How Important are Advance Reservations?

[Susan555]

We're planning our first family trip to Disney April 27 to May 6. We'll be spending 9 days in the parks, but with two young kids (6 and 7) I have no way of REALLY being sure what days we'll be where, or how long we'll stay at the parks each day. All this talk of the need for advance reservations for table seating literally has me about to cancel my reservations for the Pop Century and the Dining Plan in favor of staying in a timeshare off property.

At that time of year, and considering the fact that we're MORE than willing to eat a very early dinner or very late lunch if need be, can we get by without the advance reservations for most of our table service meals? We won't be doing any character meals or signature dining experiences, if that helps. Mostly looking at Coral Reef, Tony's, Sci Fi, Planet Hollywood, Boma, and the Boathouse for our table service meals. Any tips would be much appreciated. I'm so stressed out right now - my compulsive personality is NOT fitting well with all this trip planning!

 

[thunderbird1]

First of all, relax and take a deep breath. The dining plan is supposed to make your trip easier, not more stressful.

Unfortunately, yes, I would highly recommend having reservations, at least for Coral Reef and Boma (since they're so popular) and maybe for Tony's and Sci-Fi (since in park restaurants are the busiest). Boatwrights at POR you could probably get a walk up. The good news is, you can change or cancel any of the reservations very easily once you're there. The important thing is to have the reservations so you know you have somewhere to go that you would enjoy, instead of being stuck with whatever restaurants and times are left.

We were also willing to do lunches as well as dinners, so we made 2 reservations for a couple of our days--lunch and dinner. We were never able to stomach both, and so ended up cancelling one or the other, but at least we were covered. (Just don't make 2 reservations for the same meal. Guests have reported having their ADR's cancelled because of too many "double bookings.")

 

[dznymom1]

I have never been a fan of planning too much as it does seem to add stress for me. What I have always done (Including during FREE dining last September) is to try to plan my day the night before, because then I have an idea of weather, how we feel and any other things that might impact us. I had no problems calling in the morning to make a PS for the same day, although I had to have a bit of flexibility in times at very popular places like Le Cellier. I do believe that the outcry on this board to make PS's has resulted in many, many more people doing it which has created the appearance that things are booked up at times. What I would recommend doing is choosing the one or 2 most important meals and booking those ahead, figuring that it's not a bad idea to have some plans for a couple of your days. You can still cancel and reschedule those if you need to, but you will probably feel better having just a couple of sure things on the schedule, and then go with the flow for the rest. By calling the night before or in the morning, you should be able to have plenty of options. Based on the fact that you seem to be pretty flexible, I would probably book Coral Reef and maybe Boma or Tony's ahead of time, as the rest should be fairly easy to get into.

What I would not recommend is just showing up at popular restaurants at busy times without a PS. Being turned away or told there is an hour wait will put a damper on anyone's day!

 

[Gillian]

The problem you might end up with is not a late lunch or early dinner, but rather a very later dinner. What I mean is that if you don't plan for a late lunch/early dinner, you might not have luck getting into a TS place for the normal dinner time. I don't think you need to plan every last detail, and of course you'll need to stay flexible with little ones, but I personally prefer to have at least a few things planned ahead of time.

Have you considered tour guide mike? Using something like that, you could at least plan where you'll go each day. That's not as hard as it sounds. Then you can make some TS reservations and just play by ear for the rest.

For Boma I'd suggest getting the very earliest dinner seating you can get. It's a busy place and fills up quickly. Get there early and walk around first.

 

[TDC Nala]

If you have your heart set on a certain restaurant, dining reservations are extremely important, especially if you're talking about a popular location at peak mealtimes.

If you're traveling during peak WDW travel times, or during the free dining period, August and September (we have yet to see if it will be offered for the general public this year, so this isn't set in stone yet) they are an absolute necessity for any TS restaurant.

 

[phlufster]

The best time to be able to do walk-ins is right when the restaurant opens for that meal period. For example if you wanted to get into 1900 Park Fare, show up at 4:15 (15 min. prior to opening) and they will be more likely to fit you in then if you show up at 6:30. If possible, make an ADR. With so many people using the DDP, restaurants are taking alot less walk-ins then they used to.

 

[Susan555]

Thanks, everyone. I don't intend to go to the restaurants as a walk-in, I just might need to change our reservations the day of, rather than sticking with what I have planned as of right now. If we have dinner reserved at Epcot and it's clear we won't be lasting until dinner time, I may end up cancelling and trying to set something up at one of the resorts. I'm just hoping I can make that work out and we don't end up missing out on dinner because everything's booked up already.

Can you guys give me some ideas of the best resort restaurants for last minute reservations? They don't have to be "the best" places - just some places that are less likely to be fully booked up well in advance.

