Is Priority Seating always necessary?

[meloneyb21]

We'll be going for the first time in April. Since it's our first time we really wanna just feel things out first, see how it goes, what we DO like and what we DON'T. We're just actually gonna go by our whims, not just plan every thing out accordingly. We don't know if we'll like this restaurant or that restaurant.

If we wanna just be walk-ins at a restaurant, can we?

Does everything require priority seating?

I don't want to go through the trouble of doing all that if I don't know what to expect from the restaurant we choose to go to. I don't wanna wait 2 hours for a seat either. I'm positive that we'll have many more trips in the future so that is when I'll probably choose to do the PS thing because I'll KNOW what to expect. Anyway, I heard that some places actually do REQUIRE priority seating......If so, maybe I'll just shy away from those restaurants until a future trip....

I'm not sure what to do . I don't just wanna eat from carts the whole trip.....I am such a WDW virgin .

 

[DVCLiz]

April is a very busy time at WDW, especially since Easter is in April this year. You'll be competing with crowds of spring breakers, so I would think your chances of getting a walk-up dinner table would be very small. Remember, there are thousands of other families at home right now saying, "Maybe we should just go ahead and get an ADR for dinner that week." I'm not saying it's impossible, but if you don't want to eat at the counter service facilities all week, you'd better be prepared to eat off-site or at one of the resorts that might not be quite as crowded.

Enjoy your trip!!!

 

[tjmw2727]

I would - at least make one PS every day so you have one table service option. If you are even thinking about a character meal then IMHO you must at least make those arrangements. For us its always a table serve restaurant for a late breakfast or a lunch depending on the restaurant, park and the day. The prices are better for (mostly) the same food and we all get a recharge out of the sun for a while. We do breakfast in the room and counter serve for dinner.

If you have an idea what parks you will be visiting on what day check out allearsnet.com and go to the dining section. You will find information on every restaurant including the menus. At the very least call the day of or the day before to see what is available in the park you are visiting. In my experience the walk up tables are becoming harder and harder to get. I would not travel to WDW without at least a few ADR's.

TJ

 

[crisi]

Disney doesn't hold tables for walk ups and overbooks their restaurants expecting no-shows. It is possibile to just walk in and get seated, and at some locations or times its likely (Marrakesh anytime, many places for lunch), most places you need to be lucky and at a few places miracles need to occur (California Grill at fireworks time).

There are a few places that don't take ADRs - Beaches and Cream, the Tempura bar in Japan (I think, they've gone back and forth). These do tend to be small venues, but are options.

Here is the deal though, from experience. You are at Disney. Its really stimulating - so much that you forget to eat. You notice you might be a little hungry, but want to fit in "just one more thing," you head over to your chosen restaurant for dinner, pretty much famished by this time, and discover they aren't taking walkups at all. You walk over to your second choice - two hour wait, no way you can last two hours. Hummm, third choice, another no walk ups. You are in Epcot, so you've pretty much gone 'round the World Showcase doing this, which takes half an hour. So you've gone from "a little hungry" to "famished" to "have to eat right now or I will turn into a raving madman." So you go to the first counter service place you see and get chicken fingers.

 

[FSUGrad97]

We went Dec. 1-4, and I am SO GLAD I made ADR's. If I hadn't, we would have had to eat a lot of counter service, since it seemed like everything was booked.

I tried to make a couple of ADR's for later on in the day, and the earliest I could get was in the 8:30 p.m. range. We were able to get into Whispering Canyon as a stand by, but it was a hassle.

 

[tjmw2727]

Just wanted to mention that after I posted my response I did some reading here at the dis on the restaurant boards and it seems like ADR's are becoming a necessity. If you haven't found the restaurant board yet - try here:
http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=14

Read personal experiences from those just back and I think you will want your ADR's! You can also find out more about potential choices for your family at each park.

Good luck
TJ

 

[daisyduck123]

You can probable be seated as a walk-in if you wait until 8:30 or 9:00 p.m..
That's too late to eat for me.
I would make some ADRs. You can always change your mind later on.

 

[DVCLiz]

You can probable be seated as a walk-in if you wait until 8:30 or 9:00 p.m..
That's too late to eat for me.
I would make some ADRs. You can always change your mind later on.

I don't even think this is true anymore, daisyduck - many of the restaurants will tell you they are booked solid for the day and will not take any walkups at all. I know that was the case with the MGM restaurants the last time I was there in mid-October.

 

[Whosemom]

Is this because of the new dinner plans? We have never made ps ressies in the past and always ate where we wanted to eat. We do the huge breakfast, late lunch, snacky supper plan, so have enjoyed our sit-down meals around 3pm. Our last trip was at a very slow time, the between Thanksgiving and Christmas break lull when FL had record lows and cold rain (but we had a blast). And the time before that was the first week of October just after the 9/11 tragedy. So maybe our view is a little scewed.

 

[meloneyb21]

Is it true that you can make an ADR or PS (whatever) the DAY that you want to eat in a specific restaurant? I was watching a Disney special on the Travel Channel and I saw a couple make an ADR about 30 minutes before they wanted to eat....

 

[eeyoreiscool]

People may have been able to make ADR's 30 minutes before a year or so ago but that has changed. Now most of the restaurants are booked well in advance. We have had problems finding places a week or two out recently.

I would recommend making arrangements if possible. Otherwise you may be waiting for a long time or be turned away at the door.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

The dining plan has had a huge impact on eating at the Disney restaurants. In June we saw many people turned away from numerous restaurants without reservations. Because of the dining plan it looks like a lot of people who normally used counter service in the past are now trying the sit-down restaurants. I would recommend making a dinner reservation for each night of the trip so you don't end up starving, tired, and really grumpy!

 

[bicker]

I would say that ADRs are doubly-important for families with children, who may not be as tolerant of having to wait long periods of time for accommodation at restaurants.

 

[crisi]

There will always be people who get lucky. We had 5:00 reservations at Le Cellier and the people who walked up before us (a family of three) walked in with no wait. I talked to the hostess and she said they were really lucky, she didn't expect to seat any more walkups all night - even with a wait. We had no problem moving reservations around on 24 hours notice to go to Jiko, which was empty at 5:30 when we ate - but its a signature location out of the way and not very popular.

One thing to know about Disney Dining - we've spent half an hour on the phone at Disney to switch reservations around, which is not a great use of time while you are there (in our case its always one grown up on the phone, one in the pool with kids). Sometimes you get right through, sometimes you spend 40 minutes on the phone to find out the place you want is booked solid.

 

[waltdisneyworlddreamer]

I would say that ADRs are doubly-important for families with children, who may not be as tolerant of having to wait long periods of time for accommodation at restaurants.

I agree. There's nothing worse than having hungry children and a long wait. Our first night, we arrived earlier than what I thought we would. I had scheduled our ADR for 7:30. We got there around 4:30 and were starving. We tried to get into CP earlier but they were booked solid, so we just grabbed a light snack and toughed it out. I was glad I had made an ADR so we got to eat a good meal, otherwise it would have been a hot dog or pizza!