Is there such a thing as walk up seating?

[mbdavidson]

We are planning a trip for early June and I am so surprised on how difficult it has been to make reservations at a couple of restaurants we really wanted to go to. Is it possible to walk up and get a table at TS restaurants or is it ADR or nothing?

 

[sharonabe]

We are planning a trip for early June and I am so surprised on how difficult it has been to make reservations at a couple of restaurants we really wanted to go to. Is it possible to walk up and get a table at TS restaurants or is it ADR or nothing?

It's always POSSIBLE, but it's not very PROBABLE. It depends on how large your party is and the timing of your meal and just how busy the restaurants are. Your best bet is to look the day before and even the day of for an available ADR where you'd like to eat. There have been reports of people doing a walk-up, being told "no," taking a few steps away and checking for an ADR, snagging an ADR, and going right back to the podium and being seated. MDE is your friend.

Keep checking every day up to the day you want to eat.

 

[jdisnut]

It's always POSSIBLE, but it's not very PROBABLE. It depends on how large your party is and the timing of your meal and just how busy the restaurants are. Your best bet is to look the day before and even the day of for an available ADR where you'd like to eat. There have been reports of people doing a walk-up, being told "no," taking a few steps away and checking for an ADR, snagging an ADR, and going right back to the podium and being seated. MDE is your friend.

Keep checking every day up to the day you want to eat.

Couldn't disagree more with this assessment. At most times of the year it's actually quite easy to have a table-service meal every day of a trip without making a reservation in advance. The key is picking relatively unpopular restaurants; you likely won't be able to walk into a place like 'Ohana, Be Our Guest of Chef Mickey's.

But want to eat dinner at Boatwright's? At Ale & Compass? At Yak & Yeti? Just show up!

Of course, you will have to be flexible. You might have to wait. But there are absolutely restaurants on Disney property that will accommodate walk-ins.

 

[ncc1701]

Some restaurants in DS are on Open Table .You can make a reservation through them closer or even during your trip.
Also keep checking on Disney, things open up all the time.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Marrakesh at the Morocco Pavilion always seems to have availability. We had a very good experience there about a year ago.

 

[vinotinto]

About a year ago, we stayed at the Poly. I tried the first two mornings to walk up to Kona and get seated table for 4 (at around 7:45 am). They told me they were fully booked. For the third morning, I made an ADR the night before. There was plenty of availability. They don't hold tables for walk-ups anywhere. Now, I'm sure I could have gotten a breakfast ADR, but I wanted to eat at my resort, and I wanted to be finished by 8:30ish so I could hit the parks. If I had the flexibility to go to a different park or resort or time, I'm sure I would have found something. Some restaurants are not that popular, and some time frames are more peak than others. So, it really depends on how flexible you are. You can check MDE and see what's available then.

Ah, one other thing. When it's raining, it's harder to find a last minute ADR. People will decide to find a TS to sit out the rain. So, if you travel in the late summer and Fall, that will be more of an issue than in winter or spring.

 

[sharonabe]

Couldn't disagree more with this assessment. At most times of the year it's actually quite easy to have a table-service meal every day of a trip without making a reservation in advance. The key is picking relatively unpopular restaurants; you likely won't be able to walk into a place like 'Ohana, Be Our Guest of Chef Mickey's.

I didn't say it wasn't possible, and if you re-read the OP's post, they are unable to make an ADR at some restaurants that they really wanted to do. They weren't asking for unpopular restaurants, but restaurants that have NO availability. My advice was based on the OP's parameters.

 

[Shanti]

We are planning a trip for early June and I am so surprised on how difficult it has been to make reservations at a couple of restaurants we really wanted to go to. Is it possible to walk up and get a table at TS restaurants or is it ADR or nothing?

Which restaurants? That has a lot to do with walk-up availability.

Try Touring Plans free reservation finder service, btw.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

In our experience, it really depends on what time of year you go. In August, we had great luck with walk-ups - Spice Road Table, Garden Grill, Skipper's Canteen, Whispering Canyon (multiple times). In mid-December, not so much, LOL! We were still able to walk up to Spice Road (which is a GREAT restaurant, IMHO), but WCC and Skipper's were turning walk-ups away.

I would book what you can now and, as others have said, try the Touring Plans reservation finder and also look the day before and day of for reservations. Other ideas - check opentable. Many DS and Swan/Dolphin restaurants are on there (and, now, some WDW ones, too). Also, if you have any interest in eating at Rainforest Cafe (in AK or DS), TRex or Yak and Yeti, get a Landry's Select Card as it will get you preferred seating at all of those restaurants as a walk-up. With a combination of these tricks, you should be able to find TS to fit your schedule.

 

[OneinThree]

I just had dinner with my wife at the Rose & Crown on Monday. It was sort of a last minute thing and the only reservation they had the night before was a 4:25, which was fine. The funny thing is, the restaurant was only like half full. I really have to wonder if Disney only books a certain percentage of reservations in advance so that they can service a certain number of walk-ups.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I just had dinner with my wife at the Rose & Crown on Monday. It was sort of a last minute thing and the only reservation they had the night before was a 4:25, which was fine. The funny thing is, the restaurant was only like half full. I really have to wonder if Disney only books a certain percentage of reservations in advance so that they can service a certain number of walk-ups.

No, they don’t. The restaurant may not be fully staffed at that time, so they can’t use all of the tables.

 

[agavegirl1]

If staffing is there to handle it, you can be seated. Wait staff can only have so many tables at a time. There can be tables but nobody to staff them.

