ADRs on a Party Night worth it?

[stuarbc]

On Sunday Dec 18th we have tickets to the MVMCP. We have never been to one of these special events before. We will have a five year old and a 6 month old with us. In an effort to keep the kids from being too exhausted to stay at the park late and enjoy the full benefit of the party, I have planned to not go into any other parks that day.

My original plan was to get a somewhat late breakfast (reservations for Boma at 9) and then relax the rest of the day till we enter the park at 4 PM. We then have Fastpasses for Tinkerbell at 4:10 and then Cinderella and Elena at 5:10. I figured we would end up getting counter service somewhere after that.

However, I was finally able to snag a reservation for BOG.....but it is for an early dinner on that night at 4:10. This would mean I would have to cancel/miss my fastpass for Tinkerbell. We have eaten lunch at BOG in the past, but never for dinner when, as I understand, the Beast is there. I'm thinking missing Tinkerbell might not be that big of a deal since it is the Christmas party and I am thinking we are going to see lots of characters throughout the night....and the fact that Beast is at the dinner makes it kind of a swap out. We would have till 6:10 to make our Cinderella/Elena Fastpass....so don't think that would be an issue.

What are your thoughts? Better to enjoy the party and the fastpass or take advantage of the rare open reservation at BOG?

 

[mom2rtk]

Ditch Tink and eat at BOG. 4:10 is a great time for a special dinner before the party. See Tink during the party if you still want to.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I think given that you may end up with an early night despite best efforts (my 5-year-old just barely made it to Hallowishes last week), I'd skip BOG. Even as an early dinner, I wouldn't expect to be out of BOG before 5:45.

 

[ibela]

I'd definitely skip! You can use the party ticket to schedule fast passes from 4-7pm so last year I was able to squeeze 3 fast passes in just with the party ticket (we also didn't go to a park earlier in the day). At the beginning everyone, IMO, is too excited to sit and eat a meal before the real fun for the day starts.

 

[figment_jii]

I would opt to eat at BOG and then enjoy the rest of the pre-party and party time doing party specific activities. It'll give you a chance to have a solid meal before the party and it shouldn't cut to much into your party time. You have FP during the 4-7 pm period which will help, but I find that time really busy in the parks so we didn't get much done (other than things for which we had FPs). The restaurant opens at 4:00 pm for dinner, so you should be seated fairly close to on time. That being said, I allow between 60 and 75 minutes for dinner, so you might not make your second set of FPs either.

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

I would definitely do BOG.

 

[Nancyg56]

I would eat at BOG since you have an early ADR.