ADRs vs Walk Up TS vs QS

[McNs]

It's our first visit to the World this year, after three years of visiting the original. We are arriving October 5th for 9 nights, split stay at POR and BC.

After the breeze that is planning at DLR, I'm a little stressed with the requirements for WDW. I have a few months before I need to worry about FP+, but have just hit our 180 day window for dining... At DLR, I usually book one meal a day then either walk up TS or QS for the balance of the meals. Can we do this at WDW? Should I be booking two meals a day? I don't know yet how much time will be split between pars and resorts - typically we will start early in the parks the swim in the afternoon before returning, all walkable at DLR (120 steps in the case of the room we had at Grand Californian once!). I don't know if we are likely to stay in the parks until later in the day then call it quits, or if it will work having afternoon swins then returning later. We have hoppers so aren't restricted.

So far I have booked 10:00am BOG on our first park day (Friday 6th) and 8:20am Akershus Monday 9th. I going to book Ohana one morning and Cape May Cafe Wednesday 11th once ADRs open there. I've looked at some of the show dining options (e.g. Rivers of Light) but my eldest daughter is now 11 so it's starting to get pricey, and we have three character meals planned.

In terms of food, we aren't fussy and don't mind cheap and easy or tasty and expensive. Are we going to have issues finding TS places? Will QS have long waits?

TIA for any help.

 

[Marthasor]

I wouldn't book 2 meals per day, particularly since you don't have solid plans for each day and want to play it by ear a little (swim in afternoon, maybe go back to parks, etc.) We go to WDW a lot and unless it's a place we REALLY want to eat, we don't make ADR's anymore. I think your idea of picking BOG, Akershus, O'hana and Cape May is a good one. There are always QS places to go to (especially in EP, the QS is quite good). You can absolutely make ADR's on the fly. The most popular places may not be available, but you will always find something. I typically go on the MDE app about 2 hours before we want to eat and see what's available in the general vicinity of where we want to be (if I know we are going to EP for instance) and then make the reservation. Sometimes I'll go on and see what's available currently and then simply walk over to the restaurant to see if we can be seated without a reservation (this has worked at BOG, Garden Grill and always works at Spice Road Table which is great and can almost always accomodate a walk-up). If there aren't places you absolutely have to go to eat, I would keep your schedule a little more fluid and not lock yourself into ADR's. Another tip, consider getting a Landry's Select Card - this will give you walk-up privileges at TRex, the Rainforest Cafe's and (more importantly to us) Yak & Yeti in AK. There are also many Swan/Dolphin and Disney Springs restaurants available to book on opentable.com.

 

[sharonabe]

In terms of food, we aren't fussy and don't mind cheap and easy or tasty and expensive. Are we going to have issues finding TS places? Will QS have long waits?

I would start perusing the QS menus either here at wdwinfo.com or at allearsnet.com (they are easier to navigate than Disney's site). Make notes of what sounds good to you and then you'll know where you WANT to go to find some food instead of just eating whatever happens to be there. There are a lot of really good QS places around WDW, so have fun!

 

[mcurran]

I would book EVERYTHING you THINK you might want to do. Book 4 or 5 meals a day. Book it all. As your trip gets closer cancel reservations you no longer will need. I can't tell you how many times our plans change as we get closer and not having that particular reservation available to you restricts your planning.

As for walking up for table service without s reservation it's typically a terrible idea. But fret not. Get savvy with the mde ap and you can often find reservations for many restaurants same day. Book on your phone on the fly. You likely won't see great times for popular restaurants but you can get quite lucky.

You're also traveling during food and wine at Epcot so lots of snack options. Watch park hours at magic kingdom during your stay - days where it closes at 6 have Halloween parties (extra ticket needed) so plan accordingly.

 

[Hopefully]

We typically book 1 TS dinner a day. We look at Touring plans crowd calendar and Easywdw Crowd Calendar and decide which park which day. Then we book an ADR in or near that park. Disney does NOT hold tables for walk ins. I agree, with well over 100 restaurants, you will be able to find somewhere to eat without an ADR. But it is likely not where you want to eat, when you want to eat. In Park, popular restaurants book to capacity months in advance. Then you are at the mercy of catching a cancellation for that restaurant.

I would book EVERYTHING you THINK you might want to do. Book 4 or 5 meals a day. Book it all. As your trip gets closer cancel reservations you no longer will need. I can't tell you how many times our plans change as we get closer and not having that particular reservation available to you restricts your planning.

