Reservations

[cornflkgrl]

How important are dining reservations? How far in advance do we need them? Our trip is 3 weeks away is it too late to make any reservations?
For example, we really want to eat at Biergarten in Epcot since I lived in Germany for 6 years and I LOVE german food. Do we need reservations for that? Are there any restaurants you can just go to without reservations, or is that a bad idea?

 

[bicker]

We visited WDW in the middle of January. Many of the attractions were walk-ons. Some of the attractions that typically offer FastPasses didn't offer them that week, because there were so few guests.

We had dinner on Thursday night at Liberty Tree Tavern. It actually took me five whole minutes to get through the queue to check-in for our reservation, because there were so many guests in front of me, without reservations, trying in vain to find a place to have dinner. Several of them implored the CM to find room for them, because they had already checked several of other other restaurants and were told that there simply wasn't any room and wouldn't be any room for walk-ups for the rest of the evening.

Make reservations. It's not too late. You may find one or two places that you have to pass on or adjust your desired mealtime, but overall you should be okay.

 

[wdwfan1]

Yes, make reservations. I was able to change some of my ressies at 3 weeks out. You may not be able to get the exact times you would like, or every place you want to eat, but cal today!

 

[bigbabyblues]

Definitely make ADR's as soon as you can. Your trip is in three weeks, and that is spring break in some places, so it may be busy. It's always a good idea to make ADRs, you can cancel if you change your mind, but at least you'll know you have some place to eat.

 

[cornflkgrl]

Thanks everyone.
I went ahead and called and was able to get one character breakfast (Chef Mickey's) at 7 in the morning!! That is pretty early for me to be mixing with cartoon characters but it was all I can get so I better load up on the caffeine that morning.
I also got res for Artist Point for dinner and Beirgarten for dinner.
I am still thinking of making one more reservation for dinner but I am thinking carefully about where (not too expensive) because two of our other dinners are signature so we won't have any dining points for table service after those and the Biergarten.

 

[bicker]

When I did the computations, I found that I was much better of spending Dining Plan credits on 1TS meals, and paying OOP for signature restaurant (2TS) meals, rather than the other way around.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

I would make ADR's for all the places you may wan't to dine. The sit down restaurants are so busy now because of the dining plan. We always make our ADR's as soon as we can.