Anyone else NOT planning meals/restaurants?

[MELSMICE]

This has been a really interesting thread for me because I suffer from 'obsessive planning' The whole idea of NOT making any reservations makes me break out in a sweat, shake and start humming 'bare necessities'

We had free dining last time we went and although I loved it DH HATED it...he felt the whole trip was based only on dining (and the problem with that is???!!! ) and has asked that the next time we go I only make a few reservations and play the rest by ear.
You can imagine how i'm feeling about this I'll have to keep referring to this post for inspiration and strength

BTW have any of you had any huge problems getting reservations for TS restaurants? We're going next Jan/Feb and if i'm going to even attempt this insanity known as 'playing it by ear' i'm going to need some reassurances that we'll get to eat occasionally!!

I highlighted the 2 things I wanted to comment on. I felt the same way your DH did on our last trip - that we were married to the DDP & everything had to be done around it. I didn't like it.

You can call from your resort room directly to Disney Dining to make a TS at any time or you can stop at guest services (I think it's guest services) to make one that day if you are in a park.

If you go to Downtown Disney, the best CS place, IMO, is Earl of Sandwich. Great, great, great sandwiches!!! Also, Wolfgang Puck has a great express area in both DTD & on the West Side. Both places are very different from the normal CS you get in the parks & very enjoyable.

 

[disneymom2one]

We're usually overplanners. But today is exactly three weeks until the start of our vacation and we have zero ADR's. I hope to have some sort of plan so we can call this weekend - but we're only doing three this time. Crystal Palace was our very first character meal way back when the 12 year old was three. That's a tradition for us. We love Boma so we'll definitely do that one. I'm not sure about the third.

We've done the dining plan twice and loved it for the most part but we made a life change this year and as a family began to get healthy. We don't eat desserts much t all. We really don't even eat a lot of meat (grilled chicken and seafood) so the dining plan makes zero sense for us. I was bummed at first because I loved the freedom of the dining plan but it's just for us anymore. We're planning to eat counter for most meals - vegetarian for the most part - and we'll definitely split a lot of things. It'll be an interesting trip ...

 

[cymbaldiva]

I am so not a planner - the thought of it makes me twitch!

That said, my bff is quite organized and since she and her DD were/are my travel companions, I end up with ADRs. I still have trouble wrapping my brain around it though - I don't know what I want for lunch today, let alone in 180 days.

The way I figure it is "I'm at Disney - it's all good!"

 

[LMO429]

I always make ADRs, usually it is just my fiance and I on the trip so making ADRs is not an issue. This time around we are going with 7 girls. I did make ADRs and I am hoping for the best as far as making them. I am just going to carry the WDW dining phone number with me in case we cant make them I will call and cancel. I feel its better to have ADRs than not have them. At least the option is there.

 

[Hull-onian]

We made ten ADR's for this trip. I am not going to stress over wether we make em or not. I like a CS meal if your on the fly. No pressure. Sometimes I like a TS just in case I want to relax and rest my dogs.

 

[SoonipiLady]

I have never made reservations at any Disney Restaurant except for the Luau on Thanksgiving day, and that was because we had a group of 10!! Last year the kids and I decided to goto Disney for the last few days of our vacation and it was during Presidents week. We ate at several TS restaurants and waited a max of 20 minutes at noon to sit down at 50's.

We're going in April and did make ADR for the Hoop-dee-do and CM but oddly enough, couldn't get either date/time we really wanted so we had to re-arrange our "tentative" schedules to get them. I am a total non-planner so to say it's a bit annoying to me to have to re-arrange my non-schedule before I even get there is a serious understatement!!

 

[MELSMICE]

We're going in April and did make ADR for the Hoop-dee-do and CM but oddly enough, couldn't get either date/time we really wanted so we had to re-arrange our "tentative" schedules to get them. I am a total non-planner so to say it's a bit annoying to me to have to re-arrange my non-schedule before I even get there is a serious understatement!!

I do have to say that I have found with so many people making their ADR's so far in advance & so many people making numerous that it is a little more difficult to get what you want when ou do want to make one!!!

That can be a little annoying.

 

[blueroses]

Yay! A support group for non-planners!
My husband and I went to WDW in 2004. We had each been numerous times with our families and in college, but this was the first trip there in about 10 years for both of us. I booked the Gold plan (roughly equivalent to the Premium plan). The trip was WAY too tied to ADRs, and we swore off dining plans of any type ever again. Slowly but surely I have also been reducing the number of ADRs per trip and it has been great.

Why this works for us:
There are 2 of us and it's easier to get a table at short notice.
We eat out a lot at home. Restaurant meals are no big deal to us.
Even at the signature restaurants there is a lot of repetition in the menus (every place we go, there's a filet, a salmon dish, a pasta dish.....). It gets really old by the 3rd day or so.
I go around 3 times a year. Any place that I can't get into, I'll just hit on the next trip.

Our last trip, we had one ADR - breakfast on our arrival day at our resort because I knew we would be hungry from the overnight flight. The trip before, we had none. We didn't starve, and we didn't subsist on CS. I tend to call WDW-DINE from my cell phone in the morning if I know there's someplace we are going to want to eat that night.

My upcoming trip is somewhat different. We have the Chef's Table at V&A next week. Whoo hoo! I had to get up at 4AM my time to make that ADR. We have a group of 15 at Raglan Road; obviously I had to plan that ahead of time. And we have Bistro de Paris which I booked last week when my father said he was interested in eating there.

 

[gatorgirl2]

My oldest son wil be turning 18 during our next trip. He requested Chef Mickey's (LOL) for b'fast and Biergarten for dinner. I made those ADR's in advance, plus Chefs de France on another night--but that's all.

I think there is a happy balance between wanting a couple meals at a decent restaurant, and being the group drill sargeant making everyone get out of line to run to make the ressie time.

 

[Cee]

I only make ADRs on the same day now. I just call and see what's available at
the time we want and then we just go. It's great and I'll never do it any other
way now. We've experienced some wonderful places that we
would not have otherwise tried if we had "planned ahead".