If you had to choose... dining edition

The answers to your questions are totally subjective and there are no wrong answers, so here are a few questions for you:
WOC Dessert Party vs. CCR Dining Package vs. Free FP (blue or yellow):
We've done all 3 options and had great viewing with all 3. What will make your decision is what matters most to you. Do you need a chair for WOC? Then the Dessert Part is your only option. Do you want a full meal for the price paid? Then go with the CCR Dining Package. Do you want to save a lot of money, but invest a lot of time instead (aim for 90 minutes)? Go with the free FPs. There will be some wait time for all these options if you want the best view (least for Dessert Party, most for free FP), but your view will be worth the wait.
NR vs. S55: Look over the menus to see which one appeals most. NR is California wine country style and S55 is classic steakhouse -- so while you can get a steak/beef dish at both places, the cooking style will be different. Whichever menu looks better to you is the one to go with.
BB vs. CO: Will you be seeing F! during your trip? If the budget allows, go for the BB F! Dining Package -- that gives you a meal at BB with great viewing for F!. Otherwise, again, look at the menus -- choose whichever one appeals more (and they are different -- BB's menu is richer and heavier). Atmosphere-wise: BB is inside the POTC bayou (fun, but dark) and CO has great people watching from the patio. Which appeals more?
Were definitely going to do Blue Bayou package, there’s some classic DL wow factor tonit and we like the Fantasmic viewing area. That made it worth it to us.
We’re also going with Napa Rose because we’re staying at GCH and it will bring it all together.
Still undecided on the dessert party, I think the cost is high for little to eat. We would definitely also have to get dinner after that.
For Carthay I’m hoping we can get in the lounge instead so at least we can try it out and go in there without as much cost attached.

Thanks so much everyone for your thoughts!
 
I haven't done the WOC dessert party, but I'd try to work it in if I could. My group loves WOC so we try to figure out how to get that in if we can. One year we did the Carthay dining and that worked out really well. Though you can always go to Carthay for lunch instead and do the dessert party.

Between Napa Rose and Steakhouse 55, I personally love Napa Rose. There's more variety in the food and that's helpful with a diverse group. I've always thoroughly enjoyed my meals there.

Between Blue Bayou and New Orleans is a tough one. I've enjoyed them both so it comes down to whether or not you want a sit down dinner or not.
 
Lots of great replies here and good points. I’ve done all of your choices except Steakhouse 55. It really depends on a couple of factors: are you able to splurge on these experiences? Some people vote them not worth the money, esp with small children or a closely budgeted trip. And, how comfortable are you with fine dining or “foodie” experiences?
WOC: FP, dining, or dessert party? For me, it’s going to be dessert party from here on out. Even the dining package (Wine Country, a lovely lunch) was a horrible 90 minute wait squished like sardines, and I ended up giving up my hard won railing view to two short kids behind me. The dessert party was awesome. So, so worth it.
BB vs Cafe Orleans: both had great food and service for us, and the patio seating at CO was lovely. But I adore BB’s atmosphere. My current favorite method is to do the F! Package for lunch: book the earliest lunch seating at 11:30, 60 days out, check in early, and ask for waterside.
I’ve done Napa Rose chef’s counter 3 times. We’re kind of foodies, so it’s worth it to us. We generally get the wine pairings with it. It’s amazing food, and it’s frighteningly expensive. But you know what? At this point in our lives, our kids are adults (well, almost, youngest is 17) we can afford it, and they appreciate it. Not like back in the day when they were 5, 9 and 12 and I was a stay at home soccer mom. So we splurge. But that’s just us. For some people, Carnation Cafe fried chicken is their special splurge, and it works for their families (I actually really wish I could try it, but we’re gluten free due to celiac! :worried:).
 
Still undecided on the dessert party, I think the cost is high for little to eat. We would definitely also have to get dinner after that.
About the amount of food: we’ve found that it’s perfect for a day when we had a late lunch or early (like 4 pm) dinner. It’s a surprisingly large amount of food. It’s been a few years, but there was a big bread basket with soft breadsticks, cheese and fruit plate, and then a large plate of mini dessert selections. Most people report taking a big box of leftovers to the hotel. Also you get two beverages (non-alcoholic, or champagne or mixed drink for adults) and hot chocolate or coffee.
 


