How hard is it to get Reservations once you get to WDW

[Irishgrl]

I booked a lot of our meals already but, wonder how hard it is to get reservation a day or 2 before. Also, How strict are they about canceling reservations. We have 2 year old and I'm worried that we might have to cancel last minute if he is over tired or something.

 

[Faldred]

Depends on the time of year you're going and how flexible you can be with times and locations. If you must have a 6 PM reservation at a specific place during peak season, you'll want an ADR for that. If you can eat "whenever" and "wherever", you will probably be able to find something most of the year (except for true peak periods and "free dining" season, when restaurant fill up quickly even though the parks aren't so crowded).

As for cancellations, except for the places that take credit card guarantees, there's really no penalty for missing/cancelling (though I understand they're trying to crack down on abuses here). That said, if you must miss a reservation, it is good etiquette to call in to cancel, even if only a little while before, so the restaurant an free up the table for someone else.

 

[sharonabe]

Here is a list of the restaurants that will charge you $10 per person if you do not cancel one day before your ADR. However, we still don't know how strict they are if you have to cancel on the day of due to illness or other issues.
The Pre-Paid locations keep whatever the deposit was, not $10 per person.

Pre-Paid Locations:

• Cinderella's Royal Table
• Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
• Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue
• Mickey's Backyard BBQ

Credit Card Guarantee Locations:

• 1900 Park Fare
• Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
• Artist Point
• California Grill
• Cape May Cafe
• Chef Mickey's
• Cítricos
• The Crystal Palace
• Flying Fish Cafe
• Garden Grill
• Hollywood and Vine
• Jiko – The Cooking Place
• Le Cellier Steakhouse
• Narcoossee's
• 'Ohana
• Tusker House Restaurant
• Hollywood Brown Derby
• Victoria and Albert's (cancellation policy is $25/per person)
• Yachtsman Steakhouse

 

[TDC Nala]

They have a strict cancellation policy for all character and signature restaurants. Please see the sticky thread on the Reservations board, where I am moving this, for the list and full policy. If you think you may have to cancel less than a FULL day in advance (please see the sticky), then you should probably avoid restaurants on that list. (Yes, unfortunately that will exclude you from all character meals, with the sole exception of the Garden Grove buffet at the Swan resort.)

 

[OhThePain]

It's real easy to find places to eat, in the area you want to be, especially if you can be flexible, as a PP stated. You can always check either your resort concierge (if you are staying on site), guest relations at the parks, the Disney dining website if you have a phone with internet or just walk up to a restaurant and ask if there is anything available.

On our recent trip I was often looking at the Disney dining website to see if anything was available the interested us more than our scheduled ADR. Also, our flight home got canceled (due to the snow storm in the Northeast at the end of October, we had an extra 3 nights) and I had no issues adding a couple of decent ADR's at prime dining times. Of course it was just 2 of us and it was a quieter time of year and it was before the new cancelation policies really took place (however, I did need to give a CC number to 2 of our ADR's that I normally wouldn't have needed to).

Long story short, if you can be flexible as to where you eat and when you eat, it could be pretty easy to find something on short notice.

 

[eliza61]

I booked a lot of our meals already but, wonder how hard it is to get reservation a day or 2 before. Also, How strict are they about canceling reservations. We have 2 year old and I'm worried that we might have to cancel last minute if he is over tired or something.

We rarely have a lot of ADR's and we always have great luck getting last minute ressies. What I do is the first thing every morning when I get up I just hit the disney dining button on my phone and ask what's available for dinner that day.

Now as others have said, we are extremely flexible especially since we get park hoppers that lets us go where ever we want.

I generally go either the last week in August or Jersey week and in the 10 years I've been going annually, I have never, ever been told nothing was available. NEVER.

 

[2girlsR2good]

Disney's mobile website is great if you have a smartphone. You can do a quick restaurant find, using the "near me" option if you allow the site to know your location. I always saw options except in MK and this was Dec 16-21.

 

[maxiesmom]

Are you on the Disney Dining Plan? If so, you really should book all your ADRs ahead of time. Disney will not reimburse you for any meal credits you don't use up. So if you are on the plan and can't get anyplace to use your credits, you are just stuck.

