Dining question

[MistyH]

I am new to this and also going to be in Disney for the first time Dec 2010. The question I have is I see alot of people talking about getting thier ADR's. My DH does not want to be tied down to ADR's, he is more spontaneous. We are not picky but if we don't do ADR's is it possible we won't get in anywhere to TS in the evenings? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Pakey]

When in December are you going?

Is it during a Free Dining Promotion?

How far are you willing to travel to get in someplace?

Are you wanting to do any character dining?

Are you going to be limited to those restaurants that accept Disney's Dining Plan?

 

[kamik86]

Yes that is very possible. I would suggest making a few ADRs just in case. You can always cancel them the day of if you walk in and find something better but then you at least have a backup.

 

[MistyH]

When in December are you going? Dec 11 til 18

Is it during a Free Dining Promotion? Yes

How far are you willing to travel to get in someplace? Anywhere onsite

Are you wanting to do any character dining? No

Are you going to be limited to those restaurants that accept Disney's Dining Plan? We have the Dining Plan so we would prefer that. But its not a must.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

When in December are you going? Dec 11 til 18

Is it during a Free Dining Promotion? Yes

How far are you willing to travel to get in someplace? Anywhere onsite

Are you wanting to do any character dining? No

Are you going to be limited to those restaurants that accept Disney's Dining Plan? We have the Dining Plan so we would prefer that. But its not a must.

If you have the DDP then make some ADRs. You'd loose out on your credits if you can't get in anywhere.

 

[clanmcculloch]

If you REALLY don't care where you eat then I suggest you program the number for Disney Dining into your phone and call a couple hours before you'll want dinner to see if there are any ADRs anywhere near where you are (i.e. if you're at Epcot then at Epcot or a crescent lake resort, if you're at MK then in MK or a monorail or FW resort). As long as you'll be perfectly happy with CS if there aren't any TS locations available then this should work. Note that you'll end up eating at places that aren't very popular or at places that are expensive. You're not going to get any character dining or dinner shows or anything with a special view.

If you are using a Dining Plan (either DDP or DxDDP) then you REALLY want to have ADRs booked or else you're really risking wasting credits if there isn't anything available. I only suggest following the advice I gave if you're NOT using a dining plan AND you'll be happy with CS if no TS is available.

 

[DLB]

I would still make some reservations you can always cancel them if you wind up going somewhere else to eat, but I can tell you from experience that the CS gets real old real fast!

 

[RMulieri]

Sorry to say that if you are on the dining plan I would make adrs.For one free dining promo is going on.That makes dining spontaneously rather difficult.Plus you can NOT get a refund if you can't use dining credits .Unfortunately adrs are becoming more and more of a neccessity..

 

[Pakey]

I'm not huge on planning and you are going at a typically lower crowd time. We have had great luck getting in without ADRs but we don't do the dining plan and prefer those restaurants not on the plan. The Free Dining will definitely make the restaurants busier.

I'd say you can wing it but you need to realize that WDW on property is a large place. For example, if you are staying at Wilderness Lodge and find that there is an opening to eat at Turf Club over at SSR, you will need to plan an hour minimum to get there if you are using WDW transportation.

So IMO, if you are planning on using WDW transportation to get around, you have to give up some of that flexibility. The resort restaurants are usually easier to get into than any of the in-park restaurants but then you have to travel to them.

If you want to be in a park, see a restaurant, walk up and get in when you decide you are hungry, that's not likely that it will happen. You can go to guest services in each park and they can look up availability. But be prepared to have to travel to somewhere outside of the park you are in. We were there week before last and all of the park restaurants were fully booked and not taking walk ups.

 

[Nadjalu]

Your chance of finding a TS restaurant onsite will be slim to none at that time of year. Sorry, but it is true.

We where there last year at this time frame and everyday we tried to change our adrs (we had everything just wanted to switch a few) and nothing. Nothing in the parks, nothing in the resorts.
Free dining is wonderful but it books the restaurants up.

All the parks had signs up by mid morning everyday saying "all TS restaurants are booked, please enjoy a meal at our CS locations".
Every park every day we seen this.

I know it is hard to decide where to eat, but look at it this way, if you don't you WILL get stuck eating CS all of your vacation.

Sit with him and look at menus, pick a few and try to get adrs now (it will be difficult at this point but worth a try).