How Necessary Are Reservations?

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Thu, 01/14/2010 - 23:19

Miltrans

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How Necessary Are Reservations?

My wife and I are going to WDW during the last week of April. It will be our first relaxing stay. We do not have any of the dining plans. We don't know where we will be on any given day- we just want to "wing it" and go whereever we feel, whenever we feel. I haven't made any dining reservations, but have been reading about how important they are to make. The truth is, we booked WDW well within the magic 180-day mark so I'm not sure we could have made them anyway. I was wondering if anyone can give us an idea of how difficult it will be to either make a reservation during the day for that same evening or just walking into one of the better restaurants for dinner and actually getting seated. Thanking you all in advance....

Thu, 01/14/2010 - 23:34

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Miltrans wrote:

My wife and I are going to WDW during the last week of April. It will be our first relaxing stay. We do not have any of the dining plans. We don't know where we will be on any given day- we just want to "wing it" and go whereever we feel, whenever we feel. I haven't made any dining reservations, but have been reading about how important they are to make. The truth is, we booked WDW well within the magic 180-day mark so I'm not sure we could have made them anyway. I was wondering if anyone can give us an idea of how difficult it will be to either make a reservation during the day for that same evening or just walking into one of the better restaurants for dinner and actually getting seated. Thanking you all in advance....

Hiya Miltrans. Welcome to the boards!

The good news: Being inside the 180 day window doesn't mean you can't get reservations, it just means you probably can't get some of the really hard ones like Le Cellier. April's a bit heavy because of spring breakers, but I'm not sure how the last week is. I think it's perfectly reasonable to think you can get some ADRs (what they call reservations).

The bad news: It's really hard to wing it there as far as food. If you want to do a sit down meal, you pretty much need to have ADRs unless you get really lucky or go to a really unpopular place. I, as well as a lot of other people, are right there with you that it would be much nicer to be able to fit my dining plans to my schedule, but it's pretty dangerous to do so.

You can always do counter service if it's really bringing you down, but like many of the members here I really like the dining there and enjoy a sit down meal. So the short answer is, I wouldn't worry too much about being too late, but I'd go ahead and think about making some plans.

Thu, 01/14/2010 - 23:42

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bali

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Hi Miltrans!! Welcome!!

Congrats on your relaxing trip to WDW. I need to get one of those scheduled at some point here...

I agree with cdub, pretty much. The last week of April should be better than mid-April (prime spring break season), but it will still have moderate crowds. My suggestion is to choose two or three restaurants you don't want to miss and make reservations for those (you can even make them online these days). Then, at least you KNOW you'll get to go to the priority restaurants.

Do you have any ideas about the places you might like to eat? If you give us some restaurant names, we should be able to tell you which ones are the hardest to get into.

Also, do you plan on doing mostly sit-down dining or more counter-service (fast food) dining?

Again, welcome!!

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Thu, 01/14/2010 - 23:48

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Hi Miltran and welcome to our little friendly corner of the World. cdub pretty well wrapped it up, you will still be able to eat without ADR's, BUT probably not as well as you would want to, or be able to eat at the places that you would like to. And don't be shy ask any question you want to ..

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Fri, 01/15/2010 - 12:58

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Hi Miltrans and Welcome to WDWFG! You picked a good place to come and ask questions about WDW dining . I feel like I have to go exercise sometimes after a good food rant around here. You said this will be your first "relaxing stay" , so I take it you've been there before, so how long has it been? Are you going childless this time that makes it "relaxing"?

Fri, 01/15/2010 - 15:40

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Hey Miltrans! Welcome!

I'm in agreement with the rest of 'em, just wanted to welcome you. And ask which restaurants you're considering (I always love thinking about Disney restaurants!).

Fri, 01/15/2010 - 22:03

ZapperZ

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Miltrans wrote:

My wife and I are going to WDW during the last week of April. It will be our first relaxing stay. We do not have any of the dining plans. We don't know where we will be on any given day- we just want to "wing it" and go whereever we feel, whenever we feel. I haven't made any dining reservations, but have been reading about how important they are to make. The truth is, we booked WDW well within the magic 180-day mark so I'm not sure we could have made them anyway. I was wondering if anyone can give us an idea of how difficult it will be to either make a reservation during the day for that same evening or just walking into one of the better restaurants for dinner and actually getting seated. Thanking you all in advance....

If you do not have the Dining Plan, then you have some flexibility and do not have to plan your meals for the entire day. Try to see if you can make dinner reservations for, say, 2 of the days you're there, and then wing it for the rest of your stay. This way, you make minimal scheduling while still being able to eat at 2 of the restaurants that you want to.

This is what we normally do. We always have 2 or 3 places that we want to dine at when we go for our 8-9 day trip. So we make reservations for those 2 or 3 evenings, while leaving the rest open for whatever we feel like doing on that day. This way, we still get to go to places we want, but we're not tied to some schedule every single day of our trip.

Zz.

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Sat, 01/16/2010 - 17:35

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ZapperZ:

Do you have any recommendations for restaurants that are particularly apt for winging it?

Sun, 01/17/2010 - 02:24

ZapperZ

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dsoup wrote:

ZapperZ:

Do you have any recommendations for restaurants that are particularly apt for winging it?

Marrakesh. There's always a good chance that you can find an opening there.

Zz.

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Mon, 01/18/2010 - 17:52

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ZapperZ wrote:

dsoup wrote:
ZapperZ:

Do you have any recommendations for restaurants that are particularly apt for winging it?

Marrakesh. There's always a good chance that you can find an opening there.

Zz.

Also, I'd add that you can sometimes get tables last minute at Biergarten, but I don't know if that stands during very busy seasons.

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Mon, 01/18/2010 - 20:41

ZapperZ

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bali wrote:

ZapperZ wrote:
dsoup wrote:
ZapperZ:

Do you have any recommendations for restaurants that are particularly apt for winging it?

Marrakesh. There's always a good chance that you can find an opening there.

Zz.

Also, I'd add that you can sometimes get tables last minute at Biergarten, but I don't know if that stands during very busy seasons.

Wait, you mean you would voluntarily eat at Biergarten?

Zz.

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Tue, 01/19/2010 - 15:49

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Hi Miltrans! I'm going along with everyone else's advice, but wanted to drop in and offer my welcome to WDWFG!

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Wed, 01/20/2010 - 16:19

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ZapperZ wrote:

dsoup wrote:
ZapperZ:

Do you have any recommendations for restaurants that are particularly apt for winging it?

Marrakesh. There's always a good chance that you can find an opening there.

Zz.

We've had good luck with that one. MK is almost always a no-go. I guess the Plaza would be the most likely there? We've gotten ADRs for Liberty Tree Tavern close to the last minute, but I'd say it's really dicey to try to eat in the MK without reservations.