BOG and CRT during the MVMCP

[Lisa Tarvin]

Has anyone had a dinner at BOG or CRT during the MVMCP party? Is the experience any different than a pre party dinner? How long do these dinners normally take? I am trying to plan around the events.

 

[Allison]

No. I refuse to spend precious, expensive party time eating at a sit down restaurant. I eat before the party starts. There are too many things to do during the party hours.

 

[Pumbaa_]

You can enter the park starting at 4pm w a party ticket. Parties are expensive. Spending 60-90 minutes eating makes it a very expensive night. Plus you are missing the party! I would never do a ts during party, we always eat a late lunch the pan snack or grab a quick cs if we needed more. Party night is not all about the food for us

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Has anyone had a dinner at BOG or CRT during the MVMCP party? Is the experience any different than a pre party dinner? How long do these dinners normally take? I am trying to plan around the events.

Yes, we've actually done both CRT and BOG during a party time, sort of.
We have planned them both for during the "soft" hours, when the party hadn't actually begun, yet we are allowed into MK.
We have to eat. We enjoy a TS dinner, and we don't do any other parks (including MK) on the day of.
We've done BOG twice at around 5 to 5:15, and we did CRT at 4:15. (Only time available or we would have gone a bit later)
Last 2 times, we also had 3 FPs, and we arranged them for 3:30, 4:30, and 5:40ish. So we went in, went to our 1st FP, maybe to 2nd, depending on time, and still managed to get to the 3rd one after our meal.
We were ready to hit the parties (either MNSSHP or MVMCP) right on time, and had a plan for everything we wanted to do and see. Never missed anything and truly enjoyed our relaxing TS meal prior to the actual party.
However, IF I was unable to have those 3 extra hours of pre party time, I would not have done it. Those hours between 7pm and midnight are just too precious.
ETA: We have also done LTT during MVMCP, same times, same strategy.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Same experience its just that only party goers are allowed to dine.
As with any TS restaurant you can expect it to take about 70-90 minutes.
I never do a TS during a party. You pay quite a bit for the party ticket so I don't want to sit in a restaurant. I want to be out in the action.

 

[BMAEC]

I completely understand that doing a TS dinner during a party is considered wasting party time, but with these two restaurants it seems like reservations on and around party nights have been almost impossible. Personally, I was considering just buying party tickets to go to CRT during that time if those were the only reservations I could find, simply because it’s that important to my 4 and 6 yr olds. By the time we are able to do another Disney Trip my oldest may not care about princesses as much, and right now they both think the real princesses live in disney world that we are going to the real Cinderella’s castle! For us it’s not about the food but the experience. Hard to pass up that opportunity. I guess you have to weigh how important those experiences at BOG or CRT are versus what you will do at the party. You can always set up a TP reservation finder to try to get reservations on a different night or, for CRT, earlier in the day on a party day for breakfast or lunch (if you have Park tickets that day) to not conflict with the party but have the party time reservation as a back up in case those don’t open up. As someone mentioned above, even just with party tickets you can enter at 4pm and try for an earlier reservations (with the reservation finder) a little after 4 so you can get BOG dinner and you’re done before the party starts!

 

[HopperFan]

Has anyone had a dinner at BOG or CRT during the MVMCP party? Is the experience any different than a pre party dinner? How long do these dinners normally take? I am trying to plan around the events.

Are you planning to go to the party? That time goes by so fast I can't imagine paying for the party and spending that much time in a restaurant. By 7 pm party time, we have already eaten and ready to enjoy the party.

If you are not going to the party and trying to work around the event ... you can not dine there after 6 pm if you don't have a party ticket. Booking must be 4-6 pm.

I know I've seen a few reports of say a special Halloween/Christmas dessert option but otherwise I've heard of no other changes if during party time.