As for walking up for table service without s reservation it's typically a terrible idea. But fret not. Get savvy with the mde ap and you can often find reservations for many restaurants same day. Book on your phone on the fly. You likely won't see great times for popular restaurants but you can get quite lucky.

Very bad advice. This is a truly selfish approach that most likely results in another family being unable to book any ADR's.

 

[studiojmm]

I would book EVERYTHING you THINK you might want to do. Book 4 or 5 meals a day. Book it all. As your trip gets closer cancel reservations you no longer will need. I can't tell you how many times our plans change as we get closer and not having that particular reservation available to you restricts your planning.

Can you even do that anymore? I actually enjoy the time saving step of the Disney website prompting me to cancel overlapping dining reservations when I'm switching up my plans. Just decided to switch up an Epcot and MK day and my 1:30 pm Garden Grill reservation process prompted me to cancel my 12:50 pm BOG reservation. I imagine if you scheduled lunches at 11:45 and 1:45 you might be able to hold both (and the reservation window for dinner is even bigger) but all that would just break my brain.

I can understand holding duplicates of a couple high priority dining experiences if your plans are unsure (I've got one of those for our next trip while I figure out what day we will really do it), but I agree with the previous poster that going overboard on that strategy isn't kind to others. (The fact that Disney allows 24-hour cancellations tells me that enough people are doing day-of reservations that it's not hurting them at all.)

We are lunch/snack-packers (this is allowed), so we hardly did any QS dining our last trip (plus our TS character meals were plenty big to keep us going). What I saw/did of QS lines though wasn't/didn't look awful. Also, I was able to tweak times and completely change some of our TS reservations via the app during our trip. I'm going with the same strategy on our next trip: booking the high priority experiences and planning to pack and do QS for the rest.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

You simply cannot assume you will ever be able to walk up to a TS. It could look empty and they might turn y away, but on the app you could make an ADR for half an hour later. And your dates are part of a pretty busy week at Disney. Table Service eateries, especially popular ones, book in advance to capacity, some even overbook.

 

[McNs]

Thanks for the info team!

Where I got stuck was booking for DHS - none of the TS places looked over appealing (or were too pricey), but didn't want to end up having trouble finding anywhere and the hangriness setting in.

I'll stick with ADRs for the places we know we want to eat, and day of look at what is available in the app depending on where we end up come meal time.

 

[atkinstogram]

I would book EVERYTHING you THINK you might want to do. Book 4 or 5 meals a day. Book it all. As your trip gets closer cancel reservations you no longer will need. I can't tell you how many times our plans change as we get closer and not having that particular reservation available to you restricts your planning.

Ahhh, that explains why reservations are so hard to come by. Good job! :thumbs up:

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Thanks for the info team!

Where I got stuck was booking for DHS - none of the TS places looked over appealing (or were too pricey), but didn't want to end up having trouble finding anywhere and the hangriness setting in.

I'll stick with ADRs for the places we know we want to eat, and day of look at what is available in the app depending on where we end up come meal time.

There are some good options at the boardwalk/yacht club/beach club area. Nice boat ride from DHS and nice way to take a break from the park.

 

[melanielll]

I don't think booking more than you need and paring down is selfish. It is how their system works. It also stops no one else from getting that reservation if you cancel it. Disney created this mess. I have to work within their system. I book a lot and then when our fast passes are set, I dump a lot. Paper fast passes and booking dining the day of when you got to the park are both things that Disney did away with. This is what they have given us instead.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

It's our first visit to the World this year, after three years of visiting the original. We are arriving October 5th for 9 nights, split stay at POR and BC.

After the breeze that is planning at DLR, I'm a little stressed with the requirements for WDW. I have a few months before I need to worry about FP+, but have just hit our 180 day window for dining... At DLR, I usually book one meal a day then either walk up TS or QS for the balance of the meals. Can we do this at WDW? Should I be booking two meals a day? I don't know yet how much time will be split between pars and resorts - typically we will start early in the parks the swim in the afternoon before returning, all walkable at DLR (120 steps in the case of the room we had at Grand Californian once!). I don't know if we are likely to stay in the parks until later in the day then call it quits, or if it will work having afternoon swins then returning later. We have hoppers so aren't restricted.

So far I have booked 10:00am BOG on our first park day (Friday 6th) and 8:20am Akershus Monday 9th. I going to book Ohana one morning and Cape May Cafe Wednesday 11th once ADRs open there. I've looked at some of the show dining options (e.g. Rivers of Light) but my eldest daughter is now 11 so it's starting to get pricey, and we have three character meals planned.

In terms of food, we aren't fussy and don't mind cheap and easy or tasty and expensive. Are we going to have issues finding TS places? Will QS have long waits?

