UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management: Student Accessibility Comments
The Biergarten Restaurant is in the Germany Pavilion at Disney EPCOT theme park. In order to access the restaurant, you must park in the accessible parking in front of EPCOT. The Germany pavilion is in the rear of the theme park and will take about 15 minutes to get to. When arriving at the hostess stand you will notice the stand is very high making it impossible for a someone in a wheelchair to look directly at the hostess.
There is no steps and wide doors to enter the restaurant. Accessible seating is located on the same floor as the buffet making it easy to access food. There are steps leading to the other floors of seating and there is no ramp if you wish to be seated closer to the live band. Although music can still be heard very well on the top floor where the accessibility seating is available. The seating is picnic style where you will be seated with other guests. They will remove a chair for your wheelchair, so you do not have to transfer to a chair. The seating is tight and sometimes hard to maneuver in a wheelchair without assistance.
The buffet is not very accessible friendly. The names of the food items are on the glass and are at an angle that is unreadable from a wheelchair. Also, the buffet is high with food placed in the pit making it hard to see what food items are available. The food quality however was impeccable, and the servers were very friendly.
The bathroom is on the same level as the accessible seating. There are two doorways leading to the bathroom. The first doorway is very narrow making it hard to pass through without hurting your fingers as you wheel yourself in. The second doorway, the door is a swinging door that is closed. There is no automatic button to open the door so you must have assistance to enter the door. Inside the bathroom, the accessible stall was very tight. A wheelchair cannot fit in the stall, there is however grab bars inside to help.
Overall, the food was amazing, service was friendly, and the show was fun to watch. The restaurant unfortunately was not very wheelchair friendly at the buffet, table or bathrooms.
