Enough time between dinner and Tomorrowland Terrace fireworks party?

[Mr. Pricklepants]

Hello fellow mouseketeers,

Longtime reader, first time post;

I am going to be in the kindgom this May and on Sunday, May 11th I have a ADR for princess dinner at Akershus in Epcot for 6:45 pm and then a pre-paid reservation for the Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Party at 9:20.

If we arrive at Akershus at 6:10, would you think there would be chance to be seated early or right on time and then have enough time to enjoy dinner, pictures etc... without rushing, and then make our way back to the monorail and to the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks party? (whew, that's a lot of ands.)

Background: There will be three of us, my wife, my five year-old daughter and myself. My daughter is very, very small for her age, like she is the height of normal three year-old (nothing wrong with her, she's just short) and will probably be in our stroller for walking great lengths, so more than likely dd will be sitting in the stroller as her mom and dad walk from point-to-point at a decent clip since we have been training for the world for some time now. (yes, I have actually gotten in decent shape for this vacation) This will be our first day in the parks and we will have hopper passes.

I really would like to take part of the Terrace Fireworks Party, after staring at the guests jealously the last time we were at the parks 15 years ago. Sunday is only day I was able to score reservations for the week that we are there btw, but I will be checking back to see if any reservations open up for other days of the week.

So again, is this too much to do, in the time allowed? Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[joshsprincess921]

I did Akershus last time and it took about an hour with the princess party starting right on time. I also did the dessert party (although not in the same night). The good thing about the dessert party is that you have a reserved table and that is your table no matter what time you show up and the buffet stays open all the way until the end of the fireworks show. Even if you were a little late, I don't think it would be a big deal b/c there is always a mad dash to the buffet at the very beginning anyway. Hope this helps!

 

[JeffnPa]

Very good post, helped me, we have ADR at Tony's town sq so that is in the same park at 6pm. so we actually will be having a relaxing time that night. if that is possible at WDW.

 

[stillgoofy]

We have done the Dessert Party several times and personally I don't think I could eat a big dinner and do the party in the same night. We usually have a late afternoon snack and then save our room for the desserts. We have dessert for dinner that night, they are so good. We are going again end of April. Enjoy!

 

[MissingDisney]

We have done the Dessert Party several times and personally I don't think I could eat a big dinner and do the party in the same night. We usually have a late afternoon snack and then save our room for the desserts. We have dessert for dinner that night, they are so good. We are going again end of April. Enjoy!

Completely agree with this. We had an early dinner around 5 o'clock and still weren't very hungry by the time we went for the dessert party at 8:00 (that was our time to get in).

And remember, there will be lots of great desserts you'll want to try at Akershus as well.

My personal opinion, I would schedule Akershus another night to be able to fully enjoy the dessert party.

 

[journ116]

Hello fellow mouseketeers,

Longtime reader, first time post;

I am going to be in the kindgom this May and on Sunday, May 11th I have a ADR for princess dinner at Akershus in Epcot for 6:45 pm and then a pre-paid reservation for the Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Party at 9:20.

If we arrive at Akershus at 6:10, would you think there would be chance to be seated early or right on time and then have enough time to enjoy dinner, pictures etc... without rushing, and then make our way back to the monorail and to the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks party? (whew, that's a lot of ands.)

Background: There will be three of us, my wife, my five year-old daughter and myself. My daughter is very, very small for her age, like she is the height of normal three year-old (nothing wrong with her, she's just short) and will probably be in our stroller for walking great lengths, so more than likely dd will be sitting in the stroller as her mom and dad walk from point-to-point at a decent clip since we have been training for the world for some time now. (yes, I have actually gotten in decent shape for this vacation) This will be our first day in the parks and we will have hopper passes.

I really would like to take part of the Terrace Fireworks Party, after staring at the guests jealously the last time we were at the parks 15 years ago. Sunday is only day I was able to score reservations for the week that we are there btw, but I will be checking back to see if any reservations open up for other days of the week.

So again, is this too much to do, in the time allowed? Thoughts?

Thanks!

