Good luck for Disney Dinner Ressies Late Sept.!

[thedisneyfan]

To those going to WDW in late September and hoping to get ANY dining reservations for dinner, I say good luck!

I tried getting reservations for Cinderellas Royal Table, Tony's Town Square, Libert Tree Tavern, Crystal Palace. All booked out. Also booked out: Mama Melrose, Sci-Fi, 50's Prime Time, Italy, Canada, and on and on. Disney obviously overbooked the promotion for free dining and it will be a nightmare for both guests and CMs. This is so wrong! How will anybody hope to get a meal under the wonderful dining plan? Get ready for the complaints because they are going to be severe (and justifiably so)!

"Dining your way" sounds more like "Dining, NO WAY!"

:fork: :fork: :fork:

 

[bhg469]

Im currently booked for a trip on the 23rd. We have 0 reservations set up, WHY? because we have never been tuned away. Show up early that day youll get what you want. You may have to wait but big deal if you really want to eat there then its worth it. The way you're acting it sounds like you arent going to be able to get dinner because you cant get a reservation. Dont think that way i know people say dont just show up but the truth is taht i have waited for an hour before even with priority seating.

 

[wannab@dis]

So, you're saying there are no PS available? Or no PS for the times YOU want available? I have a feeling that it's the latter. Even in off peak times, we call 2 to 3 months in advance to get a PS for the more popular restaurants and sometimes we have to adjust by as much as an hour or two to get the PS.

Mousermerf is right. Calling 30 days for a PS for dinner at a nice restaurant is not advised and it has nothing to do with being fair. You didn't act when you had a chance 2 months ago, so don't get upset now. Just try to adjust your times and keep trying. I have picked up cancel times, so it's possible.

I suggest you go for a first dinner seating or the last lunch seating. You may also get lucky with late dinner seatings. But, at 30 days out, the likelyhood of prime dinner times being available is near ZERO.

 

[wannab@dis]

Im currently booked for a trip on the 23rd. We have 0 reservations set up, WHY? because we have never been tuned away. Show up early that day youll get what you want. You may have to wait but big deal if you really want to eat there then its worth it. The way you're acting it sounds like you arent going to be able to get dinner because you cant get a reservation. Dont think that way i know people say dont just show up but the truth is taht i have waited for an hour before even with priority seating.

I would say that during off peak times you may get lucky. But, you may not. Why take the chance? I've never waited more than 20 - 30 minutes with a PS and usually it's less than 15.

 

[Jekyll Baker]

How many are in your party? That may be the issue as well.

That does seem to have a factor sometimes. I'm going mid-Sept and wanted to eat at Cali Grill one night, hopefully able to see Wishes at the same time. I called a couple weeks ago for a table on Monday night and the only times available were 5:20 and 9:20 pm - so I skipped on those times. I called a couple days later to try for a seat on Tuesday night. First thing I asked was what times seats were available. The CM read off about a dozen times ranging from 5:30-9:30, all about 15-20 minutes apart. She then asked me how many were in my party. After she heard I was dining solo, she then says something to the effect "I'm sorry I was looking at the wrong screen, there are available seatings at 6:20 and 9:15." I took 6:20pm, but it does confirm what I had read before somewhere, that Cali Grill does discriminate against solo diners especially around the fireworks times. I won't complain though, I might just make my meal last 2-3 hours :slurp:

 

[Jekyll Baker]

I would say that during off peak times you may get lucky. But, you may not. Why take the chance? I've never waited more than 20 - 30 minutes with a PS and usually it's less than 15.

I've waited longer than that before (with PS) - once at Jiko because the pager they gave me was dead (obviously they didn't check that one first) and once at Sci-Fi because when I checked in, the CM wrote my name down wrong.

 

[Shaman]

Yeah we ran into the same problem with reservations...but it's no biggie...there are more important things to worry about....

Have a great trip!

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Just FYI... My family is going Sept. 26th through Oct. 4th, and just Tuesday (Aug. 9th) I booked all our dinners. I got Tony's Town Square, Boma, Teppanyaki, 50's Prime (for lunch), Narcoossee's, Sci-Fi Diner, and Kona in that order, all at normal dinner times. The only restaurants I wanted that didn't have any times that worked were Le Cellier, Chef Mickey's, and Cindy's Royal Table (obviously).

