Best TS restaurants for a group of 13 in the parks?

[HannaBelle]

I am traveling with my extended family next summer with ages ranging from 60+ to 4 years old, and we are not staying on property/not on a dining plan. As a result, we are not eligible for the Grand Gatherings events/meals.

I would love to hear from people who have dined with a large group at a table service restaurant in one of the 4 main parks. What was your best experience?

We will probably only schedule 2 or 3 meals as a large group and I just want to keep it simple, know what I mean? Gathering and moving a group of 13 people is like herding turtles!!!

 

[TwinsFan]

Teppan Edo in Japan in Epcot would be cool if they could put you at two tables next to each other.

 

[koolaidmoms]

We have done dining with a party of 11 before on vacation at WDW. We tended to stick to mostly buffets - Biergarten, Askerhaus, Crystal Palace, Tusker House, etc... to allow for everyone to find something they could or would eat.

We had ages 65 down to 3 so we also had to cover a wider variety of tastes. We also were usually seated at one long table like in CP along the windows they just pushed the tables together or in Biergarten they sat us behind each other at tables of 6 and 5.

We did do CRT and Tony's as most of the group could agree on Italian as something they would eat at Tony's and everyone wanted to see Cinderella and the princesses.

Good luck!

PS. I thought it was more like herding cats though!

 

[chitown_disneylovers]

Biergarten was great! We were at 2 tables of 8 right next to each other and the kids got up to dance and it was loud and festive and fun.

Teppan Edo was a great meal but we had to sit at 2 separate tables on angle from each other so we couldn't really even talk to each other.

We had a really nice dinner at the Brown Derby. One long table by a big window that looked out onto the street.

Cinderella's Royal Table sat us all together for lunch but we had the very first lunch seating booked so that probably had something to do with it.

We had a group of 14 for that trip and our upcoming one we will have 18.

Have fun planning!

 

[HannaBelle]

Thanks for the replies! I think I am definitely going to put Biergarten on the list. My husband's family is of German descent I think that his parents would really like it.

Askerhaus is the one place my niece (who had never been to WDW) wanted to go...she will be 14! I love it...I really hope the magic is still there for her. I was thinking of taking her there with my DD13 as a special gift. I am not sure the rest of the group would want to go though.

I am also leaning very heavily towards Crystal Palace and doing the Hoop Dee Doo Review. hehe

I had not considered the Brown Derby. I will check it out!

That is 5 though...so many great locations to choose from.

 

[missminniemouse]

I think Hoop De Doo would be a lot of fun with a large group.

We had a group of 24 a number of years ago. We only planned 1 meal with everyone together and that was at Whispering Canyon. They have a small area off to the back of the restaurant that we were seated in. It gave our group a little more privacy, yet still allowed the kids to participate in anything going on in the main dining area.

For other meals with our large group, we made reservations for our own family and told everyone else where we were going. Some of the time several other small groups booked dining in the same restaurant at the same time as us. We didn't request to be seated together, but did visit each other's table several times during the meal. This way each group had some privacy, but could still experience the same restaurant if they wanted to.

Good luck with your planning. I know it can be difficult to please everyone.