What was your best walk-up?

[autographlover]

What was the best walk-up that has happened to you? As in, you walked up to a restaurant to see if they had openings for giggles and got lucky?

Mine was definitely last trip. Our flight was canceled so we went to Epcot for the day. We were walking by Le Cellier and my dad asked "Let's see if Le Cellier and see if they have openings." "They won't." "Just try. Do you have any openings, maybe for early dinner?" "You're in luck, you're my last walk-up! It would have to be at 4, though." "What time is it now?" "3:51." "...Let's do it!"
Also, since the flight was cancelled, the insurance covered our meal. We got a free meal at Le Cellier 9 minutes before they opened for dinner!

What was your best one?

 

[USAswimmer626]

That's such a great story! I'm glad you enjoyed dinner at Le Cellier!

 

[Haley]

That's pretty rare for LeCellier I think.

We walked up to Teppan Edo on our last trip on a whim and was seated for dinner right away.

 

[Quacktatty]

I walked up to Jiko and sat at The Cooking Place. It was easily the best restaurant experience of my life.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I've done lots of walk-ups, but my best was Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch. When I called, I was told that there was no availability for that day, but I could try walking up. Five minutes later I was at my table. The most surprising was Crystal Palace. DH and I heard several families in front of us get turned away. However, when we got to the check-in, sure we wouldn't get in, it turned out they had availability for twos, but not four or more. The advantages of being empty-nesters or traveling solo.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

In the past my family and I have walked into Chef Mickey's without an ADR's during dinner and when it use to be opened we walked into Concourse Steakhouse for dinner. Finally on the same day myself and 3 of my friends from Orlando walked into Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch and later that day for dinner we walked into 50's Prime Time Cafe for dinner.

 

[gilliansmommy]

Two years ago, we got CRT for breakfast in a walk up. It was awesome. I had been calling all week to get 1900 PF or CRT without luck.

 

[autographlover]

The CRT walk up is pretty much impossible! We were trying for Le Cellier for a while. Our first trip we had no reservations but one the first night at the hotel! Otherwise, we called that day.

 

[Disneyholic]

Our best was a few years ago, we walked into Prime Time Cafe to hear a very nasty guy yelling & having a fit because he couldn't get in. He didn't have an ADR and thought it was ridiculous that they couldn't get him in. He stormed off saying he was going to go talk to someone higher up. After he left I walked up to the podium and said I was sorry they had to put up with people acting like that. I said that I had heard that they had no openings so we would just have to look elsewhere for lunch. She said, no, they had nothing right at that moment (which is apparently what the man wanted), but that if we could come back in an hour she could put us down for an opening she had then. No problem for us, we just walked around the park for an hour and went back & got right in.

 

[kjs1976]

Not exactly a walk-up for us...last year we had a 12:15 ADR at 50s Prime Time. DD was getting a cold and very tired and fussy about 11:20 and I thought no way would she last until 12:15 and then have to sit even longer for lunch. Everyone in our party was together so I thought, I'll check to see if they can get us in early otherwise we'll have to go. I explained my story and he CM did some checking and said if you all are here and check in right now, I can get you in. So I ran back down to the gift shop where the rest of my fam was, we ran back to 50s and got in 45 min. early. It was my parents fav restaurant next to 'Ohana because all the kitchens were like theirs growing up or someone they knew and they loved the tv shows running on the tv. Plus, the waitress kept giving my dad a hard time in a funny way, which made his day. So it pays to ask on a walk-up and maybe you'll get lucky!

 

[cbg1027]

I was at AK Halloween weekend last year and it was a lot hotter than normal. We were planning to try Flame Tree for lunch but really wanted to sit inside in the AC somewhere. So on a whim, we walked up to Yak and Yeti TS and they sat us right away. I'm glad it was hot that day....I'm not sure I would have tried Yak and Yeti otherwise - it's now one of my favorites and I have to eat there any time I'm in AK!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

My fiancee and I walked up to the Brown Derby on our last trip I was late. close to park closing but we decided to check. We were seated in about 15 minutes and had the most increadible meal of our trip!

 

[abubu919]

We have gotten into CRT for breakfast before and I'd say that is the best walk up we have ever gotten.

 

[Eljay]

At about noon, I walked into Guest Relations at Epcot to see the board that tells which restaurants have availabilities. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Akershus had lunch openings! They gave me a slip with a 1pm reservation.

We killed a little time in MouseGear and took our time getting to Norway.

Perfect! A spontaneous Lunch With The Princesses and it was amazing.
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Ariel and Belle were there.

 

[Princess Clayre]

Mine was quite a while ago. Back in 2003 we were there celebrating our Anniversary and had tried to get an ADR for California Grill but it was booked up so my husband suggested trying a walk in. We got there at 5.30 and yes they could fit us in . We even had a table overlooking the Magic Kingdom and the fireworks!

 

[dancin Disney style]

Several years ago we got a lunch walk in for Le Cellier...party of 2.


Not a true walk in but last year at CP we had an ADR for 5:30 but we decided we would try to get in earlier. We arrived at the podium at 4:15 and asked if we could get in any sooner. They said yes but we would need to wait for about 15-20 minutes. We agreed and walked over towards the front steps to sit down....well didn't they call us. The wait was maybe 2 minutes.