How hard is it to get a table without ADR?

[AngiTN]

I was responding to the idea that the problem is staffing. And that ADRs are required. It’s probably more due to poor training and nonflexible software.

Regardless, they need to work on it. ADRs are silly when restaurants are empty. They should welcome walkups when a majority of the tables are open.

You are stuck on the idea that ADRs are required and seem to be overlooking all the times where folks have said they aren't required. They are sometimes. But not everywhere. ADRs are never silly, no matter how you feel about them. They save headaches for the guest. Seems not at all silly to me.

Simply not true at Disney World. There is something else at play. I understand your claim is logical, but it just isn’t the only explanation. Mismanagement is also a reasonable explanation.

What makes a Disney Restaurant different than any other Restaurant, aside from the obvious of being in a theme park of course? They still are working with predicting guests and staff, just like any other restaurant. If they plan for X and Y shows up, it is not a software problem.
I mean, every day people go to restaurants "in the real world" and see empty sections of tables. They aren't seating in those tables because there is no one to serve the table. Having a customer wait to be seated is preferable to having a customer wait at a table without service. Disney has the same thing. I'm not sure why you feel they should manage their restaurants different from many other restaurants all over the world. Or why your way is the right way, for that matter.
Oh, and ever heard of someone calling in sick? I guess they aren't allowed to do that either? Or is the manager supposed to expect that and have another worker scheduled for the illness they should have expected?
I think you are being extremely critical about something that is easily solved by simply looking on your phone and making and ADR when you are ready to eat. Sure saves a lot of undue stress on yourself.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

If you're picky about where you eat, you'll need an ADR. If you're not picky, you should be able to pick them up the day before or the day of in whatever park you're in. But, you usually cannot just walk up to a restaurant and get a table. You could open the app, pick a reservation that's imminent, and then walk up to the restaurant though. But, you can't be picky about which restaurant you'll be eating.

I tried walking up to BOG once. I was turned away. The only place with ADR availability was Skipper's. I've found Magic Kingdom tends to be the hardest to get last minute ADRs or Walk-Up. Epcot seems to always have a few TS places available if you're flexible. I've never seen anyone turned away at 50s Prime Time (MGM) any of the times I've gone there and the wait time they quoted wasn't too bad either, though I can't speak for any of the other TS places. If you don't mind Quick Service, then you have more options.

 

[AngiTN]

I tried walking up to BOG once. I was turned away. The only place with ADR availability was Skipper's. I've found Magic Kingdom tends to be the hardest to get last minute ADRs or Walk-Up. Epcot seems to always have a few TS places available if you're flexible. I've never seen anyone turned away at 50s Prime Time (MGM) any of the times I've gone there and the wait time they quoted wasn't too bad either, though I can't speak for any of the other TS places. If you don't mind Quick Service, then you have more options.

Except now The Plaza at MK is walk up only outside the lunch period, I think it's 11-1 or 2. They only take ADR for a short time each day

Of course, Tony's is always available. Just wouldn't suggest eating there. As bad as QS is, it's better than Tony's.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I was responding to the idea that the problem is staffing. And that ADRs are required. It’s probably more due to poor training and nonflexible software.

Regardless, they need to work on it. ADRs are silly when restaurants are empty. They should welcome walkups when a majority of the tables are open.

You may be right. But there is a limited degree of success when one remains firm and insistent about being seated without an ADR - like you have mentioned doing.

That is awesome that you have been able to get that strategy to work for you and your family, but the family right behind you may not be able to take advantage of YOUR way of solving the problem.

So the best way to get what you want is to follow the path of least resistance. If that means making some kind of ADR to place-hold any lunchtime anywhere, and then modifying it closer to what they actually need to happen in real time, that's not a nonsensical way of doing it. Not the most convenient, no, but if that is how Disney CM's have said this is how you "beat the system", then that's how one does it. Especially when one's travelling party may not have the stamina and patience to maintain continuous stern eye contact with a manager for 15+ minutes until they seat you and find you a server. If you've got a family member eating to avoid a sugar crash, you can't wait. Screaming kid/s? Can't wait. Hangry spouse who will just go eat popcorn all day so as not to fuel the fire? Probably shouldn't drag out the "waiting to be seated" any longer than you have to!

Yes you might be providing Real Time Displeased and Inconvenienced Customer in the moment, but that doesn't change any executive's mind about upgrading the IT ADR booking system. The Customers have this awesome tool that they can manipulate the logistics of their vacation, MDE, and all the execs have to do is sit back and watch what trends emerge from the data.... they don't CHANGE stuff until it starts negatively affecting their profits, hence why the recent upgrades to the FP+ system/s were made. The restaurants are no different, and they have very little incentive to make changes that subtract from the MDE data they are gathering, while stating, "This makes it more convenient for guests"...

Simply not true at Disney World. There is something else at play. I understand your claim is logical, but it just isn’t the only explanation. Mismanagement is also a reasonable explanation.

Oh totally! But you aren't going to do anything besides waste your efforts re-inventing the wheel, when the CM's have told you HOW to circumnavigate their system. They are offering you a steering wheel and you're demanding that you be able to use an oar just as well.

