Arrival Night - do you plan ADR's?

[vicb]

Do you plan ADR's for arrival night? Part of me is a little worried about flight delays etc. another part of me thinks I've never had any delay up until now so the chances are I'd be fine? I think after a 3 hour drive followed by 9 hour flight, a sit down meal might be welcomed...

on any arrival day I would not have a ressie that would cost a no show fee. too many thins can affect you arrival that you can not control. yes even hours late. weather and not at you area could affect plane getting to your airport even if you have a nonstop flight so you are already a few hours late and you have not left your airport. here comes the $10.00 per person no show as it is past the cancel time can you afford that charge

I wouldn't... but you could always make an ADR once you arrive from what is available or do a walk up or casual counter service. Depends where you are staying and are you going into a park. You can always try something like Big River Grille at BW or at a resort.

I always used to get an arrival day ADR under the old policy but with the new penalty policy I decided not to last trip. We had a great plan... arrive around 2:30 pm, get to hotel check in and head to AK to ride EE (which was the only ride we really cared about doing, dinner at Yak and Yeti (decided to try walk up not ADR) then bus to HS for eve. emh... made our FP+s for the last hour of park opening then hit emh. Great plan until Delta screwed it up with "mechanical problems". Finally after two gate changes and a new plane we arrived closer to 5:30. Had trouble at check in at Dolphin more delay.

Luckily we had a back up plan for eating, a fellow Dis-er had already suggested if we were running late to eat at the S/D pool bar which we did (it was good!) then went directly to HS. We missed one of our FP+ but it was ok, we still got on two rides before the park closed and did a ton of stuff during emh. So not our original plan but worked ok, we hit AK for EE another afternoon, never got to Yak and Yeti that trip but atleast we weren't stressing over no show penalty.

 

[pixiemama91]

It depends on our flights but usually we try to arrive the earliest we can. Either late morning/early afternoon and make an ADR for dinner. This year our flight is scheduled to land at 11:37am. I haven't decided what we are going to do this year as we are travelling with extended family and will have an infant. I am thinking I will make an ADR for a 6-7pm dinner somewhere. We just need to decide what we want to do the first night.

 

[Ava]

We don't, but we have young children. After sitting all morning in the car/airplane/DME bus, we like to let them swim or play on the playground after we get to the hotel. Then we'll have dinner at the food court and get to bed at regular time so everyone is rested for our first day in the parks. If there was a TS restaurant in our hotel, or more easily accessible from our hotel, we might. But we're staying at AoA so all of the resort restaurants would involve 2 buses or a bus and monorail/boat to get there.

 

[jerseygal]

We fly in and are usually at the hotel by 2 pm the latest. We usually plan ADR for the first night but make it a little later so we're not rushed the minute we get to the hotel. Like to unwind for a bit.

We fly in the morning and usually arrive to resort NO LATER than 2pm day of arrival. Usually do a counter service for late lunch, followed by a late ADR for dinner. I "hear you"...like to "wind down" and not rush first day! Travel days usually more tired....ENJOY!

 

[GillianP1301]

I do. We fly in the morning with a 1pm arrival. We're always checking in around 2:30 - 3:00 and head straight to a park. I make the ADR for in the park we are planning to do on our arrival. There is some risk there, should the flight be hours delayed, but even if that does happen, I'm okay with the penalty (we're only 2 of us, so not a huge amount of $).

 

[5kidsmommy]

We drive in and like to keep things flexible. I do not plan dinner ADRs until my first full day at the parks, I won't even do breakfast the next morning because I am super tired after traveling.

 

[Tink9721]

Liberty Tree Tavern has become a first night tradition for us the last few years We try to fly into Orlando late morning or early afternoon. I worried about it more in the winter, since we live in New England and there was always a chance of snow delaying or cancelling flights. I'm not too worried about it in May. We're landing around 12:30 and we have LTT booked for 7:00, so we have a pretty big cushion in case we have any delays. There are only two of us so the cancellation fee wouldn't really be a big deal. I can see why bigger parties wouldn't want to risk it though.

 

[gunderda]

I thought about it... but the last part of our party doesn't arrive until a little after 6 and who knows if they will get there on time. We are their transportation from the airport so if they're late then that effects us as well (meaning we couldn't go without them). so we opted to not do one and just get pizza and hang out in the room that night.

 

[Dis703]

We normally don't plan any ADRs on arrival day. And last trip with an airport closure and major ME delay we would have never made one if we had tried. But we are flying out earlier next month and booking a dinner ADR. If my kids could eat Quick Service I probably wouldn't bother but QS locations don't have much if any options for their set of food allergies. So I'm taking the chance and made an ADR at Raglan Road this time around.

 

[Eolyn]

We are driving down so it's a little bit different, but we do have an ADR for Planet Hollywood. DTD is usually what we do on arrival day anyway since we have an 8-9 hour drive down and heading into a park would be a waste of a ticket for us. That said, last time we went, we just ate at Earl of Sandwich at DTD (no ADR obviously) and that was good too, haha.

I agree that you need to either give yourself a good chunk of time between the projected arrival time and the reservation, or you need something that won't cost you money if you have to miss it. You can never predict a delay, so it's good to account for the possibility.

 

[asbyrneva]

I always book an ADR near or at the hotel we are staying that way we dont add more 'travel time'. Also if you can get the number of the restaurant and call ahead if it looks like you cant make it, I had to do it once and they didnt charge my card ($10 no show) since I called an hour before. ADR for 630 plane was supposed to land at 330 we didnt hit MCO till 530. CM said it happens and that since we called to cancel we were technically not a "no show" since they can use that table and seat a walk up or some other reservation.

 

[Dustin H]

We are coming for our first time, and expect to land at 9:30am and have booked an ADR at 1900 Park Fare at 6:50pm. I think this will give us plenty of time to swim or go to a park for a few hours.

 

[vicb]

I thought about it... but the last part of our party doesn't arrive until a little after 6 and who knows if they will get there on time. We are their transportation from the airport so if they're late then that effects us as well (meaning we couldn't go without them). so we opted to not do one and just get pizza and hang out in the room that night.

Makes sense... where are you staying? Perhaps people will have some more specific non-ADR suggestions for you.

 

[gtpoohbear]

We hate eating CS, so a dinner ADR is a must for us on arrival night. Especially after a day of traveling, none of us would be happy with fast food! The earliest flight we can get usually lands around 1pm, and I usually make our dinner ADR for 7pm, at our resort. So we have quite a bit of time to allow for delays, and can usually swim for a while before dinner too. And don't have to try to rush to get anywhere else. I know it's possible that we could get really delayed and miss it, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. if my flight was THAT late, I'd be upset about more than just dinner, lol!

 

[Jennasis]

We pretty much always have an ADR on arrival day. We drive, and it's an 8.5-9 hour drive from NC. So we typically leave at 6am and plan for a 5:30 or later dinner. This year it will be at the Wave.

 

[Micca]

For a late arrival we avoid big "event" dinners. A resort or DTD meal sounds great, where are you staying Melidy? Trader Sam's doesn't have much of a food menu, and from what I hear "laid back" doesn't exactly describe the ambience there. If you're staying at the Poly, I'd suggest Kona. The food is good, and it's more low key than 'Ohana. We're not huge fans of any place at DTD, though I've enjoyed several meals at Wolfgang Puck's. Please note that transportation to/from DTD can be a beast. One who is exhausted from a long day of travel would be well advised to schedule DTD for another day.