Mickey's Backyard BBQ - questions

[biggroofy]

DD4 really wants to go (I hope it will be available in Mar 08), do you think 4-year-old is a suitable age? I also have some minor concerns - We have two seniors (65+) and one infant (6-month-old by time of travel).

1). I know the place is outdoor, is the place very noisy (i.e. if infant sleeps in stroller)?
2). I would assume this is a buffet style restaurant. When we make reservation (say a party of six) - do we get a table? Just wanted to make sure my parents would have seats and tables - they probably can't stand and eat for 2 hours
3). Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m - Is this a 2.5 hour dinner show? or this is just a recurring entertainment while you eat?
4). How about character interaction? Does characters visit kids by table for pictures? Or the kids just go and dance with them?
5). Lastly, how about food quality? I guess we can't expect much on that

Any reviews, comments?

Thank you very much in advance

 

[Vemnox]

1). I know the place is outdoor, is the place very noisy (i.e. if infant sleeps in stroller)?
2). I would assume this is a buffet style restaurant. When we make reservation (say a party of six) - do we get a table? Just wanted to make sure my parents would have seats and tables - they probably can't stand and eat for 2 hours
3). Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m - Is this a 2.5 hour dinner show? or this is just a recurring entertainment while you eat?
4). How about character interaction? Does characters visit kids by table for pictures? Or the kids just go and dance with them?
5). Lastly, how about food quality? I guess we can't expect much on that

Any reviews, comments?

Thank you very much in advance

1) Most infants could sleep through a rock concert, so I really don't think that'll be too much of an issue.
2) It is banquet seating so your party of 6 will all be seated along the large table.
3) Do the math again - it's only 1.5 hours.
4) The characters do NOT visit the individual tables but there are usually points where the kids can go dance with the characters.
5) It's what you'd expect - hearty, filling food - but you won't write home about it.

Vem

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We did this on the last trip. It was fun but I don't really think it was worth two dining credits...or the price if you are paying. You sit at long picnic tables. You pay a gratuity but I don't know what that is for as you have to go get your own food AND drinks. Food was really pretty lousy. I wasn't impressed. It is loud but as the previous poster stated, the baby should be able to sleep. After eating, they have dancing with the characters. Word to the wise...have your camera ready and RUN after your child. When the characters come out...all the kids RUN to dance with them. The Dance floor gets really crowded and the characters are clearly instructed not to dance with any child longer than 30 seconds to give everyone a chance. I missed a lot of photo ops because by the time I got back to the table to get the camera, she had already had her "turn" with the character.

It's not really a "dinner show" more than it's dinner and then a country music concert/dance. The band plays and then the kids dance with the characters. The characters take breaks in between and they continue to play the country music and then there is a Roping (sp?) Display. We left before the "end" because DD was exhausted from all the dancing!

 

[frdeb1999]

Deffinately isn't worth 2 dining credits. It was fun and the food was'nt horrible. But Disney could do much better IMO. Keep looking around. Liberty Tree would deffinately be better then this. As would Chef Mickey's...and their food was just so so.

 

[dgaston]

The food is prepared in the same kitchen as Hoop De Doo, and I found it pretty good.

 

[Shoshana]

I wasn't thrilled with the type of food (generic picnic) but the quality was fine last December. My then 3-yr-old had so much fun dancing with the characters and we're going to be there again in a week and a half! Whether or not you think it's worth two meals would depend on what you're looking for.

 

[Mickdeb]

We found this to be organized chaos. The food was pretty good. But the entertainment was not great. The parents and children pushed to get to the dance floor and some would monopolize the characters, not allowing others to have a turn. My DD 8 was afraid to get on the dance floor because of the pushing and shoving that was going on. There's always a few in every crowd, but it seems at this event "they" were all there on the same night
We left after the first hour, very disappointed.
Safe your money and go to the HDDR, now that is definately worth the effort

 

[dallasdisneymommy]

We had a very opposite experience -- our kids were 2 and 4 and absolutely LOVED this.

The food isn't great, it's true -- it's standard picnic fare of baked beans, barbeque chicken, corn on the cob, lemonade for the kids and beer was available for the adults. But personally I don't find most of the food at Disney all that great, so I considered it just fine.

We sat at long picnic tables and the kids ran around and danced, they loved meeting the characters in a less controlled environment. It was great for us as well, I liked that they didn't have to stay seated the whole time and wait for the characters to come to them (at 2 and 4, waiting was tough), they really got their energy out and the venue allowed for it.

There is a little bit of difficulty when everyone storms the dance floor to see the characters, lots of kids on the shy side get pushed out of the way, so I just held their hands and we danced together while I made sure they got their turn. The characters come out a couple of different times, so there's plenty of opportunity to meet them.

They were tired at the end of the night, but it was a good tired -- they still talk about it as being one of their favorite things to do. They loved being at the campground, we took advantage of the time before it started to walk around and see the petting zoo animals, play on the wooded playground, and just generally relax, which was great.

It's a completely different character experience than you usually get at Disney, which makes it a must see for me.

 

[LUVMICKEY]

We have been to Mickey's Backyard BBQ twice now and are intending on doing it again in June. My 3 Grandsons absolutely love doing this show and they range in ages 3-6. The food is standard BBQ food and is like the Hoop Dee Doo, but the kids have so much fun there, it's woth going for us. We were on the DDP the last time we were there which was in May of 2007, and we did not use the DP we paid for it extra. We would pay cash for any dinner show on property. IOHO, none of the dinner shows are worth 2 credits. Not that the food isn't good, it's that we don't want to use an extra credit because of a show.