Dining ?--How full are restaurants?

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Okay, now that we've had a couple months with the new dining plan, I'm just wondering if anyone has any feedback on the whole issue of dining room occupancy and ADRs. Specifically, I'm wondering if it's still necessary to make most ADR's 180 days out, or have things "calmed down" a bit. I remember a few years ago, you could make ADRs a few weeks in advance for most places--some places that morning or even just walk in. Has anyone had experience with these things returning, now that the DDP isn't the fabulous deal it once was?

FTR, I still made my ADRs 180 days out, because I didn't want ot risk getting left out of our favorites. But it would be nice to plan our meals a little closer to our arrival dates, when we know when we'll be in which park and so forth.

 

[gohogs34]

Went in late January/ early February and LeCellier, Coral Reef & Moma Melsrose were sold out for all week we were there.

 

[n2mm]

I have always made ADRs and will always make ADRs. We were there the last week of January/early February. We walked right in and was seated twice at the 50s Prime Time with no ADRs (we cancelled others afterwards). We walked right into Beaches and Creams TWICE (I know they don't take ADRs, but to get a table immediately here is unheard of (both times on Sunday afternoon and evening -- 2 difference days). My daughter was in WDW the first week of February and had no ADRs. She got right into Maya Grill and got a walk up openning at LeCellier and was seated immediately (yea, I couldn't believe this one either).


However, while we were there the end of January, they were accepting walkups at Kona Cafe, but were not accepting walkups at WCC/dinner and Concourse Steakhouse/dinner.

I would still suggest having those all important ADRs, but there is room for change once you arrive.

 

[RMulieri]

I think the dp is still popular despite the changes and therefore adrs are still necessary.I know the less popular non theme park restaurants take may take walk ups.But having adrs is still a better bet.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I agree that you're going to want your "must have" ADRs 180 days out. I just remember walking in to a number of places and being seated--not that we have to do that, but it sure would be nice to at least wait until Disney publishes park hours and special events before having to make dining decisions. Luckily, Disney seems to publishing those hours earlier, making planning a little easier.

really, I don't think we can do a full evaluation of the DDP changes for a few months, because it takes time for the results of the changes to filter down (i.e., people cancelling the package or upgrading to Platinum or whatever).

 

[80sgirl]

Hi,

I work at a travel agency and as a perk we book all our clients dining for them. We are now telling everyone, on plan or off to have their dining booked as soon as they can. You just can't walk in and get a seat anymore at any of the popular restaurants unless it is for lunch. It makes a huge difference in our clients enjoyment of the parks when they don't have to search for a place to eat at 6pm. (when everything is booked for then)
If you are a party of 5-6 people, you got to prebook. There are just not tons of tables that are available for the popular dining times 5-6:30p for six, unless you don't mind two tables. Anyway...new or old plan...with or without dining plan, book 180 days if possible to avoid disappointment.

 

[global_mom]

My advice to non-regulars is always to book their preferred restaurants as soon as they make their ressie. You dont want to be disappointed by not getting the favorite restaurants. However, things are changing since the 2008 DDP went into effect. Hard to tell if the changes will be long term good or bad. I would always make ADRs at the "biggies" (Le Cellier, CRT, etc) 180-190 days in advance but there is now some wiggle room for many restaurants. Even with some flexability, i would not go to WDW w/o some ADRs in place.

I had started a thread awhile back about these changes but here is some recent experience ( I make ADRs everyday but this is my experience for my personal ADRs):

Made Narcoossee's and Artist Point 3 days out. Got exact time and date needed during Presidents's Week. Made ADR at Chef's one day out, one time slot was available for Le cellier but it was too early for us. Added Brown Derby to our trip on the same day that we wanted to dine. Just booked Crystal Palace breakfast 1.5 weeks out, got the exact time that we wanted and for a party of 7. Rearranged several ADRs for our trip next week and had about 4 time slot choices at each. This probably would not have happened in 2007. Plus all of the above was for a busy week (pres. week) and then for a week in the middle of spring break season, one week before Easter.

