DDP TS restaurants being full problems?

[disneyfan55]

We just returned from a 9/3 - 9/8 trip with free dining. There were 2 adults and 2 children in our party. Some observations/wait times:

9/4 - Ohana - 6:50 pm ADR - given a pager and seated after 15 minutes when restaurant was packed

9/5 - Crystal Palace - 11:30 am ADR - seated within 10 minutes

9/6 - Raglan Road - 5:30 pm ADR - seated immediately and restaurant was empty (might have been able to walk in)

9/7 - Boma - 5:40 pm ADR - given a pager and seated after 10 minutes when restaurant was packed

9/8 - missed 10:40 am ADR for Whispering Canyon Cafe because 3 year-old was having a fit in the hotel room but was able to walk in to Wolfgang Puck Cafe at 11:30 am (best meal of the trip and great service at WPC, by the way)

Based on a fairly limited sample size, my observation is that - if you do not have an ADR - it may be more effective to attempt to get into the restaurants at resorts or Downtown Disney rather than the theme parks and for lunch rather than dinner.

HOw was Raglan Road? We have a reservation the last week of Sept and have never been there. Thanks for any info and have a nice day!!

 

[joyjoy]

Just returned on 9/8. Here's what we did

Sat 9/1 Marakkesh - 6:30 ADR, walked right in. Food was fab.
Sun 9/2 Artist Point - 6:30 ADR, waited 2 minutes. Food was better than Cali Grill, IMO.
Mon 9/3 Sci Fi - 6:30 ADR, waited 20 mins, food was eh. Service was great.
Tues 9/4 Rose and Crown - 6:30 ADR, waited 30 mins. Yummy food except for one dish, AWESOME desserts and excellent service (Lindsay from Blackpool)
Wed 9/5 Boma - 6:30 ADR, walked up and added two more people to our reservation, no problem. No waiting, food was great as usual.
Thurs 9/6 Had 7:30 ADR for Wolfgang Puck Cafe. Called to switch to Friday, but they said they were only taking walk ups. Had CS at Kringla and Lotus Blossom. (Kringla made me a YUMMY veggie sandwich. The others were okay with LB)
Fri 9/7 Walked up to WPC fully expecting to wait an hour. Got on a waiting list and were buzzed within twenty minutes. Fantastic meal, desserts and service.

In summary.... problems? What problems? We LOVED it.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

I just got back yesterday from my 6 night trip with free dining. What a great value! We had no problems at all, as we made all our ADRs back in May. We ate at the Grand Floridian Cafe, Concourse Steakhouse, Chef Mickeys, Garden Grill, Ohanas, and Coral Reef. All places we were seated very quickly! And we had great service everywhere!

I did see some other people having problems though. On our last night (Friday) at Coral Reef, we checked in for an 8:20 dinner. We saw them turning away families, saying they were completely booked for the night. One family was almost in tears, begging for a table, saying they needed to use a table service restaurant for the dining plan. I got the impression they tried other restaurants in Epcot and were turned away, and Coral Reef was their last shot. But Coral Reef turned them away too, and the family was not happy. I almost felt bad when my family was seated a minute later, but we had ADRs.

But overall we had a wonderful time, and I was very glad I made those ADRs in advance.