Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

James J

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
$84/adult pre-fixe menu is not exactly a children's restaurant. The staffing and interiors are above the norm. It is designed to be more formal than your average restaurant at MK. Children can of course go, but it's a fancier meal for them to meet princesses.

The last time we ate at CRT we had gone home first, changed into nighttime dinner attire and returned to MK.

I work in Manhattan so none of the dining options on property are really that amazing, but we and many others elevate certain restaurants. Makes for a better date night with the wife.


Tell that to all of the guests who get engaged at CRT (not me, but I have seen it many times). It has a special ambiance, maturity and elegance that is above most of the other dining options in the park.


Hasn't happened yet for dinner. Maybe breakfast/lunch.


The parks were made for adults too. There are certain areas designed to be more mature than others.


Those are certainly great examples of more formal dining options. I would add Jaleo at Disney Springs to that.
I thought your first post might have been sarcasm, but now I see that you are indeed choosing this very weird hill to die on. CRT is not a formal, adult leaning restaurant. The CRT page on the WDW website literally says that it encourages young diners to dress up:

Cinderella makes your acquaintance in the majestic Grand Hall before you ascend a spiral staircase to the banquet room above. (A gilded elevator is also available to transport you to the festivities.)

Then, dine in a storybook setting surrounded by soaring stone archways, majestic medieval flags and spectacular stained-glass windows overlooking Fantasyland. During your time inside the castle, enjoy a visit with Disney Princesses.

Tiaras and glittering gowns are optional, although young Guests are encouraged to dress up for the occasion.

Character appearances are subject to change

So that's kids in costumes, not adults in formal suits and fancy dresses. Lord.
 

JD80

Well-Known Member
It’s possible but I think the tier 1 limitation is designed to address this. If you can only book 1 tier 1 then they should not all be sold out at +7. On busy days the more popular times and maybe more popular rides could be.

If what I said above is not true then not sure economically it would benefit Disney to hold some back If the supply is less than demand overall. The 60 slots released at +7 in your example would all sell out with some people shut out and then you would have resort guests unhappy and not buying in to the system. They would possibly get in line with non-resort guests at day +3 or day off to hope to get one of those 20 extra slots released and if they got shut out again they don’t buy. The point is Disney sells the same 80 units whether 60 go to resort guests and 20 go to anyone who gets in at a later time or they release all 80 to resort guests at day +7. I think the 7 days is intended to give resort guests the more favorable time slots and rides but they expect to have openings still +3 and day of.

All potentially true, I don't have data to break down and my numbers are kind of just random. The inventory for LLMP can be substantially larger now due to the DAS changes too which makes most of this conversation useless!
 

Rob562

Well-Known Member
So today is +7 from go-live date of the new system. I may have missed it in the flurry of posts, but does that mean hotel guests can start booking for next week? Or is it just going to be a straight switch over next week and the first few days will be a jumble?

-Rob
 

nickys

Premium Member
Is that because of all the off-topic drama related to the really bad take that a restaurant that has princesses and hands out toy wands and swords to kids is "formal," or do you have some insider knowledge that more LL-MP information is incoming soon?
It could also be because Disney managed to send out emails to those with stays on 24th, telling them they could prebook starting today. 🤦🏽‍♀️
They’re now sending out corrected emails to everyone. Not a good look! 😎
 

nickys

Premium Member
So today is +7 from go-live date of the new system. I may have missed it in the flurry of posts, but does that mean hotel guests can start booking for next week? Or is it just going to be a straight switch over next week and the first few days will be a jumble?

-Rob
We posted at the same time!

No to pre-booking ahead of the 24th. That’s the date the new system starts and the pre-booking system goes live!
 

JAB

Well-Known Member
It could also be because Disney managed to send out emails to those with stays on 24th, telling them they could prebook starting today. 🤦🏽‍♀️
They’re now sending out corrected emails to everyone. Not a good look! 😎
Oof. Not good. :facepalm:

I'm guessing the scheduled emails are handled by a different team than the LL devs because this is exactly the kind of thing that happens when multiple different teams work on different parts of a system and they don't properly coordinate or communicate requirements.
 

nickys

Premium Member
Oof. Not good. :facepalm:

I'm guessing the scheduled emails are handled by a different team than the LL devs because this is exactly the kind of thing that happens when multiple different teams work on different parts of a system and they don't properly coordinate or communicate requirements.
Someone certainly screwed up the implementation. Thought they could get some of the “administrative” parts of the system live ahead of time without checking the scheduling requirements.
 

DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
They probably don’t mind getting engaged around children.
It's not about kids being there in general. It's about how they control themselves. Kids who are mature enough to sit down for a nice meal and not have a tantrum, or run around, are more than welcome. Just like at other more formal sit-down restaurants.

Liken CRT to a themed tea-time. It's supposed to be sophisticated, yet whimsical. Not a loud free-for-all. A lot of the kids there went to BBB and are dressed up in rather expensive clothes. It's all part of the overall ambiance, which lends itself to an elevated experience.
 

