Are there any sitdowns that you can just walk into,off season?

[connie254]

Which ones are in the parks mainly, early February?
I hear LTT but also heard it's no longer open.

 

[cigar95]

My experience at Epcot is that Morocco and China are wide-open for lunch in the slower seasons. Good opportunities at Germany as well. I have only eaten once at the Coral Reef, but it was fairly open also.

At Magic Kingdom, your best chance for a walk-in lunch is probably at Tony's, on Main Street.

I rarely (ever?) eat dinner in the parks, so I can't help with that. But I only go to WDW during off-season, so I have a lot of experience with that. Even in the off-season, I find that a lot of the resort restaurants are full during the prime dinner hours, but that one can get a seating even calling ahead by an hour or two to avoid the walk-up line.

The deluxe resorts almost all have a more expensive and less expensive restaurant - you may have a better chance at the more expensive place without a reservation. (California Grill is probably an exception to this.)

If you wanted to walk up for a Chef Mickeys dinner, arriving late (8:30 or later) may be your best chance. I enjoy looking down from the 11th floor, and there seem to be places open at that hour.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[joeybugs]

Our last two trips have been the last weekend of January/first week of February. I only made reservations for two places - California Grill and one of the places in France. Everything else we walked in to. We went to Tutto Italia, 50's Prime Time, San Angel Inn. We had difficulty once or twice getting the place we wanted if we walked up but then just went there the next day and found we could get in. So if you have your heart set on something specific or something harder to get (like Le Cellier) then I would make resies for that. Of course for our trip starting Dec. 27th, I made reservations at 6 months out.

 

[SpecEdismyLife]

We were there last week and it was busier than we have seen it in the past. We were able to move around some ADR's we had and found many of the Epcot restaurants wide open with times to pick from for lunches, and a couple available for dinners as well. I would go to guest relations and try to get an ADR once in the park, or even call WDW Dining to get something last minute the night before if possible, but if you plan to be in world showcase you should be able to walk up to at least some of the places. I saw people walking up last week to Biergarten and Nine Dragons, and we changed around a LTT lunch ressie, a Biergarten ressie, a Nine dragons ressie. We also saw people be turned away at Les Chef's and Hollywood in Vine. At H&V we saw one person turned away only to see the next person who walked up (a grouchy rude elderly gentleman) get seated because he complained so loudly that everywhere was full. We had ADR's months in advance and him and his wife were seated before us! If it is important for you to have sit down meals I suggest ADR's, if not then wing it!

 

[ChelleinNC]

Which ones are in the parks mainly, early February?
I hear LTT but also heard it's no longer open.

Honestly, you just never know. If there's somewhere that you really want to go to, make the ADR ahead of time. If you want to play it by ear, just be prepared to eat CS if you can't walk in somewhere.

LTT is not closed, it's just eliminating the character dining at dinner.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

LTT, as mentioned, will just be character-less at dinner. This may be to your advantage if you're looking to eat there without an ADR. The majority of the TS restaurants I have eaten at have been without ADRs. Mama Melrose, 50s, Sci Fi, probably more that I can't remember. If possible, go early in the day to see if there are any openings for later in the day.

 

[TDC Nala]

LTT will continue to serve lunch and dinner in 2009. There will not be characters at dinner after January 4. As mentioned, that may make it easier to get in.

At Epcot, it appears the easiest to walk up to are Nine Dragons, Marrakesh and Biergarten.

 

[Mary976]

If you are staying on property, the hotel concierge/info person can be helpful in finding same day reservations. If you stop by in the AM and tell them what park you're going to be in, they can check some restaurants for you. That way, you don't have to deal with the walk up line. We were there once during the end of January (super slow) and it was very common for TS places to have signs saying they were not taking walk-ups at all.

Have fun!
Mary

 

[Belle4mygrl]

Last Friday, dh and ds walked in for lunch at Biergarten. The same day guest relations was making reservations for people at Chefs de France. I have to say Chefs was WONDERFUL! The onion soup OH MY!

 

[Matt71]

Last March we walked into Brown Derby for a late lunch and there wasn't even a line. We also did walk-ins at 50s Prime Time Cafe and Sci-Fi dinner theater, but we did have to wait quite a while for tables at both.

I suspect getting in without an ADR would be much easier at lunch time.

 

[ryanmcin]

From my experience in you aren't going during the busier seasons there are quite a few options that don't really need an ADR. The ones that come to mind are:

LTT (Lunch)
Italian @ Epcot
Tony's
Brown Derby (Early Dinner)
Sci-Fi Drive-In


I haven't had much luck at the resorts.

In general it seems like if you try for a late lunch or an early dinner you can usually find something, but it may not be what you want.