Fare Thee Well My Fair Feast Fare

I intended to talk about character dining. A hotbed of bullets and buffets on the Internet, especially if you mention Cinderella's Royal Table. I'll dodge that bazooka of a subject this time though and talk about a less volatile meal. The Garden Grill lunch. Ignore my tears of sorrow.

I didn't go to a character meal until kids became involved. Really, it's a much preferred way to have encounters with certain big ticket characters than standing in a long line in Florida. Of the ones I've been to so far, my favorite has been the Garden Grill lunch in The Land at Epcot.

First, it revolves! It gets points for that alone. The turning is really very slow, though. I hardly noticed it until I looked up and the diorama was suddenly different or Mickey had appeared. Which is another plus. Because it's a revolving restaurant, the time you get with a character is far more personal. There's absolutely no way someone from the neighboring table can jump up and horn in on your character time. And with such blinders on, it seemed the characters often didn't hurry to the next table. It's probably best if they didn't hurry, seeing as they have bulky feet, limited vision and well...there's rotation.

The characters are Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. The food is served family style with a variety of dishes that hits the beef, poultry, fish and vegetarian categories. You can eat as much of each dish as you like and ask for more of whatever is preferred. They bring mac and cheese for the kids too, but the kids can try for the catfish as well.

I found, even despite the Free Dining Plan going on at the time, that the restaurant wasn't very crowded. It satisfied my natural hermit tendencies. Perhaps that was the problem. Perhaps not everyone was as childishly thrilled by a rotating restaurant as me. Because it has been announced that as of October 6, 2008 lunch will no longer be served at Garden Grill. There will still be dinner. However, I preferred lunch since it was timed perfectly. I got to tour Future World's attractions early before the crowds hit. During the hottest part of the day, I was rotating around outside of Soarin' in perfect air conditioned coolness. When we got out of lunch, the World Showcase was opened and the initial rush of its opening was past. The price was also slightly cheaper. Because I'm also a cheap hermit-even when I'm on the Free Dining Plan or the basic paid Dining Plan that makes going to character meals possible without putting me into debt.

So, of course, they close down my favorite, least crowded character meal. The meal where my toddler first really recognized, met and was physically able to hug the Big Mouse for the first time. And without another kid trying to run over her while doing so.

A moment for the lunch, please. No need to remove your hat. Farmer Mickey doesn't.