Do you ever make a reservation at a restaurant only to drop it later?

[Anchored]

Yes but we live about 75 minutes away.
I have an Oga's Cantina for this Saturday, but since we were able to go twice this weekend (Thanks to low crowds from Hurricane Dorian) I will likely cancel that sometime this week. Quite often I find that I have booked something that won't work out for us (a kid has a game, a birthday party comes up etc) and I will drop a reservation.

 

[gharter]

Has happened several times.
Usually we cancel the day before.
When my wife felt sick, we did cancel the day of.
There are times where ADRs and FPs conflict and then you have to decide which is more important.

 

[Lmichele]

I wish someone would cancel CRT or ARBH ... but no luck yet. You'd be making a four year old princesse's first trip to DW even more magical.

But on topic...I have booked and cancelled as well. Sometimes it is just hard to figure out every day 180 days out and the fact things can change while your there too.

 

[gharter]

Our next trip is a group of 4 of us. We have changed ADRs several times. The ADRs are done and then somebody talks the group into going some where else. Once we have the new ADR, the old is cancelled. Recently dropped Flying Fish for Takumi-Tei.

 

[jventur3]

Yes. In the initial planning stages I'll make a few "possible" reservations and generally end up moving or cancelling them when our plans get more concrete. We mostly stick with our favorite restaurants, so it's hard for us to commit to a new place. We originally had a reservation for Narcoossee's (we've never been) for our upcoming trip, but reviews are so-so and we ended up cancelling to do a day of F&W and end the night with the Frozen Dessert Party.

This sounds like us for sure. I will say give Narcoossee s a try at some point. I think you ll enjoy it - one of my wife s favorite restaurants. Although, your cancellation plans (F&W and dessert party) are hard to beat.

 

[jventur3]

All. The. Time. Our dining plans changes thirty times between reservation day and when we actually go, sometimes even when we are onsite. I will say that we eat at the Boathouse almost every time and we really like it. One note though, we pay OOP (we always get the dining plan) as, while the food is excellent, it (and I would argue most) isn’t worth two credits.

You may have sold me to try the Boathouse at least once.

 

[jventur3]

Since ADR day opens before FP day & because park hours often change....yes, I've been known to cancel or change ADRs. Its people like the OP that make it possible to book hard to get ADRs the day before for people like me...so thanks!

There's no location that I'm not so scared as to not try at least once...but, of the OPs list, I will say Il Mulino was a one & done for me, unless possibly I was staying at Swan & going downstairs to dinner outweighed the experience.

I find many of the restaurants over hyped on the Dis & just leads to disappointment.

If you're gun shy, then plan to book just one or two new locations to try & space them far apart during the trip. Then they'll neither make or ruin your trip. Enjoy!

One trip, DH looked at me on next to last day & said 'what, no Mickey waffles this trip?' I didn't know this was a thing...made last minute last morning ADR for cape may...
I will say, DH doesn't love WDW but goes occasionally for my sake. His least favorite part is saying 6 months out on a Tuesday night at 7pm, he's going to want Mexican food.

I make all the reservations at the 180 day mark and adjust as needed. My wife- like your husband - doesn't want to even think about meals until about two weeks out.

 

[angelmav]

We leave in 3 weeks and i'm still debating a couple of ADR's.

 

[Akck]

We were on the DDP and I made reservations for all our nights. Later, I realized my choices were based more on the cost of entrees at each, that is, I eliminated any restaurants that averaged less than $25 entrees. So I canceled most all reservations and changed to QSDP. I kept 1 and added another for a place we wanted to try since we’ll need to have a couple of OOP meals during our stay.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I definitely book things that I later cancel, but not because of cold feet over trying new things. It's usually just scheduling changes or something came up during the trip to make us rethink plans.

 

[Lilsia]

No. I plan what I want to do and pretty much stick to it. I had to cancel my reservation 1 time, and that was because I was not feeling good. I do a bunch of research ahead of time before I make the final choice. I like to make a decision and be done with it. Not worth the stress switching things up last minute.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Usually I stick with my reservations once I make them.

I did have to cancel one this week when I left a day early thanks to Hurricane Dorian.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

Reading this makes wonder if you can go down without any reservations and get something because of the, usual, 24 hr cancellation policy. I caught a Dreams Unlimited Vlog where they were talking about reservations and canceling. Tracey, one of the travel agents, had said the she is usually able to get a reservation at a restaurant because people will book several reservations and then cancel within 24 hrs of the reservation. Now, that's not to say she doesn't make a reservation, because I think she said she usually makes 1 or 2 before coming down. But, she's able to add a reservation because of people cancelling. Has anyone tried this before? Just curious. I think I would try and get at least one reservation but try for something else knowing people are going to be canceling.

 

[gharter]

Reading this makes wonder if you can go down without any reservations and get something because of the, usual, 24 hr cancellation policy.

If you don't care where you are eating, this would work. You can almost always find something available. It may not be at the exact time you want or the restaurant you really wanted to dine at, but something will be available.

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

Reading this makes wonder if you can go down without any reservations and get something because of the, usual, 24 hr cancellation policy. I caught a Dreams Unlimited Vlog where they were talking about reservations and canceling. Tracey, one of the travel agents, had said the she is usually able to get a reservation at a restaurant because people will book several reservations and then cancel within 24 hrs of the reservation. Now, that's not to say she doesn't make a reservation, because I think she said she usually makes 1 or 2 before coming down. But, she's able to add a reservation because of people cancelling. Has anyone tried this before? Just curious. I think I would try and get at least one reservation but try for something else knowing people are going to be canceling.

We had some reservations for our August trip, but after two awful quick service experiences*, I was done with QS so we ate more table service. We found availability within an hour - typically I made the reservation while waiting for the bus to the park.

*At a couple of QS restaurants, the seat saving was ridiculous and we wandered around with a tray of food while people held tables and didn't have food. The food was fine, although it was difficult to eat a salad with a spoon (they were out of forks) at cosmic rays.

 

[gharter]

*At a couple of QS restaurants, the seat saving was ridiculous and we wandered around with a tray of food while people held tables and didn't have food. The food was fine, although it was difficult to eat a salad with a spoon (they were out of forks) at cosmic rays.

I don't think people realized how this really screws up the system, or they don't care. If people didn't save seating, the people with food would probably be done eating about the time the others were ready to sit down with their food. We've seen the same thing at multiple QS restaurants.

 

[tguz]

I booked BoG two different days on our vacation because we weren't sure what day we would be at the MK. When we got that decided, a couple days later, I cancelled one reservation.

 

[tguz]

I don't think people realized how this really screws up the system, or they don't care. If people didn't save seating, the people with food would probably be done eating about the time the others were ready to sit down with their food. We've seen the same thing at multiple QS restaurants.

We have seen this a lot at Pecos Bill, Cosmic Ray, and Flame Tree. There was a real problem at the ABC Commissary one evening this Summer because it was pouring down rain and nobody wanted to get up from their table to leave.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

I don't think people realized how this really screws up the system, or they don't care. If people didn't save seating, the people with food would probably be done eating about the time the others were ready to sit down with their food. We've seen the same thing at multiple QS restaurants.

This would drive me bonkers and I think I'd be making some snide comments as I walked by.

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

This would drive me bonkers and I think I'd be making some snide comments as I walked by.

Oh, I was totally making comments. I'm sure my husband was totally embarrassed.

And it was the worst at Pecos Bill. I'll probably never go there again even though the food was good.

Didn't mean to derail the thread, but that was the reason we started looking for sit down restaurants and having 2 ADRs per day. It didn't make us feel tied down, since we scheduled at least one of them on very short notice.