Help!-Dining Res. full

[muffina123]

We are going to POR on Oct 4-11. We are going to WDW for the first time. My kids are 16,12, and 8 and I wanted them to have some different experiences dining. Looks like everything I put in is booked until 9-10pm for dinner. Does space open up? Do I check when we get there? We are on the regular dining plan and I hope we can use it at this rate. My kids are pretty flexible but I don't think they will wait until that late for dinner. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

 

[softballmom3]

We are going Thanksgiving week and I believe things open and close all the time you just have to be willing to keep looking. I wanted 'Ohana and at first couldn't find.....2 days later a great ressie opened up .

People book multiple restaurants and then when finalizing drop some of their ressies. I would just keep looking and not give up.

 

[Pakey]

I would book what you can find now and then keep checking on the particular places you want. Restaurants do not generally take walk ups so book something.

In each park, you can go to Guest Services and they can check for openings. We've had a lot of success doing that but going during Free Dining makes it more difficult to be flexible.

 

[Patience]

Keep looking! I had a Crystal Palace dinner reservation at a time I didn't really like (3:35). I kept checking several times a day and yesterday found a Crystal Palace breakfast reservation available at a time that works much better for us and now I am really happy with all of our ressies. You can also check the canceled ADR thread and maybe grab an available reservation that way.

Good luck!

 

[sharonabe]

Instead of putting in specific restaurants, try a time frame search instead. The site will show you what restaurants are available during that time. I would suggest making some kind of ADR, so you will have places to eat and use the DDP. Then you can keep checking as the time draws nearer to see if you can get what you really, really want.

 

[RMulieri]

People started booking for that time frame 6 MONTHS out.Plus with free dining going on it makes it harder.At this point your only option is to call and check daily and see if anything becomes available, you are going to have to be flexible with your times( early dinners/late lunches or late dinners),restaurants and dates.If you have park hopping tickets that can help as you won't be locked into the restaurants in the park you are visiting that day.Disney does not save any space for walk ups.So that can not be relied upon as an option, but you can try it if you happen to be in the area of a restaurant you might like to try.Most of the popular places may not be taking any walk ups so be prepared.You can also try calling disney dining each morning of your trip to see what if anything is available each day

 

[Hopefully]

October is fairly busy!!! ADR's open 180 days in advance. Folks have been booking since then, and as you are finding, many popular restaurants book in full months in advance.
Cancellations do occur though. All you can do is keep checking on line, several times a day if you can. You may get lucky, or you may not.
There is a chance that you will not be able to use your credits where you want to eat. More remote, less popular restaurants usually have some openings. Have you checked those?
Good Luck

 

[mickeysbestfriend]

call back daily to check and see if anything opens up. Don't use the website as it is only updated once a day. We are good about cancelling ressies that we double book and I hope others are as well.

 

[krb2g]

First, have you tried searching without restrictions? When I put in "dinner" for October 5, 2011 with 5 guests, the system gave me 57 restaurants with availability with a wide range of times (from 4:05 to late, but definitely some 5, 6, 7 pm times). It will be harder to get some types of reservations (CRT springs to mind, and is one of the 16 restaurants listed without dinner availability that day), but it looks like you'll be able to get something.

Second, keep looking! As you may have noticed on these boards, people often change their plans. As they do, reservations may open up. Maybe book the later times and then keep trying to change them to earlier.

Third, have you considered looking for lunch time TS meals? Or early dinners? We often enjoy the break in the day that a TS lunch provides, and then just do CS for dinner. I know that's not as good a value on the dining plan, but it still beats not using TS credits because you couldn't get reservations, or falling asleep over dinner.

Fourth, have you tried looking at the resorts or Downtown Disney? The monorail resorts (and Fort Wilderness) are good bets for a MK day, AKL has a bunch of highly-regarded restaurants if you're in AK, and the Boardwalk, BC, and YC have a ton of great places to eat near Epcot and DHS.

If you're still having trouble by the time you get to WDW, I'd check at the concierge desk of your hotel when you check in to see if they can sort something out for you. There's also always the walk-up option, but that's risky and will probably entail a long wait even if you luck out.

 

[coltsfanatic]

One option you also have (after you have tried Guest Services and midday flex times) is to experience some "off the beaten track" retaurants. Try places that have a great Disney experience, but without the commercialism. For example, try Tune-In Lounge for a quick milkshake and fry snack instead of 50's. Or try Grand Floridian Cafe instead of Citricios/1900. Kona Island instead of 'Ohana. CHH instead of LTT. The list goes on and on. This will also give you more time to experience the most important thing in Disney-the rides and shows!!

 

[calngavinsmom]

I agree with trying leaving the restaurant portion blank and see what pops up.

I tried this for October 4th and 57 restaurants came up.....these are some of our faves:

Biergarten 5:20, 7:30

50's Prime Time Cafe 4:05, 7:45

Boma 6:55, 7:20

Cape May Cafe 5:10, 7:55

Captains Grille 5:25, 7:00

Coral Reef 4:00

Kona Cafe 6:55

Kouzzina 6:45

Mama Melrose 5:20, 6:10

Raglan Road 6:45

Rose and Crown 4:25

Sci-Fi Diner 7:45

Teppan Edo 4:10

Tonys Town Square 7:50

Via Napoli 4:30, 7:00

Wolfgang Puck Cafe 7:00

Any of those would be definite winners as far as our group is concerned.

Good luck!

 

[minniebride]

In our experience, we have learned that you can walk into most dinner buffets at WDW, without an ADR, as long as you show up before 5pm or right at 5pm. We have shown up between 4:45 and 5pm and gotten in with a 0-10 minute wait for Boma, Cape May Cafe, 1900 Park Fare, Biergarten, & Crystal Palace. We have done this during Thanksgiving weekend (including Thanksgiving dinner when we showed up at 4:50!), free dining, and regular seasons.

We also walked up to Tusker House lunch, without an ADR, by showing up at 11:45am.

I'm guessing it's harder to do this with alot of TS non-buffet restaurants, but buffets have a faster turnover so maybe that's why it's easier??

 

[chartle]

You should also be looking into resort TS.

At MK there are 4 or 5 places either on the monorail or a short boat ride away.

DHS and Epcot has the Boardwalk. AK has AKL semi close by.

One other thing I found out is that because most people are trying to get the most value out of the basic plan, they eat CS for lunch and TS for diner. So as a last resort, try to eat your TS meal for lunch.

We only really do CS, for lunch the CS places are packed but for diner pretty dead.

 

[focusondisney]

You could also try splitting your group (are you 4 or 5?). Try for an ADR for 2 & another for 3 (or another 2, whatever you need). Or try up 1 person, like for 6 if there are 5 of you. Don't try that with a credit card hold tho or you might get charged for the "extra" guest.

Definately check the Oct. cancellation thread daily. Dissers are great about helping each other out!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2690026



And stalk the Disney website. We're going in less than 2 weeks & I've tweaked my ADRs plenty from playing on the website.

Good luck & have a great vacation!