Garden View Tea Room

I can not believe all the «great» reviews? I guess none of the people writing these reviews have been here when it was «Grand». First: they do not serve you tea leaves in a tea pot. They serve you already made tea that is in a big serve pot in the back (our server told us). And first again (because this is part of that tea room or was) No more Royal Dalton China! They now have some knock off cheap cups, saucers, tea pots etc. No silver tea strainers (because there is NO tea leaves to strain). Second: as some others did say, the food was questionable? The bread «was» stale, the salmon was Horrible! All and all it was a far cry from Grand Tea! I know Disney had to cut corners because they were not making enough money, but honestly the tea room is a JOKE now. Sad…from a former die hard Disney-​itte. .. .

Another place that is difficult to get reservations at (and reservations are highly recommended), but we took a chance in just stopping in late in the afternoon and got lucky as a party of two. We have decided it is now an annual tradition at a minimum. Yes, it is that wonderful!
The finger sandwiches are tasty and the pastries are divine, but the scone with fixings is ecstasy. As a tea lover my husband tried the Osmanthus Oolong and loved it, but it is not for the novice. For those non tea lovers, like myself, they have a wonderful french press coffee option (it is not listed, so just ask for it).
It can get quite pricey (up to $ 175+ for two) depending upon what options you want to add in, but to be honest the Bedfordshire ($ 30 per person option) is plenty of food and provides a wonderful experience.
If you are going to be in the Orlando area, try this afternoon tea and you really will not regret it!

This place is really awesome. Usually come here with a friend or two and we love the way they organized the place. Price is very reasonable.

The Garden View Tea Room is located inside the Grand Floridian Resort in Walt Disney World. I’ve been invited here on two separate occasions for tea by close girlfriends. This place is 3 ½ stars for me. Personally, I would not choose to come here because of the price, but it is a very nice experience.
Tea time is typically booked by women who are celebrating something (wedding shower, baby shower, birthday, Mother’s Day, etc). That said, take care to notice that NO GIFTS ARE ALLOWED INSIDE the tea room. The staff informed us that this is a safety policy. I completely understand this policy. I imagine one terrible incident where someone tripped over a gift and spilled hot tea on a guest. No bueno for Disney, so a policy is created whereby no gifts whatsoever are allowed into the tea room. Totally get it as I’m all for not having hot tea spilled on me. My friends who booked the reservation indicated that the no-​gift policy was not stated in the reservation. Disney definitely knows what they’re doing in terms of guest satisfaction, but my tiny suggestion would be to make this policy clearer in the reservation. Not only would this save on an argument in the middle of the Grand Floridian lobby, but it would save parties’ time by not having to lug all of the gifts back to the cars.
Now that my statement has been made about the gift policy, I will say that the Grand Floridian tea experience is delightful. The room is bright and cheery and Disney certainly sets the mood. I can totally imagine Mary Poppins walking into the room and sitting next to me to share a cup of tea (too bad they don’t do this, haha). For the mere price of an arm and a leg, you can receive tiny cookies, sandwiches, dessert, and tea. Champagne can be added to the fun. The table quickly gets crowded with tea pots, cups, and plates, but they somehow make it work. I don’t believe there is a la cart option so at a minimum you’ll spend $ 30 on the lowest priced dining option. You’re really paying for the experience here, not the tea or food.
Couple other things to note:
— To save $ 20 (currently), make sure to tell the parking attendant at the Magic Kingdom gate that you’re having tea at the Grand Floridian so you can receive free parking.
— Reservations are recommended and all guests must be present before entering the tea room. I was 5 minutes late on one of my visits and I felt awful because we couldn’t get seated until I got there (my bad).
— Make sure you end with the strawberries and cream dessert!
— After having tea, you might as well wander around and enjoy the beautiful hotel and grounds. You may even spot a bridal party or a celebrity.

