How easy is "walk-ups" in Sept?

[Shooby doo]

Hi folks just wondering how easy it is to get into the Restaurants without ADR's in Sept? we are staying on-site for the first time & have DDP but as we start to plan our Itinery with possible ADr's ,it all seems a bit restrictive! By that I mean,that most nights we eat at roughly the same time but because we are on-site we planned to come & go at the parks as we pleased but having to make ADr's at specific times sort of curtails that idea.
Sd

 

[Andy B]

It is becoming less easy to get walk ups with the DDP increasing numbers, September is the time when the free DDP promotion is in place but with the changes to the plan it may lessen number a little. If staying on site the concierge may be able to get you a reservation on the day but it will be difficult to get walk ups.

My suggestion would be to make some ADRs some tile in advance where you think you would like to eat and have those as a back up. When you are there you can try to make on the day ADR at your hotel or try earlier walk ups and if they fail use the back ups.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I go in September every year...I really, really, really would not suggest trying to do a walkup. Every year, I see frustrated people being told that the wait is 2-3 hours OR there is just no openings at all. Last year I sat outside of Le Cellier only to hear the poor door person tell the same thing over and over to DOZENS of people "we are sold out for this evening, all TS restaurants at Epcot are sold out this evening, if you would like us to set up a reservation for you here or at another restaurant in Epcot for later in the week, we can try to accomidate that."

Making dinner ADRs are somewhat of a pain (especially 6 months in advance!) when you want to come and go as you please at the world but when you get there...you'll appreciate having them...trust me

 

[gismo1554]

As said in September free dining makes walk ups more difficult but Im going with making none. I think if you have one restuarant you really wanna go to then book it but if you dont mind where you eat then just go to Guest services on the day. Also walk ups are easier for lunch than dinner in general so go for then. Oh and resort restuarants always seem to have more walk ups available than park ones.

 

[TLSnell1981]

If you want to be assured of dining in you favorite TS restaurants....I would strongly recommend ADRs for Sept.

 

[Mrsjvb]

we were there the week of 16-23 September.

NO WHERE were we able to get a walk up table.. and I am not talking le Cellier(although foolish us tried). and this was early dinner hours as well..between 4-6 pm. didn't matter which restaurant or park.

we got in a couple of times for late lunches..after 2 pm.

heck after the first day we even tried hitting them ASAP as soon as we got there and tried to make ressies for later on.. for the ones we wanted, they were booked with long waiting lists to grab the no shows/cancellations.

If TS at certain restaurant on a certain day is important,make the ADRs.

thankfully I was able to snag an ADR for a DTD restaurant on the actual day of our anniversary(dinner plus Cirq afterwards)

But yeah, next time, I will do a little advance planning, although I really don't like to as I never know what order we will do the parks in nor will I know what I will be in the mood for 3 months out.

 

[aterriq]

Two issues with September dining. As other posters have noted, September has been free dining for the last 3 years lots of people have DDP.

September is a slow time of year and Disney makes adjustments accordingly. Disney has less wait staff at this time of year due to the decrease in attendance. The TS restaurants I was at, had the room for more diners but didn't have the wait staff. So you are competing for less seats for dining.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Agree with last poster. I saw all those people turned away at Le Cellier but plenty of empty tables. They just didn't have the waitstaff to accomidate filling the tables.

 

[sunny04]

We went this year the first week of September and they were turning away walk ups at a lot of restaurants. Some were accepted, but a lot of the popular restaurants were booked.

 

[ZoZo]

I go in September every year...I really, really, really would not suggest trying to do a walkup. Every year, I see frustrated people being told that the wait is 2-3 hours OR there is just no openings at all. Last year I sat outside of Le Cellier only to hear the poor door person tell the same thing over and over to DOZENS of people "we are sold out for this evening, all TS restaurants at Epcot are sold out this evening, if you would like us to set up a reservation for you here or at another restaurant in Epcot for later in the week, we can try to accomidate that."

Making dinner ADRs are somewhat of a pain (especially 6 months in advance!) when you want to come and go as you please at the world but when you get there...you'll appreciate having them...trust me

Well said. You might be able to get into the less popular restaurants as a walk-up, but forget about the popular ones (even if you eat at "off hours" for your meals).

