Parks Without Table Service Dining

Amid the opening weekend craze at KI, I realized that KI does not have any table service dining options. What's up with that? I would think that a park with a season pass base as high as what KI has would definitely have at least 1 place with sit down service. As a passholder, there is a definite appeal to come and eat dinner at the park for the evening and then do some rides, but not if the choices are LaRosa's and Skyline. I think maybe Bubba Gump's was one before the CF takeover?

Are there other parks that lack sit down dining? Most other parks I've been to have multiple options. Off the top of my head I don't think Holiday World does, although I think The Alamo used to be one.

I would also say that it's usually the case that sit down places seem to be the best value for food, mainly because they charge like $5.50 or whatever on the midway for some fries.

As best I can recall, SFGAdv does not have anything like this. It's all either booth-based or like Panda Express.

Dorney does have one outlet for sit-down service which I believe is the Game Day Grille.

TiggerMan said:
As best I can recall, SFGAdv does not have anything like this. It's all either booth-based or like Panda Express.

What!?

-Granny's Kitchen
-The Great Character Cafe
-Best Of The West

Or am I not understanding the question?

I think the question is "full-service" restaurants, complete with a menu and a waiter/waitress-type person...

Oh, I see.

Six Flags over Georgia doesn't have any full-service restaurants.

The question would be better phrased if it was PARKS WITH TABLE SERVICE DINING. Of course the best was IB I don't know about now.

And you know KI used to have the big room over the gate - what was it, International Restaurant or something? It was not only accessible from the park, but from outside the gate, too, and the hope was that it would be a fine dining destination for Cincinnatians. And it was ok, a stab at "upscale" dining ,also had a bar, and a great view of the park. I know whenever I would go with someone like my Mom we would eat there. But it's gone now and the other similar parks like KD and CW didnt even include one in the design.

I can think of places like Disney, Cedar Point, IB (resort atmospheres), Dollywood, and SDC that still have it, otherwise you don't find it much. Perhaps parks that have a younger customer base would prefer to keep 'em out there and moving along. My guess is that they probably found that most teens and young families are likely to hit the fast food or cafeteria type spots, rather than spend money and time at a table service restaurant, anyway..

Ya, I meant full service, though I only actually used the full term in the beginning of my post.

Also, maybe Festhaus was this way at one time? I know it has to have been more than 20 years ago, but it seems like any place which houses a show would be better with servers rather than having people walking around all over.

I think having table service is a good step towards making people have a more complete experience at the park, even if it is something as simple as Johnny Rocket's. I mean, you can get a hot dog on a stick at your county fair. (and the quality is probably about the same!)

Festhaus has always been the way it is, with counter service and self seating. The park saw the success of the rooms at the Busch parks and saw a way to mass feed a lot of people and entertain them too.

I'm trying hard to think what the original eatery/saloon at KI was called and what they offered. It later became Wings and now is the buffet called Rivertown Junction Dining Hall, or something. There may have been waitress service there, but probably just beer and sandwiches, similar to Red Garter, or Golden Palace.

Not having a full service restaurant is something that drives me nuts. I like spending some time in the middle of the day sitting down with someone bringing me food. Come to think of it, it's kind of obvious why I love Epcot so much. It's certainly something that always bothered me about Kings Island.

Last I knew, Hershey has no sit down restaurants either.

It's really nice to be able to sit with kids and rest up before going back to riding with the family.

Columbia Palace was the former Wings at KI Other than International (Which was a concessionaire) Paramount removed all concessionaires. I can remember no table service.

One reason I was told that International hasn't reopened was that to reopen anything it has to comply with the ADA and the only elevator is a service elevator.
I had heard that a TGI Fridays was interested, what happened?

SFGAm had 1 table service dining restaurant up until a few years ago. Now it's strictly a self serve buffet.

The reason I remember hearing of eliminating waiters was that they were getting stiffed alot on tips.

^ "Last I knew, Hershey has no sit down restaurants either."

Hershey has the Tudor Grill at the entrance to the park, and from the looks of it they make a killing. We visit during the week(usually Wednesdays) during the Summer. One visit we decided we were going to eat there instead of eating on the way there. We arrived about 7 - 730 pm, and were told that they were booked for the rest of the evening.

My favorite sit down restaurant at a park(Outside of Orlando) is easily the Alamo at Knoebels. Good food for a reasonable price. You can't go wrong there.

^^Perhaps they were stiffed on tips because service was bad? Remember we're talking about the Six Flags of a few years ago. Customer service was not exactly their best attribute, lol ;)

SFGAm was pretty decent customer service wise even when Burke was running the show.

I ate there a couple times when they had wait staff and it was decent. I think its the price of food and drink that cause people to not tip.

Sorry, I haven't been since 2006 and I didn't remember Tudor Grill. Thanks for pointing that out, I will be checking it out at some point the next time I go back to the park.

Yeah, I wish Mooseburger could become full service at SFGAm

Coasterfantom2 said:

My favorite sit down restaurant at a park(Outside of Orlando) is easily the Alamo at Knoebels. Good food for a reasonable price. You can't go wrong there.

A lot of people from the area go to Knoebels specifically to eat at the Alamo and nothing else. I know a couple who aren't into parks at all, but will drive 50 miles to Knoebels several times a year for chicken and waffles. Plan on waiting at least 20-30 minutes to be seated, unless you hit it at the right time between lunch and supper. There's definitely a demand for sit down dining, so I don't know why all parks can't provide it.

I don't recall either Idlewild or Lakemont having full service dining, but I could be wrong; my visits there were pretty short.