Assuming that you will be seated around 6:30 p.m. (arriving at 6:10 p.m. for your 6:45 p.m. reservation), your meal alone will take at least 60 min…you do not want to rush a character meal for the price you're paying. Factoring in the the time they seat you, until you've finished and made your way to the exit, your time check could be 7:45-8 p.m. (must fight the urge to stop at Mousegears to shop).

Then, there's transportation from EP-MK. The monorail is another time hog: you could wait up to 15 min., then add another 10 min. to ride to the TTC, then another 2-10 min. wait for the MK Express monorail, then a 2 min. ride to MK…time check: 8:25-8:45 p.m., give or take a few minutes.

Last bit of time consumption: bag check, entrance, and walk to the Tomorrowland Terrace.

In theory, you should be able to make it for your 9:20 p.m. Wishes reservation…however, you might feel a bit rushed, and you might be a bit too full. I checked Akershus for May 11th and found a 2:50, 3, and 3:10 p.m. lunch available for your party size. You could save a couple of dollars, too, by eating lunch vs. dinner. Just a thought!

On the day of our Wishes party, we had a reservation for 7 p.m. (with the fireworks at 8 p.m.). I made sure we had a big/late lunch, smallish dinner with NO desserts prior to our arrival, because there is an insane amount of goodies (FYI: bring your own water…their h2o tastes like trash…). CM's are pretty good about filling up the desserts and drinks up until 15 min. before the fireworks are scheduled to go off. Then, the amount of items available dwindles a bit. When the fireworks do begin, CM's are nearly cleaned up for the night.

Either way, I hope you have a magical vacation!

 

[joshsprincess921]

We have done the Dessert Party several times and personally I don't think I could eat a big dinner and do the party in the same night. We usually have a late afternoon snack and then save our room for the desserts. We have dessert for dinner that night, they are so good. We are going again end of April. Enjoy!

We did the same thing, had a late lunch and enjoyed our desserts for dinner! It's ALOT of desserts and I'm glad I wasn't too full to enjoy them!

 

[Mr. Pricklepants]

@journ116 Thanks for the reminder of the baggage check time delay and who knows if the monorail will be running. It's our first day in the park and I would rather not be rushing around on vacation. btw my wife thought it was very nice that you looked up the additional times for Akershus.

I have cruising the Disney ADR site and checking to see if any Tuesday night openings were available for the dessert party. I found openings at two different times, but both times I called to have the times swapped since I didn't want to be charged again. By the time I reached a CM, the opening was already snatched up. The third time I found an opening, I just paid for it and then cancelled the Sunday reservation and now i'm waiting for a credit.

Now we will be at Chef Mickey's for Dinner at 6:00 and fireworks. We will probably just take the monorail back to the park or just walk on over depending on the congestion.I think it this will work out very nicely, unless I find an opening for Chef Mickey's for breakfast. Either way I will be OK with it for dinner even with the not so nice reviews. We have some good ADR's for the week and we are going in with low expectations, so it's decent to good we will be pleased.

 

[journ116]

@journ116 Thanks for the reminder of the baggage check time delay and who knows if the monorail will be running. It's our first day in the park and I would rather not be rushing around on vacation. btw my wife thought it was very nice that you looked up the additional times for Akershus.

I have cruising the Disney ADR site and checking to see if any Tuesday night openings were available for the dessert party. I found openings at two different times, but both times I called to have the times swapped since I didn't want to be charged again. By the time I reached a CM, the opening was already snatched up. The third time I found an opening, I just paid for it and then cancelled the Sunday reservation and now i'm waiting for a credit.

Now we will be at Chef Mickey's for Dinner at 6:00 and fireworks. We will probably just take the monorail back to the park or just walk on over depending on the congestion.I think it this will work out very nicely, unless I find an opening for Chef Mickey's for breakfast. Either way I will be OK with it for dinner even with the not so nice reviews. We have some good ADR's for the week and we are going in with low expectations, so it's decent to good we will be pleased.

Honestly, I would just walk over from the Contemporary to MK…it's much faster and all you're relying on is your feet. The dinner there isn't that bad either!

As for looking up other Akershus times: no worries! It was like a quest for me…I love helping out where and when I can!

Enjoy your vacation!