Animal Kingdom launches new category of dining - Picnic in the Park

[hpyhnt 1000]

Ah, right. At least it's not more palms, right? I think we had that talk...:lol:


And yes, the path by JII would be a very nice place.

No, no palms. :lol: If we're going to plant palms inEpcot, those should be up by the front, in front of a certain sphere.

 

[jaime_1234]

This sounds like a really fun idea! Does anyone have an idea about how late you can pick up the food? It is lunch-time only, or can you pick up food closer to the park closing time too?

 

[SDav10495]

I'll add my voice to those who think this is a great idea. And the pricing looks surprisingly reasonable...

 

[joel_maxwell]

Question: do some of the designated areas offer grass and shade or are they all pretty much picnic benches?

Also, i have glanced at the map of locations of picnic spots, are restricted to only those locations?

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

No, no palms. :lol: If we're going to plant palms inEpcot, those should be up by the front, in front of a certain sphere.

Honestly...:lookaroun...I don't even think they would be good there.:lookaroun Blasphemy I know.:lookaroun These would be good...

But taller.:lol: I think you know what I'm talking about (You see them a lot down here)

But back to the picnic...:lol: Picnicking in the shade of SSE and the LaL Stones would be nice too.

 

[dizzney]

Great Idea,

I would use this with my DH, DS, DD and DS, I would however order the PAckage for 4 and have my ten year old twins share one adult meal as there isnt a kid option, can always buy an extra water too. We've done that in the past anyway.

Creative thinking.....love that area down by teh river behind Flame Tree BBQ - relaxing and quiet

 

[Figment632]

ehh...sounds like a temporary fix for the lack of table service at the park. :shrug:

Yes but still sounds neat!

 

[krankenstein]

Yay baseless negativity!

I think this program has promise and Animal Kingdom is probably the best park to do this in. It will give people the opportunity to take in some of the more subtle aspects of AK and maybe even see animals they would normally pass over.

YAY for name calling and judging people!

I see nothing negative about my post. I just stated what it seems to be to me. I never said I didn't like it, or that it was dumb, or anything like that. I just stated what I think it is. :wave:

Also, what I said isn't baseless, the park only has 2 table service restaurants. Which is the fewest compared to the other parks. (No, I do not count Rain Forrest because it isn't actually in the park.)

 

[jakeman]

YAY for name calling and judging people!

I see nothing negative about my post. I just stated what it seems to be. I never said I didn't like it, or that it was dumb, or anything like that. I just stated what I think it is. :wave:

I never called you a name nor did I judge you personally. It was an observation based on the tone of your post.

Why would you jump to the conclusion that they must be addressing some issue in the park? Why can't it just be a new offering to allow people to experience sections of the park they wouldn't normally venture to?

Everything does not have to be related to some problem, real or imagined. To automatically assume that there is an issue in the first place may not be negative, but it is farily pessimistic.

Also, with regard to Rainforest, you can enter the restaurant from inside the park (unless they changed that).

 

[krankenstein]

I never called you a name nor did I judge you personally. It was an observation based on the tone of your post.

Why would you jump to the conclusion that they must be addressing some issue in the park? Why can't it just be a new offering to allow people to experience sections of the park they wouldn't normally venture to?

Everything does not have to be related to some problem, real or imagined. To automatically assume that there is an issue in the first place may not be negative, but it is farily pessimistic.

Also, with regard to Rainforest, you can enter the restaurant from inside the park (unless they changed that).

You did judge me by calling my post negative in my eye. :wave:

You have a history of this, and I'm not getting sucked in. However, if dining was plentiful, they wouldn't be offering more options. It is simple business. Why pay to add an option when it isn't needed? It doesn't make fiscal sense.

And, no, you cannot enter Rainforest from the park. The side entrance/exit also has a set of turnstiles you exit out of before you go into the restaurant.

Now, you have a nice day being on negativity patrol. :wave:

 

[yankspy]

Ahhh...gotcha.

And so have I!:lol: FW West would be nice too!

I was thinking about a nice picnic in WS while waiting for Illuminations myself.

 

[Rob562]

Question: do some of the designated areas offer grass and shade or are they all pretty much picnic benches?

Also, i have glanced at the map of locations of picnic spots, are restricted to only those locations?

I don't think they'd police areas to make sure that you're ONLY eating your picnic lunch in those areas... (Besides, if it starts raining, can you see them kicking people with picnic lunches out of Pizzafari?)

I think they're more just pointing out lesser-used already-existing seating areas that would most likely be open and available for your picnic, ones that are a little farther away from Quick Service locations, where seating would be full of people from that location. You could bring your picnic to Yak & Yeti's outdoor seating to eat, but it'd be full of Yak & Yeti customers.