If you ever get a chance to try this, take it because this has to be one of the more eloquent and fancier experiences that you can do at Disney. I made reservations to this place one day while i was staying at the Grand Floridian and I have to say it was one of the best things about my trip.
The greatest thing about this experience is that there is nothing like it that Disney can offer elsewhere. It may sound silly since it’s so simple, you sit down, order and enjoy the afternoon with some tea. Perfect for when you’re seeking a nice relaxing afternoon to kick back and just think or if you’re joined with a friend the perfect chance to catch up and plan things. All accompanied by the wonderful classical music played within the Grand Floridian Ball Room.
Now prices can vary with the experience that you want, but do expect to pay at least $ 30. I ended up going with a simple tea set with dessert and found that to be plenty to enjoy the afternoon. The service is spectacular as I myself am not a tea expert and my waitress was more than helpful for helping me decide what was best for me.
When your tea arrives they all come in these fancy Victorian like teapot and tea cups covered in a special thermal bag so that you can take your time with the experience and don’t have to worry about the tea getting cold too soon.
I look forward to going again sometime and trying out some of their other experiences. If traveling alone bring something like a book or a laptop to work on, because this experience should be savored and enjoyed.

This was definitely on my bucket list before my annual pass ended. I checked everyday for an opening in reservations on the Disney website, but could not get one for the day I wanted to go. However, we took the risk and showed up. We were seated within 5 minutes.
It was very busy that day as it took our waitress about 15 minutes to come to our table. Once she was able to reach our table, she answered any questions we had and made some great suggestions. We did the Bedfordshire Tea, which was the cheapest of all the choices. I didn’t think that I would get full afterwards, but it is actually really filling. I chose the silver leaf tea because the description of it literally had «no chill.» It was light, but then was overpowered once I started eating the food. I did drink the entire pot of the tea.
The sandwiches were very tasty, the fruit was fresh, and the dessert was just enough after eating everything else. My least favorite was the goat cheese because its taste is something that I will acquire and appreciate a really long time from now. But nonetheless, I still ate it. My favorite sandwich was the chicken curry. Tip: if you do not like the sandwiches offered, the waitress can bring you ham and cheese ones that come with the kid’s tea. For dessert, I chose the strawberries and cream, which was my favorite part of the meal. It was light, not too sweet, and very refreshing.
Overall, the experience I more than what I anticipated, and I definitely suggest this for anyone who is interested in this Disney «must-​do.»
Tip: if you do not have a reservation, you can still park in the Grand Floridian self-​parking if you tell them that you are dining in the Team Room.

One of the thing I wanted to mark off my bucket-​list for my Florida trip was to have afternoon tea at the Garden View Tea Room in the Grand Floridian hotel. And my gosh, I was so floored by this experience; it was definitely better than I had imagine.
Reservation was made an ease using the My Disney Experience app. Finding the actual place was not bad either. There is a lot of friendly workers in the Disney Parks and will guide you in the right direction, but be warned, some have thick accents and can be hard to understand. Other than that, parking to the venue is free. This is great because if you are just dining you don’t have to be the steep fee of $ 17 for parking in the parks. Also, you can take the monorail or boat from the Grand Floridian to Disney’s Magic Kingdom (this allows you to pick up your park passes ahead of time).
Upon arriving to the hotel, my boyfriend and I was amazed. The place is gorgeous and very elegant. The Garden View Tea Room is located in the corner of the main lobby where there is a pianist playing throughout the day. They will find you in the lobby when your table is ready. My boyfriend and I were seated in the back corner of the place where we had a nice view of the garden. It was beautiful and relaxing.
As for their menu, it is pretty extensive. It is tiered so each level cost a little more, but contains more items. Prices range from the fancy Yorkshire Tea at $ 175/​person which includes caviar and champagne to the Bedfordshire Tea at $ 30/​person (the most basic). My boyfriend and I opted for the Cheshire Tea at $ 45/​person. It included a first course of exotic fruits and imported cheese, second course of finger sandwiches with berries and cheese, third course of scone with jam, and the finale your choice of dessert. And of course, for each tea pairing you get to choose your own pot of tea. I went with the seasonal green strawberry tea. It was light, crisp, and had a hint of strawberry. My boyfriend went for a more bold tea, the Mad Hatter’s tea; ceylon tea with passion fruit and pomegranate.
It was my first afternoon tea experience and it was one of my favorite experience from our trip. Yes, it was a splurge. However, the whole dining experience was unforgettable and I definitely will do it again, but maybe next time I’ll ask if we can share because it was way too much food.

