California Grill for Wishes

[fausz4]

Finally the May schedule for Wishes has come out. Yeah!

I have an ADR for California Grill for Monday May 4th 7:55pm Yeah!

Wishes is at 10:00pm. Yeah!

Here is my dilimea...

Is my ADR too early to watch Wishes from CG and too late to realistically believe my DS7 & 12 will actually eat????

We are on the DDP and this is my first time scheduling my meals on my trip.

On one hand I am excited about 'possibly' seeing Wishes from above - on the other hand I hate to use 2 TS and possibly not see Wishes - and my kids not feel like eating late.

Thanks,

 

[LadyZolt]

That is a toughie. I do think that your dinner time is fine for seeing Wishes, but it also means a LOOOONG dinner, which adults usually enjoy, but kids may not. Only you know if your kids are ready for a two-hour dinner. You should be able to determine whether or not you'll see Wishes when you arrive at the restaurant and ask about it. At that point, you might learn that you won't have an ideal location, but perhaps you'd be able to walk to another spot in the restaurant to see them. Chances are, by 10 you'll be lingering over the remains of dessert anyway and could leave the table.

If you determine that your kids can handle a two hour meal, I'd make sure they get a nap earlier in the day so they're not sleepy, and I'd explain to them that this is more like a "grown up" meal and they should try to enjoy it and pretend their grown-ups, put on their best table manners, that sort of thing so that they're eager to make the most of it. I never ate at the California Grill, but I imagine Disney would have stuff to keep kids entertained while they go through the courses, and I'd also look up the menu in advance so you can give your kids an idea of the kind of foods they can expect.

If you decide that the kids might not enjoy a long dinner, you could always eat somewhere else in the area (Kona cafe, for example) and watch Wishes from the beach at the Poly, at the Grand Floridian, or at the Contemporary (pretty sure you can see Wishes from all three resorts). You might also plan to watch the Electric Water Parade -- perhaps watch it first (I think it's like at 8:30 - 9 p.m. depending on the resort, but you can doublecheck the times on that) and then eat dinner and go back out and watch Wishes. Poly's Captain Cook's restaurant is counter service that's quick and has lots of fun choices on the menu. The kids might enjoy that, too.

Whatever you decide, I hope you and your family have a wonderful time!

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[Shooby doo]

Firstly I think that you would struggle to make a dinner last 2 hours & as much as the servers aren't trying to shoehorn you out of your seat the service is quick & efficient. But not to worry because even if you were to be sat in the farthest corner there is a balcony,which is what we used,& your server will inform you that you can stay on the balcony as long as you wish -assuming that you have already vacated your table.
HTH SD

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

While its a long dinner and we tend to linger at CG...I'd be trying for an ADR about a half hour to 45 minutes later, just to be safe. If your going to go all out with apps, first course, entree & dessert, then you might JUST cut it. A lot depends on your server too. Some will hurry you along with the courses (taking your order all in one shot) and others space everything out so well that your there for the long haul (taking your order one course at a time). As far as your kids eating that late, I'd just solve that issue with eating a small snack or very small meal late in the afternoon to hold them over.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We went in November. Our ADR was 7:15, I arrived 15 minutes early, shouldn't have, we got seated right away. But our server did not rush us at all. We ordered drinks, then after they arrived we ordered a flatbread. Not until we were done with that did we order dinner. After we were done we ordered dessert. We ate slowly (it was just DH and I, we talked and relaxed) but still it only took us about an hour and a half (maybe 1hr 45 min tops) to have dinner. We wandered out the back balcony area to see Orlando lit up, then went to the other side for Wishes, it was at 9pm that night.

I think your time sounds OK for Wishes, as for your kids. I don't know them, but there were a lot of tired kids the ngiht we went which surprised me. I personally would not pay those prices for a half asleep kid.

 

[fausz4]

Thanks folks for all of the input!

Here is what I just did - I changed my ressie from 7:55 to 9:00....yes - a later time!

I moved the time so that we wont make a marathon out of dinner and the boys can eat a snack mid afternoon to hold them over.

We shuffled parks around also so that we will do DHS that day and AK the next. The intent being that they will be shorter days.

I am going to take your suggestions and discuss why we are going to dinner so late and the menus with the boys. I am also going to bring activities to keep them busy.

Thanks again - Disers are the best!

 

[Brocktoon]

I don't know if the Cali Grill has changed thier rules, but back in '07, you could eat an earlier dinner, and come back later in the night to watch Wishes. As long as you confirmed that you ate there earlier in the night at the downstairs desk, they let you back up the elevator to access the observation area.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I don't know if the Cali Grill has changed thier rules, but back in '07, you could eat an earlier dinner, and come back later in the night to watch Wishes. As long as you confirmed that you ate there earlier in the night at the downstairs desk, they let you back up the elevator to access the observation area.

Yes, they still do that.

 

[lrab1126]

I was told when I made my calif ressie yesterday that we would be welcomed to come back up to the balcony to see the fireworks if it did not work out that we were still there eating at the time. Just needed to give out name again so they can confirm we were guests there earlier.

 

[fausz4]

lrab1126, *KeepMovingForward* and Brocktoon - Thanks for the information!

But how much more confused can I get?

 

[KristiMc]

I would have kept the earlier time. At 9:00 you might have people that are done eating but will linger to watch Wishes and you might not get a table right for awhile.

We went in October and had a 7:30 ressie. It was 7:45 when we were seated. Wishes was at 9:30 that night. We had not ordered dessert yet. Our waiter told us we could go out on the balcony to watch Wishes. When we came back in we ordered dessert. It was almost 10:30 by the time we left.

This was our last night of our trip and our boys 7 & 4 did great - I was so proud of them since it was such a long dinner.