TIA for any help.

I wouldn't expect long waits at QS restaurants unless you go at peak dining times (noon, 6, etc.), in which case you might face a wait but the only lines I ever encountered that I thought were too long were at Pecos Bill, and we don't eat there any more so not an issue. We typically try to grab QS around 11:30 at the front end of the lunch rush.

You can often find same day reservations at resort TS restaurants like The Wave or Captain's Grille (for example), both of which are easy to get to from MK/Epcot. And we've had luck finding same day TS reservations the times we've tried (as long as you are flexible) at places like San Angel Inn and Chefs de France (though I will say that in-park at MK and DHS are more difficult due to fewer restaurants). Just scanning today there's availability around 5:30 at Boma, Cape May, Captain's Grille, Chefs de France, Garden Grove, Kona, Mama Melrose, Rose & Crown, Tokyo Dining, The Wave, and a number of signature restaurants. Some of those will get snapped up as the day goes on but there is availability. There's similar availability for lunch, including the Fantasmic package at Mama Melrose at 1. So the plan of booking the places you are most interested in and playing the other days by ear should work.

With respect to your plan of attack, I can tell you what we like to do as a family (with park hoppers) whose first few Disney trips were to Disneyland, before we moved to the east coast and started visiting Disney World. We like to hit the parks in the morning (usually at rope drop) since that is the best time of day to ride the headliners with something like a minimal wait, go back to the resort once the parks start getting crowded (typically after 11) and swim/rest, then grab dinner somewhere and hit a different park in the evening. We've done split stays at Port Orleans/Yacht Club and the resort dining is pretty decent (better at YC). I'm not a huge fan of the food at Port Orleans food court but there are plenty of options. At Beach Club during the day you'll have the pool bar (so-so food), Crew's Cup Lounge (we enjoy the food but not on the dining plan), Beaches & Cream (but you'll need reservations), Les Halles in France and the fish and chips place in England are a 5 minute walk from the resort for QS (not to mention Rose & Crown and Chefs de France for TS), there's the BC QS place, or you can walk over to the Boardwalk area and eat at ESPN Club, Big River Brewery, or the Boardwalk QS places. Also keep in mind that you'll be there during the food and wine festival and there will be lots of food carts at Epcot that will offer all kinds of different snacks, some of which are pretty filling (I'm looking at you pulled pork slider).

 

[mcurran]

Ahhh, that explains why reservations are so hard to come by. Good job! :thumbs up:

Frankly Disney requires us all to plan over 180 days out without giving us all of the perimeters to plan around. If Disney were better about forecasting their own hours, meals, restaurant changes, dining events and other admission ticketed events then I wouldn't need to have backup plans. But I have learned to expect some unplanned disruptions and I have learned to self-mitigate. I always have an extra reservation per day booked just in case plans change and I don't feel guilty one bit.

Just last fall I was burned by pre park hours reservations at cp on my wife's bday only to have hours extended 2 weeks before our trip and screw our plans up. Yes we managed but was it irritating? You betcha.

For this trip I have planned in August:
- Disney didn't have cape may breakfasts open for our stay until 150 days out. We got a backup plan and decided to change plans altogether and skip cape may instead and never booked one.
- Disney didn't announce what days ROL would be going on for my upcoming trip until about last week and they rolled it out so poorly I still don't have a ROL reservation. Clinging to my non ROL tusker still (which I will add was a backup plan which I am happy to have...).

So yes I plan for alternatives knowing that Disney will somehow throw another wrench in my plans as we get closer.

And to be fair I do post here on disboards and other forums in advance when I am going to cancel a reservation.

 

[ktlm]

WDW dining is unlike DLR dining. At DLR, in July, I can get on the app inside the park and get a great reservation for 2 hours later. We also can walk up to many TS and get in- sometimes without even much of a wait. WDW, you can not rely on walk-ups at all. You might get lucky, but many restaurants are booked long in advance. We have seen people turned away many times. CS lines aren't that long, but I don't think the CS food at WDW is as good as the CS food at DLR. We usually book one TS a day-- occasionally 2- if we were doing a breakfast- or if there was a certain restaurant we are trying to fit in. I would say book mostly 1 TS a day and go from there-- more than that really takes up a lot of time.

One other think to note- if you are West Coast people, are you dealing with a big time change for WDW? Looks like you are booking several breakfasts. We quickly learned that a pre-park opening breakfast did not work for my DD, even with just a one hour time change-- she is not a morning person so getting to the park at rope drop is hard enough. For DLR- since our time change is 2 hours the other way- early mornings are not a problem at all. Just something to think about when you are booking ADRs.

