Timing Question - Pirates and Pals Cruise

[waterbaby2086]

We have a dinner reservation at 1900 Park Fair at the grand Floridian on Dec 22nd at 7:35 but also have a Pirates and Pals fireworks cruise that same night at 8:45pm. I'm wondering if we will have enough time to eat dinner and still make it to the cruise on time? I've been checking and trying to move our dinner reservation up but as of right now, there aren't any open reservation times and I don't want to cancel ours until I find one (or unless I absolutely have to). Do you think we will have enough time to eat and still make the cruise at 845?

Thank you!

 

[sharonabe]

We have a dinner reservation at 1900 Park Fair at the grand Floridian on Dec 22nd at 7:35 but also have a Pirates and Pals fireworks cruise that same night at 8:45pm. I'm wondering if we will have enough time to eat dinner and still make it to the cruise on time? I've been checking and trying to move our dinner reservation up but as of right now, there aren't any open reservation times and I don't want to cancel ours until I find one (or unless I absolutely have to). Do you think we will have enough time to eat and still make the cruise at 845?

Thank you!

Wow. I would say there's almost no way you can do this. Not only do you have to finish dinner, but you also have to get over to the Contemporary.

IF you're seated on time and you pay as soon as you sit down, you just MIGHT finish eating in time. But then, you also have to catch a monorail right as you're leaving. If you have to wait at all..... You're supposed to check in to the cruise 10 min before, so even if all goes well, you're going to be rushing through dinner and probably won't see all the characters.

Also, if you do miss the cruise, or get there too late, you do not get a refund and forfeit what you've paid to do it.

I wouldn't do it. That would be one very stressed-filled dinner.

 

[waterbaby2086]

Wow. I would say there's almost no way you can do this. Not only do you have to finish dinner, but you also have to get over to the Contemporary.

IF you're seated on time and you pay as soon as you sit down, you just MIGHT finish eating in time. But then, you also have to catch a monorail right as you're leaving. If you have to wait at all..... You're supposed to check in to the cruise 10 min before, so even if all goes well, you're going to be rushing through dinner and probably won't see all the characters.

Also, if you do miss the cruise, or get there too late, you do not get a refund and forfeit what you've paid to do it.

I wouldn't do it. That would be one very stressed-filled dinner.

Thank you! I'm worried about this as well. Can you recommend what time we SHOULD be looking to eat dinner at then so that we aren't worried about time?

 

[sharonabe]

Thank you! I'm worried about this as well. Can you recommend what time we SHOULD be looking to eat dinner at then so that we aren't worried about time?

7:00 would be the latest I would be comfortable with doing. You might want to see if you can get a feel for how "on time" 1900 is on seating. If they tend to run late, I'd back that up to 6:45 or 6:30. You want to make sure you have enough time to interact with the characters and still get over to the Contemporary without feeling rushed or stressed if you happen to just miss a monorail train.

 

[Sugardimples]

I wouldn’t be comfortable with anything after 6:00.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would definitely try to find an earlier time or, if possibly, go a different night. I can't emphasize enough HOW much dessert they serve at Pirates and Pals! We ate at the Wave before our cruise and, even with skipping dessert, we couldn't fully enjoy the buffet. Just know, they don't immediately go out to the boats, so if you are a little late, you will just be cutting into dessert and character meet and greet time. I certainly wouldn't recommend being later than 9 pm, though, as if you do miss getting on the boat, you are kind of out of luck. If you want to keep the 1900 reservation, I wouldn't book anything later than 6:45 pm. That gives you 90 minutes for the meal and 30 minutes to get to CR.

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

On the day we did Pirates and Pals, we had a reservation at 4:40 at Be Our Guest and I wasn't hungry enough for the desserts. I would not eat at a buffet the same day as Pirates and Pals.

 

[DWillowBay]

Agreed. There is absolutely no way that you'd pull that off. Nor would you want to because the meal at 1900 is so great and the characters are the best on property. There's no reason to spend that kind of money to rush through a meal like that. You could do a QS and then the Contemporary or 1900 and skip Pirates, but...can't imagine how you'd do both.