How necessary are ADR's at DHS in January?

[ruthies12]

We will be at DHS on 1/22 which is a Sunday. I would like to eat at either mama melrose's or brown derby however I am not 100% certain we will still be there at dinnertime that day, we will have dd2 with us and we may leave earlier in the day.

I see a lot of reservation times open online but I don't want to reserve and get charged to cancel since I won't know if I'm cancelling until that afternoon. We only have a party of 3, will I have any hope of getting seated without an ADR?

What about eating lunch at those places? Do you need an ADR for lunchtime?

 

[vicki_c]

Having an ADR is always better than not having one. You probably would stand a better chance of a walk up at Brown Derby since it is more expensive and therefore a bit less popular.

I can't speak to your chances of success, but definitely January 22 is better than trying to do it at a crowded time. I would probably go at an off time as well - like 4:30 vs. 5:30 or later.

I'm not sure - but I don't think Mama Melrose carries the credit card guarantee - you can check the list in the sticky @ the top of the board.

 

[LoriJune]

Since Fantasmic won't be showing, that will make your chances of getting in without an ADR even better...

 

[JMD]

Getting a table in a WDW theme park restaurant without an ADR is always hit or miss.

 

[ruthies12]

Thanks everyone! I don't have my heart set on eating at either of those places and I do have ADR's for the other days at the places I did have my heart set on so I think I will just take my chances and see what happens.

 

[bedogged]

We will be at DHS on 1/22 which is a Sunday. I would like to eat at either mama melrose's or brown derby however I am not 100% certain we will still be there at dinnertime that day, we will have dd2 with us and we may leave earlier in the day.

I see a lot of reservation times open online but I don't want to reserve and get charged to cancel since I won't know if I'm cancelling until that afternoon. We only have a party of 3, will I have any hope of getting seated without an ADR?

What about eating lunch at those places? Do you need an ADR for lunchtime?

We were there at that time last year. We had made ADRs at the restaurants we wanted to eat at ahead of time, but virtually every restaurant had a CM standing outside soliciting for reservations. I doubt there would be a problem.

 

[nickymaria]

I would book Mama Melrose just to be safe. Is it a free dining time? I've found that during free dining ADRs can be super tough to get. There's no penalty for cancelling MM, but if you book Brown Derby they require a credit card guarantee now. I think you've got nothing to lose by reserving MM and you can always just cancel w/o penalty. That way at least you have something saved? JMHO.

Have fun!

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

At Brown Derby in October one of the staff remarked that they were going to a reservation-only system and would not be taking walk-ups in the near future. I don't know if this ever happened or not but it is worth consideration if you wanted Brown Derby.