Changes at Liberty Tree Tavern and Garden Grill

[FlaTikiGuy]

Hey there gang, I just found out some information and thought you'd all like to know.
My partner works for WDW at the Liberty Tree Tavern and let me know of some changes there and the Garden Grill they were just told about today.
Starting on January 5th there will no longer be character dining for dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern and no more breakfast service at all at the Garden Grill.
The servers were told that from what the guests have told the "powers that be" they don't want characters at the Liberty Tree Tavern and don't want to eat breakfast at the parks so there's no need to have Garden Grill open for breakfast.
My but guests are getting very specific in what they tell the "powers that be.". Knowing many of the servers at Liberty Tree and some at Garden Grill as well I find it hard to believe that guests would make either of those statements to anyone. Guests generally flock to character dining opportunities and try their hardest to take part in them (now there will be one less of these opportunities) and I also find it a hard pill to swallow that people don't want to eat breakfast in the parks.
The real reasons for these changes are of course money related, not guets comment related. Without the characters there during dinner they higher ups are convinced that they can get the tables turned over at least one more time during dinner service thus getting more guests through the doors. Also keep in mind that current price for dinner at Liberty Tree will not be lowering when the characters are no longer there (currently 9.95 of each guests charge is supposedly there to cover character costs. if you were to go to Liberty Tree for dinner and not eat they would still charge you 9.95 for the character experience as an Entertainment Fee). They just want to try and get more guests through the door faster, providing them with less while still charging full price or more.
If this is something you would like to try and prevent from happening I urge you to contact WDW and let them know that contrary to what they seem to think you, the guest, do indeed want the characters to stay at the Liberty Tree Tavern and/or you would actually like to eat breakfast in the park so keeping the Garden Grill open for breakfast might be a good idea.
At any rate, I thought this was something you would all like to know about, especially if you were looking forward to booking that character dining or breakfast reservation when they become available for your trips.

[stitchon]

That stinks. The Liberty Tree Tavern has some of the best character dining interaction in the resort. I would hope this rumor is false.

[Greatdanedaddy]

Oh I hope this is not true. In our last four trips to WDW we have eaten at the Liberty Tree Tavern. We have gone to the Pooh breadfast at Crystal Palace. In fact in our November trip coming up we have ADR for the Pooh breakfast at Crystal Palace. I'll be happy to send a letter into the Executive Offices of WDW.

John

[Sorvian]

This sucks. Nothing better than starting your day at the Land.

[WDW Monorail]

The Garden Grill does not serve breakfast.

[Stitchy]

I can see with Liberty Tree Tavern. I've always been a little disappointed that they had a character dinner, makes reservations harder to get...makes it more expensive. But, nothing that would block me from going. As for people eating breakfast in the parks....that's one of my favorite memories!!!! I LOVE that!

[WDW1974]

The Garden Grill does not serve breakfast.

Uhm ... that's kind of what I thought. I remember they stopped serving it around 2000-01. And I didn't think they ever reinstated it.

As for LTT, I'd love it if they dropped the characters from the place. They completely ruined Cindy's for adults (and kids) who don't want to whole character experience and price. It would be nice to see them return one location to a non-character, menu locale.

But since some of the info seems iffy, I'd wait to hear confirmation from others as well.

[horizonsfan92]

On another website's forums, one that seems to love "WDW" and "Magic", they've said that GG will stop having Character Lunches and LTT will stop having characters all together.

Personally I'm kind of excited as I've wanted to eat at GG but, have been turned off by all the chaos caused by the characters. I know I'm not the norm when it comes to character dining.

[Disnyfan89]

It has been announced that as of January 2009 Goofy’s Liberate Your Appetite Character Dinner will no longer be offered at Liberty Tree Tavern. Not only are they removing the characters but Dinner will remain the same including PRICE! This is not acceptible. This is once again lowering the Overall Guest Experiance by presenting a lessened experiance to guest without any adjustments made to price. I know alot of people at Liberty Tree who this will effect and I am not happy about it. I have made a petition in hopes to stop this from happening. Please, PLEASE, sign it. Every voice counts. This is a popular experiance that can be saved!!!! PLEASE HELP SAVE IT! This is the first time I have ever felt this strongly about a particular subject. This means alot to me, the Cast Members at Liberty Tree, and the characters. Not only is this a popular place for guest to visit but also the Characters really love being there as well. Please help make a Difference.

You can find the petition at this link: http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/20175.html Please send this to as many friends as possible! Also feel free to post this pitition in other Disney Forums as well as any other online comunnity you are apart of!

[Iluvdisney]

This would be very unfortunate. Where are you getting your information.

[Greatdanedaddy]

My wife and I have signed it. You need to let other Disney boards and egrous know about this petition and where to sign it.

John

[Angie_Duke]

I'm glad they are no more characters at LTT (probably one of the few, if only we could get one non character meal at Cindy's Royal Table) but keeping the price and food the same is not good IMO.

[Disnyfan89]

From what I have been seeing what Disney needs to do is open another sit down location to the MK. All table service locations fill up for dinner, even on the slow days! Instead of taking away a popular guest experiance disney needs to just add a new location. Removing the characters from LTT is a cheep fix.

[TDLFAN]

Anything that removes overpriced Character-driven buffets off the parks' restaurants is an OK idea by me. Let's return the parks favorite eateries back to the entire guest demographic and not just for the ones with kids and character-loving hags. Gosh, I miss the days of sitting at the Crystal Palace to enjoy a nice plate of spaghetti.

[BigPigletFan]

Interesting move for Liberty Tree. I enjoyed my dinner experience there three years ago and actually made plans to return this fall. I think it's probably because I LOVE that Goofy costume.