The wait is over, and the Garden View Tea Room at the Grand Floridian has finally reopened as The Garden View Lounge – Tea Experience after being closed since 2020. When I was a teenager, I had afternoon tea at the Garden View Tea Room with my mom, and while I admittedly don’t remember everything I had besides the tea and scones, I do have fond memories of a fun girls’ outing and some really wonderful cast members. As soon as reservations opened up for the Garden View Lounge, I snagged a reservation to treat my mom to afternoon tea all these years later and check out the newly opened lounge with its Alice in Wonderland inspired menu.
- How Has the Room Changed?
- Tea Selection
- Afternoon Tea Tower
- Children’s Afternoon Tea
- Non-Alcoholic Specialty Tea
- Was It Worth the Cost?
How Has the Room Changed?
Just like the Grand Floridian lobby, the Garden View Lounge has been updated and mirrors the garden theme seen throughout the resort. The chairs and decor have floral patterns with lots of soft shades of green and cream, and you can even spot some hidden Mickey’s in the carpeting. While still elegant, the lounge feels fresh and literally brighter with the newly installed stained glass windows that make the room feel more open. What has not changed is the small size of the dining room (which accounts for the limited advanced dining reservations available) and the beautiful window views of the resort grounds.
Tea Selection
Let’s start with the star of the show: the tea. Our server brought out a box of the loose tea leaves in glass jars and allowed us to smell the different varieties as she described them. Each guest is able to select his or her own pot of tea. Among the 8 teas, we chose to try:
- Orangery of Lady Grey (“light and fragrant black tea with bright citrus notes of orange and bergamot. A refreshing twist on classic Earl Grey, inspired by sunlit English orangeries.”)
- I enjoyed this twist on Earl Grey. While the orange notes were noticeable, they were subtle.
- London Strand Breakfast (“Bold and malty Assam black teas with golden-tipped leaves for richness and a full-bodied finish.”)
- This tea reminded us of a weak Earl Grey tea. It was the blandest of the three we tried. While it was fine, I don’t think we would order this one again.
- Nutty Chocolate Flavoured Assam (“Rich Assam black tea meets the flavours of smooth chocolate and roasted hazelnuts. A blend inspired by the timeless pairing of tea and chocolate”)
- This one was our favorite hands down. I wasn’t sure how much the chocolate would come through, but I was pleasantly surprised that you really could taste it. Our server recommended that we have this tea with milk and sugar to make it taste almost like hot chocolate, and she was right!
When getting seconds on tea, you do have the option to choose a different variety of tea.
Afternoon Tea Tower
Starter: Orange-Cranberry Scone
I believe I texted Paul and Amy that I will be dreaming of these scones. These were a real highlight for me. They were warm, buttery, a little crumbly, and the pieces of orange and cranberry were just right, adding a little texture and sweetness to the scones. The scones were served with orange marmalade, European butter, and clotted cream. These spreads were more than decent, but I found the scones perfectly tasty on their own. Our server was kind enough to offer seconds on the scones and even packed up a couple for me to take home. This is the only part of the tea tower that you can get more of.
Savory Eats
- I am typically a fan of sweets, but I actually liked the savory tiers better than the plate of sweets. The Curried Chicken Salad Playing Card Tart topped with heart-shaped cherry gelée was my favorite. The curry was flavorful but not overpowering at all, and even my curry-averse mom thought it was good. The Tweedledee Egg Salad Sandwich on beet bread was also very good. I don’t normally care for egg salad, but this sandwich had diced red onion and bits of bacon and was flavorful.
- I wasn’t able to try the Footman’s Feast: Wonderland Salmon Crisp with a miso brown butter crisp due to an allergy (I got a second curry chicken salad tart instead), but my mom and brother said it mostly tasted like smoked salmon. It was fine but not a favorite.
- Among our group, the Caterpillar Cucumber Roll was our least favorite despite the cute presentation of the traditional tea sandwich. It consisted of toasted pumpernickel bread topped with butterfly-pea-infused cream cheese and slices of cucumber. It was a lot of cream cheese and rather bland to me. It just wasn’t my cup of tea at all.
