It’s Tea Time at the Grand Floridian! The Garden View Lounge is reopening March 19th and you can start making reservations today, February 19th. The Garden View Lounge closed in March of 2020 during the pandemic and has not reopened until now! We are so excited to check out this super cute tea experience, let’s take a look.
The Theming
This will not be the same old tea time at the Grand Floridian that was available before 2020. The area has been rethemed, as well as the menu. Garden View Lounge is leaning into the Alice in Wonderland touches and “going down the rabbit hole” to include some fun touches from the animated movie. I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of the White Rabbit in all of this theming!
The Menu
The menu at Garden View Lounge includes savory and sweet small bites and a wide variety of teas, naturally! They are calling this a British Style Afternoon Tea Experience. You receive a selection of teas as well as a tea tower with your small bites. You have a tea guide throughout the experience and even get to create your own, unique tea blend! In addition to your tea tower of treats, you also receive a scone with butters, jams and jellies. The adult tea experience is $79 and children 3-9 are $49. The pricing does not include enhancements like cocktails, champagne or other specialty items. Let’s take a look at what we can expect:
Drinks
- Twinnings Tea Selections: London Strand Breakfast Tea, Spicy Chai, Orangery of Lady Grey Black Tea exclusive to Walt Disney World, Nutty Chocolate Flavored Assam Black Tea, Black Currant and Lavender Herbal Teas
- Mint Julep: Old Forester 1870 whiskey, Twinnings refreshers peach mango tea and mint
- Mar-TEA-ni: Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, Twinnings Earl Grey Tea, lemon and honey
- Curiosi-TEA: Twinnings refreshers strawberry raspberry herbal tea with a shimmering touch
- This Way, That Way: Twinnings refreshers peach mango herbal tea and mint
- Champagne & Sparkling Wines
Food
The Tea Tower includes three tiers of yummy small bites. Both savory and sweet! I imagine this will be as cute as it is tasty.
- Orange Cranberry Scone: with traditional accoutrements
- Curried Chicken Salad Playing Card Tart: Savory curried chicken salad filling topped with cherry gelee
- Footman’s Feast: Wonderland Salmon Crisp with a salmon rillette on a miso brown butter crisp
- Tweedledee Egg Salad Sandwich: A traditional egg salad on beet bread
- Caterpillar Cucumber Roll: A delicious combination with butterfly pea-infused cream cheese and cucumbers on pumpernickel
- The Matcha Mad Hatter: Sponge cake with apricot jam and yuzu buttercream
- Tea Party Tart: Vanilla tart, coffee custard and chantilly cream
- Flamingo Croquet Choux: Filled with passion fruit cream and a raspberry crunch
- Painting the Rose: Earl Grey-flavored teacake painted table side (how fun!!)
- Plant based options also available
Special Enhancements
This wouldn’t be tea time at the Grand Floridian without some grand extras to add to your tea experience. Anything at the Grand Floridian has to be and have some extra to it, right?
- Seasonal Cheese Selection
- Royal Osetra Caviar: With mini chive biscuits and traditional accompaniments
Children’s Afternoon Tea
If you were thinking that kids are not going to eat any of that….so was Disney! Kids have their own small bites menu that is adorable and maybe I want to order it too. Haha!
- Queen of Hearts Cheese Toastie
- Fanciful Turkey Wrap
- Sunflower Seed Butter and Jelly Bun
- Cheshire Cat Raspberry Macron
- Chocolate Brownie Branch
- White Rabbit Cupcake
Conclusion
There is no doubt that tea time at the Grand Floridian will be whimsical and elevated. Honestly, I just want to put on my Bridgerton dress and gloves and go make a fool of myself for this! Haha! It does feel a bit pricey at $80 for tea and finger foods but at the end of the day you are paying for the experience, not just the tea and cakes. Grand Floridian has really been having a glow up here lately, if that’s even possible.
With the opening of The Perch bar in the lobby and now Garden View Lounge reopening, there are even more reasons to visit this gorgeous resort. We love visiting the resorts, especially now as locals. I highly recommend taking a day off from the parks on your vacation to have a resort hopping day! I’m off to see if I’m late to find a tea time date or if I’ll get a reservation for tea time with Alice and the White Rabbit. I hope you make it down the rabbit hole too and have a magical day!