adr confusion!!!

[fixiepixie]

iwas at wdw in aug for the 1st time and im goin next aug
my last trip i didnt really no we had 2make adr's (hadn't discovered the wonder of forums )and didnt get any good places to eat.
i dont understand why we have to book so far in advance for a meal cant we just make them when we get there???

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

Here are the facts:

Anyone can make ADRs for WDW restaurants 180 days in advance.

Disney does not charge for ADRs (with a couple of exceptions).

The booming popularity of the Dining Plan has made seating at table service restaurants very hard to get.

The most popular restaurants have always booked up quickly.

Early August is a very busy time of year at WDW (I'm not sure what part of August you are going).

So........you can try to make them when you arrive, but just be flexible. That means be prepared to eat at off times in the least popular places. Or be prepared to eat fast food when all the sit-down restaurnats are booked solid!

 

[Mickiethepooh]

iwas at wdw in aug for the 1st time and im goin next aug
my last trip i didnt really no we had 2make adr's (hadn't discovered the wonder of forums )and didnt get any good places to eat.
i dont understand why we have to book so far in advance for a meal cant we just make them when we get there???

You said yourself, you did not know any better and you could not get any good places to eat. So obviously you cannot just make them when you get there. I mean you can try, and you might get lucky on some places but you might not too.
There are only so many places at Disney and there are many thousands of people going there every day. Most know they need to make ADRs way out or at least before they arrive.
If you don't you don't eat or you eat whereever you can find.

I really don't see what there is to not understand here supply and demand plain and simple.

 

[disnut8]

Yes, it is difficult to figure out six months in advance where you would like to eat. But if not eating counter service food for all your meals is important, then you really do have to make some reservations. There are some restaurants that will not have openings for months - LeCellier is one of them. It depends on what you want and when you want it. If you call the day you want LeCellier and expect a 6:00 dinner, you aren't going to get it. However, if you call the day you want, say, Yacht Club Galley which isn't as popular, you will more than likely have your choice of dining times. It also depends on your party size. The larger the party, the more difficult it is to get into a restuarant with no reservations.

My husband really didn't like having to be at a certain place at a certain time just to eat. Neither did my in-laws. But once they saw many people being turned away because they had no reservations, they understood.

Making a reservation is free (with a few exceptions). If you don't show up for your reservation, you won't get charged (again, with few exceptions). You can always make reservations and then change your mind later. However, it is common courtesy to call and cancel your reservation to free up the table(s) for another party.

Just as an example - we're going in a couple of weeks. It's the Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend. Of course, Thanksgiving dinner has to be reserved 180 days out. But I made a reservation just a few weeks ago for Saturday night at the Biergarten for two people. I did have a couple of different times to choose from. But if I had tried that with LeCellier, there's no way we would have gotten anything.

 

[Luv2Roam]

There are thousands of guests willing to make ADRs to secure places and times they want.
No one has to. Without ADRs be prepared to be very flexible on when, where and what you eat besides counter service.

 

[daisyduck123]

i dont understand why we have to book so far in advance for a meal cant we just make them when we get there???

WDW is the most popular vacation destination on the planet. Thousands & thousands of people dine there every day.