Tusker House Resturant Change

[fightinfire21]

I have only been to Disney World three times so far, August 1994 (age 12), September 2005 (age 22), and September 2006 (age 23), so I am no "expert" on Walt Disney World. My two most recent trips though were 15 days and 10 days long respectively, and they both occurred with the free dining promo, so I do have a good bit of recent dining experience at Walt Disney World. After hearing of the change coming to Tusker House I was kind of disappointed in a way. Don't get me wrong, I think that Animal Kingdom defiantly needs some table service restaurants AND it sounds like this may be part of a larger plan to start keeping Animal Kingdom open later (which would be awesome for so many reasons) BUT I think that Tusker House is one of too few Unique Counter Service restaurants on property. It seems to me after being there the last two years, that with the exception of World Showcase at EPCOT, all counter services pretty much seem to be the same with the "average" burgers, chicken strips, fries, pizza, etc. and there are not enough unique, better quality, counter service places as a whole on property. It just seems to me that they should just add new table service restaurants vs. replacing counter service restaurants at Animal Kingdom and start to change over the menus at some more counter service restaurants on property to be more like Tusker House.


Just to add a little fuel to the fire I think they could start with the Liberty Inn in the USA Pavilion at EPCOT because it is does not do the USA justice compared to the other counter service offerings in the other countries around the world showcase. Just wanted to see what everyone else thought. Sorry for the long post.

[nicks10]

Although Animal Kingdom does need more table-service restaurants, it will only have two counter service restaurants after Tusker House is converted (Flame Tree and Restaurantosaurus).

[MissFlaversham]

Never ate at Tusker House; Flame Tree is our fav at AK. Anxious to see what they serve with the changes. Also, will be kinda neat to see what's at the Yin and Yak (I think I got that right). Who picked that name anyway?????

[disneydreamer98]

The new table service restaurant is going to be called the Yak and Yeti and it isn't replacing Tusker House. Tusker House is in Harambe Village. The Yak & Yeti is going to be in Andapur.

[MissFlaversham]

Oops, Yak and Yeti!!! Right, it's not replacing Tusker House - AK will definitely benefit from two sit-down choices.

[GaRain]

I do not like this and I am NOT HAPPY!!! Change Pizzafari, not the Tusker House.
For one thing, this will make 2 sit down places in the back of the park with no QS offerings.
There will be 3 up front, not 2.
Plus,Tusker is different....why change it?
And they want to have a character meal with Donald? Hello - he already has one!!!
At least theme it to Africa - the location!! Tarzan meal? Animals? Heck, how about GOOFY!?!!?!

I am just so aggravated by this decision!

[DisneyHottie]

Well once the new Tusker House opens with Donalds character breakfast (along with daisy, mickey, and goofy) the other one in the AK will close Nov 5 so... technically he will still only have 1

[SamIAm717]

The Kevin Yee article over at MiceAge really cuts to the bottom line on this one. Tusker House is being switched due to the DDP. Yak & Yeti will not be a DDP restaurant, so now they need a larger sized restaurant like Tusker House to become a table service location. Restaurantosaurus has a deal with McDonalds, so they can't be a DDP location and for some odd reason Disney chose Tusker House rather than Pizzafari. As much as I like Tusker House, Pizzafari would have been the better choice given the decor.

I just hope they don't change the TH menu as it has been a nice place to have a pretty healthy meal.

[GalPal]

Quick Question - I wasn't aware the Yak & Yeti was not going to be a DDP restaurant. Can you point me to where I can find that info? We were hoping to use one of our Table Service Credits there this fall.

[SamIAm717]

Here's Kevin's article regarding the Tusker House changes. You'll find his comment near the bottom. Apparently, the Yak & Yeti is being run by an outside company and will not accept the DDP.

http://www.miceage.com/kevinyee/ky051707a.htm

[GalPal]

OK - I don't want to be a troublemaker here, but I've never read anything on miceage.com before. How reliable is his info? The article sounds like conjecture and opinion to me. Has the decision NOT to participate in the DDP been confirmed by Disney or Landry's?

Not being owned by Disney doesn't automatically mean that an eatery won't participate in the DDP. I'm positive that there are many restaurants on Disney property but not owned by Disney that are on the DDP. For example, the DtD locations like Cap'n Jacks and Planet Hollywood - they both accept the DDP. On the flipside, Fulton's does not accept the DDP. I'm also pretty certain that most, if not all, of the World Showcase restaurants are not owned by Disney. I believe they are owned and staffed by their respective countries.