I had my first experience at the Garden View Tea Room today and absolutely loved it! We had to make reservations about 2 months in advance and were pretty much forced in to one time because there wasn’t much choice.
I was a little apprehensive because I’d read some not so great reviews about rushing you and not having nice staff members present, but we didn’t experience that at all. Both our hostess and server (Riley) were great! We were seated in a nice little two person corner table that had a great view. Our server was very knowledgeable about the various types of teas and the food variety we were being served.
We both did the Bedfordshire Tea, which is $ 30 pp, and you receive each a pot of tea, a fairly large plate of finger sandwiches, cheese and fruit, a scone course and a dessert.
If you can get reservations, I would highly recommend the Garden View Tea Room! It’s so relaxing to slowly take in your tea and listen to the sounds of the pianist in the lobby. I definitely didn’t feel like I was on Disney property!

Great experience. Even as a vegetarian had good options. I ordered the Masala tea and wife ordered the Wild strawberries tea. Both were excellent. Our server De Layne was excellent and very kind.

I almost gave this a five-​star the only thing that prevents me from doing so is the way they do reservations and the hostess. If you make reservations and you know you have a big party coming in why not make accommodations instead of saying we’ll see what we can do and will try to put you together.
I knew it was going to be kind of an issue with the party of nine but they made it harder than it had to be in the in the ended up accommodating us at the same table but they truly made a stink out of it to begin with.
Riley our waitress was amazing one of the best service I’ve ever experienced in my life sweet accommodating answered all her questions she was awesome.
The prices are high I would suggest going to see the menu before planning the whole event if you plan on having more than four people you cannot order small items off of the menu other than the tea so if people plan on eating you have to buy one of the courses
Courses are as cheap as 30 and go all the way up to 150 if you’re having caviar and champagne.
I would suggest going but it’s not for parties of more than 6 due to them not willing to make the space. ASK FOR RILEY!!!

I honestly thought that the Ritz Carlton had the best tea time until I experienced this one. The Garden Tea Room is a quaint, yet beautiful tea room located in the Grand Lobby of the Grand Floridian. My wife and I were escorted to our seats by the hostess and then the awesomeness that is tea time at Disney ensued. The price ranges from $ 30/​per person and above depending on what type of tea service you would like. The ones that served alcohol and much more food were the pricey ones. My wife and I ordered the low end tea time and were not disappointed.
The the variety and quality of tea we were served was very, very, good. And, everything else (from the finger sandwiches, to the cheese and fruit, scones, and dessert) was fantastic. Keep a look out for the berry tart. This was easily my favorite food item of the whole tea time.
I am sure we will be back as this might have been the best tea time we’ve experienced yet.

After making a reservation in OCTOBER we finally got to experience the Garden View Tea Room at The Grand Floridian at Disney.
First of all, having the tea at the Grand Floridian itself is simply amazing. The moment you walk in your feel like you have been transported to a different era. There was even a classical pianist and ragtime band playing as we entered the doors and drank our tea.
My husband and I both chose the Bedfordshire Tea, which has three courses.
I chose to have the Princess Breakfast Tea and my husband had the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
The courses come out like this:
First Course
Medley of Finger Sandwiches accompanied with Berries, Cheese and Lavosh
-
Second Course
Buttery Scone and Jam Tart
-
Finale
Choice of delicate House-​Made Pastries, Strawberries and Crème, or English Trifle
I couldn’t believe how full I was at the end that I couldn’t even finish my Banana Caramel trifle.
The first course was sooooo delicious and i loved all the sandwiches. I know someone below complained about the onion tart but I thought it was lovely. Also, I love goat cheese and beets so that was a hit for me.
My husband’s favorite was the berry tart during the second course. SOOOooo good that our server snuck us a couple to go :)
Ask for Dotty! She’s a doll!

It is a beautiful area and such romantic way to spend the afternoon. The food is fantastic and tea is excellent. Service is always incredible. The desserts are to die for. Highly recommend.

