Dining in Disney without DDP

[Anne745]

Has anyone had problems getting same day reservations without having the DDP?? My DH and I do not like to plan a lot in advance and would rather wake up and see what we are in the mood for that day. Any comments would be helpful for our upcoming trip. Thanks

 

[kgkmom]

On our October trip a few years ago, we had no trouble walking up to Rose&Crown for a 3 person table. We have never been able to walk up during the summer. I guess it depends on what else is going on when you are there.

Your ticker says you'll be there in 3 weeks, so I can't imagine you'll have a great deal of difficulty (the week before the Christmas craziness begins). You can always try to snag an ADR when you are there by calling ahead on the same day or a day or two in advance. It might work out for you since you aren't there in peak time.

Good luck!

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

Having the dining plan or not having the dining plan doesn't have anything to do with getting an ADR. Both DDP and non DDP people can make them at 180 days out.

You can always call from your room that morning and find out availibility so you won't be walking from place to place.

 

[JimMIA]

Depending on when you are going, and which restaurants you prefer, you could have anywhere from extreme difficulty to not-a-chance in getting same day reservations -- with or without DDP. DDP has nothing to do with your ability to get into restaurants. If you want to be assured of a meal, you have to make ADR's.

For example, last December we were unable to get ANY ADR's at Le Cellier (calling 3 months in advance) because of the CP packages, and they were so overbooked they weren't even doing a walkup list. The same was true at a number of other Epcot restaurants.

When we went to MK several mornings, there were signs up at City Hall and all of the TS restaurants saying there was no availability for the entire day and night! There were some furious DDP people who didn't understand the need to get ADR's, but if there is no room, there's no room. It doesn't matter how you're planning on paying for the meal.

 

[JimMIA]

Your ticker says you'll be there in 3 weeks, so I can't imagine you'll have a great deal of difficulty (the week before the Christmas craziness begins). You can always try to snag an ADR when you are there by calling ahead on the same day or a day or two in advance. It might work out for you since you aren't there in peak time.

Early December is THE busiest time of the year for DVC, and many DVC owners use the dining plan. The December trip mentioned in my post above took place exactly during that period.

Dining at Disney today is very different from dining there even 3-4 years ago...and it's not all good.

I'd be looking for DDP alternatives, like the DD restaurants and some of the restaurants at the resorts. There are some very good choices there, but I think Epcot and MK are going to be very difficult.

 

[CarolynMink]

My friend & I depate this all the time. She hates to plan ahead.

I made all our dining reservations 180 days out. We will be arriving at WDW on 12/9.

I just tried last week to change a time at Sci Fi (we have a 5pm ADR), I was told they had nothing available before 8:35 pm. They also have nothing anything available at lunch.

We were there last December & heard several places say they were completely full.

Good Luck, I do hope you will not have any problems. As long as you can be flexable about where you eat, I am sure you will find places with openings.

 

[bicker]

The point I usually make to people is that it is better to switch your reservations from what you reserved in advance to where you actually want to eat, than to try to just make a reservation at the last minute or do a walk-up. That's is because if where you actually want to eat is not available, at least, with an advance reservation, you still have someplace you like where you can go to get a good meal without waiting hours.

Make reservations for every meal you plan to eat, and change them if you wish (and if you can).

 

[kgkmom]

Early December is THE busiest time of the year for DVC, and many DVC owners use the dining plan. The December trip mentioned in my post above took place exactly during that period.

Dining at Disney today is very different from dining there even 3-4 years ago...and it's not all good.

I'd be looking for DDP alternatives, like the DD restaurants and some of the restaurants at the resorts. There are some very good choices there, but I think Epcot and MK are going to be very difficult.

DOH! Thanks for the update JimMIA! Indeed, our October trip was 4 years ago, and our November trip was 6 years ago, so I guess I'm basing my post on old knowledge. We didn't have trouble with a walk-up to Rose&Crown in August last year, but that must have been a fluke.

Hope I didn't raise false hopes! Thanks, again, JimMIA for being on the ball and reminding me to make sure I state that my experience may not be the norm.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Durining my my familiy vacation in December 2005, we had only made 1 ADR for lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe & we made that ADR while we were in WDW. It was for December 22nd or 23rd, but the point is we still got to make a last minute lunch ADR at a very popular restaurant, during a very busy time & the Cast Member said what time would you like & got to go on the day we wanted. So it's not like there was only 1 or 2 time slots left for us. On our most recent vacation in August 2006, we only made 2 ADR's for lunch again at 50's Prime Time Cafe & at the Plaza. Once again we made them last minute after checking into WDW & had no problem making them & again we were told, what times we wanted to have & got to go on the dates we wanted to go to those parks.

So with that being said we will continue to make our ADR's when we arrive at WDW, because we usually only make 1 or 2 of them for our whole trip & we have never been told sorry this restaurant is booked. Maybe the fact we stay on the Atrium Club Concierge floor makes it easier for us to get last minute ADR's, however there is no proof that it does. If that were to be true I would not complain about that, because we would still end up with the ADR's.

 

[pezpam]

If there's a place you really want to eat, go ahead and make the ADR. Try to time it so that it wouldn't be inconvenient to get to - for example, if you're generally done with a park at 5pm (or just don't mind leaving for a couple of hours then) then you can book a TS for later and be able to get to it comfortably, no matter what you decied to do that day.

I had a recent trip where we had few problems getting into places without an ADR, but that's not the norm. ON one trip, when I checked in and asked for my ADR printout, the CM said something like "Oh, you're lucky you planned ahead. A lot of DDP people have been here all upset because they didn't plan ahead andnow they can't get into TS places." A few weeks ago, I took DD down for a long weekend. We didn't have the DDP and planned on just doing CS meals since it was such a short (and last-minute) trip. One day, I decided it'd be nice to sit down for a meal. I checked with Guest Services and the first couple of places I asked about were completely booked, so I asked the woman to just tell me who had availability. ONE place had an open spot - not just at that park, I mean all TS places were solidly filled that night.

DDP or no DDP, it's just a fact that places are more heavily booked than they used to be. No biggie if you don't want to plan ahead, but be prepared to be ultra-flexible and to be ok with a CS meal if/when you can't get a TS ressie. You may get everything you want, but you never know.....

Enjoy the trip!

 

[Anne745]

thanks to everyone for the info. I will probably try to make a couple of ADR's for restaurants that I want to eat at. I will let everyone know how we made out.

 

[Tamar]

One more suggestion...it's easier to get into the signature restaurants on short notice than the ones that only require one credit. So....earlier this month, we had wonderful meals at Jiko, Narcoosee's, and the Yachtsman. We also got into Spoodles, Beaches and Cream, and Chef's de France without planning ahead. We use the DDE, and spend less than we would with the DDP without having to worry about "spending" all the credits....one night we ate at the Season's food court, one night I had leftovers from one of the signature meals and we got DH something from Pikabu.