Do you ADR all TS meals?

[starbound25]

title says it all haha do you do advance reservations for all your table service meals?

I've always only done it for character meals. How much time do you think you save if you do adr for all ts meals?

 

[ccgirl]

title says it all haha do you do advance reservations for all your table service meals?

I've always only done it for character meals. How much time do you think you save if you do adr for all ts meals?

Yes, I always make reservations. There are some restaurants you can't even get in to without ADR's.

 

[smiths02]

title says it all haha do you do advance reservations for all your table service meals?

I've always only done it for character meals. How much time do you think you save if you do adr for all ts meals?

Yes, there are many meals that are not character meals that are almost impossible to walk up to. Some places will simply turn away ALL people who try to walk up on a given day. So it can do more than just save you time, it can save you the difference between having a place to eat and not.

Some of the hardest ADRs to get are actually not character meals: Ohana dinner and LeCellier lunch

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

Favorite part of vacation to DH is getting to go out to eat since we don't do it a lot at home, so you betcha we have an ADR every day for at least one meal

I feel it saves us time. We get 1 park per day tixs so we book the ADR close to where we're going to be anyway. We look forward to our dining "appointment" each day of our trip

Although we do CS meals, we like the daily TS for assigned seating, getting waited on vs. having to hunt for a place to eat carrying a tray of food, to escape crowds and getting to sit for at least an hour to cool off in the airconditioning....ah...especially nice in August

And also we make ADR's to make sure we get to dine where we prefer vs. hoping something we like is available!

 

[canopynut66]

If you want to eat at TS and NOT wait then you need to book them and there are times of the year like from May to September that will waste time waiting or looking for decent place to eat. For us a TS is just part of the vacation and we plan a park a day and then do the ADR close to or in the park at the time or that we would be leaving in the evening. but always one TS per day sometimes it character breakfast and then we go early. some days we do a TS brunch or late lunch. but would not want to fight the crowds for a TS....and ALWAYS at 180 out mark to be sure we get where we want and times

 

[Buckimion]

Most, but I'm holding out for walk-ups at Olivia's (2x), Kona (although some Kona ADR's are made) and a WCC lunch although this one may be a risk. Even in mid-September / FD, these have been easy to get a walk-up in the past. Ditto for Biergarten. I just like a little spontaneity.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We do ADRs for everything. As pp noted, there are just some places you're not going to get in (and if you do, you will likely wait for hours) w/o an ADR. Seeing the madhouse at 'Ohana dinner last time we went, I'd never brave that one w/o an ADR. And while I saw people walk up at Le Cellier lunch right in front of us and get seated before us, they were having computer issues and this kind of result is not the norm.

Obviously character meals are popular and best to book in advance, especially the hard to get time slots, but you can just gloss over the website around the 180th available day right now and get a good idea of how much is gone or slim pickings even on day 180. The CC guarantee and double booking restrictions have helped some, but not everything. For example- my 180 was May 20th...I wanted 50s PT around 6pm and had to settle for 6:25pm at 5:17am CT on day 180. Checked on it today and the only options are around 4pm and 8pm...so less than two weeks after my 180 mark and there is very little out there. Wishes timed spots and Cali Grill and Narcoosee's are also very hard to get...same thing w/Illuminations timed adrs at Rose & Crown. Plus good value DDP places like Tutto and more interesting experiences like Sci Fi, Teppan Edo, and Coral Reef can also go very fast.

We also have two younger children, so waiting an excessive amt of time or going without a serious plan is just not an option.

 

[Nancyg56]

We always have ADR's for each TS meal and have a TS meal every night. My family likes to have a general plan for our trip so making sure that we have our parks planned as well building in resort and down time ensures a relaxing trip for us. It is nice to know that we have our restaurants already picked out and a place waiting for us. Canceling if something comes up is easy but we have found we rarely need to do that.

 

[starbound25]

Thanks everyone. I am now 161 days out from my trip, I have 3 ADR's but now am going to search today what TS meals I can get for my other 3 days, since I do have the DDP. I already got the main sit down meals I wanted so the rest are just to have a TS place to eat (and not wait too long)

 

[vicki_c]

Thanks everyone. I am now 161 days out from my trip, I have 3 ADR's but now am going to search today what TS meals I can get for my other 3 days, since I do have the DDP. I already got the main sit down meals I wanted so the rest are just to have a TS place to eat (and not wait too long)

If you're paying for the DDP, you definitely should have those ADRs booked in advance, to avoid losing any money from not being able to use up your credits, since you've already pre-paid for them.

 

[KimberlyE]

We love to dine at Disney and always go during free dining (we stay at a value and upgrade to Deluxe dining). We very rarely eat CS meals - I like the relaxing break that a TS meal provides! We do 3 TS meals a day and have ADR's for each. I do this so that I can be guaranteed the meal of my choice and I like to follow a touring plan so ADR's fit in nicely with that! It's also nice with large groups that split up - you have predetermined times to catch back up.

 

[Cafeen]

The ADR puzzle is one of my favorite pre-trip games. So, yes, I do ADR all my TS meals. Of course, the food is part of my touring, so it's not the same as others where the food is nourishment only. I plan my park schedule around the ADRs, whereas some try to fit ADRs into their park touring. Neither is wrong, it just comes down to what you prefer.

Now, is 100% full ADRs needed? Not exactly. If you're looking at off-times and/or less than popular places (out of parks, and out of Boardwalk/YC/BC area and out of MK area) you'll likely get in at lower restaurant times (may be different than lower crowd times ). For me though, it helps me to remember to eat. If I didn't put this importance on my dining, and make those ADRs, I'd likely forget to eat, which leads to massive migraines and those are never good at Disney (I do this enough at home over marathon gaming weekends ).