Dinner at Epcot w/o ADRs?

[ksoehrlein]

DH has a convention at the Orlando World Center Marriott the first week in August. He *may* have time to join me, DD5, and DS2 one evening, but we're not sure yet. If he can join us, we'll want to have dinner at Epcot so we can ride Soarin' before we eat. Since it's so iffy, I don't want to make ADRs.

Where have you had luck getting a table-service meal without PS's for dinner? In the past, we've walked up and got dinner times around 9pm. With the kids, though, we'll want to eat much earlier than that. If we walk up at 5, where will we be most successful?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Three weeks ago I was in the Land pavilion for dinner. When we arrived at 6:15 and looked at Soarin, all Fastpasses for the day had been distributed and the standby line was 105 minutes (1-3/4 hours). When we finished dinner about 7:15 the standby line was closed.

Right around opening for dinner (4:30 or 5:00) should be the best chance to get in to have a mealwithout a reservation.

Also, if you are staying at the World Center the breakfast buffet they have there (7 days a week) is teriffic and a great value.

 

[Aimeedyan]

You could safely get into Marrakesh without one. It's excellent and a fave of ours. If you're early, you might be able to get into others, like Rose and Crown, Bistro, Nine Dragons, etc.

If you want to be near Soarin, I'd try Garden Grill so he can get in and out quickly if he needs to. It takes a bit of time to get there to WS.

Personally, I'd make an AR anyways knowing there is no penalty to cancel and we have a table if we want it. If you decide you want a table service with the kids you can go anyways and just tell them you're 1 short.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

You would need to get Fast Pases for Soarin a long time before dinner. There is always a long wait and the FP are many hours later in some cases. I agree with another poster to go ahead and make a reservation for three. You can always cancel or just show up with two. We were there last week and many people were being turned away from just about all the restaurants because of the crowds. Early August will be just as busy.

 

[lillygator]

I think Nine Dragons is pretty much always available too, at least they have been whenever we have been to Epcot.

 

[Leota]

You are much better off making ADR's & canceling. I saw many folks getting turned away when I was there is April. Otherwise, you may be stuck eating at the less desirable or CS restaurants.(The exception to this is Marrakesh, which is a great restaurant but seems to be overlooked for some odd reason) If you want to eat at a specific place, make your arrangements ahead of time.

 

[Kaycee]

I agree with the other suggestions to make ADR's where you'd like to dine and then cancel them if you need to. It's much better to have the ADR's and cancel than taking a chance on not getting in to dine when you have hungry little ones.

And definitely grab fastpasses for Soarin' early. It's a great ride, but very popular.