If there was one restaurant to try what would it be (without reservations in advance)?

[Hassanchop]

Hello Everyone,

We didn't book any reservations and are coming last minute to Disney. We have have to 2 girls ages 5 and 9. They are into princesses and not too familiar with Star Wars.

Without booking reservations in advance are there any tips or restaurants you recommend to dine at? In order to save money we are packing stuff but want to splurge on one dinner/lunch.

We are staying off property near by and not on any of the Disney resorts if that matters.

Thank you

 

[Disneyhead'71]

You would probably have to make ressies, but shouldn't be too hard to get. It's in Epcot, and has Princesses.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall - Temporarily Unavailable

Dine at this Walt Disney World restaurant.

disneyworld.disney.go.com

To be honest, almost all table service restaurants at Walt Disney World require reservations.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

You can still get reservations for many places.

Narrowing down to one place is hard!

In MK, I like Skipper Canteen, something for everyone, fun atmosphere and “Jungle Cruise style” interaction with staff.

In Epcot, possibly Coral Reef if they would like sitting with the view of a huge aquarium - not the best food on property but not bad and not outrageously priced.

In HS, that’s easy, the 50’s Prime Time cafe. Comfort food, and again fun interacting with staff.

AK: that’s a tough one. We love Tiffins but it might be a little stuffy and the menu a little out there. I cannot think of an alternative off the top of my head other than the Tusker House buffet (with characters.) We think it’s one of the best buffets choice-wise, but it’s on the pricey side. Could be worth it to meet Mickey & pals.

 

[The Pho]

I do a lot of last minute trips and never make reservations. Apart from Be Our Guest, I’ve never really had an issue walking up to restaurant and getting a table. For lunch, eating right as the place opens seems to work best (11-11:30 for Epcot). For dinner just eat at slightly off hours. Many may be full at 7pm, but at 5:30 or 8, it’s much easier to get in. Or just check the app when you want to eat to see what’s available on there. And don’t forget you can always go to the Boardwalk from Epcot and Studios, or a Monorail resort from Magic.

 

[Mickey5150]

My favorite restaurant on property is Raglan Road in Disney Springs. It has outdoor seating that is first come first served. They have live music and Irish dancers. It's a fun place with great food and cheaper than most in park restaurants. I've also had luck getting same day reservations in the MK at Skippers Canteen and the Plaza restaurant so there is definitely availability, even last minute.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I’ve found that a lot of things open up around the 24 hour mark, because people are dropping reservations to avoid the no show fee. I would probably narrow down your top choices and top times before this so you have some ideas of where you want to go. As for walking up, I’ve been turned away and seen too many people turned away...especially at character meals, to chance it if it’s an important treat. I was there a couple of weeks ago and saw a family of 4 turned away from Rose & Crown at lunch...which isn’t something wildly popular. There was plenty of seating available and I had just picked up an ADR via the app, so I guess they just weren’t accepting walk ups.

Ultimately, there’s no savings involved with doing a walk up. So, if they’re into princesses, I’d probably try to get breakfast at Akershus. It’s the cheapest meal of the day, you don’t have to pay until after your meal, and you’ll get a decent variety of princesses. While not cheap, I think it’s your best balance of characters and price if you want a princess meal.

 

[Monty]

Visit Guest Relations the afternoon before and again in the morning. They can call up what's available for your party size and give you options. As has been said, there will be people cancelling last-minute to avoid the $10 charge.

Also, check availability online on a regular basis (I'm a little OCD, so daily or more for me, YMMV), some folks cancel earlier than last-minute, you never know what might pop up.

 

[RustySpork]

Hello Everyone,

We didn't book any reservations and are coming last minute to Disney. We have have to 2 girls ages 5 and 9. They are into princesses and not too familiar with Star Wars.

Without booking reservations in advance are there any tips or restaurants you recommend to dine at? In order to save money we are packing stuff but want to splurge on one dinner/lunch.

We are staying off property near by and not on any of the Disney resorts if that matters.

Thank you

Oh you are set right up to have a bad time. You'll be lucky if you find anything at all, and may be stuck going to a resort if you do.

 

[Tom P.]

Hello Everyone,

We didn't book any reservations and are coming last minute to Disney. We have have to 2 girls ages 5 and 9. They are into princesses and not too familiar with Star Wars.

Without booking reservations in advance are there any tips or restaurants you recommend to dine at? In order to save money we are packing stuff but want to splurge on one dinner/lunch.

We are staying off property near by and not on any of the Disney resorts if that matters.

