Are We Crazy??

[kristenrice]

We leave in just over 2 weeks for our umpteenth trip to WDW. We will be there for 8 days and we have exactly TWO dining reservations...HDDR and Chef Mickey's. There are so many restaurants that we love and we plan to eat at a TS restaurant every day but no matter how hard we try, we simply cannot commit to anything. We have decided that we will simply wing it and look at what is available a few hours before we are ready to eat and make our plans at that point. Are we going to be completely disappointed? We are fine with leaving the parks and going to the nearby resorts for meals, in fact, we typically prefer the resort dining. We are not on a dining plan so we do not have to worry about losing credits, and we are not real big on buffets or character dining. We have dined at so many places and we always try at least one new restaurant on each trip so that should be easily accomplished by simply winging it. I do think we may need to search for tables of 4, or try the walk up list since reservations for 3 are often hard to find. We are also fine with eating meals in the lounges/bar areas (like Topolino's) or the locations that serve the regular menu from the bar. None of us are big eaters and we generally split 2 apps, 2 entrees and one dessert between the three of us.

Should I try to make a few more ADR's, or will we be fine looking for a table about 2 hours before we plan to dine?

 

[ars0525]

If you're flexible with where & what time I think you'll be fine. Also if you eat before or after the rushes you may find more availability. I have gradually switched over to the winging it method more since COVID days unless there is a specific place we want & we have never gone hungry.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

I think you will be fine. Your plan sounds so much more relaxing than the rush to get to an ADR in time. If we didn't have have small children in tow that's how we would do it.

 

[Nick6300]

It sounds like to me that you'll be ok with just the 2 ADRs since you like resort dining, going off site, bar dining that might not need the reservations. If you're open to some QS if you aren't successful in some same day places too, than you're even more ok. The landrys memberships have still made 30 minutes or more waits for Yak and Yeti and Rainforest at AK, but those could also be options if you do the free memberships for trying to get a table same day. We only had 4 ADRs for 9 nights/10 days because we're mostly QS folks. And we were going to walk up to places like Biergarten at EP since they usually have a lot of space, do some food and wine. We ended up only buying 2 QS meals in addition to the 4 ADRs for 10 days, since we did a grocery order and made some lunches, and ate breakfast on the go.

 

[HopperFan]

This is pretty much us now - if we are doing TS, some trips we don't. We've been very happy with ones we have picked up day of including last trip to get Space 220 LOUNGE. We are done making lots of ADRs so we can be more flexible and let dining work within what we are doing that day. I have been amazed last couple years how many restaurants are available day of.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

You are not crazy at all!

You seem ready to accept that you may not score the table of your heart’s desire on a moments notice, so you are good to go. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy some spontaneity and you are not travelling during a peak time. We’ve made many dinner ADRs while sitting in some shade that afternoon. We are happy to go with the flow and sometimes the mood is right to just snack around a park. Our first Skyliner ride and visit to Sebastian’s Bistro were the result of some mid-afternoon scrolling. My DD was looking at the Disney app and saw Sebastian’s come up on a list of available spots that night. We’d never even checked their menu in the past, but we loved the idea of finally seeing the CBR, and a chance to ride the Skyliner. We had a wonderful evening. I woke up one morning to a voice saying “if we can get there in 45 minutes, we can have breakfast at Boma.” I opened my eyes and said “Book it!” I had been trying hard to get a breakfast ADR at Boma in the weeks before our trip. Magic happens!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Normal. Winging it is a lot easier now than in times past as TS demand is not what it once was. I find myself making ADRs during the trip day of or day before more often than not. Demand for TS dining is not what it used to be so you can usually score short notice ADRs. There are also walkups if you're more flexible, but sometimes walkups aren't available if it turns into a busy time so I like knowing I've got an ADR.