Tusker House Character Breakfast: Dining Review

It was therefore with some suspicion that we headed for the new character breakfast at Tusker House on the day after Christmas. The main star of the show is Donald, which I was delighted to hear, as the opening of Tusker House coincided with the closure of his Breakfast-a-saurus meal over at Restaurantosaurus. Much as I love them, it's great to see someone other than Mickey, Minnie or Winnie-the-Pooh as a lead character at a Disney meal.

When you arrive, you're made to feel as if you're embarking on a safari into the African savannah and that makes a lot of sense, with Tusker House located in Africa and just a few steps away from Kilimanjaro Safaris. I can imagine that the idea of heading out on safari to get food is probably a lot of fun for kids.

The first stop is to take photos which don't feature any characters, just a backdrop. It's also worth knowing that if you plan to buy a Photopass CD, this photo won't be included on it. The only way you can get it is by purchasing it separately and they'll be around during your meal to show you the finished product. Fortunately, we found a quick "No thanks!" got the message across, as it seems that Disney is now instructing people to avoid the hard sell with these photos at meals. I, for one, was relieved at that.

The next stop will see you meeting your guide, who will take you into the building and to your table. On the way, they'll also explain about the food that's available at the buffet. It's all themed to look very much like an African marketplace and, in that respect; it hasn't changed that much from when Tusker House was a counter service restaurant.

There are separate areas set up around what used to the room where you'd order your food. Those include areas for pastries, cereals, frittatas (both meat and vegetarian), breads, fresh fruit and yogurts. I was impressed with the selection of items available to those of us who don't eat meat and, in particular the vegetable quiche, a rather unusual choice for breakfast. Another unusual choice for breakfast, or any other meal of the day in fact, was the orange bread. They had some superb breads with beautiful flavours to them. It's definitely worth giving these a try.