Skipper Canteen ADR watch

[Scalemaster34]

I don't think it is strange.

How many people on how many sub-boards have you seen talking about how "un-magical" it is to plan 180 days out, or making spur-of-the-moment trips, or not knowing that priority dining spots are 180 days?

If you are someone who knows about 180-day ADRs, you have a few options with something like this:

1. Hold a day open and try to get in. If you can't, go to Pecos Bill or somethin' somethin'.
2. Make an ADR for a "sure thing" and eat the no-show fee if you get in at SC.
3. Make an ADR for a "sure thing" and carry on.

If you are on the DDP, you can pay for this one OOP if it comes down to it, or roll the dice, or accept that to get "surety" out of the DDP, this restaurant may not be an option for you and there are many others that are.

I think over time, if Disney can find a way to manage it, they will add more walk-up Table Service options to help balance out the pre-planning madness (which has been driving things like ADR snipers and software) and some people's wish to go with the flow. The pre-planners may be disappointed about the lack of ADR here; the flow-ers have already been cranky about the 180-day windows.

My guess is that in the longer term, they may start having many restaurants not book up entirely via ADR and hold 25% of seating for walk-ups. And that it won't be at all TS locations, and never at Signature or Character options.

And at one time you didn't have the Disney Dining Plan, or even worse the Free Dining offers......

I would love to return to the days when you just woke up in the morning and asked everyone which park they wanted to go to that day.

It isn't the number of ADR reservations... it's the number of guest at the Parks has increased, and the percentage of guest that will do Table Service Dining has increased. Regardless of how a table is filled, only so many people can be moved in and out of the restaurants. BOG was a huge improvement to the overall number of tables available at MK, and Skippers will also help.

I like that they are experimenting... We'll just have to see how wait times and walk-up traffic "settle in" as guest become more aware of Skippers.

 

[SparklePixie]

I hope they stay walk-up only. I love returning to that idea. However, nothing on the menu interests me, so we won't ever be eating there.

 

[Ursula's Apprentice]

So much back and forth on what they'll be doing. Things will settle down eventually. No sense worrying until then. I'm hoping they do open ADRs so I can go in March, but it not, we'll just have to go and see if we can get in.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You will be going a very busy time so I don't think my experience will be yours. If it were me I would go on my way to Big Thunder because lots of others will be going early and likely your return time would be longer. See what they tell you the wait time is. If it seems too soon, then stop by again as you move from Big Thunder to 7DMT.

Awesome! Yes, that sounds like a good plan! Thank you!!

 

[btk2333]

And at one time you didn't have the Disney Dining Plan, or even worse the Free Dining offers......

I would love to return to the days when you just woke up in the morning and asked everyone which park they wanted to go to that day.

While I agree the current iterations of the DDP and free dining are not very good deals- I'm not a spontaneous person, I want my meals planned and I want to know what I'm doing well in advance of my trip. It's the same for non-Disney vacations for us, we're going to Vienna in November 2016 and already have all seven days mapped out and planned and are working on our spring 2017 vacation. It makes the trip less stressful if we have things planned out in advance IMO plus it lets us have fun and think about the vacation well in advance!

 

[ohboyx3]

Boo.... I wish they would either all be walk ups or all need ADR's. I was hoping to snag this on 12/30 for dinner. We have a LTT ADR and I really don't want to risk canceling it and then be turned away at Skipper's and have nowhere to sit down and eat that night... Ugh. Now I am debating upon eating the 10.00 per person no show fee at LTT if by chance we do luck up and get to eat there. I really REALLY want to try it!

 

[wdw&sonny]

My sister is eating at SK right now. Funny, to me. She is not a planner. Just decided a couple of weeks ago to go to WDW. Never makes ADRs or FP+. Just wings it. She texted me to ask if I had ever eaten at Cali Grill. Then a bit later said there was 10 min wait at SK so they thought they'd give it a try. Here I am watching the boards and refreshing the WDW Dining page to make an ADR for months from now, and she just happened by and walked in. LOL.

