is walk up TS even a thing anymore?

Novakm

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 9, 2013
We are heading down last week of January. We normall go during slower times of the year, but “free” dining makes walk up impossible. Even getting reservations during “free” dining weeks is difficult.

I don’t think there is a free dining offer for the last week of January, so I’m wondering what the chances are for a party of 6 to get walk up seating at each of the parks?

I’m not a fan of the QS food, but I don’t want to plan our days around dining reservations either.
 
We are heading down last week of January. We normall go during slower times of the year, but “free” dining makes walk up impossible. Even getting reservations during “free” dining weeks is difficult.

I don’t think there is a free dining offer for the last week of January, so I’m wondering what the chances are for a party of 6 to get walk up seating at each of the parks?

I’m not a fan of the QS food, but I don’t want to plan our days around dining reservations either.

INSIDE the parks and at the more popular resort places, "walk-ups" are pretty much non-existent.

HOWEVER, it is very possible to check the app about 30 min before you want to eat and find ADRs available. You still can't just walk-up, but you can make the ADR and then go eat.

NOW finding ADRs for 6 people will be more difficult than for 2 or 4, but it's still possible. Try eating at off times. Be willing to go to nearby resorts instead of eating inside the parks. Look the night before or the morning of and make your plan for the day.
 
Party of 6? Very doubtful during peak times, off hours perhaps. While the DDP is great for Disney it's not so great for folks that don't want to plan that level of detail.
 
There is always plenty of availability night before, day of, and even hour before. But I believe the current policy is for dining locations to turn away walk-ups, even if there is availability because Disney wants people to use the dining reservation system on the app/website. This has been confirmed by Dis-ers who walked up to half empty restaurants and were told there was no availability because they "didn't have a dining reservation" so patrons went outside :sail:, got on their phones :idea:, made the next available dining reservation within the hour :hourglass, and were soon sat at their table in the same eatery that had just turned them away :drinking:!
 


There is always plenty of availability night before, day of, and even hour before. But I believe the current policy is for dining locations to turn away walk-ups, even if there is availability because Disney wants people to use the dining reservation system on the app/website. This has been confirmed by Dis-ers who walked up to half empty restaurants and were told there was no availability because they "didn't have a dining reservation" so patrons went outside :sail:, got on their phones :idea:, made the next available dining reservation within the hour :hourglass, and were soon sat at their table in the same eatery that had just turned them away :drinking:!

There is no across-the-board policy of not accepting walk-ups at WDW restaurants. We've done plenty of walk-ups - Spice Road Table (have never been turned away and have eaten there at least 10 times), Garden Grill, BOG, Biergarten, WCC, etc. It just depends on the time of year, size of party, etc. Walk-ups, of course, are never guaranteed. As PP's have pointed out, your best bet is to get on the app around the time you know where you are going to be and what time you want to eat and see what's available. We've never NOT found something. Sometimes you'll be incredibly surprised at what's available, other times, you'll find something, but it may not have been your first choice. EP WS will always have the most availability just because of the sheer number of larger restaurants. There are also great resort restaurants fairly close to each of the parks, so if you are willing to travel a little (or simply walk out of IG if you are in EP), you'll find something.

You can also check the opentable app for some WDW reservations, Swan/Dolphin TS and many DS TS. They typically have more availability than the WDW website and you don't have to do a cc hold.

A few restaurants in the EP area almost exclusively only take walk-ups - ESPN and Big River on the Boardwalk and Kimono's at the Swan

If you are going to AK, I would also suggest getting a Landry's Select Card. It's $25, but that $25 goes toward your bill. It gets you preferred seating at Landry's restaurants over even those with ADR's. The card will work at Y&Y and Rainforest in AK and Rainforest and TRex in DS.

You may also want to consider dining in some of the lounges in the parks (or resorts) if you can't find TS reservations. Nomad Lounge in AK is fantastic. You can order off their small plates menu and also order off the Tiffins menu there (no reservations needed). There are also a few lounges that serve food in DHS (Tune-In Lounge, HBD Lounge) and there is Tutto Gusto in the Italy pavilion in EP. These are all walk-up locations and the food is far and above QS quality.
 
You just never know, but overall walk ups are scarce. With that said, I've had consistent success at Saana, Kona Cafe, and The Wave. At character meals you are pretty much SOL as well as signatures.
 
You just never know, but overall walk ups are scarce. With that said, I've had consistent success at Saana, Kona Cafe, and The Wave. At character meals you are pretty much SOL as well as signatures.
 


As another poster mentioned you can get ADRs day of using the App for all but the most popular places. However you should be prepared with a QS Plan B.
 
First time I ever went, back in ‘94, we would make reservations same day in the morning. Back then I thought that was too much planning. Compared to now, that was nothing!

I think I will take the risk and try that way again. If there is nothing available we can always go off site.

Thanks for all the insights
 
First time I ever went, back in ‘94, we would make reservations same day in the morning. Back then I thought that was too much planning. Compared to now, that was nothing!

