ADR's required for early Feb trip?

[heidia]

We're going Feb 4-14, it's off season so I'm hoping for low crowds! Will I still need to make ADR's? Honestly, I'd prefer to do make them but I'm traveling with a group and nobody will commit to anything at this point. I barely convinced them that we should make HOTEL reservations, so restaurant ressies are really pushing it with these guys!

None of us are foodies so we don't care about eating in the fancy, hot spots. The places I'm considering are Sci Fi (looks cool!), Whispering Canyon, Beaches and Cream, Big River Grille, etc. (we're boring eaters!)

And for the most part I imagine we'll only be eating lunch and possible early dinners there as we are staying offsite.

so what do you think? Should we be ok flying by the seat of our pants or should I start kicking their butts and convince them we NEED ADR's?!

 

[MickeyNicki]

We went Feb 8-11 2007 and we did not need ressies for Cape May or Spoodles (but we had them anyways). We also had breakfast ressies at CP and lunch at Le Cellier, they were necessary because the place was packed.

We did make a ressie for Yachtsman but cancelled it for Cape May Clam Bake, somehow the CM made the ressie for March instead of Feb but since we were there right when they opened a different CM took pity on us and sat us right away but she did tell us they were sold out for the night.

I am a firm believer in making ADRs..better safe then sorry

 

[helenabear]

Eh, if you aren't foodies, then I wouldn't worry near as much. I had some and definitely did NOT need them last time I went for my birthday (early Feb). We did miss out on Sci Fi for lunch, but we got there right at opening and they had just seated everyone, though there were a TON of room they had for walk ups. So if you want a few places, just show up a little early. We could've waited, but decided to go to Mama Melrose's instead. Walked right in there.

If you have any "must haves" I'd do it, but otherwise I wouldn't worry at all.

 

[itchin2go]

If you want to eat at table service restaurants, and ESPECIALLY, if you have some in mind already, I think you WILL be disappointed if you don't make ADRs. I would go ahead and make them and if you need to cancel or change them, you always have that option. We had pretty good luck booking SOME ADRs during our stay (as opposed to booking prior), but you can't count on anything. Whispering Canyon for instance -- we could NOT get an ADR there EVER! Artist Point? No problem. WC was booked solid.

 

[mcco5543]

do you care about waiting for up to a couple hours or not getting to eat at the places you mentioned? If you do care about waiting a very long time or being turned away then yes ADR's are absolutly necessary. If you don't care where you eat or how long it takes to get a table. Or you just want to do counter services....go ahead and skip ADR's

 

[surfergrl31]

Oh I had a very similar situation last year nobody we went with wanted to make ADR's so they wouldn't feel rushed or anything like that. Since we went that last/first week of Feb/March I wasn't too worried, but then a week before our trip panic set in. I decided to make ADR's for our dinner resrvations and just not tell them about it. I'm so glad I did because there were many nights we saw people being turned away because they were booked.

If you have some favorites that you really want to hit and don't want to spend time waiting I would make some tentative reservations and not tell anyone. Then if you don't need them you can cancel them by using any phone in the park, hotel and possible even change it to a better one.

If you don't use them then fine, but when everyone is hungry and ready to eat you can just so happen to have made a reservation. You will look like the hero!

 

[heidia]

Thanks for replies..

I'm not going to be heartbroken if I can't get into any of the places, to me its just food, no biggie! I just worry that as a large group (8 or 9) we'll have a problem finding ANY TS's that could squeeze us in last minute.

I think I will go ahead and make a few and then cancel later if need be. I like that idea of being the "hero"...

 

[yearbook50]

Thanks for replies..

I'm not going to be heartbroken if I can't get into any of the places, to me its just food, no biggie! I just worry that as a large group (8 or 9) we'll have a problem finding ANY TS's that could squeeze us in last minute.

I think I will go ahead and make a few and then cancel later if need be. I like that idea of being the "hero"...

I had to make reservations for 10 during that time thanks to my rehearsal dinner & welcome breakfast - I already had a limited number of times even though i called 180 days out.

With that big of group, make them.