PS vs making reservations when you get there?

[Ontario]

Can I just make reservations for dinner when we arrive? We go in a week and only have one PS booked... crazy I know but I'm a first timer. I figure we will spend a lot of time at the parks and maybe won't want to leave to go have a sit down dinner somewhere? We are there April 25th to May 2nd. I'm leaning towards booking the Fantasmic dinner package... or O'Hana's or ???? I cannot believe how organized some of you are with your eating plans!

 

[Momster]

I'm with you Ontario. Same situation. I find it hard to plan that far ahead as to how our day will go. I have no PSs yet but might try for a couple or maybe call on my cell phone on our loooooonnnng drive down!

 

[Crazy Hakim]

Depending on the time of year, the restaurant desired, the time of day you want to eat and finally the size of your party, I can firmly say "Maybe!"

Forget about places like "California Grill" or "The Hoop-Dee-Doo Review" Forget about Cinderella's Castle for Breakfast.

If you can accept being shut out of the most popular places, if you can accept the frustration of not being able to find a nice place to sit down and dine, then you will be fine.

I know that I usually plan my dining around my day's activity. If I was planning to spend a day at the magic Kingdom, then I would plan my meals in the general area, be it in the park or on one of the three monorail resorts.

I have just seen TOO many families being turned away from the podium, during a very busy week because the restaurant was booked and not accepting walk-ins, and I have seen them get mad that they had no place to eat that night.

Who's fault is that?

 

[CamColt]

Im a planaholic so I always book my PSs in advance and we stick to the plan. Im so bad I usually even know what Im getting to eat at each restaurant.
But I would say if you really have your heart set on a particular restaurant or you know that you need to eat at a certain time, definitely book ahead of time. If you are flexible on time and place and dont mind the worst case of possibly having to do counter service, then you can go with the flow and book when you get there.

 

[n2mm]

I make less and less each trip now. We do a few before we leave and make some while we're there. The more popular ones and hard to get. Forget about an early dinner seating at Chef Mickey's. But for HDD, we got right into that show the day of more than once. The 9:30 show seldom fills up. All you can do is check at the resort. We do make a couple of lunch and dinner ones before we leave just to have a few firmed up and decide on others after we get there. I will be calling for my chef mickey's PS this Saturday for my July trip, because we like the 5:00 PM seating.

 

[Grumpy92]

The general rule of thumb is you dont need them unless you ar visiting during a school holiday, want to dine with the characters or visit one of the popular restaurants.

Popular Restaurants - Cal Grill, Cindys, WC, Sci Fi, 50s PT, Le Cellier, Ohanas

Been there too many times to count. We usually call ahead and do a PS for only the most popular restaurants. If it is a holiday we book them all in advance though.

 

[crisi]

I plan my dining around my days, then once I have my dining in place, run my days around my dining.

I think its fine for a first timer not to have too many PSs. You'll have better things to do with your time than eat. However, you should call as soon as you make up your mind if you do want to eat someplace to see if you can get a PS. You should also check the counter service menus - if you eat nothing but chicken fingers and hamburgers during your stay, you may get bored, knowing where to get good counter service food is a plus (hint - World Showcase, Tusker House in AKL). Also know which restaurants are likely to be uncrowded or don't take PSs - Marrakesh is often a walk in, for instance (I'm going to start a thread on this).

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

On our first trip in 2002, we had no problems make PS ressies when we arrived. The only one we did was Chef Mickeys.

When planning for our latest trip, I was more on-top of things, and knew some of the things we really wanted to do. I made reservations for the Storybook breakfast, and dinner at the castle at the 60 day mark, just because I know they book fast. I waited until closer to the trip (6 weeks) to schedule dinner at Chef Mickey's, and was shocked that the earliest we could get in any night was 8:15. I couldn't believe how much things have changes since we waited until the last minute last time.

I would say to call as soon as you have an idea of your plans. I know the less popular places should still have seating available when you arrive.

Have fun!!!!

 

[soozeeQ]

Just returned from POP Century and had a great time. We had a priority seating booked for each of seven days and only used two of them. We had an early flight to Orlando and were exhausted after the first day (factor in the time change and the fact that we we are already 1 hr behind Orlando). At this time of year, the parks open early and in order to get to all of the more popular attractions, you had to be in the park at opening. Thus, with a DD7 and DS7mos, we were to bed early every night and so didn't do the parks in the evening. I had three dinner PS's and never used them because we were back at the resort by then. I would suggest you book one lunch PS each day at the park you think you will be visiting (lunches are less expensive and you are likely to be in the park at that time). If you want some rest, I would recommend you only do the extra magic hour at the parks that open later ie MGM and EPCOT. That way you can catch up on your sleep. WDW is exhausting and the worst thing is to have a tired cranky family. Visit Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom on regular days but show up half an hour before the park opens. We had PS's at Crystal Palace (with POOH and friends) at MK and at the Rainforest Cafe at AK. Crystal Palace was a nice buffet while Rainforest Cafe was a la carte. Next time I will try to book a few more buffet-style priority seatings and definitely more character meals. That way you can see what you're getting and choose what you want - especially beneficial when kids are involved. A week of counter-service and food court meals made Easter Sunday dinner at mom's house back home seem like a miracle!

