Hi everyone, how much time should one plan on being at the Garden Grill for breakfast? Is it fast? Or do you need an hour?
Thanks!!
We had an 8:05 ADR, got there at 7:55am and were seated immediately. Our server told us he would make sure we would be out by 8:45am in order to rope drop Soaring, and not only were were able to do so but (along with the other 2 families waiting at 8:45) we were given our own Soaring theatre for just our family and were seated in B1 to experience Soaring in the best seat, completely solo. It was pretty darn sweet!
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Thanks! I also have an 8:05 and an 8:15 on a different day.
I will try to improve the 8:15 - I have 179 days to go.
But I figure we can pick something small and easy to eat and ask for our check right away - worst case??
Did you request B1 or did they just put you there?
If you can’t get an earlier reservation, just show up earlier that morning, and they’ll likely seat you early.
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That is good advice!
They put us there, no request made…for each of the 1st three families - they gave us our ‘own’ theatre. Maybe it is extra magic to start the day? I don’t know exactly the whys and wherefors of this…just that it was super fun.
I would definitely recommend getting into the line asap based on our experience last week.
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It’s served family style, they just bring everything and you eat what you want.
We had an 8.10 a week ago, we were seated at 8 and were done eating at 8.20. We hadn’t seen Chip or Dale yet though so we didn’t leave. I don’t remember when we actually left but we were off Soarin before 9.
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We had breakfast at GG a few weeks ago. ADR was at 8:15 AM, but we arrived at Epcot at 7:45 AM, scooted through security/tapstiles, and were walking in The Land pavilion at 8:00 AM. A CM checked us in at the entrance, and by the time we walked to the restaurant, they were ready to seat us. Had breakfast, saw all characters, and out of there by 8:35, headed down to Soarin’ and were the first ones in line. CMs let us in at 8:45, we got to sit in B1 (my husband did request, but I think we would have been there if he hadn’t), and we were off the ride by 9:03! Perfect timing! It was also our most favorite breakfast!
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It’s seems sad to me to see this as something to be done as quickly as possible.
There’s loads of food to eat, which came out in two batches: cold stuff (fruit bowl, etc.) immediately, hot stuff shortly afterwards.
Meanwhile the restaurant is rotating through LWTL scenes and there are characters to meet.
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Agreed. I like GG for a lunchtime break at Epcot where you can sit down and cool off and relax. Not that you can’t do that at breakfast, but I always tend to rush a PPO breakfast to get to a headliner ride also to avoid wasting early park time.
Edit: And chip and dale are awesome, so you definitely should take advantage of being able to meet them indoors instead of out in the heat
I’m not saying I’m not guilty of rushing around. I am and I really want to stop doing it.
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We had an 8:05 reservation. We asked for bill up front because of Soarin but otherwise didn’t rush. Didn’t need to. We did a full rotation. Enjoyed the meal. Met all the characters and were still down to Soarin before park open/RD crowd. I don’t see why you would need to be at Soarin any earlier. They didn’t let us back until a few minutes before park open. We requested and were seated in B1. I’d enjoy the restaurant experience until just before park open.
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We just did GG breakfast and Soarin’. Plenty of time for breakfast. Did not feel rushed. Arrived at a little before 8am to check in for reservation. Seated by 8. Full rotation, lots of character interaction. We were out by 8:45 and 2nd on Soarin. After that we went right to Test Track which already had a 60 min. wait. We did single rider to save some time. (still a 20 min wait at least). After that we went to Frozen and only waited about 20 min or less.
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You’re making me feel good about our planned morning in Epcot without Fastpasses (we have 7DMT that night) but with Garden Grill before the park open. DS7 told me yesterday that Chip and Dale are the characters he most wants to meet so we don’t want to rush but do want to do Soarin without a long wait. I’m glad you had such a good morning!
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I don’t feel like we rushed through our breakfast at GG at all. It was timed perfectly for our crew - myself, DH and DS8. We all had plenty of time to eat, and did actually have to wait a bit to see Pluto. Maybe we just eat really fast? 
There were a couple of character meals on our trip (Hollywood & Vine/Crystal Palace), where we were done eating and still had to wait 20 minutes or so to see the last few characters in the rotation. That was more frustrating for us, since we were ready to move on with the rest of our day.
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