Disney Dining

[casinocolin]

I know you have to book well in advance for a table in any of the Disney restaurants when the free dining plan is on, but has anyone been able to get a table at any of the restaurants on the same day when they have not been on the dining plan? I wonder if Disney have a few tables spare for paying customers?
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[orangetiggs]

i dont think they seperate the tables out like that, were went 27th aug to 10ths sept last year and were not on the dining plan and we could not get tables at some places as they were booked up

This year we will be booking tables at the 90 day mark as we are on the dining plan

 

[Lizzybear]

There seems to be conflicting info on this.. Some day they do put some aside until the day, some say they don't. I have to say, though, we saw a lot of people being turned away from restaurants during free dining in 2007.. I'll be making ADRs for all of our credits.

 

[PaulaSB12]

I have been to Disney on the free ddp in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and have seen a lot of people being turned away. I would suggest making adrs but if you change your mind you can always ask the conseirge desk what restaurants have space in them either the night before or on the morning.

 

[gemmybear83]

I would book for when the free DDP is on - we got ADRS on the day for our trip last Jan. But were only a couple and were flexible with times etc.

 

[wifey]

I think I read somewhere it's 90 days before your stay + 10.. when you are staying onsite which of course you need to do if you have any of the dining plans. I would say make them as soon as you can as we did see folks just walk up to the check in desk of a couple of restaurants and were turned away on our last visit. That was June and July '07 though so the parks were fairly well attended. It's best to make a few ADRs and any you are not sure about you can ask the concierge desk about when you check in or in the morning at Guest Services at which ever park you go to as some guests do cancel from time to time. Hope you find something suitable.

 

[Shooby doo]

Had DDP in 2008 & seen alot of angry customers turned away or told to come back in 3 hours!Things are easier though if you are happy to eat at non-peak times.We also changed a few of our ADRs whilst there,what looked good at 180 days wasn't always the case on the day!
SD

 

[wifey]

This is our first year of using the DDP and we've paid for it we have not got it free, on all our previous trips I made all of the ADRs for early lunches and dinners. This we have found works well as the wait staff are more inclined to take notice of any requests and the food is always piping hot and fresh. We've often been seated either a few minutes early or on time or within 20 minutes of our ADR time and never felt rushed when choosing our meals from the menus. Smaller guest numbers for the earlier dining times often means we have a more relaxed meal and we don't feel rushed to eat our food to vacate the table ASAP.

I'm going to use this same method again in June, our 90 day plus 10 marker, for our September plans and hope we get everything we want. I sat down yesterday with DH and we've gone over our plans and taken a couple of restaurants out of our list, purely down to the menus. We have left a few meals clear so we can still have a couple of days where we don't need to be somewhere specific and just go with the flow. We should still have plenty of credits to just pick up a couple of QS meals while we are out and about. That "picnic in the park" at AK looks good we may try that and I'll be interested to see where they put any picnic tables.