WOC dessert party. Unless getting to the show an hour early for a good standing position and then being packed with a bunch of strangers is your thing, then go the FP route.

Haven’t done S 55 so I can’t compare it to Napa Rose.

Blue Bayou. The atmosphere is absolutely amazing. The food is shockingly overpriced but the experience is one of a kind.
 
About the amount of food: we’ve found that it’s perfect for a day when we had a late lunch or early (like 4 pm) dinner. It’s a surprisingly large amount of food. It’s been a few years, but there was a big bread basket with soft breadsticks, cheese and fruit plate, and then a large plate of mini dessert selections. Most people report taking a big box of leftovers to the hotel. Also you get two beverages (non-alcoholic, or champagne or mixed drink for adults) and hot chocolate or coffee.

This is my go to, either a late lunch (3-4pm) and then maybe just a quick service snack or something (think corn dog) and dessert party is fine, or an early dinner around that time and I’ll skip lunch and just grab a little quick service bit around 11 or something if I don’t think I can stretch from breakfast to a 4pm dinner.
 


We’re planning the dining for our September trip for my wife and I, we’ve been a bunch of times, and a couple of good friends of ours who are Disney fanatics but hav s ever been to the glorious west coast original.

We can’t seem to decide if we should do a World of Color dessert party, or Carthay dining package, or just save the money and get Fastpasses and eat somewhere else. Which would you choose?

Barring any miracle of getting into Club 33 we want to do either Napa Rose or Steakhouse 55 for a special dinner. Which would you choose?

Last, Blue Bayou or Cafe Orleans? WWYC?

I know you have made some decisions about these choices but here are my thoughts.

WoC Dessert vs Carthay dining vs FP.

We've done the dessert party once, the Carthay twice and WCT once, we have not just grabbed FP. In our opinion, the dessert party is the best of all of these. A table and chairs to sit at after a long day in the parks is worth the $$$. While it is not a ton of food for the cost, we grabbed some small plates at the Alfresco Tasting Terrace around 4ish and we ended up not finishing our desserts. Now, full disclosure: none of us tend to eat big meals and we find the portion sizes in the States to be huge so YMMV with this plan. Not that we don't like eating, as evidenced by my below comments about Napa Rose, just that we find the portion sizes big.

Napa Rose vs SH55:

We have eaten at both of these restaurants a few times each and for us, the food is much better at NR...even more so if you can swing the chefs counter there! However, not everyone loves the cuisine there and many prefer the menu at SH55 so my recommendation would be to look at each of the menus and see which one appeals more to you. We do love the breakfast at SH55 though! Napa Rose is one of my favourite restaurants and the chefs counter meals we have had there were amazing although by the end we could not do the dessert justice, we were so full! We can't wait to take our 13 year old there this August for his first time at the counter.

Blue Bayou vs Cafe Orleans:

Is there a 3rd option? :rotfl:

Seriously, I know that I am in a minority in that I hated CO and had one of the worst meals of my life there, definitely my worst Disney meal. I am not one to complain but let's just say that they ended up comping us almost our entire bill that night. Blue Bayou is hit or miss, with miss being the more likely one. I love the ambiance there, it cannot be matched anywhere at Disney for sure but the food is not great and it is expensive. Having said that, we have still eaten there at least 4 or 5 times although I don't see us going back again. The food, in our opinion, has ranged from pretty terrible to meh, that was ok and for the prices they charge I would expect much better. We did do the F! dining there a few years ago and we had a decent meal with great F! viewing but that is not enough for us to go back.
 
WOC dessert party or Napa Rose Chefs counter are our favorite splurges.

We love Carthay, it's our favorite restaurant on property, but the WOC package still has you lining up and standing like cattle. No thanks. Sitting, enjoying a cocktail or sparkling wine, while having yummy desserts is the way to go for WOC.

That said, we had dinner at Carthay last night, ala carte, not package, because we make sure to do dinner there at least once every trip. So worth it.
 

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