How long should I allow for lunch/dinner?

[hillertexas]

We will be eating at table service restaurants for both lunch and dinner. I was budgeting 2 hours for dinner, but is 2 hours too long for lunch? Is 2 hours about right for dinner? None of this is including travel time. I'm wondering about how long from the time we check in with the hostess to the time we walk out of the restaurant.

My main issue is this. I have an ADR at Crystal Palace (MK) at 9:55am. I would like to do the aqua tour at Epcot at 12:30pm. Do we have time to eat and get over to Epcot in time?

Thanks.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

How long the meals take have more to do with the restaurant than whether it is lunch or dinner. If it's a buffet, with no shows or characters, it's simply as fast as you can eat. If it's waiter/waitress service, it can be longer, and vary a lot.

Crystal Palace is a buffet, so once you get seated, how long it takes to eat is really your own pace. As for how long it takes to get seated, I would say fifteen minutes is a safe estimate. However, crystal palace is a character meal, so if you want to wait around to see all the characters, that could make it longer. They could all come within 5 minutes of sitting down, one after the other, or you could wait for over a half hour for them to come. I really don't know what the max for that would be.

As for travel time (max times to play it safe):
10 min walk to the monorail
40 min for monorail to TTC and then TTC to Epcot
15 min walk from monorail to the tour

So at least an hour for transit time, total. But, you don't want to be late, so I'd leave at least 15 min extra. That gives you an hour to eat, so you should be fine. In a worst case scenario you'd have to leave before seeing all the characters, but you'll have plenty of time to eat.

 

[squirrel]

Take the express monorail from the MK to Epcot.

Your wait at CP shouldn't be too long at that hour. I know we have had to wait for a table every time we have gone-min 10 min and that was first thing in the morning!

2 hrs is a good guide. Most likely it won't take that long, but sometimes you have to wait for a table, the servers are slower as it's really busy, etc. If you are in a hurry, ask for the bill as soon as you have ordered dessert or if it's a buffet after ordering your drinks.

 

[hillertexas]

Thanks so much for the advice!