 

[Lisa Tarvin]

I completely understand that doing a TS dinner during a party is considered wasting party time, but with these two restaurants it seems like reservations on and around party nights have been almost impossible. Personally, I was considering just buying party tickets to go to CRT during that time if those were the only reservations I could find, simply because it’s that important to my 4 and 6 yr olds. By the time we are able to do another Disney Trip my oldest may not care about princesses as much, and right now they both think the real princesses live in disney world that we are going to the real Cinderella’s castle! For us it’s not about the food but the experience. Hard to pass up that opportunity. I guess you have to weigh how important those experiences at BOG or CRT are versus what you will do at the party. You can always set up a TP reservation finder to try to get reservations on a different night or, for CRT, earlier in the day on a party day for breakfast or lunch (if you have Park tickets that day) to not conflict with the party but have the party time reservation as a back up in case those don’t open up. As someone mentioned above, even just with party tickets you can enter at 4pm and try for an earlier reservations (with the reservation finder) a little after 4 so you can get BOG dinner and you’re done before the party starts!

Yes kind of our situation as well. This will be our first time at Disney and it’s more about the rides and restaurants for us. I would like to do all the party activities as well, but if I can’t get an early BOG dinner I will have no choice but to dine during the party. I really don’t want to spend that much for party tickets though. I’ve heard some people say the parties are so crowded it’s really a waste of money so it’s hard to know what the best plan is. I do have my TP reservation finder set up so we will see.

 

[BMAEC]

Yes kind of our situation as well. This will be our first time at Disney and it’s more about the rides and restaurants for us. I would like to do all the party activities as well, but if I can’t get an early BOG dinner I will have no choice but to dine during the party. I really don’t want to spend that much for party tickets though. I’ve heard some people say the parties are so crowded it’s really a waste of money so it’s hard to know what the best plan is. I do have my TP reservation finder set up so we will see.

I totally understand. I was torn because the parties look so fun but with my kids being so little (my youngest is 2) it just wouldn’t be worth the $100 per person cost. I think they would be breaking down half way through the party.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I completely understand that doing a TS dinner during a party is considered wasting party time, but with these two restaurants it seems like reservations on and around party nights have been almost impossible. Personally, I was considering just buying party tickets to go to CRT during that time if those were the only reservations I could find, simply because it’s that important to my 4 and 6 yr olds. By the time we are able to do another Disney Trip my oldest may not care about princesses as much, and right now they both think the real princesses live in disney world that we are going to the real Cinderella’s castle! For us it’s not about the food but the experience. Hard to pass up that opportunity. I guess you have to weigh how important those experiences at BOG or CRT are versus what you will do at the party. You can always set up a TP reservation finder to try to get reservations on a different night or, for CRT, earlier in the day on a party day for breakfast or lunch (if you have Park tickets that day) to not conflict with the party but have the party time reservation as a back up in case those don’t open up. As someone mentioned above, even just with party tickets you can enter at 4pm and try for an earlier reservations (with the reservation finder) a little after 4 so you can get BOG dinner and you’re done before the party starts!

I always do lunch at BOG. Unless potentially meeting Beast is a high priority I'd never do dinner personally. (And I love Beast but not enough I guess lol).
If you can't get CRT then I'd suggest trying Akershus.
Believe me I'm all about the experiences and atmosphere of these restaurants but I guess not as much as some because I'd never pay another $85+ per person just to spend another $60 per person to eat at these places.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Especially w BOG being signature dining in the fall. Will be a very expensive evening

 

[BMAEC]

I always do lunch at BOG. Unless potentially meeting Beast is a high priority I'd never do dinner personally. (And I love Beast but not enough I guess lol).
If you can't get CRT then I'd suggest trying Akershus.
Believe me I'm all about the experiences and atmosphere of these restaurants but I guess not as much as some because I'd never pay another $85+ per person just to spend another $60 per person to eat at these places.

I should have clarified that I ended up getting a pre-party dinner at CRT! Our reservation is at 6pm so we can do our dinner and be escorted out of the park while the party is taking place. The kids will be ready for bed by then! We have a breakfast at BOG- my girls would be afraid of the beast at dinner! Lol! I’d love to do a lunch there too but haven’t found any yet. We are also doing Akershus and 1900 Park Fare Cinderella dinner. I have 3 girls who are ALL about the princesses so we’re doing them all! We’re on the dining plan and I have a spreadsheet to compare costs - with all these character meals we are coming out ahead