Participation in the DDP for a restaurant not owned by Disney requires a contractual agreement that has to be negotiated each year for the coming year. That's why, when a new list is put out by Disney at the beginning of each year, there are usually several restaurants missing - the contract negotiations have not been completed. Usually, just a few weeks later, most of the missing eateries are back on the list.

IMO, it stands to reason that Disney would negotiate an agreement with Landry's for Yak & Yeti to participate in the DDP. It would make no sense for either party not to make participation part of the deal. Why would you want to be one of only two places inside the entire park to have a nice sit down meal and not be able to accomodate a large number of potential patrons?

I think I'm going to think positive and keep my fingers crossed.

[SamIAm717]

OK - I don't want to be a troublemaker here, but I've never read anything on miceage.com before. How reliable is his info? The article sounds like conjecture and opinion to me. Has the decision NOT to participate in the DDP been confirmed by Disney or Landry's?

Not being owned by Disney doesn't automatically mean that an eatery won't participate in the DDP. I'm positive that there are many restaurants on Disney property but not owned by Disney that are on the DDP. For example, the DtD locations like Cap'n Jacks and Planet Hollywood - they both accept the DDP. On the flipside, Fulton's does not accept the DDP. I'm also pretty certain that most, if not all, of the World Showcase restaurants are not owned by Disney. I believe they are owned and staffed by their respective countries.

Participation in the DDP for a restaurant not owned by Disney requires a contractual agreement that has to be negotiated each year for the coming year. That's why, when a new list is put out by Disney at the beginning of each year, there are usually several restaurants missing - the contract negotiations have not been completed. Usually, just a few weeks later, most of the missing eateries are back on the list.

IMO, it stands to reason that Disney would negotiate an agreement with Landry's for Yak & Yeti to participate in the DDP. It would make no sense for either party not to make participation part of the deal. Why would you want to be one of only two places inside the entire park to have a nice sit down meal and not be able to accomodate a large number of potential patrons?

I think I'm going to think positive and keep my fingers crossed.

Well to answer your first question, Kevin Yee is a published author of an Unofficial Disney Dining Guide and is a pretty reliable source. I cannot give you a 100% guarantee, but I have never known Mr. Yee to be totally off the mark. Most columns on MiceAge are very reliable. But I have believe he may be right as why the sudden change to a very successful restaurant, i.e. Tusker House? I am not trying to bum you out or disappoint you, but I would tend to think Kevin may be right on this one. He, and then I of course, could certainly be wrong and maybe Lou will see this thread and weigh in on his opinion. You are right, at this point, there is a possibility on Y&Y being a DDP location.

If it weren't for TH changing over to a table service restaurant Y&Y would be the only table service restaurant in DAK. TH is currently a quick service location, and a nice one at that.

Assuming there was going to be no change to Tusker House and if Y&Y is not a DDP location, could you imagine the upset people in DAK having only one table service and it doesn't take DDP?? This way, Disney can say, well hey, if you don't want to pay OOP at Y&Y, you can scamper on down to TH. It really seems to add up and make sense. If Y&Y were going to be a DDP location, then why change Tusker House?

Oh and not to contradict, but I think MOST restaurants in the WS are owned by Disney. One that is not is Alfredo's and it's closing August 31st.

[Spacecadetswife]

I think several of the restaurants at Disney are owned by outside companies. Yes, Alfredo's is one of them and it's being replaced by another restaurant owned by an outside company. There's also Misukoshi Teppanyaki, the San Angel Inn, El Marrakech, and Les Chefs de France. There may be more that I'm unaware of.

As far as Kevin Yee's accuracy goes, I recently read a cruise review written by him with so many factual errors it was rather embarrassing. I think it remains to be seen whether or not the new restaurant will be on the DPP.

[SamIAm717]

As far as Kevin Yee's accuracy goes, I recently read a cruise review written by him with so many factual errors it was rather embarrassing. I think it remains to be seen whether or not the new restaurant will be on the DPP.

Yeah, in his recent cruise column about a month or so ago, he sort of admits to that. He was overly negative in that first one wasn't he?? I'm not try to say Kevin's word is biblical, only that he does seem to have a lot of insight into what's going on over at WDW. His thoughts on Tusker House seem to make sense to me.