Do we REALLY need ADR's?

[DollBabyKG]

So, I'm kind of new to all of this, the message board, Disney World, etc. So, please forgive me if I make any grievous errors.

My husband and I decided about a week and a half ago to take an impromptu trip to Disney World. My wonderful brother-in-law offered us a week at one of his time shares, and we couldn't think of any better place to take our 2 and a half year old that Disney World!

Now, since we just made our reservations a week ago, and our trip is next Sunday (!!!), coupled with the fact that I haven't been to DW in 10 years or so, and DH has never been, I'm feeling a little lost. I keep reading about all of these ADR's, and such, and I'm confused. I knew we needed those for character dining (we were lucky to get a cancellation at the Garden Grill one night), but the more I'm reading, it sounds like people have them for like every meal.

Will we still be able to eat, without planning out our every meal ahead of time? As you can tell by our impromptu scheduling, we're kind of "impulse vacationers," and don't plan much...Are we still going to be able to eat?

 

[BlondeAlligator]

Unfortunately, for most placed you do need an ADR to eat. It wasn't always so...I remember going for my honeymoon 15 years ago & we never made reservations before the day of the meal. Since they now allow people to book dining 6 months ahead of time, you really have to plan ahead & make ADR's because everyone else is doing it & they tend to book up months in advance. I would pick some restaurants you want & just keep calling eveyday, several times a day if need be, because you never know what you might get. People do cancel, as you have already found out. (BTW...dinner at Garden Grill is one of my favorites & the characters at dinner are great!)

Good luck! The good news is that many of the counter service locations offer a lot more than just burgers nowadays & many are quite good.

Have a great trip!

 

[goofygal531]

Unfortunately, if you'd like to dine in a TS (table service) restaurant, you will need a reservation (ADR - advanced dining reservation).

Back in 2000 was our first trip to WDW. I had made all our ADRs and my DH thought I was nuts. Our first day we spent at DHS. We had an ADR for 1pm for lunch at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. DH decided he wanted to eat right now at 12 noon. So he walked into the restaurant and was told at the door that if you do not have a reservation, you can't come it - we're not accepting walk ups. He said we do have a reservation, but it's for 1pm. She said come back at 12:45. Well, he turned to me and said good thing you made reservations honey! From that day forward, he's never said a word.

Lots of time while on site you can get ADRs for that same day. Many times my boys would rather spend the day by the pool than in the parks and I'd have to re-arrange stuff. If you call at 7am that same day of, you can get lucky. I think the number is *88 from any house phone to WDW-DINE.

Oh, to answer your question, yes every meal is planned. We're on the DxDDP (deluxe Disney dining plan) and I need to keep track of our credits. So we have a breakfast or lunch and a dinner planned for each day of our 8 days.

It wasn't really this bad getting into restaurants in WDW until they started the DDP. I remember going off season in Jan/Feb and walking into popular places like Ohana. That is not happening now.

Try to make a tentitive game plan for your family. Which parks will you be in which days, check out the menus available above under the "dining" link, complete restaurant list". Nothing written in stone, it's better to be safe and have an ADR than not having one.

 

[denisegold]

I've been to Disney many times, (never done a character meal- I know you need ADRs for those) but I've been as recently as last year, and I had never once made an ADR. Never had too much trouble getting a table (usually either party of 2 or 4) never waited more than 15 or 20 minutes. I'm talking about places like Sci Fi Theatre and similar sit downs, most of the Epcot TS places. I know there are some places you can't get in without a reservation, but I think a lot of it is hype. And to the OP- if you have your heart set on a certain place, go to the cancelled ADR thread here Yesterday I got a character dining reservation for Nov 9th that I know I would have never otherwise been able to get. Very nice people posting on that thread!!!

 

[onelilspark]

Agreed with above. You'll need ADR's for any place that you want to eat at. Otherwise, don't expect to be seated quickly (or at all!) even for two.

 

[goofygal531]

Thing is, your dining with a 2 year old. If you want to dine at reasonable hours, you'll need ADRs. The one good thing about a child that age, should they nap you can stroll them up to your table and enjoy an nice adult meal. We did that one year with DS4 when he was younger. We got him a slice of pizza at the BW pizza window then had a nice early dinner in DHS at the Brown Derby while he slept.

