Hi all! I did the RBT premium seating on opening night. Happy to share my review.
I initially booked RBT premium because of several reasons. My friends would be joining me after my
D23 Expo weekend, and it was their first visit to Disneyland. They love Fantasmic at WDW, and I wanted to make sure they saw (I think, anyway) the superior version. I planned on being nearly dead by Monday night, exhausted from Thursday night/Friday/Saturday Expo madness and all-day Sunday touring at DCA, topped off with a Carthay Circle WOC package Sunday night. Plus we'd be waking up early to drive to LA and spend the rest of the week exploring other parts of Cali. My friends wanted to make sure we maxed out on attractions that Monday, so I figured combining dinner with a view was a win-win. Plus my one friend is INCREDIBLY picky and already nixed the BB menu, to my chagrin. I was slightly concerned about the seating after re-visiting the walkway/patio area, but was hoping there were enough CMs on hand opening night to assuage any issues after paying a premium price.
Our group of 3 got there at 7:40 after riding IJA, and saw about 20 folks in line ahead of us: one large group of 12, and some smaller groups. We were told that seating was pre-assigned, and no requests would be honored (because honestly, I'm sure every party would ask to be up against the rail, and there was only about 5 tables of 4-5). This ended up being somewhat true - while the large party was seated at multiple rail tables, some groups that arrived before us weren't seated at the rail.
After checking in, we were given lanyards and ushered inside to wait to be seated. We were generally seated in the order we arrived. My table was against the far rail on the left, three tables back from the front. Umbrellas were closed, but not removed -- this was ultimately my biggest issue with the seating.
My pictures are too large - I'll work on editing and uploading them. Basically I had a straight shot view of the island to the right of the umbrella, and could look around the umbrella to see things happening SR of the island. A pain to have to sometimes switch my head position, but not the worst view. It would've been much better if they removed the umbrella completely.
We were explicitly told not to stand so we wouldn't block views of people behind us. While we were pretty far back on the patio, there were two groups seated directly and diagonally behind us. Managers went up to both tables immediately after the fireworks, unprompted, and asked for feedback. While both parties were kind in response and not angry, they each said they wouldn't return based on their view/overall value.
There were about 10 manager-type CMs on hand just in the RBT area. The CM waitstaff was mostly excellent - friendly, fast service. My picky friend was even able to get a side of kids mac & cheese substituted for something (even though meals were limited to what was on the special menu). My only gripe was getting the bill just as the show was starting, and having to settle up as I was trying to watch. That's on me - next time I'll ask for it as soon as we sit, since it's a set price anyway.
This was my first time eating at RBT, and with BB/CO/awesome snack options in DL, I probably won't go back. I liked the bacon string beans and bread, but $60 for bacon & string beans and mediocre pulled pork is not great. Corn chowder was meh. My friends liked the salad. I got the Maleficent dessert, which was super Instagram worthy but not my cup of tea. That said, the strawberry shortcake biscuit was awesome.
While my friends weren't disappointed that we booked the package, we all agreed that we wouldn't do it again in its current state. It was nice having reserved spots for Fantasmic!, Remember..., and being among the first to experience something new, but next time I'll force them to enjoy BB and sit in the pens.
