waiting here though to be seated.
By far this has the most food of any of the breakfast buffets we have been to. There are so many types of pastries. We have always enjoyed the food there as well as the character interaction. We will definatley dine there again, we took a year off this year from Tusker House and tried something new.
We eat here everytime we visit WDW. It is our favorite breakfast – besides the fact that it is character dining too. They have a huge selection of food, you can eat as much as you want, and it’s great! The characters come around to every table and I have seen Donald lead a dance with the kids. We always start Animal Kingdom here!
We had Donald’s Safari Breakfast at Tusker House back in April of 2010 and it was fantastic! We made sure to get the first seating so we were able to enter Animal Kingdom before it opened. First stop is a quick picture with Donald and then we were seated immediately at our table. One of the best parts of this breakfast for me was the yummy fruit juice they served! It was so good, I think they call it Jungle Juice! The buffet was great, hot and plenty of food to choose from. The kids LOVED every minute of it!! (So did my husband and I and my parents!) The characters we got to meet during the meal were Goofy, Mickey, and Daisy and they were spaced apart pretty well. We didn’t feel too crowded at our table either and we weren’t rushed at all by our server. The characters also did a little music parade with the kids! One of the best parts was we were finished right at 9:00 and could walk right onto the Safari without a wait!! It was a perfect start to our Animal Kingdom day!!
One of my favorites. I give it two thumbs up!
Kudos:
* Breakfast:
*Characters restaurant! yeah! We saw Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Minnie in jungle attire. That sets the tone for fun and magic…ps…the fun and magic never really end at this restaurant *wink*
* we went in the winter and it was not crowded. For that matter the Animal Kingdom was not crowded so we got extra special attention at this restaurant.
* They do charge a ridiculous amount to have your picture taken with Donald but just bring your own personal camera….cast members will help you take family photos or there are other opportunities to get photos taken during your meal. This combines two of my favorite pastimes – eating and meeting Disney Characters – double yeah!
*Breakfast: During the meal kids have an opportunity to perform in the Conga line. Wakes everyone up for sure *wink* Now that is a way to start your day
* If you don’t get there in time for breakfast the lunch and dinner are pretty much the same menu except lunch is cheaper. Take advantage of a late lunch time frame as your dinner. Your early dinner at a lunch price will make you smile
Drawbacks-
NONE :-)
One of our favorites, never OVERcrowded. We even celebrated DH’s 31st Birthday there for breakfast and the characters signed a card for him. His favorite character, Donald, even spent some extra time with him as we were leaving since there wasn’t incoming guests. Food is great, too- lots of different dishes to try.
This was one of our favorite meals of our trip in 2010. There were just the two adults, but we still found the characters to be interactive with us and posed for pictures. Though we had interaction with each of the characters (Mickey, Daisy, Goofy), it was very quick, which seemed to be the case for the other tables in our room. Also, at least in the room in which we were seated, the tables are very close together. Despite this downfall, the food and service more than made up for any negatives I could have to say. The selection was great and the foods were delicious. The juice that they serve is also incredible. We opted for a pre park opening seating time and got to walk through AK and take pictures of the tree without anyone else in them!
We had reservations at the Tucker house for breakfast in July. It was one of the first places that we went to in Animal Kingdom because it was at 8:00. I have to say that my whole family really enjoyed the buffet. My kids thought that the mickey face pancakes was awesome. The food was really good and everything you could think of for breakfast. We seen so many characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy. It was great. I would recommend doing this character dining. The only down fall about the place is the price but it was so hot in July that it was worth is just being out of the heat and having all the characters come to you so that you don’t have to send in lines.
Donald’s safari is a lot of fun for kids because every so often all the characters come out and dance, leading a parade of kids around the restaurant with noise makers. If you get headaches easily this is not the place for you. The buffet choices seem a bit limited if you don’t like fruit but otherwise it’s a typical Disney breakfast buffet. If you not interested in characters but want a ethnic breakfast buffet hit up Boma instead.
This is the only character meal I have done at Disney, and I am almost scared to do any other ones because this one is so much fun!! It was a bit pricey for us, but we really wanted to splurge since it was the last trip before baby’s arrival. The food was outstanding and we felt like we got a good amount of face time with each character.
