No dining reservations anywhere

[lookingforward]

I think that each guest should be treated equally. If you pay the admission price it should not matter if you are there for one day or ten. I agree that people should make dining plans ahead of time if possible, but I also think that a small percentage of tables should be reserved for walk ups, as plans change and people who don't know enough about the complicated process of dining plans should be able to eat to.

We Dis board members are experts but the average person who travels to WDW does not understand the 180 day window and all the other hoops one must jump through to sit down and have a nice dinner. And staying at a WDW hotel is great but again, you pay to get in, you should be treated like everyone else.

Finally, I think the free dining offer has lowered the bar on quality and overall dining experience. I have been during free dining (last year benefited from it) and the restaurants are overcrowded and the quality of the food is less than usual. This year we are headed back during free dining and got a room for 40% off so will not be benefiting (we are annual pass holders). I did get some sit down times but the choices (even months out) were limited. We have a car and can go elsewhere, but again, most people don't have that option and their experience will be fighting crowds, overworked servers and less food choices (does anyone remember the lobster/steak combos at Le Cellier?). Bring back the old days and I would gladly pay a bit more for the experience.

 

[septbaby]

We just book a last minute trip to BWV with our DVC. We leave a wek from tomorrow. There is not a sit down ANYWHERE with an opening all weekend. I guess that's what I get for waiting to surprise the family!!

Keep calling and be flexible. We cancelled one of our ADRs so someone had a shot at it, hopefully you'll have the same. Call even a few minutes before you want to eat, many cancellations will happen then.

 

[sjaakie]

Oh for the days when you could walk into 'Ohana and be seated. We also did walk ups at Le Cellier and Chef Mickeys. Now you have to know 6 months ahead of time if you will want fish, steak or a buffet.

OMG how do you get an reservation 6 months ahead?

I thought it was "only" possible to make a reservation 180 days ahead?
Help help I want to make my reservations as soon as possible (going in May)

 

[Mackey Mouse]

For those of you who do not know about the priority seating calculator, here it is..

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/pscalc/dispscalc.html

I keep mine in my favorites so that I can access it when I need it. It is a great tool for knowing when to make ADR's.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay, six months is an exaggeration. 180 days is actually 2.5 days less than six months. That's it. That's the difference.

 

[eliza61]

We just got back fro 10 days @ WDW. We stayed @ the poly. We did not have the dining plan. What a nightmare for anyone who did not have the dining plan, and wanted to sit down to eat @ WDW. We arrived on 08/24/2007 and left 09/03/2007. During our stay, we could not get a sit-down dinner ANYWHERE. I was able to get some advance dining reservations. All of the dining places were all filled up with DDP guests. By giving away DDP, wht they did was lock out almost every place to eat @ WDW. The only place to get food was at any of the counter facilities, or to go off-site. I encountered many people that were on the DDP, that were complaining that they could not eat anywhere.

My family and I are more free spirited so we never do the dining plan. So far we've had pretty good luck getting TS's at the last minute, here are some things that work well for me. I know it won't help you but just in case there are others who like me have a hard time trying to figure out what to eat 180 days out.
We don't go in the summer so not sure if these will work during a pack time.

-Be flexible, our kids are teenagers so we don't have to eat at high dining times. We've had great sucess eating at 7:30pm. Since we're not park commandos this works well because we often don't get to the parks until late so we have a late lunch also.
Also some times we ate our TS for our late lunch (4:00 pm) We particulary like this one because we then have an outrageous dessert around 6:00 pm
Warning This will not work if you are trying to diet.

-Be flexible (notice a theme here ) I call disney dining first thing ever morning and ask what's available. They are really great with searching. We go with whatevers open unless we really hate it. If it's in a park, that's the park we do in the afternoon. This works really well if you have Park hoppers.

-Be flexible (there she goes again ) The resort dining is usually a little less crowded because people don't want to leave the parks to eat alot of times.
Lastly, if there is some place you just have to eat at, make the ADR. We were at the WL in March for 7 days and only made 1 ADR. We ate TS every night. We're heading down again for Jersey week in November and only have 1 ADR for my sons 14th birthday.

 

[grumpymakesmehappy]

We just got back fro 10 days @ WDW. We stayed @ the poly. We did not have the dining plan. What a nightmare for anyone who did not have the dining plan, and wanted to sit down to eat @ WDW. We arrived on 08/24/2007 and left 09/03/2007. During our stay, we could not get a sit-down dinner ANYWHERE. I was able to get some advance dining reservations. All of the dining places were all filled up with DDP guests. By giving away DDP, wht they did was lock out almost every place to eat @ WDW. The only place to get food was at any of the counter facilities, or to go off-site. I encountered many people that were on the DDP, that were complaining that they could not eat anywhere.