She says the menu is great with interesting non-alcoholic drinks, coke products from Brazil and Thailand. They are sharing dumplings, falafel and a salad. Says the menu is a nice mix of cultures. An Asian family next to them is raving about the fish collars. Said best part of fish and hard to find in US.
Said she is enjoying this more than Boathouse or Morimoto (the other places she tried this trip).

 

[kandb]

There are hundreds of restaurants at WDW, you could find one to use your credit at. It may not be what you would want to do or plan on doing, but it's up to you to use your credit, even if you have to do something like leave the park and have a meal at the Wave or GF Café or Kona because you can't get into anything inside the park (you can generally walk into lunch at the Wave). You don't lose the credit, you would just have to come up with somewhere else to use it.

No, I don't agree. What if you wanted to eat their for dinner, went to Skipper's when we want to eat (as this is what they request) at let's say 5:30pm and it's a 3 hour wait or "sold out" for the night. What then? Try to scramble to get to one of the resort TS restaurants to try to get a table? This will never work if you're on the ddp.

 

[btk2333]

No, I don't agree. What if you wanted to eat their for dinner, went to Skipper's when we want to eat (as this is what they request) at let's say 5:30pm and it's a 3 hour wait or "sold out" for the night. What then? Try to scramble to get to one of the resort TS restaurants to try to get a table? This will never work if you're on the ddp.

There would be plenty of magic kingdom resort hotels at which you could get a table no problem. I recommend artists point it's one of the best restaurants on property always has availability and is a short boat ride away. If you insist on being going to a non signature on the ddp then try Kona. Heck go to downtown Disney or park hop and eat at Epcot- the food is better over there anyway

 

[Scalemaster34]

There would be plenty of magic kingdom resort hotels at which you could get a table no problem. I recommend artists point it's one of the best restaurants on property always has availability and is a short boat ride away. If you insist on being going to a non signature on the ddp then try Kona. Heck go to downtown Disney or park hop and eat at Epcot- the food is better over there anyway

Time... that all takes time.

If you want to eat and watch Wishes... jumping to a resort to eat can be an issue. Especially for those of us that go in say Jan when the MK might close at 8PM.

 

[TeresaWen]

And at one time you didn't have the Disney Dining Plan, or even worse the Free Dining offers......

I would love to return to the days when you just woke up in the morning and asked everyone which park they wanted to go to that day.

It isn't the number of ADR reservations... it's the number of guest at the Parks has increased, and the percentage of guest that will do Table Service Dining has increased. Regardless of how a table is filled, only so many people can be moved in and out of the restaurants. BOG was a huge improvement to the overall number of tables available at MK, and Skippers will also help.

I like that they are experimenting... We'll just have to see how wait times and walk-up traffic "settle in" as guest become more aware of Skippers.

Please correct me if I am mistaken but I believe there had always been a "dining plan". When we first started going to WDW about 25 years ago the dining plan was more of a luxury add on. It made a Disney trip kind of like a cruise. We never did it but friends remember even being able to order a second entrée

 

[btk2333]

Time... that all takes time.

If you want to eat and watch Wishes... jumping to a resort to eat can be an issue. Especially for those of us that go in say Jan when the MK might close at 8PM.

Right but it's not like you'll go hungry. If you are married to watching the fireworks in MK then you should probably plan on a different meal or eat at 500 at an MK resort hotel- we're going in January too and that's our plan

 

[MakiraMarlena]

No, I don't agree. What if you wanted to eat their for dinner, went to Skipper's when we want to eat (as this is what they request) at let's say 5:30pm and it's a 3 hour wait or "sold out" for the night. What then? Try to scramble to get to one of the resort TS restaurants to try to get a table? This will never work if you're on the ddp.

It is an option. Most likely an inconvenient option, but an option. If it doesn't fit into a certain party's plans doesn't make it any less an overall option. And it is still true that if you don't get seated at Skippers you do not "lose" that credit unless you let it expire, and there are things you can do with it before it expires. You can even use it for a counter service meal. Anything but just leaving it to expire.