JAB

Well-Known Member
Someone certainly screwed up the implementation. Thought they could get some of the “administrative” parts of the system live ahead of time without checking the scheduling requirements.
Exactly. They just scheduled "7 days before, for arrival dates starting 7/24" and either didn't consider or didn't know that LL-MP booking isn't active for anyone until the 24th. Either way it shouldn't have happened.

They should have done a one-time email blast on the 24th for everyone with dates from 24th-31st, and then turned on the auto 7-day emails on 8/1.

It will be interesting to see if it keeps sending out new emails each day for the next week (and again on 21st for 3-day off-site guests), or if they actually fix it.
 

Purduevian

Well-Known Member
It's not about kids being there in general. It's about how they control themselves. Kids who are mature enough to sit down for a nice meal and not have a tantrum, or run around, are more than welcome. Just like at other more formal sit-down restaurants.

Liken CRT to a themed tea-time. It's supposed to be sophisticated, yet whimsical. Not a loud free-for-all. A lot of the kids there went to BBB and are dressed up in rather expensive clothes. It's all part of the overall ambiance, which lends itself to an elevated experience.
FYI the following are the only restaurants with a dress code above the standard theme park dress code:
  • California Grill
  • Citricos
  • Flying Fish
  • Il Mulino New York Trattoria
  • Jiko
  • Monsieur Paul
  • Narcoossee’s
  • Shula’s Steakhouse
  • Takumi-Tei
  • Todd English’s bluezoo
  • Topolino’s Terrace — Flavors of the Riviera
  • Yachtsman Steakhouse
  • Victoria & Albert’s
Personally, I don't see an issue with anyone bringing any young children into any WDW restaurant not listed above. The above list is where I would expect only children that can be well behaved and sit through a sit down meal.

The nicest restaurant I personally took a <1 year old was Wine Bar George and that is a more "adult" themed restaurant than CRT.

All of this started because of the discussion if G+ was hampering sit down dinning at WDW. I think we will probably see the effects of LLMP vs G+ on dinning in a few weeks once the new system settles in.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
It's not about kids being there in general. It's about how they control themselves. Kids who are mature enough to sit down for a nice meal and not have a tantrum, or run around, are more than welcome. Just like at other more formal sit-down restaurants.

Liken CRT to a themed tea-time. It's supposed to be sophisticated, yet whimsical. Not a loud free-for-all. A lot of the kids there went to BBB and are dressed up in rather expensive clothes. It's all part of the overall ambiance, which lends itself to an elevated experience.
I liken CRT to a VERY expensive Chuck E. Cheese’s. Where an Adult Can Be a Kid©

We went to WDW for our honeymoon in 2009 and we ate at CRT. We weren’t offended about kids being in there. I actually wasn’t all that aware of anyone besides my wife in the room.

We also ate at California Grill. There were kids there but fewer (and well behaved).
 

DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
All of this started because of the discussion if G+ was hampering sit down dinning at WDW. I think we will probably see the effects of LLMP vs G+ on dinning in a few weeks once the new system settles in.
Unless something has changed, G+ mostly showed the next available time. This made it difficult to plan dining. FP+ would allow you to book a ride at different times of day. This would allow you to keep a 2-hour open window for a reservation, while you had a ride scheduled for after your meal. I can't recall if LLMP is any different. I hope they bring back the ability to search for afternoon times in the AM.
 

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Unless something has changed, G+ mostly showed the next available time. This made it difficult to plan dining. FP+ would allow you to book a ride at different times of day. This would allow you to keep a 2-hour open window for a reservation, while you had a ride scheduled for after your meal. I can't recall if LLMP is any different. I hope they bring back the ability to search for afternoon times in the AM.
That is supposed to be the way it will work similar to FP+. Definitely for the first 3 reservations and the assumption is when you go to make 4 after using 1 you will still be able to pick any available return window so should make ADRs much easier to navigate around. We have to see it in action to be sure thats how the 4th reservation works.
 

C33Mom

Well-Known Member
I liken CRT to a VERY expensive Chuck E. Cheese’s. Where an Adult Can Be a Kid©

We went to WDW for our honeymoon in 2009 and we ate at CRT. We weren’t offended about kids being in there. I actually wasn’t all that aware of anyone besides my wife in the room.

We also ate at California Grill. There were kids there but fewer (and well behaved).
Completely agree. It’s pricey, the food is OK to “pretty good” if you are extremely lucky. I went for the first time ever with my boyfriend when we attended a Pirate/Princess party and I was just so excited to learn you could dine inside the castle. I don’t remember much other than having a window table with a charming sunset/twilight view over Fantasyland…. And leaving with a tacky plastic sword suddenly in costume for pirate night. 🤣

Didn’t mean to imply any judgment at all for adults who love it or think it’s fun to dress up collect their plastic wishing stars and swords while making small talk with princesses…but I’m pretty sure it’s specifically designed targeting kids.

However, I will concede to @DCLcruiser that I believe it is literally the most elevated dining experience you can have inside MK.
 

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