Dining at US/IOA ???

[NYMom]

Our FIRST family trip to US/IOA will be July 13-18 at RPR .
We are WDW veterens (Me, DH, DS13, DS9) but haven't been to US
since it opened (before kids)and never to IOA/Citywalk.
I am an obsessive vacation planner (you need to be for a WDW trip in the summer).
At WDW I usually book our dining ASAP after booking our package.
I have a few questions.

1-Do I need to make reservations at the US/IOA/Citywalk restaraunts?
2-How far in advance do the accept reservations?
3-How crowded are they in mid-July?

We always do a table service dinners on vacation.
I am interested in eating at The NBA Cafe, Mythos, Confico's.
Do you recommend any others?

Any tips/advise greatly appreciated.
Thank You

 

[macraven]

hi.

there is a current thread in this forums here:


http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1415685

it pretty much covers some of your questions.

tarheelmjfan has listed an excellent post on the city walk resturants.

robvia listed a link that would be useful to you for menus.


there is so much information in that thread.

please check out that link and if you have questions it doesn't answer, please post again and somebody will see it.

the parks stay open to 10 pm in the summer when you will be there.
you will be able to see it all.

hope you have a great time at universal.

Our FIRST family trip to US/IOA will be July 13-18 at RPR .
We are WDW veterens (Me, DH, DS13, DS9) but haven't been to US
since it opened (before kids)and never to IOA/Citywalk.
I am an obsessive vacation planner (you need to be for a WDW trip in the summer).
At WDW I usually book our dining ASAP after booking our package.
I have a few questions.

1-Do I need to make reservations at the US/IOA/Citywalk restaraunts?
2-How far in advance do the accept reservations?
3-How crowded are they in mid-July?

We always do a table service dinners on vacation.
I am interested in eating at The NBA Cafe, Mythos, Confico's.
Do you recommend any others?

Any tips/advise greatly appreciated.
Thank You

 

[bubba's mom]

I am an obsessive vacation planner (you need to be for a WDW trip in the summer).

you don't need to be with a Universal vacation!

1-Do I need to make reservations at the US/IOA/Citywalk restaraunts?
2-How far in advance do the accept reservations?
3-How crowded are they in mid-July?

1-no
2-that morning
3-crowded if you eat "peak" times (we always try to eat 4-4:30ish and never have had any problems)

We always do a table service dinners on vacation.
I am interested in eating at The NBA Cafe, Mythos, Confico's.
Do you recommend any others?

Margaritaville and i enjoyed Bubba Gumps too (which, fyi, BG won't take ressie's, not even the day of!)

 

[Planogirl]

I would say that you can easily visit those Citywalk restaurants that are open for lunch without a wait. Nighttime can be different and you may have to wait a bit, and if you want to dine at a place such as Emeril's, make reservations NOW. I assume that those are still necessary for the Emeril's restaurants?

My question to the OP: are you staying onsite? The answer to that could change a lot of things.

 

[robvia]

Peak times at the restaurants are noon and 8pm.

If you have a hotel key, it will move you up on the list and you'll only wait 20 minutes when others wait 1 hour.

If you want to avoid the crowd and be served faster, go at 11:30am for lunch, and 6pm for dinner.

If you like the party and action type of crowd, then you go at 8pm, wait the 20 minutes to get in, and then order a round of drinks while you wait for the food. At Margaritaville, there's music videos playing over head, stilt walkers going thru the crowd, the volcano going off, and it's a huge party.

It all depends on what type of atmosphere you want.

 

[NYMom]

macraven-thanks for the link

bubba's mom-Margaritaville looks great

planogirl-we're staying @ Royal Pacific Resort. Not sure about Emeril's. We have 2 boys and our 12 yo is extremely picky.

robvia-we usually eat dinner between 6-7. Thanks for the hotel key tip


Thanks for all your responses! You all are a wealth of information. I've learned so much reading your replies to other questions.



Thanks again