Conflicted between 2 – 4 stars and here is why.
I took my beautiful baby girl here for tea with Princess Aurora. It was gorgeous. Each girl received a tiara, upon arrival (so they would all feel like princesses). Once we were seated each little girl received a doll & a wand (my daughter loved it).
We were ten served tea. My daughter drank HER WHOLE TEA POT within 30 minutes or less. I tasted it, it was absolutely delicious. Then comes my tea. YUK! is the best word to describe it. I have no words to to give you that could possibly accurately depict what it’s flavor reminded me of (maybe boiled ass cheeks??). They offered me no sugar or honey either which I thought was weird. This is DISNEY for goodness sakes. I paid $ 300 for my daughter and I to come and sip tea and hear a story. If I want sugar, it should be readily available!
After we were served our delicious tea (insert sarcasm here please) they brought out out «sandwiches.» My daughter received mini peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the shape of hearts & some fresh fruit. The bread on the hearts was HARD… yes hard and stale. The fresh fruit was YUMMY. She ate all of that.
My sandwiches were of mixed review. The egg salad mini sandwiches were EXCELLENT. The flavor was perfect! The mini salmon sandwiches, on the other hand, were FLAT OUT GROSS, DISGUSTING AND OFFENSIVE. After I took a bite of it, I immediately had to fight (and I mean fight hard) not to projectile spit this thing across the room. EWWWWWW. I looked around at the other adult plates, and not 1 of the mothers or father, that I could see, at theirs. There was another mini sandwich as well, but I really don’t remember what it was so it must not have been too vile or good for that matter.
Finally they bring out this little slice of heavenly pink cake. It was WONDERFUL. This strawberry cake had the best flavor! Better than any other cake I have ever had. (too bad their food flavor quality didn’t match the cake!) My daughter had hers gone in 3.5 seconds flat.
The story told by Miss Rose Petal was awesome. Her voice was amazing. Princess Aurora came around to EVERY little girl and took a picture with them.
I would def go back again… but they really need to get the food aspect of this experience together.

Firstly, I don’t like tea. I hate tea, but I love this place. My aunt has been wanting to come here for a long time, but no one would ever go with her. She booked about 6 months out I believe for a 2:30 tea time. My mom and I went along and she had told us before to dress like characters from Alice in Wonderland. I was Alice, she was the Mad Hatter, and my mom was the White Rabbit. It was super fun and we got really into it.
We went to the Grand Floridian which is fairly posh and white everywhere inside! We were seated right when we walked up. There is a cute little atrium tea room that looks out to the garden. There aren’t massive amounts of tables and it’s quiet which is lovely. We had Patrick I believe as our server. Younger guy who was amazing with us and super accommodating to my picky nature. They have over 60 different types of tea and some are specially blended just for this tea room. Hint hint– you can totally buy the tea to take home– you just have to ask the server and they will add it to your bill! We all got the Buckingham tea which for the price is really awesome! You get a pot of tea, tarts/​scones, sandwiches, and dessert for $ 25 per person. There was a great timing between food and Patrick was attentive without being all over us. It was fantastic. I tried princess tea, my aunt loves the mad hatter tea, and my mom got a pomegranate fruity blend that she loved. I didn’t like the tea, but our server was awesome and got me a pot of Mrs. Potts dark tea which is chocolate milk in a tea pot because I’m 28 in an Alice dress. I had ham and cheese sandwiches and peanut butter without the jelly. Who doesn’t love tiny adorable sandwiches with the crust cut off?! My mom and aunt said the tuna salad sandwiches were to die for and they would come back for it, just for that. Apparently, it is incredible popular. The scones, tarts, and pastries were all yummy and we all left full! I was extremely surprised, but it’s just a really fun experience! I didn’t think I would like it, but it felt fun to have a tea party and be all dressed up. Some people were in sweats and some people dressed up. It just depends, but I like the dressing up and wearing dresses to a tea party thing! We also got long stem pink roses before we left and everyone in there was extremely nice. If anything, go for a relaxing slow-​paced experience. They also have a harpist and a pianist in the lobby that you can here!