Sweet Treats
- My favorite of the sweets was the Painting the Rose (the server adds the raspberry sauce to the white rose as a reference to the Queen of Hearts’ roses being painted red). It was a teacake with a light buttercream frosting on the outside and a shortbread-like crust at the bottom. While there was more frosting than I care for, the cake part was good and moist.
- My mom’s favorite was the Flamingo Croquet Choux which was like a cream puff with passion fruit cream and white chocolate decorations to make it look like a flamingo. The passion fruit flavor wasn’t over-the-top, and I found it less sweet than some of the other desserts.
- The Matcha Mad Hatter was good as well. The cake had a nice texture, and the presentation was adorable, but I wasn’t a big fan of the citrus flavor from the yuzu buttercream.
- The Tea Party Tart looked so cute with its little chocolate tea cup, but this vanilla tart with coffee custard and chantilly cream reminded me a bit of the dessert party treats–a bit bland and not as memorable as the other sweets.
Children’s Afternoon Tea
We didn’t have any children in our party, but when my brother mentioned that he wasn’t sure he would like the items in the Afternoon Tea Tower, our server offered him the Children’s Afternoon Tea. It included:
- Orange-Cranberry Scone
- Fanciful Turkey Wrap
- Sunflower Seed Butter and Jelly Bun
- Queen of Hearts Cheese Toastie
- Cheshire Cat Raspberry Macaron
- Chocolate Brownie Branch
- White Rabbit Cupcake
As basic as this sounds, the Fanciful Turkey Wrap was my brother’s favorite. Sure it wasn’t anything special, but it had a good ratio of fresh ingredients. The plain wrap was actually a good choice to balance this rather sweet plate. The Sunflower Seed Butter and Jelly Bun looked like a red mushroom, and it had something of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich vibe. The Queen of Hearts Cheese Toastie was like a pimento cheese cracker sandwich.
Our server said that the Children’s Afternoon Tea was quite sweet, and it sure was. Among the desserts, the White Rabbit Cupcake was the most basic and familiar for kids. It’s like the standard vanilla cupcake that you’d find at most buffets but with a white chocolate pocket watch. I sampled a bite of the Cheshire Cat Raspberry Macaron and the Chocolate Brownie Branch. The macaron was very tart from the raspberry inside and sweet from the white chocolate. I liked the brownie branch better. It was very dense and fudgy, and it reminded me more of a chocolate cake pop than a brownie.
I am not a big Alice in Wonderland fan, but I found the theming of both the adults’ and children’s food adorable. I don’t recall the previous afternoon tea having any Disney touches, so this was a nice change.
Non-Alcoholic Specialty Tea
As someone who doesn’t really drink, I appreciate that the menu includes two non-alcoholic specialty beverages. Like the two cocktails on the menu, these are an additional cost and not included with the afternoon tea. My mom tried the This Way, That Way, which is Twinings Refreshers Peach Mango Herbal Tea with mint. It was a cool and refreshing beverage with a light peach flavor though it did get watered down quickly from the ice.
Was It Worth the Cost?
The afternoon tea costs $79 per adult and $49 per child (plus tax and an automatic gratuity of 18%). Note that you pay in advance when you make the reservation, and there is currently no DVC or annual passholder discount available. At the conclusion of your meal, you get a bill for any add-ons such as the mocktails, cocktails, or cheese plates.
Is this price steep? Yes, especially when you figure that you could easily have a nice signature dining meal for that price point. However, compared to the The Roses of Gold Afternoon Tea at The Cake Bake Shop, which goes for $95 per adult and $65 per child (plus tax), the Garden View Lounge looks somewhat more reasonable.
Were the tea and light bites at the Garden View Lounge worth the $79 per person? By themselves, probably not, but what you are really paying for here is the experience, and what a cute, fun experience it was! There are lots of little details that make this experience feel special from the presentation of the rose water wipes you are given at the beginning of tea (they essentially “bloom” when warm water is poured over them) to the presentation of the tea leaves.
Another nice little touch was the personalized card given at the end of the meal. Along with the beautiful card are smaller cards that help remind you of which teas you tried. This is especially helpful if you wish to purchase the tea to bring home. While browsing the Sandy Cove Gifts and Sundries, we found a selection of the teas served at the Garden View Lounge.
Bottom Line: Would I go back? Yes, I would gladly go back for this delightful experience, though I may wait for another special occasion given the cost.
