"Day of" Reservations

[Revan]

We just got back and I was amazed at the day of reservations we were able to pull off. The new ADR policy is definitely easing the burden on restaurants. I was able to book a reservation for Chefs de France for 24 the day before (we booked three reservations for 8), a reservation for Tutto Italia for 16 they day of, and walk in to Via Nappoli for lunch for 13. We were also able to walk into Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom for dinner with 20. These all were between December 5 - 8, EPCOT wasn't ridiculously busy - but Soarin and Test Track were 30 - 50 minute waits - so the parks weren't dead.

 

[TDC Nala]

Might be interesting to note that none of the restaurants mentioned by the OP are subject to the new policy regarding credit card guarantees for ADRs. So I'm not sure that's the reason the OP could get the reservations they wanted for such large parties.

 

[Colleen27]

30 to 50 min at Soarin is about as dead as you'll ever see. We travel at some of the slowest times of year and still see longer waits than that most of the time!

I find it interesting that every ADR score is now being attributed to the new policy, whether or not it involved a restaurant effected by said policy.

 

[Revan]

Well, I'm the OP...

I didn't realize that not all restaurants were subject to the new ADR policy, so I'm wondering why I was able to get prime time reservations for those restaurants.
While I agree that the parks are busier at different times of the year - this is the third year in a row I've been down and I wouldn't say the parks were dead - I've been in October (walk on all day long). I'd say the crowd levels were probably a 4 or 5 out of 10 (also, this was Pop Warner week).

Maybe the new policy has changed reservation behavior in general.

 

[TDC Nala]

The only restaurants affected are Disney-operated restaurants featuring either signature dining or character meals (although it does apply to non-signature or character meals at the same restauants - like Le Cellier lunch or 'Ohana dinner). It does not apply to every restaurant at WDW. There's a sticky thread on the board with the full restaurant list.

30 minute waits for Soarin' are really very low crowds - Soarin rarely goes below an hour except when it's first opened for the day. Pop Warner is not a presence in the parks until after they finish competing.

 

[mom2rtk]

My own theory is that park traffic was down in early December because the cold weather from last year scared people away this year. We were tempted to bail on December ourselves but are so glad we didn't! Of course, that is based on absolutely nothing scientific except my own observations and reports of low crowds I've seen here since getting home.