Once, I booked the castle on a party night (random Tuesday in September). No specials. My ressie was for 6:20pm with the party starting at 7. They were running behind. I got the sense that since the park was closing early for non party guests, many non party guests booked the latest time possible for dinner to maximized their time in the parks and get a glimpse of the party. Due to whatever the reason was for the backup, we spent over 2 hours in there and did not get out until 8:30pm, I will never do that again. Waste of good party time.
Another time we had an LTT reservation on a party night. We got out just in time to see the headless horseman ride right by us in front of the restaurant. It was the first time we had ever been to a party so didnt realize its not good to book dinner during the party, as youll miss so much. I thought the 6:20 reservation years later would have us out by 7:20ish....Nope.