Akershus for Dinner?

[TiggerTrigger]

We've eaten at Akershus for lunch and while it was a great experience and most of us really liked our food- the check in process was pure chaos and took FOREVER. The meal was also a bit more time consuming than other character meals. While I know this strategy doesn't work at all restaurants all of the time- the whole "arrive a bit early" method really didn't work for us at Akershus.

So here are my ???s-
1) has anyone found dinner to be equally as insane?
2) do you think we'll make it out in time for a DECENT to SEMI-DECENT view of Illuminations if we have a 6:40pm ADR? (Illuminations is at 9)

 

[DisneySarah80]

No matter what, your going to have that hectic wait outside - At least every time we have gone, we have experienced it. We've never been seated at our ADR time, but really, it wasn't a big deal. Your in the middle of Epcot, and there are plenty of things to do to keep yourself occupied.
As far as getting out for illuminations... I think you'll be fine. If yout not seated till 7pm, that still gives you 2 hours (if your going when they go off at 9pm) to meet, eat, and get outa there.

 

[anjalee6]

We just ate there for dinner about a week ago. Our ADR was for 6:45. We were there by 6:00 and seated by 6:30. We didn't wait long for our food and we were out by 7:45. It took about an hour from start to finish which we found is typical for character meals. We got a good spot and saw Illuminations just fine. We even road Test Track and Mission Space as well as visited Mexico before Illuminations. I think breakfast is definitely more enjoyable for our family, but dinner wasn't bad.

 

[Pinkgirl]

We have had dinner here twice and both times it was utter chaos. Last year it was pouring down so they were trying to squash people inside to wait.

Our first visit was an amazing experience unfortunately last year our service was terrible. It didnt help that we had a really bad table which was virtually in the queue zone for the buffet so we had people catching us as they went past and staring at our plates. To top it off with a really bad server did it for us and we will be giving dinner a miss next trip.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

No matter what, your going to have that hectic wait outside - At least every time we have gone, we have experienced it. We've never been seated at our ADR time, but really, it wasn't a big deal. Your in the middle of Epcot, and there are plenty of things to do to keep yourself occupied.
As far as getting out for illuminations... I think you'll be fine. If yout not seated till 7pm, that still gives you 2 hours (if your going when they go off at 9pm) to meet, eat, and get outa there.

That whole keeping people preoccupied during the wait was a chunk of the problem. The hostess at check in said to have everyone stay close by b/c they'd be calling our names and our entire party would need to be present. She said it would be a 15-20 min wait...which wound up being 40-45 min. DH had contemplated taking DD4 on Maelstrom, but we were too afraid they'd call our name.

We just ate there for dinner about a week ago. Our ADR was for 6:45. We were there by 6:00 and seated by 6:30. We didn't wait long for our food and we were out by 7:45. It took about an hour from start to finish which we found is typical for character meals. We got a good spot and saw Illuminations just fine. We even road Test Track and Mission Space as well as visited Mexico before Illuminations. I think breakfast is definitely more enjoyable for our family, but dinner wasn't bad.

Good to know that this worked out well for you - since your timing is nearly spot on to ours. For whatever reason, last time we went, the meal took over an hour and a half. We'd thought about doing breakfast at Akershus since this is DD4's 5th birthday, but we decided to go for a 7:05am at Chef Mickey's for the convenience and cake factors.

 

[333disneymom]

We've eaten lunch here twice and dinner once. Dinner was, by far, much more chaotic. Our dinner was early (4:45 p.m.) and there was already a long line. We were seated quickly though. But, when we left, around 6:30 p.m., the line was much, much longer.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We have had dinner here twice and both times it was utter chaos. Last year it was pouring down so they were trying to squash people inside to wait.

Our first visit was an amazing experience unfortunately last year our service was terrible. It didnt help that we had a really bad table which was virtually in the queue zone for the buffet so we had people catching us as they went past and staring at our plates. To top it off with a really bad server did it for us and we will be giving dinner a miss next trip.

I can see how that would be miserable! I'm now getting images of my daughter's bday outfit SOAKED! We were quite fortunate to be far away from the buffet area when we had lunch- and thankfully right in the middle of the Princess parade zone, but I thought about those tables up near the buffet and figured it couldn't be too pleasant.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We've eaten lunch here twice and dinner once. Dinner was, by far, much more chaotic. Our dinner was early (4:45 p.m.) and there was already a long line. We were seated quickly though. But, when we left, around 6:30 p.m., the line was much, much longer.

Well- sounds like we're going to be arriving early and being prepared to WAIT! I may just have DH just go straight to Maelstrom w/DD4 while I check in and BEGIN the wait.

 

[GaPaige]

We had dinner there about a month ago and had maybe a 5-10 minute wait. Our ADR's were for 8:35, so that probably made a difference. It was a nice, relaxing dinner with very few people. Lots of time with the princesses. While we couldn't see Illuminations, we could see that there were fireworks lighting up the frosted windows, which was cool.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We had dinner there about a month ago and had maybe a 5-10 minute wait. Our ADR's were for 8:35, so that probably made a difference. It was a nice, relaxing dinner with very few people. Lots of time with the princesses. While we couldn't see Illuminations, we could see that there were fireworks lighting up the frosted windows, which was cool.

I think your better Akershus wait experience may have been the timing. With the exception of Rose & Crown (and to a lesser degree, La Hacienda), most of the restaurants in Epcot seem to calm down around 8pm. Had we had a better Illuminations experience last trip, I'd consider skipping the show this time around. Last trip, we had a well timed ADR at Rose & Crown- we were seated inside even though there was PLENTY of seating outside, but our server PROMISED to take us outside for the show... never happened! I'm sure it looked very neat seeing the fireworks iluminate the windows though- sounds VERY cool!

 

[333disneymom]

Well- sounds like we're going to be arriving early and being prepared to WAIT! I may just have DH just go straight to Maelstrom w/DD4 while I check in and BEGIN the wait.

I'd give yourself about 15-20 minutes to get through the check-in line. However, I wouldn't go too early. We saw a family trying to get in earlier than their scheduled time, and they wound up waiting longer than us, because our reservations were earlier. Not sure if that is common or not. Also, once we checked in, our wait was very short - only about 5 minutes. So, really most of our wait time was to check in. Good luck.

 

[mommalissa]

When we were there last year, they did the seating in rounds. I can't remember our reservation time but let's just say it was at 6:00. They said they wouldn't start checking people in for the next seating until 5:50-5:55. So we started a line and they truly didn't start checking in until their appointed time and didn't start calling people back until a few minutes after 6:00. I thought this was a terrible way to do it. That may be part of the problem with the crowd around the outside of the restaurant.