Went to CA Adventure with my husband, 2 kids (2.5 yo and 10 mo) and my brother’s family (2.5yo plus pregnant wife) yesterday. We had one day left on a 4 day military pass so we’ve been a bunch this year. My brother came down from NorCal but he’s gone often. One of our goals was to watch WoC since the kiddos are turning 3 soon and not sure if it’ll feel worth it to go back until they’re much older.
I had researched some but wanted to write this to help others who may want some more information, particularly if bringing younger kids.
We didn’t do these 60 days out but I wish I had. I had found a reservation for both Wine Country and Storytellers. For Wine Country, it was either 11:30 or 2:00. All the posted pages said that the WoC packages were for 12:30 on, which was strange since the restaurant opened earlier. I had asked customer service on the app if there was a possibility we could book WoC packages at the 11:30 time since it was better for the kids but they said no. I ended up canceling that time and kept the 2pm one and then had a 5:10 Storytellers. We would decide closer to the trip what to do.
Well, dining reservations changed from a 24 hr cancellation to a 2 hr cancellation this past week, which was great because it gave us some extra time to decide, and if for some reason the dining package didn’t worn out at one, we could do the other.
I ended up snagging a 12:30 the day before we went so I cancelled the 2pm one. We had all done storytellers before and decided we wanted to try Wine Country for the package.
We got seated outside. Non reservation waits were 55 minutes but that doesnt feel too bad for me. We mentioned we were doing dining package so they gave us a ton of WoC menus (like 12) and 1 regular menu, which i has to ask for. That’s silly to me since the regular menu had the drinks listed. Also, since our kids were under 3, we didn’t need the tickets for the viewing area and could order off the regular menu.
Verdict on food: appetizers were basic soup or salad. Entrees were very good. We got the salmon, 2 rib eyes ($10 upcharge), and shrimp fettuccine Alfredo. I’d recommend all of them. They had two desserts listed (a mousse type one and then tiramisu) but tiramisu wasn’t available so it was the mousse and then vanilla ice cream or raspberry sorbet. You get a non alcoholic drink with the package. My entree (salmon) would’ve been $27. Soda is probably 5. The other two aren’t listed on the menu exactly, but I’ll guess $15 combined. Package cost $59. I think in light of what you get, you’re paying probably a $15-$20 premium to get a reserved area.
The kids meal I think shows the cost difference more. The regular kids meal is $10 and includes an entree, 2 sides, and a drink. The WoC package is $35 and is exactly the same except they get an ice cream for dessert (though in the end the server offered our kids dessert anyways even off the regular menu). That’s nearly a $25 upcharge for the special viewing area. Again, we didn’t need to do this.
So was it worth it? Read on!
We got the 9pm showing (they asked which one). I had also snagged a blue/yellow viewing area reservation at noon just in case the packages weren’t available.
For the yellow/blue viewing areas, people were already lining up around 7:45 when I was walking back to meet my family from Guardians to Boardwalk where they were eating. Those two lines were starting to build up pretty long. I saw some people lining up around 8 for the dining package line.
We went on Little Mermaid and then got into the area at 8:30. There were probably 3 dozen people there already sitting in the front of the reserved area, which was the third tier back from the water. The first two were for yellow/blue. We were able to sit down and hang out behind two rows of people. At that time we had a great view of the water. CMs reminded us the show itself was standing room only so we could sit but we’d need to stand when the show started. It was nice to sit as the yellow/blue lines were still standing in corrals up until about 8:45, where they then moved into the actual viewing areas and stood some more (so if they got there at 7:45, that’s 1hr 15 minutes of standing in very crowded spaces.
The show started and people stood up. Unfortunately, the first row was full of people 6ft tall and then because they were tall, some other parents put their kids on their shoulders to see. I didn’t want to block the people behind me so I just held my son. We had some trouble seeing, which was a bummer initially. My toddler lost interest for a moment and we moved back and realized the entire back half of the viewing area was empty. We moved back there. My nephew could run and dance around. My son could ask me to go up and down my shoulders whenever he wanted. My husband got to move away from the crowds. And we could see as well or better than when we were trying to see behind the front two rows.
Back to the question, was it worth it? I don’t think if I had to pay for my kids, it would’ve been. But for us 4 adults, it was nice to have all that extra space and not have to be in the throng of people to see. It was nice not to rush to get in line.
If I could eat desserts (dietary restrictions) or drank, the dessert party would’ve been better since you get actual seats but I didn’t think the $90 was worth just for seats alone.
A few other notes: in hindsight, I would’ve showed up at 8:55 to get in. That would’ve let us do one more attraction with the kids and it would’ve gotten us the same view. If you really wanted the first row, you would’ve had to line up an hour early and that feels practically the same as just doing the normal queue except you can sit while you wait. To show up 5 minutes before would definitely have made this worth more!
Also, I wouldn’t have worried about not being able to get the dining package. They say limited capacity but I can’t imagine we were anywhere near being at capacity. They could’ve sold another 100 packages and we still would’ve had space to move around.
Oh, lastly, I asked the waiter and he said we could’ve gotten the World of Color package anytime as soon as they’re open, including before 12:30. Wine Country seems to have better availability than Storytellers since you can get it all day vs just dinnertime.
