Steakhouse 71 Closed All Day at Disney's Contemporary Resort, and Disney's Own Calendar Shows It Back Open on Monday

Steakhouse 71 did not open today, and Disney has not said why.

WDW News Today reported on Sunday afternoon that the restaurant at Disney's Contemporary Resort was showing as closed, and that guests were reporting canceled reservations. Disney's own dining data confirms the closure and adds detail the reporting so far has not: the closure stops at the restaurant's front door, and no other date this month is marked closed.

The Steakhouse 71 dining room. Image: Disney

What Disney's calendar actually says

Pull the schedule for Walt Disney World dining on Sunday, September 6, and Steakhouse 71 comes back with a single entry: closed, all day, with no operating window attached at all. Run the same query for Monday, September 7, and it returns to its normal 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. The same is true for September 8 and for the following Sunday, September 13.

So as far as Disney's own systems are concerned, this is a one day event. That is a schedule, not a promise, and schedules move. But nothing in the data suggests a longer closure is planned, and there is no refurbishment notice posted on the restaurant's page.

The dining availability calendar as captured Sunday morning. The diagonal slash on September 6 is the legend's Closed marker. Image: WDW News Today

One thing worth untangling on that calendar. September 7 and September 13 both carry the circle slash icon, which the legend defines as "No Reservations Available," and that is a different thing from the diagonal slash on the 6th. Disney's operating record lists Steakhouse 71 as operating on both of those dates. A booking that cannot be made is not the same as a restaurant that is not open, and only one date this month is marked closed.

The detail that narrows it down

Steakhouse 71 is the only place to eat at the Contemporary that is closed today. The rest of the resort's dining is running its usual hours, among them California Grill from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Contempo Cafe from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Contemporary Grounds from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Outer Rim from 11 a.m. to midnight, and both The Sand Bar and Cove Bar from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Chef Mickey's is serving as well, though it runs as a breakfast and dinner buffet rather than straight through the day.

The Steakhouse 71 Lounge is open from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Disney presents the lounge as part of the Steakhouse 71 offering, giving it its own section on the restaurant's page, and Disney's map places their two pins about 30 feet apart. That argues against the explanations that would take down a whole building or one corner of it, a water outage, a power failure, a fire alarm. It does not establish what did close the dining room.

The entrance corridor at Steakhouse 71, in an undated file photo. Image: WDW News Today

What nobody knows yet

The cause. Disney has issued no statement, and neither outlet reporting the closure has one. WDW News Today wrote that "no explanation has been given for the closure, but commenters are theorizing that it's probably something maintenance-related," which is worth reading as exactly what it says: readers guessing, not a source.

The canceled reservations are on slightly softer ground than the closure itself. The only specific account in the reporting is a Walt Disney World subreddit post that has since been deleted, plus one commenter saying the same thing had happened to them. KennythePirate also reported the closure on Sunday, saying it had heard reports of guests being notified their reservations were canceled, without saying where those reports came from. The closure is solid, and multiple outlets and Disney's own calendar agree on it. Treat the cancellations as guest reports rather than a confirmed count.

Steakhouse 71 opened during Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary in the space that had been The Wave... of American Flavors, and it normally serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you have a reservation this week, the calendar says you are fine from Monday. If you were booked for today, check My Disney Experience, because Disney has not said anything about the reservations that were on the books.

Sources

• WDW News Today, "Steakhouse 71 Unexpectedly Closed at Disney's Contemporary Resort"
• KennythePirate, "Disney World abruptly cancels dining reservations"
• Walt Disney World, "Steakhouse 71"
• Walt Disney World, "Steakhouse 71 Lounge"

Image credits: Steakhouse 71 dining room by Disney. Calendar screenshot and entrance photo by WDW News Today.