Such a fun dining option at Walt Disney World and a great option for an afternoon break from the park. We’ve done tea in London several times and while this place isn’t «as good» as the fancy teas we’ve had in London, it’s still damn good. The real funny part of all this is that when we go, everyone thinks I’m dragging my poor husband to afternoon tea, but HE’S the one who asks to go. He actually counts it as his only MUST DO dining experience while we are there! I go for him lol!
Pros:
— They accommodated my dietary needs and let me order a la carte. This is not something they usually do, and to be clear, it was just as expensive as a full tea, but it let me enjoy my experience and not worry about getting sick.
— They serve clotted cream with their scones, good clotted cream as well as home made jam and lemon curd. Why do places insist on doing an afternoon tea without clotted cream? I don’t get it, it’s just not afternoon tea without it, period.
— The scones are awesome and if you want, you can ask for two scones instead of a scone and a jam tart with your scone course. We always do this as the scones are really just that good. Jam tart is nice too, but I mean, it’s no competition really, the scones are awesome.
— They have cheese plates — I love cheese plates and while not traditional, they are fantastic.
— Huge tea selection, my fave is the Thunderbolt Darjeeling. If you like Darjeeling, get this one.
— The room is so pretty and has a nice view of the Grand Floridian grounds
— The servers are usually fantastic and very attentive
Cons:
— This last time we went there was initially some serious confusion between the chef and the waitress. They resolved it but it just felt sloppy. The waitress this last time was also kind of all over the place, which is an anomaly for this place as every other waitress we’ve had has been awesome.
— Deserts are kind of meh. I wouldn’t go here for fantastic desserts like you get from the posh London teas. They are good, they just aren’t awesome.
— Onion tart, god that thing is gross, replace if with any of the other finger sandwiches if you can.
— The tables are too small for their tea offerings. Let’s just get this out there, if you ALWAYS struggle to put tea on the table for each and every table, why the heck do you not get bigger tables, especially since you have the room? They don’t have to be a ton bigger, just a bit bigger. Every time we go we have this problem, it’s silly, just get slightly larger tables and move on.

What a lovely experience the Garden View Tea Room is for tea. Bizarrely, the tea is not overpriced for other high tea experiences. It sits comfortably between $ 25−50/adult and about $ 13/​child, which is on par with my other experiences.
MENU SELECTIONS (pick your meal). There are essentially three different offerings: one for kids, two for adults. BUT, you’ll see five different types of offerings listed. That’s because Adult Offering 1 and 2 can be upgraded with port or champagne.
My sister and I went with the Buckingham Tea. We’re picky eaters and wanted to enjoy everything. The Buckingham Tea comes with three courses and one pot of tea. (Since there are two of us, we each picked a different pot of tea and shared. You can get about 4x 4oz pours per pot.)
TEA SELECTIONS: There were about three to four teas per category — seasonal selections, signature blends, green/​white, black, oolong, herbal. It was nice to have all the categories of tea represented with a few picks each.
–BUCKINGHAM TEA–
FIRST COURSE: Assorted Sandwiches.
: Beet with goat cheese served on white bread. I ate this first since it sounded (and was) least appetizing to me. Goat cheese is way too strong for my weird, picky palette.
: Egg salad. Light, and not overly eggy. Thankfully.
: Roasted tomato with pesto sauce served on a crostini-​like toasted bread. Delicious like some kind of Italian dream. Had a sprout-​y spring garnish.
: Caramelized onion mini-​pie. OMG try this sucker with the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party blend. It was amaze-​balls. Oops, back to my Mary Poppinese: «It was simply delightful. Practically perfect in every way!»
: Chicken salad curry. Very flavorful. On par with Chef Kiran’s version in Houston.
: Cucumber watercrest. This was a normal offering and great palette cleanser.
SECOND COURSE: Buttery scone (with cranberries) and jam tart (served with lemon curd, Devonshire whipped cream (fresh butter), and a strawberry jelly.
: The pastries were surprisingly delicious. While not warm, as I prefer, like some other high teas, they were very delicious.
FINAL COURSE: Choice of house-​made pastries, strawberries and crème, or an English trifle.
: House made pastries. My sister got this. It came with a chocolate covered Napoleon, white chocolate covered strawberry with crunchies, and a berry-​whipped cream filled pastry swan. It was very good, but maybe not great.
: English trifle. I came in the fall (early October), and so it was an apple-​pumpkin delight. I have never had trifle. My sister described it as a pudding or custard. I am not keen on pumpkin, but this was delicious and perfect for the fall. BONUS — it came in a larger portion!
TEAS WE TRIED:
: Mad Hatter Tea Party (signature). Delightfully spicy and excellent with your first, savory course.
: Organic Pear Tree Green (seasonal). Not sweet but you can definitely taste the pear. It isn’t a hint but the full-​on flavor. We really liked this with our second course.
: Eros (black). Very surprising as it was slight notes of the Mandarin orange but definitely vanilla flavored. We had this one with our final course and very much enjoyed it.
(Note, you can buy extra pots of tea, hence the third tea review.)
AMBIANCE: I would give it a mid-​fancy rating. It wasn’t as fancy as some tea rooms in certain hotels (St. Regis, Houston) that I have been to, but it was fancier than other places I have been. Their tables are TINY, and so bring your purse hooks! Also, they have these cozies to keep your teas warm at your table. This will make the teapot handles very hot. Also, the cozies are kind of falling apart. (Ahem, costuming department!) We were bugged by a fly that landed in my sister’s lemon curd.
SERVICE: Delightful. I am really picky about my teas. Thankfully, Maria from Mexico really knew her stuff and didn’t suggest bad teas. I was really appreciative to finally get a fellow tea enthusiast.
Overall: I would most definitely go here again, especially if I took a morning flight to the resort but didn’t want to go to the Parks right away. It was a perfect place to enjoy a nice few hours. Rushers can get in and out in just about 2 hours. My sister and I enjoyed a three hour tea.

