Dine or Ditch: The Land's Garden Grill aka Land Grille Room aka The Good Turn

The next restaurant to be reviewed in the Dine or Ditch series is one of our family's favorites... and one we unfortunately outgrew and now decide to pass on in favor of something different. Will your family experience the same curve of then dine, now ditch? Keep reading.

As the premier Future World restaurant- sorry Coral Reef- this dining establishment in The Land is immediately recognizable and almost immediately desired. Every guest heading downstairs to Soarin' Around the World or Living with the Land (and at opening, the Audio-Animatronic musical Kitchen Kabaret), must pass by this slowly revolving eatery. Talk about product placement!

Looks great from far away.

But the close up view pulls you in!

Are you confused by all the names? This popular Epcot staple was once known as The Good Turn (at park opening), then the Land Grille Room (1986), later the Garden Grill (1993), and then whatever name is next for the upcoming rebirth of Epcot 2.0 and that incarnation. 

Once The Good Turn was the place to begin our day at EPCOT Center. Breakfast was great with numerous fresh options, filling, and for Disney, it was relatively affordable. Currently, this location is home to Chip 'n' Dale's Harvest Feast, a character dining option that also brings Mickey and friends in farmer garb. This means it is pricey, with limited seating, and difficult to reserve.

My shot from 1983.

Yet, the place has its charms and offers an experience only Disney can deliver! As your table continues revolving, once at the back side of the restaurant, diners are greeted with an exclusive view of a beautifully realized farm scene from the Living with the Land boat ride. (Not counting the sponsor lounge that does offer the same kind of view.) At this point, the atmosphere changes from bright and lively to darker and intimate. Watching the boats glide by and listening to the sounds of a family farm at dawn cannot be replicated in real life. Pure magic! 

Our growing family of preschool kids really enjoyed this place back in 1989. The adventures of EPCOT Center, both in Future World and World Showcase, and this restaurant were more than enough to keep them interested for a full day. The Disney characters and excessive marketing tie-ins didn't need to be there to keep their attention.

Of all the on property character dining experiences, this location has the fewest number of seats, making more face to face time with the rubber heads a big draw in favor of eating here. Chip and Dale, Mickey, and usually Pluto, are found making the rounds. Pretty popular characters in a smaller setting equals better opportunities for those family memories captured by your camera. When character dining moved in, this was about the time Garden Grill moved from a dine to a ditch. (Same for the Crystal Palace, by the way.)

In line with the trendy concept of farm to table dining, much of the food comes right the pavilion's attached greenhouses. The quality and quantity is top notch, almost universally rated so by those who indulge. Also in line with farm to table, the prices reflect the trend. For a child, a $40 meal is a splurge of the highest kind, an amount that can feed an entire family for a week or more in most of the world's poorer countries. At $60 an adult, diners are paying top price for the experience, not that much less than some of Walt Disney World's better dining locations. Is it worth it? Or is it worth forgoing in favor of more time on rides like Test Track and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure? Or do you skip it in favor of a meal at the ultra pricy Space 220?

A Few Tips:

Use the Disney Dining Plan when it's offered again. IF it is offered again. The "bite" doesn't seem too hard to take when you've already decided that the best dining experiences are worth it when on vacation.

Try to obtain the reservation you want by getting on line early and/or try again up until departure date. Do you plan your Lightning Lane (Fast Pass) attractions when offered again first, or are the restaurant choices top priority? Balancing that is a tough call in this era of Disney. Keep checking availability on the Disney Genie Service / My Disney Experience App once you arrive on the Walt Disney World property if you haven't been able to get the exact day and time you want. (I gotta ask- Is it all worth it? I guess it must be!)

Dine or Ditch for Garden Grill?  It all depends on what a day at Epcot means to you! Want a taste of EPCOT Center or an intimate character dining experience? It's a "Dine". Running from ride to ride to get it all in? Or not a character dining fan? A clear "Ditch".

Want more Dine or Ditch?

Check out these reviews:

Sci-Fi Dine In

Be Our Guest

(Photographs copyright the Walt Disney Company.)

Birds and Bears: The Death of Disney Audio-Animatronic Musicals

At one point in the not too distant past, Disney developed several musical variety attractions. The trend began in 1963 with the opening of "Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room" and continued on with various shows opening in many theme parks around the world. This was a good fit for the time as American television was dominated by comedy, music, and variety shows.

