Rose and Crown Questions

[Wanna be Ariel]

Can you anyone tell me about having a late RC reservation. I have a reservation for 7:25 with an illuminations at 9:00. I know that they have limited seating on the patio, but I thought I also heard there is a special roped off area for people that have a reservation that they can go out to? Any help would be great.

 

[DSLRuser]

yes...regardless of what time you have reservations. The servers will time your meal around illuminations. @ 7:25, you will be able to get dinner finished by 8:30. The server will do all they can to free up your table so they can get another sitting.

If you are in the restaurant from around 8:30 or later, they will escort you to the left (canada) side of the building. There is a little deck / patio that holds 0-30 people for illuminations viewing. It is not a great place to watch from, but it is better than you will get if you try to find a last minute walk up spot.

We had 8:15 ADR last time. We had dinner complete by 8:45. The held off desert until after illuminations @ 9:20.

 

[figment_jii]

There is a reserved viewing area for R&C guests. It's located to the left of the restaurant, when facing the lagoon. The view is pretty good from the front (approximately same view as you'd get from a prime patio table). This is where guests without a view of the show are encouraged/invited to watch IllumiNations. You do need to tell your server you want to watch IllumiNations and s/he (or another server) will escort you to the viewing area.

It's the area located roughly within the red rectanble in the image below:

This is the view from the very front of the area (i.e., first row of guests):

If you're towards the back, then it's like any other viewing area...your view depends on how tall the guests are ahead of you. Here is an example of the view from further back. The angle is still the same, but parts of the show may be blocked from view depending on the height of the guests in front of you.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

There are some places to stand where you wouldn't be in front but even sitting on the patio it is difficult to see the top of the fireworks. There isn't a lot of seats on the patio to begin with and even fewer that have decent (not excellent) views. We like the food there so if we get a good seat, great, if not we are still happy.

I have invited other families to pull their chairs up to my table to see better.

I never recommend going there specifically to watch Illuminations. Too few tables with good views. The wind often takes the ash and smoke in that direction. We've had to leave because it smelled so bad. I hate anyone getting their hopes up.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

Thank you all. No we are not just going to see Illuminations, my dad loves the food and thought that I would just happen for around that time since we all love Illuminations also. There is 6 of us so I know it will take awhile to eat. A patio seat would we wonderful, but I am happy not having to rush through dinner and try and find a spot to view it. Thank you again

 

[gorjus121]

We are looking forward to our first ADR at R&C this Spring! We have a 7:05 ADR for dinner at Rose & Crown with Illuminations scheduled for 9 pm. (I'm checking periodically for a slightly later ADR) It would be great to get a table outside on the patio, but I'm not counting on that. I'm more concerned about getting into the "reserved" area for R&C guests. Do they allow everyone thats dining there into the reserved area? or is it too small of an area and its best to get out there sooner rather than later? I read earlier that you need to tell your server that you want to see Illuminations and they will escort you to the designated area.

 

[kam1011]

I have not had the same experience as the others. It is a VERY SLOW restaurant, so you really don't have to try to slow it down. We go there every trip and I usually aim for 7:15ish reservations. We are NEVER done before illuminations starts. Done eating, but no dessert yet. The first trip we ordered appetizers (paid, because we had the regular DDP) and it was totally unnecessary. We've always been lucky enough to be seated outside on the water and we always travel in the busy summer. Once it rained and they had to shut the vinyl windows, but luckily it cleared up in time to raise them just before the show!

 

[cmarsh31]

We had 7:25 reservations and requested the patio (willing to wait) with great success. We were seated around 8:30, had a lovely dinner, watched Illuminations, and then enjoyed dessert. This was during F&W too - so especially busy, but it might have helped that it had rained earlier and they hadn't sat anyone at the patio prior to us.

 

[RedStars]

Do you have to be eating in the restaurant during Illuminations to be allowed into the roped off area? We have a 6pm ADR (Illuminations are at 9); I know we'll be done by 730-ish. Will we be allowed to come back?
It's not a big deal; just wanted to ask!

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

Do you have to be eating in the restaurant during Illuminations to be allowed into the roped off area? We have a 6pm ADR (Illuminations are at 9); I know we'll be done by 730-ish. Will we be allowed to come back?
It's not a big deal; just wanted to ask!

In my experience, if eating inside at R&C during Illuminations, you can leave the restaurant and go out onto the patio to watch the show. Once - I can't remember what year - we weren't eating late enough for Illuminations and were invited by our server to come back during Illuminations for a place on a patio just below and to the left, kind of between R&C and the patio with open, quick service seating.

If you're not opposed, you might want to keep checking MDE for a later time. Any ADR times 7:00 or later are pretty good to stick around and see Illuminations.

Also, when we dine there, we typically check in a bit early and let the host or hostess know we are happily willing to wait as long as necessary for an outdoor table. Being super nice about this has worked in our favor much of the time, but obviously, it's not a guarantee!

 

[preemiemama]

I have not had the same experience as the others. It is a VERY SLOW restaurant, so you really don't have to try to slow it down. We go there every trip and I usually aim for 7:15ish reservations. We are NEVER done before illuminations starts. Done eating, but no dessert yet. The first trip we ordered appetizers (paid, because we had the regular DDP) and it was totally unnecessary. We've always been lucky enough to be seated outside on the water and we always travel in the busy summer. Once it rained and they had to shut the vinyl windows, but luckily it cleared up in time to raise them just before the show!

This has been exactly our experience as well, except when we asked them to expedite our service (and then they boxed up our desserts to take with us). We are never out of there quickly, but it’s never an issue for us...