Seriously, people, is the 'walk up' a thing of the past?

[Get me to Disney!]

I worked for Disn Dining and I saw first hand that the 'good spots' fill up right at that 180 mark. I know that when guests would call in while at the park and ask for something specific, we could almost never find a reservation for them. However, I am curious to know what happens if someone does do a walk up? Have you tried it recently? Did it work? Does it ever work? Just a curiosity question really.

 

[vicki_c]

They are either:

1 - seated if there are spaces
2 - told to wait if there will be spaces freeing up
3 - sent away and told there is no chance of getting in.

It really depends on the day and place - no way of predicting whether you would get in or not (except you could predict more "not"s at very busy times and/or popular places)

 

[Bete]

for walk ups it's better to do lunch. There are always cancellations and you may get a spot that way, as well but it seems there are longer waits involved. For the popular places like Le Cellier in Epcot it's rough at any time to do a walk up.

Another time walk ups seem to work are the less populated times like January. Less popular times like very early dinner or very late dinner may work better for walk ups. During a parade or fireworks you may get more availability for a restaurant. There are strategies that help.

Also, it seems certain restaurants have more availability for walk ups. Biergarten in Epcot seems to fall in this category.

The best way to figure this out is just go to Disney dining on the web and put in some time and places for last minute meals and see what you get.

 

[msp2mco]

I was shocked that my DBIL's family was able to walk up a few days after Christmas '11 and get a return time for Via Napoli or Tutto Italia (can't remember which one). They had a group of 6. That was one of the days the crowds were so large that they were closing the parks intermittently. They were concerned that if the park hopped, they wouldn't get back in. It all worked out okay though.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

We don't have much trouble getting walk-ups or same-day reservations, but that's due mostly to our restaurant choices and the time of year we visit. We don't patronize buffets or character meals, nor do we travel in high season. We also have no problem eating in bars or lounges and in fact prefer them to the dining rooms of some restaurants. We do make reservations most of the time, but always have a couple open days where we just go wherever the day takes us.

 

[3pletprincesses]

I think it depends on the restaurant. characters meals, I think it's pretty much impossible and that goes for the popular restaurants too. It also dependso n the time of year you are going. Low season is easier to get a walk up.

 

[newdeal]

About two years ago my mother walked up to le cellier and was sent away. They said they were full. My wife tried about 5 minutes later just to see if she could have any better luck and within 10 minutes we had a table lol. This was around march break time.

 

[DonaldTDuck]

With the cc $10 charge for not cancelling, it will be tougher than ever at signatures and character meals. I have WDW-dine in my cel and call if I need to find something. Assume it 5 pm and you're in MK and hyngry. Do you really want to walk up to each restaurant trying to get in just to be told no? Call dining and see what's open. That way, if nothing's available, they can tell you which resort TS has tables available.

 

[CluelessDisFan]

Last September we got into 1900 Parkfare after waiting 15 minutes. I'm going to try Le Cellier when DH and I go back in 2 weeks. I can't get a reservation.

 

[Pakey]

We did plenty of walkups the last week of October, a week of free dining in place and moderate park crowds. We did dinner walk ups easily. We do not use the DDP so we aren't concerned that we have to use credits and we've always had pretty decent success at getting a table service.

We even saw a party of 17 do a walk up for Tusker House breakfast on Sunday 10/23; they were seated right after we were so they had the same 10 minute wait that we did (with an ADR). I noticed this because I had tried to change my ADR time online prior to our vacation (we were a party of 8) and I couldn't get anything so I had expected the restaurant to be packed.

 

[HadesTX]

When we were there 9/28-10/2 I saw a lot of people trying to do walk ups at lunch... most were told to come back at 1pm or a little later & try again. We were usually eating around 11:30-12:00.

Didn't notice any walk ups at dinner, really... except the HUGE line at Ohana.

 

[OldsDr]

This past septemeber we did a walk up at Kona around 6 pm for 6 people. The disney dinning phone number and MK computers all showed nothing untill around 8pm. we were seated within 15 minutes.

 

[recmouse]

I worked for Disn Dining and I saw first hand that the 'good spots' fill up right at that 180 mark. I know that when guests would call in while at the park and ask for something specific, we could almost never find a reservation for them. However, I am curious to know what happens if someone does do a walk up? Have you tried it recently? Did it work? Does it ever work? Just a curiosity question really.

There was another thread a few days ago where someone said they tried doing a walk up and were told there were no tables. They then tried the mobile app on their phone and got a reservation for that same restaurant and walked in 15 minutes later! They said it worked several times.

 

[purple figment]

I was shocked that my DBIL's family was able to walk up a few days after Christmas '11 and get a return time for Via Napoli or Tutto Italia (can't remember which one). They had a group of 6. That was one of the days the crowds were so large that they were closing the parks intermittently. They were concerned that if the park hopped, they wouldn't get back in. It all worked out okay though.

I know Tutto's has an outdoor patio where they seat walk ups. The CM said those tables are not in the reservation system. I guess it means they can accomodate more people, but if the weather is bad, they won't use them.

Since Via Napoli is owned by the same company and it also has a patio they may have the same system.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Last month I had a Lunch ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern at 11:30 AM and while I was waiting there before they opened I saw a couple of people come in without ADR's and asked if they had any tables available? Well the Cast Member said they were full, however he also said if they comeback between 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM they might have something then. So it's not like they were flat out told nothing is available, because why would they be told to comeback later on?

 

[North of Mouse]

We seldom make reservations and usually have very little problems. The most we've waited is about 30min. But, we are a party of two, and we enjoy dining early, usually about the time that the restaurant opens for B/L/D and it's easier to get in before they get busy. I suspect it will be easier now to get ressies a day or so in advance because a lot of the restaurants will charge $10 per person for no shows (or cancellations within a day), so people will be less apt to hang on to one til the last minute to make up their minds. I, for one, am so happy to see this - should have been done long ago. I know of too many people that would make more than one ressie at the same time and decide at the last min. and not even bother to call the other restaurant, or because of weather, or too tired decide the same thing. It will be different now

 

[2manypets]

In September, DH & I went for a week and only made two ADR's. All other times we just walked up and hoped for the best. We got very lucky and never got turned away. You just have to know which restaurants are the most popular and stear clear of them (like le cellier, Ohana, etc) It was easier to get a seat when we walked up when the restaurant first opened for lunch.

 

[plazajane]

We were there from the 15-25th of December. We had many reservations but were able to make changes and add new reservations during the week we were there. Now we never could get Le Cellier, but almost every other restaurant showed up as available including Cinderella's Royal Table. I actually think with a credit card being required there are more folks actually cancelling reservations instead of just not showing up.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

I hope the new system makes it easier. We've had 50/50 with walk ups. Usually we make a few ADR's but I hate having to plan the entire day aroung it. We go both peak-spring brk,Mem day wkend as well as oct, early dec so crowds vary but results seem about same.

 

[Marthasor]

I have been turned away from LTT twice. Unless I'm right in front of the podium of a restaurant we like when we feel like eating, I don't do walk-ups anymore. I use WDW Dining's mobile site and see what's available at a restaurant nearby. As others have said, there is usually something available! We always go at slow periods though. I have found this is a really fun, no stress, no ADR way of trying new places!!! Last trip we ended up trying Kouzzina and Tokyo Dining because we were in the area and could get an ADR on the mobile site on the fly! Really enjoyed them both! Loved the fact that I wasn't tied down with ADR's! I did notice, though, we could NEVER get character dining doing this (we were there in late August). We tried making character dining ADR's on the fly - never worked! Neither did Le Cellier or O'hana. Thank goodness for the Biergarten's of the world!