Resort- Character Breakfast ?

[Turtle31]

My friend just returned from a stay at the Contemp. She said that she had made advance reservations at Chef Mickey's for one of their breakfasts. She was told by a CM though that if you are staying at the property you do not have to have an adr and you will be seated.
We are going to be staying at the BCV (our first time)- just purchased - And I wonder if this holds true for the Cape May Buffet Character Breakfast. While I have adr's for some mornings I wonder about the mornings that my family might change their mind and not want to go all the way to the Poly for the Ohana breakfast.
Will we be given priority since we are DVC members - or might we possibly be told they aren't taking walkups ?

 

[jco_direwolf]

I think you friend is a bit confused.

ADRs are almost never required. However, Disney doesn't "reserve" any tables for walk ups. There is no priority for Resort guest walkup that I've ever heard of, and the popular places can be all booked with ADRs for the rest of the day.

Often times, because there is no penalty for not showing up or cost for a ADR. People make more ADRs than they know they will use. So I would suggest if you are going to try and walkup to Chef Mickey's show up FIRST thing in the morning. Or right at MK opening.

The way Disney makes ADRs is they use there data, they know that people normally stay at Chef Mickey's for say 55minutes for breakfast. So when you get an ADR they block out 55 minutes for your party. Early in the service you'll be able to sneak in and because someone who has the first seating, will be late. Also there is a HUGE exodus from CM right at park opening.

But if you are willing to wait for someone to leave early or show up late, they will seat you. You could be waiting quite some time.

johno

 

[danielle782001]

I agree...Your friend is either confused or ill informed...WDW on property guests do not have walk-up ability...They have to make ADR or chance not getting a table like everyone else...Reservations are recommended for all but of course not required...

We have witnessed this problem at Cape May...Twice...I have seen someone go up to get a table without an ADR and told there were no tables available...Both times the guests said they thought they get a table because they were staying at the resort....I remember this so clearly because I could not believe I heard the same encounter on two different trips...We have seen countless other guests turned away or told it would be at least an hour for a table without an ADR...

Moral of the story is that I would never count on walking up and getting what you want...It is not worth the chance!

 

[5forDiz]

DVC members do not get any special consideration, neither do any other guests staying at on-site WDW resorts. If you want to take a chance on getting seated without an ADR (and also don't mind maybe waiting awhile) there's no guarantee but you may possibly get lucky and get seated but have a back-up plan in mind.

 

[Turtle31]

Thank you all so much. I thought she might be wrong - but didn't want to bother to argue or ask how that could be. Rest assured I have an adr for every morning and if my family doesn't want to get out of bed and be on time, they will risk the chance of not being fed ! Well maybe I will through a bagel at them or something!

 

[danielle782001]

Thank you all so much. I thought she might be wrong - but didn't want to bother to argue or ask how that could be. Rest assured I have an adr for every morning and if my family doesn't want to get out of bed and be on time, they will risk the chance of not being fed ! Well maybe I will through a bagel at them or something!

Have fun on your firt DVC trip

 

[hakepb]

When I got back from my most recent trip, I had a message on my machine from the Beach Club (verifying my Cape May breakfast ADR) I am not sure if they were hunting for cancellations? Never got an ADR reminder before...

I did once notice at Boma that the phone MS could onlt book our party of 5 on 2 seperate tables. When we showed up there were many tables that seat 10 open and we had no problem getting seated at a single table, so some restaurants do not allow ADR'ing to capacity (perhaps due to known staffing?) but I do not think Chef Mickey's or Cape May are ever underutilized...

 

[Turtle31]

Have fun on your firt DVC trip

Thank you .... I so can NOT wait !!!

 

[PinkTink63]

Last summer while staying at AKV I called for reservations at Boma's and was told to go down in person and they might be able to get us in. I did this and the person at the check-in desk did get us in because we were staying there.

I am definitely not going to depend on that this time around though! Especially since free dining starts the day we arrive!