Nine Dragons or Flower and Garden booths?

[CeruleanMoon]

We currently have a dinner ADR for Nine Dragons on our Epcot day. We're all fairly new to Epcot so I'm not sure what to expect with this Flower and Garden festival going on. I'm having second thoughts now about doing Nine Dragons, and wondering if we should just browse the booths instead. I'm seeing lots of choices on the menus that I'd like, some that Dh would like, but not many that my DS would eat.

Pros to eating at Nine Dragons:

Everybody likes Chinese. Allergies would be easier to accommodate. Cool place to rest our feet and get out of crowds/heat.

Pros to Booths:

Lots of fun choices for every flavor and taste. Chance to try something that isn't always there and we might not see again. Could save us time, allowing us to see more of the World Showcase.

What would you do? Should I keep the Nine Dragons reservation or ditch it?

 

[jacknsally19]

So we were just at Epcot for the Arts Festival. We had 2 evenings scheduled for Epcot to do just the booths b/c the menus looked awesome. It ended up being kind of stressful and we ended up eating QS the one night and the other night I booked a last minute reservation. The food was really good but they are really small servings and kind of pricey. Plus they are far apart so if one person wants one thing and someone else wants something else - its a little bit of PIA. For us - travelling with a 6 year old - I think the dining reservation was the better experience.

I would just do one or two snacks from the booth that really sound intriguing during the day and then keep your reservation.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

Thanks, hearing about your experience is helpful! I think keeping the reservation is the best idea. Having that guaranteed rest scheduled for dinner time could be good for us. I also read some reviews of the food and quite a few of them had ingredients not listed on the menu that would be problematic for us anyway. And by the time we found booths that all of us liked, we'd probably have walked miles!

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I vote for the F & G booths instead of an ADR. You can always do ADRs but the booths are only around at certain times of the year. The food at the booths blows QS food away and rivals most sit down places too. DH and I love to spend the whole afternoon trying various dishes as we walk around the World Showcase. We split the portions so we can try even more things without getting too full. The specialty drinks and beers are fun to sample too. We’ve done booths on 2 different trips now and can’t wait to do it again. You can find the booth menus online before you go. This will help you make a plan of attack and plan your budget as well. If you do the booths, make sure to pick up a F & G passport and get it stamped at each location. It’s a fun souvenir.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

Some of the menu items really did look tasty! Maybe we'll try to grab a thing or two as a snack so we can try it out. I think my DH and DS are a bit too unadventurous though for what I'm seeing on the menus and trying to make a full meal out of the booths may be challenging.

 

[momtwoboys]

making a full meal out of the booths for a family can be pricey and I agree stressful, keep the dinner ADR and sit and enjoy your meal all at once. grab a treat or snack after while walking around.

 

[Ensusieasm]

We currently have a dinner ADR for Nine Dragons on our Epcot day. We're all fairly new to Epcot so I'm not sure what to expect with this Flower and Garden festival going on. I'm having second thoughts now about doing Nine Dragons, and wondering if we should just browse the booths instead. I'm seeing lots of choices on the menus that I'd like, some that Dh would like, but not many that my DS would eat.

Pros to eating at Nine Dragons:

Everybody likes Chinese. Allergies would be easier to accommodate. Cool place to rest our feet and get out of crowds/heat.

Pros to Booths:

Lots of fun choices for every flavor and taste. Chance to try something that isn't always there and we might not see again. Could save us time, allowing us to see more of the World Showcase.

What would you do? Should I keep the Nine Dragons reservation or ditch it?

Keep your nine dragons ADR for dinner. It's best to go to the booths early. The lines are shorter then. You can try a few treats starting at 11:00 for lunch. Later, you'll be glad to sit and be waited on for dinner. At Nine Dragons you can easily order less if you are not very hungry.

 

[ajwolfe]

Keep the ADR. While we love snacking and drinking at the booths during F & G it would be way too stressful to try to buy enough to feed a family of 4 -when not everyone would want stuff from the same booth, etc.
I say have a couple snacks and enjoy a rest for a dinner ADR.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

I've done both of these meals, and I much prefer the F&G food booths, for the variety.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

Thanks for your replies everyone. I think I'll keep my eye out for that violet lemonade. Is it as good as it looks? Is it just violet in color or does it actually have violets in it (somehow?)

Many of the dessert items looked tasty so if we somehow have room after dinner, maybe we can try some. The booths all look like lots of fun, but I'm definitely thinking now that it might be too hard for us to manage a dinner for all three of us when we each have our own picky requirements. Saving the booths as snacks or desserts takes the pressure off.

 

[loves to dive]

I'm another that would say go with the booths and cancel your ADR. If you had more than one day there, I'd say keep the ADR but there are tons of booths and you should be able to find plenty for everyone. As far as stressful, I don't get that. What we do is just walk around and the first booth we come to we are interested we get something, sometimes it's one something sometimes two. My son (adult) and I share whatever we get. We stop at a table and eat that then walk around some more until we see something else we want. We are there every single day of our trip trying something since we attempt to get something from every booth. It allows you to try different things and if we don't like something, we don't hesitate to throw it away since they are small samples. I will admit we don't make ADRs in advance so if we are tired of eating from booths we just hop on MDE and find something. We have PHs (I have an AP) so we can hop to anywhere.

 

[KenHutch]

A say go for the booths but for a simpler reason. The food, Chinese is good food but I know of a dozen places here in Kansas City with better Chinese food (and we are not known gor great Chinese). We have only done the booths once but everyone had a blast trying things and what we found out was if one person didn't like what they choose at a particular booth someone else in the group did.

 

[momtwoboys]

the violet lemonade is lemony and has an edible violet flower on top, yummy tart and refreshing. I am going to get that dessert at the Honey Bee place, looks so good! We all just like to eat sitting together and not standing around at each stop while one eats and the other waits till we walk upon another food item that might or might not be of interest. Guess our family just doesnt do well in that set up, snack or dessert yes it works but for a main meal like dinner nope.

 

[MainMom]

I don’t know that my kids would tolerate waiting around at food booths if they are hangry. I would probably keep the ADR and just try a few items from the booths.

 

[smcabee]

In my opinion going to both F&G and F&W, with the exception of Food and Wine weekend evenings, Ive never seen the booth lines take more than a few minutes to get through. It usually takes me longer to find a spot to eat the food from the booths than to actually get the food.