The spectacular success of "Tiki" meant there would be more to come. Eventually, there was a duplicate of the show in Florida dubbed "Tropical Serenade", as well as two others at the opening of the Magic Kingdom park, "The Mickey Mouse Revue" and "Country Bear Jamboree". In turn, the West Coast gained its own bear hoedown as well as another show - a tribute to America and its music, just in time for the country's bicentennial with "America Sings". With all these shows, theme park fans across the country had several chances to sit down and relax while they were entertained in air-conditioned comfort. A big bonus especially in the humid and hot Sunshine State.

The Magic Kingdoms were not the only Disney parks to receive these types of musical revues. The 1982 opening of the groundbreaking EPCOT Center, brought us Kitchen Kabaret, a strange little show about nutrition hosted by fruits and vegetables. For all of Disney's talk about the park heralding the next century, this cabaret was very retro, exactly the type of attraction that earned Disney parks the teen reputation of being "the place old people went." Or even just a place for little kids. (Think about the pizza hall Chuck E. Cheese!) It was an extremely long 12 years before this show was retired, but unfortunately it was replaced by an even worse presentation, Food Rocks.

Tokyo Disneyland's opening saw the first overseas presentations of the Magic Kingdom's shows, aside from "America Sings" which, thankfully had no place in Japan, and the Land pavilion's musical theater- which shouldn't have happened anywhere. Wiser heads prevailed for the planning of Disneyland Paris. None of these shows were featured, and the planned Beauty and the Beast musical theater presentation was axed in favor of other attractions. I must admit, since this is my favorite Disney animated movie, ( Do I really need to qualify this by saying "hand drawn"?), I was very much looking forward to this show.

Although initially quite fun, these musical shows were starting to wear thin with each repeat viewing. Attendance began to drop. Marc Davis' charming American characters found a new home in Splash Mountain, and the Mouse's Revue in Florida took up new digs at Tokyo's opening. 

A poorly planned and executed replacement for Serenade opened in Florida as a desperate attempt to keep an audience. At the Happiest Place on Earth, the Bears vacated their California home and made way for an English cub, with Food Rocks retiring for Epcot's version of the only California Adventure classic, Soarin'. In the middle of this transition time, the Imagineers wisely dropped plans for an alien cabaret to replace the poorly aging Carousel Theater in California. The era of theater shows starring animatronics had passed.

Being a music lover meant these shows had a longer life span for me than maybe necessary. Some shows weathered better than others. Having a soft spot for Hawaii and looking back fondly on our many vacations there, I was thrilled when the original Tiki Room was beautifully restored. I wished Disney had saved one theater for the Bears, but that was more for nostalgia value than anything else. (A rumored remake with famous country singers would have held some interest for another few years, however.)

Just recently, I listened to the full recordings of the Disneyland shows from the 50th Anniversary set. Sad to say, but I found myself thinking these shows needed to be replaced. The Jamboree was charming for its time. America Sings, as much as I appreciate the talent of Mr. Davis and his sense of humor, has aged the worst of the lot. Even my beloved Tiki Room survives as a pleasant distraction due to my love for the islands.

Attractions aging poorly is not solely the domain of animatronic musical theater. Disney faces the same kind of challenges with its reliance on 3D film-based attractions and also with stage productions using live actors. Due to its large base of international versus local visitors, the Florida parks can last longer with aging shows and films, but not so in California, as evidenced by the feeble crowds for "Muppets" and "It's Tough to Be a Bug". Viewing the latest plans for California Adventure, we see the Imagineers themselves understanding the struggle they face. New adventures either involve interactivity or those that physically move us from place to place, all the while telling a great story.

The biggest lesson here for Disney is to understand their audience is constantly looking for something not found elsewhere. Disney cannot continue to rely on yesterday's methods and whatever is easiest (or cheapest) to do. Developing new technologies are a vital part to keeping things fresh and to bringing return visitors. Disney cannot allow their competition the luxury of beating them at their own game by passing on cutting edge ride or show systems offered by outside firms.

While in the parks, guests desire something new and different. Particularly in California where it is so easy to travel between parks, a variety in types of attractions and experiences contribute to keeping visitors around through mealtime and into the evening hours.

Balancing these truths and budgets are all part of the new rules for today's theme park game. As shown by the public's lukewarm reaction to the poorly executed but quickly improving California Adventure, rewriting the rules doesn't always work. The lessons learned at this park prove it is better to do it right the first time or pay the price. This time, they won't get increased attendance for a song.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Songs for Simpler Times

At one point in the not too distant past, Disney developed several musical variety attractions. The trend began in 1963 with the opening of "Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room" and continued on with various shows opening in many theme parks around the world. This was a good fit for the time as American television was dominated by comedy, music, and variety shows.

