CS Seating

[Speedemon21]

Hello all!

We are going to the World from 7/31-8/8. We are getting the regular dining plan. We are planning on doing a CS breakfast at the resort and a table service dinner on most days. While at the parks and water parks we may want to grab lunch at a counter service location. On past trips we have encountered a problem with finding a place to sit down and eat because of people just looking for a cool place to sit and relax. Has anyone else had this problem? Do the cast members try to help people find available seats to eat? On our last trip (2008) it was impossible to sit and eat lunch one day at Typhoon Lagoon because of lack of available CS seating. Should we try to eat at "off" times for lunch and schedule later dinner reservations? Any advice would be appreciated. TIA

 

[mkleinbe]

Could you eat a light breakfast, say a bagel and cream cheese using a snack credit, and then have an early lunch? We like to do that when we don't have lunch ressies. We also like to have the said bagel for bfast a snack and then a late lunch back at the resort CS. We really don't eat a lot in CS restaurants in the parks though.

 

[2Tiggies]

If you are happy with eating off peak times, it will certainly help. A lot depends on how busy the CS restaurants are at the time. I find CS easier and we eat a lot of them - big fan of the QSDP.

In April last year we were there smack in the middle of Easter so it was, er ..... more than just a little bit busy! We didn't specifically try and eat off peak times, but even when the places were PACKED, there were CM's directing us to tables and we never ever had food and nowhere to sit. They were piloting a new policy in the latter part of last year whereby guests had to have food to be seated in a move to promote slicker turnover of tables and to reduce the instances of people waiting with food and nowere to go. I haven't read/heard anything on this and whether it is being enforced to date, but even when it wasn't "official" we never had problems.

 

[TDC Nala]

They were piloting a new policy in the latter part of last year whereby guests had to have food to be seated in a move to promote slicker turnover of tables and to reduce the instances of people waiting with food and nowere to go.

The new policy referred to above, according to Disney's reports, occurs only at the Magic Kingdom on a day to day basis based on whether they feel the crowds warrant it on that particular day.

 

[Sandisw]

We always eat lunch early so this very reason. We head over around 11:30 - 11:45 am and it works out well. Usually, by the time we are done eating (12:15 - 12:30 pm), there are no seats left.

We also travel the same time you are traveling and find this the best option. Because we eat so early, we don't eat a full CS breakfast. We use our snack credits and our refillable mug at the resort for breakfast. This is enough to hold us over. We do the QSDP for most of the trip and usually try to get fruit as our dessert at dinner so that we can use it with the snack credit in the AM for breakfast.

 

[Speedemon21]

Thanks for the responses. If it was just DH and I, we would skip lunch altogether. It is way too hot to eat a full meal anyway. But our kids who will be 12 and 9 will probably want something, so we are looking at the options and planning what we can do.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

No matter the park my family and I always eat lunch at 11:00 AM and during that time the counter service locations have never been crazy busy, so that's when I would recommend trying to eat.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I know at the entrance to the seating areas near Leaning Palms in TL there are signs that the tables are only for people who are dining. If there are people just sitting, ask a CM for assistance.

 

[Speedemon21]

I know at the entrance to the seating areas near Leaning Palms in TL there are signs that the tables are only for people who are dining. If there are people just sitting, ask a CM for assistance.

That is good to know. On our 2006 trip, we went to Blizzard Beach for the day and we had this problem. The entire seating area across from the counter service stand was taken up by people not eating. Thanks for sharing that.