Apologies for the long post, but hope this helps somebody who’s considering the dining package! i wish i would’ve known the greatest value was to just be able to show up at 8 and have a decent viewing spot. And that the other biggest benefit was not to be squeezed tight, particularity right now while tons of viruses are going around!
I had researched some but wanted to write this to help others who may want some more information, particularly if bringing younger kids.
We didn’t do these 60 days out but I wish I had. I had found a reservation for both Wine Country and Storytellers. For Wine Country, it was either 11:30 or 2:00. All the posted pages said that the WoC packages were for 12:30 on, which was strange since the restaurant opened earlier. I had asked customer service on the app if there was a possibility we could book WoC packages at the 11:30 time since it was better for the kids but they said no. I ended up canceling that time and kept the 2pm one and then had a 5:10 Storytellers. We would decide closer to the trip what to do.
Well, dining reservations changed from a 24 hr cancellation to a 2 hr cancellation this past week, which was great because it gave us some extra time to decide, and if for some reason the dining package didn’t worn out at one, we could do the other.
I ended up snagging a 12:30 the day before we went so I cancelled the 2pm one. We had all done storytellers before and decided we wanted to try Wine Country for the package.
We got seated outside. Non reservation waits were 55 minutes but that doesnt feel too bad for me. We mentioned we were doing dining package so they gave us a ton of WoC menus (like 12) and 1 regular menu, which i has to ask for. That’s silly to me since the regular menu had the drinks listed. Also, since our kids were under 3, we didn’t need the tickets for the viewing area and could order off the regular menu.
Verdict on food: appetizers were basic soup or salad. Entrees were very good. We got the salmon, 2 rib eyes ($10 upcharge), and shrimp fettuccine Alfredo. I’d recommend all of them. They had two desserts listed (a mousse type one and then tiramisu) but tiramisu wasn’t available so it was the mousse and then vanilla ice cream or raspberry sorbet. You get a non alcoholic drink with the package. My entree (salmon) would’ve been $27. Soda is probably 5. The other two aren’t listed on the menu exactly, but I’ll guess $15 combined. Package cost $59. I think in light of what you get, you’re paying probably a $15-$20 premium to get a reserved area.
The kids meal I think shows the cost difference more. The regular kids meal is $10 and includes an entree, 2 sides, and a drink. The WoC package is $35 and is exactly the same except they get an ice cream for dessert (though in the end the server offered our kids dessert anyways even off the regular menu). That’s nearly a $25 upcharge for the special viewing area. Again, we didn’t need to do this.
So was it worth it? Read on!
We got the 9pm showing (they asked which one). I had also snagged a blue/yellow viewing area reservation at noon just in case the packages weren’t available.
For the yellow/blue viewing areas, people were already lining up around 7:45 when I was walking back to meet my family from Guardians to Boardwalk where they were eating. Those two lines were starting to build up pretty long. I saw some people lining up around 8 for the dining package line.
We went on Little Mermaid and then got into the area at 8:30. There were probably 3 dozen people there already sitting in the front of the reserved area, which was the third tier back from the water. The first two were for yellow/blue. We were able to sit down and hang out behind two rows of people. At that time we had a great view of the water. CMs reminded us the show itself was standing room only so we could sit but we’d need to stand when the show started. It was nice to sit as the yellow/blue lines were still standing in corrals up until about 8:45, where they then moved into the actual viewing areas and stood some more (so if they got there at 7:45, that’s 1hr 15 minutes of standing in very crowded spaces.
The show started and people stood up. Unfortunately, the first row was full of people 6ft tall and then because they were tall, some other parents put their kids on their shoulders to see. I didn’t want to block the people behind me so I just held my son. We had some trouble seeing, which was a bummer initially. My toddler lost interest for a moment and we moved back and realized the entire back half of the viewing area was empty. We moved back there. My nephew could run and dance around. My son could ask me to go up and down my shoulders whenever he wanted. My husband got to move away from the crowds. And we could see as well or better than when we were trying to see behind the front two rows.
Back to the question, was it worth it? I don’t think if I had to pay for my kids, it would’ve been. But for us 4 adults, it was nice to have all that extra space and not have to be in the throng of people to see. It was nice not to rush to get in line.
If I could eat desserts (dietary restrictions) or drank, the dessert party would’ve been better since you get actual seats but I didn’t think the $90 was worth just for seats alone.
A few other notes: in hindsight, I would’ve showed up at 8:55 to get in. That would’ve let us do one more attraction with the kids and it would’ve gotten us the same view. If you really wanted the first row, you would’ve had to line up an hour early and that feels practically the same as just doing the normal queue except you can sit while you wait. To show up 5 minutes before would definitely have made this worth more!
Also, I wouldn’t have worried about not being able to get the dining package. They say limited capacity but I can’t imagine we were anywhere near being at capacity. They could’ve sold another 100 packages and we still would’ve had space to move around.
Oh, lastly, I asked the waiter and he said we could’ve gotten the World of Color package anytime as soon as they’re open, including before 12:30. Wine Country seems to have better availability than Storytellers since you can get it all day vs just dinnertime.
Apologies for the long post, but hope this helps somebody who’s considering the dining package! i wish i would’ve known the greatest value was to just be able to show up at 8 and have a decent viewing spot. And that the other biggest benefit was not to be squeezed tight, particularity right now while tons of viruses are going around!
