Does anyone ever wing it and not make PSs?

[Sirius]

We hardly ever make PS before going to WDW. Of course, there are only two of us and walking in has always been fairly easy.

 

[marcyinPA]

We used to wing it when it was just the two of us. Now that we have kids, we make PS's before we leave home. It saves disappointment, waiting for a table (although even with ps's you need to wait sometimes) and everyone is prepped about where we are going. My kids especially need that prep...or else it would be a total whine-fest!

Truth be told, though...we don't make A LOT of ps's. Maybe 5 for a 7-night stay. The rest of the time we do counter service. We also rarely eat lunch. We eat a large breakfast and a decent dinner (our ps's are usually for dinner). Doing it that way really works for us!

 

[lulugirl]

I have never made a PS reservation before going to WDW. We always travel during off peak times, so we just wing it.

 

[jwfla422]

If you travel PEAK time with a young child and want to get into one of the more popular restaurants you better make a PS or you'll be waiting or might not be able to get in. This isn't so bad when it just adults but with children it's not fun.

We had PS for GG last Sat night and still waited almost a 1/2 hr, but went to Spoodles a few nights later without PSs at around 7 and waited maybe 5 minutes. Just depends on the restaurant and what time of year it is.

Last year when we were in EPCOT on Valentine's night NONE of the Epcot restaurants were taking walk-ups! Now that was a Friday night during President's day weekend.

So if you're strictly off peakers you should be fine as long as you're not doing CRT's or PSB's.

 

[CharlesandCamilla]

We never used PS until our last trip. We waited in line so long for a table the time before last. We wasted hours of our 6 day trip. I didn't even know about PS until I asked at the restaurant in Italy WS why someone got to walk right in front of the scores of people waiting for a table. My wife loves to play it by ear. She also likes to eat at nice sit downs. I made a few PS's last time. This time I've PSed for almost every meal.

 

[CarolA]

I normally wing it.

However, I went over Christmas and made PS then! I have short trip planned for July 4th and am trying to decide what to do. It may be too late! LOL!

 

[Micca]

Our group is a bit diverse in what they will eat(that means picky ). It makes sense for us to spend a few minutes before we go to book some PS's.

 

[danny1649]

Our's before we arrive I feel it is better to have them than not.

 

[TJA]

First, we never go during Peak season. That being said, we rarely make PS's. We try to "be hungry" during non-busy hours which also makes PS's rarely needed. We stayed at CR in May and simply walked to Chef Mickey's and got in almost right away each time.

 

[poohandwendy]

We always make PS arrangements before we go. We have 11 made for our 8 day trip in august. As a family of 5, it is so much easier making the arrangements ahead of time instead of wasting time playing the "Where do you wanna eat?" game when we are tired, hot etc. And, it is nice to know that we won't wait more than 15-20 minutes to be seated. Usually we are seated within minutes. The longest we have waited is 20 minutes.

We can always cancel if our plans change while we are there. But, we usually end up going to almost all of them.

 

[fizz13]

i did make PS's a couple of years ago for a trip in january anf felt silly, as when they seated me, most restaurants were half empty. However, I will be PSing everything for our next trip as I have a feeling the first week is going to be really busy around WDW. I also have older kids with their own requests so will be in trouble if they miss something down to my lack of planning!

Claire.

 

[Kaycee]

We always visit at crowded times because of the school calendar, so PS's are really important for us unless we want to have long waits in line or totally miss out on some favorite meals.

We don't let the PS's dictate our trip thoug. On every trip so far we've cancelled at least one PS on the day of the meal and walked up to a sit-down restaurant with no PS at least once. And we don't make a lot of PS's; for this 8-night stay we only have 5 PS's made. The rest of the meals will either be breakfast in our rooms or counter service. Even though we don't rely heavily on PS's, I still think it's very helpful for us to have at least a few.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

We've only made 1 PS ever....for Victoria & Albert's. We just never need to...we always end up going during slower times.

Plus, having to make PSs in advance means we can't be uterly spontaneous in deciding where we want to eat. It's one of the more fun parts of our day to decide where to eat that night.

 

[crisi]

After a disasterous trip with children and few PSs, always.

As to not needing them at slow times, often the restaurant is half empty, but sometimes it is half staffed as well. We've waited half an hour to get seated in a half empty restaurant do to staffing. So just because you go during a slow time doesn't mean that you'll be able to walk right in!

 

[cinmell]

We only make PS for places such as Chef Mickey's, CRT, 1900 Park Fare, Princess Storybook and the Icecream Social. Anything else we just walk in and hope for the best .

 

[DisneyMomx7]

When you're travelling in July with three small children you had better make PSs! We make one or two day so we know we can have a nice cool relaxing break and aren't standing in line for an hour just waiting to eat. I think it's different if you're just a party of adults or if you're travelling during the slower times.


30 days to go !!!!!!!!!

 

[parmtoo]

I only make a few PSs for each trip. We mostly wing it, and do counter service anyway. We are going in Aug., and so far I've made one PS at GG for my DSs B-day. I may not make anymore, we'll see what happens. We are traveling with large group, (family and friends), and everyone may want eat different things.

 

[jimmalru80]

We travel during peak season due to school, so we always make PS. We plan the trip around our meals more often than not. The longest we have had to wait is 15 minutes.

 

[jennymouse]

I always make PS's for at least the dinners. I may cancel or change when I'm there, but not usually. I don't like wanting to eat somewhere and not getting in, I also don't like the "I don't know, what do you want to eat." thing. Last week, I had dinner PS's for all but one meal and we were able to walk in Cape May Cafe for that one. I cancelled a PS for Sci Fi Dine Inn. Other than that we made all of our PS's.

 

[Deemarch]

The last 2 years we were in WDW in May and July. We couldn't get PS for Le Cellier. We are going 12/25 - 1/1/05 this year and are PSing all dinners plus breakfast at Crystal Palace on NYE. We don't like playing the "where should we eat" game, either.