Tusker House Restaurant at Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom has a variety of restaurants available to families. But there are only a few across all of Walt Disney World that allows you to see Mickey and Friends. Better yet, they’re in safari gear! This buffet restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, at a decent price. Here is our take on what Tusker House Offers and if it’s a good option for your next Walt Disney World Vacation.

Tusker House Details

Found in Animal Kingdom Park, you need a park ticket to eat here, but don’t let that deter you! While the quick service at Satu’li Canteen is by far one of our favorite meals in the park, the Disney Character Dining at Tusker House Restaurant tends to be the headliner.

The chance to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy, is important. And getting the Fab 5 in one place proves difficult in other areas of Walt Disney World.  Which makes Tusker House a good option if you’re aiming for character time without the line waits. But, just like any Disney Character Dining experience, you are often paying for the characters and not necessarily the food quality or atmosphere. And at about $64 dollars a plate per adult, and $42 per child, there are things to consider if you’re dining at this buffet restaurant. 

Tusker House Hours

Breakfast – 8:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Lunch – 11:00 AM to 3:30 PM
Dinner – 3:35 PM to 6:00 PM

Tusker House Cost

• Breakfast: $49 per adult/ $33 per child
• Lunch: $64 per adult / $42  per child
• Dinner: $64 per adult / $42  per child

Tusker House Location

Where is Tusker House at Animal Kingdom? Tucked behind the buildings of Africa, Tusker House is the right, once you enter into Africa. A check-in station under a covered dining space sets in front of the path that leads you to Tusker House. This restaurant offers a large dining hall area with draped fabrics across the ceiling and several adjacent rooms for additional dining areas. Themed to the adventurer with spaces decorated with African elements, little decorations around the restaurant make for an interesting atmosphere but are minimal in nature.

Tusker House Atmosphere

Like most Disney Character Dining Experiences Tusker House is boisterous. The dining experience includes a few courses with each character coming around to the dining areas to be seen and photographed. Distanced character experiences are still in place, so closer character interactions for personal photos or autographs are not available.

Overall the atmosphere is what one would expect from a family restaurant catered to families with children. And offers the opportunity to see the characters in their safari gear without the line waits.

Tusker House Menu

For Dinner, Disney’s Tusker House has an African-inspired menu that includes a variety of meats, vegetables, and rice. Currently served family-style, the food here is good. While potentially not worth the large price tag, there was plenty of foods to be had as an all-you-care-to-enjoy meal. Check out the Tusker House Menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

Starters

Starters included the house-made bread and African-inspired salad. The house-made bread was similar to the Bread Service served at Sanaa, more like flatbreads. And included dipping sauces like hummus, coriander, and chutneys. You can also grab something similar at Nomad Lounge.

Entrees

Entrées included Spit-roasted Tandoori Chicken, Berbere-marinated Pork, Green Curry Shrimp, Doro Wat, and Braised Beef Tajine. Sides here included green beans with carrots and corn, roasted potatoes, jasmine rice, and mac and cheese.

The plant-based entrée offered is an Impossible Durban Curry served alongside the same sides, minus the mac and cheese. This curry was quite good, and even if you’re not an Impossible foods fan, the texture and flavors were enough to make it a decent dinner to have alongside the rice, green beans, and potatoes. 

• Plant Based Dinner: North African Pilau, Spiced Broccoli, South African-spiced Cauliflower Curry, Lentil Salad, Couscous Salad

Tusker House Desserts

Desserts at Tusker House are split into regular and plant-based. This dessert is a trio of sweets including a cupcake, brownie, and cheesecake. The plant-based dessert was a chocolate mousse, and hands-down the best dessert at the table. 

• Baby Flamingo Cupcakes, Baby Bee Cupcakes, Double-Chocolate Zebra Cookies
• Plant-based Chocolate Mousse, Fresh Fruit Salad

Tusker House Characters

As we’ve said, one of the main appeals at Tusker House Restaurant is that you get to see the Fab 5 Disney Characters.  Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy are dressed for their next safari at Tusker House.

And since these characters in these outfits rarely appear elsewhere together this is a major draw for those seeking out Disney character meet and greets at Animal Kingdom.

Tusker House Cost

The cost of Dining at Tusker House Restaurant for dinner is $42 for children and $64 for adults. As a meal, we felt this was expensive. We do however base this almost solely on the food quality. Having had meals that cost much less, and taste better at Topolino Terrace, Crystal Palace, and Trattoria al Forno, this restaurant would only be worth it as an opportunity to see the characters.

We’d welcome a non-character option at Tusker House that costs less sans characters. Especially since the food was quite good and we’d love to try it again, just not at these prices. And the atmosphere was not as rushed as our experience at Chef Mickey’s, courses came out quickly and for this price tag, we would have liked it to be less rushed. 

Is Tusker House Restaurant Worth it?

Overall, we enjoyed the food enough to recommend Tusker House Restaurant at least once. From a Disney budget standpoint, we’d say it’s more expensive than it needs to be and really isn’t worth the cost. But if you’re visiting Animal Kingdom with the hopes of seeing characters this may be your best chance.