I know exactly what you mean. We just returned from our trip to WDW, which I booked with the free dining plan, and the restaurants were packed I knew they would be, and I was thankful that I knew to make reservations ahead of time. Even when we are not traveling on the dining plan I make ADR's. I do miss the days when you could go on a whim and pick a place to eat once you got to WDW. This was the only trip I have been on that once I got to WDW and wanted to change my reservations I was unable to do so because there was NO availablity for our party of 4 adults. I hated that. I don't care what people say. You may think you've got all your ADR's fiqured out but once you get to WDW and see Ohana's for example you remember how great it was and your mouth starts watering for the food or you walk by 50's Prime Time and you think...."gosh I wish I was eating fried chicken and a s'more tonight." ***sidenote-we did have ADR's for both restaurants and they both were good . I was just using them as an example.*** As the OP mentioned, I too wish that WDW would keep 1/4 of the reservations open for walk-up guest. It would give the guest a little flexiblity once they got to the parks/resorts. And let's face it, some people are traveling to WDW for the first time or for the first time in a long time and are so excited that it never occurs (even after warnings) to them that ADR's are REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT now. All they can think about is that they are going to WDW!!! I would hate to be that family looking into to that restaurant and wishing we could eat there. It's those people I really feel sorry for. It does kill a little of the magic. I've been fortunate enough to have my fair share with the wonderful Disney restaurants but I know not everyone else has.

 

[Rustysmom]

I think that there is no rason to alienate ddp vs non ddp but i do feel that disney should leave about 1/4 reservations for walk up only. even at places like le cellier, its not like they wont fill them, people without an adr may just have to wait a teeny bit longer but id ratehr wait a 30 minutes than not get to eat.

We ate at Le Cellier last week and we were shocked to see that there were walkups waiting for tables. I heard that during such a busy dining period like the free dining that turned away walkups. We had early dinner reservations so maybe they take walkups earlier in the evening? We were surprised when we walked in there to give our name that the waiting area was filled, but they told us to come with them right away.

Same thing at the other restaurants we ate at.

 

[rcraw45425]

Well, we almost never even make a hotel reservation 6 months out, I think this is the earliest we have planned one in a while. I will state, however, that last fall we stayed over at Portofino Bay since we wanted to take our SHih-Tzu with us. I called for an ADR for and they actually have a code to say you're staying there. I made my ADR for the Halloween Party night, then we found we were able to do a walk up with 15 minute wait for LTT instead. Super surprising, butI guess it does happen. I have all my dinner ADRs for January now, but thankfully they are our old standbys so I know what the food is like.

 

[Lady V]

well, we are there from Dec 28-Jan 6th and I am so bad! I only have made 3 ADR's!! But, they are Chef Mickey, Ohona, and Le Cellier. Oh-and the kids are doing Grand Adventures in Cooking at the GF. But-on a side note--two days ago I changed our Chef Mickey from a party of 4 to a party of 7 and it was no problem.

 

[disneyfan55]

We have visited WDW a great number of times over the years. We never had to preplan our visits so much. The restaurants were really never that busy maybe except for the Castle. I think Disney started the Dining Plan to fill the restaruants up. They have done that for sure!! We booked our trip for the end of the month during June. I had a heck of a time trying to get any reservation we wanted. In fact, some places we couldn't get at all. Most all the reservations are for odd times. It took a few hours on thepfhone to fill the week. Last year my children went during a mid week in Sept on the free dining and really had no problem getting decent hour reservations. My daughter was very surprised at the problems I was having. I think maybe the plan is oversold or over given away. I don't know what else to think. All of my past Disney trips have been so unplanned and we had great times. This one is too overplanned for me. It's not that I don't like to plan, I plan extensive cross country trips, it's just this whole trips revolves around the dinner reservations and I'm not so sure that's what I like at Disney. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have free dining, but maybe it's just too over sold. I wouldn't buy the plan. We would just eat at the counter service places or maybe a late lunch or two in our favorite places.

For anyone on the Dining Plan - in one word RESERVE!!

 

[Melrosgirl]

This is why I refuse to travel during the free dining period. (I never qualify for free food bc of DVC anyway.) I changed my reservations once to different dates in August b/c of the free dining plan.

 

[disneyfan55]

This is why I refuse to travel during the free dining period. (I never qualify for free food bc of DVC anyway.) I changed my reservations once to different dates in August b/c of the free dining plan.

I wouldn't go during the free meal plan unless I had it either. My daughter and her husband actually did do the DDP the last 2 years and had no problem with reservations. I'm beginning to think there might be a lot of double booking even though the CS knew my whole list as we were trying to make all the days reservations and keep moving them around to fill the days. Disney must be able to see the double reservations and really shouldn't allow it especially if it is very visible that you have 2 or even 3 on the same night in close times. I really don't know what to say but I was worn out making all these reservations and to be honest I really don't like to have to be so structured at Disney. We booked this trip in June thinking it was a great deal which it is, 592 pp for 7 nights with park hoppers is, but I don't think we'll be doing it very soon.