We have been to disney world twice – 2005 & 2009 and both times we did this character breakfast. We loved it! We are planning to go again next year & will do this same one again. We got a pic with donald upon entering. Once inside we met Mickey, daisy & Goofy. They interacted very well with the kids and took plenty of pics with us. They were alot of fun. The food at the buffet was great. And as always, we love the juice they serve!
We have had breakfast here in 09 and it was wonderful! My kids were a little disapointed that Donald didnt come in to see them at the tables but loved the breakfast. In 2011 we had a grand gathering dinner here and it was so super good! My youngest son has a lactaid issue and they made him seperate dishes, he loved all of them!! I would eat here again!
By far our favorite character breakfast. The characters made their rounds quick, the food was delicious! Only downfall was we had to wait half an hour past our ADR to be seated in the summer heat!
This is one we’ve had on our repeat list for years. We ate here in Aug at our usual 8 am time. Good food with some less usual choices. Great juice! It did seem a little more crowed. I think they’ve squeezed in more tables over the years. Characters are fun. Yes, I wish Donald came inside but you can find him elsewhere in AK. We just really like this place ( for lunch too, but that’s a different post!)
We had breakfast at Tusker House last October with our two kids and my parents. We enjoyed the setting and being near the safari to get fast passes. The food was good and we liked the variety of different foods. We had fun getting our group picture with Donald but it was difficult to get pictures with the other characters due to how crowded it was. I found myself rushed and stressed with the way the characters were handled at the tables. I was afraid to have my kids leave the table for fear they would miss the characters and I could not leave for fear of missing getting their pictures. I had to have another adult at the table get the kids foods and I frankly left a bit hungry. The food I did have was good though. Perhaps our timing was just bad that morning.
This is my FAVORITE character breakfast at Walt Disney World. The food is amazing, and the staff is fabulous too. The characters spend time with your children, and come in again to lead your children around in a parade with musical instruments. The restaurant runs as close to on time as any character meal I have had at Disney. The restaurant is themed to go with the animal kingdom park, and the special punch they give you is great. Chef Mickeys may be very popular, but this is not to be missed, ESPECIALLY if you have the free dining plan!!!
Our first trip to Disney was last week. We did dine at the Tusker House for the Character Breakfast. There were alot of food choices on the buffet. So yes that was well worth the money. My 3 year old tried many new foods that he normally would not try. I was very disappointed in the character interaction with the kids. The tables were so close together and it was VERY crowded. The characters seemed very rushed. We were told when we were sat to have the kids sit on the end and to stay seated when the characters arrived at the table. They stopped by for maybe a minute, long enough to sign an autograph and stand next to my seated 3 year old child for a photo.All of the pictures look awful with the height difference. I was not able to step back because there was a table right behind me. After we left we looked through the autographs and could not even read Mickey’s autograph, so we had to go to camp Mickey for a new one. That one was excellent by the way. We did go to another character meal at Hollywood and Vine (HS) during our trip and it were wonderful. The characters spent time with my child posed for photos and even “Stalked” my 15 year old son. By the end of the meal I had over 100 photos and my 15 year old had every character kissing and hugging on him. That one was worth every penny spent.
We absolutely love breakfast at the tusker house. We go to Disney every year and we get the 8:00 breakfast which allows us to get in early. When we get done with breakfast we head to the safari the line is normally short and it seems that there are more animals in view first thing in the morning like that. Oh, and my daughter loves seeing the characters dressed up in the safari gear and I personally love the jungle juice that they serve with breakfast!
Yes, you have to pay for the picture but they did take one with our camera as well. Breakfast and experience was great. My favorite!
I read you have to pay for the picture with Donald and that they won’t take one with your camera, is this true?
We loved Donald’s Safari Breakfast. We actually got one of the later seatings so we could do a few things in the park first. We then had this meal as an early lunch. It was one of my favorite meals!
Love, Love, Love Tusker’s!! The food was awesome. The service was great. Our waitress made sure that all the Characters made it to our table before we were finished. Donald, Mickey, Goofy and Daisy were super cute in their safari outfits. We made reservations at 10am on a AK EMH morning. So we got some FP’s, rode a few rides and then ate a big breakfast with Donald and the crew. It was our favorite Character meal on our last trip.
