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On your Disney World visits do you make Priority Seating (PS)
requests for one or more Disney restaurants before your trip? If
so, is there a restaurant or restaurants you always get a PS for?
What time do you like to eat at that restaurant? Any tips for making
PS reservations to get the restaurant and dining time that you want?
Answers posted to the list:
We always make a number of PS requests and we always do so as many
days out as we are allowed. If we are staying a week, we may call
seven days in a row, 60 or 90 days out, whatever the current allowance
has been. Boma and the Cape May Cafe are always on the list; The
Crystal Palace for brunch and the San Angel Inn are almost always
on the list. Other than hose, we move around among a variety of
restaurants. We usually eat breakfast late and dinner early, taking
a lunch snack by the pool. Calling on the first possible day has
always gotten us what we wanted.
Bob
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We usually only make dinner PS, lunches we play by ear wherever
we are. This upcoming trip we only have two dinner PS and tickets
for gospel brunch at house of blues. Both dinner PS are repeats,
one is for 'Ohana (we go here EVERY trip), and the other is for
Boatwrights at Port Orleans (went here Jan 2003 and enjoyed it so
going back)
Mike
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My
wife and I make our annual trips in January so we normally only
make one or two PS when we go and play the rest by the seat of our
pants. The one guaranteed PS we make is for Le Cellier. For me it
is a close toss up between Le Cellier, Yachtsmen or Shula's for
the best steak but the atmosphere of Le Cellier always takes them
over the top. It also helps our choice to go there as my wife is
a Canadian who lives in South Carolina so it gives her a little
taste of home.
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We've only made PS in advance once, and that was on our very first
trip to WDW for Hoop-Dee-Doo. Since then, we've never been disappointed
by either just walking in or at most making PS earlier on the same
day. We never know in advance which park we'll be in, so flying
by the seat of our pants works fine for us; obviously we're not
looking to have breakfast at CRT :).
Kim
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Now that we are frequent visitors we wing it on most trips making
our Priority Seating the day of or day before. We usually have a
late lunch or a late dinner (I ask for the latest steating available
for the lunch or dinner we are having. Our Only Advance seatings
are for Hop Dee Doo and Candelight Dinner Packages, we also make
thewm in advance for the Halloween & Christmas Parties. Our Favorites
that we ususally visit every trip are Japan Tepanyaki Dining, Le
Celliar at Canada and Plaza Restaurant at the MK.
Dennis
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We make priority seating arrangements for one meal for each day
we'll be at WDW--that way we're not rushing around after lunch at
one to get to dinner at another. ALWAYS lunch at Brown Derby one
day, breakfast or lunch at Crystal Palace another day, breakfast
at Cinderella Castle one day and, since our last trip we will ALWAYS
do Boma for dinner one night. The rest of the time we "graze," or
grab something at a spot that's not so busy. Our priority seating
arrangements are usually during "off" hours. For instance, lunch
would be for around 2:00 instead of closer to noon, etc. If you
intend to do Cinderella Castle, however, of course you have to book
WAY in advance in most cases.
Kathy
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Our last strategy was to study the Menus from Around the World
available at wdwig, really concentrating on cost vs. food/experience
value. The result was we discovered two very favorite things : afternoon
tea and Italy's appetizers late in the evening. Others like Cape
May's 'Kitchen Sink Sundae' and the single malt scotches at the
Boardwalk Inn lounge, we haven't got the timing down for, yet...The
offerings are so vast...originally, I was just on the hunt for the
breakfast pizza I remembered from the 80's. The upcoming International
Food and Wine Festival is also on our next to-do list.
Steve&Carolyn
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We make about 5 or more PS when we go down. Usaully they are all
at Epccot for around 6:45 - 7:15 pm.
Scott
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We usually only do one or two PS seatings.
It all depends on the place we are going and who is going with us.
Hubs and I just tend to play things by ear and make one at an EPCOT
establishment. If I am going with my sister and her family we usually
make one for lunch at one of the parks. The kids are pickier than
the adults usually.
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Next month will be my 4th trip to WDW since May 2000 (my first
offical trip, dont count one quick one day trip with former employers
back in Dec of 82, 2 months after Epcot opened, yes thats where
we went, but I digress). Even though I am a single Disney visitor,
I did make a PS my first trip, at Primetime 50's Cafe. My second
trip (Dec 2002), I didnt do any PS, but didnt need one for Le Celliar,
went for lunch, midweek, and got there at a good time. I did do
a quick trip this past Memorial Weekend, mainly to meet up with
friends who were attending a small convention at Coronado Springs,
and since they live in Calif and I in Ohio, dont get many chances
to get together. So no PS that time either. But this next trip (9/19
- 9/27), I have 3 PS's. One is for Sunday, 9/19 for the 5pm Hoop
Dee Doo show, one for Tues 9/21 for lunch at Primetime 50's, and
one for 9/23 (my birthday) for dinner at Sci Fi Theater. I do still
plan on going to Le Celliar again for lunch, cause they have awesome
bread sticks.
