Victoria & Albert-what to wear

[LuvSnowWhite]

I am trying to pack a light/small travel wardrobe and I need something to wear here in Dec. Any ideas?
Those of you who have gone, how strict is their dress code?
Thanks:(

[scoobydooby]

I have never eaten here but I remember a previous thread about this ages ago and someone there said gowns. To me that conjures up images of a very fancy dress. You may need an extra bag :D

[LuvSnowWhite]

OMG GOWNS! They must have been joking. I sure hope they don't expect long gowns like on a cruise ship.

[Karin]

A suit and tie for gents and a blouse/skirt or pants or a dress for the ladies. This is the place to dress to the nines for. A tux and evening gown aren't required, just dress super nice.

[momof three]

Guys must wear a jacket and tie. Ladies can get away with a dressy pant suit, dress or blouse and skirt. It's dressy but I don't recall anyone wearing a gown. If it helps I wore a knee length cocktail dress. That was a very Jackie O type of cut in a classic black. I fit right in.

I hope you enjoy this night as much as we did. It was a wonderful experince.

Mily

[KarenW2]

Victoria & Albert's is our absolute, favorite restaurant in all of WDW to dine at. Depending on when we can get our ADR, we'll have it either at the beginning of the trip (to kick things off right!) or the last night, before we fly home the next day (to reflect back, relax and enjoy the end of a great vacation).

We have eaten there every time we've been to WDW and my husband doesn't mind the fact that he has to bring clothes specifically to wear ONLY at V&A's, as the rest of the "world" doesn't have such a strict dress code. I always bring a nice pants outfit and we do have to plan our day around getting back to our hotel room (at the Grand Floridian, if all goes according to plan) at some point in our day, to make sure we're changed and ready for a nice, leisurely dinner. Dressing for dinner makes it that much more special.

When we were there in December 2009, there was a party at the next table that apparently had been married, either at the resort or somewhere off-site, since he was in a tux and she was in a HUGE strapless wedding dress (a bit overdone I'd say, but it was her choice, she was even wearing a tiara!!), but the others in the restaurant were dressed about the same as we were and had no problems. The dress code is strict, but it is the best restaurant there.

The food is incredible and one of the things we appreciate about V&A's is that, if you write and request it ahead of time, one of your courses can be something requested from a previous visit there! On our first trip, we had an amazing Cashew Cream Soup and enjoyed it so much, we mentioned it to our "Victoria" the next time we went. She told us that anytime we returned, we could request it, and for every visit after that, we've always requested the soup and have always received it!

This was back when all the female servers had CM badges reading "Victoria" and all the male servers had "Albert" on theirs! We thought it was odd, but we played along with it. Each table had their own Victoria or Albert for the meal! We were happy to see at our last visit, the CMs now have their own names on their badges!

Even tho it takes a little more thought and packing for it, I have to say that dining at Victoria & Albert's is the best dining experience at the resort and can't recommend it highly enough! It's definitely worth having to change clothes for!!

[mom22gls]

OMG GOWNS! They must have been joking. I sure hope they don't expect long gowns like on a cruise ship.

I've been on several cruises, on different lines, and nobody wore a gown on dress nights. For men, a jacket and tie is necessary. For women, a nice dress should do the job. If you already have a classic little black dress, or even a well-tailored pair of black pants, that should be appropriate, with nice accessories. You might want to pair it with a dressy jacket, which can be found, at a reasonable price, at many stores, such as Chicos, Stein-Mart, etc. In fact, my most recent cruise wardrobe was based on black pants and skirt, and I packed a light-weight embellished jacket from Chicos (black and gold), paired with either black top, or a gold silk t-shirt, and shoes with a bit of glitz. Took very little room, and I had dressy outfits for several nights. Something along those lines does not require an additional piece of luggage, and is comfortable and appropriate for a dressier restaurant.

[Andrew]

The one time we did V&A's was just before our first Disney Cruise--so we already had formalwear for the cruise, and wore that to the restaurant. I wouldn't want to bring formalwear to WDW just for V&A's, but since we were already going to need it for the cruise it worked out.