Do you really need to make ARs for all table service meals?
Definitely will for ones with Characters but wondering about all others - We are going late Sept so our AR date is coming up next Monday. Im freaking out trying to map lunches and dinners with the Parks we are visiting that day - trying not to park hop just for restaurants if we can help it.
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You can still make them right up to the day you want to go, but you may not have a huge choice of restaurants or available times. You are very unlikely to get in a TS restauarant without making an ADR for it.
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I stressed about this as well. I decided to do QS for most lunches and TS for dinners. It made it a little easier to plan because there was less pressure to figure out my days and where to take a big break for TS restaurant. I got things mostly how I wanted them, then as I tweaked my Touring Plans as time went on, if I wanted to make an adjustment to one of my reservations, I’d go try to change it. If the time wasn’t available, I used TP’s Reservation Finder and then modified my reservation to the new time once it was found.
I still have 2 TS reservations at 2 different restaurants (different times) at Hollywood Studios and plan to drop one of them eventually. I can’t decide how to officially plan that day, so I reserved both of them until I figure it out.
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There are some options you can use to be a little more flexible. If you get a Landry’s Select Club card ahead of your trip, you will be able to walk in at T-Rex at Disney Springs and at Yak & Yeti or Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom. No reservation required, they say they will give you the next available table. We went to T-Rex and Yak&Yeti and both times skipped the crowd of people waiting and were seated in less than 5 minutes.
I think I’ve read that the restaurants at Disney Springs are available on Open Table or by calling the restaurants directly. Doesn’t help if you want to stay in the park, but can be useful in a pinch.
Otherwise, as @missoverexcited says, you can make ADRs even on the day you are there, but you’ll have to be flexible about what restaurant you go to and what time you eat. The best bet for this is to consider the 24 hour cancellation policy and try booking 1-2 days in advance to look for cancellations. But since we know you can reschedule for a later date and then cancel, you may find availability this way on the day of also.
You used to be able to get into a TS restaurant on the day without a reservation. What was called a “walk up”.
However there are more and more people who have reported over the last year or so that even if there was space when they they were told to literally go online and book before being let in.
In parks and popular restaurants, I would not bank on being able to walk up and get seated. But if you’re at OKW and walked up to Olivia’s, then you’d probably be OK.
If there are restaurants that you really want to go to, make a reservation or even multiple reservations on different days. You can cancel or try to change reservations after you’ve tweaked your plans. There will definitely be reservations available later but like others have said the ones you want may or may not have availability. I had my heart set on LTT for this year and there was nothing available at the 180 mark. I would have never thought that would be a tough one so you never know.
I think it’s a bit of a chicken or the egg situation. My personal preference is to decide on restaurants first and work my TP around my ADRs. I like having something concrete to work off of.
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TY for your replys - this definitely helps. Yes - will not know what is available until Monday - so might have to change things around as far as Park days - right now on TP everything is mostly a 3 or 4 - hoping it stays that way lol
Are you on the dining plan? Unless there is a need to have a table service each day, I advise against it. First, it’s too much planning (unless dining is the main focus of your trip). Second, it’s too much food.
I try not to have a TS more than every other day. We prefer breakfasts and lunches over later meals for a few reasons. One of them being, if you have a sit down breakfast, it’s over early and you are free the rest of the day. There isn’t the looming notion of “I have to be here at this time so stop what we’re doing and start getting to where we need to be”.
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Yes we have the ddp, mainly for the char restaurants, planning on doing CRT for sure , Aloha dinner show- maybe, then thinking fantastic dining pkg, and then the one at Epcot.
Ok, great. The meals that require 2 credits would be my recommendation. That way you use them up but for half of the meals. Less planning needed and more premium experiences (in theory).
My 2 cents: Spirit of Aloha is good… Hoop Dee Doo is great.