joy

Must we pre-arrange our restaurant choices at Epcot? We will be going there for the 1st time soon. I have read lots of reviews on restaurants. Without seeing the restaurants it is not easy to decide on where to eat. Also, we may not be ready to have dinner at the appointed time. I have read about many that we would consider, however, sometimes a lunch at a different location would be perfect. I would really like to know how to go about solving the dinner dilemma. Thanks very much.

Christy

Must you pre-arrange your choices, no. Should you? IMO most definitely. Priority seating at WDW is not an actual reservation, but a priority seating ahead of those who arrive at your specified time, who did not request priority seating. It a good idea to have them, but if you find yourself not needing the priority seating because you found yourself hungry at a different time, different place, no harm is done. It is a nice idea to call and cancel, so that another may have your spot, but other than that, there is no harm in not using the reservation. If you don't have one, you may find that you can not eat at some of the best places, or find yourself waiting a loooong time. Since you've said you've done some research, why not pick a few places that sound good to you, and then atleast you'll have those to fall back on. If you'd like specific restaurant information, I'd be happy to give you my input. I am an avid disney planner for my "disney loving" family, and we definitely have our favorites.

researcher

Just thought you might check out this board too:
http://www.disboards.com/

It has a ton of info and post by experienced Disney lovers.

Good Luck!

tgar

if you want great food skip the epcot restaurants and go to the flying fish at the boardwalk hotel.. if you want great seats for the laser and firework show reserve a table at the united kingdom
restaurant one hour prior to the illuminations show,, show up a little earlier than your reservation and ask them for a seat on the water.. if you want to impress your guests this is a must for the first timers.. the prime rib and fish and chips are good.. the show seated from the terrace is great.. have fun...

Gail

I second the suggestion of the Flying Fish. You will DEFINITELY need to make a PS for there.

jim

When you fist enter Epcot, they have a central reservation area where you can make a time by computer for that day at any of the restaraurants. We were there for 5 days and the first day did not use the reservation service (because the line ups to reserve were too long). That evening we did eventually get a table at the China restaurant, but had to wait over an hour for a table.The rest of the trip we waited and reserved first thing in the morning (it never took more than 15 minutes) and were much happier. There is nothing to ruin your day more than waiting an hour for a table when you are tired and hungry after a full day at EPCOT.
By the way, we found most of the "Mainstream" restaurants (at the world showcase pavillions) very overpriced. Many of the "cafeteria' style food outlets, such as at the Canadian pavilion, offer very good food at much more reasonable prices.

Julie

Make the priority seating reservations ahead of time and just cancel that day if you change your mind. Remember to call if you aren't going to show up- Disney has been known to cancel all your reservations if you are a no show more than once.