Last-minute reservations - is this typical?

[jennifertempleton]

Hi, everyone:

We're going to WDW in Feb - dh and I and 2 girls, 6 and 8. First trip!

I had made a couple of reservations a few months ago for places I knew we really wanted but haven't had the time to think about it again in-depth until recently. Needless to say, some of the other places I have discovered that we want to go to are now booked at the best times. I snagged a few other ressies just to get some other things in the books and I am planning to check the others that I would like on a regular basis from now until trip time.

I was just doing some searching for reservations for today/tomorrow/the next day out of curiosity just to see if anything good would be open at the very last minute and was surprised to find multiple openings at the "desirable" places (and I mean desirable for someone with 2 young girls): Crystal Palace B/L, Garden Grill, 'Ohana dinner, Chef Mickey's. Is this typical? If so, I won't waste too much time in between doing too many searches. Or maybe this is an off week ...?

I have booked 5 of our 7 TS meals (2 of which are "keepers" - 1900 for my dd's bday dinner and Akershus for breakfast). My thought is to not book any more (unless, of course, something good comes up), then wait until just before we leave, or when we are already there, to fill in the blanks and hopefully switch some things around. Does it make sense to do it this way? Is there a certain time at which things start to open up as people cancel/rearrange (ie: 2 weeks before, 1 week before, that week, etc.)? Worst case scenario, my things stay as-is, and that would probably be ok.

I don't mind playing it by ear .... we tend to be a bit more spontaneous so it is difficult to not only plan which parks we will go to but where we will eat months in advance! That probably drives some of you 180-day planners nuts!

While I am here, regarding 'Ohana, is there a particular meal (mainly dinner vs breakfast, I guess) where it has more of a luau feel .... or does it always? My girls are into Hawaiian things since they are reading the American Girl Kanani books and I know they woud love a luau but I don't want to do the "real" luau meal. I have a breakfast booked but really wanted to do a dinner since it sounded like more fun ... maybe for our last night at Disney ... but there are no dinner times available. Just wondering if I should keep trying for a dinner or be happy with my breakfast. FYI, I don't want to say that I don't care about the food, but it's more about the experience for us than the food.

Thank you! I have enjoyed hanging around and reading all the posts these past few months.
Jen

 

[LJSquishy]

I would definitely check daily for the restaurants you really want and hopefully someone will drop their reservation and you can snag it! I have been looking at least 3 times per day for almost 4 weeks straight now for an 'Ohana dinner reservation on Feb 11th with no success. At one time the only dinner time slot was 9:30pm but that is WAY too late, and now even that is gone...but I'll keep trying until Feb 11th!

 

[aubriee]

I wonder if crowds are just going to be low for early Feb. I go to WDW several times a year (first or second week of May, sometime in Sept or early Oct, first or second week of Dec, and sometimes January). This year we are throwing in an extra trip Feb 4th-11th to take my 3 y/o GS down there. I always make ADRs at exactly 180 days out and get exactly what I want. For this trip however, I didn't have that luxury and was surprised at what I found just a few months ago (Le Cellier, Ohana, all the character meals, etc). I've since gone back in and was able to change several of them and again had no trouble getting whatever I wanted. I have never seen ADRs this easy to get.

 

[Celestia]

Now that they require a credit card guarantee for character meals, I think you will find more cancellations right around the cancellation deadline when people decide that they don't really feel like going to that restaurant. I would keep trying now, but would definitely be looking every day the week prior for those last minute cancellations.

Also, if you are going the week of president's day, it is usually busier that week than the rest of February.

 

[psac]

Now that they require a credit card guarantee for character meals, I think you will find more cancellations right around the cancellation deadline when people decide that they don't really feel like going to that restaurant. I would keep trying now, but would definitely be looking every day the week prior for those last minute cancellations.

Also, if you are going the week of president's day, it is usually busier that week than the rest of February.

I agree with this. As it was, you had a good chance of getting last minute reservations from people cancelling out of courtesy. Now with the credit card guarantees on a lot of places, people will be cancelling because they have to.

 

[janabananas]

Keep on checking. I found a Rose & Crown ADR yesterday, for this Friday night. It was not there last week when I was checking.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I wonder if crowds are just going to be low for early Feb. I go to WDW several times a year (first or second week of May, sometime in Sept or early Oct, first or second week of Dec, and sometimes January). This year we are throwing in an extra trip Feb 4th-11th to take my 3 y/o GS down there. I always make ADRs at exactly 180 days out and get exactly what I want. For this trip however, I didn't have that luxury and was surprised at what I found just a few months ago (Le Cellier, Ohana, all the character meals, etc). I've since gone back in and was able to change several of them and again had no trouble getting whatever I wanted. I have never seen ADRs this easy to get.

All the places you listed are affected by the new CC guarantee policy. That may have something to do with the availability. IME, it was hard to get the most popular restaurants close to your trip dates any time of year, prior to the new policy being implemented.

 

[laur roo]

While I am here, regarding 'Ohana, is there a particular meal (mainly dinner vs breakfast, I guess) where it has more of a luau feel .... or does it always? My girls are into Hawaiian things since they are reading the American Girl Kanani books and I know they woud love a luau but I don't want to do the "real" luau meal. I have a breakfast booked but really wanted to do a dinner since it sounded like more fun ... maybe for our last night at Disney ... but there are no dinner times available. Just wondering if I should keep trying for a dinner or be happy with my breakfast. FYI, I don't want to say that I don't care about the food, but it's more about the experience for us than the food.

I was there for breakfast on our last trip, and it still had that "luau feel" as you describe. When we checked in, we were given leis and the breakfast bread we had was a bit more "luau" than the rest of the standard breakfast fare. Also, the characters have on their Hawaiian dress for the breakfast which I thought was fun because you don't see that other places. Mickey had a Hawaiian shirt, Pluto a lei, and Lilo in her dress. IMO, keep the breakfast, your daughters would probably love it!

 

[elainesj]

Depends on how busy it is when you are going too.

I went at the end of Jan 2011....lowest crowd season. I booked my meals in Nov/Dec because I didn't decide to go until Nov. I got everything I wanted, including 2 Le Cellier, Ohana dinner, Chef Mickey, etc etc. Some of them I had to keep searching a little to get the times I wanted.

Also, standby sometimes works. We met another family while down there and they wanted to join us for our HDDR ressies on the day of at the very last minute. We called and called and everyone said no. When we actually went to check in, they finally said OK. Unfortunately, they were in a ride at MK for a long time by then and didn't get the text until 20 mins later and it was too late for them to catch the boat to join us.

 

[jennifertempleton]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I have already been able to change a few things around, plus add another place that popped up (Garden Grill) so I'm a little less nervous about getting things the way I want them. Thank you again for your thoughts!