ADRs without DDP?

[la79al]

I see all these posts about people not getting the DDP because they don't want to be ruled by ADRs. Does this mean these people eat only CS or off property? Is it really possible to make ADRs when you wake up in the morning and decide which park you want to go to?

 

[eliza61]

I see all these posts about people not getting the DDP because they don't want to be ruled by ADRs. Does this mean these people eat only CS or off property? Is it really possible to make ADRs when you wake up in the morning and decide which park you want to go to?

Depends on what time of the year you go and where you like to eat. I'm more of the "fly by the seat of your pants" when I go on vacation but over the years of going to Disney, I realize some times that's just not practical.

If I tour during really crowded times (Christmas, easter-spring break and July/August holiday) I make a few ADR's. I just always feel bad if I don't make them. This year I'm going during Jersey week in November and I'll only make a few ADR's at places we really want to eat at but other than that, I'll check at the hotel concierge in the morning. My children are also older, so I don't have to be on as much of a schedule as I did when they were younger. Off hours have much more availability than prime eating hours. We can have a late lunch (2:00 pm) or a late dinner (7:00 pm) without having to worry about major meltdowns. We get the DDE card that gives us 20% off of our bill including alcohol (which we drink with meals). I've found that the better fit for my family than the ddp. Now if they offer free DDP this year, that's a horse of a different color.

 

[Mcbruns]

Agreed - busier times of the year ADR's are almost a must.

We always make ADR's (you can always change them). We were there at the end of January (not busy at all). We had an ADR at Le Cellier for lunch and wanted to change it to dinner. No luck. Also while we were waiting to be seated, some people were turned away for lunch. This surprised us as EPCOT was not crowded at all that day.
Ok I'll quit rambling. I would always make ADR'S.

 

[JimMIA]

I'm always a little amused by folks who don't make ADRs because "...we don't want our dinner reservations to rule our vacation!"

We make dinner ADRs for every night we're going to be eating at WDW. If we change our minds, we just call and cancel. You don't even have to do that (You can just not show up), but we always call so someone else can get the ADR, rather than standing in line.

Several times when we've visited MK, we have seen signs at Town Hall saying there was no TS availability for the entire park, at any TS restaurant, for the whole day. And we've also seen a number of irate visitors who didn't do their homework and didn't know they needed to make ADRs.

During December, we have also seen situations where some Epcot restaurants (Le Cellier, in particular) were not even allowing walk-ups because they were so overbooked with CP packages they had no hope of accommodating anyone without ADRs.

To me, ADRs are just an easy way to get peace of mind about dining where we want...and still know that we can change our minds at the last minute if our plans change.

 

[2Pirates_1Princess]

We are going in June a busy time of year and during Star Wars weekends. I made my ADR's about 110 days in advance and was suprised at the amount of problems I had getting decent times to eat at the places we wanted. So I made ADRs for a party of 7 and figured if anyone was displeased we could cancel and do something else. It is better to have something then nothing at all.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I agree with making ADRs. DH and I went to WDW Feb 1-6, and we saw people being turned away without ADRs at Teppanyaki (right at 5:00 when they opened), at Boma (right at 5:00) and at the Coral Reef.

I always make the ADRs. There's only been one time that we decided it wasn't going to work, and we canceled it earlier in the day.