Dining without PS? What are your chances?

[Disney_Queen34]

We are thinking we might like to eat at some of the places that take PS but we dont' want to lock ourselves in, and don't want to deal with calling and canceling.

What are the chances of showing up for lunch or dinner and getting a seat WITHOUT a PS at most of the more moderatly priced restaurants?

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

It complete ly depends upon the time of year and the restaurant.

If you are going at a peak time you will need them, or if you are going to CRT, California Grill, Crystal Palace, Prime Time, SciFi, Le Cellier, most any character meal and other popular places you should make then no matter what time of year.

On the other hand, going to the Morocco restaurant in September you can probably walk right in.

Basically, if you have your heart set on eating in a particular place you should make PS.

 

[emememem]

Depends on the number in your party. My DH and I had no problems getting into PSB without PS in Nov...Hard to do that when your party is larger. Sometimes you can walk up and they will tell you whats open that night...If it works for you then take the PS and come back!!

 

[bicker]

At least at EPCOT, there almost always someplace nice that has some availability. So as long as you're not choosy about where you eat, you should be able to find someplace to eat whenever you're at EPCOT.

 

[libba]

I would discourage it - we were there at a non peak time and the one night we had no PS we ended up eating at 9:30PM with a 4 yo. I was just about sloshed from waiting in the bar for a table!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jugglinfish]

why not make the ps and then cancel if you don't want it? Our last trip we switched around many PS. You can do it at your hotel and I'd bet you could do it at a park info booth (or whatever they are called). That way you always have a plan but can change it if you need to.

 

[risy]

If there is one place you really want to try, make a ressie for your first night. After that, just be prepared to eat at counter-service if you cannot get a priority seating.

Consider calling Disney Dining each evening when you know your plans for the following day. This would be preferable to just walking into each restaurant and hoping they have availability.

If you prefer late dining, your chances are much better at a resort restaurant.

 

[kdtwiss]

Well nearly all of my PS arrangements did not work out, but w/o the ones we were able to make it would have been cs for us all week UGH! Especially in MGM - be sure to have one. We ended up at MGM w/o a ps and by the time we were ready for dinner Pizza Planet was closed and were stuck at those awful little food stand by the Tower of Terror.I was in line for 45 minutes for the most God Awful pizza in the world! Don't be afraid to make your PS even if you have to cancel. Better to be safe than sorry - and sorry we were on more than one occasion. People we were there with were unable to come to dinner with us as they told me they wanted to wing it when I was making my PS.When we got there and they wante dto go there was never any space - this was at 1900 Park Faire for dinner,CP for breakfast, Chef Mickey's for dinner, and at Ohana's they told us we could not add 2 extra people, but we took the chance and brought them anyway as 4 of our party were infants and they did accomodate us. You want to eat somewhere - better make a PS!

 

[holly32]

It's horrible if you don't have a PS. We just got back and a couple of nights we never made it to our PS for dinners and in the end everywhere we went we could not get in until 8:55pm. So we pretty much ended up at several of the many counter services. I think next time I won't make so many PSs. Becuase I had to cancel like 3 of mine this time because we were always either running late or we just weren't in the area of where we had our PSs.

 

[Wenlitz]

It can be very upsetting if your looking for a relaxing, sitdown place to eat and you cant get in for 2 hours. We had this happen one nite on our last vacation and vowed to never be in that position again!!
You can always cancel your reservations and better safe than sorry!!
Have a great trip!

 

[Christine]

I asked this question a few weeks ago because on my past few trips, I felt like I never needed them. I had ALWAYS made them, of course, by never really stuck to my plans/times and either always showed up earlier or something. It looked to me that people never had any problems getting in anywhere. But, in the past I've always gone in April and May. Even on my last trip in June 2001, I had little problems getting in anywhere. I always dine early though.

Having said all that, with the new dining packages there are definitely more people using table service (I can see that by reading these boards and hearing about all the people getting turned away). I finally broke down a called a few weeks ago and made 3 PS arrangments. I got all the times I wanted. I made some more this past Tuesday and, let me tell you, things were VERY tight, almost booked (this is for my trip in 2 weeks).

I just suggest that you make the plans and if you have to ditch them, so be it.

 

[Grumpy92]

PS General Rule of Thumb:

You dont need a PS unless you fall into one of the following catagories:

* Have a large party, more then six
* Visiting during a holiday or school vacation time.
* Want to dine at a Character Meal
* Want to dine at high volume times (lunch-noon or dinner 6-8pm)
* Want to dine at one of the more popular restaurants
(Cal Grill, WC, Ohana, Narcoosees, Flying Fish, Yachtsmans, Boma, Jiko, AP, Sci Fi, 50s PT, Le Cellier, Chefs de France, Cindys, Ltt)

This summer seems to be extremely busy. I called for one of the restaurants listed above last week and it was completly booked. I also have seen a lot of messages on this board about quite a few restaurants turning walk ups away.
You might want to consider just one or two dinner PS at only the most popular restaurants.

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

We just returned from our trip 5/21 - 5/28. I made all of our PS's prior to our trip and I am glad we did - Many places were turning walk ups away - So I was definately glad I had made plans. I had atleast one PS perday and we only canceled one cause DH wasn't feeling well - we made all the others and had a wonderful time.

 

[Pointdisney]

My DH and I usually go to the VWL 2x a year...once in Jan-Feb and the other in the last two weeks of August. In August, it is always important to have a PS for at least dinner or whatever sit-down meals you want to enjoy. Usually, on our earlier trip, we don't have to "plan" as much, but this time, we were there during the marathon and there was a huge convention as well, so we had alot of trouble getting seated for dinner when we didn't have a PS. One night, we went to the CR, Poly, and GF before finally being able to be seated for dinner. Needless to say, it was aggravating! I will never go unprepared again. I would recommend that you make them, at least for the places you definitely want to go and if you want to change your plan, you can try to get something to fit your needs right then, but you sitll have an option for eating as a back-up plan. I mainly plan PS for any sit down lunches we want(which are few) and dinners. If we decide to do something else then I'll cancel. Oh, and a PS for character breakfasts are a must!