I'm not sure if I just got lucky and got the last tables at all these places, or if maybe it's the selection of restaurants I chose... But it didn't seem too bad for me personally.

Good luck.

 

[MSTINKHERBELL01]

Geesh people, the initial post (i feel) was simply advising others who may be "last minute people" what they should expect when booking for sept...How it turned up into a back and forth thing is silly. I understand why he was a bit upset about not being able to get the PS's he wanted and I understand that to guarantee that you get the PS you want you must book "sometimes" far in advance. I hope he gets the PS's that he wants so that he and his family (guests) will have a MAGICAL time in WDW. Peace, Love, and Tinkerbell!

Good Luck Everyone....

Relax, Relate, and PLEASE RELEASE the tension (these boards are for fun info)!

MSTINKHERBELL01

 

[jcraycraft]

A great tip. I keep 407-WDW-DINE programmed into my cellphone and call from the queue lines. That was an absolute lifesaver when I had a group of four cranky people wondering what to do about dinner, but not wanting to walk from Test Track to Germany to find out if we could book a table.

I second or third this..... We have done this several times. The CM on phone can work with you...ie if the restaurant of choice is not available they can search for openings at the other restaurants in park or nearby. I have a coworker going down 1st week of Oct and told her to take this phone number. She has gotten most of her dinning planned but you never know when you may need to cancel/move a PS because you cannot pull yourself out of the standby line for Soarin’ lol

 

[shoppingnut]

While I know there are certain restaurants that you could walk up and possibly get in, but Le Cellier is generally not one of them. I have been there a few times for dinner when any one walking up is told we are not taking any walk ups.

Chef de France in Epcot is very nice, I don't know if you tried for a reservation there.

I know for my upcoming trip in August I booked all my ressie's 85 days out and the only reason I didn't do it 90 days was because we switched our vacation week from July to August when they came out with the free dining package, so I was already at 85 days. I was lucky to get the royal table for breakfast at 9:30 one day, all the earlier times there were already totally booked but I prefer later so it worked for me.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Geesh people, the initial post (i feel) was simply advising others who may be "last minute people" what they should expect when booking for sept...How it turned up into a back and forth thing is silly. I understand why he was a bit upset about not being able to get the PS's he wanted and I understand that to guarantee that you get the PS you want you must book "sometimes" far in advance. I hope he gets the PS's that he wants so that he and his family (guests) will have a MAGICAL time in WDW. Peace, Love, and Tinkerbell!

Good Luck Everyone....

Relax, Relate, and PLEASE RELEASE the tension (these boards are for fun info)!

MSTINKHERBELL01

I cant. The font size you are using has been scientificaly proven to cause tension..... :lookaroun

 

[slappy magoo]

Geesh people, the initial post (i feel) was simply advising others who may be "last minute people" what they should expect when booking for sept...How it turned up into a back and forth thing is silly. I understand why he was a bit upset about not being able to get the PS's he wanted and I understand that to guarantee that you get the PS you want you must book "sometimes" far in advance. I hope he gets the PS's that he wants so that he and his family (guests) will have a MAGICAL time in WDW. Peace, Love, and Tinkerbell!

Seems to me people were getting worked up for two reasons...

1: The original poster was having problems getting reservations, but it seemed most relegated to the theme park restaurants. At least, all the restaurants mentioned were at theme parks. Park restaurants always seem to have a better chance of getting reservations booked solid, because nobody wants to leave the parks. Other people were trying to point out that there are other places to eat (like resort hotels), and offered other suggestions, like perhaps being more flexible with their reservation times, and to continue trying. I don't find anything wrong with making suggestions like those.

2: Other posters are getting reservations for the same restaurants the OP was complaining about, at around the same dates. So perhaps the problem isn't as dire as the OP makes it out to be. Again, I see no problem with people pointing out that perhaps the situation isn't that bad after all.

Personally, I'd say when you're in MK, if the park restaurants are booked, try to make ressies for 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian, or 'Ohana's in the Poly. When at Epcot or MGM, take a walk/boat to the Boardwalk & eat @ Spoodles. Going to AK, nothing could be finer that to be a Boma diner in the eeeeee-ee-eeve-ning! They're all delicious, they're still pretty close to their respective parks, there's a better chance of it not being congested with people suffering through the theme-park-1000-mile-stare...there's options, is all I'm saying.

 

[DisneyFans!]

