Do I have to have ADRs?

[NightAngelX]

I am going to Disney for the FIRST time this August!!!

I understand ADRs for the dinner shows and signature restaurants but what about regular ol' table service? We are getting the regular dining plan with 1 QS and 1 TS per day. We have 5 days of dining and thinking 1 dinner show, so that leaves 3 TS meals. Do we really need to plan these out now or will we have luck planning the day of?

Sorry DH and I rarely eat out IRL and rarely if ever to places that take reservations (lol Disney will be the most we've eaten out since we got married nearly 5 years ago).

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[MistressMerryweather]

Yes, you do. I went the no ADR route a couple of days last trip and there were nights in EPCOT where we literally hit every. single. table service. And not one with availability. It was miserable. Definitely, make ADRs. Take advantage of some fun character dining restaurants with your dining plan.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

It's definitely better to make ADRs. Now, there are a handful of places in each area that you can probably get a walk up - but in a number of cases you'll either have to go out of your way or be willing to wait a while.

Ex. let's say you're spending the day at MK and decide you want dinner. It's unlikely you'll be able to get a walk up at any of the TS restaurants in the park. So, you'd probably have to leave and consider the monorail resorts for a TS meal...and in that...The Wave, Kona, and GF Cafe are your best bets... and even there, you still may be waiting.

If it were me, I'd make ADRs. A little OT, but I'd also look at the price of those DDP TS credits and make sure you're getting the most bang for your buck by burning 2 credits on the show. We've just found that in most cases...it's a better use of the $ to pay OOP for anything requiring 2 credits if we're not on the Deluxe Plan.

 

[kddisney502]

I would definately try to make them in advance. It's even harder to get into many of the resturants now that some will require a credit card to reserve (and will charge a fee if you cancel) and with free dinning plans. I can't tell you the number of people I saw turned away (in the off season) because they didn't have reservations. It takes a little bit of planning, but for us is was worth it.

 

[TDC Nala]

If you want to eat in the parks, except perhaps Epcot, you do need reservations. If you want character meals, you'll need reservations. If you want any popular restaurants you'll need reservations.

If you aren't picky about where you eat and you're good with having a choice of, say, Marrakesh or Nine Dragons out of everything at Epcot, you might be able to get away without reservations. However, you're on a dining plan. If you go at the beginning of August it's going to still be relatively busy. If you go at the end, it's free dining and the restaurants will be packed. Therefore I would suggest that you have reservations for all your TS meals.

 

[tiggore91]

We went this route on our honeymoon, the hubby didn't want to be tied down to being at a restaurant at a certain time. We couldn't get in anywhere it seemed! I called my BFF who works at AAA and she made us ADR's for the rest of our trip. She mostly could only get us lunch ADR's though, which wasn't a problem.

 

[NightAngelX]

Thanks everyone. I guess as soon as I officially make reservations (waiting on Disney Visa) I will start making reservations.

 

[Missyrose]

Thanks everyone. I guess as soon as I officially make reservations (waiting on Disney Visa) I will start making reservations.

If you know which dates you'll be at Disney, I would start making the ADRs now (you don't need a resort reservation to make them). With just a couple of months left before your trip, you need to start looking ASAP.

 

[NightAngelX]

If you know which dates you'll be at Disney, I would start making the ADRs now (you don't need a resort reservation to make them). With just a couple of months left before your trip, you need to start looking ASAP.

I tried to make a reservation for a dinner show and it asked me for a resort confirmation number. I guess becuase it required payment ahead of time.

However I see what you girls mean. I am not sure where my hubby would like to eat yet (he's more of a foodie than me, I dont really care i'm a picky eater so if nothing else the kids menu will work for me lol), but I saw a steakhouse and he loves steak, it was Le Cellier Steakhouse to be exact and it was booked between 5-9 every night of our stay!!! Granted we may be able to get in for lunch but my idea was park during the day, go back to resort to shower, change and then have a relaxing dinner and maybe do some more exploring at night.

Now I'm kinda freaked out....lol

 

[Verstehen]

It is extremely difficult to get a table during a regular meal time without an ADR. I got very lucky a few weeks ago and did a walk in at noon on a Friday at the Sci-Fi Dine in Theater, with just a 20 minute wait. We also were able to do a walk in for a very late lunch (like 3 PM late) at Nine Dragons and a very late dinner (like 9:00) at Wolfgang Puck in Downtown Disney. I know people don't like to have every meal planned out but still want to be able to eat without a reservation...I went on a day trip with my roommate once and she wanted to go to the 50's Prime Time Cafe without a reservation. I explained they had no times open and she couldn't believe they couldn't find a table for us. But that's the way it is.

Yes, it's annoying, but many prefer to have a general time they're guaranteed a table then have to jostle around the counter service places.

 

[Verstehen]

If you want to eat in the parks, except perhaps Epcot, you do need reservations. If you want character meals, you'll need reservations. If you want any popular restaurants you'll need reservations.

If you aren't picky about where you eat and you're good with having a choice of, say, Marrakesh or Nine Dragons out of everything at Epcot, you might be able to get away without reservations. However, you're on a dining plan. If you go at the beginning of August it's going to still be relatively busy. If you go at the end, it's free dining and the restaurants will be packed. Therefore I would suggest that you have reservations for all your TS meals.

