Walk-in, perhaps?

[Nwfdrool]

A neighbor of mine used to work at Disney and she had said that the reservations for dining is really "preferred seating." Meaning, you will be placed ahead of the list--not that you will automatically get a seat at your reservation time. I have had a few people also mention that if I walk in to a restaurant right as they open, I will have a good chance of getting seats even if we didn't have reservations. Of course, I chances would drop dramatically during the course of the dining hours when people start packing in. What are our chances to try this during FDP period?

 

[missmouse1975]

A neighbor of mine used to work at Disney and she had said that the reservations for dining is really "preferred seating." Meaning, you will be placed ahead of the list--not that you will automatically get a seat at your reservation time. I have had a few people also mention that if I walk in to a restaurant right as they open, I will have a good chance of getting seats even if we didn't have reservations. Of course, I chances would drop dramatically during the course of the dining hours when people start packing in. What are our chances to try this during FDP period?

At a good restaurant, not very good. If you see on the other posts, restaurants are fully booked many days and ressies start immediately upon opening. Unless you really have an aversion to booking now, I would at least get a couple places lined up. We don't want you to go hungry!

 

[Pumbaa_]

As the PP indicated, depends on the restaurant and the season. Le Cellier reportedly turns everyone away. They happen to be one of THE most popular restaurants on site.

Places that are not sold out, people have reported varying success with this method. While it can't hurt to try, I would not rely on this method for dining.

Prior to the DDP, there was a much better success rate for this approach

 

[Nwfdrool]

I already have several reservations made--not all at our preferred time though. So, thought I'd see if this would work during free DDP or if anyone has tried.

 

[thunderbird1]

Disney changed from priority seating (PS's) to advanced dining reservations (ADR's) a few years ago. Now, many popular restaurants are completely booked (or more--Le Cellier reportedly overbooks by 30% to cover cancellations), and won't take any walk-ins at all, at least not for dinner. Others may take a few walk-ins, especially if you show up right at (or before) opening. The least busy places may have room for walk-ins throughout the night--it just depends. Your best chance for a walk-in seating would be for lunch, either right at opening (10:30-12:00, varies by restaurant) or in the middle of the afternoon (2:30-3:30). Good luck!

 

[Barbers2005]

We went to WDW last May on DDP (not free, though) and overheard quite a few people being turned away from TS restaurants. We were early for Le Cellier and ended up waiting about 30 minutes- I saw three families walk up and be turned away. At CP, there was a woman arguing with the CM at the podium b/c they weren't accepting walk-ups and didn't have any ADR's available that evening. Keep in mind that May isn't a super busy time of year, so with free DDP TS's will be fuller than we experienced. You would be better off calling periodically to see if someone cancelled an ADR for a timeslot that you want.

 

[supersuperwendy]

I called one morning during our trip to change an ADR ..last month...

I wanted dinner somewhere in the MK vicinity and all that was available was 8:50 at the Grand Floridian Cafe....

We tried walking in to a few places (plaza rest, liberty tree) and they wouldn't allow it without and ADR.

So at least we booked the cafe....!

For all of our ADR's...we were promptly seated everytime!

 

[wehavesix]

Well, I do know that when we were at MGM in May I walked into SciFi Theater at about 11:30am and asked if they could seat a party of 8 for lunch even though we did not have an ADR. They were able to seat us at 2 tables of 4 within about 10 minutes so I guess if you are willing to take the chance and are willing to eat at off times, then you could do that. We just tried it on a whim and had no expectations of getting seated so quickly.

 

[DonaldTDuck]

Last Sept on our second Epcot day, we had ADR's for Biergarten. While we were checking in, people were trying to get in. It was the only TS taking any walkups in WS and the wait was over an hour. We were sat within 5 minutes of our ADR. Prior planning prevents p---poor performance(the 6 p's).

 

[ZekeKelso]

During free dining? Near zero.

Something that has a slightly better chance is to bring a cellphone and call Disney Dining during the day. Ask if there are any open ADR slots. Things sometimes do open up that day.

 

[beroh2253]

During free dining? Near zero.

Something that has a slightly better chance is to bring a cellphone and call Disney Dining during the day. Ask if there are any open ADR slots. Things sometimes do open up that day.

Last year we went last week in Sept. Everybody we saw walk up to make a reservation was turned away. For this Sept. we made all our ADR's in April and got exactly what we wanted. Why take the chance??