Date Night Experience

[duck524]

My husband and I are getting to escape for a date night during our family vacation. We currently have reservations at Raglan Road, but it looks like I could switch us to Hoop De Doo Revue instead. What would be a better date night experience? Any other suggestions I should look into?

 

[kiramay]

We did California Grill and watched the fireworks. Of your choices I’d probably go with Raglan Road and walking around DS without kids

 

[OhThePain]

This most important thing to keep in mind is that a date night or more romantic night is what you make of it. For some people it has to be a nice quiet restaurant. For others it can be as simple as CS and a night in MK without the kids. Only you can really answer which is better for a date night.

With that being said, we really enjoy both HDDR and RR but both those restaurants can get awfully loud, which can make it really hard to have a conversation and appreciate the person you are with, which kind of defeats the purpose of a date night IMO. If I only had 1 chance at a date night for a trip, neither of those experience would be on my radar. My wife and I don't have kids, but we also don't often have a chance at date nights when we are home, so we try to treat most nights in WDW as a date night. Some suggestions are:

-Have dinner at Jiko and then hang out exploring AKL for the evening (which drove us to staying there on the next trip and now my wife refuses to stay anywhere else)
-Have a nice dinner in the EC resort area (Shula's, bluezoo or Flying Fish are our recommendations) followed by a nice walk around the Boardwalk watching the performers, the boats go by and people watch or spend the evening in Jellyrolls
-Lounge-hop in Disney Springs (share an app and have a drink and then move on to the next)
-Nights just walking around a park without a plan. Sometimes we ride rides as it strikes us and other times we just walk around without a care.
-Dessert parties are enjoyable. We have done the HEA dessert party, Pirates and Pals Fireworks Cruise and the IllumiNations dessert party.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Of those two I would choose Raglan Road just because at HDDR, you really don't talk to the people at your table because you are watching the show. For a date night, I would want to be able to talk to DH and not just watch a show together.

 

[sponica]

Do whatever suits you. I'd be inclined to not do HDDR since that could easily be done with the kiddo(s).

For our date night, we went to Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar because it wasn't open on our last pre-kid trip and the only way we'd be able to go was without the kiddo.

 

[aml3679]

My husband and I are getting to escape for a date night during our family vacation. We currently have reservations at Raglan Road, but it looks like I could switch us to Hoop De Doo Revue instead. What would be a better date night experience? Any other suggestions I should look into?

While we love Raglan Road, it is very noisy and you can hardly hear each other talk. The Hoop-de-Doo, while not romantic, the food is great, the atmosphere is fun and you can talk to each other.

 

[gharter]

Either will be fun, but we really enjoy Raglan Road.
We also like California Grill, timed to be there during fireworks. Jiko and Flying Fish.
Non Disney - Il Mulino at the Swan and BlueZoo at the Dolphin are amazing.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Hoop Dee Doo isn't very romantic, IMHO. I, personally, would prefer a dinner at DS (we like the Boathouse) and then a walk. Dinner at a resort signature would be nice, too. We really like Flying Fish on the Boardwalk. You could then walk around there. Or, do a monorail crawl of sorts, starting at Trader Sam's at Poly and then dinner at one of the monorail signatures (Cali Grill, Narcoosee's, etc.)

 

[Cramden]

We had a great time at HDDR but it wouldn't be my first choice for a date night. I've only had drinks at the bar at RR so can't comment about that.

Outside of those two where I'd recommend depends on a few factors. Where you're staying, what your eating and drinking habits are and your budget. We've done several Date Nights at Disney. Sometimes we've wanted a nice romantic dinner and dined at CG and watched the fireworks after dinner. Other times we've been in the mood to do a Pub Crawl as opposed to dining at one restaurant. We did a Monorail Crawl with food and drinks at each stop. It included Trader Sam's, Narcoossee's Bar and a boat from the Contemporary over to WL with stops at Geyser Point and Territory Lounge. If you happen to be staying at or near one of the Epcot Resorts you could make up a Progressive Dinner/ Pub Crawl between YC, BC, BW and the Swan and Dolphin.

It may not be a popular opinion but I think I like Narcoossee's better than the CG for dinner and fireworks. I actually preferred the fireworks view from the porch at Narcoossee's to the view from up top at CG. That might be an option for you.

I'm sure you'll have a great night whichever direction you go!

 

[Disneypapa]

Agree with Disney Wishes14, Hoop Dee Doo isn't very romantic. To loud and you are almost constantly being entertained. Raglan Road is better, but can be noisy too when there is entertainment going on. How about House of Blues in DS, the food, atmosphere is great, has some outdoor seating and musical entertainment at various times.

