My Disney Experience Walk-Up Waitlist now available for table service restaurants at Walt Disney World
EPCOT is the first park to offer the new capability beginning today.
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My Disney Experience Walk-Up Waitlist now available for table service restaurants at Walt Disney World
- Thread starter wdwmagic
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DVCakaCarlF
Well-Known Member
Has anyone tried this instead of ADRs?
We make ADR’s but we have done walk up at The Plaza Restaurant. They did a hybrid of ADR and walk up for lunch or dinner ( can’t remember which) and had success with it.
Chi84
Premium Member
How can you be sure you're going to get Cali Grill brunch or dinner at 'Ohana if you don't have an ADR? Or do you mean just for the less popular places? Most of the restaurants we like are available without reserving them far in advance, but there are some favorites that we would be very sad to miss.
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
You can currently make dining reservations at 60 days instead of the old 180.
I think many people would be quite happy being able to reserve at 60 days.
I personally would also like them to reserve capacity for walk-ups and guests of that resort should get priority. It seems silly that if you stay at the Poly you can't eat at the Poly without a reservation. There should be dedicated walk-up for guests staying at that resort.
Chi84
Premium Member
Well, an ADR at 60 days is still an ADR. The person I was asking seemed to be saying a system of no ADRs would be better and I was wondering how that would work.
I would normally agree about guests of a resort getting preference, but 'Ohana is not a typical hotel restaurant. It has quite a following with Disney guests. I don't care for it personally, but some members of my family love it and would be disappointed if we couldn't eat there. Same with Chef Mickey's and Cali Grill. I suspect guests of the Poly and Contemporary can dine at the resorts without a reservation, just not necessarily at those restaurants. I suspect the people who stay at those resorts may disagree, and that's fine - it's up to Disney.
JIMINYCR
Well-Known Member
Agree. Certain times of the year, and when discounts are offered which increases numbers, some guests favorite dining sites are nearly impossible to get. I hope ADR's arent removed in favor of walk ups. On our last planned trip which was cancelled, we had 3 dining spots we couldnt get into at the 180 day period and settled for alternatives. With our newly booked trip I'm wondering what I'll be facing when we reach the 60 days ADR's day.
Chi84
Premium Member
It’s probably the same debate as FP+ and depends on what fits your preferences and touring style. Although I have been told by people here that my vacation preferences are wrong.
correcaminos
Well-Known Member
Thank goodness! I really hated the shift towards ADRs being needed the last decade or two now.
Chi84
Premium Member
When DH and I go by ourselves, we don't really need ADRs because we prefer the DS and resort restaurants, and stay away from the more popular places. But when we go with the family, I feel it's necessary to have an ADR - at least for dinner. I wouldn't want to show up somewhere with a party of 7 and find out there's no availability. I'm curious as to how people who don't want ADRs think it would work for larger parties or popular restaurants like 'Ohana or Chef Mickey's.
I do agree that 180 days seems excessive, but we don't visit during the busiest seasons.
I do agree that 180 days seems excessive, but we don't visit during the busiest seasons.
PolynesianPrincess
Well-Known Member
I would be most concerned if I had the dining plan. Whenever we have it, we usually eat at the more expensive places to get the most bang for our buck. I wouldn't make any sense to have it if we were stuck eating at places like the Plaza or Nine Dragons or Sci Fi. Or even worse if we couldn't get in anywhere! I also feel like this would be more difficult to do at resorts. Do you have to go to the resort before you can join the waitlist? Or can you do it from afar? I would hate to get all the way to Boma for example only to find out there is no availability left for walk ups. Also what happens if they call your party and you're on an attraction, or in line for one? So many questions from me
PolynesianPrincess
Well-Known Member
Disneyland does 60 days and we always have great luck getting everything we want there. 180 days is a lot. 60 days seems more reasonable. We had no issues getting what we wanted at WDW 60 days out of our trip in a few weeks.
Chi84
Premium Member
I'm sure there are a few reservations booked at 180 days and not changed, but I wonder how many others are canceled or modified more than once during that time. We're usually pretty set on our dining reservations, but even we have switched them up based on whatever happened with FastPasses at 60 days.
I suspect the people who advocate no ADRs may mean more sensible time windows for the ADRs instead of none at all. Disney is a huge place and vacations there are expensive and can be exhausting if you don't have a good plan. I can't imagine people traveling long distances with a family in tow "hoping" to eat dinner at a favorite restaurant.
It's hard to believe, but we run across so many people at Disney who don't know how things operate. A few years ago, a couple was near the podium at LeCellier at dinner time arguing over whether or not they should get in line to eat there. The line was made up of people either checking in or being told the restaurant had been sold out for 6 months. On our last trip, we had a reservation at the Plaza because we wanted to be in MK for the fireworks, and several parties were exasperated when they were told they needed a reservation. Maybe Disney could hold back a few reservations for walk-ins, but I'm sure they thought of that and decided it would be more trouble than it was worth. As it was, one guy got really upset with the Plaza CM over the fact they couldn't get in.
PolynesianPrincess
Well-Known Member
I definitely agree with you on people not knowing how things go there. My mom and I were just talking about this a few months ago. She was telling me the first time they went, they just walked up to sit down restaurants and were seated. That was in 84 or 85. Then the only character breakfast on property in the 90s was Empress Lilly at Disney Village as it was known then. That was really the only one you needed a reservation for. It can get exhausting planning so much so far out, and I've planned dozens and dozens. I can only imagine how overwhelming it is for someone who has never been before.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
I think you're pretty much spot on with everything you've said.
