What's up with The Garden Grill?

[Mickey&JoshNut]

We have an upcoming trip to WDW in September and yesterday was my 180 day window for booking reservations, I tried on mutiple nights during our stay to book a table for 2 for the Garden Grill (my Mom's favourite resetaurant because of Chip & Dale) and I kept get times between 6:45 and 7:15 pm - nothing earlier no matter what day I chose. Since our trip is 14 days I couldn't book all my reservations yesterday, so this morning is the first time reservations for September 21 opened up so here I am right at 6:00 am trying to book our reservation and guess what time I get - 6:45 pm....How can all the tables for 2 be gone between 4 pm and 6:45 already...it's 6:02 am????

Is there something going on with the Garden Grill that I should be aware of?

I've never had a problem getting a reservation between 4 and 5 pm ever before.

 

[gigi1313]

wow, that's weird... i just went in on the TA site and tried a bunch of Sept dates and early times and even changed the party size and nothing before 6:30pm... very odd! i hope you are able to get the meal you want at the time you want soon!

 

[Mamu]

There are very few dinners that are not offering the Classic Disney Characters and GG is only offering Dinners now, no more lunches.

Because of the lack of Classic Disney Characters at dinner time places like GG seem to be booking up on the 180 day mark.

 

[RMulieri]

There are very few dinners that are not offering the Classic Disney Characters and GG is only offering Dinners now, no more lunches.

Because of the lack of Classic Disney Characters at dinner time places like GG seem to be booking up on the 180 day mark.

2nd this..It is also one of the only places that has pretty benign food, and with Le Cellier NOW a 2 TS credit pp for dinner, I kind of expected this.PLUS there are NOT that many tables for 2 at the Garden Grill either.We hada heck of a time getting our ressie for 3 for anything earlier than 7pm for our entire 10 day stay .

 

[momtoejanda]

I have found now if you have an ADR for anytime during that meal you can show up at anytime during that meal. meaning, go ahead make a ADR for 6 and show up at 5 and they will take you.

We have little kids and when they get hungry we go to the restaurant that I made an ADR for and we have never been turned away.

 

[RMulieri]

I have found now if you have an ADR for anytime during that meal you can show up at anytime during that meal. meaning, go ahead make a ADR for 6 and show up at 5 and they will take you.

We have little kids and when they get hungry we go to the restaurant that I made an ADR for and we have never been turned away.

NOT entirely true, and can not always reliably counted on..They MIGHT take you early.We have shown up early and have sometimes been told to come back closer to our ADR time, it depends HOW busy the restaurant is and how popular it is.

 

[Wendy31]

We had the SAME problem this morning!!!

I was trying to book Garden Grill for 9/12 for a party of 5, & the earliest I could get was 6:35 pm. I took it, but I really, really prefer something earlier.

I thought maybe it was because 9/12 is the 2nd day of our stay & that we are a party of 5. I thought about switching our days around to see if I could get Garden Grill at an earlier time on a different day, but I really like my schedule how it is....

Last summer we took my parents to EPCOT for their 1st time & I scheduled an ADR at the Garden Grill for a party of 7 for 5:30 pm w/ no problem. I scheduled it in April for a June date - during the middle of the summer season & way less than 180 days out.

And this was AFTER Garden Grill went to dinner only.

Anyway, I wonder what's up w/ Garden Grill? It was the hardest of all my ADRs - and I had some tough ones: Crystal Palace at 8:05 am, Le Cellier lunch, Chef Mickey's, CRT, & 'Ohana.

Is Garden Grill the new Le Cellier?

 

[gigi1313]

NOT entirely true, and can not always reliably counted on..They MIGHT take you early.We have shown up early and have sometimes been told to come back closer to our ADR time, it depends HOW busy the restaurant is and how popular it is.

i concur! we have been successful in some restaurants and not in others... GG was one where we were told to "come back later" and we had "early-ish" ADRs!

 

[RMulieri]

We had the SAME problem this morning!!!

I was trying to book Garden Grill for 9/12 for a party of 5, & the earliest I could get was 6:35 pm. I took it, but I really, really prefer something earlier.

I thought maybe it was because 9/12 is the 2nd day of our stay & that we are a party of 5. I thought about switching our days around to see if I could get Garden Grill at an earlier time on a different day, but I really like my schedule how it is....

Last summer we took my parents to EPCOT for their 1st time & I scheduled an ADR at the Garden Grill for a party of 7 for 5:30 pm w/ no problem. I scheduled it in April for a June date - during the middle of the summer season & way less than 180 days out.

And this was AFTER Garden Grill went to dinner only.

Anyway, I wonder what's up w/ Garden Grill? It was the hardest of all my ADRs - and I had some tough ones: Crystal Palace at 8:05 am, Le Cellier lunch, Chef Mickey's, CRT, & 'Ohana.

Is Garden Grill the new Le Cellier?

Like I said earlier, I think that now that Le Cellier is 2 TS credits pp for dinner, people are looking for a 1 credit alternative.The fact that it has characters and is only open for dinner adds to it

 

[ClaudeGobet]

do any of you have package reservations? i have noticed that at select few restaurants they seem to only release a couple time slots for those guests who do not yet have a booking #. if this applies to you, you may have to wait until then to get the time slot you desire. this place is usually booked up during dinner prime time, so i can see them forcing early reservers into later less desirable time slots. i've "clicked" it right at the split second of the flip time and received the same "6:35pm is the only available". not likely. last year i was only able to get the slot i wanted after my package reservation was associated w/ my account. w/ this issue that all of you (and i) are experiencing, this doesn't seem to be coincidence.

