In my planning I’ve allowed an hour. Is there a better rule of thumb? On a dining plan so think we’ll generally do 2 course I think.
Eating at the following:
Beaches & Cream (Dinner)
Tusker (Lunch)
BOG (Dinner 18.55)
Teppan Edo (Dinner)
Yachtsman Steakhouse (Dinner)
Minnie’s Hollywood & Fine with Fantasmic (4.30)
Character meals are usually60-90 minutes (the characters rotate around the restaurant you have to wait for them to complete the rotation to see all characters). A signature meal (Yachtman) will take at least 90 minutes. In April Yachtman took me over 2 hours (I had to wait to be seated and every table around me received their food before me).
Part of it depends on what you order. If all you are ordering is an entrée, then you can be done pretty much anywhere in an hour (probably even signatures). If you are planning apps and/or dessert, I would bump it up to 90 min. TE, because of the seating and the way that the meal is prepared/served, I would allow 90 min. As was said above, 90 min is probably better for CMs - assuming that you want to meet all of the characters. All of this is based on when you are actually seated; you may or may not want to build in a “late seating buffer”.
When I dine at a signature, I start with drinks, have an app, entrée, and often times a dessert. I usually make signature dinners the “capstone” of my day, but on the rare occasion that I have plans for after a signature dinner, I allow at least 2 hours for the meal. At CG, I try to get an ADR 90 min before the start of Wishes. If eating at Le Cellier or Monsieur Paul I shoot for something between 5:30 and 6:00; this gives me time for a relaxed dinner and time to find a good location for IllumiNations (and maybe get an after-dinner Margarita at La Cava). FWIW, I’ve never been seated more than a few minutes late for a signature dinner (but Le Cellier, at lunch, sometimes backs up a bit).
Great advice thanks both.