How long for a TS meal?

[Hopetobee]

This will be my first time doing TS at Disney (Free dining), so I'm trying to estimate how much time to allow for eating. You know, like 90" for the fastest time that you got in and out from eating, or worse time of 3 hours for a meal. Does this make sense? TIA

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

Depends on the restaurant...I assume you are going in late August or September since you mention free dining.

If it is a charcter meal, allow at least an hour to get the full experience.

If it is not a character meal, you can take as much or as little time as you want. If anything, WDW restaurant servers are TOO efficient! They know that most people, especially those with small children, don't want to be sitting in a restaurant for 90 minutes or two hours. Your food will generally come out very quickly, especially if the restaurant is not crowded. I've seen families go through a TS meal in half an hour or less.

 

[Skwinkles]

Well, it depends on how quickly or slowly you eat, but it also depends on the restaurant. For instance, the food came out quicker at 50's Prime Time than it did at LeCellier. That being said, I would estimate somewhere between 45 and 90 minutes.

 

[crisi]

And how quickly you get sat. We prefer to dine early, seems like we get seated faster at 5:00 than at 7:00.

 

[cdntourguide]

typically less than an hour for the character meals and buffets.
I have had dinner at Coral reef and it was over two hours.
TS meals at the resorts take less time than TS at any of the World TS restaurants. I would generally allow 2hours for a TS meal. Afterall, they have to cook everything to order and there is a queue (line) of orders that goes into the kitchen. Usually I have found that there is a ten to fifteen minute wait between served courses which can slow the meal right down.

 

[calie_j]

I was pleasantly surprised at how efficient all the restaurants were. Most places took a little over an hour so I'd figure 90 minutes from checking in to leaving. The only one that was really long was Ohana, we were there for a little over 2 hours, but DD was having so much fun with the activities and there's alot of courses served a little at a time with hot towels twice in there.

Calie

 

[Goofy Mouse]

I would have to agree with 2 hours. We were there last Sept. during the free dining and generally every TS took 2 hours from the time we checked in until the time we were back out enjoying the parks.

 

[formernyer]

Just about every one of my meals was 90 minutes. With the exception of Coral Reef, we could have done them all in about 75 minutes, but we took our time and enjoyed the break from the day (since we don't take any midday breaks to go back to the resort).

I don't agree with the poster who said, "typically less than an hour for buffets and character meals." We tend to really take our time at the buffets since there are so many things to try. Sometimes we overstuff ourselves so much on dinner that we need to sit a couple of m inutes before starting on the dessert bars.

 

[ReneeA]

I'll say 90 minutes was average for our trip in August.