Tusker House + Lion King Timing

[littlebittyhouse]

We have a 1:05 reservation for lunch at Tusker House...What are the chances we can make the 2:30 Lion King Show? We do have a fast pass for it...

 

[Jobie]

I just ate at Tusker House last week and was seated 20/30 minutes after our reservation time. When you have a fastpass for a show, you still want to arrive at least 20 minutes before the show time, because they start letting stand-by in 15/10 minutes before the show time. If you arrive after they have started to let stand-by in, it is a waste of a FastPass imo. If you are wanting to see all of the characters at Tusker House, you will need to give yourself more than your regular amount of time for eating. We waited several minutes after we were done eating and still were not able to meet Mickey. We saw the others, but not him. It was just us two adults, so it was not a big deal for us, but if we had children with us we would have waited longer.

Because of this, I think the 2:30 show is pushing it. You have a chance, but you will have to hope they sit you down right away, you eat fast, and, if you want to see all of the characters, they promptly visit you.

 

[Alesia]

I always allow 90 minutes for a character meal.

Unless you're fine with missing some of the characters, the chances of you making it are pretty slim. If you decide to try, you need to leave the restaurant at 2:00. Make sure to ask for the check as soon as possible.

 

[hiroMYhero]

There have been problems at Tusker that began last week - the Restaurant management is ‘testing’ a new system of character rotation. The result is that characters, Attendants, and entertainment Captains are receiving all of the complaints and profanity when the ‘test’ is a management decision.

By mid-day, guests are being seated up to 30 minutes after their scheduled ADR and waiting for characters, as described by @Jobie, can take up to 90 minutes or more when in the past, it only took 45 minutes to an hour at most.

Guests are missing their scheduled FPs and entertainment CMs, the ones who can speak, are advising Guests to ask for a Manager to issue a replacement FP or complain to Guest Relations. The replacement FPs cannot be used for the Pandora rides.

@littlebittyhouse - if your ADR is scheduled to happen soon, you’ll probably miss your FotLK show. The rotation problems are in the process of being addressed and hopefully the ‘test’ ends quickly. If you do decide to keep your FotLK FP, they do seat guests even as the show begins - but that just depends on if seats are still available.

 

[coolmark18]

Any more details on the character rotation is?

There have been problems at Tusker that began last week - the Restaurant management is ‘testing’ a new system of character rotation. The result is that characters, Attendants, and entertainment Captains are receiving all of the complaints and profanity when the ‘test’ is a management decision.

By mid-day, guests are being seated up to 30 minutes after their scheduled ADR and waiting for characters, as described by @Jobie, can take up to 90 minutes or more when in the past, it only took 45 minutes to an hour at most.

Guests are missing their scheduled FPs and entertainment CMs, the ones who can speak, are advising Guests to ask for a Manager to issue a replacement FP or complain to Guest Relations. The replacement FPs cannot be used for the Pandora rides.

@littlebittyhouse - if your ADR is scheduled to happen soon, you’ll probably miss your FotLK show. The rotation problems are in the process of being addressed and hopefully the ‘test’ ends quickly. If you do decide to keep your FotLK FP, they do seat guests even as the show begins - but that just depends on if seats are still available.

 

[hiroMYhero]

@coolmark18 - The ‘test’ is still in effect as of this evening.

 

[littlebittyhouse]

I just ate at Tusker House last week and was seated 20/30 minutes after our reservation time. When you have a fastpass for a show, you still want to arrive at least 20 minutes before the show time, because they start letting stand-by in 15/10 minutes before the show time. If you arrive after they have started to let stand-by in, it is a waste of a FastPass imo. If you are wanting to see all of the characters at Tusker House, you will need to give yourself more than your regular amount of time for eating. We waited several minutes after we were done eating and still were not able to meet Mickey. We saw the others, but not him. It was just us two adults, so it was not a big deal for us, but if we had children with us we would have waited longer.

Because of this, I think the 2:30 show is pushing it. You have a chance, but you will have to hope they sit you down right away, you eat fast, and, if you want to see all of the characters, they promptly visit you.