 

[n2mm]

We are going during that time and have all of our ADRs set. We are sometimes a party of 2, some nights 4 and other nights 5. While we had no problem making them months ago. I surely would never go without them. You really should make a few, esp. Coral Reef and Boma. With kids in tow, there is no way I would want to try to find a place to feed hungary kids. We go 4-5 trips a year and no matter when we go, we continue to see folks turned away. In October they were taking walkins at Kona Cafe, but there was a 45 minute wait. Will the children be willing to wait 30-45 minutes to get into a restraurant? If you don't make any ADRs, please try to make them at the front desk the morning of, or evening before, so you know what you're up against. There are some wonderful places to eat while in WDW and for us that is part of the experience. It would be sad if you missed out on some great places to eat. The SciFi can be difficult to get into because it is very small. Probably the best places to try to do walk up to are the resort restraurants, but not always. It only takes a convention at the Contemporary to fill up the Concourse Steakhouse. And Whispering Canyons at the WL is difficult to get a walk up reservations. While some folks on the boards will tell you they had great luck walking in, they seldom tell you that they are a party of 2.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I had this same fear-of not being able to get TS ADRs when I decided about 6 weeks ago to take a trip (leaving in the morning). But fortunately, I had no trouble getting Sci-Fi and Crystal Palace just 2-3 weeks before my trip, and at popular dining times. Norway's lunch I got about 10 days out and also Teppenyaki. Coral Reef I tried about 10 days out for dinner, no luck. However, I just got a lunch there without any trouble a week before. I was very pleasantly surprised. I have one more TS credit, and based on what's happened thus far, I expect to get something the same day (it's sort of a "free day", so I don't know where I'll be).

 

[laura001]

Thanks, everyone. I don't intend to go to the restaurants as a walk-in, I just might need to change our reservations the day of, rather than sticking with what I have planned as of right now. If we have dinner reserved at Epcot and it's clear we won't be lasting until dinner time, I may end up cancelling and trying to set something up at one of the resorts. I'm just hoping I can make that work out and we don't end up missing out on dinner because everything's booked up already.

Can you guys give me some ideas of the best resort restaurants for last minute reservations? They don't have to be "the best" places - just some places that are less likely to be fully booked up well in advance.

You can always change your mind, call disney dining and cancel your ADR. At that point you can always ask DD what else is available for that day or check at the front of the park you are in that day, they will let you know which restaurants still have availability.

We don't always spend the day in the park that we eat in. For example, we may spend the day in AK and then eat in Epcot, or spend most of the day in MK, then head to MGM for dinner and fantasmic.

I read about the fact that you may want to stay off property if you can't figure this out. Well, you would still end up with the problem of eating, as you may want to stay for fireworks etc. I can tell you from experience of staying off property that it really makes a difference staying on property. Funny as it seems the one place we rarely eat at is our own resort...

A good thing to do is set some sort of plan, knowing that you can always deviate if you choose. I look at the park hours, and firework times etc. If we are there for 8 nights, I choose 7 nights of restaurants or Table service etc. then I make little tabs for everything including parks and fireworks, make a template of days and play with it all until I am happy. Then I look at it for a few days, make any changes, then call in my ADR's.

You will be there at the same time as us, we are there from April 25 to May 3, hope you have a great time.

 

[PARROTGIRL]

I am a planner. Make all my ADR's as soon as possible. However last trip(just before Thanksgiving) I changed several times and locations without any problems. I recommend making them all now, and then while you are there if needed call and see what's available.

 

[Susan555]

Thanks to everyone. I have my "first draft" of all the dinner plans written up - per your advice I will look them over for a few days before calling them in. Since the plan for now is to leave the parks around 2 or 3 PM and we may not return, I've decided to schedule some late lunches instead of early dinners for some of the days. That will make our evenings less stressful on those days - we won't have to return to the park or head out to a resort for dinner.

For DTD restaurants like Cap'n Jacks and Planet Hollywood, are we supposed to call Disney to make reservations? I wasn't sure how that worked.

 

[JimMIA]

For DTD restaurants like Cap'n Jacks and Planet Hollywood, are we supposed to call Disney to make reservations? I wasn't sure how that worked.

Cap'n Jacks ADR's are made through Disney Dining (the twin lobster tails are a great one TS meal, IMHO). Don't know about Planet Hollywood.

 

[theblondebee]

I made my ADRs about 4 months out, as soon as my trip was booked. The only available ressie I could get for LeCellier was for Jan 1 , the final day of the trip at 4:10. While we were there, people walked in without ressies and got tables and the restaurant was only about half full during our meal.

 

[Tink3Belle]

I would highly recommend reservations - better safe then sorry you can always cancel. There's nothing worse than waiting or being turned away.
We were there during sept and slow season and everything was booked.

 

[photobob]

I don't make reservations. On these boards I am in the minority. We generally have a snack breakfast in the room and the have an early table service meal for lunch. As a previous poster mentioned if you go to a restaurant when it is opening you have a very good chance of being seated in a short period of time. I have done this at Tony's, Le Cellier, 50's Prime Time Cafe, Sci Fi, Coral Reef, Alfredo's, San Angel Inn and more that I can't recall. I travel usually in June. Bear in mind these are all lunch meals, but at all of these we were seated within ten minutes of walking in the door. We've tried making reservations for lunch when we were there and it was usually 1:30 or later before they said we could be seated. We like to eat early, so we have found walking in at opening works for us..