Category: Other

It remains the case that the Disneyland Resort parks are closed for the time being, so we wanted to take a deep dive into one of our favorite places you CAN visit, Uva Bar at Downtown Disney for this bonus installment of our “Better Know a…” series.

What is Uva Bar?

Uva Bar is an open-air lounge and restaurant located smack dab in the middle of the action at Downtown Disney. While it does have a full menu, it works particularly well as a place to grab a cocktail or a quick bite.

Where is Uva Bar?

Uva Bar is near Catal Restaurant (with which it is affiliated — they are both Patina Group properties). Walking from the esplanade, it will be about half way to the Disneyland Hotel, right in the middle of the walkway. It’s one of the more visible spots in Downtown Disney; you won’t be able to miss it.

 

 

What You Need to Know About the Menu at Uva Bar

The menu at Uva is straightforward, featuring sandwiches, salad, and several appetizer dips, most of which have a Mediterranean flair. There is an extensive cocktail and craft beer menu, and there are several wines available by the glass, highlighting that the food, while good enough, isn’t the primary draw here.

What the Dining Experience Is Like at Uva Bar

While it does have a menu that would permit you to have a proper meal, it really excels as a lounge. When the weather is nice, it’s also one of the best places to just sit and take in the atmosphere and relax. While there is a kids’ menu, it’s really an experience that caters to adults.

What are Some Items to Target at Uva Bar?

The appetizers tend to be some of the stronger menu items.  For those looking for something heavier, the fish tacos with citrus coleslaw and chipotle aïoli are excellent.

What You Need to Know About Accessibility for Uva Bar

Uva Bar is fully accessible and should not present any unique challenges for visitors in wheelchairs or ECVs.

Does Weather Affect Uva Bar?

While most of the bar and dining area are covered by large shade umbrellas, it is an entirely outdoor restaurant. Many of the seats can probably tolerate a light drizzle without serious problems, but actual rain is going to leave you wet.

What is a Good Time to Visit Uva Bar?

Because of its popularity as a place to grab a drink, Uva doesn’t necessarily follow traditional restaurant traffic patterns, with people visiting both in the afternoon and evening as well as meal times. Lunch and shortly thereafter tends to see the lightest crowds..

Are you a fan of Uva Bar? What’s your favorite dish? Let us know in the comments!

The post Uva Bar — Better Know a Restaurant appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Dining, Disneyland (CA), Downtown Disney, Uva Bar

All four Disney World Parks are now open and crowd levels can be described in one word. Low. Every day has been a crowd level ‘1’ at each park (except yesterday when EPCOT edged up to a level ‘2’). We think those low crowds are going to continue until significantly more admission reservations are offered. We don’t have a lot of wait time data since the reopening but because the parks have fixed attendance the wait time patterns look similar every day. So, we are updating the Disney World Crowd Calendar.

What’s On This Update

Attraction wait time forecasts for Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom are first, then Epcot and Hollywood Studios will be updated on Friday. However, the Crowd Calendar for all four parks will be updated now. You will see crowd level ‘1’s predicted every day though July and August. If you have a Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom touring plan scheduled for a day in July or August it would be a good idea to re-optimize it now. For EPCOT and Hollywood Studios plans, you should re-optimize on Saturday. Our testing shows that despite the low wait times you can still save 45 minutes of standing in line by following an optimized plan. Not only that, but by definition, an optimized touring plan is also optimal for social distancing. Follow the plan and you will minimize your exposure to bottlenecks and crowded queues.

We are tracking the availability of ticket reservations multiple times a day, so if we see more reservations available that may indicate an increase in a park’s attendance cap. In that case, another Crowd Calendar update will be in order.

Wait Time Patterns

We expected to see spikes in posted wait time during attraction vehicle cleanings which are scheduled throughout the day. However, it doesn’t appear that those spikes have occurred. We do see spikes in actual wait times though, so if you get in line and it isn’t moving it is likely because the vehicles are being cleaned. This adds between 7 and 15 minutes to your wait, depending on the attraction.

New Models

Since the wait time patterns are so different since the reopening we have new models to forecast the wait times. These new models use only what we have observed since July 11. They are a lot simpler than the usual models because the wait time patterns don’t vary much day to day. We are watching closely for changes though, if we see something we will let you know.

Have any questions for the stats team? Let us know in the comments.

The post Disney World Crowd Calendar Update – July 2020 appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Crowd Blog, Walt Disney World (FL), Crowd Calendar