There have been problems at Tusker that began last week - the Restaurant management is ‘testing’ a new system of character rotation. The result is that characters, Attendants, and entertainment Captains are receiving all of the complaints and profanity when the ‘test’ is a management decision.

By mid-day, guests are being seated up to 30 minutes after their scheduled ADR and waiting for characters, as described by @Jobie, can take up to 90 minutes or more when in the past, it only took 45 minutes to an hour at most.

Guests are missing their scheduled FPs and entertainment CMs, the ones who can speak, are advising Guests to ask for a Manager to issue a replacement FP or complain to Guest Relations. The replacement FPs cannot be used for the Pandora rides.

@littlebittyhouse - if your ADR is scheduled to happen soon, you’ll probably miss your FotLK show. The rotation problems are in the process of being addressed and hopefully the ‘test’ ends quickly. If you do decide to keep your FotLK FP, they do seat guests even as the show begins - but that just depends on if seats are still available.

Thank you both for such wonderful information! I would have been so disappointed had we gone not knowing this!

Do you think Tusker House is still worth it right now? We are doing Minnie's Seasonal Dine, CRT and a BOG dinner so I don't feel like we are lacking in character dining...

 

[hiroMYhero]

Do you think Tusker House is still worth it right now? We are doing Minnie's Seasonal Dine, CRT and a BOG dinner so I don't feel like we are lacking in character dining...

Because you have H&V booked, Tusker isn’t worth it at all as you’ll spend time waiting for characters. If you get seated in a room where Mickey had been meeting and then moved on, it may be an hour+ before he rotates back into your room.

Enjoy H&V!

 

[Jobie]

Thank you both for such wonderful information! I would have been so disappointed had we gone not knowing this!

Do you think Tusker House is still worth it right now? We are doing Minnie's Seasonal Dine, CRT and a BOG dinner so I don't feel like we are lacking in character dining...

Tusker House is one of the best buffets on WDW property IMO (Boma is my favorite). It was the first time I have eaten there, and I was impressed. It was some of the best food we ate all week. I did feel it was a little overpriced, but this is due it being a character meal. If they would make it $10/15 less for a non-character meet and greet room, I would eat there every chance I could.

So if you like that food, it could be worth it. However, if you are doing it just for the characters, you seem to be covered with Minnie's unless you are wanting to see them all in their Safari gear.

 

[littlebittyhouse]

Tusker House is one of the best buffets on WDW property IMO (Boma is my favorite). It was the first time I have eaten there, and I was impressed. It was some of the best food we ate all week. I did feel it was a little overpriced, but this is due it being a character meal. If they would make it $10/15 less for a non-character meet and greet room, I would eat there every chance I could.

So if you like that food, it could be worth it. However, if you are doing it just for the characters, you seem to be covered with Minnie's unless you are wanting to see them all in their Safari gear.

My sister really wants to do Tusker House so...I kept it. I think it will be fine if we aren’t waiting for the characters and it’s not a big deal if we don’t see them!

 

[Disney_Princess83]

My sister really wants to do Tusker House so...I kept it. I think it will be fine if we aren’t waiting for the characters and it’s not a big deal if we don’t see them!

If you're in a rush, ask for the bill as soon as you're seated. We have been finished dining at Tusker but had to wait an extra 10-15 minutes for the bill.

 

[hiroMYhero]

My sister really wants to do Tusker House so...I kept it. I think it will be fine if we aren’t waiting for the characters and it’s not a big deal if we don’t see them!

Restaurant Management was in Tusker all day on Thursday to assess what was wrong with the new seating ‘test’ that was affecting how long guests were waiting for characters to cycle through.

Hopefully, you’ll be seated closer to your mid-day ADR time and will get out of Tusker in time for your FP.

I asked why Tusker is arranged so strangely for a character meal when Disney already knew how to build restaurants for character dining (ChefMic/H&V/CP) and it’s because Tusker was originally a QS restaurant. Its multiple rooms are not set up for optimal guest seating for characters to rotate through efficiently. And this ‘test’ has obviously made things worse.