Help with making dining reservations, please!

[cooniez]

Hi everyone! I've seen several threads about making dining reservations which reminded me I need to do this as our trip is less than 2 months away now! We'll be there from June 10-16th (departing 17th...not sure if I want to make this a "half-DL day" as we'll need to drive back to N. Cal).

We have 4 premium character dining vouchers that came with our Costco package & I think we will do Goofy's Kitchen again (the food was great when we went in 2010). Can anyone recommend a good time to set the ressie for (where there will be many characters / not the restaurant's busiest time / but still not too late that the food won't be fresh/replenished)?

I will take the advice from the posters on the board and make a ressie also for Cafe Orleans. The prices on the menu seem to be the same for lunch and dinner, but any advice on the best time to go here...maybe in regards to crowds, etc?

Also, I think this time around we will do the Fantasmic dessert package - it was a mess trying to find a spot to see the show last time we went. I read somewhere that we should then make a reserv. for the first showing (9pm?)?

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[skiingfast]

Particularily on the 14th through 16th, all of which will be very busy, you will want to use the peak times of days at reserved tables eating. It's a trade off for waiting in the longest lines of the day. On the 14th I would put preference on dinner as it's a grad nite and will be busier later in the day.

Late lunch around 1pm and Dinner at 7 are my usual choices.

The character meals can take a long time, and if you are interested in dinner and princesses, Ariels Grotto starts serving with both on the 15th. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2910614

 

[cooniez]

Particularily on the 14th through 16th, all of which will be very busy, you will want to use the peak times of days at reserved tables eating. It's a trade off for waiting in the longest lines of the day. On the 14th I would put preference on dinner as it's a grad nite and will be busier later in the day.

Late lunch around 1pm and Dinner at 7 are my usual choices.

The character meals can take a long time, and if you are interested in dinner and princesses, Ariels Grotto starts serving with both on the 15th. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2910614

Hi Skiingfast! I think we will probably do Universal on the 14th (as that was the day DCA will be closed, yes?). So we are probably looking at being in the parks June 11-13 and then 15-16. (Btw, I forgot to update my other thread -- I was able to find an availability at DLH for the night of the 14th and extended my Costco reservation to cover June 13th. I then moved our SD hotel ressie to June 9th.) I'm so happy we can do SD first then stay at the DLH the remainder of the trip as planned!

Anyway, I was wondering if it might be better to do a later lunch (like 1pm), but wasn't sure if that was cutting it close for Goofy's Kitchen. The rep. said 1pm is the latest slot for a ressie for GK, so I may move our lunch from 12pm to 1pm.

 

[HydroGuy]

Not sure if I am following you. You want to do GK for breakfast? Of lunch? And you want to do CO on the same day? We have never done and will never do GK so can't help you there - we have never valued character meals and so have never done them - no interest from kids or parents. I am trying to help with CO if I can understand your goals.

Basically, our experience is that too many heavy dining reservations on the same day is just too much food. We never do breakfast reservations qnd usually just munch in the morning on fruit and bagels. Then we try and do an early lunch (11:30) and then a dinner. But if the lunch is really heavy - say like Blue Bayou, or RainForest Cafe - many times we are just not that hungry at dinner - so we need a later dinner.

If we ever had a sit-down breakfast I would not even try and plan a lunch. I would expect we would do something light - a sandwich - and then do a heavier dinner.

Regarding Fantasmic dessert seating, IMO you get way more bang for the buck by doing the early show (usually 9PM) - since that show is the hardest to get a viewing spot for. Plus it is earlier in the evening when everyone is more awake. I personally would never getting the dessert reservation for the late show - i would just grab a free spot. The early show is the one that needs 2+ hours of waiting to get a decent spot and that is the show that makes it worthwhile - for some - to pay for a seat.

HTH

 

[cooniez]

Not sure if I am following you. You want to do GK for breakfast? Of lunch? And you want to do CO on the same day? We have never done and will never do GK so can't help you there - we have never valued character meals and so have never done them - no interest from kids or parents. I am trying to help with CO if I can understand your goals.

Basically, our experience is that too many heavy dining reservations on the same day is just too much food. We never do breakfast reservations qnd usually just munch in the morning on fruit and bagels. Then we try and do an early lunch (11:30) and then a dinner. But if the lunch is really heavy - say like Blue Bayou, or RainForest Cafe - many times we are just not that hungry at dinner - so we need a later dinner.

If we ever had a sit-down breakfast I would not even try and plan a lunch. I would expect we would do something light - a sandwich - and then do a heavier dinner.