Geesh people, the initial post (i feel) was simply advising others who may be "last minute people" what they should expect when booking for sept...How it turned up into a back and forth thing is silly. I understand why he was a bit upset about not being able to get the PS's he wanted and I understand that to guarantee that you get the PS you want you must book "sometimes" far in advance. I hope he gets the PS's that he wants so that he and his family (guests) will have a MAGICAL time in WDW. Peace, Love, and Tinkerbell!

Good Luck Everyone....

Relax, Relate, and PLEASE RELEASE the tension (these boards are for fun info)!

MSTINKHERBELL01

Amen! :lol:

 

[ddodgers67]

i booked my reservations for sept9-18 ... 60 days in advance and didnt have any trouble getting in for dinner reservations to sci-fi , le celliar , prime time 50's cafe , cinderellas royal breakfast , le' oringinale de roma , liberty tree tavern

 

[Laura]

To those going to WDW in late September and hoping to get ANY dining reservations for dinner, I say good luck!

That's because overzealous overplanners like me call at exactly 90 days out to make all their reservations! I called in late June and was able to make 9 different sit down reservations at the locations and times of my choice without a problem.

Also, just because you don't have a reservation doesn't mean you can't eat, it just means you'll have to wait.

 

[Aurora_25]

That's because overzealous overplanners like me call at exactly 90 days out to make all their reservations! I called in late June and was able to make 9 different sit down reservations at the locations and times of my choice without a problem.

Also, just because you don't have a reservation doesn't mean you can't eat, it just means you'll have to wait.

:sohappy: You are my kind of planner :sohappy:

 

[Shaman]

Personally, I'd say when you're in MK, if the park restaurants are booked, try to make ressies for 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian, or 'Ohana's in the Poly. When at Epcot or MGM, take a walk/boat to the Boardwalk & eat @ Spoodles. Going to AK, nothing could be finer that to be a Boma diner in the eeeeee-ee-eeve-ning! They're all delicious, they're still pretty close to their respective parks, there's a better chance of it not being congested with people suffering through the theme-park-1000-mile-stare...there's options, is all I'm saying.

Excellent advice!

There are many places in WDW and around where you can have a great breakfast, lunch and/or dinner...

 

[kellydisney]

Chiming in with my 2 cents (cuz after all, it is a PUBLIC message board ) But, you do not NEED a dining reservation to get into a restaurant. Disney only gives out a certain amount of priority seating reservations. It's technically not even a reservation because you get there at say 7pm and their next available seat (which is what you're getting) may not open up until 7:20 pm. And sometimes you walk right in.

SOOOO just because you can't book a PS for these restaurants doesn't mean you won't be able to eat there. They have to accomodate the clueless Disney resort guests who have no clue about the secret world of PS, Fastpass, etc.

So go anyway. And... my common sense told me that hmmmmm there are going to be a ton of people going on vacation in September while we're there and most of them will also have the free dining plan. So we mapped out our meal plan as soon as we booked our dates. And we're eating at all of our favorite places.

If I see you drooling outside of Cinderella's Royal Table, I'll try not to smack my lips too hard

 

[kellydisney]

On a more supportive note, had I not been an obsessed Disney foodie, I would be as po'ed as you are right now that my favorites weren't available. Keep trying and good luck!

Oh and vary the amount of people you're trying to book for if you're looking for ressies for 2. The CM on the line said to me, while having a hard time getting Le Cellier for 2 at night, "What, you said your SISTER is visiting that day and your ressie will be for 3? Well ok then we do have a table for 3." :lol: So try that option!!

 

[Jekyll Baker]

Chiming in with my 2 cents (cuz after all, it is a PUBLIC message board ) But, you do not NEED a dining reservation to get into a restaurant. Disney only gives out a certain amount of priority seating reservations. It's technically not even a reservation because you get there at say 7pm and their next available seat (which is what you're getting) may not open up until 7:20 pm. And sometimes you walk right in.

SOOOO just because you can't book a PS for these restaurants doesn't mean you won't be able to eat there. They have to accomodate the clueless Disney resort guests who have no clue about the secret world of PS, Fastpass, etc.

Unfortunately not always true. I've seen several people completely turned away from Sci-Fi and told that there were no tables available, even at 5pm. Not even given the chance to stand around and wait for an opening (of which I saw several while I was eating).