One of the most fun restaurants in Animal Kingdom is Tusker House. It is extremely popular, which makes it a very difficult reservation to snag. If you are lucky enough to get a reservation at Tusker House, you are in for a very fun meal that I personally believe adds a lot to your Animal Kingdom day.
Tusker House is a Table Service restaurant located in the Africa section of Animal Kingdom. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all served at this restaurant, and it is buffet style for all 3 meals. What really makes this restaurant shine, is it is a Character meal featuring Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy. The characters all sport adorable safari outfits, giving the perfect opportunity for a photo op not available anywhere else.
As with most character meals at Disney World, the characters make a circuit around the restaurant and if all goes well, all of the characters should reach your table during the course of your meal. At Tusker House, the characters also occasionally perform a fun African song and dance every 30 minutes or so. They break out instruments and dance around the entire restaurant, interacting with as many guests as possible.
Due to the way that the main dining room is laid out at Tusker House, there is at least one character within your view at all times during your meal. This adds to the entertainment value of your meal at Tusker House. It also helps to time your visit to the buffet line, so you don't leave your table when a character is getting close to meeting with you.
When you are seated, your waiter will greet you and serve you drinks. Coffee, tea, juice, and soda are all included with your meal. There are also cocktails, specialty drinks, beer, and wine available on the menu for an additional cost. Tusker House has the famous Disney POG juice, which I always order at Disney restaurants for breakfast. This juice is a combination of passion fruit juice, orange juice, and guava juice. It is included with your meal, so I highly recommend ordering this to drink! After ordering your drinks, you are welcomed to go to the buffet, which is of course unlimited.
Because Tusker House is in Africa, the menu is strongly inspired by African cuisine. For that reason, unless you are an adventurous eater, I recommend the breakfast at Tusker House over the lunch/dinner. On the breakfast buffet you will see classic breakfast fare like Mickey waffles, overnight oats, bacon, sausage, ham, and pastries. There are also a few African items on the breakfast line, which I did not recognize and were, to be honest, a little too adventurous for me to try in the morning. Breakfast will cost you $49 per adult.
The lunch and dinner menu on the other hand is much more ethnic. If you peruse the menu on the My Disney Experience App, you will see a lot of African cuisine the names of which you will probably not recognize. Lunch/Dinner will cost you $64 per adult. Personally, I would prefer to pay less money to eat foods I know I will like rather than pay the higher ticket price of lunch/dinner and end up not liking anything on the menu. But to each their own. It is also important to note that the character experience will be the same whether you visit for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The ambiance of Tusker House follows suit with the African theme. Inside the restaurant, you are meant to feel like you've stepped inside of an African marketplace. There are several dining rooms, all decorated with African decor. Even the tables and chairs have a homemade African woodwork appearance and you feel like you are in a lodge in Africa. The theming definitely gives you an escape from the busy park outside, and you feel like you are in a completely separate world while dining in Tusker House.
As I mentioned above, Tusker House is extremely popular, especially for breakfast. It is one of the only Table Service restaurants in Animal Kingdom and the only character meal in Animal Kingdom. As such, it is pretty difficult to get a reservation at Tusker House. The breakfast time slots tend to go much faster than lunch and dinner. You will see availability for lunch and dinner up until the weeks before your trip. However, if breakfast is a must for you, that should be one of the first reservations you book on your dining reservation day.
Another consideration when booking a breakfast time slot at Tusker House, is to be sure to take your rope drop strategy into account. Breakfast is only offered at Tusker House from 8-10:30am. This is a much shorter time slot than is offered at other breakfast restaurants in Walt Disney World. This could potentially be an issue at Animal Kingdom, because a lot can be accomplished in the early morning hours of your Animal Kingdom day. It you book too early of a breakfast time, you will miss out on being able rope drop and knock out the more popular rides before the park gets too busy. As such, I recommend targeting a 9:30ish reservation as a sweet spot.
Overall, we had a great time at Tusker House. It is a perfect spot to grab breakfast, especially if you can score a coveted mid-morning time slot. Animal Kingdom has less attractions than other parks, so you don't have to worry about taking time to stop and have a leisurely sit down meal. Also the character interactions are fun and really add to your day. The food is tasty and you can eat as much as you'd like, easily satisfying 2 meals at once. I can't recommend Tusker House enough, particularly for breakfast, and hope that you give it a try next time you're in Animal Kingdom.
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