Dining @ Disney

[NorthernON_MOM]

What is up with this priority seating thing. Do we have to call and do this for every single meal for every day of our stay before we go? I'm confussed. Thanks. Oh and the character meals, would they be worth worrying about for almost 6 and 8 year old boys?

 

[Ducky4Disney]

I don't have a lot of experience with this - but here's my 2 cents.

Priority seating is not required for everything. There are a few events where having a PS is a must, like the Princess breakfast at Cinderella's castle. You also don't have to call before you go. On our last trip we only planned a few PS meals. Garden Grill, the Biergarten, and Liberty Tavern. It's a good idea to make them for character meals - which I think are fun, and I would think that your boys would like them too!

There are lots of factors involved, time of year, which restaurant, characters... so on and so forth.

Where are the experts?

D4D

 

[msteddom]

I'm not exactly an expert, but I do have one successful trip under my belt, so I'll give my opinion. Definitly make PSs for a few meals that you really want to do.

I would also make some "back up" PSs, to ensure that you have some place to eat in case. Just make sure to cancel these the second it beomes clear that you aren't going to use it.


Also remeber that you can make a PS at any guest services booth or call disney dining from your room. We did that a lot on my last trip. we decided what we wanted to do for the day, and either called dining while we were getting ready or made guest services our first stop. Have fun planning.


Melissa

 

[futomara]

When we first used to visit WDW, we used priority seatings quite a bit. What I found was that too much of our time was dictated by where we were going to eat....always making sure we were at a certain restaurant at a certain time....it became more of a chore than a pleasant experience. Now, we very rarely ever make a PS. Our feeling is that there are so many good places to eat, that if we go to a restaurant and can't get in, then it wasn't meant to be and we head somewhere else.

The only exception to this these days is if we really want to go to one of our favorites but even then, if it is not a busy time of the year, we'll forego a PS then too. My advice would be to make one or two PS's for any restaurant that is a must for you, but do not make PS's for every meal; it will just make you go crazy trying to make each restuarant on time. Plus, how do you know you are going to be hungry when it is time for your PS each day....it's just not how we like to schedule our trip.

 

[onecoolmama]

You need to make PS's for any sit down restaurant you want to eat at. You can always cancel, but have them so that you can go if you want. Also, YES! It is worth it to do character meals with all kids...but especially kids that are your ages. There is the autograph books, the characters interacting and making the kids laugh and the overall extra magic that you can give your kids on their vacation. Now they are extremely expensive...but again...very fun and part of the whole Disney expierence.

HTH!

 

[Grumpy92]

Here is the PS General Rule of Thumb:

You dont need them before you arrive unless your dining falls into one of the following catagories:
You are visiting during a holiday or school vacation period
Character meal - you might want to find out your sons fave characters and choose a restaurant with them.
You want to dine at one of the more popular restaraunts (Cal Grill, WC, Ohana, Le Cellier, 50s PT, Sci Fi, Cindy's)

If you like to dine around the 7pm hour I would recommend making a PS in the morning before you leave the hotel, unless it falls into the exceptions listed above. This is the busy time for dinner and it will decrease your wait time.