What is Going on With Dining??

[mjaclyn]

DH and I have been calling and calling trying to get into mulitple restaurants for weeks now. There seems to be nothing available for almost any restaurant - we've tried Le Cellier, Teppan Edo, Tusker House, Cali Grill and others but can't seem to get in anywhere. We're leaving for our trip a week from today and still no luck with a few of the ones we'd really like to get into. I'm just wondering...is it because of free dining that all the restaurants are booked up? I thought it would be a perfect time to go because the kids will just be going back to school. Will it be super crowded?

[RockinRollerMom]

Free Dining bookes up most of the ADR's FAST. You are also looking to eat at some of the more popular restaurants. I would suggest looking at the menus again and trying to book some ADR's at some not so popular places. You may even need to do some lunches to be able to get into some places. Some suggestions that come to mind are the Grand Floridian Cafe at the GF, Kona Cafe at the Poly, Cape May clambake buffet at the BC, or the Wave at CR. Keep on trying for the ressies that you want, you never know, things do open up. Good luck and have a great trip!

[Strmchsr]

"Free" dining has become an extremely popular discount. The crowds are much bigger than they used to be in September, but still not horrible, but pretty much every person going is on the DDP meaning the restaurants are super-packed. I agree with RockinRollerMom that your chances of getting into those places are pretty slim. Just see what is available and maybe you'll get lucky on something.

[SBETigg]

The free dining books the restaurants but does not reflect crowd levels. It's not impossible to get those ADRs but it does make it tough.

My strategy would be a) to plan out when I want to eat and what park I will be in, then call and ask what is available for those times. The CM will give you the options that do have space and you might get some pleasant surprises in trying new places and b) keep calling right up until the dining time to try for cancellations. You can always cancel an ADR in favor of availability at one of your top choices. If you're not a planner as far as knowing where you'll be when, then maybe you can wing and see what is open as long as you're willing to use your TS credits on CS if nothing comes up as available (which does happen during this very popular dining period). Best wishes!

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I just cancelled two ADRs last week because we had multiples for the same night. And then I moved our Kona up an hour earlier which hadn't been possible a short time ago as they didn't have anything at all available. So I'd keep trying and things will be opening up as everyone makes their final selections.