Does anyone go without ADRs anymore?

[AliceinWonderland]

I just booked a five night trip to begin on Oct. 20. I had a room only pin so we don't have the dining plan. We were in WDW for 9 days in Dec. 2005 and ate at several character/table service restaurants (including CRT, Le Cellier, Asherkus, Crystal Palace, 1900 Park Fare, etc). This time my husband wants to just leisurely tour without rushing to meals. My question is will we be able to get into any restaurants without ADRs or by possibly making them only hours beforehand on the day we wish to go. If not, will counter service choices offer much variety or will we be totally sick of it by the end of the trip? Thanks for your help.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

My family & I don't make ADR's before we go, unless it's for a specifc day like New Years Eve for example. With that being said on our last 2 vacations to WDW we were able to make ADR's at some restaurants 2 - 3 days before & this was while in WDW. So my suggestion is once you get to WDW figure out where you want to eat & on what days, then make your ADR's. This has always worked out for my family & we were never told a restaurant was booked solid. Now maybe we got in because we booked those ADR's for lunch & not dinner, but the fact is we still got in & never made the ADR's 180 days out. So we will continue to make our ADR's this way. I say do what you think is best, I just wanted to tell you that yes people can book last minute ADR's while in WDW, because I have read posts on here that say you can not do that anymore which is false.

 

[Amyrlin]

As long as you are flexible and there are no 'must do's' then you should be OK calling when you get there.

 

[sarah4770]

I had a really good time in august with no adr's. I was able to get breakfasts at cape may and at yacht club the morning we wanted to go. The only advance adr I made was at wolfgang puck's after cirque. But this was the week before free dining started. This was my most relaxing trip yet.

 

[CarolA]

I will be there for four nights starting 10/14. Have Party for the Senses booked. Nothing else... No biggie.

My experience has been that outside of a few key spots (Le Cellier, CRT) I can do OK if I just don't want to eat RIGHT at noon or 6 PM. So I often will do a walk in for a late lunch or early dinner.

(This trip I may just eat my way around the World Showcase)

 

[DisneyHumbug]

Going for 4 days this month and we have one ADR. I figure we can just eat at F&W!

 

[Swimnoid]

For our 10 day trip in Dec I booked 4 meals, one is for CP. This is what I usually do and then if we want somewhere in particiular I have usually been able to get an ADR the morning of the day we wanted to eat.

 

[phantom728]

We are going in Dec and I only have 3 adr's, one for Fantasmic and one for CP pkg and one for R&C. Other than that we will wing it while we are there. Most of the time we eat cs meals because we don't like to sit for too long. I want to have as much time to see the parks as possible. We usually eat at the off times, so have not had trouble with getting tables if wanted. If we can't, then not a bigee.

 

[mickeyfan2]

We only do an ADR for every 3-4 days.

 

[tmt martins]

We have all of our ADR's for our Dec trip.

But when we booked our Oct trip we decided to just eat on the fly at CS's .Now I will try to make some calls once we get there and see what parks we will be in that day but if not then no big deal.

We have the DDE card and are staying at POFQ so we will save a bit there or I wouldn't even bother with calling at all.

 

[ttfn3]

We're going the end of October and I have only made one ADR for MK the night of MNSSHP. We're staying at the BWV and plan to spend a good deal of our time at Epcot. I really like the counter service options - and trying the food at the festival booths. I keep thinking I need to book more ADR's - but we don't eat heavy big meals everyday - and I don't want to spend a good deal of time eating TS meals each night.

 

[Rella Bella]

As long as you are flexible and there are no 'must do's' then you should be OK calling when you get there.

YUP! On our last trip (6 days) we only did one ADR -- our first morning at Ohanna, which is a tradition in stone for us. The rest of the trip we did mostly counter service but did get into a couple of places... we go off hours late lunch or early dinner and can almost always find something. I have called the dining # and just asked for ___ at 4:30?? No, okay then how about __ at 4:30, until something works. We just aren't that picky. We would rather be flexible... and relax.

 

[goofygirl77]

DH and I just got back today, and as much as I love going out to eat, and dining at some nices 2TS restaurants, I also enjoyed the days we didn't have anything booked and just grabbed a CS. We had the free DDP and WOW, so much food. In total we had 16 of the TS, CS, and snacks. Up until yesterday, we still had 8 CS left, and so many snacks. Ended up using snacks for Food and Wine festival, and so candy for the plane ride home. We used all TS, we actually like using 2 TS for the nicer restaurants because who can eat all the food every single night. Plus ADR's get in the way of fun in the parks. So, with the Free DDP done with, I would wing it. It shouldn't be as busy. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

we dont book anything ahead. unless it is for something special. we just kinda like to eat at whatever time we are hungry, or are in the mood for lunch that day. we always have fun............

 

[jackmac]

I've been going to WDW for 3-4 trips per year for the past 4 years and don't book ADR's ahead of time, unless for special occassions (fireworks at CG or Rose and Crown). I've never had trouble eating at a very nice table service restaurant every night of my trip. I will call Disney Dining before going to the restaurant and book an adr, sometimes only an 1/2 hour before my restaurant trip. It's always worked for me. The general opinion of this board is that all adr's must be booked in advance. I have not found that so. As long as you are flexible you should do fine.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

The general opinion of this board is that all adr's must be booked in advance. I have not found that so. As long as you are flexible you should do fine.

I completely with that statement 100%. I do agree that for certin restaurants it's a must to have an ADR & if it's for a holiday like Christmas Day or New Years Eve then it's good to have them in advance. However when I have read comments like your no longer available to get last minute ADR's while in WDW is totally false & it kind of get's me upset.

I have said before my family & I have never had any problems making last minute ADR's while in WDW, in fact one night in December 2004, just a few days before Christmas when returning to the Contemporary at very last minute we decided to eat dinner at the Concourse Steakhouse. We did not have an ADR & we were told it would be about a 20 minute wait. So we decided to get something from our room, when our pager went off saying our table was ready. I say in total we had waited 5 minutes & this was around 7:30 PM which is peak dinning hours for Contemporary restaurants & we did not go with an ADR.

Would we ever do that again by going to a restaurant at the very last minute without an ADR, 99.9% we won't. However I am 100% sure we will have no problem making an ADR on that day or a few days before.

 

[CPM]

We go to Disney all the time and never make ADR's. Sometimes if it's getting close to dinner time I might call, but it's usually that day. We also don't mind eating late, so I'm sure that is a plus for us.