 

[McNs]

With respect to your plan of attack, I can tell you what we like to do as a family (with park hoppers) whose first few Disney trips were to Disneyland, before we moved to the east coast and started visiting Disney World. We like to hit the parks in the morning (usually at rope drop) since that is the best time of day to ride the headliners with something like a minimal wait, go back to the resort once the parks start getting crowded (typically after 11) and swim/rest, then grab dinner somewhere and hit a different park in the evening.

That approach has worked really well for us at DLR and was hoping it would translate to WDW. It's one of the resons I went for hoppers - especially with different hours for each park, means we are more flexible and can be a bit more spontaneous. Also good to know about resort food options - we can have an early quicj=k meal at the hotel before heading back to a park. We will have a rental car which I think will help (but transport is a whole other beast I haven't got my head around yet. Another thing I love about DLR...)

One other think to note- if you are West Coast people, are you dealing with a big time change for WDW? Looks like you are booking several breakfasts. We quickly learned that a pre-park opening breakfast did not work for my DD, even with just a one hour time change-- she is not a morning person so getting to the park at rope drop is hard enough. For DLR- since our time change is 2 hours the other way- early mornings are not a problem at all. Just something to think about when you are booking ADRs.

We are even further west and a lot south - New Zealand. The early mornings at DLR were challenging for the rest of the family, but once you get there it is always worth it. For WDW there will be an 8 hour time difference (actually 16 hours behind but I find it easier to add 8 hours and take a day off). Not sure how that is going to go - hopefully it's tposy turvey enough that it is a full reset! Hopefully the breakfast thing works out - Akershus was more timing when I booked - res is for 8:20 for a 9am park opening so shouldn't miss much park time. Cape May is going to be on a sleep in morning after our MNSSHP night, and will be at the resort. Ohana is because Stitch is my daughter's favourite character and the only dining option is breakfast (LOVE him at Mickey's Breakfast at Paradise Pier Hotel).

Anyway thanks all for the help, it has allayed some of my concerns. Need to wait for our 180 day window on the second half of our stay to open up tomorrow before I complete our "must do" reservations, then will tinker for the next few months as I do more research.

 

[loves to dive]

I don't think booking more than you need and paring down is selfish. It is how their system works. It also stops no one else from getting that reservation if you cancel it. Disney created this mess. I have to work within their system. I book a lot and then when our fast passes are set, I dump a lot. Paper fast passes and booking dining the day of when you got to the park are both things that Disney did away with. This is what they have given us instead.

Disney did not do away with dining the day of when you get to the park. We never, ever book any ADRs any earlier than the night before and 95% of the time it's either the morning of or even the afternoon of. MDE makes it very easy and going to GS and having them find you something is easy as well. We also rarely book FPs any earlier than the night before of when actually standing in line for another ride.

 

[melanielll]

But - day of was the primary way to make reservations - so there was still plenty of availability. Also - don't get me started on the app. WHEN it works, you can book things with it. WHEN it works.

If someone thinks I am selfish - fine. I think I am smart. The hotel room is $800 a night - for that price, I am getting to eat where I want to when I want to. And I am not stopping some other family from using those reservations. I release them - generally weeks before the day. People who book day of are able to do so in part due to people who book early and drop.

 

[DrunkJam]

But - day of was the primary way to make reservations - so there was still plenty of availability. Also - don't get me started on the app. WHEN it works, you can book things with it. WHEN it works.

If someone thinks I am selfish - fine. I think I am smart. The hotel room is $800 a night - for that price, I am getting to eat where I want to when I want to. And I am not stopping some other family from using those reservations. I release them - generally weeks before the day. People who book day of are able to do so in part due to people who book early and drop.

But that room is the same price for the person who is also looking and can't get their reservation at 180 days because you have grabbed LOADS? They are not less smart. They are now paying as much for their holiday and paying the price for others being selfish.

 

[melanielll]

We could argue this forever. They had the same opportunity at 180 days. If they chose to wing it - good for them. And they are less smart - learn the system and play within it. That's smart. Shaking your fist in the air and crying unfair isn't smart.

This is a different version of the current thread about people bringing too much stuff into the parks and making security take forever. It never ends and there is no resolution. The overpackers are living withing the rules - not on a side I agree with, but they are entitled to play that way. I will never understand it - but it is allowed.

 

[DrunkJam]

Absolutely, but, telling people who will be there once, and who have tried to book at 180 to "learn the system" is entirely pointless.