ADR nessesary at the end of January?

[Kimo26]

Does anyone think we can get by on luck at the end of January and get into some of the nicer dining venues as walkins? Party of two. Jan. 26th thru the 2nd.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

You may be OK at some of the resort restaurants, and in the parks if you eat early or late. But there will be some highly-desirable restaurants that always need an ADR. For example, Le Cellier, CRT breakfast, 1900 dinner, and others.

Why not make two or three that you don't want to miss, and play it by ear for the others?

 

[jfinke]

Does anyone think we can get by on luck at the end of January and get into some of the nicer dining venues as walkins? Party of two. Jan. 26th thru the 2nd.

We will be there that time as well - party of 2. I just called and got all the times that I wanted without any trouble except for Tony's Town Square because it is under rehab.

 

[TexasTodds]

There are definitely still dining times out there for that week.

We will also be there the 26th-Feb 2nd. Since we are a group of 6 (3 adults and 3 kids) I did make ADR's since I was mostly interested in Character meals. I am still fine-tuning my list of activities, and have pretty much been able to get what I wanted. The only exception was today, when I was trying to move Garden Grill (Epcot) to Wed, 1/30 for Dinner. It was completely booked, but I was able to make an early reservation for Coral Reef. That seemed really strange to me, since I have heard it is one of the harder ones to get.

I'm sure that for two it will be pretty easy. Good Luck and happy dining!

 

[bicker]

That's typically when we travel. Last time, there was absolutely nothing available for dinner at any of the MK restaurants by late afternoon.

 

[Cee]

My DD and I were just there Dec. 7-14. We called from the resort every day
to see what was available. We were able to get ADRs at the last minute for
Yachtsman Steakhouse, California Grille(table by the window!), Boma and Olivia's. We also walked right into Raglan Road on a Saturday afternoon and
were immediately seated. I never get ADRs ahead of time. We fly by the seat
of our pants and it's great!

 

[tink2]

We'll be there the exact same time too- Jan 26- Feb 2 at POFQ. We did go ahead and make adrs though- we have a party of 7 and made character meal adrs for the kids- Chef Mickeys, CRT, Crystal Palace. I like making ADRs so I know I have the time I want- but if you only have a party of 2, it would be easier.
Good luck to you and see you there!!!

 

[Disney_luvin_family]

We go in January a lot and we've never had a problem getting a dinning reservation from our hotel room the morning of the reservation FOR THE AVERAGE PLACES...Last time we went there we even got a Dinning res. for Cinderella's castle for a late breakfast THE DAY BEFORE we wanted to go there!!! NOW, I am not saying that you won't have a problem getting into some places if you don't have an ADR, BUT there will PROBABLY be restaurants available in most areas of Disney for a party of 2 around the approx. times that you'd like. We are a party of 4 and we only make two reservations every time we go (and we're there for 11 days most trips!). BUT we go in the "slow season"...we still manage to eat one sit down meal each day and we get two or three charictor meals in...ONLY one of which is because of an ADR. We've always had the magic your way with hopper and dinning package and we've never had a problem using all of our sit down meals in Jan. with only 1 or two ADR's made before we leave on our trip.
My family is also the "fly by the seat of our pants" type of family and when we're at Disney we "go as we feel like it." We don't like to have the reservations for dinning because we feel rushed to get somewhere. I think that because we are the way we are, if we had dinning reservations every day we actually would have a worse trip!

 

[CharmedLife]

I think it depends on how flexible you are with where and when you want to eat. If you want some of the "nicer" places and have your heart set on those, then I would make some ADR's just in case - you can always cancel them if need be. But if you're just a "go with the flow" person, and won't be upset if you can't get in someplace or have to eat really early or really late, then wait.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We were at WDW from Feb 1-6 last year, just DH and I, and we saw people turned away at every restaurant we went to, except the California Grill. No one asked while we were waiting to go upstairs, but then again, it's not really a place you would walk up to.

People turned away from Boma (opening time, 5:00, I think?), Teppanyaki (late lunch, and they were not taking walkups the rest of the day), and the Coral Reef (early dinner, 4:30 or 5).

 

[Aliceacc]

Just a thought:

Why not make ADRs now, just in case. Each morning of your trip, re-evaluate. If you can get something else, cancel and take the new ressies. If not, you're still covered.

It gives you the best of both worlds: spontenaity and great meals.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

We were there for a very slow week mid December. Very light crowds but Le Cellier, Le Chef's and Brown Derby were booked all week, as I tried to move my parents.

My gut feeling is anything inside the park is going to be difficult same day while some resorts restaurants might be easier.

I think the changes in the DDP might have some affect.

 

[n2mm]

I don't know if you need them to eat, but I have all of mine. I want to eat a specific places at the times and days I want. I prefer not to make any discussions while on vacation so do it all before I arrive. Since we are not doing the DDP this trip (because of the 2008 changes), I still have my favorite places booked. We do one TS a day (lunch or dinner). We will be there January 26-Feb. 4. We did manage to get an ADR at the 50s Prime Time since they are being refub and reopen on Feb. 2. I was there the end of January a couple of years ago and wanted to eat at Chef Mickeys and there was not a day available for the entire week. I always make my ADRs for every trip.

 

[katiesmom2]

We are going Jan. 18-25 and I made my dining reservations last week. I couldn't get 1900 Park Fair for dinner at all, unless I wanted to take an 8:30 pm slot. I had trouble getting Chef Mickey's and had to rearrange our schedule. I was able to get the Norway princess breakfast, Teppan Edo dinner and Crystal Palace dinner with no problems.

If you are set on certain times/restaurants, why not go ahead and book? You can always take a chance, but you may be disappointed.

 

[MFLetou]

I'm going 13-17 and tried to book ADR's last week. Le Cell was unavailable for dinner our entire stay, I did get one lunch ADR but only because there was a cancellation and I got lucky.