Are ADRs Really Recommended????

[mysticcruiser]

I will be going to DW with my DD (almost 12) in 3 weeks. Is it really recommended for us to make Dining Reservations? We got the Dining Plan, but were hoping to have a vacation "on the fly" and not really planned out. We did however make reservations for Hollywood & Vine and the Fantasmic Dining Package. Any suggestions???

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

It's better safe than sorry. I say make all the advanced dining reservations that you think you might need before you go. If your schedule happens to change then you can call disney dining to cancel your reservation.
Most of the popular restaraunts are hard to book last minute.

 

[mrsmagic]

We just got back, and we were there during a really slow time of year. On Saturday night, guest services couldn't find anything available for us until after 8 pm. If you want to eat earlier, or have some preferences, I would make ADRs now. You can always try to change them later. We did find that it was easy to get lunch ADRs, however.

 

[mysticcruiser]

But with ADRs, don't you have to cancel within 48 hours or they charge you? That would kind of commit us, which I would like to avoid. With a pre-teen daughter, you never know what kind of mood she will be in!! I can understand Saturday night being booked up. I will have to reserve something for that night. Any suggestions for MK? I imagine that is where we will be on our first day.

 

[Allison]

But with ADRs, don't you have to cancel within 48 hours or they charge you? That would kind of commit us, which I would like to avoid. With a pre-teen daughter, you never know what kind of mood she will be in!! I can understand Saturday night being booked up. I will have to reserve something for that night. Any suggestions for MK? I imagine that is where we will be on our first day.

No, you don't get charged unless you book some kind of package like the Fantasmic dinner.

I wouldn't go without ADR's. Especially since you are on the dining plan-you have already paid for your table service and certainly want to be able to use it.

I would think you would find something available but will it be where you want and at a time that works for you?

 

[Kirsten77]

They don't take your credit card information when you book them, so how could they charge you? The only time they took credit info was for Victoria and Alberts, but I don't think you have to worry about that.

 

[lillygator]

I wouldn't be caught at WDW with no ADR's! But that is me.

 

[MinnieM21]

Make the ADRs. It doesn't take long and you'll feel a lot better knowing your ADRs are made. We never have a plan when we go to Disney and still make a couple of ADRs. I leave on Thursday and made an ADR for Chefs de France yesterday (I already had an ADR but wanted a later time, so I cancelled my previous ADR and made a new one). There were only 2 times to choose from.

 

[DonnaL]

We rarely make ADR's, however, we always go during very slow seasons and we rarely eat a ts meal for dinner. Most of our ts meals are breakfast or lunch, which are both fairly easy to get with minimal wait. If I am planning to do a ts meal for dinner I do make ADR's. I have also found weekends are harder to get a good time for dinner ADR's, especially at the last minute (day before or day of) so, if I am making an ADR for dinner it will usually be during the week.

 

[mysticcruiser]

Thanks for everyone's advice! I guess I'll have to start my research !!

 

[GADISNEYGIRL]

I would make them. We made them 4 months in advance for our January trip, but then once we got there we changed some around to suit our schedule better. HOWEVER, they were turning walk ups away at every restaurant! If you're on the dining plan, I would definitely make provisions ahead of time (even if it's the day before), so you do not lose those credits.

 

[MinnieM21]

I would make them. We made them 4 months in advance for our January trip, but then once we got there we changed some around to suit our schedule better. HOWEVER, they were turning walk ups away at every restaurant! If you're on the dining plan, I would definitely make provisions ahead of time (even if it's the day before), so you do not lose those credits.

We were also there in January and noticed that many people were getting turned away. The parks weren't even that crowded. We changed our plans and decided that we wanted to eat TS one night. I went to make an ADR for Alfredo's first thing in the morning at Epcot and there were no ADRs available.

 

[mysticcruiser]

Do we need to let them know we have the DP when we make our ADRs?

 

[Allison]

They will ask.

 

[mysticcruiser]

How difficult is it to travel between hotels using the Disney Transportation System? We don't have a car.

 

[twinsmamma]

it is not that hard to travel between hotels but you do have to go to one of the parks first there is no transport between hotels unless you are using the monorail. Which hotel were you trying to go between? We stayed at pop and if we wanted to go to one of the monorail hotels we took bus to epcot closest and took monorail to hotel. also you could go to downtown disney for pop and it was close then get busd to another hotel.

 

[tiggercrew]

It's not difficult, but can be time consuming. It really depends on how lucky you get at the bus stops and how long you have to wait between pick ups. I would ask a CM at your resort to recommend the best way to get to another resort. Disney recommends allowing 1 hour if using the bus transportation.

Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[mysticcruiser]

I don't have any particular hotel in mind. We are staying at the All Star Movies, and was considering visiting other hotels for dining as oppposed to always dining in the parks. I know we went to Whispering Canyon a few years ago, and it was very difficult to get there.

 

[mouse4ever]

How far in advance do you suggest making the reservations? I plan to get the princess breakfast booked as soon as I'm at 180 days but can I wait for everything else?

 

[tabrizia]

How far in advance do you suggest making the reservations? I plan to get the princess breakfast booked as soon as I'm at 180 days but can I wait for everything else?

We called on Sunday (Feb 5th) for our ADR for July 31st-August 7th. There were two restaraunts where we could not get the times we wanted. We wanted a 7 pm reservation at Coral Reef on August 1st and they didn't have one avaliable, they did have 7:30pm and we wanted a 10pm reservation at Cinderella's Castle and we had to take 9:30pm (note the second might just have been because they don't take reservations that late).

I was pretty shocked that Coral Reef was already full for 7pm, so I would personally suggest making your ADRs the sooner the better, especially if you are eating at a prime time. Most of our reservations are for later since hubby and I like late dinners.