TS Restaurants waiting areas? Good or bad please?

Hello, can anyone tell me which restaurant waiting areas are particularly good or bad please? Good would be being able to order a drink and sit down, bad having to wait for 30mins while standing up and there not being a bar. Most interested in Park Fare, Akershus, Garden Grill, BOG, Saana, Ohana, Coral Reef, Teppan Edo, Biergarten, Flying Fish, Hollywood & Vine, Sci fi Dinner, and Yak & Yeti. I need to halve the above list.

I’ve read that Akershus is bad and can be long, but can’t find info on most of them. Do character meals usually have a longer wait please?

We’ve only been to Akershus twice for dinner, but both times involved a long wait outside.

Garden Grill once for dinner where we waited right outside the restaurant kind of in a hallway in the pavilion. Don’t remember the wait being excessive.

We also did 1900 once for breakfast and once for dinner. We didn’t wait for breakfast but I do recall waiting a little bit for dinner in the hallway off the lobby of the GF.

We did dinner at Coral Reef and the wait was insane…hopefully just a bad night! There were a few places to sit but there was definately some standing…at least it was air conditioned! The good news was we got a table right next to the tank.

We did BOG for lunch standby…in August…outside…will never do that again!! No wait for dinner, but the line to meet Beast was quite long.

We also did dinner once at Hollywood and Vine. We were seated outside on the “veranda” to wait at least 20 minutes.

I don’t remember any bars, but we don’t really drink so I could have totally missed that. We plan on doing these restuarants again during our next trip, except for CR…It’s all about the characters! Wish I could be more helpful but only have limited experience! Have fun and good luck planning!!

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Great question! Generally the waiting is a standing situation unless the restaurant is inside a resort.

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Thank you both that’s brilliant, just what I was after.

Sanaa has the best waiting area. You can go out back to view the animals. Great at dusk!
Yak and Yeti - small standing area inside - not a lot of room for waiting.

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What @disney1974 said :slight_smile: There is a small bar at Y&Y where you could get a drink while waiting, but I’ve never had to wait very long there. In general, there is not a lot of seating while waiting for tables at any of the TS restaurants, but I don’t think I’ve ever waited more than 15 - maybe 20 - minutes for any of them, and for that, I can stand (especially if I have a drink).

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Adding my two cents on our recent experience a few of your list.

We did Park Fare for a late breakfast, no wait to be seated. No sitting room in their immediate waiting area but as has been said above the lobby is beautiful.

Garden Grill we did early lunch with maybe a 2 min wait to be seated. There is a small seating area to the left when facing the check-in desk. Indoors so AC is nice! I was headed to the seats with the kids when they became ready to seat us.

BOG, we had dinner at 6:25. There was a 10-15 min wait and it was all outside. We were in miserable heat & humidity so my DH asked if there was anywhere we could wait in AC and they told us unfortunately no. We found a tiny patch of shade to hide in and fan ourselves for the wait. Also was standing, no seats that I could see but we cared more about being out of the sun than in a seat.

Then Ohana, this was the longest that we waited for any of our ADRs. We had an 8:15 ADR and checked in 2-3 min early and weren’t seated until almost 9pm. There was ample seating though for us to sit down and relax while we waited and there was a bar right next to Ohana (not sure if you could walk-up but assuming you can). There was also a Dole Whip counter just below & outside the lobby from Ohana and I believe there was the alcoholic option there. We made a stop there after for a Dole Whip fix that one of our party had.

Even though we were tired and couldn’t wait to eat, the wait paid off as we had a perfect window seat in the very back corner where we could view both the Electrical water parade that was just getting underway as we took our seats, the castle and then to wrap up our meal, Wishes, with the music piped into the restaurant. It was one of our favorite memories of the trip and was only made possible with such a long wait.

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After a long day of travelling, downing a Lapu Lapu at Tambu Lounge while waiting for your table at Ohana is the best way to kick off your vacation!

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Tambu is one of my favorite places to stop in for a drink. On trips when I stay at SOG, I always take transportation from the parks back to the Poly and have a drink before I take the 10 min walk back to SOG (and sometimes a second one to go for the walk :slight_smile: )

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Thanks everyone

BoG, Sci-Fi are both miserably stand in the sun and hotness for what seems like eternity. No alcohol or fun around really.
Biergarten has shade and a beer stand next door that’ll make you forget what you’re waiting for if you let it! :wink:
have a great time!!!

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I agree with the above assessments. A few other comments:

– We think Yak and Yetis is a more enjoyable themepark lunch then most. The waiting area inside isn’t huge, but we’ve always waiting inside in the air conditioning (which is a HUGE plus). They also have a few benches for people to sit down on but only a lucky few get this. You can get a drink next door and bring it in to wait.
– Teppan Edo is definitely an inside wait, as there is lots of room inside, and you could bring a drink with you.
–Saana is AWESOME inside. There is plenty of cool, inside space and an animal viewing area very close to where you wait. We were given a buzzer last time I believe so we could wander around and come back when they were ready for us.
–Love Sci-Fi dinner, but the waiting area is pretty crowded. Some inside space right near where they call you and some outside.
–Coral Reef is inside in a long somewhat dark hallway.

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Are bleepers something that is only given out at resort restaurants please?

Bleepers? Is that to drown out the foul language of an adult throwing a temper tantrum? :smile:

We’ve had beepers in the park restaurants before as well although I noticed in December many of the restaurants took a cell # & just texted us when our table was ready. I think it was around 50-50 cell vs. beepers last trip & those were all park ADRs…

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Yeah we love Akershus but with a reservation you still check in outside, then wait to be called, they could improve that somehow IMO. Be Our Guest involved a 25 minute wait (outside) for a dinner reservation last year too. We did a breakfast at Hollywood & Vine, checked in at the podium outside, then took a seat (plenty of seating and somewhat shaded if I remember correctly) and were called within five minutes.