Boma Breakfast: African-Inspired Food and Your Favorites Too

Breakfast at Boma has been a reliable staple in my family’s Disney trips. We regularly do a big brunch on our last vacation day before we fly home. On our most recent trip, I had another brunch booked, but defaulted back to Boma because it felt like the “safe” option. We love Animal Kingdom Lodge, and the food at Boma is so varied that everyone can find something to enjoy and fill up on before traveling. But our brunch ended up being a bit of a sour note at the end of our wonderful vacation, and now I hesitate to recommend Boma – especially on a weekend. Let’s talk about why.

Boma Breakfast Logistics

Location and Transportation

Boma is located at Animal Kingdom Lodge, on the bottom floor of Jambo House. When you enter the main lobby from the front doors, the stairs to the right of the lobby will take you down past Victoria Falls Lounge and then further to Boma (and Jiko, a stellar non-breakfast dining option).

If you’re relying on Disney transportation, you have several options for getting to Animal Kingdom Lodge. You can transfer to a resort bus from any of the theme parks. Or, if you’re looking for a faster, non-transfer option, you can also use your car, or take an Uber/Lyft/Minnie Van. Unless you are already staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you will need to have the name on your reservation and some ID ready to give at the gate if you are arriving by car.

Reservations and Availability

Breakfast at Boma is a very popular. Popular enough that its price increased 20% from 2021 to today and reservations are still difficult. This is definitely a reservation that you’ll want to make as close to your 60-day window as possible, especially if you want to dine on a weekend. You’ll likely have better luck on a weekday.

One of the increasingly frequent problems at Boma is the restaurant backing up and running behind on reservations. Our most recent visit was during the least-crowded week of the entire year at Walt Disney World. Every other restaurant that we visited during our trip got us to our table 10-15 minutes before our reservation if we showed up early. At Boma we arrived early, but there were about 50 people with reservations waiting to be called. Eventually we got in about 15 minutes after our original reservation time. After reading other reviews and talking to people with recent reservations, running at least this far behind isn’t uncommon.

Cost

At the time of this writing, pricing for breakfast at Boma is $35 per adult and $21 per child. That’s before taxes and gratuity. But Annual Passholders and DVC members can both currently receive 10% off at this dining location. Boma will eventually cost 1 credit on the Disney Dining Plan. From a value perspective, you’re much better off spending that one credit on dinner (which is $54 per adult out of pocket) instead of breakfast if you want to eat at Boma.

Boma Atmosphere

There are two distinct areas in Boma – the seating area and the buffet stations. The seating area is packed tightly so that capacity can remain high without anyone being too far away from the buffet area. This is especially true if you’re seating around one of the circular benches. Some of your party members will be right next to other parties!

Your server will take drink orders and tell you all about the buffet. They will tell you that the buffet is made of multiple “stations” and that each station is separate, so you don’t need to go through the buffet in one long line. But here’s the funny thing about humans – we’re creatures of habit, and we’re a little like angry lemmings. Chances are that most people will go through the buffet in one continuous line. It makes sense if it’s your first time through, so that you can see everything. But because they’re going through in one line, other people will do the same. And then the whole herd of humans will be standing in line and slowly progressing along the whole line.

Now, you could go against the flow and just do what your server tells you to do. But I can guarantee you’ll get some ugly looks from the folks in line, and depending on the mood of the day – even some requests to join them in the line.

Boma Food

The quality and varied selection of food is what keeps drawing the crowds to Boma every year, and what results in the usual sky-high ratings. The problem is that you only benefit from that varied selection when platters are actually filled on the buffet line. Let’s look at the buffet line on our most recent visit to go over the food that was available, and what was regularly missing.

The good news is that if you’re coming to Boma for non-traditional breakfast food, you were pretty set. Vegetables and african-spiced meats were all regularly available. And while oatmeal kept getting low and a little crusty (hey, maybe you like it that way), the steel-cut oats were always full.

Boma isn’t the place to go if you want apples, oranges, or bananas. The watermelon was fresh and flavorful, and that meant it got scooped up quickly. The same thing happened with yogurt parfaits. But not enough people were brave enough to try the avocado-fruit-salad.

The “safer” and popular options on the buffet line, like eggs, omelets, and Mickey waffles kept running out with significant gaps in time before they were refilled. Oddly, Simba waffles were always in ready supply.

Pastries would randomly run out and not be refilled for a while – other than cinnamon rolls, which were always available in heaps. For me, the real tragedy was the bread pudding, which is usually the highlight of my meal. But it’s significantly less-awesome without the vanilla sauce! Eventually I waited around near the vanilla sauce and asked for it to be refilled when I saw a cast member, and then waited for the refill to arrive.

Is Boma Breakfast Right For You?

1. Prior to this meal, I always gave a 100% hearty “YES” to this question, even after the steep price increase. But the operational issues we experienced on our most recent trip made enjoying the food difficult. And stories like ours are becoming more and more prevalent.
2. If you can go for a late “brunch” on a weekday, your chances of low waits and high food availability are much higher than on a weekend or during peak breakfast hours.
3. Where Boma still excels is in its offering of non-traditional foods. If that’s what you’re going for anyway, chances are you’ll have plenty of selection while the masses opt for eggs and waffles.

Have you dined at Boma recently? Share your experience in the comments below!