The spectacular success of "Tiki" meant there would be more to come. Eventually, there was a duplicate of the show in Florida dubbed "Tropical Serenade", as well as two others at the opening of the Magic Kingdom park, "The Mickey Mouse Revue" and "Country Bear Jamboree". In turn, the West Coast gained its own bear hoedown as well as another show - a tribute to America and its music, just in time for the country's bicentennial with "America Sings". With all these shows, theme park fans across the country had several chances to sit down and relax while they were entertained in air-conditioned comfort. A big bonus especially in the humid and hot Sunshine State.

The Magic Kingdoms were not the only Disney parks to receive these types of musical revues. The 1982 grand opening of the groundbreaking EPCOT Center, brought us Kitchen Kabaret, a strange little show about nutrition hosted by fruits and vegetables. For all of Disney's talk about the park heralding the next century, this cabaret was very retro, exactly the type of attraction that earned Disney parks the teen reputation of being "the place old people went." Or even just a place for little kids. (Think about the pizza hall Chuck E. Cheese!) It was an extremely long 12 years before this show was retired, but unfortunately it was replaced by an even worse presentation, Food Rocks.

Tokyo Disneyland's opening saw the first overseas presentations of the Magic Kingdom's shows, aside from "America Sings" which, thankfully had no place in Japan, and the Land pavillion's musical theater- which shouldn't have happened anywhere. Wiser heads prevailed for the planning of Disneyland Paris. None of these shows were featured, and the originally planned Beauty and the Beast musical theater presentation was axed in favor of other attractions. I must admit, since this is my favorite Disney animated movie, ( Do I really need to qualify this by saying "hand drawn"?), I was very much looking forward to this show.

Although initially quite fun, these musical shows were starting to wear thin with each repeat veiwing. Attendance began to drop. Marc Davis' charming American characters finally found a new home in Splash Mountain, and the Mouse's Revue in Florida took up new digs at Tokyo's opening. A poorly planned and executed replacement for Serenade opened in Florida as a desperate attempt to keep an audience. At the Happiest Place on Earth, the Bears vacated their California home and made way for an English cub, with Food Rocks retiring for Epcot's version of the only California Adventure classic, Soarin'. In the middle of this transition time, the Imagineers wisely dropped plans for an alien cabaret to replace the poorly aging Carousel Theater in California. The era of theater shows starring animatronics had passed.

Being a music lover meant these shows had a longer life span for me than maybe necessary. Some shows weathered better than others. Having a soft spot for Hawaii and looking back fondly on our many vacations there, I was thrilled when the original Tiki Room was beautifully restored. I wished Disney had saved one theater for the Bears, but that was more for nostalgia value than anything else. (A rumored remake with famous country singers would have held some interest for another few years, however.)

Just recently, I listened to the full recordings of the Disneyland shows from the 50th Anniversary set. Sad to say, but I found myself thinking these shows needed to be replaced. The Jamboree was charming for its time. America Sings, as much as I appreciate the talent of Mr. Davis and his sense of humor, has aged the worst of the lot. Even my beloved Tiki Room survives as a pleasant distraction due to my love for the islands.

Attractions aging poorly is not solely the domain of animatronic musical theater. Disney faces the same kind of challenges with its reliance on 3D film-based attractions and especially in Florida, also with stage productions using live actors. Due to its large base of international versus local visitors, the Florida parks can last longer with aging shows and films, but not so in California, as evidenced by the feeble crowds for the tired "Muppets" and "It's Tough to Be a Bug". Viewing the latest plans for California Adventure, we see the Imagineers themselves understanding the struggle they face. New adventures either involve interactivity or those that physically move us from place to place, all the while telling a great story.

The biggest lesson here for Disney is to understand their audience is constantly looking for something not found elsewhere. Disney cannot continue to rely on yesterday's methods and whatever is easiest (or cheapest) to do. Developing new technologies are a vital part to keeping things fresh and to bringing return visitors. Disney cannot allow their competition the luxury of beating them at their own game by passing on cutting edge ride or show systems offered by outside firms.

While in the parks, guests desire- and pay for- something new and different. Particularly in California where it is so easy to travel between parks, a variety in types of attractions and experiences contribute to keeping visitors around through mealtime and into the evening hours.

Balancing these truths and budgets are all part of the new rules for today's theme park game. As shown by the public's lukewarm reaction to the poorly executed California Adventure, rewriting the rules doesn't always work. The lessons learned at this park prove it is better to do it right the first time or pay the price. This time, they won't get increased attendance for a song.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)