Our family went there for our Easter morning breakfast during our 2010 trip. The food was great and the atmosphere was nice. We have been to Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey (a few times) and O’hana. We would definitely go to Tusker House again. My oldest was 10 at the time and not really in to girls or girly stuff. Daisy picked up on this and laid him back in his chair and gave him a huge kiss. We laughed hysterically and she came back and did the same to my 7 year old son. It was the highlight of the trip.
We have done breakfast at Tusker House twice. It is one of our favorites along with Chef Mickey’s. We have also done dinner at Tusker House which was great. The secret about eating dinner at Tusker House is get one of the earliest dinner reservations, like 4:00. If you get a window seat you can watch the parade from the window. What most people don’t realize is that the parade comes back along the same route about 15 mn after it is done. We ate, walked out of the restraunt and got a front row seat for the second viewing of the parade. No crowds and no waiting an hour for the parade and a bench to sit on! It was great!
We loved this one as well – my only complaint is that you greet Donald before you go in, and he does not come to your table or sign autographs, but you can get a picture and there is a Photo Pass photographer there as well. My kids were a little disappointed in that because they love Donald, but they did still have an awesome time. I am not sure if that is how worked on just that day, or if it is always like this. The food was great though and I loved the juice!
I agree that this is one of the best! The food is great and the parade is so much fun! Plus it is one of the easiest to get reservations for. Would not hesitate to do it again.
While I find the price of dining at Tusker House to be a bit steep, I find the aettig and food great! My son had such a great time dancing with Donald! The experience was really amazing!
We finally dined her for the first time last summer and LOVED it! The character interaction was great, plenty of room and the food was fresh! My three kids loved everything about it! I really like that we got into the park early. Tusker House is MUCH better than Chef Mickey’s (which we have done 3 times for breakfast and never enjoyed!).
We did the Animal Kingdom Breakfast when it used to be in Dino land and have done the Tusker House a few times as well. i am not a breakfast person, so I really don’t get a lot of value for the money, I prefer character dinners or lunches. However, if you are a breakfast fan, (and stash a few bananas in your bag for later), you can get your money’s worth.
On our last trip I did notice that they had added more tables in the space, and it is now pretty crowded, which is a theme carried out in many of the WDW dining locations since the dining plan and especially free dining have been offered. It was so close last time the characters had problems squeezing between tables.
Overall it is a nice time, and we enjoy having the character interaction and get some great pictures, but I would prefer to spend my money (or dining points) elsewhere
We did 3 character meals during our 4 day trip to Disney World. We loved the Tusker House. Donald Duck is my favorite so to give him a hug before breakfast was awesome. The girls loved that Daisy showed up at our table and they got to do the parade with Goofy. The food was very high quality and I liked some of the “exotic” options. My girls (6 & 4) loved the selection of food for them. We had a great time, and would go again.
We have ate at Tusker House (May 2008) and loved it! We had reservations for around 7:00-7:15am. We were staying at the Wilderness Lodge and the buses were not running at that time yet, so someone from the hotel had to take us in their van. My tip would be to make sure the transportation is running when you make your reservations. We loved the food and got to get in line for the safari ride before the general public.
Sorry, should have read that other comment before posting, didn’t realize how much I used “as well” LOL
We ate there last year, it was wonderful! The best character meal that we attended. The characters came around a few times as well, and Donald was so funny when we were going inside! Great tasting food as well! We arrived about a half hour before our reservation time, and they seated us shortly after we arrived. The staff was very friendly as well.
It was GREAT!!! This and Chef Mickey were our favorite!
In my opinion Tusker House is hands down the best character breakfast on property. The food selection covers everything from standard breakfast fare to moderately exotic. We ate there in 2009 and had reservations at 10:00. We waited well past our time and when we finally got in, we only had a short time to eat before lunch was served. Our server told us to take our time and wait for the lunch selections. She made certain there would be no issues with us staying for lunch. Characters were kind of rushed. Daisy Duck is there so we had to do it because my youngest is crazy over her!
We dined here for the first time during our trip in November. We loved it!! In fact, our daughter said it was one of her favorites! She loved the safari dress of the characters and the parade around the restuarant. Definitely will do on our next trip!!
My husband and I went there around 4 years ago- before we had kids! And we both had a blast! We’ll definatly do it again- with the kids when they get old enough to go.
I agree the Tusker House for breakfast is a good idea. We enjoyed the food and we had 8:00 reservations so we got to enter early. I would recommend.