This will bring new use to areas that don't get used much. Like the seating area behind Tusker House/Dawa Bar. It used to be an outdoor seating area for Tusker House, but doesn't get much use since they turned Tusker into a Table Service location.

-Rob

 

[jt04]

This is the kind of value added, quality of life additions that make for great guest experiences. Really helpful for those on a budget. Good food for not much more money than a fast food meal would cost. Probably less in some cases.

Way to go TDO!

 

[gus ghost]

This is a really fun idea! The designated dining areas are probably set so you won't be tempted to toss your rotisserie chicken scraps to the gorillas :ROFLOL:

 

[gettingsmaller]

It looks like a really interesting option. I am a little disturbed about the "3 adult credits" thing. As has been pointed out, they don't track them separately, BUT CAN tell how many adults/kids you have in a room by your card. So, it does potentially cut out all those people who don't have kids OR don't have kids over 9 years old. It seems to me that this is a big portion of their "target demographic". Well, okay, I don't know what THEIR target is, but it certainly would be my target. Who needs to picnic more than the people who have young kids who can't sit still in a restaurant?

Of course, this brings me around to another rant... If they aren't going to track the credits as adult/kid, why bother trying to enforce it? What if I'm starving and I want to order two meals for myself at the same time? I've got the credits, by golly, I should be able to use them however I want! Isn't that flexibility actually one of the selling points of the dining plan? GRRR! I ran into this problem at a place where I wanted something for now and something for later. Who are they to--in effect--call me a liar by presuming that both meals are not for myself?

Okay, enough of that, I guess... A couple of people here are arguing ("discussing"?) whether this is to "fix" a problem in the park. Here's what I have to say: it COULD be--does anyone here have guest surveys, etc. that say "not enough dining in park"? Without having access to Disney's data, it's hard to say if that's the basis for the decision... My guess is that someone at Disney said "Can we make more money doing this?", and someone else said "Yes." --POW--a dining option is born.

Honestly, until AK becomes a "full day" park (if it ever does), I would think that the need for dining would be considerably less than the other parks. I'm sure you have PLENTY of people who just plan to snack or eat quick service until park close, and then eat elsewhere (Epcot, DTD, Hotel room--whatever). This picnic option is probably expected to be something that will get some of those "wait and eat later" people to slow down and spend some money inside the park. Of course, I still think that the "3 adult credits" thing alienates the majority of those who would actually WANT to use it (couples, and families with young children)... but I guess I'm just being an "armchair executive"...

 

[Princess Clayre]

I think they're more just pointing out lesser-used already-existing seating areas that would most likely be open and available for your picnic, ones that are a little farther away from Quick Service locations, where seating would be full of people from that location. You could bring your picnic to Yak & Yeti's outdoor seating to eat, but it'd be full of Yak & Yeti customers.

This will bring new use to areas that don't get used much. Like the seating area behind Tusker House/Dawa Bar. It used to be an outdoor seating area for Tusker House, but doesn't get much use since they turned Tusker into a Table Service location.

-Rob

Great idea, sounds like quite a feast!!

I agree that the areas on the map sounds like the ones that are already there. I know we have definitely sat facing the tree of life in Asia and down by the water behind flame tree bbq before as they're always nice spots.

 

[NewfieFan]

This sounds interesting... but I too am wondering how the DDP credits would work!? I guess they would take the number of credits needed whether we have adults or children on the plan! I can't see them eliminating families with children when they want use their credits for a Picnic in the Park!

I would like to try this however - I'm sure my kids would get a kick out it! I wonder where would be the best spot to picnic in AK?

 

[Exprcoofto]

I think this is a really awesome addition to Animal Kingdom. :sohappy: I hope this stays for a while. An option for 2 in the future would be nice though.

The issue I see is this: We are a party of 4. Two of us want a meal from the subs/sandwich's and the other two want the chicken or ham meal. This will make it really difficult if they don't allow any modifications, and I can tell why because the pricing of the chicken or ham meal is more. This is why I think an option for 2 people would be great.

Also, are you able to add-on more sides if you want to pay more?

Nice choices too. Sound yummy! :slurp:

 

[WDW_Emily]

i really like this idea but i think the prices are a tad high for the first one.

 

[jt04]

i really like this idea but i think the prices are a tad high for the first one.

Been to BK McD's or KFC lately? These prices seem very reasonable.


By the way,

I like that Animal Kingdom is working with Dasani. I still think Dasani should sponsor a fully themed "Ice Cave" cooling station near E:E that features free Dasani flavored water samples :slurp: similar to the Club Cool attraction at Epcot.