Priority Seating necessary?

[dawsonsdad9401]

I'll be travelling to MK for the first time with my wife and 5 yo son the first week of October. Seems there are a lot of others travelling the same week and have made priority seating arrangements already. We have made a couple of seating arrangements for character meals, but not for all meals. Do we need to try to make those arrangements soon or will we be able to get seating spur of the moment. We understand there may be a wait, but we don't want to get to tied down to a time when we have to be somewhere. This is vacation you know.

 

[bopper]

If it is during the time that the free Disney Dining Plan is being offered, I would make those reservations now. More people are going to be eating at Table Service than normal, I think. We just got back and it was hard to get some reservations at the time we wanted. You only need them for the Table Service meals.

 

[cobbler]

I agree, if you want a table service meal you should make them. Its free dining time and I had to change a few of my plans around, for one of the restaurants I couldn't get a lunch until after 3pm. And this is when I called last week to change things a bit for my first week in October trip.

So if you know you want to eat there, make the reservation.

ETA:
They may not even let you wait, they may just turn you away altogether if they are full. I have seen it happen during slow periods because the restaurant has been full.

 

[goodferry]

I would make some ADRs just to be safe. You can always cancel them if you change your plans. I know it's hard to think of where you will want to eat in two months, and you never know if the places you will choose will be full or not, but it's always better to be safe than sorry. We were there before free dining, 8/13-8/18 and the only place where we ate that had tables available for walk in was the Yachtsman Steakhouse.

 

[dawsonsdad9401]

Thanks for all the help. Sometimes the newbies need a little extra help.

 

[aubriee]

While I was at WDW this past January and again in May I saw people turned away from Le Cellier, Mama Melrose, Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, and CRT. This was of course before the free dining. I would definitely make ADRs. They're free and you can always cancel that morning if you find yourself somewhere else. Just program WDW Dining into your cell phone.

Saying that, it may not be as bad as we all originally thought. I called this past Saturday (exactly 21 days out from our trip) to switch around a couple of ADRs and to add another one and was given a choice of times. They were Planet Hollywood, Crystal Palace, and San Angel Inn.

 

[aubriee]

Oops! Double post.