Fairytales and Fitness: Disney's Garden Grill Restaurant in the Land Pavilion

Garden Grill is one of those restaurants that I've been wanting to try for quite some time now but just kept putting it off. I've been putting it off for several reasons...

My first reason for putting it off was that every time we visit Epcot, we seem to work our way around the festival booths, and sitting for a long meal doesn't seem to be the best use of our time.

The second reason for putting it off is the food itself. I "heard" from other Disney fans that its not the best. Also, it seemed like "heavy food" ( meatloaf, mashed potatoes, etc), and not the type of food my sister usually enjoys.

BUT, one evening things just worked out. I had been at Disney most of the day by myself. I had a room over at Disney's Boardwalk Inn so I could easily walk over to Epcot. During this time, I already ate at a few festival booths. Later in the evening my sister arrived. We didn't really have any plans for the evening so thought we would take the time for a "big" meal. My sister agreed to Garden Grill and I was so excited. Garden Grill is in the Land pavilion at Epcot. It is known as the "rotating restaurant".

We did not have a reservation, but since it was just the two of us, and it was pretty late, we thought perhaps they could fit us in. We arrived at 7:56 pm and were seated right away!

Not only does it rotate, it rotates over top of Living with the Land, which is the boat ride attraction below it. Now, when we say "rotating", we mean a very slight movement. This is not a spinning restaurant. If it weren't for the change in scenery, you probably wouldn't even know you were moving. We were done with our meal in about 50 minutes and still had not rotated all the way around the restaurant one full time. We were close though.

The main reason I wanted to eat here was because I thought it would be neat to be able to look over at Living with the Land from up above, ( and that was very cool). We even saw some guests in boats float by.

As an added bonus, this is a character meal. My experience was already made by being able to see the Living with the Land ride, but the character interaction just elevated the experience.

Chip, Dale, Pluto, and Farmer Mickey all walk around to greet you and interact with you throughout the meal. Because there weren't a lot of guests there during this time, we got to see the characters more than once.

Pluto was letting us know that he enjoyed digging in the garden. We let him know that we had a yellow dog at home that likes to dig too!

The food was actually good, really good. This is a prime example of why you need to experience things yourself instead of relying on hear say!

The meal was brought out "family style" for the two of us to share.

We started with a Harvest inspired Garden Salad, with a yummy vinaigrette dressing.

The main platter had grilled beef, barbecue roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, Southern Style spoon bread ( which was like corn bread), and seasonal vegetables ( we had green beans and corn).

We also had a side of Macaroni and Cheese.

This was one meal where the drinks were actually included. You do have the option to pay for a specialty drink.

For dessert, they brought out a berry short cake with whipped cream.

There is also a plant based menu and allergy friendly menu for those who need it.

Like all character meals, this is a pricey option. You can check HERE to see what the current menu pricing is. Garden Grill also serves breakfast and the menu price is a bit lower.

We were able to use our Annual Pass to receive a small discount on this meal.

Overall, we thought this meal was a good value for us. Remember, most meals are about the experience rather than the food, but this one really delivered both.

Pros

Good Food ( Lots of Variety)

Excellent Location (Being able to look out over Living with the Land)

Unique Experience ( a rotating restaurant)

Character interactions

Offers an AP discount

Cons

Some people might not like family style meals (Everyone gets the same menu)

Price ( could be over $50 for each adult)

You might not want to take time out of a park day for a sit down meal. You will not want to "rush this one!

I mentioned before we thought this meal might be "too heavy", but it really was not. We were satisfied but not overly stuffed.

This was a great experience for us during this visit. This will be a meal your family will keep mentioning throughout their trip ( because they liked it so much). I know we did!

You might also like these other table service restaurants at Epcot:

What is your favorite Character meal?

Till next time, M & L