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[debic]

Sorry to hear these will be discontinued as we enjoyed doing them last year. It kind of surprises me because it seemed a good way to accomodate large groups in a controlled setting for dining.

[dnbaci]

that's too bad, I wonder if they will still do the Tony's Breakfast at the Magic Kingdom. We took advantage of this several times, and enjoyed it. The GG dining reservations were helpful to a point, but we usually travel with at least 25 people to wdw so even that was a large party to accommodate for dining and I make priority seating for every dinner and at least 2 breakfasts each trip. Oh well.

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by dnbaci

that's too bad, I wonder if they will still do the Tony's Breakfast at the Magic Kingdom.

That's officially called the "Good Morning Gathering Breakfast" and that's one of the GG meals on the chopping block. Sorry!

[PixieMichele]

We did the Good Morning Breakfast 2 years ago when we went in our bi-annual family grand gathering. We loved the breakfast at Tony's because you got to get into the park early, so we got amazing photos in front of the castle and on Mainstreet with NO people behind us! The breakfast was great b/c it wasn't buffet and the characters were in their "regular" clothes, and at the end you got a family photo with Mickey.
This year we were really dissapointed in the service and also the fact that Mickey no longer makes an appearance at breakfast. We also had a TON of trouble from cast members about letting us in to get to breakfast, one of our family members even got stuck behind because the cast member called him a liar. he was clearly struggling to get through the crowd with a stroller and got separated from us. We had to leave breakfast before the "dance party" with the characters to get in line for Mickey before the crowds hit and then we were juggling cameras and photo pass, etc. The whole point of the breakfast, for us was the huge group shot with Mickey.
These special events aren't cheap either, maybe they aren't getting the turnout they want for them? who knows--time will tell i suppose.

[mechurchlady]

Grand Gatherings will stay. The problem was that the three special event were little used and cost a lot of money. Would you like the last ride on the Safari for the day, a tour guide, some critter viewing, and a few characters at a meal or would you like to do two character buffets for the same price? Safari package or do dinner at Cinderella Castle and have enough left over for hot dogs at Casey's Corner for lunch.

[CRCrazy]

It's too bad that they will be doing away with these meals. I've never done a Grand Gathering before, but I would think that one of the perks would be assistance in getting dining reservation assistance for your large group. Maybe they will add that in place of the specialty meals?

[Belle*]

Grand Gathering experiences will end on January 28, 2012. The Grand Gatherings department as we know it will cease to exist. Gathering numbers will still be issued but may be known by their other name - "traveling with" numbers. What they call will call it exactly remains to be seen but it sounds like there will still be a way to link groups traveling together.

[Tigger71]

That explains why I can't find anyone on two message boards that has done the Safari Celebration dinner (we have scheduled on 6 Oct). Although we are looking at cancelling our ADR for the Good Morning Character Celebration breakfast as it is only on certain days and the one I've booked doesn't really suit us.

In 2008 we did the Fireworks Voyage when it was a GG event and it was fantastic but we just can't fit it in this trip...

[Caldercup]

I've done the Safari Dinner! It was delicious!

[buckinghammr]

I loved the Good Morning Breakfast. A special pin, Minnie, Mickey, Donald and Goofy, my parents got to dance serenaded by Tony-fabulous. Glad we got it in!

[Dave Marx]

These special dining events were clearly not as successful as Disney might have hoped. There have been fewer, rather than more of them as time went by. I have a theory as to why, but it's only a theory.

Gatherings of families and friends have been a "thing" at WDW for a very long time. About the only significant hassle for event organizers has been group dining. The organizer had a choice between invading counter service restaurants, booking groups of up to about 20 at buffet/plated meals, booking a la carte restaurants under special rules (such as non-refundable deposits and narrow windows for arrival at the restaurant), and full-out catered meals. Rather than make group bookings at regular restaurants easier, they chose to create a mid-cost option - something between catering and Cape May Cafe, these special dining events. Who knows? Maybe they'll add a third dinner show to the line-up - an option good for groups, but available to non-groups as well.

However, since most such groups have to be sensitive to the budgets of those least able to afford the trip, extra-cost dining generally isn't high on the group organizer's list. I can see the typical group considering one of these in the course of a Grand Gathering, but most wouldn't do more than one. On Disney's side, that doesn't exactly add up to big business.

When folks have the budget for extra-cost meals (weddings, corporate meetings, etc.), they can still do what they've always done, "Hello, Group Dining?" This was essentially an attempt to offer an option somewhere between the cost of a regular buffet meal (the kind of restaurants able to handle groups of up to 20 diners without making special arrangements), and more elaborate, catered options (which usually start at over $80 per person for dinner). If groups that historically would have gone the catered route chose these lower-priced options instead, and if there weren't enough budget-oriented groups willing to pop for the special meal, then there's little point to continuing (if you're an organization like Disney).

I'm kind of waiting for the next shoe to drop. Just because they pulled the plug on these events doesn't mean they've abandoned the notion of facilitating Grand Gathering-sized groups. While they have to announce the end of a meal option six months out (so that they don't have to cancel reservations that have already been made), they can announce changes to Group Dining policies and offerings on shorter notice than that. And why run separate Grand Gatherings and Group Dining teams, when you can manage to handle everything under one roof? I don't expect Disney to abandon their "groups pay more, not less" approach to things, so I suspect there will be a new way for smaller groups to spend more than Biergarten/Crystal Palace prices without swinging directly into catered event prices. There's a good possibility, though, that we won't hear about this until after October 1 and the announcement of Disney's next annual sales promotion effort.

[Luvsun]

Thank you for the info Dave!

[hockeyguysmom]

A couple of years ago we did the Safari & Good Morning breakfast and they were both such a good time. I'm sad to hear they are canceling them but I know they weren't very popular.

If anyone is traveling with a group of 8 or more between now & Jan. I highly recommend that you try one of these experiences!

[Caldercup]

There are a few special event dessert parties at Epcot (mostly private parties that people arrange, but a few others).

However, the dinner/dessert party that was a Grand Gathering event is on the chopping block.

The Wishes Dessert Party at the Magic Kingdom is still offered to the general public at various times throughout the year.

[Carousel96]

I wonder if any of the GG events will now be reincarnated as special reservation events. They might get takers for Illuminations Dessert parties or another character breakfast in the MK just like they do for Wishes.