It's not too late to book the PS's you want - you just have to be flexible with the times you want. I called 1 1/2 weeks before Easter and got just about all the PS's I requested. If you're not sure which park you will be in on a particular day, you can book two PS's and cancel the one you won't use once you decide.

Oh - and as for counter-service: Make sure you try the smoked turkey legs (we had them both at the Magic Kingdom and at Epcot). You'll swear you're eating ham! We had to make a special trip to Epcot on our last day so my DH could have another one...

And since we're talking food, we stopped at the Publix and bought 48 - 500 ml bottle of water for $10.00. They were selling water for over $2.00 a piece in the parks! We also bought some Oreos, chips, oranges and bananas - really tied us over in the mornings and after returning from the parks. We also bought 8 wine coolers for about $7.00 total at Publix - the same cost as one drink at Petal's Pool Bar. We're not big drinkers but we wish we would have bought more...

If you have any questions at all about POP Century or anything else at WDW, fire away. I now consider myself the PRO after having survived (and mostly enjoyed) the busiest week of the year at WDW with DD7, DS7mos and DH who hates crowds but has now been converted and would like to revisit WDW soon but probably at a much slower time!

 

[jubileegirl]

Can I hijack this thread just a little bit, please, to ask if it's easier to get a 'walk-in' at hours when people wouldn't usually be having a main meal, or do 'normal routines' go out the window at Disney? We don't have a problem with, for example, having a main meal at 3pm, or eating really late in the evening.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I too am a planaholic and like to have all my ps made before the trip. We just went April 6-14 and I was really worried about easter. We made it to all our ps except 1 which we went to another day. We noticed that you could walk up to chef mickeys at like 8:20 p.m. Rainforest Cafe without a PS at lunch was over a l hour wait. We walked up to Akershus before 5 pm and got a table for only dh and I. That was the one I missed originally. We also arrived an hour late for 2 of our ps and only had to wait 10 minutes for a table at each of them. I couldnt see doing counter service all week or waiting on huge lines for a burger etc. We plan for one nice meal a day. The only thing we wouldnt do again was a character breakfast. Too expensive and a waste of park time.

 

[crisi]

It is often easier to get a walk in at odd hours. Late is harder than early however - especially when parks close early. Your 3:00 idea is great. 3:00 will also put you on the cheaper lunch menu at most restaurants (a little less food, but the portions are still generous).

It is also easier to walk in with a smaller party than a large party. Eight people expecting to dine at 6:30 and sit together at a popular venue is laughable - unless it is particularly slow or you get very lucky. Two people often find that there are no problems, and can't understand why we who travel in parties of six and eight get so nervous about it.

Also, some restaurants are easier to walk into than others.

 

[TooBoyz4us]

Originally posted by CamColt
Im a planaholic so I always book my PSs in advance and we stick to the plan. Im so bad I usually even know what Im getting to eat at each restaurant.

Ahhh, its nice to know there is someone else out there who is a planner like myself Camcolt !
I just spent almost my entire weekend with my Disney notes scattered all over my desk, and the printer humming away printing my restaurant menus,LOL ! My DH and kids have initialed all the menu selections that sounded good to them ;-)
WE ARE READY!!!!

Ontario : You certainly can try for PS's when you arrive. But, you can also make them now, and cancel them if your plans change on a particular day.I usually end up tweaking my times several times before we leave.

 

[Momster]

I ended calling yesterday and made some for Sci Fi Drive In, Teppanyaki, Rainforest Cafe (AK) and Chef Mickey's character breakfast. They still had a lot of open times for all of them except CM - the only thing I could get was at 7am on one of our last two days. I don't think my family will have as much trouble with that as I will, it won't take them long to get ready but I'm not a morning person and I'll have to shower, do hair, makeup, etc. I'll survive. I'm thinking of trying earlier in the week though, maybe call over there and see if there are any openings for a late breakfast.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Going in January, we have had success calling that morning from our room to get a PS at lot of places. We have also went to the resturant first thing in the AM, and done some walk ups. We went this year in December (early- not week-end) and were glad we had made Ps for everything we wanted. Not even taking walk ups most places. You will be glad you have them and remember they are not set in stone. They can be changed and you can try for something else there. We have often discovered a new place we want to try after we are there!!!


Jordans' mom

 

[mb1017]

I'm going May 23-28 w/ my DD4. It's our first trip and the only PS I've made so far is the princess bfast on Monday morning (late morning seating).

Knowing my DD's schedule, she's pretty flexible with actual mealtimes as long as we have plenty of snacks to get us thru the afternoon.

I've seen other tips elsewhere which suggest checjking out dining times outside the norm...(late pm lunch/early dinner)

Since it's just the two of us, I'm also very flexible with our dining. I don't need a fancy sit down meal all the time. In fact, depending on the kind of day we've had, sitting in a restaurant may be more of a disaster than it's worth.