ESPN Zone

[RuthieT]

We will be taking a day off from the parks to just shop and hang out for awhile at ESPN Zone for my DH.... We are considering lunch or dinner and this will be on a Saturday. Can you? Or should we? Make reservations?

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

You know, I'm not sure if they will take reservations or not. But keep in mind that if there is some sort of "big game" on there will be a long wait and you will likely be asked to share a table. Yes, I said share. We experienced this and left, I have no interest in sharing a table with perfect strangers on my vacation, or any other day for that matter.

Food has been good the couple of times we are going. I would probably shoot for lunch.

 

[Sherry E]

We will be taking a day off from the parks to just shop and hang out for awhile at ESPN Zone for my DH.... We are considering lunch or dinner and this will be on a Saturday. Can you? Or should we? Make reservations?

Yes, you can make a PS for it. Not mandatory, but you can if you don't want to risk waiting. I almost made one. Supposedly the food IS good - and that includes the desserts! The menu looks great. But there was a poster or two on here who stated that the overall atmosphere of ESPN Zone was not comfortable. I guess there were too many loud, probably drunk, people hanging around inside (this is probably an oasis for men who hate Disneyland in general), yelling at the screens. So if that is the type of thing you are used to or at ease with, then it would probably be a good place to go because the food is good. I even asked about take-out from there and was told that if you go to the bar and order food, they MAY pack it up and let you take it but it was not guaranteed!

I think that sort of environment is fine in the right context. If you are at a sports bar, that is what one expects. Even on certain vacations, you go to places and expect rowdy people. But I don't know if it works in a Disney environment, so it probably throws folks off if they take their kids in to eat and there are drunk people shouting and cursing at the TV!!!

 

[cheshiregirl]

DH and I love ESPN! Although we don't go to the one in DTD often since we have one here in Las Vegas that we can visit anytime, we have had great experiences and great meals there. Sadly, they took my favorite item (fresh mozzarella salad) off the menu, but everything I have had there has been delicious, especially all the huge and filling salads.

There was one time during our very first visit to the one in Anaheim (during the March Madness basketball tournament) that we did end up sharing our table with another group, but they (the people in the group, not the restaurant staff) approached us and asked if we would mind. We ended up having a great time with them and it was no big deal. Turned out they were from Chicago and we were living in Central IL about 2.5 hours south of them and we had lots in common!

 

[tlovesdis]

ESPN Zone doesn't take reservations

Hubby and I want to have dinner there when we go in October and I called last week to make a ressie and she told me it is first come first served! BUMMER!

 

[mAlien13]

We had a great experience when we went in 2006, but then it was off season, not at all crowded, and we had two boys who were a perfect age to enjoy the arcade games. We thought the food was great. My only advice would be that the portions are big, I mean really really big! We had to share, or it would have been too much to have on our stomachs when we went back to the rides.

 

[Sherry E]

ESPN Zone doesn't take reservations

Hubby and I want to have dinner there when we go in October and I called last week to make a ressie and she told me it is first come first served! BUMMER!

They must have just changed the PS policy for ESPN in the last several weeks. None of the restaurants can actually take "reservations" in the way we all know reservations. Disneyland Dining is quick to tell anyone that who asks for a reservation. They only make Priority Seating arrangements for you, which does not guarantee the guest anything, really. It only tells the restaurant that you are showing up at a certain time but they don't hold a place/table for you. You may still have to wait to be seated, but because you have the PS, you will get seated before any walk-ins who don't have PS's. Some restaurants are so busy that PS's are necessary - and now, at Blue Bayou, they are mandatory - and some you can get away with not making a PS, though it is wise to do so just in case. Carnation Cafe, for example, is a place that usually has a long wait to be seated without a PS.

In any case, when I made my PS's for a bunch of places a few weeks ago, at that time, they WERE taking PS's for ESPN Zone. I asked and I almost made one. But that was still considered the 'peak season' for DLR, so maybe they take PS's for ESPN during peak time and then dont take them during 'off-peak'?? I am not sure. Either that or they just changed their policy overall. I would imagine that a place like ESPN Zone has a lot of walk-ins - probably all the people who hate DLR but who had to go with their families wander into ESPN for some relief! I guess the nature of that sports restaurant/bar kind of place doesn't really lend itself to PS's. Makes sense!

 

[tlovesdis]

I called ESPN Zone directly. Maybe I need to call Disney Dining? I will try that right now!

 

[Sherry E]

I called ESPN Zone directly. Maybe I need to call Disney Dining? I will try that right now!