Please correct me if I am mistaken but I believe there had always been a "dining plan". When we first started going to WDW about 25 years ago the dining plan was more of a luxury add on. It made a Disney trip kind of like a cruise. We never did it but friends remember even being able to order a second entrée

I don't believe this was called a "dining plan." It was indeed quite expensive, and very few guests used it. Restaurant policies did not need to be adjusted to accommodate it, and it bore little resemblance to the current "dining plans" which are available to anyone who stays at a Disney resort on a package reservation (and DVC) and priced so that many more guests can afford them.

 

[JimmyV]

What then? Try to scramble to get to one of the resort TS restaurants to try to get a table? This will never work if you're on the ddp.

You are assuming that every TS restaurant in the park is as popular as BoG, and that every TS restaurant in the resorts is as popular as Ohana. But that is simply not the case. If you walk up to SC at 5:30 and encounter a three hour wait, you could try Crystal Palace, Tony's, Plaza Cafe, The Wave, Kona, Grand Floridian Cafe, Park Fare, or Whispering Canyon, and you probably would be able to get into most, if not all of these with less than an hour wait. Or, assuming that the day you try to get into SC is not your last day of vacation, you could eat a CS meal and bank your TS credit, using it at a Signature restaurant later in the trip. There are lots of options for people who do not want to wait three hours for a table, or who get shut out completely. I've yet to read a thread here that was titled: "I went to WDW on the Dining Plan and I came home hungry!"

 

[lustergirl]

While I agree the current iterations of the DDP and free dining are not very good deals- I'm not a spontaneous person, I want my meals planned and I want to know what I'm doing well in advance of my trip. It's the same for non-Disney vacations for us, we're going to Vienna in November 2016 and already have all seven days mapped out and planned and are working on our spring 2017 vacation. It makes the trip less stressful if we have things planned out in advance IMO plus it lets us have fun and think about the vacation well in advance!

I think part of the fun is planning and booking my ADR's

 

[_auroraborealis_]

It's worth remembering: Every attraction, event, restaurant, resort, etc. need not have universal appeal. There may be elements of any one of these that may not appeal to some visitors. And that's actually a good thing.

At this point, SC is going to work best for people who can handle uncertainty and spontaneity, and also possibly those who are not traveling with picky eaters. There are options that will work for those groups of people. Those options are not the New Hotness that is SC. But that's okay!

 

[kandb]

You are assuming that every TS restaurant in the park is as popular as BoG, and that every TS restaurant in the resorts is as popular as Ohana. But that is simply not the case. If you walk up to SC at 5:30 and encounter a three hour wait, you could try Crystal Palace, Tony's, Plaza Cafe, The Wave, Kona, Grand Floridian Cafe, Park Fare, or Whispering Canyon, and you probably would be able to get into most, if not all of these with less than an hour wait. Or, assuming that the day you try to get into SC is not your last day of vacation, you could eat a CS meal and bank your TS credit, using it at a Signature restaurant later in the trip. There are lots of options for people who do not want to wait three hours for a table, or who get shut out completely. I've yet to read a thread here that was titled: "I went to WDW on the Dining Plan and I came home hungry!"

I guess for some, they wouldn't mind leaving the park and heading over to a resort to "try" to get a dinner reservation, with most likely a long wait. Personally, our time is limited when we go to WDW and I don't want to spend time running around looking for a place to have dinner when I have a TS dining credit to use. I don't think this is good idea to have a walk-up restaurant when the majority of others you can make an adr and therefore plan your day. I think it's a bad idea not to be able to make reservations.

 

[btk2333]

I guess for some, they wouldn't mind leaving the park and heading over to a resort to "try" to get a dinner reservation, with most likely a long wait. Personally, our time is limited when we go to WDW and I don't want to spend time running around looking for a place to have dinner when I have a TS dining credit to use. I don't think this is good idea to have a walk-up restaurant when the majority of others you can make an adr and therefore plan your day. I think it's a bad idea not to be able to make reservations.

You don't have to run around- just get on the app or make a phone call and they can tell you if there's any availability- no reason to leave the park to find out.

 

[Lzylitnin]

I was wanting to make reservations for this, but I'm great with it being walk-up only. It seems like my plans always change on the fly while on vacation. I can make this work, easily, for my family.

 

[PetePanMan]

confused....has it actually been confirmed that it will be walk-ups only on a permanent basis? Would be very surprised by this.