Am I the only one who doesn't get PS's?

[Jen D]

Part of the reason I make so many ps in advance and do so much planning in general is that it is a lot of fun to plan the vacation before it happens-- it gives you something to occupy yourself with while you're going nuts waiting for your vacation. Once I have a plan, I am perfectly happy to chuck it when we arrive. I carefully planned my last trip with my daughter and when we arrived, she wanted to go to Epcot this day and MK that day. I said, "Hon, that means no Storybook Princess breakfast." She said fine. I cancelled it and got us a last minute seating at Crystal Palace. You have to be flexible.

Obiviously, there are certain things you'd better deal with if you want them-- certain character meals, dinner at Rose and Crown.... And we decided to play our Epcot dinner by ear our last trip because we didn't know what we'd be in the mood for. We waited over an hour at Teppanyaki. Of course, there were people with ps too and I noticed some of them waited 30 or 40 minutes, easy. Anyway, I do ps to give myself something to do before the trip but I don't stake the whole trip on them. I cancel and rebook a lot while I am there.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by Simba's Mom
I'd like to know where some people have had positive (and negative) experiences getting to eat fairly promptly at resturaunts without PS. I'm going solo in December and would love to more spontaneous and not make PS in advance. However, I'm so afraid of not getting a table at a sit-down resturaunt w/o advance PS. I'm especially interested in Rose & Crown and Teppenyaki (both lunch), LTT (lunch), Cape May Cafe (lunch and dinner), and Donald's Breakfastosauras. Those especially, but anywhere else you've had good luck getting a table w/o PS?

I can't specifically answer your question because I haven't been to any of the places you listed. However, I have a couple of general tips.

Make a PS as soon as you decide where you want to go, even if it is just a couple of hours before the meal time. We often make PSs in the morning when we first enter the park if we know where we want to eat.

Be very flexible on meal times. If you are willing to eat an early lunch or a late dinner, your options will be much greater. A popular restaurant may be booked up from 5-8 for dinner but have openings at 9:00. Have a lite snack in the afternoon to hold you over.

If there is a particular place that you really want to eat at, then by all means book it in advance. I'm certainly not against the PS system. I just have seen many friends go a bit overboard in pre-planning.

Steve

 

[loveswdw]

We generally go during "value" season so we don't normally make PSs. Even when we do its usually the night before or the morning of. I have never called before we actually got to WDW to get dining. Even when we did CRT for breakfast we called the day before and got a 9:30 or so seating.

We also ate at Victoria & Albert's on our honeymoon. It is suggested that you make PS there way in advance. We called on Thurs. afternoon taking a chance for Sat. evening (the last night of our honeymoon) and they had a table for 9-ish seating. Maybe we just got lucky-- who knows?

This trip, I'll probably make a PS at LeCellier on the day we arrive for later in the week just because we are going during F&W Fest which is very busy. My DH has been wanting to try LeCellier forever and will be very upset if we don't get to eat there this trip.

By the way, you can't always go by the standby wait they give you. This last trip w/my Mom we went to Prime Time and they told us about 30 minutes. It was closer to an hour. But we went to LeCellier and they told us at least 45 minutes. It was no more than 10! We were shocked!

Have fun dining!

loveswdw

 

[mickeysaver]

May 2001, I did nothing in advance except to book an offsite hotel room and buy La Nouba tickets. No major problems with that plan. We ate well enough, but we waited more than we had to in retrospect.

September 2002, I made 1 dinner PS in advance and booked a carriage ride at FW. This was part of a special evening that my honey and I had planned. We were there for a week. We could have done a few more PS's, but the times this would have been handy were also the times when we were in group situations with people that had no clue about how long it could take to find a descent dinner at WDW. But, that wasn't my fault, I tried to tell them, but you know people have no clue in general.

