Buffets after reopening?

I purposely didn't book any buffets for my November trip. This hurt a lot as 2 of my favorite buffets on property are Boma and Cape May, and I am split staying this trip at BC and AKL.
 
It's unlikely buffets will continue as they have been. It's more likely that there will be more family style meals at some of the favorite locations. Long term, I think that possibly this will ease up, but if it does not, all of the buffets will need a renovation to take down the buffet line and change it to something else.
 
Someone I work with went to salad bar. She had to put on gloves at the beginning and then she was able to go through the bar. They made her throw her gloves away before going back to the table. Granted this is a small restaurant on the gulf, but she thought it worked out pretty good.
 
I have Boma on our upcoming trip. I will cancel if needed. I am okay with them serving us, like cafeteria style. I personally love ❤️ that idea.
 


I personally don't see buffets going away forever (maybe some buffet restaurants go out of business, like sweet tomatoes did). But I think "high end" buffets, like Vegas or places at Disney (Boma, etc) won't. Maybe for a little while, and will be different for a bit, but we're creatures of habit, and for better or worse, we'll eventually go back to what we've been doing.

I wouldn't mind seeing places like Golden Corral go away though
 
My family and I do not go to buffets at Disney or anywhere else, and we haven't in years Too much unknown for us to feel comfortable, too many hands touching utensils, or not using utensils. Yep, buffets are not in our future plans if they are open anyway.
Hope the rest of you get some news about your favorite buffets in the near future.
 


We gave up our Chef Mickey plans for this summer since both buffet and character meets themselves will be impacted. We kept Trail’s End because I feel that one would be more easily converted to a family style service.
 
I'm not sure why character meets for other than face characters have to be affected. I would think the CM can wear a mask under their Mickey costume. As for the buffets themselves, in addition to having CMs serve, they might have to limit how many people can get on line at any one time.
 
BTW, in regards to buffets

the CDC now says the virus does NOT spread easily from touching contaminated surfaces or objects
 
Yep.... apparently now surfaces are totally okay or so says the CDC. With that said Golden Corral here is open, along with a few other buffets.

I really like the small plate idea!
 
According to the CDC that advice about surface spread has not changed. Contaminated surfaces may not be the primary way the virus spreads but they also tempered that with the idea that surfaces still need to be disinfected and they are still trying to figure this virus out. I'm not a big fan of buffets for sanitary reasons in the first place but I'm okay with waiting this out. The only buffet I'm interested in is BOMA anyway.
 
According to the CDC that advice about surface spread has not changed. Contaminated surfaces may not be the primary way the virus spreads but they also tempered that with the idea that surfaces still need to be disinfected and they are still trying to figure this virus out. I'm not a big fan of buffets for sanitary reasons in the first place but I'm okay with waiting this out. The only buffet I'm interested in is BOMA anyway.

This is really the only reason why I want buffets to stay myself lol. I've been wanting to try it so bad. Had reservations for it in April :(
 
I'm not sure why character meets for other than face characters have to be affected. I would think the CM can wear a mask under their Mickey costume. As for the buffets themselves, in addition to having CMs serve, they might have to limit how many people can get on line at any one time.

How do you clean the outfits in between guests? I'm sure Pooh is pretty germy after a few hugs.
 
How do you clean the outfits in between guests? I'm sure Pooh is pretty germy after a few hugs.

I was thinking more about having a touchless meet and greet. People could stand next to the character for a picture but not touch them. They can mark the floor with an "x" so people knew where to stand. If an inadvertent touch occurs, they can go behind the scenes to change into a new costume and then have someone spray the first costume with disinfectant. Alternately they can have everyone use hand sanitizer before they go up to the character. We don't do these but I know how important they are to some peoples' visits and thought this might work.
 
I think they're going to serve you...everything.

I also think Cabanas on the Disney ships will also be the same way -- they're going to serve you...everything.

Out of all of the changes, I think this will have a very good chance of becoming permanent.

That's my fear too.



I think it will be skillet /family dining style. Every family style meal we've had has been awesome, and the character buffets are hard to time getting up to get food with seeing a character, they seem so rushed and the food is on par with Golden Corral at them all. I'm hoping for skillet/family style with improved food quality.

The only way I could see this working is if it is more like Whispering Canyon Cafe than Garden Grill. Garden Grill is very structured on what the choices are. Whispering Canyon has multiple different combinations available, at least for dinner. If you look at places like Boma and Tusker House, the reasons they are so popular is the wide variety of foods, which works for adventurous palates, as well as simpler ones. I think it would be hard to pick 5-7 items from either of those restaurants that would work for everyone.

This is the reason family style doesn't work for me, as I am very picky, so it's never worth it for me, because there is usually only like 2 items that I like, and the rest I don't. Whispering Canyon cafe is the exception to that.
 
Sweet Tomatoes are closing for good. They certainly saw no future in their buffets.
they had a gift card sale right when this all started I debated buying one Im kind of glad I didn't. their margins were very low so they couldn't afford the more staff that would be needed.
 
I was thinking more about having a touchless meet and greet. People could stand next to the character for a picture but not touch them. They can mark the floor with an "x" so people knew where to stand. If an inadvertent touch occurs, they can go behind the scenes to change into a new costume and then have someone spray the first costume with disinfectant. Alternately they can have everyone use hand sanitizer before they go up to the character. We don't do these but I know how important they are to some peoples' visits and thought this might work.

With the number of people taking pictures with characters on a given day, even just a couple % of accidental touches would make costume change or spraying disinfectant not feasible.
I highly doubt there will be any close proximity meet and greets/pictures in the near term.
 
Literally no one here knows.

Well, that would close at least 3/4 of all comments on the board. Of course, no one knows anything for sure except for Disney management.
We’re all just hypothesizing to the best of our knowledge and reason.
 
I have an ADR for Biergarten in late July. I’m still keeping it until Disney releases more information. I have always wanted to try it and the menu looks delicious. I think it’s safe to assume that it will not be the same dining experience I’ve been looking forward to. If I had to guess, I would say they will make it all you care to enjoy brought to your table like Garden Grill and Ohana. I just hope that most of the current menu items can be requested and brought to your table as well. That’s the only buffet I kept. I did have an ADR for Tusker House but I changed it due to the fear of the rumored no character dining/buffets. I’ll hold on to my Biergarten one as long as possible. I bet the communal style seating will change after this. (Yay!)
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts


Top