Regarding Fantasmic dessert seating, IMO you get way more bang for the buck by doing the early show (usually 9PM) - since that show is the hardest to get a viewing spot for. Plus it is earlier in the evening when everyone is more awake. I personally would never getting the dessert reservation for the late show - i would just grab a free spot. The early show is the one that needs 2+ hours of waiting to get a decent spot and that is the show that makes it worthwhile - for some - to pay for a seat.

HTH

Hello! Sorry if my original post was not clear. To clarify, I would like to make reservations at GK for lunch, but I was told they take their last ressie is at 1pm. Also, IIRC GK's "lunch" is actually brunch type foods (fruit, pastries, etc.). It's been 2 years & I Haven't researched it yet, but basically I would like to make a ressie for lunch at a time where it's not ridiculously crazy, there are still characters around, and there will still be enough food out. Also, good idea re: not making a dinner reserv. if eating a heavy lunch. I am sure we would be full from the buffet at GK, so maybe scheduling lunch at CO for the next day might be a better idea.

I need to make the reservation for the F! dessert package now. I know the week we'll be at DL will be pretty crazy with the opening of CL & I think there are some Grad Nites thrown in there for good measure. lol Does it matter what day I pick or are there certain dates I should avoid?

TIA!

 

[HydroGuy]

Hello! Sorry if my original post was not clear. To clarify, I would like to make reservations at GK for lunch, but I was told they take their last ressie is at 1pm. Also, IIRC GK's "lunch" is actually brunch type foods (fruit, pastries, etc.). It's been 2 years & I Haven't researched it yet, but basically I would like to make a ressie for lunch at a time where it's not ridiculously crazy, there are still characters around, and there will still be enough food out. Also, good idea re: not making a dinner reserv. if eating a heavy lunch. I am sure we would be full from the buffet at GK, so maybe scheduling lunch at CO for the next day might be a better idea.

I need to make the reservation for the F! dessert package now. I know the week we'll be at DL will be pretty crazy with the opening of CL & I think there are some Grad Nites thrown in there for good measure. lol Does it matter what day I pick or are there certain dates I should avoid?

TIA!

Since you can't make the Fantasmic res until 1 month in advance and you are going in June, you still have time.

As for CO, if it is on a different day than GK then I still don't understand the link between GK and CO. Anyways, it is generally best from a timing point of view to make your reservations before noon as they start to fill up. But if you think you won't be hungry based on other activities then just make it as late as you can and live with whatever happens.

Normally I would make CO reservations at 11:30 or 11:45. But as I said, we don't eat a full breakfast at Disney and are usually hungry by then.

 

[cooniez]

Since you can't make the Fantasmic res until 1 month in advance and you are going in June, you still have time.

As for CO, if it is on a different day than GK then I still don't understand the link between GK and CO. Anyways, it is generally best from a timing point of view to make your reservations before noon as they start to fill up. But if you think you won't be hungry based on other activities then just make it as late as you can and live with whatever happens.

Normally I would make CO reservations at 11:30 or 11:45. But as I said, we don't eat a full breakfast at Disney and are usually hungry by then.

Oh wow, I didn't realize you have to wait 1 month prior to make the Fantasmic reservation...for some reason I thought the rule was the same for all Disney dining (60 days prior). I learn something new every day from this board!

Re: GK & CO...I was going to do lunch at GK & dinner at CO, but we may still be stuffed from the GK buffet so I will probably make either a very late Dinner res. at CO for the same day, or just schedule a lunch for the next day.

Thanks again for your input!

 

[skiingfast]

Oh wow, I didn't realize you have to wait 1 month prior to make the Fantasmic reservation...for some reason I thought the rule was the same for all Disney dining (60 days prior). I learn something new every day from this board!

Since you are going the Desser package for F!, I would do that on a busy Grad Nite. That way instead of fighting crowds elsewhere in the evening, you can relax because you have a reserved seat for the show.

 

[cooniez]

Since you are going the Desser package for F!, I would do that on a busy Grad Nite. That way instead of fighting crowds elsewhere in the evening, you can relax because you have a reserved seat for the show.

Thanks for the tip Skiingfast! You're always so helpful on all my threads. There is soo much that I don't know compared to all you experienced DL vets, so I knew I would miss something! It's never just as simple as making the reservation. lol

 

[skiingfast]

It's never just as simple as making the reservation. lol

That what people do. You are way ahead of the ball and will get a much better experience when you come to a site like the DIS for some research.

 

[cooniez]

That what people do. You are way ahead of the ball and will get a much better experience when you come to a site like the DIS for some research.

I do try to be as prepared as possible, but there's so much info/tips/tricks...hard to keep it all straight sometimes!

I know when we went in 2010 I tried to read up on this board as much as I could, and still only touched the tip of the iceberg! lol (For instance, last time I saw the FP threads, but didn't have time to really read through the threads before our visit). I vowed this time to read up/prepare as much as I could before our trip.