 

[padawans]

I booked a lot of our meals already but, wonder how hard it is to get reservation a day or 2 before. Also, How strict are they about canceling reservations. We have 2 year old and I'm worried that we might have to cancel last minute if he is over tired or something.

Not hard at all. We just took a 9 day spur of the moment trip. I had one week to book Adrs. I got everything I wanted including California grill and Le Cellier. We eat around 8pm that may be why. I would not book anything that requires a cc guarantee if your worried about cancelling at last minute. They will charge you 10.00 per person.

 

[juliebug1997]

If you are willing to get up early and eat at the very beginning of a meal period, then not difficult at all. We walked up to 'Ohana for breakfast and Chef Mickey's for breakfast during Jersey Week.

 

[fla4fun]

It depends on the time of year, but I was making some ADR's today for Saturday when my sister and BIL are coming over to go to the parks with me, and I got Prime Time for dinner (after we view the last night of the Osborne lights) and believe it or not, a lunch at Le Cellier (which BIL has never been to). There was availability at all but one restaurant at Epcot for lunch, and availability at all the DHS restaurants. I expected it to be slim pickings, with it being marathon weekend, but I got both restaurants I wanted.

Obviously, this wouldn't have happened last week during the holiday peak season, and probably wouldn't happen often during spring break or summer, but if you go during the slower times like I do, you can usually have a pretty decent choice a day or two out.

 

[twinkles]

We have a large group going the 3rd week in May. I don't want to make any ADR's...what are my chances of getting reservations? I told myself I just want to wing it and not worry about having to be somewhere/someplace at a certain time.

Thanks.

 

[kristennn]

We have a large group going the 3rd week in May. I don't want to make any ADR's...what are my chances of getting reservations? I told myself I just want to wing it and not worry about having to be somewhere/someplace at a certain time.

Thanks.

I think it depends how big your group is for one thing and whether you care about *where* you eat or if you don't mind having your group split up into smaller groups to dine. Also will you be on the dining plan and have table service credits you need to use - or are you paying out of pocket and if a table service restaurant can't accommodate all of you - you can just eat counter service ....

My thought on this is ... with a big group /... won;t it be hard to be constantly deciding as a group where you want to eat or what park you want to go to? That sounds like a lot of constant discussion and frustration. If I were going with a big group I would want to decide which park everyone will go to on which day and make one ADR for everyone altogether per day - and that way the main framework is set and decided and people can split off for the other meal - or split off to go on whichever rides they want on a certain day - but at the same time you'll all be together for one part of each day and you'll all be at the same park each day so you are guaranteed some time together without having to constantly get a group consensus.

 

[n2mm]

I leave next week (8 days from now) and yesterday I got online to make/change some of my ADRs. I was shocked that anything I wanted was available to include Via Napoli and LeCellier and not just one time, many times. I'm guessing the new policy has some effect on these. I do have to say that January is slower, but I've always gone in January and I've never seen this happen before. On another note, we are going in May with a larger party and I've made most of my ADRs already. Traveling with a large group is hard enough, but if they're hungry, they will get ugly. I say, make a couple of ADR that don't require the cc and you'll have something to fall back on.

 

[twinkles]

Thanks for the input. Since our party consists of two families with toddlers I'm gonna ask what they want to do. It's alot harder with little ones to predict timing with meals.

Do you think it would be easier if me and my husband tried to wing it with reservations for same day?

 

[wrrock]

I live in FL -- and never had trouble getting a reservation just by showing up and going to a customer service center and finding out what restaurants have availability. I have been there several times. The good ones fill up fast and you need reservations for a long time. But there are always a list of good restaurants that you can choose from. Just work with the agents and talk with them. If you have kids keep in mind it could take hours to go from one part to another with park hopper. (Experience dictates)

 

[disneychic2]

Why not make the extra adds for lunch instead of dinner so you can eat lunch then the kiddos can go back for naps. Disney really takes it out of the little ones, so an evening meal just may fall through, as you originally suggested.