Standard Meal Plan - Buffet Reservations

Started by Colbert, November 18, 2017, 10:45:53 PM

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Colbert

Hi everyone,

Received an email to day for our upcoming trip (12 days to go!) about meal reservations. I see everyone recommending bookings for the fancier restaurants, but on a standard meal plan is this really necessary? The only options are Agrabah, Plaza Gardens, Restaurant Des Stars, Billy Bob's plus hotels.

What are people's experiences of walk-ins at these buffets for dinner, and is is it normal to book a table in advance at these places?  Although I suppose it is also dependent on time of year/day of week, etc.

Slimy yet satisfying

We have found that all eateries much busier than usual when free food offers are on. Best to book if you want to eat at a particular time. We have seen people turned away at Billy Bobs and Plaza Gardens without a reservation being fully booked for consecutive days...that was mid week out of season. All the buffets are pretty good and we have managed well with them. Great for picky eaters or teenagers with hollow legs! I would phone and reserve ASAP as restaurant bookings open 30 days beforehand so will already be filling up. Book at least one place per day, you can always look at other options when you are there if you are willing to queue and wait.
1992 Honeymoon DH
1994 Oct DH, 1996 Jan DH, 1998 Oct DH, 2000 Oct DCR, 2002 Jan SL....too many babies so a big break...2010 Mar SF, 2011 Mar SF, 2013 Jan Kyriad, 2013 Apr Gite, 2013 Oct Gite + 2nts DC, 2014 New Year/Jan SF, 2015 New Year/Jan SF, 2015 Oct Gite, 2016 Jan Gite, 2016 Easter Kyriad, 2016 June Explorers, 2016/7 NY Dream Castle and Gite, 2017 Feb Cheyenne , 2017 May Dream Castle,  2017/8 NY/Jan Gite, 2018 Feb Dream Castle Hotel, 2018 Nov Dream Castle, 2019 Feb Santa Fe.

Pete's Dragon

If you don't manage to book a time for the buffet restaurants, then I would suggest trying to turn up as close to the restaurant's opening time as possible.

We seem to have gotten into a good routine of eating breakfast and lunch early so that we're ready for dinner while its still relatively quiet.

Colbert

Thanks both of you for your replies, need to sit down and figure out a rough itinerary and get things booked up.

As we've got 4 nights I think we'll do a whirlwind tour around Agrabah Cafe, Plaza Gardens, Billy Bob's and either of the hotels.

Zee79

We've just booked our meals, we rang late (10:15pm) & got through straight away. We've booked around 6:30pm so can still enjoy some time in the parks afterwards. We've booked plaza, Billy Bob's, parkside diner & sequoia. Our next trip in April will prob include plaza, Cheyenne, Santa Fe.


MattR

I have been to the park last week and was on a plus plan. I also went to some buffets (Plaza Garden, New Port Bay and Lodge).

My favorite was the Plaza Garden, it offered the biggest choice and i had free softdrink refill with the plus plan, second would be New Port Bay because they had a little bit more fish than the others especially the fish soup was quite good and they offered fresh made crepes. Lodge on the other hand was not so great.

I personally would only considering revisiting the Plaza Garden and next time I will definitely go the one in the Disneyland Hotel again. It may cost twice as much but price-performance ratio is much better in my opinion.