Dining Without Reservations

[Dizne]

Myself, my husband and my 22 yo son will be spending 4 days at WDW during the last week in April. We are staying at BWV, and plan to spend a day in each park. We have purchased park hoppers, so will likely be in Epcot or Magic Kingdom each evening around dinner time.

My question is: What are the best table service options available to us for dinner if we decide not to make reservations ahead of time? We would be willing to leave the parks (especially Epcot in order to eat at the Boardwalk or BC or YC), but we don't want to have to spend a lot of time waiting for a table if we don't have a reservation.

Any recommendations for "hidden gems" with good food and no long waits without reservations? Thanks so much for your help!

[SBETigg]

Actually, we've had good luck with lots of places without Advanced Dining Reservations. Sometimes, it doesn't list availability online, but there is availability if you walk up. Mexico's Hacienda, Germany's Biergarten, Tutto Gusto (Italy's wine bar area), Via Napoli, and Chefs de France have all taken us as walk-up without a long wait. Grand Floridian Cafe and Captain's Grille at the Yacht Club are both good for those situations, too.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We have had luck with last minute (day of) reservations and walk ups at the following places:

Grand Floridian Cafe
The Wave @ Contemporary
Captain's Grill @ Yacht Club
Big River Grill @ Boardwalk
Yac and Yeti
San Angel
Shutters @ Caribbean Beach
ESPN @ Boardwalk
Whispering Canyon Cafe (for lunch)

These were all on trips in the summer months. The longest we waited to be seated at any of these locations as a walk up was 10 minutes.

The key is to pick places less popular or off the beaten path. Another good suggestion is to try to dine during a somewhat "off" time. We have had good luck either showing up when dinner seating starts (4:50-5ish) or later in the evening (8:30 or later). Good luck.

[TinkerbellT421]

We were able to score dinning reservations from our hotel rooms through our phones, and using our phones (disney experience app) in the parks for cape may cafe at beach club, rose n crown in Epcot (I was shocked with this one being able to make a reservation in an hour from doing it). But, what week are you going? If it's Easter week it will be a nut house and that may be difficult if you want to eat at the parks. But, Biergarten is always easy to get into like another poster mentioned and so is big river and espn on Boardwalk. Also, don't forget about the restaurants inside the swan and dolphin too.

[Dizne]

Thanks for the feedback - much appreciated!

We'll be there April 25 to 29, so we're hoping it won't be too busy. These options all sound great and would be totally doable for us.

Nice to know that we won't be tied to reservation times AND stuck with only counter service options!:mickey:

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

We just ate at the new restaurant on the BoardWalk, the old Cat Cora's (previously Spoodles) and is now Fortuna. You might be able to get a walk up there. It didn't look overly busy the night we were there, but we had an ADR and got right in.

I thought we were there at a non-peak time, but I heard a lot of "we are not taking standby reservations" including Whispering Canyon on our last night, and to some poor kindly older gentleman who thought he could walk up at Ohana and get a table for two. He was pointed towards Kona Cafe.

[Janmac]

Marrakesh at Morocco in Epcot will likely take walk-ups, as well as the others mentioned. Marrakesh is one of our hidden gems.

We were at the World the third week of January and managed to eat two or three times at resorts and Downtown Disney (Fulton's) without advance reservations. We didn't use the phone app, we just walked up and asked.

One evening during this week, we saw Spice Road at Morocco was nearly empty. It was a chilly evening but servers were lighting the heaters.

Also, we were at the Swan on Friday for the seafood buffet at the Garden Grove. We had a 5:30 reservation and the restaurant was nearly empty til after 6 pm.

Parenthetically, I don't know that we'd go back to the Garden Grove. The food was ok with maybe fewer choices than we expected. Goofy, Pluto and Chip & Dale were there with great character interaction at the tables with kids - it was fun to watch. Service was prompt. Something seemed lacking; we're still trying to figure that out.

Less popular, large and non-park works best.

Jan