Our Dining Reservations for 2020
Our Disney vacation is now 175 days away, which means we were able to book our dining the other day. Dining at Walt Disney World can be an added element to your vacation. With over 400 dining options at all four theme parks, resorts, water parks and Disney Springs, there’s so many restaurants to explore and enjoy. Over the last number of trips we’ve tried to choose restaurants we’ve never dined at before, with a few exceptions. We’re doing the same for this vacation. On this vacation we’re spending 10 days at Disney World, during these 10 days we’re doing 6 parks days, I’m running the half marathon, Jeff is running the full marathon, and we’re planning on lounging poolside and shopping. We’ve made 9 dining reservations as of right now, all except for two restaurants will be new experiences for most members of our family. Want to know where we’re eating? Take a look
Chef Mickey’s. We’ve eaten here three times before, on our last vacation we ate here for FREE ( check out how here). It’s a great character meal, featuring Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. We’ve had great success with exposing our kids to characters at character meals before meeting them at the parks. So we figured our youngest’s son’s first character experience should be no different. We’re going to head here for supper, which if I’m remembering correctly we’ve never done. We’ve always eaten here for breakfast or brunch. So I’m looking forward to see what’s offered during their dinner time. For more information on Chef Mickey’s click here. Chef Mickey’s is one of the 9 most popular restaurants at Disney World, so it’s a good thing we made this reservation the moment we could.
Garden Grill. This will be our first time dining at this character meal. Garden Grill is found in The Land area of Epcot. Here guests dine on food grown in The Land’s greenhouse. The restaurant rotates, giving guests an inside look at the greenhouse. The characters featured at this meal are Mickey, Pluto and Chip n Dale. We’re opting for eat here for breakfast. We grabbed an 8:05am reservation, which actually gains us entry into the park an hour before it even opens. Which means we’ll be the first to get on Soarin’. Plus, who doesn’t want to start off their magical day with Mickey waffles.
Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano Dinner. This Italian restaurant is found at Hollywood Studios and has never been dined at by any member of our family. I’m hoping it will be a hit, because Lincoln LOVES any Italian dish. Mama Melrose isn’t all that popular so grabbing an advanced reservation this far ahead of time wasn’t all that necessary but by booking this early you get your choice of times. Some people choose to eat here as a part of the Fantasmic dining package. This package is available at Mama Melrose, Hollywood Brown Derby and Hollywood & Vine.
Rainforest Cafe. Animal Kingdom Location. This is our kids’ pick. We asked them if there was one restaurant they wanted to dine at during our vacation and they opted for the Rainforest Cafe. We dined at the Rainforest Cafe’s Disney Springs location on our last vacation and clearly it was a hit. We have not dined at this location as a family and it will be the perfect compliment to our Animal Kingdom day.
Storybook Dining at Artist Point with Snow White. This is the meal I am most excited about. This dining experience is new as of last winter. Artist Point used to be a signature restaurant found at the Wilderness Lodge. It’s been reimagined into a character dining experience featuring Snow White, Dopey, Grumpy and the Evil Queen. This meal is prix fix and includes three courses. Artist Point has limited hours and because of the novelty, reservations are tricky to get, so this reservation was one of the ones I was concerned we were not going to get. But thankfully we were able to get a table.
Biegarten Restaurant. This restaurant is found in Epcot’s Germany Pavilion. I dined here probably 20 years ago, as a part of a scavenger hunt through Epcot. It was a memorably evening, and I’ve been wanting to get back here ever since. The restaurant is meant to recreate a Norwegian Town Square, with performers taking the stage and a buffet offering for guests to indulge in as they see fit. The seating is banquet style, so we’ll likely be seated with other families but if I remember correctly the environment is very festive and conducive to such a lay out. Our kids really love sausages, so dining here should be successively evening for us.
Be Our Guest Quick Service. Be Our Guest restaurant is found in Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland and we’ll be eating here for breakfast. It’s the only restaurant reservation that will get you past Cinderella’s Castle before park open. We used this trick on our last vacation and were able to wander around the new area of Fantasyland all on our own because the gates even opened. Plus, the meals offered here are delicious. Be Our Guest breakfast includes a breakfast appetizer, which will bod well for us because we’ll have our one year old who will be eating off our plates. So having extra will be helpful. This is a very tough reservation to get. The restaurant is found inside Beast’s castle and guests can choose to dine in either the West Wing, the Ballroom or the Gallery. The West Wing and the Ballroom make you feel like you are in the film Beauty and the Beast. They do offer breakfast, lunch and dinner but dinner is considered a signature dining experience and requires guests to pay ahead.
Liberty Tree Tavern. In Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square is Liberty Tree Tavern. This is the last Magic Kingdom table service restaurant for us to try. We have dined at all others. The meal here is a Thanksgiving feast, all-you-care-to-eat style. My husband LOVES a turkey dinner, so I imagine this is going to end up being one of his favourite spots.
Sci-Fi Dine In Theatre. It has been decades since I have dined here. But I remember it vividly. Here guests dine in 50’s cars while they watch old Sci-Fi films projected on a large drive in movie theatre screen. The menu is nothing impressive, with burgers and fries, sandwiches and pastas being offered. But the design and experience offered at this restaurant is second to none. It will be our last meal on this vacation and I expect it will blow our kids minds. Hopefully they won’t be terrified by whatever films are being played.
We’ll likely make one more reservation before our vacation in January. For one of our non-park days, the day we need to go pick up our race kits at the race expo. But the most popular restaurants we want to dine at are booked and reserved. I am thrilled with all the reservations we got. I can’t wait to get back to Biergarten and see our kids reaction with the performers. I can’t wait to see look on William’s face when he sees the characters at Chef Mickey’s. And I can’t wait to try the Storybook Dining at Artist Point. Now the next thing earmarked is our FastPass + reservations that come up in November. So the planning will be on the back burner for a little while. Happy Planning, Friends.
