Table service with short waits

[Jim Buck]

Going to Disney world in 79 days!
Have my ADRs for most of the trip but later in the week I want to be free to keep it loose. Staying at Wilderness Lodge and need to see if there are some table service meals with little wait since the last two days we are taking things a little looser. Let me know your thoughts and thanks!

 

[gooftroop5]

We have traveled in early to mid-June quite a bit. We have never walked up to any table service restaurant, BUT I usually am able to get us same day ADRs at many places around the world. I use the Disney app on my phone and search around until I find something close and that we all agree on. I can always find something. I feel that is easier than trying to walk-up and wait.

 

[cw1982]

I didn't realize you COULD get same day ADR's or just walk up to any of the restaurants... I've been under the impression that you're SOL if you don't make reservations as far out as possible.

Having said that, DH and I don't want to plan too much because we don't want to have to plan our whole trip around what meal we are eating at which park... so we've made three reservations for the whole week and will probably do more QS than anything else the rest of the time.

 

[gooftroop5]

You just can't expect to get character meals or the high demand places. You also can't always expect to get one at normal meal times. You may have to eat lunch at 2pm or dinner at 9pm. But like I said I can usually find something. Resorts tend to have more open than the parks, but its not impossible to find something in a park. There are always people that cancel for some reason or another. Sometimes I have to check a couple of times. We usually just plan our must do ADRs and then take it day by day.

 

[cw1982]

You just can't expect to get character meals or the high demand places. You also can't always expect to get one at normal meal times. You may have to eat lunch at 2pm or dinner at 9pm. But like I said I can usually find something. Resorts tend to have more open than the parks, but its not impossible to find something in a park. There are always people that cancel for some reason or another. Sometimes I have to check a couple of times. We usually just plan our must do ADRs and then take it day by day.

Yeah, it's just me and my husband, so I'm not too worried about character meals (probably won't do those at all, honestly) and we're night owls, so eating dinner at 9pm, or even lunch at 2, isn't unheard of at our house (heck... by the time we get home from work and get to the gym and back, it's often 9 pm before we get around to cooking dinner on weeknights). It's just that the way people build up the hype about those restaurants makes it sound like day-of choices are all but unheard of.

Good to know that, for people who don't mind being a little flexible, that there may be options.

 

[shuflemstr]

Some places that we go to where we haven't had to wait are Olivia's (I love this place), Turf Club and 1900 Park Fare

 

[Sparkle81]

When we were on our trip last December, we realised on our last full day that we had a TS credit to use up on our dining plan. Now, it may have been that we were there at a slow time of year but when we went on the MDE app, there were quite a number of selections at Epcot (which is where we were that day). We ended up choosing Akershus, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'm sure you'll find you have more options than you'd expect

 

[MaxsDad]

My wife and I have walked up before and gotten in, even at some higher demand places. The smaller the party, the easier as a general rule.

As mentioned before, resort table services are a good bet. I have walked into Olivia's. I have had ADRs, but Boatwrights has never seemed slammed packed. I have walked into Kouzinna's and ESPN Club.

One thing I like about the new tech they have, you can search for openings by party size, time, and location, and see what is out there on the fly.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The reality...anything is possible...especially with a party of 2. You'll also increase your odds if you show up on the early side. Still, if you want to go for places that might be easier to get...you can get an idea of what will have openings just by checking the dining website for the current date. i.e. pretend you were there today or tomorrow and see what kind of dinner ADRs are open last minute. This should give a good idea of what restaurants you'll likely see during your trip which are good for accommodating a walkup.

 

[jlsHouston]

I have found that almost anything is possible at WDW, except getting seated at BOG as a walk up. Easy last minute ADR's or just walking up to the hostess we have done:

BOMA
SANAA
FLYING FISH
BEACHES & CREAM (counter seating)
CAPTAIN'S GRILLE
CAPE MAY (yes even character dining mornings, either show up early or towards the end or breakfast)
FLORIDIAN CAFE
YAK&YETI
BOATWRIGHTS
WOLFGANG PUCK
CHEF MICKEY (same situation as Cape May)

 

[Jim Buck]

Thanks for all the tips.
We have ADR's for all the "required" meal spots and character dining we must have. We are a group of 3 so might be a bit of a challenge but I am sure we can find something that will work.

