Two table service meals in one day at Epcot?

2manydaves

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 15, 2011
Messages
302
We will be spending 6 days at Disney in mid-September. We will be spending 1 1/2 - 2 days at Epcot. On our first Epcot day, we currently have a Coral Reef reservation at 11:30 and an Akershus reservation at 6:30. Will that suck up too much time? I figure crowd levels will be down in September, and we are planning on being there open to close, but we've never done two table service meals in one day. I'm not sure how other people do it. Will two sit-down meals be a big time-sucker? We like to cover it all and ride everything. TIA for suggestions / advice!
 
As long as you're seated in a reasonable amount of time and the wait staff isn't overburdened, you should be in and out of Coral Reef in an acceptable amount of time. The problem is, even with an ADR, you could still have to wait for a table for a little bit. If they have too few people waiting tables, you could also be stuck waiting on your food for an exorbitant amount of time. It's really hit or miss there, considering how busy it can be.

All of that being said, your lunch reservation is early. I don't think you will have a problem in Coral Reef at all. It should be quick, fun and delicious.

I can't really speak for Akershus. Never been there.
 
We did both of our sitdown meals at Epcot as well back in Nov. of 2009. The wait was minimal, just a few minutes at most. We also did 3 parks that day (Animal Kingdom which opened early for hotel guests, Epcot and Hollywood). We finished AK, went straight to Epcot, ate our first sitdown in Italy as soon as we got there. Then rode nearly everything, some rides twice even and we were ready for our dinner res. at around 5:30. After dinner, we rode over to Hollywood and took advantage of the extended hours. It was a compressed, highly concentrated day of Disney, but being that we had season passes for years when we lived in Florida, we knew the best ways for us to tackle the day, have fun, and do everything we wanted. So yes it can be done.
 
We do two table service meals almost every day, because we like having the mid-day break where we feel a little more pampered. ;) Seriously, I sometimes feel like by the time I wait in line for my food, find a free table, and eat my meal, I might as well have been relaxing in a sit down restaurant with someone to refill my drinks for me!

Your ADR at Coral Reef is early enough, that looks like when it opens, that you won't have much wait. The meal isn't ridiculously time consuming, but the waits before the meals can get so. Once you're seated, if you tell your waiter in a friendly manner that you're in a little bit of a hurry, and you'd appreciate it if he could do what he can to expedite things for you, you may be able to get through the meal pretty fast.

You may have a long wait at Akershus. I think that was where we had the longest wait for an ADR ever. Our ADR was for later than yours (7:45 instead of 6:30), and we waited for about an hour. (They are more likely to be running closer to on time earlier in the evening, though.) I was not happy with the wait. I was happy with the meal itself and the character interaction, once we finally made it into the restaurant. Again, the meal isn't slow once you get into the restaurant. The first course you get yourself from the smorgasbord, so you can eat that as fast as you want to. You order your entree, which you do have to wait for, but ours came out pretty fast. The dessert, at least when we went, you didn't order, they just brought it out to the table once you finished your entree. The catch here is that you want to stay long enough for all the princesses to come to your table. So even if you rush through your meal, you may need to wait on the princesses. Are you doing CRT in MK? If not, and you want to see princesses, Akershus is a must do

We consider some of the interesting dining venues as much as part of our trips as riding every ride or seeing every show. I think you've made two really good choices, as both the Coral Reef and Akershus are restaurant experiences you couldn't get almost anywhere else in the world. (Could you get better food? Yes. But the overall experience is unique.) For what its worth, DS asks to go to the Coral Reef for lunch every time we go to WDW. It made a huge impression on him; he loves eating near the giant aquarium more than he loves just about anything else in Epcot.
 

Seems logical to me.....because Epcot is the only Park where I'd ever eat two meals.....and we enjoy Coral Reef too.....my toddler is too young to yet enjoy Akerhaus, but it's on my short list......

And while I have found that having too many reservations can be a burden, that's more of a guideline than a rule.

There seems to be enough time between your ADR's and they are in each World Showcase & Future World.

You get my vote!!
 
Well, let me know how it goes! LOL We are doing Via Napoli for lunch and Rose and Crown for dinner in October. I think it will be ok!
 
We have an 8:05 ADR for Akershus and a 5:30 ADR for Garden Grill on the same day during our Nov. trip. I think it will work out well for us.
 
We are doing the same thing for our upcoming trip. We have a 1130a at LeCellier & a 745p at Coral Reef :)
 
Thanks everyone. We have only done one TS per day in the past, but I agree that if we are going to do two in a day it should be at Epcot. We've done Akershus before, but not Coral Reef. Glad to hear it's good.
 


Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE


New Posts







DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top Bottom