Originally Posted By dshyates Tiki: Under New Management alone can inspire an hour of heated discussion. And don't get me started on the toons. Oh, and PIXAR.
Originally Posted By danyoung >What makes the meal last so long?< I'm normally the type that just wants to eat and get out. But at a restaurant like the California Grill, seated by the window and watching the sun go down, seeing the monorails and boats busily ferrying happy folks back and forth to the Magic Kingdom - well, that's the kind of meal that you just want to have last. And at least this one time I mentioned, the waiter was so good that he would have rushed me out if that's what I wanted. But I was obviously having a terrific time, so he was in no hurry to bring out the next course. There was plenty of a very tasty wine, bread with oil to dip in, an amazing sushi appetizer, the oft-mentioned tamarind bbq marinated beef filet, and then some light fruit and sorbet for dessert. There was just no reason to rush, and every reason to dawdle. I couldn't believe that I'd spent 2 1/2 hours on one meal, but I left completely mellow and satisfied. A truly wonderful and memorable experience!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Well just one course at home is an hour long affair with discussion and savouring the food. At a good restaurant 2-3 hours go easily with deciding what have, an apperitif, ordering and tasting the wine, appetiser, entrée, dessert, and then coffee. Heck, even at counter services we take an hour. I hate being rushed at meals, and I was horrified at the numbers of people woofing their food on the last trip to California, it was that trip that made me realise I am now more European than American. I am way passed wanting to run to PotC or SPlash Mountain for the millionth time, I no longer enjoy the parks commando style. I like to take my time, enjoy the ambience and have a nice meal to recharge my batteries. And often in theparks I can be seen in slacks and a collared shirt with the view that we will be heading to Cal Grill, Yacht Club, Jiko for dinner. Unless I have the time and money to enjoy these things, I don't go. And at the risk of sounding snobby, I hate that 20 min max burger eaters buy the DDP and then complain about the menues and slow service of the restaurants. DDP is one of the reasons why in many ways I prefer DLP to WDW. We may not have as many quality restaurants (9) but they are good and do not have ddp dumbing them down (though they did convert 4 good ones into crummy buffets - my least fav restaurant type of all.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 ^^^^^^^^ even though I only get to make 1 trip per year usually, I too have long since left the 'how many rides can we cram in ' stage and have moved to that same slow pace to enjoy the ambience of where we are. It's amazing how wonderful'taking it all in' really is. Our family describes our trips now as eating our way thru WDW - and we really enjoy places like Cali Grill - Brown Derby - Jiko etc....as my youngest is now 14. I agree usually on the buffets - but admit I like them for breakfasts - and cannot include Boma in the dislike - as it truly is a great place to eat. I ama soup-stew person ( when you live in the cold 6 months a year I think this makes you one) - and the station with the 5 types @ Boma could alone keep me very happy
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Ok, fair enough, Boma and the Biergarten are possible exceptions as they have food people are not used to and can sample little bits. The issue I have at dLP is most of the buffets serve the exact same thing as each other, and frankly its cheap margin and simple ops that negatively impact the efficacy of the resorts in my eye.
Originally Posted By alexbook I'm still having trouble imagining it, but I guess I'll just have to leave it as a matter of taste. Personally, I have trouble sitting still for an hour, let alone 2+. Last Sunday, I had breakfast with a bunch of LPers at Storyteller's, and after a while I started feeling almost claustrophobic. Nothing wrong with the conversation or the food, I just wanted to get up and move. Anyway, sorry for derailing the topic.
Originally Posted By danyoung Under most circumstances I'd agree with you, alexbook, especially at a Disney park where there's so much more stuff to do. But exceptions do occur, and they can be really very enjoyable!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Ok, fair enough, Boma and the Biergarten are possible exceptions as they have food people are not used to and can sample little bits. The issue I have at dLP is most of the buffets serve the exact same thing as each other, and frankly its cheap margin and simple ops that negatively impact the efficacy of the resorts in my eye. < I agree ,I have nothing against buffets specifically, but they have to be unique in their offerings
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Different strokes Ale. I take great pleasure in sitting at the table enjoying the ompany, meal and ambience. I rush around so much career wise, I don't want to be hurried at meal times. To me it's a vacation, and that means taking time with the people that matter to me. Then again I have been known to sit at a table from a 6pm meal and leave it at 1am when entertaining (serving food and drinks, and toiletting aside). For us, McDonalds can be an hour long afair. When I was a kid at DL, I couldn't stand it, but as an adult, I love it. which is why the Napa Rose, Blue Bayou and steakhouse 55 are as important as any e-ticket, or Cal Grill and Epcot restaurant, or the STeakhouse, dLP Cal Grill, Silver SPur and Walts. I also love having an old fashioned straight razor shave at DLP's barbershop on Main ST too!
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt ^^^ DWB, your life sounds to be the polar opposite of mine!! Slow life = Wild E-ticket vacation!!
