Do we really need ADR's?

[Jennygt]

Yes you need ADR's, no way around it.

 

[catne]

As long as you don't have a list of "must have's", you may be able to wing it in October, even if it is free dining...you will have to be prepared to take what's available, and you may have to eat very early, or very late. But here's a couple of strategies. Call Disney Dining from your hotel room in the morning and ask what's available for that evening. If you absolutely don't want to make ADRs, find out what time a restaurant you want starts serving dinner, and show up 10-15 minutes before they open - you may luck out that way. We saw walk-ups getting seated using that strategy last year during free dining. If you wait until after 5:30 or after, though, forget it at any park restaurants, or resort restaurants that are close to parks (like Epcot resorts or monorail resorts.)

Also, if you have a car, the outlying resort restaurants will probably be available for walk-ups, you may have to wait 20-30 minutes, but will probably be able to get seated. Places like Turf Club, Olivia's, Sanaa, etc. Even some of the less popular close-in resort restaurants may have availability...we've had great meals at the Grand Floridian Cafe, Kona & The Wave...and they were never terribly crowded. All those resorts have very popular character meals & signature dining too, that may be why the "regular" restaurants don't get so swamped. Worth a try.

 

[the who #3]

i love having dinner reservatiions. it is for sure that once in a while it is nice not to have to be somewhere at a certain time and not have to leave the park until you want to, but at the same time i hate having to try to find a place late in the day and be told "no tables".

i also admit that counter service is great during the day even tho i prefer to sit down and relax at night when we are tired and let someone else do the serving.

i will always go for the reservations. my family used to complain that they wanted to be more flexable and then we spent several nights not being able to find anything to eat until midnight when the children were too tired. it actually ruined our day and made everyone ill-tempered the next day.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm being accused of being "overly anal" regarding ADRs for our upcoming Mid-October trip, and so I said that I would double-check that Oct 9-17 will be a time when Free Dining is offered and thus the fine restaurants will be especially crowded. We are not on any Disney Dining Plan. So, can someone please confirm for me (and my brother) that Free Dining is happening during those dates?

General public Free Dining is available for stays beginning August 16 to October 3. It can be booked for up to 14 nights. Anyone booking a free dining stay starting October 3 for 14 nights would have free dining through October 17. So, October 17 could likely be considered the last day where there might be general public free diners in the restaurants. This is the "tail end" of free dining - only those booking 14 night stays starting October 3 would last until October 17 - so there would not be as many free diners as there would be at the beginning or middle of the period.

There is a free dining PIN for that period but these are limited offers. It is the general public offer open to anyone that brings in the great numbers.

 

[itchin2go]

I am always perplexed by this question. How does having an optional ADR box you in? You can always cancel it if it turns out your plans change. How could NOT having an ADR be better than having one? What's the plus side to NOT booking ADRs? I guess it narrows down your choices because there are only so many places you can get into at the spur of the moment, but I don't really see that as a plus.



We book all of our ADRs in advance. We end up cancelling or changing several through the course of our vacation. I never feel "scheduled" or boxed in or rigid or unspontaneous. If ADR time is approaching and we're not hungry, we whip out the cell phone and cancel. If we just don't feel like *that kind of food* that day, we cancel and schedule something else or do CS.

 

[nanalisa]

I agree. Make ADR's just in case, then when you get there ir something else looks better - and is available, fine. But at least you won't be left high and dry without place to rest your wearly bones and something to eat.

 

[Skylarr29]

Absolutely, 100%, YES

 

[matthew_hull]

Okay, thanks for the help. -- M

 

[PaulaSB12]

General public Free Dining is available for stays beginning August 16 to October 3. It can be booked for up to 14 nights. Anyone booking a free dining stay starting October 3 for 14 nights would have free dining through October 17. So, October 17 could likely be considered the last day where there might be general public free diners in the restaurants. This is the "tail end" of free dining - only those booking 14 night stays starting October 3 would last until October 17 - so there would not be as many free diners as there would be at the beginning or middle of the period.

There is a free dining PIN for that period but these are limited offers. It is the general public offer open to anyone that brings in the great numbers.

The UK has the free dining offer right now. The dates are 4th October until 17th December this is on top of the August to October free dining so you will probably have people on free dining until 31st December.

 

[crisi]

I'm being accused of being "overly anal" regarding ADRs for our upcoming Mid-October trip, and so I said that I would double-check that Oct 9-17 will be a time when Free Dining is offered and thus the fine restaurants will be especially crowded. We are not on any Disney Dining Plan. So, can someone please confirm for me (and my brother) that Free Dining is happening during those dates?

We normally are a mid-October family - and the dining plan has never been offered for mid-October even with a pin before. And we've seen people turned away at MOST resturants we've been to. Food and Wine is going on, so Epcot is particularly popular - and the signature places also tend to fill up with Foodies.

 

[TDC Nala]

The UK has the free dining offer right now. The dates are 4th October until 17th December this is on top of the August to October free dining so you will probably have people on free dining until 31st December.

Combined UK and PIN guests in October through December likely would still not add up to as many free dining guests as they will get during the US public free dining period.