I think of ADRs as a "necessary evil." Because we go during Food and Wine Festival time (end of Sept./first week of Oct.), we usually only make four or five ADRs for the week (but are so glad we have them!). The rest of the time, we do CS or F&W booth food. You might try that. This October, we had ADRs at California Grill, Le Cellier, Kona, and Crystal Palce -- none of these restaurants were accepting walk-ups at all (they're all very popular).

 

[DonaldTDuck]

I was in MK on Sept 14, a Thursday, the day HM reopened, and there was a sign in front of City Hall saying there were no tables available anywhere in MK or any of the MK resorts. I am a big believer in ADRs. They save a lot of aggravation.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

We go the first week of September every year, for the last five years. I can tell you that we walked up to Spoodles and Cape May on every one of those trips. The longest we ever waited was 20 minutes. We also did a late lunch walk-up at Rose & Crown, with a 10 minute wait.

I think that walk-up within the parks is tight. You have a much better bet at the resorts. I don't care what anyone claims to know - there is definitely some "hold back" for walk-ups at the resort restaurants. On one of the occasions I mentioned above, we called WDW-DINE from the boat, on our way to the Boardwalk from Epcot. They told us Spoodles was sold out. We tried in person anyway. The restaurant was empty! There were maybe five families in there. We were seated immediately (group of four).

 

[pinkerbell]

make the ADRS's... it's so much better to have an ADR and decide not to go, than to not have one and have no choice in the matter. I have never like a "structured" vacation, heck, it is vacation, however, with the free DDP for the past two years we have made reservations and I have to say, I am happier making reservations, two reasons, we have kids now, and that help's keep us on track with feeding them instead of trying to get in "one more ride" keeping them fed and happy keeps us all happy and I can look forward to certian resturants. I was at Lecellier, we tried to add one, we could not and the resturant was packed.. literally not enough room for one more person, however, we were also at LTT in MK and tried to add one by phone, we were told it was sold out... yet the resturant was empty!... I wouldn't want to figure out the ryhme or reason, just make some ADR's
happy vacationing

 

[septbaby]

I didn't find ADRs to be restrictive at all. We viewed the meals as partof the experience, not just a time to eat. We planned meals and park day to match:

2TS dinner on our arrival day, included Wishes viewing from outside the park

Lunch on the second day - special experience lunch (we were starved too!)

started the day with a TS character breakfast

cancelled a TS breakfast, did CS at resort then TS dinner (AK day dinner at Boma right after park closing)

Final full day got changed so we weren't convenient to MGM for dinner, it was a hassle, but it was Fantasmic package so we hustled, made it and enjoyed the show; ended up returning to MGM for a couple of hours on our departure morning to make up for time missed. Had it not been a Fantasmic package I would have cancelled the ADR.

 

[pinkerbell]

I didn't find ADRs to be restrictive at all. We viewed the meals as partof the experience, not just a time to eat. We planned meals and park day to match:
QUOTE]

That's the same way we now look at it and it has added another enjoyable dimension to the trip! That's my second reason, but didn't word it so well.

to OP, as long as they do not take your CC (only a few rest's do, you can cancel, just make sure to put a note next to whatever type of log you use to track reservations which ones, if any you must cncel or still pay. You can also get this info at the concierge, they can print you a list of all reservations, I do suggest keeping a log, we have had problems in the past that not all reservations showed up, diffrent spellings of name I think they said. It took about 30 minutes, but they did find them all.

 

[annie1995]

If the free dining promotion is going on, then you probably won't have much luck. We were there this last September and many people were turned away without ADR's. FYI, make sure if you do make ressies, make them at 180 days out, or many of the popular places will fill up.

 

[jenjersnap]

I had an ADR on September 23, 2006 and STILL never got seated. ('Ohana breakfast, waited 1 hr before my kids could wait no more so we gave up.) I wouldn't chance it myself, especially during free dining.

 

[Markstudy]

Since 2003 attendance has dramatically increased at Disney

Step 1) pick the restaurants you want to eat at.

Step 2) pick the order of the parks you want to go to.

Step 3) call ASAP and make ADR's, its free and only takes 10 minutes

Have a perfect trip.... its that easy

 

[Eeyore2003]

I would not go down there anymore without reservations. It's always busy. You will probably find someplace to eat, but it won't be the more popular. Personally, I think the majority of those are over rated and many of the less popular are the best in our opinion.