If the crowds are rated at 1, why are there no reservations?

[satorifound]

I would think it wouldn't be as hard as it is to find reservations. Shoulda booked with 6 months notice.

 

[JimmyV]

Not sure that a crowd level of "1" makes any difference in making ADRs, but it should definitely make a difference in your ability to get a table as a walk-up at many restaurants.

 

[satorifound]

Not sure that a crowd level of "1" makes any difference in making ADRs, but it should definitely make a difference in your ability to get a table as a walk-up at many restaurants.

I see, thank you. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could decide spur of the moment what you felt like eating?

 

[Steph01002]

It's during free dining, so most likely more people will be eating at the TS restaurants. Plus, the people who booked 180 days out for September could book multiple reservations. Check back for cancellations because something could open up. I had booked two TS places the night of one of the Halloween parties before Disney officially released the dates (I read on here possible dates due to MK closing early those days). I cancelled the non-MK one. And I also had two TS reservations until we decided on Fantasmic (and just canceled one anyway because I didn't want to eat at one of the restaurants we reserved). I'm betting there are people out there who haven't cancelled or are waiting until last minute... keep checking.
Where are you trying to get reservations? I expect CRT to get filled up quickly (we aren't doing that one on this trip anyway), but I was surprised by the Garden Grill and Teppan Edo filling up quickly for our trip.

 

[hardrock01]

yes watch out. people making multiple adr's , . wish disney could regulate this better. one should have choices this far out from your vacation!!
good luck for openings!!

 

[catne]

The crowd levels during Free Dining just make park rides easier to get on...but keep in mind that many of those people will have Free Dining, so parks will be empty but restaurants will be busy. Do not count on walk-ups being easy, unless you're very flexible. If you're going to try walk-ups during August/September Free Dining, plan on getting to park restaurants or popular character restaurants about 10-15 minutes before they open for the meal, and get your name in. For example, if the place opens at 5:00, get there at 4:45 & ask if they're taking walk-ups. You may still wait 30 minutes to get seated, but that would be your best bet...of go for a late meal (like a 2:30 lunch seating, or dinner at 8:30 or after)

We've been there in early September during Free Dining last 3 years and saw them taking walk-ups at many popular places...but NOT during popular meal times. For example, walk-ups at Liberty Tree at 5:00 PM when they opened, but by 6:00 PM they were turning all walk-ups away. Chef Mickey's taking walk-ups for breakfast at 7:15 AM, but turning away anyone without a reservation at 8:00 AM. Boma at 5:00 PM OK, but at 6:00 PM they were telling walk-ups it would be 90-120 minutes wait. I would keep trying to get reservations on-line if you really want popular character meals and/or popular buffets. The availability changes often as people cancel.

On the other hand, if you have a car & willing to go to resort restaurants you will find you can walk-up most places like Captain's Grill (Yacht Club), Olivia's (Old Key West), Turf Club (Saratoga Springs). You will probably be able to get into some of the monorail resort restaurants like Kona Cafe (Polynesian) and Grand Floridian Cafe (Grand Floridian)

 

[Loftus]

yes watch out. people making multiple adr's , . wish disney could regulate this better. one should have choices this far out from your vacation!!
good luck for openings!!

They have now addressed this with online reservations. You can't now book two reservations in the same time frame on the same booking, you have to cancel one.

 

[cigar95]

They have now addressed this with online reservations. You can't now book two reservations in the same time frame on the same booking, you have to cancel one.

Just to clarify - are you saying that the system no longer gives you the warning, but actually *requires* a cancellation? This will raise issues with larger parties who are planning to split up, but if it's the case, I suppose it's replacing a larger problem with a smaller one.

 

[2manydaves]

They have now addressed this with online reservations. You can't now book two reservations in the same time frame on the same booking, you have to cancel one.

Thank goodness they are finally doing this.

 

[DebbieB]

Just to clarify - are you saying that the system no longer gives you the warning, but actually *requires* a cancellation? This will raise issues with larger parties who are planning to split up, but if it's the case, I suppose it's replacing a larger problem with a smaller one.

If you need to split up, you can put the dining reservations in separate names, that would avoid duplicates.

 

[chartle]

It's during free dining, so most likely more people will be eating at the TS restaurants.

Free dining does two things, it pushes more people to stay on site and changes people's dining habits.

We never eat more than one meal per trip TS, if we had free dining we would now be eating 6 meals TS.

 

[cigar95]

If you need to split up, you can put the dining reservations in separate names, that would avoid duplicates.

That's probably the most simple way to handle those situations - the drawback being that one may not be able to use 180+10 for those cases, if the duplicate search uses the reservation under which one is logged in.

 

[LilyWDW]

During free dining, a lot more people are able to "afford" table service meals. As such, though the overall crowds may be low, there will be a greater percentage of those crowds eating at the restaurants.

And yes, they are working on reducing double booking. If you have a reason that it is needed (need more then one table, group splitting up, ect) then you can call and speak to a dining CM. They will be able to set it up for you.

 

[Cafeen]

If you need to split up, you can put the dining reservations in separate names, that would avoid duplicates.

The site also recommends to call the dining line and the CM should be able to help you do them "correctly".

As far as September... there are a lot of factors at play.

• Free Dining. Certainly a factor. More people sitting down at TS restaurants they normally may skip (or only do a few for the whole trip).
• Room Discounts. Making it cheaper to stay on-site means a greater proportion of people will be staying on-site. This leads to those guests being more apt to purchase their food on-site as well (or, alternatively, using the money saved via room discounts on dining at more TS on-site).
• Lower Park Crowds. The lower park crowds makes touring the parks more relaxed, which gives more people the ability to easily take an hour or two out of the day for sit-down meals.

I'm probably missing a couple more than I could add (I'd also think that the ratio of families vs adult trips may be slightly lower, and that adult trips would be more apt to dine at TS, but that's just a gut feeling and I don't actually know if it's true).

 

[Snurk71]

I see, thank you. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could decide spur of the moment what you felt like eating?

I can remember back in 99 calling Dining the morning of and even the afternoon of and making all kinds of dinner PSs. Popular places too.

said in my old-timer/grandpa voice

 

[heartse]

I can remember back in 99 calling Dining the morning of and even the afternoon of and making all kinds of dinner PSs. Popular places too.

said in my old-timer/grandpa voice

A friend of mine who did alot of Disney before the Free Dining, but not since, didn't understand when I told her that there just weren't any ADRs available for when we were going. She never made any ADRs back in the day.

 

[MusiqChic99]

I can remember back in 99 calling Dining the morning of and even the afternoon of and making all kinds of dinner PSs. Popular places too.

said in my old-timer/grandpa voice

We did this too.

We would arrive at Disney and make an ADR for Crystal Palace breakfast. And we'd always talk about doing the Castle breakfast but we knew we had to call so far in advance and probably wouldn't get in.