World Showcase day… ADR or not?

[Darth Insidious]

Our first day this trip will be browsing World Showcase. Going to shop, see the sights, eat a lot of snacks, meet some princesses. We will arrive at 10pm the night before (if on time) so I don’t want to do Magic Kingdom, BBB, and CRT that day in case we are delayed. Looking for a fairly chill day. We will visit the rest of Epcot another day.

Wednesday, 2/14, so hopefully not packed. Festival of the Arts time and my older daughter is an artist. Will look at a few things on the way to World Showcase since the festival will be over on our second Epcot day but the goal is just browsing the showcase. We missed out on this last time. We had one Epcot day and the kids were just done after Future World and we didn’t see much of the countries.

I know booths can have long lines. We were thinking of snacks around the world but would you also recommend a dinner ADR for a sit down break and full meal?

It would probably be Akershus or Biergarten. 2 adults and 3 kids (6, 12, and 14). We will have CRT the next day but I suspect there are never too many princesses for the 6 year old. We enjoyed Akershus the other time we went. Also open to splitting the group for a meal.

Any thoughts? Thank you!

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I would recommend the booths around the park. There are some booths where the lines will be longer, but they tend to do a decent job moving people along. Perhaps do a little 'menu research' before you go so you can seek out booths that might be more enjoyable for your family. Keep in mind, a few of the booths have moved into the Future World area of EPCOT, too. But we've enjoyed a day at the World Showcase, slowly working our way around, enjoying the art booths (be careful, sometimes purchases need to be made!!), and enjoying the food/drink available at the booths. We've also enjoyed the Broadway shows they provide at the pavilion outside American Adventure. I expect Valentine's Day will be on the busier side - but you can still enjoy it. Have fun!

 

[patty57]

Adults only, I would opt for the booths. Since you have kids who love princesses, I would probably do Akershus. I like the food better at Biergarten, but the character interaction at Akershus is really great.

 

[fla4fun]

Personally, I would not schedule any of the AYCTE restaurants at Epcot on a day when I plan to be snacking around festival booths. We are never hungry enough after snacking to justify the cost unless we stop our booth snacking much earlier than we would like.

If it were me, I would look at the menus to see what appetizers or small plates are available. Then you can get the rest break of an ADR without feeling like you need to get your money’s worth out of the meal. If you don’t need the table service as a rest break, then you can definitely get by on what the booths have available, possibly supplemented with a quick service meal.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

You certainly could make meals out of the various booth offerings. Lots of good options. That said, I like to have a guaranteed indoor seated break where I know we can at least give our feet a rest and in the case of inclement weather or uncomfortable temperatures (could go in either direction in Feb) know we can get take a break from that as well. The new policy allowing cancellations up to two hours before reservation time make it easier to play by ear and if you're having a great time and lines aren't bad, could always cancel. Could also just look for reservations day-of (the new cancellation policy also results in some great same-day openings), I just prefer more of a sure-thing. Agree with point above that I might avoid buffets/all you care to enjoy spots if you'll also have been snacking.

 

[Darth Insidious]

I would recommend the booths around the park. There are some booths where the lines will be longer, but they tend to do a decent job moving people along. Perhaps do a little 'menu research' before you go so you can seek out booths that might be more enjoyable for your family. Keep in mind, a few of the booths have moved into the Future World area of EPCOT, too. But we've enjoyed a day at the World Showcase, slowly working our way around, enjoying the art booths (be careful, sometimes purchases need to be made!!), and enjoying the food/drink available at the booths. We've also enjoyed the Broadway shows they provide at the pavilion outside American Adventure. I expect Valentine's Day will be on the busier side - but you can still enjoy it. Have fun!

Thank you. Oh no on Valentines Day being busy. Still better than a weekend day, right?

 

[Darth Insidious]

You certainly could make meals out of the various booth offerings. Lots of good options. That said, I like to have a guaranteed indoor seated break where I know we can at least give our feet a rest and in the case of inclement weather or uncomfortable temperatures (could go in either direction in Feb) know we can get take a break from that as well. The new policy allowing cancellations up to two hours before reservation time make it easier to play by ear and if you're having a great time and lines aren't bad, could always cancel. Could also just look for reservations day-of (the new cancellation policy also results in some great same-day openings), I just prefer more of a sure-thing. Agree with point above that I might avoid buffets/all you care to enjoy spots if you'll also have been snacking.

This is a great idea. I could grab an ADR and let the group decide that day. I can’t imagine my youngest turning down Akershus though. But we don’t all have to go if the others would prefer not to. While I’m not generally wasteful, I am okay with overpaying for this experience at Disney even if they don’t eat much. It’s also a very Disney thing to do with the princesses. This is the little one’s first trip. I’d prefer Magic Kingdom on day 1 but I think it would be a bit much after a late travel day.

 

[CarolynFH]

I would suggest downloading the Food & Wine app. It's not an official Disney app, but it's very helpful for all Epcot festivals. Currently it's showing the ongoing F&W festival, but when the Festival of the Arts begins it will update to that. It's very useful in that it shows all the booths, lists all the foods and beverages available at each one, and gives their prices. You can mark the items you want to try and also switch to a map view so that you don't pass by one you want.

 

[Marthasor]

I would definitely make an ADR with a group of 5, particularly with children. The lines for the booths can be quite long, the plates are small and sometimes a table can be difficult to find. It also may be quite cold in mid-February and you may want an indoor place to sit and eat. If you would rather not spend a ton of money, there are some good QS places (we really like Regal Eagle, which has a large indoor seating area) and Spice Road Table has some excellent "small plates" that are actually quite large and very good. Otherwise, yes, I would make an ADR and even split the family up if only some are interested in Akershus. As a PP may have mentioned, you can always cancel up to 2 hours prior to the ADR to avoid a no-show fee, so there is no harm in making the ADR just in case.