Let me/us know what happens. Its seems the ESPN Zone folks would have told you to call Disneyland Dining to make the PS, so perhaps they DID change the PS policy for the off-season. OR, perhaps the DD person I talked to a few weeks ago didn't know what they were talking about and maybe were wrong about being able to make PS's for ESPN. They said they could make them for every place except Rainforest Cafe, which you have to call directly. It wouldn't be the first time Disney Cast Members gave incorrect or conflicting information! Oh well. The ESPN Zone menu looks really good so we MAY try to eat there tomorrow night if it doesn't look crowded.

 

[tlovesdis]

Ok, I just called Disney Dining and she told me they can only do a PS for anything before 5pm. After 5, it is first come first served. So I didn't make it because that is too early for us for dinner. I'm hoping since it's just the two of us, the wait won't be too long when we are there!

 

[WendyT]

Earlier this year we joined the ESPN Zone MVP club via their website. We have been successful making reservations online once we were members of the club. There is no cost to join and they even give you some free points to use upstairs in the gaming area.

 

[tlovesdis]

Earlier this year we joined the ESPN Zone MVP club via their website. We have been successful making reservations online once we were members of the club. There is no cost to join and they even give you some free points to use upstairs in the gaming area.

Cool! I will check it out! Thanks!

 

[Sherry E]

Ok, I just called Disney Dining and she told me they can only do a PS for anything before 5pm. After 5, it is first come first served. So I didn't make it because that is too early for us for dinner. I'm hoping since it's just the two of us, the wait won't be too long when we are there!

Well, that is good info to have. So the Cast Member I spoke to in Disney Dining a few weeks ago did not give me incorrect info about making PS's for ESPN - she just neglected to mention that they could only make them for before 5 p.m.! I guess that makes sense. They probably have a lot of walk-ins after 5 p.m., when games are on TV and people want to start drinking! That is probably the bulk of their business!

 

[jlparedes]

So I called ESPN Zone a week ago specifically to ask this question. I was told they do not take reservations for lunchtime. Nor do they take reservations for Sunday dinner. We will be going on a Sunday to watch football but at lunchtime, so they said no reservations at that time nor at dinner. I hope that helps, have fun!
PS- They DO however take reservations for weekday and Saturday night dinners.

 

[Sherry E]

So I called ESPN Zone a week ago specifically to ask this question. I was told they do not take reservations for lunchtime. Nor do they take reservations for Sunday dinner. We will be going on a Sunday to watch football but at lunchtime, so they said no reservations at that time nor at dinner. I hope that helps, have fun!
PS- They DO however take reservations for weekday and Saturday night dinners.

Disneyland Dining takes the lunch PS's for ESPN, not ESPN directly, and only for meals before 5 p.m., as tlovesdis just discovered. Maybe the Saturday night dinners are made through ESPN Zone MVP club?

 

[jlparedes]

Ahh just saw those posts....interesting. I did join the MVP club so maybe I'll look at that card tonight and see if I can make an afternoon resie. GL!

 

[Sherry E]

Ahh just saw those posts....interesting. I did join the MVP club so maybe I'll look at that card tonight and see if I can make an afternoon resie. GL!

I guess that is probably how it works. Either make the daytime/lunch PS's through Disneyland Dinings or make the evening or weekend dinners through the MVP Club?? Maybe? Well if we eat there tomorrow night, it will be just walking in and winging it. So I hope there is no big game on or anything that attracts tons of people because I would like to try their food!

 

[SANDIEGOFAN]

Another thing to consider on a Saturday or Sunday lunch during football season are the minimum purchase average per person. Not sure if they always do this but the last 6-7 times we had lunch during football season, on a Saturday, they had a $15 per person minimum per hour while dining. Not that we ever stayed for more than an hour but there was a large group of obnoxious drunks that been at a table for four hours (we asked the waitress how long they had been there and if we could be moved far away from them).
Brings me to another point. Nothing worse than staying at DLH with a DTD view and hearing drunk people leaving ESPN yell USC or Ohio State sucks at 12 am when you're trying to get some sleep.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

In June we just walked up and put our name in for dinner. I think we had a 10 minute wait at most. Really wasn't bad, and it was pretty packed. The food was okay, it actually gave me a serious case of heart burn though. LOL My real only complaint is that they messed mine up and I had to wait quite a while for them to fix it while my family ate.

 

[tlovesdis]

Oh geez!

So after all my phone calls, joining the MVP CLub thingy, etc... Hubby decides he wants to do Rainforest Cafe! This is fine with me as I love the RFC, but I spent so much time on the whole ESPN Zone thing!

MEN!!!