And remember... there might be empty tables... up until the ADR that was made for the 15's shows up!!! Or a family standing outside the restaurant somehow, by some miracle of Pixie Dust, snags an ADR for 8 people, so now they are welcomed with open arms by CM's, who are still waiting for you to hop onto MDE and book your ADR already...

 

[Angel Ariel]

I mean, every day people go to restaurants "in the real world" and see empty sections of tables. They aren't seating in those tables because there is no one to serve the table.

I can honestly say I've never been turned away from a real world restaurant that had empty tables when I was walking up for
a meal.

Disneyland has been so refreshingly simple and easy with regards to dining..I will definitely miss that when we go back to WDW next.

 

[AngiTN]

I can honestly say I've never been turned away from a real world restaurant that had empty tables when I was walking up for
a meal.

Disneyland has been so refreshingly simple and easy with regards to dining..I will definitely miss that when we go back to WDW next.

Well, real world won't turn folks away most of the time. That is 1 major difference. They'll put you on a 2 hour wait list, Disney won't do that in many cases.
However, I know I have sat and waited to be seated for an hour while tables remained empty in the restaurant. Many times. Same general result, they can't seat you due to staffing limitations.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Well, real world won't turn folks away most of the time. That is 1 major difference. They'll put you on a 2 hour wait list, Disney won't do that in many cases.
However, I know I have sat and waited to be seated for an hour while tables remained empty in the restaurant. Many times. Same general result, they can't seat you due to staffing limitations.

Yeah, can't say I've waited an hour or two while looking at empty tables either. But, I also won't wait that long, especially if I'm looking at empty tables.

 

[AngiTN]

I live where they have problems with staffing. Maybe that's got a lot to do with it? And we eat at odd hours a lot.

 

[crabbygal902]

Making dining plans 180 days out doesn't suit our vacation style anymore. I found that there are so many good options with availability last minute, even when going at higher attendance times (and lately every day is a high attendance time!) We also eat in bars and lounges quite often now that the kids are older, no ADRs needed for that. We have also discovered some terrific places that are off the radar (hello, I'm looking at you Tokyo Dining.)

If:
eating at a special restaurant at a particular time is very important to you
character dining is a priority
the thought of flying by the seat of your pants makes you nervous

Then by all means, make those ADRs. If not, join me on the Tiki Terrace for a meal of apps and a beverage and we'll watch the chaos surrounding 'Ohana.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

I can honestly say I've never been turned away from a real world restaurant that had empty tables when I was walking up for
a meal.

Disneyland has been so refreshingly simple and easy with regards to dining..I will definitely miss that when we go back to WDW next.

Outback around here is notorious for this. It appears they have a limit on how many tables each server can have at a time and it is set low. I've been there with 50-75% of the place empty and had to wait because there were "no available servers."

 

[Colleen27]

Outback around here is notorious for this. It appears they have a limit on how many tables each server can have at a time and it is set low. I've been there with 50-75% of the place empty and had to wait because there were "no available servers."

A number of the chain restaurants around here are like that. They'll keep certain tables or sections closed at non-peak times, even if it means long waits for tables, because they're only staffed to a fraction of capacity. We never, ever go to the closest Chili's because of that; the last two times we were in there we were told it would be 30-45 minutes for a table while literally half the restaurant was empty (whole section not in use), and once waited almost 10 minutes without a hostess even noticing we'd walked in because she was waiting tables as well as seating people.

 

[Pumbaa_]

This has veered off topic.

 

[melana]

I am not a huge fan of the ADR at Disney. With that being said, I still use it. It is so hard to know exactly when you are going to be hungry or what you are gonna want to eat so far in advance....

What I tried to do my last trip was book what I knew would probably be harder to get reservations at the 180 mark. That left me with a lot of flexibility once I got to the world.

There were days I just brought up MDE and checked to see what was available and booked then. There was never a day that I wasn’t able to find something at a time I felt like eating. Sure the choices may have been limited but there was availability.

I mean if you want BOG, California Grill, Ohana and some others you almost have to book well in advance. But if you don’t mind where you eat, then I guess forgoing ADRs and doing it on the fly could work.

 

[Jennasis]

We've done walk ups on occasion. Via Napoli comes to mind. In 2016 it was around 7:45 am I had a hankering for pizza. There was a big crowd gathered checking in and Dh went up and asked for a party of 2. They sat us 4 minutes later. It was a smaller wait than any of our ADR's! LOL. I wouldn't recommend making a habit out of it but it happens from time to time.

We've also not made any ADR's before hand and just checked the app day-of a few hours out from our meal and picked from what was available. Always something good available. For example, jut checked now for dinner:

OHANA 9:40pm
1900 park fare 6:40
50;s 6:55pm
Artist Point
Biergarten
Boma
Cali Grill
Chefs de France
Chef Mickeys
Citricos
Flying Fish
Jiko
Kona
Le Cellier


and on and on...

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

They told me this at Captain's Grill once, plenty of available tables were in clear view. I went on my phone and there was an adr in 15 minutes which I booked and they then sat us right away. Was totally weird.

Same experience last year at Grand Floridian Cafe.