For those returning from free dining.......

[fightinfire21]

.....how imporntant are ADR's? We leave one week from toaday , and we only have 3 ADR's lined up for our entire 14 day trip. Two are for dinner shows and one is for LTT on our MNSSHP night. I really don't like the idea of having to set up time and resturants each night. We are a young married couple and we would just like to relax and go with the flow so to speak. Eat where we want, when we feel hungry. Has anyone else tried this during the free dining plan and had problems with it? I am hoping we are not going to run into problems with not being able to get into a resturant or anything like that. Any feed back from those who have been there would be GREAT!!!! Just a side note too... we usually eat supper late like 6:30 or after if that makes any difference.

 

[ThinkTink!]

We just returned last night from a week stay. There were a few instances where we had ADR's but found we were able to get in way before our time (up to an hour before) and they were very accomodating. I am assuming this was because of lower volumes. The restaurant's were not as busy as when I went in March and there were even a few empty tables. Mama Melrose, 50's PT and Whispering Canyons had no problem seating us early. I would suggest ADR's for LeCellier and CRT for sure if you are interested in either one. LeCellier was providing ADR's for walk-ins but it was for later in the week. (This place was awesome!)

 

[HaleyB]

I am not just back, but I tried to switch something the first week of October and every where I tried was booked solid, at any time and with flexable dates. Even three weeks ago I couldn't get times I wanted (although I could still get in). I think the first few days you will be OK but I would try to make some ADRs even if you just do them while you are there. We did that sometimes last year, we would see some place that looked good and walk up and book an ADR for later in our trip.

Oh and I should add- anyone just back was there when it was very slow (by Disney standards). Late Sept and Early October will be busy. All the Value and I think all or most of the Moderates are sold out. The free dining means everyone is going to try to eat at the TS places.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Good luck. We were there from 8/28-9/3, and people were turned away in front of us at 50's PTC (lunch) and Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner). 50's seemed to be full most of the week, the family in front of me was trying to get an ADR for anytime over 3 or 4 days and had trouble finding one.

 

[guangs]

I am not just back, but I tried to switch something the first week of October and every where I tried was booked solid, at any time and with flexable dates. Even three weeks ago I couldn't get times I wanted (although I could still get in). I think the first few days you will be OK but I would try to make some ADRs even if you just do them while you are there. We did that sometimes last year, we would see some place that looked good and walk up and book an ADR for later in our trip.

Oh and I should add- anyone just back was there when it was very slow (by Disney standards). Late Sept and Early October will be busy. All the Value and I think all or most of the Moderates are sold out. The free dining means everyone is going to try to eat at the TS places.

I believe only the weekend of 9/30 is sold out (values). I've checked 10/2-10/6 and there was plenty of availability.

 

[jenga1030]

I keep reading that all the resorts are sold out, but everytime I check on Disney's site, nothing is sold out, there is availability at the values up to the deluxes. It seems that one night the last weekend in September (the 30th I think) may be sold out in some places probably because of the food and wine festival, but other than that I am just not seeing where everything is sold out and I just checked again to make sure. I don't think it's going to be really busy. I think think like others have said the restaurants will be busy and the popular ones will be hard to get into, but I don't think the parks themselves will be that much busier than normal. Maybe I'm just deluding myself because I leave 2 weeks from today, but I just wanted to respond to this rumour that the resorts are all sold out. Jennifer

 

[luv2go2disney]

We just got back this morning and we did have trouble getting into LeCellier for dinner, but settled for ADR for late lunch at 2:50. Well worth it!!! We also tried to walk into a couple of other places and they were all booked. I would say book some ADR now and then you could always cancel them once you get there.

 

[ReneeA]

We were in WDW from 8/21 until 8/28. I had made ADR's for all of our TS meals. It was pretty restricting, but I have a 2 & 3 year old, so we are used to being restricted That being said, at the more popular establishments (Whispering Canyon, O'Hana's and LeCellier) we saw all walk-up people turned away...they only had room for people with ADR's. Of course, this was during prime dining hours, too...from 5:45 until 7 p.m., so I'm not sure if you could get in earlier or later than this.

The parks didn't seem very busy at all...the longest we waited for rides was 20 minutes. It must be due to the dining plan (free or otherwise) that all of the restaurants were so busy.

ReneeA

 

[guangs]

I just checked travelocity...and to put those people who are going the first week of october's mind at ease here is some accurate information......

9/30 (friday) 10/01 (saturday) --The only places sold out are: dolphin, ASSp, ASMu, ASMo, Pop That's it!!!

10/02 (sunday) - 10/06 (thursday) --The only places sold out are ASSp, WL, DBV, BC, Swan That's it!!! I promise you as of 5 minutes ago that is the situation!!!

So relax everybody!!! It's going to be a great time! I think a large part of the reason there are no ADR's available is because people make a ton of reservations and keep them until they decide for sure where they want to eat. Not everybody calls and cancels them like we do.

 

[fivefordisney]

We were in WDW during the last week of August and I was REALLY happy that we had ADRs. We watched so many people get turned away or told that they could return after 9:00. If I were you, I'd try to make a few more ADRs at the "hotspots" and just be sure to cancel them if you find that they won't work for your day's plan.

That being said, you can usually walk into the less popular spots for lunch. We did this in Mexico at Epcot. We just wanted to sit in the AC because it was so darn hot.

Good luck and have fun!!

 

[black562]

We just got back (trip report coming) and had dinner at the Cindy's Royal Table, Le Cellier, breakfast at Chef Mickeys and all were sold out as I saw people turned away at the door.

And by the way, Le Cellier let my wife order the Fillet and Lobster on our dining plan...but of course it was our honeymoon and they gave us several perks such as Champaign and a cupcake with candle....it was so cool.

 

[TDC Nala]

I would say that no matter when you're going, if you intend to go to a character meal or an especially popular restaurant for dinner (Ohana, Boma, Le Cellier, California Grill are examples) you should have an ADR to prevent long waits or being turned away altogether.

 

[henrylovespooh]

As a test, why don't you call Disney Dining and see if you can make some ADR's for the restaurants you think you might like to go to? They might be able to give you an idea now, so that you're not disappointed when you get there next week.

I have had luck calling Disney Dining from the room in the evenings to get an ADR for the next day.