Crystal Palace or Chef Mickey's on a party night?

[tlmadden73]

I am torn and need some advice -

I am going to MK on 11/13 - a party day. (But we aren't going to the party).

So I have two dinner reservations at different times and debating how I want to tackle it on a shortened park day.

PARTY - Me, wife, Son (6), daughter (2), 2 grandparents.
LUNCH - (is at 11:30 AM at BOG - so a pretty early lunch)

OPTION 1
Dinner at Crystal Palace at 4:30 pm.
A bit early for dinner and while I think my daughter would love the meal with the Pooh characters (it was my son's first character meal when he was 2), I am just not thrilled about using the last 90 minutes of our shortened park day inside a restaurant.

OPTION 2
Dinner at Chef Mickey's at 6:30 PM.
A pretty late dinner for two kids that will be probably be pretty tired (tried to find something earlier), but has the advantage of being "on the way out" of the Magic Kingdom. We leave and just walk/ride over to the Contemporary. I am not sold on it though because of the lateness and it is the same characters (generally) that we are having at our Tusker House meal the previous day.

My questions:
How aggressive are they about kicking non-party people out of the park at 6:00 pm? Would it be possible to get in a final ride or two (say in Adventureland) between 5:30 and 6:00 if we have a quick dinner? Can we shop on Main street, take a ride on the train or visit Mickey in town square after 6 pm or are we ushered out of the park ASAP?

Anyone have preference on food or atmosphere or price for either? I've eaten at CP but not at Chef Mickey's.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

You can get in line for rides up until 6pm, but after 6 you won’t be able to shop or do anything else. They are very strict about it. I would do option 2 so you’re not wasting your final park hours in a restaurant.

 

[Destinyz12]

If there's availability, I'd try to make a later ADR for Crystal palace, at say, closer to 5:30 so you still have the extra hour of park time but it's still not so late. They won't rush you out at 6:00 as long as you have the reservation, they'll just wait till you're finished at the restaurant to direct you out of the park.

 

[tlmadden73]

You can get in line for rides up until 6pm, but after 6 you won’t be able to shop or do anything else. They are very strict about it. I would do option 2 so you’re not wasting your final park hours in a restaurant.

Really? I figured they wouldn't let you get in line to a ride after 6:00 PM (if you don't have a wristband) .. but shopping? I wouldn't think they would kick you out of a shop. Heh.

If there's availability, I'd try to make a later ADR for Crystal palace, at say, closer to 5:30 so you still have the extra hour of park time but it's still not so late. They won't rush you out at 6:00 as long as you have the reservation, they'll just wait till you're finished at the restaurant to direct you out of the park.

I tried .. even at my 180 days .. I couldn't find a later Crystal palace reservation or an earlier Chef Mickey's one.
How early can you arrive at a dining reservation (to potentially be seated a bit sooner?)
How late can you arrive to a dining reservation before they drop you?

I may just try the night before and see if anything changes and cancel one of the two then. I wish I could just see how the day goes and make my decision then. If the kids are tired and cranky .. early dinner it is!

Leaning towards the Crystal Palace reservation .. this will be Day 3 of parks .. the kids just may not have the stamina to go much later anyway. (Why I don't mind going to MK on a shortened party day). besides .. I decided to get an AP and plan on just hitting MK again for a few hours on departure day (because ... why not??) . That would make up for any time lost on the shortened party day.

 

[Destinyz12]

@tlmadden73 People tend to cancel reservations more frequently as they get closer to their trip so I'd check back frequently to see if a better time opens up for Crystal Palace or set up a reservation alert so you don't have to keep checking. I wouldn't chance arriving more than a few minutes late for a reservation just in case they do turn you away.