December 2003, I have MVMCP with dinner PS at LTT. I have MBYBBQ. I will have 1 or 2 CP ressies for Epcot. I also will buy my tickets for the opening night of the third Lord of the Rings. I will need a breakfast PS at Donald's Breakfastasaurus. And other than that, it's counter service and pop tarts. lol

I have to plan more for this December trip, because there is much more that we need to try to get accomplished. We will have a laid back touring style of the parks still, but we will also have some special dinners and things to do this time, without group situations. Mickey

 

[tci1212]

When we 1st went to Disney 11 yrs ago, I planned and made ps for every restaurant we ate at. I also was packed 3 months before we left, {lol}. Every year after that I made less ps and packed closer to our departure date. For the last 2 trips we have not made any ps. There was only one time that we had a problem and it was in November, Jersey week, it was packed and we could not get into Chef Mickeys. Now I find myself packing 2 days before I leave, and picking up the phone from our room if we want to eat at a specific restaurant. I laugh when I think back to our first few visits,with all the planning ahead of time.

 

[mkymouse1928]

Simba's Mom

I think I can help you with LTT. My husband and I eat there every trip with no PS. Most of the time we arrive a few minutes prior to opening (which is 11:30, I think), and are seated within just a few minutes after opening. There have been a few times when we have gone later in the day and were told a 20+30 minute wait but we didn't wait that long. Maybe 10 minutes or so. As for the other restraunts I can't help but I hope this helps you.

 

[beccasmom]

I'm a planner as well and really like to know that our dining plans are "set". However, the rest of my family refuses to be tied down to what they might feel like eating two months from next Wednesday! What I usually do is making PS at a few of the places we always try to catch on each trip (Crystal Palace for lunch, Rose & Crown @ Epcot, etc.) and pretty much hold them to it. The rest of the meals are spontaneous, which is not as haphazard as it sounds because as DVC members it is easy to prepare a simple meal without much fuss.

We were there 6/14 through 6/20. The Crystal Palace was jammed (it always seems to be jammed!), but many of the people on the porch were waiting out a rainstorm and not waiting to be seated. If I hadn't had PS, I doubt I would have even tried to obtain a table. However, we walked right into the Rose & Crown and the Liberty Tree Tavern. Certainly, luck plays a part as well as choosing your dining times around the crowds. And we usually don't visit during really crowded times. If we did, I think without PS, we would be disappointed far more frequently. However, we've found some great little spots we would have certainly overlooked at those times.....such as Akerhaus in Norway and Yakitori House in Japan. My crew never starves either way....and sometimes we find a great new "don't miss" bistro!

 

[photobob]

I've been to WDW 4 times. The only pre-trip PS I've ever made was for CRT. Three other times we have made PS while on property. Once as we entered MK we made PS for lunch at CP, another at MGM we had a PS made for lunch at 50's PTC and once for dinner at Teppenyaki in Japan. I think you see the theme, we've just made them if there was a particular place we wanted to eat that is a heavily sought after reservation. Generally my planning consists of being well versed in what is where so when DW says I'm hungry what's nearby, I'm ready to give all the options available.

 

[BethC1952]

I'm another one of those people who can't decide what I want for dinner tonight. How on earth could I decide on meals 120 days from now?

I did make a reservation for the Luau, but that's the only reservation or PS I will make. I have no interest in character meals, and I'm not particularly interested in eating in the fancier restaurants (we eat out a lot when we're not on vacation). We actually enjoy the Quick Service Locations and food courts!

We walked into Boma on a Friday night in December and were seated right away. If we hadn't been seated there, I surely would have found somewhere else to eat with no problem! Of course, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt me to miss a meal every now and then! We tend to eat at off-hours anyway, so it's very rarely a problem (we usually eat lunch around 3 PM and dinner around 8:30 or 9, so by then crowds have disappeared.)

I live by a schedule all year. I don't want to have to schedule my vacation time too!

Beth

 

[Disneymoon04]

I will be making PS's for dinner everynigh just to be safe, but I won't rush to make them. If we're busy we'll finish what we're doing, stop by later and hope for the best.

 

[ripleysmom]

I don't get it either steve