Is it necessary to make reservations for late October/early November?

[Invisable89]

I'm going to Disney World for 2 weeks on the 23rd Oct until the 6th Nov (2010).

There will be 8 of us, but we're not going to be together all the time but we're all staying at Disney's Yacht Club Resort.

& I've heard alot of talk about making reservations especially for dinner.

But would i have to make reservations for EVERY time we go for dinner at a table service restaurant? Or only with certain restaurants it's advised?
What about our Hotel restaurants? Would i have to make reservations to even eat breakfast there?
I'm not sure if late Oct early Nov is classed as a 'peak time'.

We've never stayed at a Disney Hotel before so not sure how it works, we've only stayed in Villa's outside of Disney.

Sorry to write an essay, but i'm very confused!

 

[babyrich]

Let me tell you my experience. We normally go to WDW in Oct or Nov and we make table services dining reservation for every night as soon as we are allowed and there are only 2 of us. I have always been advised to make reservation in advance.

For you having 8 people in your party. I think that would be very much a chance to take to show up at a disney restaurant and have availability to sit all of you, or even some of you if you do not plan to dine together all the time.

I think you would have to not be picky where you eat if you dont make reservations. You may show up at one place and they wont have availability but the next one might. Weekends you may get nothing available.

I would make ressies to play it safe. I mean I am sure you will be able to eat in the resort but you may not want to eat here every night.

 

[Nadjalu]

Yes you need to make a ressie for any table service restaurant you want to eat at, whether it is for dinner or breakfast.

While that time of year isn't "peak" season, some free dining promos are going on and the restaurants will be PACKED.

Even resort restaurants will need reservation. You can look at it like this....if you want to sit down to eat your meal, make a reservation period.
Any and all restaurnts will be packed.

I know it seems over kill to make ressies for 2 weeks worth of sit down meals, but otherwise you may not get in to any of those restaurants.
You are coming a long way, would be a shame to not get into those places.

Good luck, hope you enjoy your trip.

 

[Invisable89]

Thanks for replying!!

We probably won't be eating all our meals at Disney World since we are renting a car so we can go elsewhere (Universal Orlando, Sea World etc) & we do like other restaurants we've been to in the past.

Okay, so it looks like i'm going to have to sit my parents, boyfriend, his parents & my couple friends down & figure this all out, since we don't usually plan what we're doing until we get there.

How long in advance should we wait to make reservations?
& so it's definitely ideal to reserve seats for breakfast at our Hotel aswell, just in case?

 

[Melanie B]

Thanks for replying!!

We probably won't be eating all our meals at Disney World since we are renting a car so we can go elsewhere (Universal Orlando, Sea World etc) & we do like other restaurants we've been to in the past.

Okay, so it looks like i'm going to have to sit my parents, boyfriend, his parents & my couple friends down & figure this all out, since we don't usually plan what we're doing until we get there.

How long in advance should we wait to make reservations?
& so it's definitely ideal to reserve seats for breakfast at our Hotel aswell, just in case?

Make them ASAP. If decide you want to eat offsite you can cancel them with no problems

 

[Nadjalu]

Yes you want/need to make ressies at the hotels (onsite) that you want to eat at. YES....they are like any other place.

You can make adrs 180days from your arrival date. So if you are already in that window.....ASAP is the name of the game. Especially with Free Dining going on. (which if you are going this oct/nov then you are in that window and need to jump on it or everything may be gone soon.)

 

[Pat329]

I've just decided to go at the end of Nov and the table service restaurants are sooo limited now that I'm having trouble finding a place to eat in any park. It's true, you need to start early. I'm just hoping that by then there will be some cancellations that I can take advantage of. This is my 13th trip and I hate to admit but I've never been able to make it to Chef Mickey's. I just checked for any day, any time for the week I'm there and found nothing available. Bummer. Hope you have better luck!

 

[Invisable89]

Oooof, well it all sounds very stressful!

My Mum asked me to ask if it'll be a better idea to book dinner not during the obvious dinner times? Like say 2/3-5pm? Then we can just have a snack in the evening. Depends when the restaurants are busiest.

My Dad & boyfriend's Dad will be doing all the organising, & we're all gathering round my boyfriend's parents house tonight to start it all.

Breakfast seems easier to reserve at the moment (i had a quick look earlier).

So doing it all online seem's the better choice? It looks straight forward, just need to register.

 

[Nadjalu]

Yes going to eat during off times is easier to get. Often people do a big sit down lunch instead of dinner, this seems to work at getting some of the harder adrs.

Breakfast can also be a bit difficult if going with a character buffet, as they are very popular.

Online is a good place to start. But if you have 10 people or more there is a special "grand gathering" line and number that you need to use.
I am not sure of it, if you look around or ask thw wine-dine number they can give it to you.

Good luck.

 

[Invisable89]

Thanks for the advice

We're started off by making breakfast reservations on the days we decide to go to a Disney Park or Universal Orlando/Seaworld then see if there's any table service restaurants we want to go to in that particular Park that day (Disney one's for Disney Parks obv), if not then we'll just have something easy at the quick service place's (which to be honest is what we have always done).

& we've made seperate dinner ressie's at a couple of restaurants on days we're not going to a Park (like Rainforest Cafe at DD).

Then we'll see what else we fancy.

Think that's a good way to start.