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[Queen Elsa]

We are staying in the New York hotel mid September and have a full board meal plan for myself, hubby and daughter. Our son will only be 13 months so nothing booked for him obviously. I keep reading about people making table reservations before they go, is this really necessary or is it easy enough to do on a mo pruning when we know what we fancy for the day. Also do you need to make reservations for lunch and dinner? I'm guessing as we don't have a meal plan for our son, we are allowed to just give him bits from our plates?

[Mileto]

It's good to make a reservation if you would like to eat in one of the popular restaurants - Auberge, Garden Plaza, Agrabah Cafe .....

September is not so busy, but a reservation will give you more calmness. I have seen in 2013 huge queues in front of Garden Plaza.

[never2old]

If you're going for a few days, and have some flexibility with your meals, I wouldn't worry about booking anything before you go. We usually book most our meals directly in the hotel when we arrive. It's only the character meals (Inventions, Cafe Mickey) that can be fully booked, so if you have a few days (and times) to choose from don't worry too much about it.

Yes, you son can eat from your plates in the table service and fast food places; in the buffets you can just take what you want for him.

We usually book lunch and dinner, because we welcome a nice break, and because it saves a lot of hassle... Particularly with children, you really don't want to start looking around for somewhere to eat!!

You can't book the fast food places, so if you just want a smaller bite for one of the meals of the day, I would simply say avoid the peak hours between 12 and 2 (though except on weekends, mid September should be fairly quiet), and make sure you know which restaurants are open (too many seem to close during quieter times!!) so you don't end up rushing from one end of the park to another for your meal...

Oh, for dinner, remember that you can also have room service in the New York 

[LotsoHugginBear]

I was always one of these guys saying that you don't need a reservation in advance. But during both of my last visits it was nearly impossible to get something to eat - ques were awfully long.  From 11.30 until 15.00 it was impossible to get a table at a buffet or table service restaurant at Disneyland Park. At Blue lagoon they have closed the waiting line. All counters were so crowded that you have to wait a full hour until you get something to eat.
We decided to leave and get something in the village but this wasn't easy as well. We ended up at Planet Hollywood around 15.00 in an awful mood because we have spending two hours finding a restaurant.

So please make reservations!

[Andybear]

I was always one of these guys saying that you don't need a reservation in advance. But during both of my last visits it was nearly impossible to get something to eat - ques were awfully long.  From 11.30 until 15.00 it was impossible to get a table at a buffet or table service restaurant at Disneyland Park. At Blue lagoon they have closed the waiting line. All counters were so crowded that you have to wait a full hour until you get something to eat.
We decided to leave and get something in the village but this wasn't easy as well. We ended up at Planet Hollywood around 15.00 in an awful mood because we have spending two hours finding a restaurant.

So please make reservations!

What time of year did you go? 

[Queen Elsa]

Thanks guys

We are there for 5 days so I think we will wait and make our reservations when we arrive. We are going mid September so I'm guessing it's not  going to be hugely crazy busy

[LotsoHugginBear]

One trip was end of may and the other one was last week, exactly Sunday 22.6. - 24.6.
Sunday was really ok, tuesday as well but monday has been terrible, my worst day at Disney   

[gemma2806]

I never used to make reservations until I got to the resort and that included going in the school holidays once in August and I never had a problem UNTIL Disney introduced the dining plans!

The dining plans have in my opinion done to DLP what they have done to WDW. I no longer feel you can just turn up or book in resort as most of the restaurants are now used by a lot more people on the dining plans.

I went last November and it was REALLY quiet, no queues for any of the rides etc but I decided for safety's sake to book my restaurants just under 2 months in advance and I was SO glad I did. Every restaurant that accepted dining plan vouchers had queues and in some cases people were being turned away! The only exception to this was the restaurants that don't accept reservations such as Rainforest cafe (not on dining plans), Planet Hollywood (not on dining plans) and Annette's Diner.

My advice if you don't want to book in advance is where possible to eat your main meal in the table service restaurants at lunch as they were relatively quiet then but heaving in the evenings.

Also remember that off peak such as September only certain restaurants are open which means everyone on the plans will be eating at the same restaurants.

Hope to helps