YES, good point. If you are on the DP you ESPECIALLY want to make sure you have reservations. Otherwise you'll risk not getting a table when you want it and losing your TS credits, and potentially wasting a lot of money.

I am so wanting you to make reservations that if I was there with you right now I would march you to the computer and make you pick. But that's just me.

 

[kamik86]

I tried to make a reservation for a dinner show and it asked me for a resort confirmation number. I guess becuase it required payment ahead of time.

However I see what you girls mean. I am not sure where my hubby would like to eat yet (he's more of a foodie than me, I dont really care i'm a picky eater so if nothing else the kids menu will work for me lol), but I saw a steakhouse and he loves steak, it was Le Cellier Steakhouse to be exact and it was booked between 5-9 every night of our stay!!! Granted we may be able to get in for lunch but my idea was park during the day, go back to resort to shower, change and then have a relaxing dinner and maybe do some more exploring at night.

Now I'm kinda freaked out....lol

Many of the most popular places (character meals, Le Cellier) were probably all booked up months ago. Most people on this site (including me) make their ADRs on the first day within the first hour they are available.

 

[figment_jii]

I tried to make a reservation for a dinner show and it asked me for a resort confirmation number. I guess becuase it required payment ahead of time.

You should be able to make the ADR without a resort confirmation. You'll need to provide a credit card to pre-pay for it, but you're well beyond the 180-day mark. Did you click on the link that says "Use My Dining Plan to Book Pre-Paid Reservation" by accident?

it was Le Cellier Steakhouse to be exact and it was booked between 5-9 every night of our stay!!

Le Cellier is one of the most popular places in WDW. I like the food and generally dinner is easier to get than lunch (because it's 2 credits at dinner and 1 credit at lunch when on the Dining Plan). You might try looking at some of the other places in Epcot and see if an interesting steak is on the menu.

http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

One other thing you can do, if you're willing to risk not having a TS dinner, is keep trying to get Le Cellier for the date/time you want. Check on-line every day, including the day you're interested in going. Sometimes things open up at the last minute (as others cancel), so you might get lucky!

 

[kelleigh1]

I tried to make a reservation for a dinner show and it asked me for a resort confirmation number. I guess becuase it required payment ahead of time.

However I see what you girls mean. I am not sure where my hubby would like to eat yet (he's more of a foodie than me, I dont really care i'm a picky eater so if nothing else the kids menu will work for me lol), but I saw a steakhouse and he loves steak, it was Le Cellier Steakhouse to be exact and it was booked between 5-9 every night of our stay!!! Granted we may be able to get in for lunch but my idea was park during the day, go back to resort to shower, change and then have a relaxing dinner and maybe do some more exploring at night.

Now I'm kinda freaked out....lol

If you're thinking steak, check out Yachtsman Steakhouse. It's at the Yacht Club, which is an easy walk from Epcot, and since it's at a resort instead of in the park, you might have a better shot at getting a reservation.

 

[AquaDame]

For my first trip we booked only a month or two out and had zero ADRs, plans beyond one park on each of our four days, or knowledge of all the different restaurants. The way we handled it was CALLING the dining line that day, sometime between 11 and 2 or so and asking what was available and when. On a couple days we requested 'A sushi or Japanese place' or said 'we are in HS' but that was it. We never went without a sit down dinner, but we did have to park hop to get to them sometimes, and typically ate a little late around 8pm to right before they closed. We ended up with Tokyo Dining one night, Sci-Fi dine in for a later lunch and San Angel Inn (we ended up not eating here when we saw the prices on the menu). We tried to walk up to Tony's Town Square for lunch too but were sent away... I think we made a reservation for dinner or the next day or something and that's when we started calling. The next trip we had free dining so paid more attention to getting ADRs and researching places we'd like to try, and now that I KNOW what I like and what they have, I make ADRs.

 

[MistressMerryweather]

Also, because of the credit card hold, you can often find a reservation somewhere 24 hours out because people must cancel or be charged the fee. We were able to get lots of popular last minute reservations because of it, last trip.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

I tried to make a reservation for a dinner show and it asked me for a resort confirmation number. I guess becuase it required payment ahead of time.

However I see what you girls mean. I am not sure where my hubby would like to eat yet (he's more of a foodie than me, I dont really care i'm a picky eater so if nothing else the kids menu will work for me lol), but I saw a steakhouse and he loves steak, it was Le Cellier Steakhouse to be exact and it was booked between 5-9 every night of our stay!!! Granted we may be able to get in for lunch but my idea was park during the day, go back to resort to shower, change and then have a relaxing dinner and maybe do some more exploring at night.

Now I'm kinda freaked out....lol

Le Cellier, if it's booked through (which for an August date, I bet it's packed solid), try at 30 days out, then again the day before. You may luck out. If you're staying onsite, they can help you handle it. But your chances of being able to simply walk up to LeCellier and be put on a wait list to get in are about zero, possibly less. Especially as lunch can actually be busier.

Also, be aware, depending on where you book, you will probably not be able to order off a the kids menu, and if you are, it will be at a steeply inflated price. Like Velveeta Mac and Cheese for $15 or more. Many places outright forbid it.