Am I crazy, I cancelled all of our ADRs for our upcoming trip?

[marmar]

My DH is exact opposite. He insists on a planned adr everyday. He has always been concerned that I would get busy and distracted and he would not get fed. He wants to eat at his regularly scheduled dinner time. Nothing causes more arguments than trying to find someplace to eat NOW. Lunch QS is always at park and we have standard go to places.
We have tried almost every TS. Must places every trip are Rose & Crown Illuminations and Brown Derby. We try at least one new restaurant every trip

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I don’t think you’re crazy. As others have said, if you aren’t picky about the where and when, there are always options that become available the day before/day of. The nuance is that many spots are so reliant on “the system” that they could tell you they aren’t taking walk ups when there’s ADR availability in the app for the next ten minutes. So I definitely recommend using the app - even day-of. And as a prior poster shared, many of the Disney Springs spots also use Open Table. BUT, all that said, if you really want to eat at 50’s Primetime, I’d make an ADR. I’d offer that advice for anywhere you or members of your party really want to go but especially 50’s... it’s very popular and there aren’t a ton of options in Hollywood Studios.

 

[Micca]

You can waste a whole lot of time trekking to a restaurant only to be turned away.

This is key. Then add the "hangry" factor to the equation.

 

[DisBuckMan]

We quit making ADR's more than a day ahead (mostly only day of, though) 3 or 4 years ago. Won't ever go back to being tied down to ADR's made months ahead again. There isn't a single restaurant at Disney World that we feel the food is good enough to go through all that for.

We have zero problems eating wherever we want making reservations day of...or at most day before.

Liberating yourself is great.

 

[ChiCat]

I canceled all but two, BOG for dinner because it's a fave and 50's Prime Time for lunch because we are doing SW dessert party that night so I want a bigger lunch for the lighter dinner we'll have at the party. We are also doing the DestiNations tour which comes with Rose and Crown (I believe). My inlaws are accompanying us and my FIL really hates taking the time to do sit down dinners at WDW so that was a motivator to skip ADRs as well as cost savings by doing QS meals instead.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Pretty much any restaurant on property CAN take walk ups, always have been able to. Problem is, you can't know if they WILL. You can waste a whole lot of time trekking to a restaurant only to be turned away. When you can open the app, check for an ADR and book it, and know for sure you won't be turned away. I've never seen a case where the app said no ADR and a restaurant accepted a walk up, but there's lots of cases the other way around. So it's always a good option to book the ADR. Now, if like you, you just happened to be there and just happen to check, great. It's just good to remember, use the ADR, even if the only "advanced" part of the ADR is 5 min.

Yes, that's why I said we will check the night before. I would never chance going all the way to a restaurant solely to eat without an ADR. I hate the trekking at Disney!

 

[aml3679]

Our first trip we had deluxe dining and spent too much time in restaurants. Our second trip we booked five days ahead of time. I was able to snag a PPO Akershus but other than that we are quick service or booked as we were hungry. We were able to get the Plaza and Yak and Yeti with no wait. But those were our only three sit downs for 6 days. I would say if you want to have a sit down meal you can probably find one, pending the time of year. But, if you want a specific meal-like 50s prime time- you should book it. If you are ok with eating quick service instead if you can’t find what you want then play it by ear.

That is very encouraging.

 

[aml3679]

This isnt a "once in a lifetime vacation" for you. Cancel them and see whats up day of. I do this all the time. Only rarely do I book adrs in advance. Like for birthdays, nye at epcot, etc. Otherwise we split qs or ts or sometimes do a character meal. Ive walked up to Tusker House before and finished my online adr as I reached the podium. Its very freeing.

I could not agree more. Thanks.

 

[aml3679]

It’s been my experience recently that walk ups are “discouraged” that they will give you a long wait time. But go online and book the place and suddenly it’s no problem-literally did this standing in front of a Disney Springs restaurant this summer. DH was finding out wait times while I was making online reservation for that time (he got too impatient to wait for slow WiFi lol). I’ve made lots of day of ADRs for two people day of this past year- including Christmas/New Years week, spring break and beginning and end of summer.