 

[FormerFF]

Hmm, we were there last week and it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary was going on. We booked about four months ago and had no problem getting a 6:40 seating.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

do any of you have package reservations? i have noticed that at select few restaurants they seem to only release a couple time slots for those guests who do not yet have a booking #. if this applies to you, you may have to wait until then to get the time slot you desire. this place is usually booked up during dinner prime time, so i can see them forcing early reservers into later less desirable time slots. i've "clicked" it right at the split second of the flip time and received the same "6:35pm is the only available". not likely. last year i was only able to get the slot i wanted after my package reservation was associated w/ my account. w/ this issue that all of you (and i) are experiencing, this doesn't seem to be coincidence.

I have package and yesterday was my 180 + 10 day window....I tried dates close to the end of my 180+10 dates and still couldn't get anything....since our trip is 14 days, I logged on this morning to book day 12 of our trip....still late reservations, I have 2 more days to book so each morning I will try again for the Garden Grill before I book the restaurant we are "supposed" to book to see if I can snag an earlier reservation, if not, we'll be happy with our 6:45...

 

[Wendy31]

do any of you have package reservations? i have noticed that at select few restaurants they seem to only release a couple time slots for those guests who do not yet have a booking #. if this applies to you, you may have to wait until then to get the time slot you desire. this place is usually booked up during dinner prime time, so i can see them forcing early reservers into later less desirable time slots. i've "clicked" it right at the split second of the flip time and received the same "6:35pm is the only available". not likely. last year i was only able to get the slot i wanted after my package reservation was associated w/ my account. w/ this issue that all of you (and i) are experiencing, this doesn't seem to be coincidence.

Yes, we have a package reservation too - we're checking into the WL on 9/11 through 9/20 & have 10-day MYW tickets w/ the DxDP.

However, we also have a 1-day reservation for the CBR on 9/10 - the day before our MYW package starts.

I thought I was booking my ADRs w/ my WL confirmation #. However, I wonder if the site was picking up my CBR confirmation # instead? And, since I don't have any tickets or DP associated w/ the CBR reservation, there are not as many openings available to me?

 

[ClaudeGobet]

interesting. so disney is not trying to give special treatment to those "confirmed" guests. i must admit, i typically do not book my package until free diningis offered, closer to my actual stay. so i was unsure on this as i did have success after booking. now it would seem more luck than preferential treatment. on that note, check back in the morning at the 6am eastern time slot. they seem to release a hand full of reservations at several places each morning. i was even able to get a slot at le cellier (for 7pm dinner) using this method, just a month before my arrival. as well as a 5:30pm at garden grill, 8:45am chef mickey's.... all the tough ones. just keep hitting it every day until you succeed.

 

[MickeysMommy]

We have a package - and I just booked my 180 + 10 days this morning and wanted GG on the last night of our stay. Could only get a 6:50 for 2 adults but I don't mind what time it is. We'll just have a late lunch.

There is nothing before 6pm for families? I totally understand not wanting to eat at 6pm or later with little ones.

 

[Vickis3js]

Try again on the 180 day of the ADR date you are looking for. They don't release all the times until the 180 day and sometimes a little beyond that.

As for showing up early, we've had very mixed results. On our last trip we just returned from we were told several times they would check us in but we would more or less be seated at or a little after our ADR time. Only once were we seated more then 5 min before our ADR time. In Dec. we were told twice that we could not even check in more then 10 min before our ADR time. So be prepared for a wide range or results.

 

[jacksonsmom]

That is odd, we have a 4:15 at GG in June. Had no problem getting it for a party of 2.

No, we don't have a package.

 

[jbmom]

Has anyone tried calling? I had a few problems with the online system so I called and there was availability when the online system said there wasn't. I don't know if that is the problem, but I think I'm going to try calling since I can't get anything earlier than 6:45 for our entire stay.

 

[Wendy31]

Has anyone tried calling? I had a few problems with the online system so I called and there was availability when the online system said there wasn't. I don't know if that is the problem, but I think I'm going to try calling since I can't get anything earlier than 6:45 for our entire stay.

I tried calling earlier this evening. The castmember w/ whom I spoke was just as confused as we are... she couldn't figure out why there aren't any earlier Garden Grill times.

I'm looking for something earlier on 9/12, and, at first, she speculated that maybe the restaurant is booked earlier for some sort of special event on 9/12. I told her I was a member of a Disney messageboard & that people were reporting that they couldn't get ADRs earlier than 6:30 for the entire week. So she looked & agreed - there's nothing available at Garden Grill earlier than 6:30 pm & she had no idea why. She actually used the words that the "Garden Grill is blocked out until 6:30 pm."

She told me to keep trying & that the earlier times might open up.

Maybe someone else will get a different response or maybe talk to a castmember that has some inside knowledge!

It really makes me wonder what's going on w/ Garden Grill for that time period...

 

[griergirl2]

Well we have a 5:15 for 6 on 9/13 so it can't all be blacked out. I am looking again right now and I could also have a 4:00 if I want. It seems to be giving me 1:15 minutes increments..other options are 6:30 and 7:45. I didn't try other party sizes, but for a party of 6 I can have those same options all week, including 9/12