Priority Seating Ressies vs On The Fly

[WDWOKW92]

My wife and I will be going to the Mouse House from September 28th to October 4th with the meal plan promotion in tow. The thought of making dinner reservations at the various restaurants 90 days out doesn't appeal to us because let's face it,... how do we know if we'll be in the "mood" for a particular fare that far out? Since we'll be going at an off-peak time, what kind of success might we have making ressies 1 or 2 days out while we are there? Anybody have experience doing this during off-peak times? Any tips? Thanks in advance and have a Disney day!

 

[oogieboogie]

If you're flexible with your times, you shouldn't have a problem. However, I would still make some PSs for the restaurants that are popular that you think you'll want to go to, like 50's PrimeTime, Cali Grill, Ohana, CRT, CP.

We went early June and the parks were somewhat crowded and throughout our entire week, Chef Mickey's, Ohana, SciFi, 50's were all booked up to the point we couldn't get a different PS when we wanted to change some times, and when we were there at the restaurant, we saw plenty of people getting turned away. One day we were at Sci-Fi for lunch and we checked in for a 12:10pm PS and they were telling walk-ups that the only spot left was for 9:30pm and above!

So far, when we go off season, we haven't had a problem making PSs the day before, or even an hour before. We actually made our San Angel PS 2 hours before we were going to get there and we got the time we wanted.

 

[tlev]

We were there during the second week in Sept. last year in between hurricanes. The parks were empty but the more popular restaurants were still booked. We made PS's and I'm glad we did. O'Hana's, Cal. Grill, LeCellier and Fulton's were all booked when we were there. It doesn't cost anything to make the PS's so I would make a couple just to be on the safe side, and then if you don't need them, just call and cancel them that day.

 

[Christine]

I was just there this past week and made my PS arrangments about 1 month out. As the trip got closer I did some tweaking and rearranging and I didn't have any problems. When I left, I still didn't have all my meals booked and didn't end up booking them until either the night before or even a few hours before. I didn't have much a problem even with a party of seven.

I did run into a problem on the last day which was June 19th. All of a sudden everything was "locked up" but I think there was a mad rush to Disney that Saturday since all the public schools finally got out. At the time you are going, I doubt you will have much of a problem. You may want to make some "loose" plans about a week before you go.

 

[ducklite]

Every few months I find myself alone for dinner and head to WDW. Sometimes I make a quick call to make a PS before I leave the house--especially if teh weather is funky or I'm hoping to dine at a particular place. but other times I just head there with a hopeful destination in mind, and always ready to try for something else if I can't get in.

Anne