New to US/IOA. staying on-site. re: dinner reservations

[geoffgill80]

First time in about 20 years going to US/IOA. 4 of us, Myself, Wife, Daughters 14 and 16. Going for 4 days This August (then over to BC for 8 more days!).

We are Disney Vet's. we have been about 5 times in the past 10 years so we are pretty theme park saavy.

my question is... Do you have to make reservations in advance for Lunch/Dinner like you do at Disney? I have seen conflicting responses on the board. My TA says that because we are staying at the Hard Rock we get some kind of a "front of the line" for reservations (walk-up's)?? She is telling me just to make the reservations the day we want them at a kiosk??

Looking for some inside info here. as US/IOA Vets, what would you do? there are only 3 restaurants that are a must for us: Mythos, Finnagans, MargaritaVille.

thanks for any advice!!!

 

[gschmerl]

Staying on site you get next available seating.
It never hurts to make reservations.You can make these reservations on line at open table:
http://www.opentable.com/orlando-restaurants?m=28

Mythos is not always open for dinner. If the parks close early, so does Mythos so you may have to plan a lunch there.

 

[RMulieri]

You don't have to make ressies.As an onsite guest you get Priority seating at restaurants meanng you will get the next available table for your party size when its available and depending on how many other onsite guests are in front of you.You CAN make ressies if you choose to( I always do since I am used to doing that).Ressies can be made at Opentable.com
How many days out depends on the restaurant.Themeparks/most of Citywalk are several months out.Resort dining is 90 days out. If you want to make them the day of, there are kiosks avilable for making them once in the parks.

MYTHOS is only open for dinner in peak season.Most of the year( more often then not) the latest seating is 4pm..It closes well before the park does

 

[macraven]

i make dining ressies for the period of hhn for finnegans.
other than that, i wing it.


i do stay on site longer than some homies so i am flexible with my time.

if i make a ressie, i do it at the kiosk section at city walk.
i make them for the day or perhaps the next day.

i can easily swap my plans around to a different day as i will be there 11 days.


if you have a large party, you do need to make a ressie in advance for margaritaville.
bubba gump does not take ressies but about all the rest of them do in city walk.

mythos can be done with a ressie or walk up or day of at the kiosk.


since you are new to the darkside, i totally understand you wanting to make all your ressies in advance.

once you get past the motherland way of thinking, you'll understand that reservations for the darkside are not a necessity in order to dine at a particular place.

 

[geoffgill80]

i will probably make some kind of reservations because being a WDW regular, it just seems kinda wierd not too!!

i have a real strong feeling that the family is going to fall in love with "the darkside"!!!

 

[cgattis]

It's kind of amusing, actually...the dining line folks kind of act like you're a weirdo for even asking about ressies. We could've walked up for any of ours that we made. Definitely try Tchoup Tchoup--consistently very good.

 

[Shandy1121]

On our trip last year after park closing in May we walked up to Margaritaville and the hostess told the couple in front of us it would be a 30 or 40 minute wait. We stepped up showed our room key and were told it would be 5 minutes lol. Then we were given a table up front right beside the stage where the band was playing. Score! On site perks are wonderful! No ressie needed. Btw their Nachos are HUGE prepare to share lol.

 

[mjohnson96]

With 4 of you you should be okay, it does not hurt to make reservations and you can always do it that morning too.

We go with larger groups, usually 8-10 ppl so I try to make reservations in the morning or all ahead when we are heading into citywalk so they know we are going to coming.

The worst was with WWOHP opened, we had made our reservations and still waited for 30 min and they were telling walkups that it was at least 2 hour wait.