This past weekend we dined in several restaurants that were less than half full at the "normal" dining times. Chefs was busy but never full. Artist Point was more than half empty. Brown Derby was less than half full. All 3 were taking walk-ins with no wait.

Disney wont be happy with having restaurants that are not full even though it is soooooo nice to make Dining choices on shorter notice than in the past. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

During our recent trip (this past weekend) we were told that Disney is looking at revising the 2008 plan at the 6 month mark b/c ADRs are off so dramatically. Of course, we dont ever beleive Disney rumor until we see it with our own eyes!

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Well, I'm going in August. Due to the plan changes and our eating "style", we're not getting the plan. I'd be real open to considering a "revised" plan, though.

I would definitely agree that if you want a hard to get restaurant, or even a family favorite, book early! One of our family's favorites happens to be the Plaza Restaurant in MK--we've walked in at lunch time and been seated (prior to the current plans). So for this trip, we've booked it once, but would hope to eat there twice.

 

[eeyoresmom]

We just got back last night. We were at 'ohana last Friday night ( President's Week) I saw 2 large parties sat without ADR's and at 6:45 ALL the tables around us were empty!

 

[global_mom]

We just got back last night. We were at 'ohana last Friday night ( President's Week) I saw 2 large parties sat without ADR's and at 6:45 ALL the tables around us were empty!

Isn't it so weird to see so many empty tables!!! We had the same experience. We are going back next week and will be there for 8 days so it will be interesting to see if things are still so empty.

 

[fall08CP]

We used it in mid Feb and booked our ADRs the week after Christmas. The only one we couldn't get was LeCellier, but we didn't care much about that one anyways. WCC was quite crowded for our 8:20 pm res, but Kona and Ohana were not that busy.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Bunmping this thread up to see how people's experiences have been in Feb. and March. Have all the bugs been worked out? Are people still flustered by the whole tipping thing?

 

[heartbeeps]

I wonder if there's empty seats b'c folks are booking more than 1 ressie for the same day/time at different places?

anyone got feedback from Feb or March?

 

[aubriee]

I made ADRs for my May trip at 180 days out. However, the day after the AP discounts came out, I decided to upgrade my resort and to add the basic DDP. I called and made all new ADRs and was able to get Tokyo Dining, Tutto Italia, Boma, Kona, Mama Melrose, GF Cafe, and Yak & Yeti. A couple of weeks later I decided to change to the DxDDP, so called once again, cancelled all of my old ADRs and made totally new ones. I was able to get:

L Raglan Road
D Flying Fish
L Tutto Italia
D Yachtsman Steakhouse
L Rose & Crown
D Citricos
L WCC
D California Grill
L Chefs de France
D Jiko
L Tokyo Dining
D Artist Point
L Yak & Yeti
D Narcoosees
L Le Cellier

The only ones I had any trouble getting were Bomas and Le Cellier. I had to call back several times before they opened up.

 

[GatorLady]

I wonder if there's empty seats b'c folks are booking more than 1 ressie for the same day/time at different places?

I just read in another thread where a CM said that people were doing just that. So that if you called to book an ADR, the computers were showing full and you couldn't get a reservation, but if you walked up to the restaurant you could get a table because of the no-shows.

I thought that people were also saying that Disney would cancel your ADR's if they found you had double booked. Maybe that only applies if the times are the same or very close, and the CM on the phone actually catches it????

 

[sorul82?]

I thought that people were also saying that Disney would cancel your ADR's if they found you had double booked.

If you book with different phone numbers, they don't know you are double/triple booked.

 

[GatorLady]

If you book with different phone numbers, they don't know you are double/triple booked.

You're right. I guess if you are going to try to beat the system, you're going to do it so you don't get caught.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Make the ADR's! If you change your mind later, you can always cancel or switch to another restaurant.