Mel
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We always schedule a lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. We love lunch
there. And we always try to get a late lunch at the Plaza Restaurant.
I love breakfast at Boatwrights for their Eggs Benedict. Plus we
usually try to get breakfast at Cinderella's Castle. Most all of
the time we get one breakfast seating. For the castle at breakfast
we tell them how many and any time.
Deborah
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Weird! Just today I made our P.S. for O'Hana's! I just got on-line
a few minutes ago and here's your question of the week! Things like
this have been happening to me this past week or two, including
some dreams coming true the very next day. I've been that way since
a kid, but everytime I go through a time period like this I can't
believe it. Jean Dixon, I am not, but all the same! Today I got
our P.S. for O'Hana's for the Friday, next day after Thanksgiving.
We are skipping our official Thanksgiving dinner and just eating
whatever at one of the parks or something. Our oldest son is coming
down to join us Thanksgiving night, so we are going to celebrate
the next night, and we all like it at O'Hana's. In the past, however,
I have called from home to make P.S arrangements at Liberty Tree
Tavern for Thanksgiving, and Cinderella's Castle for Christmas Dinner.
Last year I made P.S. for the Garden Grill to celebrate our daughters
14th birthday. Usually, I make them right from Old Key West or wherever
we are, usually for the same day or the very next day. We just wing
it usually, and have pretty good luck with that so far. I only make
arrangements for dinner, never lunch. I would say if you really,
really want that particular restaurant and time, you need to call
far in advance just for peace of mind. I know that for a place like
Victoria and Albert's, it's even a whole different story on the
disney dining line. And our kids are too old for character breakfast
or dinners so no need to call for those. We just hit places where
the characters walk around anyway just for the atomosphere. I felt
today that O'Hana's would have taken us even if I didn't call ahead,
but since it's that weekend following Thanksgiving, you just can't
be too sure!
Kathy
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I usually eat one main meal each day when I'm down at WDW. And
since I usually go in the off season I don't really have too much
trouble getting last minute PSs. I will make PSs for the more popular
and of course some of my favorites - Le Cellier and Boma are two
of them. I like to try different restaurtants when I'm there. I
usually have some kind of fruit and tea for breakfast in my room
(not much of a breakfast eater) and then I may have a snack late
morning or early afternoon depending on what time my PS is. I try
to book the latest possible lunchtime PS that is possible since
it is cheaper to eat at lunch than the later dinner times. And then
in the evening, I'll have another snack and maybe some more fruit
or something similar when I get back to my room for the evening.
Pam
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I do make priority seatings for each trip at certain favorite
restaurants. We always arrange: Boma, 'Ohana, LeCellier, Tony's
for lunch, and California Grill---these are our must do's. We love
the food choices at WDW and really look forward to this part of
our trip each and every time!
TJ
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We always make a detailed plan in advance with PS for all the
sitdown restaurants. Chefs de France is always a must: once for
lunch and once for dinner. Palio used to me a must for each trip
but on our last trip everything had changed – we won’t be going
back. For all the rest we try to hit new places we haven’t been
before. Last time we hit Boma and Jiko. We also try to alternate
the rest of the restaurants on each trip, for example switching
between Brown Derby, 50’s Prime Time Café and Sci Fi Dine In Theatre
at MGM, and so forth.
Bryan
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I try to determine if I am going to go to Fantasmic when I go
to WDW, if so, I will get priority seating well in advance, as I
hate waiting in the dreadful line waiting for that great show. That
has always been a factor, as of my I will now make sure that I get
priority seating for Chef Mickey, the ambiance is something a Diznut
such as myself will always make arrangements. I always make plans
to eat BEFORE I know I will be hungry, so that I do not overeat,
especially at buffets, I also allow my self early enough seating
so that I can get back to the parks, if I so desire
ed
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We try to have maybe two Priority Seatings. Sometimes we make
extras while there. I have to have too many appointments/schedules
since we never know where we will be. We usually like to eat 5:30
- 6 pm unless we have a late lunch.
Anne
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