Getting a table without an ADR

[Disneyfan1977]

I was wondering how likely it is for people to walk in to a restaurant without an ADR and get a table??

I have booked our ADR's but I am questioning a few and maybe will want to switch once I get there....

 

[iloveftwilderness]

I would keep my ADR and cancel them if you don't need them. I am not sure when you are going, but if you are going during free dining, I would guess it is going to be near impossible to get a walk up reservation.

 

[crisi]

Depends on the time of year
Size of the party (big parties are going to be hard)
Time of day (lunch is easier than dinner)
Restaurant (Marrakesh is a good bet for walking into, Sci Fi a bad bet).

Sometimes people have the best luck though.

People also sometimes have luck calling day of and switching reservations around. Since it can be quite a hike to get to a restuarant only to be turned away at the door, we usually do that when we need to change on the fly.

 

[Lynne M]

In most cases, it's very, very difficult to walk up and get a table. Especially in the theme parks. WDW restaurants don't hold tables for walk ups. If they're fully booked, they'll just turn you away.

You have a slightly better chance during lunch, but even then, I'd go with the ADR.

 

[KathylovesPooh]

Depends on the time of year
Size of the party (big parties are going to be hard)
Time of day (lunch is easier than dinner)
Restaurant (Marrakesh is a good bet for walking into, Sci Fi a bad bet).

Sometimes people have the best luck though.

People also sometimes have luck calling day of and switching reservations around. Since it can be quite a hike to get to a restuarant only to be turned away at the door, we usually do that when we need to change on the fly.

Ditto...I was surprised at last visit in late October how many people were turned away. Sounds like a lot of people have success calling Disney Dining the day of. Keep the number and your cell phone near. Good luck!

 

[Aimeedyan]

I have been able to walk in to places not on everyone's hot list (but not necessarily not good - just not hot right now!) and I've had a lot of success just checking in with the hotel concierge desk in the lobby and booking reservations there.

 

[Tiggr924]

I am going to have to agree with the pp. A lot depends on the time of year and what restaurant you would try and walk-up to. Also depends what time you are walking up to the restaurant. You may have better luck at lunches than dinners.
And of course, if you do during free dining it will be impossible to walk up.

 

[Kathy C]

Just back from a week and going again Nov 8-14. I called 178 days out to make ADRs and was not able to get LeCellier for a party of five for dinner anytime while we're there. Was able to get most of my other choices but not the exact times I wanted. I'd say make them and cancel if you don't want them.

On another note, we cancelled a ADR we had a LeCellier last week for a party of four, and when I called to cancel the CM said, "you're really going to make someone's day - are you sure you want to do this." It was too much of a rush for us and my nieces (11 and 13) didn't want to go so I hope someone enjoyed a nice dinner!

 

[Bev J]

We saw many people walking up to resturants expecting they would be able to get on a list and were turned away- some rather angry.
We always make our ADR's and if we want to change something we call Disney Dining that morning and see what might be available. We have gotten some good resturants doing this and if nothing is available we stick with our original plan.

Bev

 

[WDWNicole]

I think you might sometimes get lucky. A few weeks ago we were able to get a walk in at Crystal Palace at 8:00 PM. They were telling everyone on line in front of us that the wait for a walk up was 45-60 minutes. We didn't want to wait that long but when I got to the front of the line and asked, one of the hostesses had just walked in and said it was only 5 minutes for a table of 4. We waited 10 minutes and were seated. I felt bad for the people in front of us because they all left when they heard it was supposed to be a 45-60 minute wait.

 

[burberryplaid]

I would say it depends on the restaurant.

We were there 2 weeks ago and originally planned to have a light dinner at Beaches N Cream, but with the parks being more crowded than we anticipated, we also anticipated big crowds there so we scrambled to find something. We tried Boma..no deal. We were able to get a reservation for Jiko though. Since we had already been to Jiko, we decided to try some place more casual so we tried Raglan Road and we were able to get something about 2 hours ahead of time. When we arrived at 6, the place was pretty empty so I know there would have been no problem eating there, and this was on a Saturday night.

 

[Tinkertini]

Every restaurant in Disney has cancellations & no shows everyday. The no shows are very rare in cases like CRT where people have prepaid, so for places like that, the walk-ins are going to be much more difficult to get.

Try calling first thing in the morning if you know you want to switch, and if something has opened up they'll book it for you. We got lucky doing this with CRT dinner a few years back. We called every morning for months, and two days before our trip something opened up.

 

[jagwebb1]

I was just at BC last week and it was next to impossible to walk up and get a table unless it was 9 PM! This was in the parks, at the resort, and on the Boardwalk. And it wasn't very crowded in the parks either. I will never go again without making more ADR's!

 

[MickeyNicki]

I think it all depends on the place, the time, the season (time of year) and how many people in your party.

Last month DH and I were a walk in for Captains Grille right when they opened..the hostess snuck us in but said they were not taking walk ins.

At Chefs De France right when they opened they were taking a few walk ins.

What I was amazed at was the week we were there March 29-April 6 was a very busy time but we were able to add and move reservations around. We called the conceirge desk a few times and they had a lot of places open as long as you were flexible with the time

 

[beansmom]

We were there in late October last year and were turned away at several places (since it was a last minute trip, I didn't even think to make ADR's). Soooo...I've made them for this year. I WILL have my Jiko, darn it!

 

[mrbghd]

I thin it all depends. We went June 14-21 last year and had ADRS but had to change a few when we got there(some plans changed). We were able to make same day ADR's for a couple of places in the parks when we were there. All places will have no shows or cancellations so its luck of the draw.