I think I will take the risk and try that way again. If there is nothing available we can always go off site.

Thanks for all the insights
because of "No Show" fee there is often ressies the morning or day available when people cancel the night before cause they have changed their minds. happens a lot
 
I saw a couple folding style message boards in Epcot a couple weeks ago advertising the World Showcase restaurants that had same day ADRs available. I believe the signs mentioned to make ADRs via the app or visit guest services ... note the signs didn't mention walk-ups or visiting the restaurants so it seems like walk-up are pretty much discouraged anymore
 
We find great ADR's the day before and day of!! And like another poster said, I've seen people turned away as walk-ups but when I checked on MDE, there were ADR's available!
 
Use the app!

Plenty we walk up to and say they are fully booked blah blah blah ...

I walk out front, get on the app and can usually book within the hour.

This summer 50's Prime told me booked solid, no way, sorry ....
I booked on their front steps for then, turned around and walked right back in.
Red face CM then checked me in.

Have done this lots at popular places, LTT, Ohana etc.

While there are some like Spice Road, Marrakesh, Skippers Canteen ....
... you can walk right in ... the ability to use the app for sure increases your options.
 
Last Christmas we saw walk-ups accepted at Toney's, BOG dinner, 50s Prime Time and Crystal Palace as we were checking in. Each said basically the same thing "we just had a cancellation so we can add you in". Two of those parties were seated before me or other people who had been waiting (irritating). But I would not expect that to happen often. We also saw many turned away. Luck of timing I suppose. We schedule most of our dining, but do leave a few days 'open'. We have often made lunch reservations on the app on the way to whatever park we decided to go to that morning and we have great success in changing a reservation the night before if we decide we want to go somewhere else the next day. I definitely would not EXPECT to get a walk-up, but I would also say it doesn't hurt to ask. The only thing they can do is say no.
 
Use the app!

Plenty we walk up to and say they are fully booked blah blah blah ...

I walk out front, get on the app and can usually book within the hour.

This summer 50's Prime told me booked solid, no way, sorry ....
I booked on their front steps for then, turned around and walked right back in.
Red face CM then checked me in.

Have done this lots at popular places, LTT, Ohana etc.

While there are some like Spice Road, Marrakesh, Skippers Canteen ....
... you can walk right in ... the ability to use the app for sure increases your options.

Yes! This is what I have learned thanks to the Dis boards. So, while there may not exactly be an across the board policy of "no walk-ups", because so many places do have this policy and for me, it's impossible to remember which place doesn't and consider stuff like, it depends on the season and how busy, it's just easier for me to look at it as "Disney just expects you to use the dining reservation system for their sit-downs". I prefer not flying by the seat of my pants and risking wasting time by taking chances of just walking up to places, even if it can work for certain eateries.

But then I am a planner and I get nervous vacationing without knowing I have reservations for eating, but then dining, for me, is the centerpiece of my vacations, and it isn't for many others haha. But I do sometimes change my mind night before over where I wanna go or even day of, and use the app and just pick something else and always find cool sit downs that way as others have attested, especially in World Showcase and Disney Springs and the resorts restaurants.
 
We do it a lot. Breakfast and lunch is easier than dinner. Off times are easier than prime times (like a 4:45 or 8:30 dinner time or 1:45-3:00 lunch). Resort places are easier than park places.
 
I go every year during the F&WF, so it is pretty busy. I always walk up to restaurants and get in. Not the most popular like LeCellier, but pretty much most of the Epcot restaurants or the resort ones. I go either a late lunch or early dinner. 6 people might be harder to get into but it is a good excuse to try some of the other restaurants that you might overlook otherwise like Restaurant Marrakesh(which is very good).
 
With the level of anxiety on these boards about ADRs, you wouldn’t expect to be able to walk up at all, but you absolutely can. We do it *all* the time, but with a slight modification that others have mentioned. Use the app to book something the day of, the hour of, as you’re walking to the restaurant. You might get turned down if you walk in with no ADR, so make one before/as you’re going.

Right this moment, there are 34 places with dinner availability tonight for a party of 6, including California Grill.

Of course, I’m sure you know that you will need to be flexible. You never know what will show up at the last minute, including character meals and some of the hard to get places.

There is always something good open, in my experience. We’ve tried some great places this way.
 
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We are heading down last week of January. We normall go during slower times of the year, but “free” dining makes walk up impossible. Even getting reservations during “free” dining weeks is difficult.

I don’t think there is a free dining offer for the last week of January, so I’m wondering what the chances are for a party of 6 to get walk up seating at each of the parks?

I’m not a fan of the QS food, but I don’t want to plan our days around dining reservations either.

Yes, there are still walk ups, but we are a party of two which is easier than 6. There is limited availability on any given day, but it is possible to snag a TS mostly during non holiday weeks, not weekends. We always get ressies for the few must haves and wing the rest between TS & CS with availability.
 
Our first trip, in 2017, we did a walkup to Kona Cafe and were sat 15-20 minutes later. They even texted us when the table was ready:).
 

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