One of the restaurants located at EPCOT may be closing beginning next month. Find out how this may affect your upcoming trip.
Reduced Dining Options
If you have taken a trip to Disney World or have been researching for an upcoming trip, you have likely noticed that not every restaurant is open like it was before the closure. Thankfully, many locations have reopened now that Disney is past the initial phase. The first month or two of the reopening left many Guests with a fraction of the options.
While we have seen many restaurants reopen, we also noticed a few closures. Most recently, La Hacienda de San Angel and Lotus Blossom, both located in EPCOT’s World Showcase, reduced operating hours.
Additionally, Beaches and Cream closed its to-go counter, likely due to the fact that it was so popular physical distancing was near impossible.
New Closure Affecting EPCOT
It appears as if Garden Grill is closing next month. If you take a look at the Disney World website calendar (pictured above), it shows no times available beginning February 21, 2021. The calendar ends on March 18, 2021 and the calendar still shows no times available.
Garden Grill is open for lunch from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm. Dinner is served from 3:45 to 7:00 pm.
The restaurant is not listed as being refurbished during this time, so why the closure?
Garden Grill offers one of the few rare character meals on Walt Disney World property (see the full list HERE). I doubt they would close it permanently for this reason alone. The restaurant does sit on a rotating platform so maybe there is an issue there that needs to be resolved, or maybe some of the scenes need to be fixed up. I do think this closure is just temporary.
Either way, we will be sure to update you if the status of Garden Grill changes! In the meantime, check out Kenny’s full review of Garden Grill with socially distant characters. You can view it HERE.
One of the most amazing parts about this restaurant is that it uses the produce sourced from the greenhouses you see while riding Living with the Land, which is located in the same building.
How will this closure affect your Disney plans?
Garden Grill is the only character meal in EPCOT. So, if you had plans to see Chip & Dale and Mickey during this time you will need to make other arrangements. If you had your heart set on eating in The Land building, Sunshine Seasons is a quick-service restaurant offering a ton of options. You could easily spend a few hours in The Land riding Soarin’, Living with the Land, and enjoying a meal at Sunshine Seasons.
Additionally, you could enjoy a pre-park opening breakfast at Topolino’s Terrace, which is located at Disney’s Riviera Resort. While the meal doesn’t offer a meet with Chip & Dale, Mickey and his friends are there in some very unique outfits. I love this restaurant so much I have had breakfast there twice as well as dinner.
Since EPCOT doesn’t open until 11 am on most days, you could then ride the Skyliner to the park and not be rushed.
Do you have reservations for Garden Grill during this time? Let us know on Facebook.
Ah ok, havent kept up on what hasnt reopened yet, thx
Glad to help
Its not the only character meal at Epcot, unless Akershus is closed
Akershus is a rest area, not open for dining
I have lunch reservations on the 26th. We haven’t heard of any closings of any restaurants in EPCOT. We have seen where they are opening some of the ones that haven’t opened yet.
We ate there on December 13th and restaurant wasn’t rotating. I think that you are correct because it’s disappointing when the restaurant doesn’t rotate.
There are reservations for both lunch and dinner on February 21 and March 18 isn’t available for booking yet.
It is possible they are repairing the rotating platform. We are there last week and the platform was not rotating. The meal was excellent, and it had a good number of customers, spaced out of course.
That seems likely
Just looked on MDE and it shows it as open for the next 60 days.
You’ll notice within the post that those dates were missing at the time this was published.
I have a confirmed lunch reservation for March 7. So, maybe it’s filled up in order to maintain capacity limits and social distancing.
It’s NOT closing! Reservations a plenty show up for everyday up to 60 days out!And it breaks down several times a yr, for months at a time sometimes! Nothing new.
There were specific dates missing from the calendar as stated in the post with screenshots added. It isn’t spinning, so it seems plausible that it could indeed close for repairs. We shall see
My husband and I love the garden grill. We are sad to see it close. We try and get to Disney World every 2 or 3 years. This is one of the restaurants we always visited for dinner. We are coming to Disney at the end of April for my birthday on 4/27/21. I was hoping to have dinner there this time.
Hopefully it will reopen! Word on the street is the rotating platform isn’t working properly so the restaurant is closing so they can get it back up and going.
Garden Grill was our favorite restaurant experience during our trip in 2019. It was delicious and fresh food and great character experiences. I’m really disappointed it’s closing.
I think this is a glitch in the website. If you do not look initially for a specific restaurant but rather look for all availability in late Feb thru March Garden Grill is available.