31 Days to go and no ADRs

[CTDisneyFan]

Ok, we are not using the dining plan and did not want our vacation to be dictated by dinner time/places. Last time we visited it did not seem like a problem getting into Disney Restaurants, even at the last minute. However, I just called to schedule a reservation for dinner and they were booked for the entire week. I am starting to panic that I will be confined to counter service the entire trip. We have a rental car and could eat off site at Denny's for Breakfast and Olive garden for Dinner, but I do not know what else is around that we could go. Does anyone have some suggestions or ideas of places to eat off-site that are relatively close?

 

[raidermatt]

Can't help you with offsite, but a few suggestions for on-site:

1- Think about trying sit downs for lunch and counter service for dinner. Lunch is a little easier to book.

2- Check with guest services at the park you are in and they can check with all of the table service restaurants for available openings.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Yeah, I hear you. We decided on a last-minute trip that begins 4/28 and ends 5/5, and I haven't had any luck at all with ADRs in the parks -- for any times.

We have, however, had good luck with ADRs at resort restaurants. Just booked a Jiko dinner today for 5/2, and they openings on 5/3, too. A couple weeks ago, I was able to score 1900 Park Fare over at the Grand Floridian for dinner.

Breakfasts can easily be done on your way into the parks, or you can buy some dry breakfast foods and supplement them with a fruit cup in the parks. The CS options at lunchtime have vastly improved, IMO, over the 30 years I've been going to WDW. Funny, in the past couple years, I've traded out some of my "must-do" TS lunches for "must-do" CS lunches.

Dinners you can try the resorts, which are so entertaining themselves -- for us, anyway -- more CS (easy to do in Epcot!) or just head off site after a day at the parks. We're trying Bahama Breeze and Fishbones (not Bonefish) this trip based on friends' referrals who live in the area. We also LOVE the restaurants over at Citywalk at Universal, which you should not need ressies at the time of year you're going -- well, at most of the places. Emerils and Tchoup Chop you'd want ressies for, but Hard Rock Cafe, Latin Quarter, Bubba Gump's, O'Brien's and NBA City you shouldn't need ressies for.

 

[Luv4Disney]

Try for lunch. I just called (we're going 4/29 - 5/6) for an ADR at Alfredo's for lunch. Got my choice of times too. Keep trying, you never know when a cancellation may happen.

 

[Bob P]

Another couple of thoughts:

The restaurants at the resorts are often available after the restaurants in the theme parks are booked solid. Have you tried any of the resort restaurants?

Have you tried your second, third, or tenth choice for dinner?

Are you flexible with dining times...for example, can you eat dinner at 4:30? Or 8:30?

 

[MickeyNicki]

I suggest trying anything, we like alot of resort restaurants and sometimes they are easier to get into than park TS. IF you are going to MGM or EPcot and cannot get into any TS places there try going to the Boardwalk, BC or YC and see if there are any openings there.

Same thing with MK, check out GF or the Poly for places.

 

[Kae]

Which places were you trying for? Maybe they are the more popular places. We leave in 25 days & I did pretty good. And I called last week & got Crystal Palace for Breakfast on Mothers Day.

Kae

 

[honeybee30]

I just called today to make some changes to my pre-existing ADRs and to add several new ones. I didn't have any trouble adding Raglan Road or Kona Cafe for dinner, and we're only about 30 days out.

I can imagine that some of the super popular restaurants are booked, but as others have said, many resort & DTD restaurants should have ADRs still available.

If I were going to eat off-site, I'd check out I-Drive, but I'd seriously consider making some reservations for on-site restaurants. Why spend time driving around looking for someplace to eat? That seems more stressful than building a few TS meals into my intinerary, IMHO.