That said, yes, walk ups are possible. Certain venues such as Spice Road, Yak and Yeti and the resort TS restaurants may have them. Very few cancellations can be found inside the parks but it is possible. An idea is to use MDE/MDX to try to book an ADR while in the park a short while before you want to eat. Cancellations show up there first. Then, you are "walking up with an ADR" ...best of both.

 

[sweetpeama]

From experience I have found that you can though keep this in mind
We traveled the end of January 2010 (MDE was not in existence)
We were willing to eat at off times (not really off to us personally since we live in a different time zone and tend to eat later anyways)

Here is a list of where we ate along with when the reservation was made

CRT This was phoned in ahead of time for a party of 12 (note there was some 180 days than 60 days than back to 180 days going on during this time so I think we got it as 60 days. My mom made this reservation) Dinner

Tusker House walk up (my brother's family was able to go right in for a party of 8. We had to wait till there was someone at the gift shop right next door to the baby care station so we could get some dry socks for our 5 year old who ended up walking in a deep puddle to the bus. We were able to use some paper towels and hand dryers for the shoes. While we were trying to dry stuff the sweet cast member went next door as soon as it was opened and brought back a set of 2 pairs of Minnie Mouse Socks-that were finally outgrown last year by both my girls. (It was a Morning Extra Magic Hours and the shops were not open till regular hours) We ended up having to wait about 20 minutes-during which time my sister who finally showed up with my parents decided she did not approve of the fact that 5 year old's hair was coming out of the pigtail holders and she was going to put it in 2 french braids so it would stay. They were not going to eat but wait till we all were done. We were about 30 minutes behind my brother's family.

Akershus Phone call to Dining from the room the night before after we got back and I woke up from my nap while DH had the girls out to go play at the playground this was for breakfast the next morning right at open of Extra Magic Hours

Biergarten Phone call from home prior to trip. All 12 of us this was made by my mom so I don't know how far in advanced. Dinner

Hollywood and Vine walk up about a 40 minute wait right around noon for 4 of us (We were trying to eat at the same time as the other 8 were at Five and Dine for a reservation that was made prior to coming. We were not even asked if we wanted to join as they figured our kids wouldn't like it (truth be told they were afraid that 2 year old's eating with her hands most of the time would get everyone in trouble and didn't want to risk it) Lunch There was a nice outside sitting area to sit and watch the actors while we waited so it went really fast and was a nice break.

Tokyo Dining walk up had about a 45 minute wait for a party of 4 but were given a pager so we even wandered over as far as the American Pavilion during that time. Dinner late enough that were were able to enjoy Illuminations from our table while having dessert. Both girls had fallen asleep on their chairs so our sweet server asked if we had a stoller and when we told her yes she told DH go get it and upon learning it was a single was concerned about how we would get 2 children back to our room asleep. DH put our 2 year old in the stoller and then picked up our 5 year old and I pushed the stoller and he carried 5 year old.

Shutters Walk up later in the day we ended up being given a buzzer as it would be at least an hour wait. Took the time to go look around the gift shop of the resort and get some last minute things as we would be flying home early the next morning. We ended up waiting only about 45 minutes when our pager went off. Dinner

For all of our walk up or phone call while on property if there had not been any room we would have been fine what is available. We also tend to roll this way for places local to us if some place looks overly crowded or we show up and the wait is longer then we want we just go some place else even if it means changing plans for Italian to Mexican.

 

[sweetpeama]

I wanted to also say that if I was going now I would use the app to even find out for the next meal what was available and make a reservation for a time. I often play where would I eat for the next meal if I was at WDW right now. For my game it doesn't matter what park it is in or if it is not.

 

[hllb]

Couldn't disagree more with this assessment. At most times of the year it's actually quite easy to have a table-service meal every day of a trip without making a reservation in advance. The key is picking relatively unpopular restaurants; you likely won't be able to walk into a place like 'Ohana, Be Our Guest of Chef Mickey's.

But want to eat dinner at Boatwright's? At Ale & Compass? At Yak & Yeti? Just show up!

Of course, you will have to be flexible. You might have to wait. But there are absolutely restaurants on Disney property that will accommodate walk-ins.

Most of those restaurants would have tables available for ADR right now too. Since the OP isn't finding tables, they must be looking at more popular things.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Could happen, but it will depend on a few things, like how popular the restaurant is, whether it is a peak mealtime, what time of year it is, and how large your party is.

 

[elelele08]

I haven't gone yet but I booked my trip in November for this month and I was able to get reservations to every single restaurant that we wanted (BOG, CRT, 'Ohana, California Grill, Chef Mickey's). Admittedly, I had a lot of time to sit around and refresh the Disney website but people also cancel all the time! Highly recommend TP's reservation finder

 

[patsfan101]

We travel during our February school vacation week (since I am a teacher) and therefore have only been to WDW during pretty peak times. We have gotten a table at 'Ohana walk up by being there early and being the first party to ask for a table. We had a lot of success last year because it was just the two of us (kids are in college now). We were able to sit at the bar at Jiko when the restaurant was booked solid.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

We have done walk ups a few times and had no problem at Garden Grill, Chef Mickey's, Sci-Fi, 50's Prime Time etc. after told no we said can we wait and see if someone misses their ADR? That was all it took. If someone is 15 minutes late a table opens up. Disney does not have to give people 15 minutes late but will try to seat you ...... unless someone like me takes your spot

 

[gharter]

If you are willing to eat at off times, most restaurants will have seats available. Might be a short wait. Trying to eat at a popular restaurant at main dining times, probably not going to happen.
A frequent recommendation is to use the reservation finder at touring plans. This has helped us get difficult to get reservation.