upcoming Biergarten dining review :)

The place looks really cool!!! I had no idea it was immersive like that. It is not somewhere I have really given any thought before.

Due to the communal dining, my sister will not even consider it; and frankly I am concerned how that food would go over in the August heat.

I wonder if they ever considered changing the communal dining? I understand the cultural significance, however I'm guessing I'm not the only one!
 
I hear ya, @Spencer Wright , and I've commented before how my experiences with tablemates has ranged WIDELY. And I can only say, I'm sure we are not the only ones, but I also think you're right - in that the Oktoberfest tradition of communal dining is the "thing". They'd also, at least IMHO, have to greatly expand the place to get the same amount of turnover in if not doing it that way, and I've pretty much always had to wait to be seated, even always having an ADR, and sometimes quite a long time past it.

ETA - Just started watching - they say the restaurant was empty, and they were still seated communally - I've only eaten there for lunch ONCE, my very first visit, back in '93. And back then it was NOT a buffet, for either meal. For dinner, it's always been packed when I've been (probably close to 20 times maybe?)
 
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I commented on the page for the print review that Charles did (that also included the video part) that I am mixed about the communal seating

When we got to WDW we like to pick restaurants that have something unique about them and aren't like what we can find at home - and the immersiveness of this restaurant is what makes it unique ... and the communal seating is part of that - it does fit in with how seating is done at typical beer halls and Oktoberfest tents in Germany

So if you take that out, does it become less authentic and thus less immersive?

Might be nice if they had the option of a communal table or regular table - even if it was a bit limited. I'd hate for families to miss out on something they would otherwise really like just for this one fact ... but wouldn't want it totally removed either
 
I hear ya, @Spencer Wright , and I've commented before how my experiences with tablemates has ranged WIDELY. And I can only say, I'm sure we are not the only ones, but I also think you're right - in that the Oktoberfest tradition of communal dining is the "thing". They'd also have to greatly expand the place to get the same amount of turnover in if not doing it that way, and i'm pretty much always had to wait to b seated, even always having an ADR, and sometimes quite a long time past it.

Watched it and thought it was a good review (in terms on covering bookend to bookend). I vaguely remember my sole dining experience there many, many years ago. In fact, I don't remember anything except "communal" dining.

To Charles' point, we don't have many German restaurants in Florida. The local one we had, closed down about a year ago. It's a curious anomaly to me, since I know some fairly large pockets of German descendants in central Florida. Disclaimer: my ancestry is 2nd generation traced to Baden-Württemberg.
 


...So if you take that out, does it become less authentic and thus less immersive?

Might be nice if they had the option of a communal table or regular table - even if it was a bit limited. I'd hate for families to miss out on something they would otherwise really like just for this one fact ... but wouldn't want it totally removed either

I have never been on a cruise, but from my understanding that is sort of how they do it (have mostly communal seating and limited regular)?? I agree it would probably make it less authentic if it were all regular seating.
 
I have never been on a cruise, but from my understanding that is sort of how they do it (have mostly communal seating and limited regular)?? I agree it would probably make it less authentic if it were all regular seating.

I've only been on two cruises - one Disney and one Viking

The Viking one was sort of open seating for the most part - you show up either as just a couple or with other couples and they find a table for you

For the Disney one, we were a party of 6 and had our own table and we saw a ton of tables of 4 ... definitely some larger tables as well (some as large as like 15 people that were clearly a few families that wanted to sit together) but it definitely felt like a lot were smaller tables of just one family - at least to the point if you wanted to sit not with strangers it wouldn't have been an issue even if you were initially seated with another family
 
I think more cruise lines these days are at least offering more options for those not wishing to do things "old school". I know my usual travel buddy HATES to sit/interact with strangers (I actually get ""in trouble" with her for doing so! LOL), and on our 1 non-Disney cruise, we ended up either eating all of our meals in the buffet/counter services on deck, or an upcharge specialty. The 1 Disney we did was only 3 nights, and we were the VERY CHEAP FOR US guests of a travel agent friend of mine, so she sat morosely silent at the dinner table the whole time, while my other friend an d I interacted. She took all of her
other meals elsewhere. :rotfl2:

And - oh yeah - I ALWAYS eat at Biergarten, and she NEVER has, and probably NEVER will. ;)
 
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I think more cruise lines these days are at least offering more options for those not wishing to do things "old school". I know my usual travel buddy HATES to sit/interact with strangers (I actually get ""in trouble" with her for doing so! LOL), and on our 1 non-Disney cruise, we ended up either eating all of our meals in the buffet/counter services on deck, or an upcharge specialty. The 1 Disney we did was only 3 nights, and we were the VERY CHEAP FOR US guests of a travel agent friend of mine, so she sat morosely silent at the dinner table the whole time,. while my other friend an d I interacted. She took all other meals elsewhere. :rotfl2:

You are 100% correct. We recently sailed Celebrity and they offered "Anytime" dining. It allows you to choose, as you might surmise, a time between the open main dining room hours. Every time we employed this, we were seated as 2 with a separate table. As for main dining room quality vs. signature dining vs. buffet, that is a different topic.
 
Biergarten is, much to my surprise, our favorite Epcot restaurant. I say that because I HATE German food and have yet to go to a German rstaurant I didn't hate. Sauerkraut is disgusting and sauerbraten is what I am sure is served in the pits of Hades. We tried it on a whim one year and have made it a must do every trip since. I could live on those meatballs and spatzle alone! We've had chatty tablemates and quiet tablemates. It's fine with DH and I.

The review surprised me as Pete seemed to act as if he was unaware of the communal seating requirement? Maybe I'm wrong about that...but how could they not know it's communal seating?? They're the DIS!
 

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