Thank you

If you are not going to make any reservations, you are pretty well limited to the quick service restaurants. That is not a bad thing. There are many really fine quick service restaurants at Walt Disney World that aren't just limited to burgers and fries. And many of them are quite reasonable on price, at least by Disney standards.

However, you mentioned that your girls are into princesses. Of course, there are other places to meet princesses at WDW besides restaurants. But if you are hoping to do a restaurant at which you get to meet and interact with princesses, that is pretty much a table service proposition and all of those will require reservations. There is basically no chance of doing one of those restaurants as a walk-up.

Just because your trip is last minute, though, doesn't mean you can't still snag a reservation. Akershus was mentioned already and I agree that it is a good choice. For example, I just checked the Disney Web site for tomorrow (Monday, January 27th) and found tables for four available at Akersus Royal Banquet Hall at Epcot for 2:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. Those might not be everyone's ideal times, but it does show that there is still last-minute availability. And the availability it always changing.

Personally, I would suggest periodically checking the Web site or calling the reservations people at (407) WDW-DINE and trying to snag a reservation. I think that will help you get the best experience possible.

 

[DisAl]

Make sure you have the MDE app on your phone. If you don't find what you want at first, keep checking. The worst that could happen is if you don't get what you want you may have to eat at a counter service, but there are a lot of good options for that.
On a trip last March we wanted to change our dinner from another location to Le Cellier. Nothing was available when we first started checking. We kept checking about every thirty minutes and two hours before the time we wanted a reservation opened up.
If you are still at home, keep checking every couple of hours until the day you go.
You didn't say which park, but for Princesses at Epcot Akershus is a good choice.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Oh you are set right up to have a bad time. You'll be lucky if you find anything at all, and may be stuck going to a resort if you do.

Disagree, Spork

There are tons of cancellations day before...you can usually get something if you waste a little time watching the apps.

Character meals can be difficult - however.

 

[RustySpork]

Disagree, Spork

There are tons of cancellations day before...you can usually get something if you waste a little time watching the apps.

Character meals can be difficult - however.

Thats the day before though, sounded like they wanted same day.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Thats the day before though, sounded like they wanted same day.

Well...you Gotta make SOME effort

 

[RustySpork]

Well...you Gotta make SOME effort

 

[Weather_Lady]

OP, to give you a couple of table service options without the need for ADRs (at Disney Springs and Animal Kingdom, anyway), I suggest you purchase a Landry's Select Club membership ahead of time. It "costs" around $20, but you get a "welcome credit" for that amount the first time you present it at a Landry's-owned restaurant, so it ends up being free. At WDW, the Landry's-owned restaurants are among the most kid-friendly on property: Rainforest Cafe (at Disney Springs and at Animal Kingdom), T-REX (at Disney Springs), and Yak & Yeti (at Animal Kingdom). Select Club membership includes priority seating as a perk -- that means, you can show up to those restaurants at any time, without a reservation, show them your Landry's Select Club card, and be seated just as promptly as if you did have a reservation.

Otherwise, if you try to get into TS restaurants day-of, you'll find that your selections are very limited, and you may be forced to either do counter service instead, or eat at an "off" time (e.g., dinner at 10pm, lunch at 3pm, etc.) The least likely place you'll find any availability will be character meals, so if that's what you and/or your family really wants, you really need to make a reservation for one.

Are you just afraid that your plans might change and you'll have to pay the no-show fee for canceling less than 24 hours ahead? Never fear! If you decide with less than 24 hours to go that a reservation no longer works with your plans, simply use your MyDisneyExperience app to modify the reservation to some future date, more than 24 hours into the future. Then, a few minutes later, you can cancel it without penalty.

*NOTE: This advice primarily applies if you wanted to dine in one of the Disney parks. Off-site, the sky is the limit. Resorts sometimes have better availability as well, and many of the [privately-owned] Disney Springs restaurants have 2 reservation systems -- one with Disney and one via their own website, so there is usually availability through the outside websites or by calling the restaurant directly, even if MyDisneyExperience/WDW Dining tells you their allotment of reservations is full.

 

[DisAl]

Landry's Select membership does help with their restaurants. Last family trip we were at DS and decided we wanted eat at Rainforest. My son-in-law was a bit ahead of me and had walked up to the "desk" asking about seating for 8. As I walked up he turned to me and said they had told him the wait would be two hours. I handed the person at the desk my Landry's card and asked him if that would help. He said "yes sir, we can seat you right now." The look on my son-in-law's face was worth the whole $20 I paid for the card a few years ago. Another perk is that you will get a $25 gift certificate every year to be used during the month of your birthday.