Rose and Crown/Illuminations

[MudEJeep]

Is it worth having dinner at Rose n Crown around Illuminations? What time should I make the ressie for? I am planning a trip end of May/June with two children (both 9) so I cant make dinner ressies too late.

TIA
MudEJeep

 

[Hopefully]

Watching Illuninations from the patio of the Rose & Crown is great.
However it is totally the luck of the draw. They no longer accept requests nor do they let people wait for a table on the patio to open. You will be seated at the first available table for your party size. They do however, usher patrons outside to a patio to watch Illumninations from there.
We have been lucky enough to secure a patio table 4 times and we enjoyed it thourougly.
Our ADR's were for 7:30 or 7:40
Have a Great Trip

 

[dreamergirl78]

We have done it twice. One time we were seated on the patio, the other we were not. If you are not seated on the patio they do let you outside to watch the show, however if you are in the middle of eating you have to leave your stuff at the table and your food will get cold, which is gross in my opinion. You take your chances, but if you luck out and get to sit on the patio, it is really a great way to end an evening at Epcot!

 

[crisi]

I don't think its worth it. Its a chance thing on if you'd be seated on the patio....Rose and Crown's food is not great, and you have to have a fairly early reservation and drag it out for the best chance - getting seated between 7-7:30 is your best chance which means you'll be at your table two hours - a long committment for Illuminations.

Also, the R&C patio is often downwind of the fireworks.

There is a lot of great spots for Illuminations

 

[bunkkinsmom]

I have a 730 reservation in January for R&C for Illuminations. I can handle the dragging out dinner, possibly not getting the patio, leaving my table to watch from the patio. But downwind? YUK!

Oh well, if it is we will relocate. Cant wait to go though, 8 weeks from today!!

 

[Tam1067]

In August, our reservations were for 7:20. We were seated inside about 15 minutes after that. We finished our meal at about 8:45, and then the server brought us to the viewing area which was quite nice.

Our food was decent, but no one asked to return for our Xmas trip because I think it was just decent--not great by any means. The view for Illuminations was nice, though.

I found the servers were very pleasant. Ours told us he would pace the food so that we'd be able to finish before the show but not too early.

 

[PC MOM]

Hi,

We did this Jan 08 and it was 'The Year of a Million Dreams". Got to sit on the patio with a 7:30 ressie and my dd (who looks and was dressed as Alice in Wonderland" got chosen to start the fire works ...

They loaned her one of "Mickey's" wands and taught her how to use it.....then on a coutdown by a number of staff she waved the wand as instructed and "BANG!" the fireworks started. She was on top of the world.

I agree the food is only "okay" but we love the R&C.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Please check the times for Illuminations in January. We have planned R&C for Illuminations on January 8th, and Illuminations will be shown at 8PM instead of 9PM. We had to reserve dinner for 6:30 instead of 7:30PM.

We've generally had good luck with Rose & Crown. On three occassions, we've had:

1) Good seats on the terrace
2) Good seats from inside. We were nervous about this, but had excellent seats after they put up the canvas tarps and lowered the umbrellas outside.
3) Dining room seats, with visible, but poor viewing of Illuminations. (We were late for our reservations that night. - We were also in the middle of dinner that night, and didn't want to get up.)


So...plan for Illuminations during dessert and not dinner. That works because your timing is better, and if your dessert gets cold, it doesn't matter as much.

We love Rose & Crown for dinner.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Thanks for the advice! As of now WDW website is showing Illuminations at 9pm in January.

 

[marmar]

this has become our first night tradition. Our ressies are normally for 7:45. We have been on the patio twice and inside twice. I actually prefer the inside seating. The waiters usher you to the viewing area. aAfter illuminations we go back for desert. It's nice just sitting there while the throngs leave the park.

Food is not outstanding, but filling and well prepared. The wait staff is actually the most friendly we've had.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

oooooohhhhh, I never even thought about being able to have desert while everyone else leaves the park!!!! Is it just as magical to leave a park when it's empty as to arrive when its empty?

 

[GeorgeG]

I've watched Illuminations from just about every location around World Showcase and would prefer not to watch it while having dinner. The Rose and Crown veiwing area they usher you to after your meal is pretty good, but it can still get crowded. It's all chance, but the absolute best is to be picked for the private seating (non-meal) down below the Rose and Crown at lakeside. It's a matter of being in the right place at the right time for getting the passes.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

When you say getting picked, what does that mean? Is it random? How does that work?

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

We have been able to walk down to the little terrace that is real close to where the boats come in. I was able to sit pretty high on a ledge and had a great view, but dh stood and others blocked his view.

I don't think that is the terrace the pp was talking about. I've seen people on another private terrace on several occassions, but think those are for private parties.

Bar none...the best illuminations viewing spot that I've seen thus far was behind the gift shop on the other side of Canada heading back into Future World. We only had that location because we had a grand gathering.

 

[NeedsNEscape]

I'm going in January, 100 and just made ressies for 7:40 figuring on show at 9pm. Is the patio too cold to sit at in January or do they have heaters? Does anyone know? Now I'm going with a bunch of ale-drinkers, so I figure they must have something on tap. The guys don't go too much for the food, but they are real beer-snobs.

Also, what happens if it rains? I suppose that they still have Illuminations, but is R&C covered at all?

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

They have heaters!