Has anyone heard how the food service will work at buffet restaurants once Disney World reopens? Such as Hollywood & Vine, Crystal Palace etc.
I know I heard there would be a switch to “family style” but I don’t know where that information came from. I did find this:
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That’s a really smart question to ask. I had not thought about it re Disney, but I’ve seen lots of info about cruise ships thinking of either eliminating the buffet or turning it into a place where staff serve you from the buffet.
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“Characters travel through the restaurant at specified times, but guests are not permitted to make contact, instead taking photos from their tables as the characters pose from a safe distance.”
I’m sure gonna miss this:
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I am afraid a two year old will never understand this!
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The highlight for DGD3 was meeting the characters, getting photos taken, and getting autographs. If we go in December, hopefully she will understand that "this virus going around " as she explains it (she is 4 now) will mean no contact at character meals. As an adult, the thought of handling utensils handled by anyone else to serve myself in a buffet line is out of the question. I hope that all of the buffets become served family style. I might eat less that way, too.
Those are magical moments and some of my favorites from my WDW trips with my kids. Not sure if we will still go if that is the situation in Orlando.
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We have a whole lot of thinking to do about our planned December trip. The expression on my granddaughter’s face as Gaston carried on a conversation with her, how both DGDs loved the parades, and oh, collecting autographs. They experienced the best Disney had to offer and believed in every bit of magic. I am going through the motions of making ADRs in 20 days, but it may be just a practice exercise. Plus, I am not a risk taker.
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Sounds like we are thinking along the same lines. I recently made ADRs but haven’t looked at them since. On prior trips, I was adjusting TPs regularly, but now I don’t have the interest since it may all be for naught.
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I have been worried about this for a while. I love buffet character meals. We do breakfast at Tusker house and dinner at H&V everytime we gake the kids. They love the interactions and the ability to get up and serve themselves. It woild not be the same without them. Maybe if not family style, they have CMs filling the plates for the guests? Kinda like in the school lunch lines?
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Not a surprise at all. Seems in one pic the character is behind a rope. I did read somewhere - can’t recall where that they may be plexiglass walls between characters and guests.
Personally, I wouldn’t want to spend the time or the money on character dining or buffets at WDW right now even if they do have them. It’s a shame because we definitely have some favorite character meals, but I hate the concept of the buffet even during regular circumstances from a germ perspective. Needless to say, I’m much less game during a pandemic. I have a July trip and I’ve switched around my dining to avoid these experiences. On the plus side, I’m trying a few new places in the process!
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This is problematic for us also… We have some unique eating challenges that make traditional meals difficult so we try to space them out. Family style dining doesn’t really work for us that great either.
(One person doesn’t eat a variety of things, and another has issues with both the type of food and it touching other things they don’t like in a family style dining. And one adventurous eater… Me. ASD makes dining out fun…
)
Plus my son has really grown to love the personal interaction of character meals.
I was actually hoping for cruise style buffet where they serve you.
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I think at the buffet restaurants, they will have a cast member come out to your table, ask you what you would like to eat, go back to the kitchen where the dishes are being prepared, and only bring out the specific items you ordered on a separate plate just for you.
