ADR for every night?

[skibum25]

Do you book ADR for every night in Disney? We are staying at GF in a CL room in July and I don't want to be tied down every night. We are staying 8 nights and as of now I only have 4 ADR's. I have boys that are 9 & 4 and am not sure if dragging them back out to dinner every night after being at the park all day will be prudent. Where do you eat on nights you do not have an ADR?

 

[idoeyes1]

You don't have to make them just for dinner. If you want to do a character breakfast or lunch in a park that is a sit down it's never a bad idea to make a reservation!

 

[AngelFace]

If you are unsure of a meal, you can make the reservation and then cancel if you can't make it or don't want to. Then at least you have options.

There are some great counter services like Earl of Sandwich, and you can eat some meals in you CL lounge.

For our trip, we have ADRs so far for all days but the last. And the the previous poster suggested, more than half of those are for lunch and breakfast.

 

[skibum25]

If you are unsure of a meal, you can make the reservation and then cancel if you can't make it or don't want to. Then at least you have options.

There are some great counter services like Earl of Sandwich, and you can eat some meals in you CL lounge.

For our trip, we have ADRs so far for all days but the last. And the the previous poster suggested, more than half of those are for lunch and breakfast.

How far in advance do you have to cancel a reservation?

I'm planning most if not all of our breakfasts will be in the CL lounge as you suggested. I'm going to get my monies worth!!

I'm conflicted about lunch since I want to stay flexible and allow us to decide while we are in WDW what park we want to go to the day before. We will also be hitting both water parks and I want to be sure those days are chosen based on weather.

Depending on the cancellation policy, maybe I'll go book some more dinner reservations at the least... Thanks!!

 

[TDC Nala]

Do you have a dining plan? If not, you don't have to make ADRs every night - you would probably only need to make them at restaurants you know you want to go to, or ultrapopular ones like 'Ohana. If you want any character meals you should probably make reservations for those, too.

How far in advance do you have to cancel a reservation?

If the reservation is at a dinner show or CRT, you pay for that reservation when you make it, and you have until 24-48 hours before to cancel (I forget which). If your reservation requires a credit card hold (Akershus, California Grill, Fantasmic Dining Package) you have until 24-48 hours before to cancel without penalty. Otherwise, there is no cancellation deadline and no cancellation penalty.

 

[skibum25]

Do you have a dining plan? If not, you don't have to make ADRs every night - you would probably only need to make them at restaurants you know you want to go to, or ultrapopular ones like 'Ohana.

No dining plan. What are good places to eat that do not need ADR in the middle of July? I'd rather do that then make a bunch of ADR's that I don't know I'll make.

 

[baler31]

Well....Unfortunately the way Disney has structured their restaurants with the Dining Plan people make tons of ADR's to make sure they are able to use their credits so most places will not be available for walk ups. If you want a meal beyond the CL evening offerings or don't want Quick service you will most likely need ADR's in July.

Other than the ressie's that require a credit card to book (like CRT) there is no penalty for not cancelling which is why so many places are booked. I believe it is common courtesy to give at least 24hrs cancellation notice but that is just me.

I would book the places you may wish to dine at. At GF your options without ADR's would be Gasparillas counter service (not my person al fav) or In room dining (very good and available 24hrs at GF). Our strategy: we stay CL and love the evening offerings. We also alway take a long afternoon break to swim, shop, etc. We then head back out for late ADR's in a resort or pref. the park we are going to at night. We usually share meals for dinner this way, with 2 adults and 2 kids we typically order 2 adult meals as my kids don't care for the children's offerings. This works well for us but is a must in the heat of the summer, we tour in the AM and PM hours when it is cooler. Our kids are more rested this way as well. Good Luck

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

We had the DDP & had an ADR for 6 of our 7 nights. Next time we go, we will probably make a few breakfast reservations. It was nice to take an afternoon nap & then have a relaxing dinner. However, it was hard to actually make it to the nighttime events at all of the parks. We managed to see everything though!

 

[traylorc]

No dining plan. What are good places to eat that do not need ADR in the middle of July? I'd rather do that then make a bunch of ADR's that I don't know I'll make.

Wow....it just depends.

I mean my choices for a counter service meal (meals that don't require ADRs) may depend on what park I was attending. If I'm in Epcot I would head to Sunshine Seasons. It's a great food court with everything from sandwiches, salads, noodles, pork chops, and chicken. If I were in Magic Kingdom I would head to Cosmic Rays and grab a burger and chicken & ribs. If I were in Animal Kingdom I would go to Flametree Barbeque.

 

[tinkstyle]

We always make ADR's for both breakfast and dinner for everyday we are there. It sure does make life easier when we have it all planned out.

 

[clanmcculloch]

When we stay CL we book a few late breakfast or early lunch ADRs and that's it. Well, we might do one or two dinners but those would only be at restaurants that don't serve lunch such as 'Ohana or for Cinderella at 1900PF or Garden Grill or Cape May seafood buffet. We get breakfast from the lounge every day. The way we tour, we always go back to our resort for the afternoon whether we stay CL or not but when we do, we're already at the resort when the food's being put out so we just go up and get some food. If the food in the CL lounge doesn't seem substantial enough then we can grab a CS meal or two to split. This hasn't actually happend though. Typically we've eaten big lunches so when the food's put out, we really just want small amounts and a full dinner's too much. We do go back later for dessert as well. Of course. Gotta have those desserts. LOL

 

[dvcdisney]

We always make ADR's for both breakfast and dinner for everyday we are there. It sure does make life easier when we have it all planned out.

That's what we usually do. Some of the days, we have booked an early lunch instead of breakfast. But we have at least 2 TS meals per day. I actually find this less stressful since we already have a reservation and we don't need to walk all over the place looking for some place to dine. Also, we, absolutely, do not like CS restaurants for meals and get very cranky if we have to eat in one. However, we will usually get quick snacks between our TS meals like Dole Whip Floats or Tiramisu from Starring Rolls .

 

[SnipsNSnails]

We make one each day but we're on the DDP. It's usually dinner but one day it's lunch at Le Cellier. We'll be there 7 nights.