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Age, lifestyle, tastes, frequency of trips to Disney, length of stays, it all factors in to your preferences. I go about every 3 years for 7-10 nights, I want to get as much in as possible, but that includes several enjoyable sitdown meals. In June that even included (with 2 daughters separately), just sitting in the patio at R&C sipping our drinks and talking. Great family memories.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey I'm with davewasbaloo and vbdad on this one,too. I go to the parks for the ambiance, not to try and set the world record for most attractions ridden in one vacation. We don't set the alarm clock or create an itinerary. In fact, on the first day we usually choose our park by jumping on the first bus to pull up at the hotel. After the first day, we pick our park for the next day on the ride home, unless we have a dining reservation somewhere. As dave said, I work hard enough and run around enough while at home that I don't want to do it on vacation. I'd rather just sit back and see where the day takes me. Hit an attraction, browse through a shop, grab some coffee or a drink and then hit another attraction. I'm in no rush.
Originally Posted By CMDad I am also of the slow down and enjoy being at WDW crowd. Of course, I am there a lot so the urgency that an occasional visitor might rightly feel doesn't factor in to it. I have been known to spend a lot of time sitting and watching a parade, show or what have you without a thought of what we want to do next. And dining - especially with family - is something to be savored and time taken with. That's not to say that is how everyone should enjoy the parks.
Originally Posted By sun-n-fun Since we have been to WDW about 8 times we too enjoy slowing down the day. We try to take a path that is least crowded or one we haven't taken before. Just enjoying the atmosphere not rushing to the FP to rush to the next attraction. While I love the sit down dinners, with one young boy it just isn't feasible. We'll do more frequent vacations instead until they get older. Before we know it it'll be just the 2 of us and we'll have the money (hopefully) to try more restaurants. For know we'll try to stay away from the pizza and chicken fingers by going to Yak and Yeti, Flame Tree BBQ, and the CS at the countries which seem to have some different food. We are doing BOMA for breakfast (as soon as we can get reservations) in feb. We've eaten ther 3 times for dinner so to save some money and still get there we thought we'd try the A.M. YUMMM making me hungry.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I think it may be different for Alex too in tat he is a local to DL. I think I would approach it differently too. Having two little ones certainly slows us down, and has given me a new appreciation level of the parks. I do remember, one of my finest days in a Disney park, I rode two attractions - the train and either the Molly Brown or Mark Twain (it was DLP). E were staying at the DLH and it was crazily crowded. We went for Halloween and di not know that every school in Europe was on vacation! So we got up and had a character breakfast in the hotel (spent about 2 hours), then realised the shops were quiet (unlike the attractions) so we went christmas shopping for a few hours. Then I had a shave and haircut and a wonderful cnversation with the cast members. We then went to the Silver SPur for a late 3 course lunch and a bottle of wine. Very mellow, we went on the riverboat and cuddled while plying the waters of the rivers of the far west. We then walked to the Frontierland station, hopped on the train and went around once. We had a walk through adventureland to Main Street, watched the parade and then headed off to the hotel to enjoy cocktails and the live piano player, and headed bak to the room to have an early night ;-) One of my fav days in a Disney park ever. It's funny, Epcot is my fav park in FLorida (and a contender for fav prk anywhere), yet I know many who do not like it at all! Funny. What is so awesome about Disney parks in the main is there is something for everyone!
Originally Posted By alexbook >>I think it may be different for Alex too in tat he is a local to DL. I think I would approach it differently too. Having two little ones certainly slows us down, and has given me a new appreciation level of the parks.<< Well, no, it's that I don't think I've ever enjoyed a meal that's lasted more than an hour. I understand wanting to slow down--I'll spend time sitting and listening to a band play, or hanging out with friends. I just really don't get the two-hour meal thing. Maybe it's because I don't usually drink.
Originally Posted By judros We just returned yesterday from WDW and had quite a few late dinner reservations; 9:45 at California Grill, 9:15 at Artist Point, etc.. (we where on the free meal plan with an upgrade to the deluxe dining plan). We where told by the hostess at Artist Point, after we complained about the late night dining, that if there is something going on at the MK, such as Not So Very Scary, that they have a lot a family's dining early to get to the park, but that you can always come early and they will get you in. We did that the next day at California Grill, we arrived at 8:15 for our 9:45 res. and we got seated about 8:45, which was not too bad and we had a party of 3. We also had 2 reservations at Yak and Yeti, one for 1 and the other for 2 and they put us at a table together, with not problems.
Originally Posted By blueharvest82 I just got to add this, we met a couple of friends fro out of town today in the magic kingdom. At about 2:30 they decided they wanted to eat at the california grill tonight. I went to guest relations and told them I know this is going to sound silly, but do you have anything tonight for the california grill for 6 adults? We got a 9:20 reservation for all 6 of us, we were able to see the pyro association fireworks mentioned in another post and five seconds later we saw hallowishes simple buy turning to the left. I think it pays to make reservations early, but this case shows you that you can still get something last minute.