 

[jlsHouston]

Thanks for all the tips.
We have ADR's for all the "required" meal spots and character dining we must have. We are a group of 3 so might be a bit of a challenge but I am sure we can find something that will work.

Have a wonderful trip! Don't worry about eating! We love the food at WDW, overpriced that it may be. Sometimes we hit a restaurant and find something on the menu that is awesome, sometimes it is so-so, but we always enjoy our venue. This last trip I cancelled 5 of 9 TS ADR's I had made including OHANA and BOG But we replaced them last minute with times and places that ended up working better for how we ended up touring the parks. I have found over the course of the past 3 years that while being a slave to my ADR's creates great memories, so does operating on the fly, and taking what is available and convenient for the moment.
OMG, the more Disney is offering me in pre planning tools, the less I am planning it seems!

 

[Jim Buck]

Have a wonderful trip! Don't worry about eating! We love the food at WDW, overpriced that it may be. Sometimes we hit a restaurant and find something on the menu that is awesome, sometimes it is so-so, but we always enjoy our venue. This last trip I cancelled 5 of 9 TS ADR's I had made including OHANA and BOG But we replaced them last minute with times and places that ended up working better for how we ended up touring the parks. I have found over the course of the past 3 years that while being a slave to my ADR's creates great memories, so does operating on the fly, and taking what is available and convenient for the moment.
OMG, the more Disney is offering me in pre planning tools, the less I am planning it seems!

We have the dining plan so I want to be sure to use all of the credits. Otherwise would be no big deal. Next trip we will likely skip the dining plan.

 

[cw1982]

We have the dining plan so I want to be sure to use all of the credits. Otherwise would be no big deal. Next trip we will likely skip the dining plan.

I didn't bother with the dining plan at all... considering that I've had abdominal surgery and can only eat about 1/4-1/3 of what a normal person would eat in most sittings, it would be pointless for me to spend that much on food and then not be able to take my leftovers with me. Yes, DH and I can split meals, but again, that takes away the purpose of the dining plan if we are eating off of one plate, since the dining plan is supposed to include everyone in your group.

My plan of attack is to take snacks with me into the parks each day, maybe eat QS once a day or so, and then if there is something that we decide we really want, we can always try looking for cancellations. We're a party of two though, so as others have said it may work out okay for us where bigger parties might have more trouble.

 

[NiarrNDisney]

Big River Grill (BWR)
blueZoo (Dolphin)
Crew's Cup (YCR)
ESPN Zone (BWR)
the Fountain (Dolphin)
Grand Floridian Cafe (GFR)
House of Blues
Il Mulino (Swan)
Kimono's (Swan)
Kona Island (Poly)
Maya Grill (CSR)
Raglan Road
Restaurant Marrakesh
Sanaa (AKL-KV)
Turf Club (SSR)
Tutto Gusto

 

[slappy magoo]

I see a few people have suggested restaurants in the Swan and the Dolphin which is a great idea as they are not on the dining plan so a lot of visitor don't even think about them. In my experience I've found that Turf Club at Saratoga, The Wave at the Contemporary and Restaurant Marrakesh at World Showcase are three places where walkups can generally be seated immediately or within 5 minutes. But because of the new cancellation policy, it's far more likely to be able to make day-of reservations, even within an hour or so of the preferred time. So that day, if you wake up and have a hankering for a specific restaurant for breakfast, don't be reluctant to try to make a reservation for within the hour. We did that last trip for Ohanas and it was one of our nicest breakfasts, especially with and for our 3-almost 4 year old.

 

[rt06]

July 4th week peak season I waited no more than 10 minutes for Yak, Mama Melrose, and Via Napoli.