ADR's????

[CA/RA2000]

Do you have to have ADR's to eat at the sit down restaurants? Or can you just walk up and get a seat?

We are not on DDP.

 

[Hopefully]

It does depend on a lot of things.
When are you going? What is the size of your party? Do you have specific restaurants that you want to eat at, at specific times?
My Rule of Thumb is: if there is someplace you know you want to eat make an ADR.
It does not matter if you are on the Dining Plan, it is the popularity of the Dining Plan that is making ADR's hard to get. Most Theme Park and Resort Hotel dining rooms near the Theme Parks fill up and do not accept walk ins.
I would make ADR's

 

[CA/RA2000]

It does depend on a lot of things.
When are you going? What is the size of your party? Do you have specific restaurants that you want to eat at, at specific times?
My Rule of Thumb is: if there is someplace you know you want to eat make an ADR.
It does not matter if you are on the Dining Plan, it is the popularity of the Dining Plan that is making ADR's hard to get. Most Theme Park and Resort Hotel dining rooms near the Theme Parks fill up and do not accept walk ins.
I would make ADR's

We are going from July 1 - July 8. I have an ADR for breakfast at CRT, dinner ADR for Chef Mickey's, an ADR for dinner at Rainforest Cafe. There are four of us. This is only my second trip and my DW, DS (11), & DD's (6) first trip ever. We are spur of the moment people but we don't want to not be able to eat anywhere.

 

[MickeyNicki]

After all of our trips over the past 2 years I would say that you have to make reservations. We have seen so many people turned away at breakfast and dinner places..they look so mad....

We visit mostly in Feb, April, May, Oct, Nov and Dec...mostly the slower weeks of the month.

 

[Lynne M]

Many WDW restaurants are no longer accepting walkups if they are booked. They'll simply turn you away. And some places book up many months in advance.

I would say that if you are planning any character meals, or meals in theme parks, your chances of getting in as a walk-up are slim.

Also, some of the most popular resort restaurants such as 'Ohana and California Grill are very hard to get into as a walk-up.

If you're going during a holiday, everything gets booked up way in advance. Forget trying to walk up.

It's really much better to have ADRs.

 

[MagikMom]

4th of July week is very, very busy at WDW. I would start making ADR's today. You will have a hard time getting into many restaurants without ADR's during that week.

 

[Pilgrim's Feast]

Absolutely. July 4th time is busy. ADRs is an easy choice. You don't want to be walking around hungry looking for a place to eat. In fact since it is so close I'd be interested to know what restaurants would even have decent ADR times available at this point.

 

[disprincessatheart]

You already have 3 great ADR's. I know for me, we don't like to do a TS meal every day - it takes so long to check in, wait to be seated, eat and get back out that we feel like we miss part of the day. If you don't need TS every day and want to be more free with your time, I think you're ok. Just know that you'll be pretty much stuck with quick service for all your other meals and don't waste your time trying to do walk ups - will make for a much more pleasant time!

 

[stephwa]

Sorry to jump on your thread, but I've got the same question but with different dates and party size.

There's 3 of us going from July 21st to August 4th without the DDP. Do we need to make ADR's? We're not wanting TS every night, maybe 7 out of 14 max. And there's only 1 place that I'm sure on for a specific date! We're kinda the "whatever goes" people, we have a loose plan but food depends on how we feel.

Argh!! I'm so stressed!!

Thanks for the help!!

 

[cinmell]

I would definitely make ADR's especially for the time you are going. Good luck and enjoy!

 

[stephwa]

Thanks, I'm convincing myself that its the best way! The last time we went was 5 years ago, and we never booked anything! Maybe just stuff in the morning, for dinner that night. Clearly a lot of things have changed! Sooo glad I found this site, feel my perfect holiday may have been a bit tainted without it!! So excited!!!!!

 

[LadyZolt]

It never hurts to make the ADR. If, as you get closer to the date, you decide to do something else, you can just call and cancel your reservation. I say it's better to have one and not use it than not to have one at all.

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[n2mm]

ADRs are always recommended. I agree there are some places you might get into, but often are not the A list places. However, do you really want to spend your evening at one of the parks walking up to podium after podium asking if there are opennings, especially with kids in tow. Then if you find a place that has opennings are you willing to sit and wait 1 hour + for that table? My vacation time is precious and no way will I spend my time wandering around trying to find a place to eat. If you choose not to make an ADR, stop by the front desk of your resort if you are an onsite guest and see what's available for the evening. If you're in the park, stop by guest services and see what's open for that day in the park. It will save you lots of time and possible disappointment. Even with ADRs in hand when we arrive, we do tweak our plans as time goes by, cancelling some and adding some and changing times. But it's always good to know we have something lined up.

 

[daisyduck123]

Do you have to have ADR's to eat at the sit down restaurants? Or can you just walk up and get a seat?

We are not on DDP.

If you have kids & want to eat with the characters...then yes, most definitely.
I made my ADRs for our July-Aug trip about 5 months ago.
Last Saturday, I made all our ADRs for Christmas week.

If you need help picking/choosing any restaurants we're happy to suggest some.

 

[BrendaC]

I would at least make some ADR's. When I've been at TS restaurants in the past, I would feel badly for hungry families that came to podium asking when they could be seated and the place was booked for the day. As someone said earlier, you can always cancel your ADR because someone else will come along and fill it. If you space your ADR's apart, it shouldn't be too bad.

DH and I are going for 10 days in October and we've made 6 ADR's: Le Cellier (supper), Sci Fi (lunch), Boma's (supper), 50's Prime Time (lunch), California Grill (18th anniversary dinner ), Crystal Palace (breakfast). Also, mixed in there is MNSSHP .

Good luck!