Garden Rocks Concerts--do you need a dining package to get a seat?

[Tasscrapper]

We will be there the end of April and there are two concerts we want to try and see at Epcot. I'm just wondering if you actually need to do one of the dining packages or is there usually seating available anyhow? We are interested in seeing Starship and Herman's Hermit's. Is there shade?

 

[Douglas Dubh]

If you want to sit under shade, then you’ll probably need to get a dining package. If you don’t mind sitting behind the covered area, then you probably don’t. My wife and I went to the second set of Rick Springfield on the Sunday when he played. The standby line went all the way past the Germany dock, but we still had decent seats.

 

[Skywalker3]

If you want to sit under shade, then you’ll probably need to get a dining package. If you don’t mind sitting behind the covered area, then you probably don’t. My wife and I went to the second set of Rick Springfield on the Sunday when he played. The standby line went all the way past the Germany dock, but we still had decent seats.

Wow, we were at that same concert! I'd gotten to the first show about 15 mins before it started, and SRO outside. As soon as it was over, booked it to the line, and had a place around the middle of Italy, and got a really good seat.
The night before at Berlin, had just walked up and found good seats just before the 8:00 show started, so I know it depends a lot on the artist.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

The night before at Berlin, had just walked up and found good seats just before the 8:00 show started, so I know it depends a lot on the artist.

Yeah we did that for Blue Oyster Cult last year.

 

[focusondisney]

It really depends on the artist/ group playing. We were there the first weekend of the festival. I don’t remember which artist or day it was exactly, but I’m pretty sure it was Friday. We walked by the theater from the Italy pavilion walking toward France. We passed the stand by line first, which was just starting to be let in. There were only a few people already in the seating area, I would say less than 20. Then we walked passed the dining package line which was completely empty. So obviously for that artist, no dining package was needed. But we saw Rick a Springfield a few years ago & the dining package line was full.

 

[GrumpyInPhilly]

Walked right up at 5:30 last week to see Foreigners Journey. Plenty of seating on a beautiful evening, so I agree it depends on the performer.

 

[hsmamato2]

it's a huge open space too..... we usually just go and hang out around the back or edges right at showtime,love it there

 

[iona]

I think it depends on the day and time too. Last year the first Herman’s Hermits show on the Friday was a lot quieter than the other times/days they were on.

 

[SkyGuy]

It really depends on the artist/ group playing. We were there the first weekend of the festival. I don’t remember which artist or day it was exactly, but I’m pretty sure it was Friday. We walked by the theater from the Italy pavilion walking toward France. We passed the stand by line first, which was just starting to be let in. There were only a few people already in the seating area, I would say less than 20. Then we walked passed the dining package line which was completely empty. So obviously for that artist, no dining package was needed. But we saw Rick a Springfield a few years ago & the dining package line was full.

The Rick Springfield concert had the longest lines I’d ever seen at Garden Rocks. We came from China and the line started past Italy and we walked and walked and the other line started in Morocco. I wondered who could command such a crowd and was totally flabbergasted when I discovered it was for RS!

 

[loves to dive]

As other's have said, it depends on the artist, time of concert and sometimes the weather. I've gotten some pretty good seats in the back just walking up and have seen no seats available and long standby lines. Usually, if it's someone I want to see but don't want to stand in line, I just get there a tad before it starts and stand right outside or even sit on the planters in the America Pavilion. You can usually hear the way on down toward Italy.

 

[Marthasor]

We saw the Commodores about two weeks ago - walked up to an 8:00 pm show after the show had started and had zero issues finding seats in the back. If you need shade, perhaps consider going to the 8:00 pm shows when direct sun should no longer be an issue.