? for December 2006 travelers

[Willow25]

For those of you who went to DW last December in the first two weeks. Were the restaurants so busy that you absolutely could not get a walk in seating??

Also did most of you do the dining plan or pay out of pocket??

Thanks

 

[dogsmom]

We were there from 12/7 thru 12/12. We were on the dining plan and had ADR's ahead of time. We ate at AlFredo's, Hollywood and Vine, LeCellier, and Tony's for dinner and Boma for breakfast. The only time it wasn't absolutely packed with long waits (even with ADR's) was breakfast at Boma's. The Boma reservation I had actually made the day before and it was not crowded at all.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I was there at that time and arrived without ADR's.. I did, however, go to guest relations and set up some ADR's when I got there. I would say that the majority of the time I got an ADR where I wanted to dine providing I was flexible with the time that I wanted to dine, which I was. I did not attempt to walk in anywhere except for the Galley restaurant at Yacht Club and I learned fast when they told me it was a 3 hour wait, I just walked over to guest services at that resort and made an ADR for 5 minutes later....so wait for a walk-up, no wait for someone who made an ADR...

We do not do the dining plan.

 

[siugoalie78]

DW and I were there the second week of december '06. Can't remember a lot of detail about the exact days, but I do remember people being turned away at the podiums at 'Ohana, Biergarten, and Brown Derby.

 

[ransom]

We saw a few walk-ins get turned away...and we saw a few that were accomodated. Including a 17-person party who arrived without an ADR at San Angel Inn at prime dinner time to a very busy house (they were accommodated by giving them several non-adjacent tables).

The only walk-up we did was at Prime Time, and that was at 11:00 AM. We had no problem getting a table.

On the other hand, lots of folks ended up getting turned away from Whispering Canyon one morning.

It seemed to be hit or miss.

 

[OKWMom]

We were there the first week of December on the DP although we will probably use DDE this year. We had ADRs for dinner each night. The night we went to LeCellier, I heard the hostess tell a walk-up that they were booked into February and that the only restaurant in the World Showcase taking walk-ups was Marrakesh.

The night we went to Kona they were turning walk-ups away, ditto with the hostess at 'Ohana.

We also went to WPC and it looked fairly empty on a week night so I think you could walk in there. The other places we went were 2 TS and I think with the exception of Jiko, they weren't too busy to take walk-ins. We went to FF and Narcoossee's.

 

[engle]

12/11 thru 12/17...all walk in and all OOP. We ate at Le Cellier, Flying Fish, Teppanyaki (even though we had to wait over an hour).

Oh yeah, not all walk in. We did have ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern on the night of MVMCP.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

We always go the first two weeks in December. If you do not have an ADR for a certain day just go to guest relations and they might be able to get you in somewhere. A lot of the more popular restaurants fill up days ahead of time so you will not be able to get those. We always try to make our ADR's for places like CG, Le Cellier etc. way ahead of time.

 

[budbeerlady]

Dec 10-17 in 2005 and 2006. We did the dining plan, we did have ADRS for all our meals. (I did change a couple the night before in the room when we changed our minds) If you want to eat from 5:30-7 at any place popular I would make that ADR.

Lunches w/ the exception of le cellier should be walk ups. 2006 was busier than 2005, so I would expect 2007 to be more so.

 

[MiamiBeach]

We saw people told of extremely long waits, so they ended up walking away or waiting for an hour or more at SciFi Dine-In and Cape May Cafe.

Flying Fish was busy but it seemed manageable. Not sure what the non-ADR waits were.

We ended up cancelling at Jiko and Artists Point (didn't feel like racing all around once we got there) and eating at BlueZoo twice. It's not on the DDP and generally off most people's radar, but we were surprised to be able to make last-minute reservations on both a Friday and a Saturday night.

