Last week when I was in the lounge of the Contemporary Atrium Club I heard a guest make a breakfast ADR for the Crystal Palace & another guest made an ADR for the late evening show of the Polynesian Luau. I am sure we can all agree both of those are very hard to make ADR's that have to be made at 180 days out. So do you think these guests were able to get in at the last minute because they were staying on a Concierge floor, or other guests cancelled at the last minute & they were lucky enough to grap these ADR's? Also so no one brings this up, these guests were trying to make ADR's & not confirming them.
I think it is luck. I saw several families prior to 9am on Christmas morning walk up to Crystal Palace without ADRs who were seated in a very timely manner, so it's not that it is impossible to make those reservations at the last minute, but many times unlikely. I was totally AMAZED when I saw two families seated within in 15 minutes! (We were very early for our ADR and sat outside waiting for another family to arrive) I can't say I would have wanted to take the chance! Living locally I have called many times at the last minute and gotten seating during both slow and busy times at some of the popular locations.
Many posters "in the know" believe a certain number of slots are held for concierge guests. Some even think a restaurant will overbook to accommodate a concierge guest who's staying in the same resort as the restaurant. That said I don't agree that either Crystal Palace or the Lua are reservations that have to be made 180 days in advance. It's certainly possible there happened to be availability that was available to any guest. Last year I got a same day ADR for the CG. I made the reservation at the CSR. I suspect the table was being held for concierge use and was released that morning.
We've stayed concierge several times and we've always been able to get same day adr's at whatever restaurant we wanted while in Concierge, especially if we're talking about the restaurant in that resort (Jiko at AKL, CG at Contemp., Yachtsmen Steakhous at Yacht Club). That has not been the case when we've stayed none concierge. But Iwill say, we only travel off peak to WDW.
