Anyone ever go to Disney without ADRs?

[scuba]

Hey, just wanted to get folks experiences at Disney without ADRs,
February 7th-11th, just after our 3 night Disney cruise. Staying at the POP and thought it would be kinda nice to just go without "needing to be here or there". I suppose that we might be walking by places like Sci-fi at lunch, or 50's prime at dinner and just duck our head in and put our name on a list.....or we might just stop into Mexico, or Japan. Is it possible to walk into Ohana or the like without a ressie and stand-by? Our back-up would be the POP cafeteria. This trip is all about our cruise and felt that we would just add a couple of days at Disney. We are Safari club members so DTD Rainforest is always an option. Places like Pinnocio's or pizza planet is an option, certainly harbour house or the likes, an option as well......am I crazy?

 

[Jessje]

Yes we did a couple of years ago, since we had no idea how to make reservations. We had a walk in dinner at the Garden Grill, Biergarten en the English pub.
We also tried crystal palace but that was impossible. Same with Chef mickey.

 

[WeLuvDiz]

We were able to get on "stand by" for several resturants quite a few years ago, but this year while I was making my ADR's the cast member informed me that they no longer accept "stand by" I STRONGLY suggest ADR especially with the free dining unless you plan on CS meals only
Have a great trip

 

[scuba]

We were able to get on "stand by" for several resturants quite a few years ago, but this year while I was making my ADR's the cast member informed me that they no longer accept "stand by" I STRONGLY suggest ADR especially with the free dining unless you plan on CS meals only
Have a great trip

We were not able to wrangle free dining this trip, I'm not certain we tried, not that upset about eating at CS since we simply added on days after our cruise......I just don't want to place a time table on the trip, have any idea if it is all the table service resturants not taking ADRs? or just a few, seems like I could just pop my head into a place like Sci-Fi and put a name down and have them say it will be 2 hours or so...and we just return then.

 

[Cee]

We never make ADRs ahead of time. When we arrive, I call the dining line and ask what is available for the duration of our trip. We've always gotten something, often what we want and sometimes have tried places that we would not otherwise have tried. It's wonderful and much more relaxing.

 

[wezee]

DH and I are going to try without ADRs in March. We know it is a busy time but want to maybe try a few of the restaurants that are not on the DDP. We are willing to be very flexible and eat CS whenever necessary. We did make 2 reservations for our 7 night trip ( LeCellier and Chefs de France) but otherwise we will wing it.
We want to go to Raglan Road on St. Patty's Day and since they do not take reservations for that day...we will just arrive when they open for lunch.
We also may try to get into House of Blues, Fultons, Shulas and maybe BlueZoo. PH and Rainforest are an option, but we would probably just order a drink and appies.
We love the pizza at WPE and sometimes just get a pizza to go and grab a margarita at the Margarita shack and relax by the water.
Have a great trip!!!!!

 

[btcrane]

We never make ADRs ahead of time. When we arrive, I call the dining line and ask what is available for the duration of our trip. We've always gotten something, often what we want and sometimes have tried places that we would not otherwise have tried. It's wonderful and much more relaxing.

As long as you're flexible, this works, and I would think especially so in February. We did this our first trip to DW when we were clueless and had no problem, even booked a Fantasmic dining package the morning of the day we went to MGM. But I do think things have become more difficult since the introduction of free dining...again, it will work if you're flexible.

Hope you have some great dining experiences!

 

[tony67]

I did in the first week of March and I would not do it again.
Many places just said "No", there was no list.

The only places you could get into were places like Mexico that are not very good IMO.
You can usually get into the non DDP places and some of the resort restaurants, but do not count on it.

If you have kids with you do not even think about it. Nothing worse then a hungry kid and nowhere to eat.

On my most recent trip I decided to just do CS and the food available is much better then you would think (I was on the QSDP). I did not have any burgers or hotdogs for the 12 days I was on the DDP.
(BTW: I like burgers and hotdogs but not the ones at Disney)

The flexability of just doing what you want when you want was great.
I don't know what time I will be hungry and what park I will be in 180 days from now.

Also February can be very busy if there are schools out for the week you are there so do not be surprised.
You may be early enough in the month for this to be a non factor, not really sure.

 

[pumba]

last September we had one reservation for my husbands birthday and the rest were cs or resort cs....we didnt mind .......this past September we had free dining and it was like we had to be someplace at some time and it was rush rush rush........I do believe next visit will be two or three sit downs and the rest will be cs and where we happen to be..
When we were there, most places were not taking walk ups....but you never can tell if someone cancels....
Good luck and have fun

 

[yaddo121]

We rarely make ADRs ahead of time -- our trips are usually only planned out two or three weeks in advance and we like to fly by the seat of our pants . This past trip we were able to get into each restaurant we tried just by walking up and asking if they had a stand-by list. The one that really surprised me was Donald's Safari Breakfast at Tusker House. Both the online and call-in dining said it was completely booked. We walked up at 9:30, were told it would be a twenty minute wait for walk-ups, and were seated by 9:35 I think it can be done and you not be stuck with 'burgers and fries' the whole time

Good luck and have fun!!

 

[Avalon_toon]

Done this a few times, mostly just by being flexible, and it worked out great. Even got a walk-in at CRT once. I like it, because it gets rid of the rushed feeling of having to be at a certain place by a certain time, cutting park time short just to eat.

 

[scuba]

Thanks everyone for the replies, Everyone of you have pointed out exactly what we want to cut out of the trip....having to be someplace at a certain time for ressies..............and having to rush to get there, having to plan around prades and busy bus times.

We'll give it a shot. I have not ever been unsatisfied with counter services and if we go into it knowing that we might have to get CS someplace. I don't think that we plan to sit fro dinner, I think stopping in to sci-fi might be fun.......surprising, someone pointed out mexico not being very good, the time we went there we felt the food was great.