 

[SuzieN]

I can't believe how contrversial this ttopic is! Dining Plan or no Dining Plan you have thousands of people who want to eat and how many restaurants?!! Kinda just makes sense to me that if you want to eat at table service locations you should make sure you have reservations!

 

[kaytieeldr]

It's funny. I've called a lot in the last few days (and, yes, despite what I told yesterday's CM, will be calling again) to make and change reservations, and after EACH new reservations, and granted they did tell me first, the CMs cancelled the one it was replacing - before we even moved on to my next request.

 

[disneyfan55]

I can't believe how contrversial this ttopic is! Dining Plan or no Dining Plan you have thousands of people who want to eat and how many restaurants?!! Kinda just makes sense to me that if you want to eat at table service locations you should make sure you have reservations!

These restaurants were really never crowded or over booked (maybe excep the Castle) before the dining plan. We haven't been to Disney since the summer of 2003 and absolutely no problems getting reservations the day of or just walking up to a restaurant. We also really wouldn't be eating at TS restaurants every day. We usually had 2 TS lunches for a 7-10 day trip. Like I said I think too many dining plans are either sold or given away as an incentive to come. I don't know if I would have even bothered if knew all the planning and lack of reservations available. Time will tell. We leave in less than 2 weeks. We are even on the very tail end of the offer, starting the 22nd.

 

[Destination Disney]

Amen SuzieN!!!

 

[Nom]

These restaurants were really never crowded or over booked (maybe excep the Castle) before the dining plan. We haven't been to Disney since the summer of 2003 and absolutely no problems getting reservations the day of or just walking up to a restaurant. We also really wouldn't be eating at TS restaurants every day. We usually had 2 TS lunches for a 7-10 day trip. Like I said I think too many dining plans are either sold or given away as an incentive to come. I don't know if I would have even bothered if knew all the planning and lack of reservations available. Time will tell. We leave in less than 2 weeks. We are even on the very tail end of the offer, starting the 22nd.

ITA! The fact of the matter is that pre-ddp, it was never like this in Sept and Oct. That was what was so shocking to dh and I... we always went during this slow period, and there were always walk-ups available in a few of the WS restaurants. The past two years there has been NOTHING... and I think it takes something away from the experience.

They DEFINATELY oversell DDP and overbook the restaurants, and it is to the detriment of those who are not on DDP and aren't aware of the urgency and necessity to make reservations. Us WDW superfans know to make our reservations 6 mo out, but the average visitor doesn't- unless they are on DDP and reminded to do so. So that is why people complain about the lack of available reservations, and blame it on ddp.

I have to admit, I remember fondly the times that you could only make same-day reservations at SE... at least everyone was on an equal playing field for finding a restaurant to go to.

 

[rpach10115]

I think you guys are missing the point here: We DID make many ADR for the 10 day trip. I made at least one ADR per day, whether it was for lunch or dinner.
The original point was, because Disney offered the FREE DDP to guests, there were no tables left for people who wer NOT on the DDP. The ADR i made were 3 months in advance. We always make ADR's for at least one meal every day.
We travel to disney every year at the same time. I NEVER had a hard time walking up to any sit-down place AT OFF HOURS (dinner after 8:30pm for example). This past time, there were no reservations to be had. The Crystal Palace, which is one of the largest places was mobbed every night until park closing. There was one night that there were people waiting to eat dinner @ 9:30pm!

This is just to let people know that if you want to eat at a sit-down, you better make reservations VERY early while the free DDP is in effect. I'm sure once the special DDP promotion ends, things will get back to normal.

 

[Amy&Dan]

There is no doubt that the DDP is bringing people into ts restaurants. That was the whole point I think. But there are also lots of people at WDW right now who have AP's, live local, are DVC, are staying offsite or are staying onsite but didn't book the DDP, free or not. So that accounts for people too.

This free dining was offered to lure tourists into WDW/Florida during hurricane season following some pretty hard years on that front. It has worked well. Of course hurricanes in Florida last year and this year (so far) have also not been a factor and so people are feeling more confident about travelling during that time. In addition to free dining, you can also nab great code rates at the resorts. Many people would rather pay a fraction for their room, then eat cs, some ts or offsite as opposed to paying full rack rate and getting free dining. So again, there are lots of reasons for fuller resorts and restaurants. I do agree the free DDP right now is the main one, but not the only one.

And for the poster who has not been since 2003, yes it is different. Back in 2003 this country and its tourism trade was still reeling from 9/11. Lots of places I travelled to in 2003, Disney and other destinations, were less crowded and cheaper. Right here in Colorado, I used to be able to do last minute things that I can no longer do. The tourism trade in general is just more busy and more expensive. So while I think the DDP is very much a part of why the restaurants at WDW are more crowded, its also just part of a bigger picture with tourism in general.