Saana vs Flame Tree BBQ

[RBA2010]

We (Me, DH, DS(4)) are going to AK on 11/29 which is a EMH day. That is our only day at AK. I got reservation for Tusker house breakfast 2 months back, but made a silly mistake and cancelled it last week. Now as its hard to get TH, I got reservation for Saana at 12:05 p.m. , but wondering if I will loose lot of time in transport to and from Saana. We will use Disney transport. Can you give your opinions on which one we should go with and why.

Thanks
RBA2010

 

[marivaid]

I love Indian food, but not enough to actually leave the park if I intend to come back. If you use Disney transportation I would guess that between the wait for the bus, the actual bus ride (which is short), lunch, and then transportation back to the park, it can take you anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours.
Tusker House is not easy to get for breakfast but lunch has more availability, did you try booking that?

ETA : Just checked & there is a 12.45 ADR available for Tusker House lunch on 11/29 for a party of 3.

 

[cbg1027]

It's possible to see all, or very close to all, of AK in one day. So if you go from rope drop to close, you could probably still do Sanaa and see almost all the attractions.

I think Sanaa is incredible so it would be worth any lost park time to me.

 

[720L]

I wouldn't waste the traveling time. Flame Tree BBQ is a good CS restaurant, it has become one of our favorites. There are so many pretty places to sit and eat, we like to sit in the spot that has a view of Expedition Everest.

 

[madalex]

Putting aside the travel time issues, both restaurants are great in their own way. Flame Tree is the only CS place in any of the parks that I make a point of going to during every trip, while Sanaa serves some very interesting (and tasty) dishes.

With respect to leaving the park in the middle of the day, travel time from AK to AKL is very short - the bus ride is only 3 - 5 minutes long, so even if you have to wait the standard 20 minutes for a bus (and the actual wait could be much shorter), you are looking at losing only about an hour of park time if you leave to go to Sanaa.

If you get to AK at rope drop in the morning, you may want a break around lunch time, so that leaving the park to go to Sanaa may be the way to go. However, if losing even that hour is going to be problematic to you, then you are sure to get a great lunch at Flame Tree.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

I wouldn't waste the travel time, but I would still do Sanaa. Do Flame Tree for lunch and Sanaa for dinner.

 

[scot@dvcstore]

IMO Sanaa for dinner. We loved it.

 

[Pakey]

Although I think Flame Tree is a good CS, I'd go to Sanaa. The food is very good, probably the best 1TS meal at WDW, and you may get lucky and get a window table that overlooks the savannah.

I'd keep the reservation. You could always cancel it after you are at the park for awhile and have a better idea of how you want to tour that day.

 

[Evi]

I love Sanna I don't know that the food is truly indian in my opinion perhaps a bit north african? Anyhow I think it would be a great dinner spot for after animal kingdom or if you really want to see animals go for lunch.

 

[Cinderella94]

We love Sanaa. I'd fit it in somehow.

 

[RBA2010]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Now we don't want to miss both these restaturants This is what we are planning.

1) On arrival day (11/27), we are going to be in ORL airport by 9 a.m. EST and checking into CBR. Our plan is to spend rest of the day at AKL with 6:30 p.m.dinner at Boma. We want to view animals and check on some AKL activities. Now I got ADR at Saana for 12:40 p.m. EST. I called CBR to check if this is ok. They said we can make it. If everything goes early and we reach Saana early, we can request them to see if they can allow us early. We will have dinner at Boma at 6:30 p.m.
2) I am also keeping 11/29 lunch reservation. Just in case we can't make it to Saana due to any delays on arrival day, we will go to Saana for lunch on AK day and have early dinner at Flame Tree like after the parade. After that we are planning to go to Chip & Dale Camp-fire and end the day.

With this change, I have new questions. Can you please help:

1) Do you think our new change for arrival date is doable
2) What time should we start at AK to make it to Chip & Dale campfire
3) We will do this only if we are not tired by that time - Can we make it to MSEP at MK at 8 p.m. if we start after Chip & Dale campfire( we wont stay for movie)
4) When is the deadline to cancel a reservation without any fine. For example for Saana lunch appt at 12:40 p.m. when can we call them to cancel if there are flight delays, etc.
5) I checked Saana's menu at allears.net and didn't find any non-alcoholic drinks. What can we have for drinks in the basic dining plan here.

FYI, my DH has motion sickness and my DS can only try very gentle rides so at AK, we are planning to skip Dinosaur rides and Its tough to be a bug. For everest, I will go in single-rider line. Our main Must sees are Safari, Character greetings, especially Mickey(my DS says that he is only going there for Mickey and he wants to spend Lots of time with him ) and both Nemo and Lion King shows. Just want to let you know this if it helps you when giving suggestions.

Thank you all for your help.
RBA2010

 

[cbg1027]

I think you have a good chance of making the 12:40 Sanaa ADR on arrival day. You should get to CBR by 11. You probably won't be able to get in to your room yet, so you can just store your luggage and catch the bus to AK. At AK, then get the bus for AKL.

What time is the Chip and Dale campfire at, and where is it located? Fort Wilderness? We would need to know a time in order to tell you when you need to leave AK.

Any ADR you make that you didn't have to give a credit card number with has no penalty for late cancellation or not showing up for it. So if you miss Sanaa, or decide to cancel the second ADR two days before, there is no charge.

Sanaa carries Coke products like the rest of WDW. There are probably some other non-alcoholic drinks, but I don't recall what they were.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

I think you have a good chance of making the 12:40 Sanaa ADR on arrival day. You should get to CBR by 11. You probably won't be able to get in to your room yet, so you can just store your luggage and catch the bus to AK. At AK, then get the bus for AKL.

What time is the Chip and Dale campfire at, and where is it located? Fort Wilderness? We would need to know a time in order to tell you when you need to leave AK.

Any ADR you make that you didn't have to give a credit card number with has no penalty for late cancellation or not showing up for it. So if you miss Sanaa, or decide to cancel the second ADR two days before, there is no charge.

Sanaa carries Coke products like the rest of WDW. There are probably some other non-alcoholic drinks, but I don't recall what they were.

They have lassis there which are like smoothies.

 

[RBA2010]

I think you have a good chance of making the 12:40 Sanaa ADR on arrival day. You should get to CBR by 11. You probably won't be able to get in to your room yet, so you can just store your luggage and catch the bus to AK. At AK, then get the bus for AKL.

What time is the Chip and Dale campfire at, and where is it located? Fort Wilderness? We would need to know a time in order to tell you when you need to leave AK.

Any ADR you make that you didn't have to give a credit card number with has no penalty for late cancellation or not showing up for it. So if you miss Sanaa, or decide to cancel the second ADR two days before, there is no charge.

Sanaa carries Coke products like the rest of WDW. There are probably some other non-alcoholic drinks, but I don't recall what they were.

Thank you for the details. Good to know about Cancellations. About Chip and Dale campfire, as per allears.net, it is behind the Meadow Trading Post at Fort Wilderness. It starts at 7 p.m.

 

[RBA2010]

They have lassis there which are like smoothies.

Thank you. We had Lassi's before and we Love them