We are out of pocket diners!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We did up to Dec. 5th I think. We paid OOP and I made all the ADR ahead of time. I think you can just about guarantee a long wait at any EPCOT restraunt during the CP Processional if they sell alot of the dinner packages if you can get a walk up at all. I think they turned away at Crystal Palace lunch when we were there. They dont serve late during MVMCP and alot of the MK restraunts are booked for dinner during the Christmas Partys, Keep in mind that the weeks you are talking about have Pop Warner, Mousefest etc. so plan accordingly. You can always cancel your ADRs. I am just one of those people who just does not enjoy winging it, I am just a planner. You could probably walk up at off hours and at less popular restraunts. Best of luck.

 

[Inkmahm]

We were there Dec 2 and then again Dec 7-11 of 2006. We had ADRs for every dinner and several lunches. I saw people without ADRs get turned away regularly. Even with ADRs, we waited quite awhile at Liberty Tree Tavern and Jikos. We didn't do DDP, we use the DDE.

 

[IwannaseeMickey]

I was there then, and we had ADR's booked well in advance for everything. I would say there were lines for waits at all the places we ate at. I don't remember not waiting anywhere, even w/ ADR's. We waited for quite a while at Coral Reef. We also ate at O'hana's, LTT, Norway bfast, 1900 Park Fare, and Hoop de Doo.

We are big fans of the DDP. 2nd time to use it, and I wouldn't go w/o ADR's.

My neighbors aren't planners and are going the last week of June...they are planning to eat at table service rest. but won't make any ressies, good luck to them!

 

[wdwthreethiels]

For those of you who went to DW last December in the first two weeks. Were the restaurants so busy that you absolutely could not get a walk in seating??

Also did most of you do the dining plan or pay out of pocket??

Thanks

we were @ SSR 12/7 - 12/11, we were not on DDP, we used DDE.
we did not make any ADR's prior to arriving, we did make a few ADR's while there for same day favorite places, 50's prime time and Wolfgang Puck Cafe, we were able to get times we wanted.
that being said, we did also have our share of turn away's, and they were not very nice about it
we usually spend our days in the parks and head to DTD for dinner, we never
had an issue finding TS at DTD (wait was never longer than 45 minutes)

 

[CamColt]

I went during that time with no ADRs. I tried getting into Concourse Steakhouse right at opening time and was told I would have a 45 minute wait. I tried the Grand Floridian Cafe around 6:00 PM and was able to get in with just a short wait, maybe 20 minutes. I think I was told it would be 1/2 hour, but it was shorter.

I did not have DDP, but did use DDE.

 

[phisigprincess]

We were there the second week and I know for sure Coral Reef, LTT, and Le Cellier were closed to walk ups. WCC was ok, I don't remember if they were turning people away at Chef Mickeys. CRT is CRT. Nothing ever changes there.

 

[MARY-IN-OH]

We were there Dec 10th - 20th. We only wanted a couple of TS, we paid OOP. (we cooked some meals at OKW in our kitchen)

We did a couple of late lunches to save $ and it was close enough to feel like dinner time. (50's PTC and WCC)

We had ADR's. I made them a few months before we went.

I would say you might have trouble trying to do more popular restaurants at the popular dinner time. We couldn't get a 5-7 pm Ohana on the days I wanted so we ended up doing 9pm dinner.

Side note regarding 1st half of Dec. It was a wonderful time to go. Used Tour Guide Mike's best days for each park. We had little or no lines for attractions. Weather was wonderful, in the low to mid 70's (kind of overcast but no sunburns!).
Also We did MVMCP on a Tuesday (12/12) - walked right on everything, (multiple times!), even in Fantasyland. yep, magical....
-Mary

 

[a1tinkfans]

we were there dec 7-10, not on the dining plan and we found that at AKL it was TOUGH! The lines for people just trying to get in was VERY VERY LONG for both Boma and Jiko. The waits were very long even with our ADR and we wound up leaving after a 30 minute plus wait (ADR) and ate at the food court as we were starved having taken later than usual adr for our family, and then the wait UGH! We were all quite disappointed and they were apologetic, but that does not FEED the tummy LOL