 

[nhl66pens]

First, welcome to the DIS!

I would suggest you try to make an ADR and see if you can get anything. I went 10 years ago on my honeymoon and my wife and I were able to make reservations at Chefs de France and Teppan Edo but I went about 3 years ago on a business trip and had 1 day at Epcot and could not get any walkup ressies. I think you may find the best thing to do is keep calling every day (even once you arrive) because people cancel all the time. Good luck!

 

[gmflanigan]

You can just walk up at some of the out of the way places. However, this time of the year is really busy. Good luck--you may be eating lots of quick service.

 

[MatterhornMiss]

If you want to eat at a particular place, make an ADR. It MIGHT be possible to walk up some place, but if you have your heart set on a certain restaurant, I wouldn't chance it.

 

[disneylove69]

Made ressies for Novemeber and got everything we wanted except for Le Cellier. They are fully booked. Breakfast was no problem but had to get either really late or early dinner at the other restaraunts.

 

[noahdove]

I believe that if you want a sit down meal, you would need a ressie...good luck

 

[DeblovesPoohbear]

We went last Nov (early in the month) and didn't have ADR'S for all of our meals
We did for Character meals like Crystal Palace
We ended up getting into Tutto, with a 5 minute wait
and also for the Sci FI, and even ate in a car

 

[TDC Nala]

Get them for character meals and popular places like Ohana or Le Cellier, if you can get those. Since you have a young child, you are probably looking at some character meals. Call immediately to try and get those.

Otherwise, try calling for reservations while you are there and taking whatever you can get into at the time your child usually eats (those with young children usually don't want really late mealtimes - and the late ones are easiest to get). Or try Downtown Disney, since you won't be on the dining plan. A lot of the restaurants get booked up because dining plan users are trying to use their credits. A number of the DTD restaurants don't take the dining plan.

If by "will we be able to eat" you mean table service, you will probably have to do some planning for that. If you don't mind counter service, yes, you can eat. WDW has lots of good counter service options.

 

[Bell30012]

You bet that you need ADR's ... Without ADR's you can forget anywhere that most people want to eat. You can try and walk up but you'll be standing around with one of those pager devices for quite a while waiting for the party of X to not show up so you can have their table.

 

[broberts]

I would definitely make ADR's. If you start calling now, you should be able to get some reservations as long as you are flexible on location and time. If you call and don't get what you want, keep trying ever day or so and you might be surprised at what opens up.

 

[DollBabyKG]

Well, I guess I'm going to have to dive in and do some more research then. I don't really want to spend a TON of time sitting around eating when there's so much fun stuff to see, but I'd like to have the OPTION of eating...

Half the problem is that due to my husband's schedule (he's on trauma call 24/7/365) we don't really ever have set mealtimes, so the idea of being forced into setting a time/place is sort of foreign to us...

Any suggestions on the kinds of places we'd want to go with a 2.5 year old? Mickey will be at the garden grill, so I'm not too worried about character dining other than that.

 

[myladyisatramp]

Last trip we did ADR's and it was great, I have them booked for this trip also. If you don't want to eat CS all the time your there I would try to get a few anyway have some back ups to where you would love to eat then see what they have for times or try somewhere for a late lunch instead of dinner. Pretty much anywhere is kid friendly in Disney look on allears.net they have menus to all the restaurants in parks and hotels you may get ideas from that.

 

[JeanfromBNA]

We were there two weeks ago, and had ADRs. We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table for six at SciFi Dine In. As we waited we observed one group of four as they were informed that they were not taking walk-ins, and they replied that this was the third restaurant that they had tried at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and didn't know what they would do.

I wouldn't want that to be you.

As another poster said, any restaurant in the parks is family friendly. Try allears.net for a list of restaurants and menus in each park. Pick a first, second, and third choice. The people who answer the phones at Disney dining have been very helpful to me.

 

[buckirj1]

Provided you're flexible, you should be able to call the same day and find something available. When it comes to seating, the fewer people in your party the better. Good luck!

 

[aussietravellers]

In one word..... Yes