 

[Deb & Bill]

How about dining with the movies at the Disney Spring movie theater. At least one movie has the option to purchase dinner and dine while watching the movie.

 

[duck524]

Thanks for all the wonderful input and ideas! We live in a moderately sized metro area, so we have the ability to do fancy dinners and dinner/movie nights at home. I was trying to think of something more unique that we could do at Disney. I love the idea of a pub crawl, and if we did Disney Springs, we could probably still stop at Raglan Road to see some dancing while we are out and about. But the monorail/boat pub crawl would be fun too. I love boat rides and have heard such good things about Trader Sam's and Geyser Point. We won't have park tickets for that evening (it is a MK day and they have a party that night and we didn't get hoppers), because I could see doing a progressive dinner in World Showcase as well.

Am I correct in assuming I wouldn't need reservations for two adults to eat/drink at the bar at most Disney Springs or Resort bars/lounges?

What are your favorite bars/lounges? Any with particularly tasty or interesting appetizers? At DS, I would love to try Enzo's, The Edison, and Raglan Road, but I am sure there are other wonderful places I don't even know about.

 

[armerida]

We had a lot of fun doing a Disney Springs crawl last trip - started at the Hangar Bar for drinks, then Raglan Road for dinner, followed by the Edison for drinks, “electrifries” and live burlesque and aerielist entertainment. Then we danced the night away when the band came on. So fun!

The bar and high top area upstairs at Morimoto is also really nice, as is the outdoor seating at Boathouse.

 

[gharter]

While we haven't done it yet, the Highway in the Sky, sounds fun. A course at each of the resorts on the monorail route. Its still available on certain nights.

 

[kastoney]

I love Hoop but I'm not sure if I got a night alone that would be my choice. Raglan is a ton of fun. You may also just want to consider hopping around to several places in Disney Springs and having a drink and a snack at each. This is what my husband and I generally do on our Disney alone nights because its something we could never get away with when the kiddo is in tow.

 

[Maxine48]

It may not be a popular opinion but I think I like Narcoossee's better than the CG for dinner and fireworks. I actually preferred the fireworks view from the porch at Narcoossee's to the view from up top at CG. That might be an option for you.

We went to Narcoossee’s Labor Day weekend and the restaurant wouldn’t let us go on the porch for fireworks. They said it’s no longer allowed. They weren’t able to tell us if that was a temporary or permanent thing.

 

[Maxine48]

Thanks for all the wonderful input and ideas! We live in a moderately sized metro area, so we have the ability to do fancy dinners and dinner/movie nights at home. I was trying to think of something more unique that we could do at Disney. I love the idea of a pub crawl, and if we did Disney Springs, we could probably still stop at Raglan Road to see some dancing while we are out and about. But the monorail/boat pub crawl would be fun too. I love boat rides and have heard such good things about Trader Sam's and Geyser Point. We won't have park tickets for that evening (it is a MK day and they have a party that night and we didn't get hoppers), because I could see doing a progressive dinner in World Showcase as well.

Am I correct in assuming I wouldn't need reservations for two adults to eat/drink at the bar at most Disney Springs or Resort bars/lounges?

What are your favorite bars/lounges? Any with particularly tasty or interesting appetizers? At DS, I would love to try Enzo's, The Edison, and Raglan Road, but I am sure there are other wonderful places I don't even know about.

Fireworks are at 10pm on VMCP nights so keep that in mind if your planning a monorail crawl. If you like wine there is also George’s wine bar at DS and the tunnel bar by Enzo’s. I think a stop at the Margarita bar by World of Disney is always worth a stop nice comfy couches and usually have someone playing live music.

 

[Cramden]

We went to Narcoossee’s Labor Day weekend and the restaurant wouldn’t let us go on the porch for fireworks. They said it’s no longer allowed. They weren’t able to tell us if that was a temporary or permanent thing.

They must have changed their mind. I was there at the end of September and while they no longer let people onto the porch from inside the restaurant they were allowing people to walk outside and around the left of the building and onto the porch from there. There was a cast member making sure you were coming from the restaurant before they would let you on.

 

[OhThePain]

...Am I correct in assuming I wouldn't need reservations for two adults to eat/drink at the bar at most Disney Springs or Resort bars/lounges?

What are your favorite bars/lounges? Any with particularly tasty or interesting appetizers? At DS, I would love to try Enzo's, The Edison, and Raglan Road, but I am sure there are other wonderful places I don't even know about.

You are correct. You do not need a reservation to eat/drink at any of the bars or lounges, which is nice because it gives you a bit more flexibility, in case you decide to spend extra time at a particular spot. Along with the 3 you have mentioned (I highly suggest the candied bacon app at The Edison), I would also add Jock Lindsey's and the lounge at Homecomin' to your list.