What's the consensus on dining reservations?

[ishbit92]

Hi,

I couldn't find any super recent info on this, so I hope I'm not clogging the thread with too basic of a question.

I will be going to Universal with some friends in early October. I haven't been to Universal Florida in 20 years, but I regularly go to Disneyland where I know that you need to make dining reservations for certain places exactly when they come out or else they'll get booked up in seconds.

My impression is that Universal is not this cutthroat with reservations? Based on me checking on reservation availability, that is what it appears to be. There will be 8 of us so I am inclined to want to have a few reservations due to the size of our group.

Universal regulars, what are your thoughts? Would you recommend I make a few reservations now or do you think I can wait until a couple days before? I am looking at Mythos, and some Citywalk restaurants for lunch or dinner.

 

[AJA]

For a group of 4 or less I think you only need a reservation at VERY crowded times or if someone has their heart set on a specific restaurant on a specific day.

But for a big group I think I would go ahead and make a reservation somewhere between 2-7 days before, again unless its a holiday.

 

[Kit Jackson]

I think with a big group, especially for popular places like Mythos or some of the really popular places in City Walk, making reservations a week or more in advance makes sense and is a good idea.

 

[ishbit92]

Thank you both!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Which City Walk restaurants & when? The more popular ones can fill out for prime dinner times (or right after park close) several weeks out. Especially if "early Oct" coincides with HHN nights on the weeks surrounding Columbus day, I personally would get dinner reservations a month out for Toothsome & probably Bigfire, and a week or so for the others. Possibly more since it's a big group. You don't need to pay anything and they can be changed pending availability. I'm in the better safe than sorry camp. This is more important if you only have a night or 2 open & really want certain restaurants.

I don't find that Mythos fills up that fast but I'd still reserve a few days out, maybe a week since it's a large group.

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

Personally, I'm with @CAPSLOCK as I tend to make reservations for sit down restaurants a month or two out just to have something. You can do this easily online and cancelling is simple if you change your mind. October has a lot of HHN nights that will fill the parks around dinner time so making at least a few reservations to your favorite places might be wise.

 

[lisam70]

I agree with looking a month or so out because of the size of your group and if you want Toothsome, Cowfish, Mythos or Bigfire.

 

[Robo56]

Make sure to do a research of the restaurants you want to eat at. Some are not as spectacular as they were when this first opened. Especially if you are responsible for picking and reserving the dining locations.

Don’t forget that there are some lovely dining options at the Resorts. You can take the Water Taxi to the Resorts for dining.

Universal is not cutthroat like Disney on the dining reservations, but as noted above September and October will have HHN going on in Universal Studios after 6 pm Wednesday through Sunday.

CityWalk is always busy after parks close.

With a large group it would be safe to do the reservations.

If I remember correctly you can set up your reservations online up to 30 days out.

There are a couple good sticky’s on the Universal boards to look at with information on the restaurants, and food pics to help make your choices.





Have a great time.

 

[UOAP-Naples]

Which City Walk restaurants & when? The more popular ones can fill out for prime dinner times (or right after park close) several weeks out. Especially if "early Oct" coincides with HHN nights on the weeks surrounding Columbus day, I personally would get dinner reservations a month out for Toothsome & probably Bigfire, and a week or so for the others. Possibly more since it's a big group. You don't need to pay anything and they can be changed pending availability. I'm in the better safe than sorry camp. This is more important if you only have a night or 2 open & really want certain restaurants.

I don't find that Mythos fills up that fast but I'd still reserve a few days out, maybe a week since it's a large group.

Personally, I'm with @CAPSLOCK as I tend to make reservations for sit down restaurants a month or two out just to have something. You can do this easily online and cancelling is simple if you change your mind. October has a lot of HHN nights that will fill the parks around dinner time so making at least a few reservations to your favorite places might be wise.

These two are correct. With that big of a group, I'd make maybe one reservation per day. Easy to go ahead and make a few reservations now just to have them.