The garden view tea room is an amazing experience for anyone at Disney! I managed to score a reservation 30 days prior for their last seating of the day on a Thursday. If you know you want to go, book as far out as you can; they fill up quick!
I was seated a few minutes after I checked in (I was a little early!) and then my waitress came to take my order. I got the buckingham tea (tea sandwiches, scone and tart, and desert) with a pot of mad hatter’s tea party, a custom blend for this tea room. My sandwiches included the typical cucumber and watercress as well as chicken curry, egg salad, tomato and pesto, and another that I can’t recall.
The cranberry scone with the jam tart were awesome as well. My server also told me they were her favorite items on the menu. They are served with jam, Devonshire cream, and lemon curd (my favorite!). Then came dessert. You could pick from a strawberry or seasonal (think it was pumpkin) trifle or pastries. I was pretty disappointed with my pastries though; they are pre picked for the day I guess. The mini éclair looked as it had been defrosted since the icing was hard and had condensation. The swan was filled with a very sweet berry filling. The chocolate covered strawberry was dipped in white chocolate, which I loathe. I probably would try the trifle if I went again.
All in all, it wasn’t a bad experience for $ 25!

This was my third time to the tea room and each time is as lovely as the last! The food is fantastic, the tea is excellent. The Grand Floridian just does things right! Service is always impeccable. If you’ve never done a tea like this before, plan on 3 hours. Sit, savor and enjoy! The temporary location is now over and they are back in their permanent location which has lovely views of the resort grounds. I’d take tea here every day if I lived close!
My suggestions: best thing on the menu is the Princess Kate with the Mad Hatter Tea. It is specifically brewed just for this location so you can’t take it home with you or buy it at any other location.
Large groups are hard to accommodate as the seating in the tea room is limited and they will not allow you to bring gifts into the seating area. If you’re planning a bridal tea or anything of that nature, do gifts before or after.
Other than that, this place is so lovely!

I was most definitely impressed with tea time at the Garden View Tea Room!
While many would assume that afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian Disney Resort would be exhorbitant in price and worthless… I, on the other hand found it to be one of the highlights of my trip.
We took a monorail from Magic Kingdom to the Grand Floridian for 4 PM reservations. We checked in early and waited about 5 to 10 minutes since Disney tries to follow their time slots as closely as possible. They are usually fully booked and it takes months to snag a spot so in either case, you’re pretty much lucky if you get in.
You have four different tea service options as adults… they also have one for children if you choose to bring your little one. So I chose the Buckingham Tea…$ 25 brings you your own pot of tea which is good for four servings. In my case, we had four girls each with their own pots… more than enough and it was great to sample several different teas as opposed to sticking to my own. Your $ 25 also includes an assortment of tea sandwiches, scone and jam along with a lemon curd cream and dessert at the end. You can choose two items from a tray of assorted goodies– things like chocolate covered strawberries, mini eclairs, puff pastries, etc… or the option of their signature Strawberries and Cream. Overall you will be very full! So make sure you come ready to indulge.
Service was top notch. We had Riley who seemed as if she had come straight out of a fairy tale, I kept thinking Mary Poppins while I was there. She was cute as a button, very polite, friendly and super efficient.
Our experience was EXCELLENT and I look forward to tea time on my next Orlando visit… PINKIES UP!