For people not coming from major metropolitan areas and accustomed to eating only at the finest and trendiest hot-spots, the notion of having to have reservations for dining outside of special times of year like holidays, is kind of alien.
I mean think about it: I get that some people here are way too good to ever grace the doorsteps of a Chili's or Olive Garden or even say a Cheesecake Factory but none of these places offer advanced reservations of any sort. In my area, the Cheesecake Factory can easily have more than an hour wait during dinner time on many nights but they still don't take advanced reservations.
For someone who has fallen into this mindset of planning their meals 6 months in advance because they go to Disney every year, it may seem obvious but to a lot of people - especially people who are not staying on property and did not book their vacation through Disney - it's not.
If you haven't experienced it before, it's weird to buy a ticket day-of to a park, go in and find that they have NOTHING for you but fast-food options despite the park map clearly showing plenty of table-service restaurants.
And let's face it, for the most part, your choices are all either fast service (usually lower quality fast-food style) or something you have to have booked months in advance. There is no in-between.
Obviously not every sit-down restaurant at WDW is a "signature" experience but even the restaurants that are on par with a Chili's expect an ADR.
The fact that this situation also usually includes every, or nearly every restaurant in all of the parks, just adds to the problem.
Maybe a solution would be to look at the table-service restaurants and designate some as ADR and some that are only walk-up or same-day reservation?
Scifi is a great example. It's a cool experience but it's basically fast-food. Oddly, we've never had an ADR and always been able to get squeezed in there as a party of just two or three (at weird times on occasion but still).
Maybe that's a good location to be a walk-up or day-of reservation type place since they seem to be able to turn tables and make it happen faster than their reservation system allows for, where Brown Derby would still operate as-is?
I can hear the 180-day booking commandos flipping their wigs right now but whatever solution (if ever there was going to be one) isn't going to please everyone and the way things are, I see people on almost every visit being turned away from restaurants like they were somehow supposed to know that lunch in a theme park had to be booked last season.
Why do they even post menus outside for people to stare at, only to have them decide after looking to eat there and be told no? I see this ALL THE TIME and the castmembers just stand there at the podium smiling and looking around while you can clearly hear the people looking at the menu discussing if they want to eat there - they know those people are about to walk up to them and they will then be turning them away but they still let the people look, find what they want to eat and wait for them to walk up and ask to be seated before popping their balloons.
Maybe Le Cellar will never be able to accommodate walk-ups or same-day gusts but from a customer service perspective, it sure seems better to be able to say "but there are tables available at (for example) Restaurant Marrakesh or Via Napoli rather than saying... "Well, have you checked out Electric Umbrella?"... Or maybe this is just a missed opportunity to expand dining options for a market that probably finding their meals off-property when they run into stuff like this.
With this approach, they could take down those menus from places nobody can ever walk up to and they could indicate on the map ADR required or highly recommended for the places where that's still the normal play and make things a little smother for a lot more guests.
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Chi84
Premium Member
I understand your point about most restaurants not requiring reservations, but Disney does send out vacation planning booklets advising people of how popular its table service restaurants are and how far in advance you can reserve. Most people know Disney is not like other theme parks.
I suspect the reason behind ADRs is to keep people out of long lines. There may be nothing for people to do while waiting for Chili’s in their hometown, but Disney doesn’t want people standing in line for an hour, and people are less willing to do so if they can be going on rides or seeing shows instead. From Disney’s perspective, people who are standing in line are not spending money. From the guest’s perspective, they’re wasting vacation time and not having fun.
As for the menus, I think some states require them to be posted. Even if that’s not the case, it could be good advertising for future visits.
My suspicion is that if Disney designated some restaurants as walk-ups, it could result in some incredibly long lines - like BOG at lunch until they changed (although that’s probably not a good example).
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Ah but BOG at lunch was considered fast-service. I'm pretty sure the long lines were because the quality of the experience was miles ahead of anything else fast-service in the park.
That said, the mistake there was not making a better setup for that wait when they realized it wasn't just a passing thing... and maybe not taking the hint and improving other offerings in the same park.
I hear you but Pre-COVID, with an annual pass and going many times each year, people dealing with this were easy to witness on every single visit to Epcot where traffic passes by many of the restaurant entrances and often could be seen at other locations, too. It's obviously something already going on that has been for a very long time.
What's ultimately happening with all of these people, today?.. Or, you know, five months ago when people were actually in the parks?
They leave property where they can walk right into a restaurant to sit down and be served for 1/3-1/2 the price? Uno's for instance is right across the street from the Hotel Blvd entrance along with a few other restaurants that are happily taking Disney's overflow. There's even more just a little further down the road. Dose leaving that money on the table* sound very Disney-like?
As for those planning booklets and the like - they send them out but only if you request them. To this end, I think a lot depends on how big of a trip you're taking. If you were coming from the top or bottom of Florida or only a state away where it is less than a full day drive, the level of planning you're likely to do is going to be less. Plenty of people buy tickets at Seaworld, Universal, Busch Gardens (and, if pre-covid lines are any indication, Disney, too) day of first visit so that's a lot of people that probably have not done any of this planning. They're also largely people with cars that aren't trapped.
All that said, the non-ADR restaurants billed as more casual dining was just a possible idea because of the obvious fight that pops up when someone complains they don't want to not be able to book 180 days in advance due to limits so someone else can walk right up and be seated without an ADR... which, I kind of understand.
But I also think a 30-60 window would make a ton more sense, too.
*pun intended
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