Are ADRs really needed?

[Foxfiregrrl]

Just started planning trip for DH and myself for late September. We got the free dining program. It is his first trip to Disney and my first time actually eating meals in park. We are researching good eats, but not sure how many we really need to reserve, if any? I know the typical advice is that they are needed but what about spontenatity? How long is the typical wait w/o ressies?

 

[Micca]

Welcome to the Dis To me, being tired, hot, and hungry, and not having access to the food I want is the worst. If you are a person that could be told "we can seat you in three hours" and have popcorn to tide you over, you might be ok. Or if you are told "no seatings remain tonight" and you can be happy with counter service, you are golden.

 

[califred]

With the free dining plan being during your time frame I would plan at least one TS meal a day.

People like you who normally would not be eating in the TS restaurants are doing it b/c of the free dining.

In trip reports I've been reading recently people are being turned away completely or waiting 2-3 hours w/o ressies.

You can always change your mind, but if you at least have them you always have an option. Just be sure to call and cancel if you chose not to use one that you 've made.

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

oh yeah, I would say they are needed, especially if you have places you really want to go and would be disappointed if you missed.

On one of our last trips a family ahead of us in line at Tony's Town Square was told "sorry we have no more seatings tonight" and they looked very disappointed as they were turned away. I was thankful we had a PS and got a great table that we were able to watch the ELP from. So the moral of this story is it's possible you won't get in at all without a PS.

My DH is the "let's play it by ear" kinda guy but I still make PS's and he goes along with it pretty well

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Thanks everybody for the speedy and helpful replys!
It looks like I'll be making those ressie's after all. Any advice on how to figure out what time frame to try to eat? Don't want to put it in the middle of my day too much or have to back track (in Epcot) to eat , etc. But don't want to go too late and end up starving before it is time... Sorry, these are kind of basic questions, but I just started planning and am obsessed with getting everything right for my DH's first trip.

 

[bjakmom]

Definitely make ARs this year - with the combination of the 50th crowds and the free dining packages, the restaurants are filling up. Last month in early June we watched as all walk-ups were turned away for both lunch and dinner at SciFi ! Yesterday I waited until evening to make an AR for lunch at 90 days (Oct trip), thinking it wouldn't be a big deal to get SciFi AR (can you tell DNeph LOVED this place and wants to take his mom, my sis, this trip?! ) - anyway, by the time I called at 7 PM the earliest lunch AR left was 1:00 - I was planning on noon - CM said they have been really busy lately! I'll be up early tomorrow morning and the rest of the week to be sure I get the times I want for the rest of the trip.

 

[JenLynn]

I would say you really need to make ADR's. Sci-Fi and Le Cellier were both booked up for lunch and dinner on our recent trip. All of the MK TS were booked for dinner.

 

[Patsfan7]

Definately make the ADR's. You can always change them, but you don't want to be down there with no ADR's then have no place to eat a TS, and have them go to waste. My TA said that today she was having trouble fitting her clients in for ADR's, as restaurants were filling up on the dining plan offer. Last week she had said just to get Le'Cellier in, and CRT lunch, as those would fill quickly.... but now with the park hours being out, everyone is making their plans. We usually don't like to be so tied to a schedule, but when on the plan, looks like we will have to work our schedule around when ADR's are available if we want any TS's... Good luck and let us know how it goes for you, as I will do the same. Hopefully TA is doing the ADR's tomorrow for us.

As far as timing, we are trying to get our TS's at late seatings b/c we don't eat breakfast, and want some time between lunch CS's and our dinner TS's. We are also trying to time them around the parades and park closings, as well as Illuminations. Just some things to keep in mind when figuring out times....

 

[NJOYURLIFE]

Welcome to the Dis To me, being tired, hot, and hungry, and not having access to the food I want is the worst. If you are a person that could be told "we can seat you in three hours" and have popcorn to tide you over, you might be ok. Or if you are told "no seatings remain tonight" and you can be happy with counter service, you are golden.

I totally agree. The few times we didn't have advanced reservations, we were unable to get in and usually ended up with counter service. With the free dining, I think it is getting more important to do some advance planning.

just my humble opinion.

 

[bicker]

From what I've read, even before the free dining promotion, it was tough to get into many more restaurants without reservations, as compared to past years.

 

[wfloyd]

Even in September it can be busy at the more popular places. Getting ADR's would be helpful if you know you want to eat at a particular place during your stay.

 

[rifamtrav]

Foxfiregrrl, to figure out timing for ar's take a look at the park hours and EMH posted on the disneyworld web site. Since you're going in late Sept, you're in luck, the hours have all been posted. If there's a day that MK is open later than others while you're there, maybe you will decide to eat there or at one of the monorail resort restaurants that evening and so on. Check out the menus at allearsnet.com and see which restaurants match your tastes, then just plan around park hours. I don't think you can go wrong just making an AR at a reasonable time for each day. If you get there and decide to do something different then you may luck out, since there's only 2 of you it might be easier to be flexible, but if you have ars you won't get left out. good luck.

 

[aubriee]

From what I've read, even before the free dining promotion, it was tough to get into many more restaurants without reservations, as compared to past years.

I agree. I was there in January and again in May. In January we saw people turned away from CP and Hollywood & Vine. In May, I saw people turned away from CP, CRT, Le Cellier, Rose & Crown, Hollywood & Vine, Brown Derby, and Mama Melrose. Neither January nor May is supposed to be busy times either. I'm going back in Sept with the free dining and already have ADRs for all of our table service meals. I'll also be going back in December and even without the free dining then, I plan to make all my PS 90 days out. It doesn't hurt to make them. You can always cancel and reschedule when you get down there, but at least having something scheduled you know you won't have to eat CS every day. With the free dining alot of people who usually eat CS will now be eating more TS meals.

 

[milmore104]

What are some of the rset. you would like to make a ADR at? Some rest. really don't book up and you can walk in with little wait. We usually don't make ADR except to the ones that book up on the 90 day mark! What we do is in the morning when we decide which park we want to go to we decide where we want to eat. When we arrive at the park I head over to GR and make a ADR for that rest.. We decide on when we want to eat by what we had for breakfast, big-small, if there is a certain snack in the park we want, and when special events are. I usually make a ADR for an off time like 2 if we had a big breakfast! Happy planning!

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Thanks again everyone for all of your advice! Sat down with DH today and made our final decisions, then made the call. I still wasn't sure what would be the best timing for dinners, but DH decided to go for around 6 each night. This is what we ended up with:
Sun 9/18 Mama Melrose's at 4:40 This was the latest time they had
Mon 9/19 Crystal Palace at 5:45
Tues 9/20 Marrakesh at 6:30
Wed 9/21 Boma at 6:10
Thurs 9/22 Akershus at 6:05

We are pretty excited about the last three and trying out different foods. I am picky but DH will eat Anything!
I have been obsessing over planning this trip and my DH is trying to get me to relax a bit. I think now that the dinners are set I feel MUCH better!

 

[eeyore45]

That looks like a great plan, so you've checked out the menus at www.allearsnet.com... once you read thru the other areas of the DIS if you want more planning strategy ie Best Days.. this site is helpful >>>>

http://www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm

It includes all of 2005 and emh times... historically speaking of course....

Now dont get on the phone lines at exactly 7am, with all us nutzoid crt hopefulls