Unfortunately, the ADRs for the places we want to eat have no availability.

 

[aml3679]

I think it’s fun to just wing it.
We only book a few ADRs per trip now (typically just character stuff) and then wing the rest.

We have gotten great ADRs last minute, even with a large group. I don’t like feeling pressured to get to a meal and with toddlers, I like to play it by ear based on how everyone is doing.

I will say that we never try to walk up. We just check the app to see what’s available.

Have fun!

Thanks, sounds encouraging.

 

[aml3679]

Wow! I thought you were crazy but reading all these replies, I just went onto MDE and looked for dinner for tonight, Christmas Eve, and was very surprised at what was available and restaurants that I would book.

We go 1-2 a year and always book a dinner ADR but I wont stress so much about it maybe for September.

We will be at Disney same time as you, January 4-12, and three adult women and booked ADR for dinners. Our only musts were Wine Bar George, California Grill and Boathouse, two of which are bookable on OpenTable. We dont soend all day in a park, but usually go back to Epcot for dinner.

See you on Main Street!

Thanks, yes we will see you there somewhere.

 

[OneinThree]

I have to echo what others have said here regarding open availability day-of or day before. I'm not sure we've ever not gotten what we've wanted on any given trip simply be checking MDE while we're there. FP+ and laying out a bunch of ADR's months in advance is a tool which helps Disney more than it does add to the vacation experience.

 

[bsj1701]

I no longer believe any of the dining plans are worth it, but nearly always have ADR and pay OOP. Good luck to you, it isn't the busiest time of year so you might be OK.

 

[B-Ride]

Based on your situation I don't think cancelling your reservations is a bad idea.

As for whether you are crazy, I would need more information to make a judgement.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I no longer think making ADRs is all that important. We usually book a character breakfast ahead of time and sometimes cancel it if we aren't feeling it. I can't really eat the huge portions they give you and my kid is picky and just doesn't like to sit and eat. We love Sci Fi and Garden Grill, so those are the ones we mainly have on the list to book.

I refuse to do the 5am at 180 days thing again. It's a pain and I wind up canceling most of it anyway. The restaurants are not good enough for me to go through all that. It's pretty amazing what you can find the night before or day of on the app.

 

[Oneanne]

Was just there week before last and strangely had good luck doing walk-up when no availability showed in MDE. One was Spice Road, which I do usually have luck walking-up to, and the other was Hollywood Brown Derby... I was going to ask for the lounge but thought I'd check to see if they could seat me in the restaurant and they could. As others have noted though, it's iffy so I do usually see what I can book in MDE day-before or day-of.

 

[Minnesota!]

We discovered years ago that day-of is the way to go. Who knows what they will be hungry for 6 months in advance! Day-of has never failed us... even over Thanksgiving last month.

 

[rdaky]

I think that if it's important to you to eat at a particular restaurant, you should definitely have a reservation.

That being said, I'm not a huge fan of having an ADR every single day. It feels like we have to schedule our day around that, plus we're already scheduling around fast passes. Sometimes you miss out on just enjoying the little things when you don't have the next thing already scheduled.

 

[mom2rtk]

There's a lot of distance between the ADRs needed for the Deluxe Dining Plan and no ADRs at all. You could keep a couple of ADRs and still feel vastly less structured than you were last time. The trick is to make the ADRs for the parks you plan to be in already at the times you would probably be eating anyway.

 

[ToyStory3]

We go very light on our ADRs. We don't like to be tied down to a lot of reservations and we don't always know what we will feel like doing before that day. We usually have maybe 1 or 2 ADRs and the rest of the time we wing it. Sometimes we make a reservation that day and sometimes we do quick service. Thankfully our must-dos are Trails End, Cape May Dinner Buffet (we stay at BCR), and Sci Fi. We can always get those during our trip so we don't sweat about it anymore. Have fun being spontaneous!