ARs vs. Walk-ups

[londonpenguin]

Can a Disney TS restaurant be completely booked up on ARs alone, or does each restaurant save tables for walk-ups?

Sorry if this has been asked and answered!

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Someone jump in and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe any of the restaurants save tables for walk-ups. During our May trip, we saw people being turned away from several restaurants.

 

[Belle1962]

I would say YES they can be filled up on AR's. I know for some nights of MNSSHP LTT is already booked. No more AR and definetly no walk ups. I too have seen walkups being turned away and this was during what I would not consider to be peak times. That being said, does anyone know how they manage no shows? We all know that "people" book PS/AR and then either don't show or cancel last minute. Do they "overbook" to begin with (like an airline) or do they fill these up on first come first served?

 

[tamu91]

YES. I do think Disney holds some seats back for meal plan participants and some restaurants are just hard to get into without PS during peak times. 50's prime cafe & Sci-Fi during lunch hours, CRT for breakfast, LT to mention a few.

 

[TheBeast]

I think you can still get a table but may have a verrry long wait. We went to Sci-Fi once without PS and they said the wait would be like 90 minutes. I think that's how they manage the no-shows, they keep a small queue of standby people that are willing to wait forever. But if really busy, I can see where they start turning people away at some point.

 

[Princess Tink]

I would agree......we once decided to eat Alfredo's (or so we thought on a whim), we called but were unable to get PS's. We thought we would try a 'walk in' since we were already in the area that day, it was something like a 3 hour wait....no thanks!

 

[Aimeedyan]

I have encountered many places taking NO walkups for the evening at all. I don't see why they would hold tables for people that didnt plan ahead, honestly, if they can book it all and be guaranteed filled tables all night.

 

[ducklite]

I've seen Le Cellier, Mama Melroses, the Kona Cafe, 1900 Park Fare, and Jiko all turn people away, they were totally booked for the evening.

Actually, 1900 PF WAS still taking walk-ups--only if you were a registered guest of the GF. I also know the GF and AKL both hold a few tables at each restaurant for club level guests of that resort--don't know about other resorts and CL guests.

I'm sure there are others that this happens to, these are jsut the ones I've seen.

Anne

 

[debloco]

SqueakyMouse is correct.
According to the Unofficial Guide to WDW, NO tables are held for walk ups.

And for Belle1962, your guess is correct. They do what the airlines do.
The way they deal with no shows is to overbook the restaurant, which explains why you (often during peak times) have to wait for your table even WITH an AR. Disney knows pretty well the percentage of no shows to expect, given the season/time of day/restaurant/etc. but when it's a bit off and everybody shows up for their AR, long wait times can result. HTH.

 

[ducklite]

Deb-

AKL and GF both hold a limited number of tables at their resturants for CL guests of those resorts. GF also will still deat walk up's at 1900 PF if they are a GF guest even if they are turning away others.

Anne

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

We had PS's (that's what they were called when we made them LOL) at all our eating places this past trip and almost at every single one I saw people being turned away.... some were not even told a time they could wait- were just flat out told they couldn't accomodate them there, period. I saw some confused people after that was told to them... I guess they couldn't fathom NEVER being able to seat them. But who would want to wait 3+ hrs for a meal anyway?

 

[asta]

We were able to eat at the Flying Fish as a walk in when they wouldn't give us an earlier PS time. We had a PS for the Flying Fish but wanted to eat earlier. We called from our hotel to ask for a PS time 90 minutes earlier and were told nothing available. Later we walked by and noticed that it wasn't busy, went in and we were seated right away.

 

[londonpenguin]

Thanks for all the responses.

My first thought was: Dang.
My second thought was: At least I can use all these responses to convince BF that making "reservations" is not a bad thing and is, in fact, as Martha would say, a good thing!

I just hope September hours come out on July 1 so I can figure out which parks we'll be in on which days!

 

[grumpy99]

During our trip to WDW this month they were turning away walk ups at 4:30 at Mama Melrose (no TS till 8:30), Le Cellier, and Hollywood & Vine.

 

[cobbler]

Our trip last December we had this happen on a couple of occasions. Not to us because we had PS's but others. Sci-Fi, Crystal Palace and one other I am forgetting right now. We didn't even go in peak season - this was the first week in December. People were turned away saying they could make a PS for later than evening but nothing before at least 5pm if I remember correctly.

If you know you want to eat somewhere make the PS, and if you are going during the free dining period then definately make the PS. With that free dining I assume it will be pretty hard to get if you don't have a PS.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

We saw a lot of people being turned away from almost every restaurant we ate in over our 8 day stay earlier this month. I would not take a chance. Make advanced reservations.....you can always try to change/cancel when you get there if need be.

 

[oogieboogie]

We saw a lot of people being turned away from almost every restaurant we ate in over our 8 day stay earlier this month. I would not take a chance. Make advanced reservations.....you can always try to change/cancel when you get there if need be.

exactly. We always make PSs to all the places we want to eat. While there, each evening we go thru the plan again and make adjustments and just make changes/cancellations while we're there.

PSs are especially important during the busy times and I'm going to assume during the free dining period. When we went early June, for the week we were there, Chef Mickey's, Ohana, SciFi, CRT (just to name a few) were all booked up. We couldn't even change our PS times because they were overbooked at that point - for the entire week! At Sci-Fi, we were waiting for our PS time at 12:50pm, they were telling walk-ups the earliest opening was 9:30PM!!!! I saw so many people looking so disappointed and dejected, I really felt sorry for them.

 

[lillygator]

I don't think they hold any tables for walk ups....in May on more then one night in Epcot we overheard the hostess telling walk up customers that every restaurant in the park was booked for the evening except Nine Dragons....

 

[tlev]

We were there last Sept. during the hurricanes and the whole place was pretty empty, and there were still restaurants that were full. LeCellier and Fulton's were both full the night we were there. When we went to check into the Cal. Grill for our PS there was a family of 5 in front of us that asked what the wait was and the guy at the desk told him the restaurant is always booked up from at least 30 days in advance!

 

[skiwee1]

We've been plenty of times where we wanted a place at the last minute and they were not accepting any walk ups. Most have been at Crystal Palace and other character meals. This has always been in October and May which are not that busy to begin with. I would make all your PSs ahead of time just in case. If you decide you don't want to go then you only have to cancel. I don't take any chances now.