how important are lunch reservations?

[acc82]

so, i'll be at wdw during free dining. (although, we picked the room discount over free dining since it was a better deal) So, we have picked the deluxe dining plan. I have dinner reservations for each night we're there. I'm totally happy with my dinners, which are: citricos, ohana, nine dragons, Jiko, california grill, liberty tree tavern, and yachtsman. The days I have dedicated us to each park, then we have lunch reservations in that park. So, this means that we're doing plaza for lunch at MK, yak and yeti at AK, and both beirgarten and tutto italia for our two days at epcot.

My question is: do I need lunch reservations for the other days? I was hoping to have the freedom to change our plans on the days i haven't dedicated us to a park (i.e. have a pool day or such). But, i don't want to be forced to eat somewhere like cosmic rays for lunch if we do another MK day. Should I make the reservations and possibly cancel last minute or not worry about it? thanks.

 

[vegasjulie]

I would make the lunch reservations and cancel if you aren't going to use them. At least you will then have an option to sit down.

 

[purple figment]

Since you have the DxDDP I can see why you would rather have TS lunches. I would definitely make ADRs at MK, DHS and AK since there are only a few TS restaurants in each of these parks. Then if your plans change you can always cancel them. You could also make reservations at a resort restaurant near the park you'll be at.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

I would make them for lunch. We did b/c I like my son to eat the same time each day. We can always cancel that day. For MK we have CP for lunch, For Ecpot we have LeCeller, Tokyo and chef de France for different days. For HS we have Brown Derby and AK yak and Yeti. We have DxDDP too and I wanted to make sure we have a place to eat. We have gone to Disney not during Free Dining and we went to CP and they said no availability. We have gone to Epcot and have been sitted to a restaurant we want. It doesn't cost to make ADR so I would do it to be safe and then just cancel that day.

 

[Kathy Z]

I agree with booking where you think you most likely will want to be and then canceling it that morning if it turns out you won't use it. Last Dec. we booked Yak & Yeti for our 2 Animal Kingdom days because we weren't sure if the weather would be nice enough to sit outdoors at Flame Tree. But when the days turned out to be fine I called dining to cancel each of those ADRs so they knew that our slot would be available if they had a walk-up.

 

[MerriH807]

I was there beginning of August last year when it WAS NOT free dining and I saw people getting turned away from TS restaurants at lunch time (we had ADRs and were waiting for our table) I witnessed this at CP in MK and 50s PT in DHS.

I will say however, while we were there we woke up one morning and decided to go have lunch. We called the dining line and they had a lunch available that day at H&V. We took it---and our kids loved the characters! The food was so so...

Anyway, my opinion. Make them just incase. I like to do TS lunch instead of dinner in the summer heat anyway... It gets us in the AC and then if we go back to rest and use the pool, we are not in rush to get ready again.

Have fun!

 

[ilovediznee]

I ALWAYS make reservations and cancel if I have too. That way I know I will be eating at a good restaurant with no worries.

How bad am I about doing this? Here is an example: I am going to a conference in October and I made a reservation for just me at Chefs de' France for lunch to BE SURE I would get one!

Good luck!

 

[Missytara]

We found out the hard way last year, on a very, very rainy Friday - that we needed ressies at DHS.

We went from restaurant to restaurant - this was a time when free dining was extended into December.

We finally got to the Sci-Fi diner, our last hope, and they didn't have a reservation until Sunday, two days after we left.

We went all the way back to the resort to eat lunch and by then it was almost 3:00 pm.