Which DDP TS restaurants WITHOUT ADRs?

[kurgana]

Hi,

We have just booked our very first WDW vacation in POR FQ 28.11.-5.12.(2007) with the dining plan, and since we live in Italy (seen the expensive international phone calls) we are planning to make our ADRs only when we arrive at the hotel... we are aware of the risks, but since we are not too bothered about eating in the most popular restaurants anyways, and flexible about meal times (and intend to have table service for lunch mainly), we are thinking it should not be a big problem, but would also like to hear from people who have been there and done that .

Also looking for quiet table service restaurant suggestions in all parks & resorts!

We love:
Mexican
Creole
Japanese
Seafood (me & DD7 are not too keen on it actually but want to please DH & DD4)

We don't particularly like:
British
French
German

and obviously, living in Italy, we don't want to travel all the way to Orlando to eat italian food .

(No offence intended with our dislikes )

Thanks,

Jo

 

[dqpowell]

Something that might work for you is to call Disney Dining from the park when you're there and ask if there is a table service restaurant with immediate availability for 4 people. They can search all the restaurants in WDW at once to find an opening for you. This works especially well if you happen to be in Epcot when you call, as they have more TS restaurants than any other park.

You also may have some luck with walkups at Tokyo Dining, a newly-renovated Japanese restaurant in the Japan pavilion at Epcot. It looks like they won't be accepting ADRs, so if you walk up at an unusual time (late lunch, after 2 pm) you'll have a better shot at getting in.

Good luck,
David

 

[lilyv]

Another option-I do a fair amount of international calling. I carefully shop for phone cards, and use them to place calls. The advantage? You'll have some reservations and you won't have to worry about what restaurant may have availability.

Important tip-when you get to the CM at Disney Dine, tell them you're placing an international call. Have your requests/dates/times ready, and then book.

Even if you only choose a few dates, (as little as one every other or third day) that will free up valuable time on those days.

My last trip, I made several TS reservations for lunch. I was very glad I had those ressies, as I did see folks turned away who arrived with no reservations.

 

[kurgana]

Thanks so much everyone for the very helpful replies!
Now re-reading my first post and thinking about things rationally, it does sound a bit funny that I'm making such a huge deal of making a 5 minute international phone call after spending more than 4000 euros (5500 + $) for our holiday I guess it's also that I'm worried of getting my point through & understanding the CM given that I'm not a native english speaker... probably not a good excuse either since I used to live in the UK and we speak english at home with hubby & kids (I'm finnish, he's italian and when we met neither spoke the other's language and it kind of stuck (not that he is able to say more than two words in finnish even now but then again it is considered one of the most difficult languages in the world).

Anyway I will try to make some more specific plans (restaurant suggestions are more than welcome!) and then make at least some of the reservations.

Thanks again guys,

Jo

 

[Lamby and Tangles]

Jo,

Second time going to WDW this year and have booked the the Dining Plan both times. If you are concerned about the time spent on the phone due to costs, not American so same thing phone costs higher here, but nothing like yours. I suggest what I did. We planned out which park we were going to each day and based on that had a list of restaurants and times that we wanted. E.g. Dec 12th we are going to Magic Kingdom. So I picked a #1, #2 and #3 restaurant and like you we don't eat late so our TS meals were almost always at 4:30 or 5 with the exception of 1 day. In the case of Magic Kingdom we got our first choice which was the Concourse Steak House at 6:50 (just 10 minutes off of the time we wanted) so we were able to do the Disney Wishes and then take the monorail to the restaurant, the MK closes at 7pm so it worked perfect. Out of 6 TS ADR's we got 4 right away and then had to think about the other two. Just so you know The Cellier at Epcot was fully booked for lunch but people cancel all the time so you can be lucky. The DISboards lists the restaurant times when meals start so that will help you. Just so you know we are going on the 11th of December and just booked our restaurants this past weekend. Best of luck.

Loved Coral Reef doing again
Lilo and Stitches Breakfast at the Polynesian was great and doing again
Concourse Restaurant in the Contempory was excellent and doing again since closing in the future
Asherus Princess Breakfast, not great food but Daughter loved all the princesses, so if you have a girly girl that is one not to miss.
Mexican, was not impressed didn't like food.
50's Prime Time - kids and husband loved the atmosphere, a lot of food though and doing again