How necessary are ADR's in January?

[pld5]

We are traveling January 22-28, 2012. I have made ADR's for 3 character breakfasts and understand the need to have made them in advance - Chef Mickey's, CRT and Hollywood and Vine.

My question is around some places we think we want to have dinner or late lunches, and I'm wondering if we don't make the ADR's now, will we be completely out of luck? Those places are Le Cellier and Coral Reef, but it is really hard to tell if I'll want to be in Epcot 145 days from now, or if I'll be in the mood to go to Animal Kingdom, or just hang at the resorts.

Has anyone traveled in January without making ADR's for dinner and lunch and had no luck finding tables then?

 

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi,

I travelled during January ( 2nd-14th ) this year and the restuaurants were busy ( I was lucky and got Le Cellier by asking at the concierge at WL the day before) but people were turned away.

If you want those two restaurants I would make reservations.

You should be able to get somewhere by booking ( say the day before) but it will probably not be the most popular restaurants

Regards

TBS

 

[mickeysbestfriend]

you never know how busy it will be. We have been there in Jan and could walk in to most restaurants but also have had to eat at nothing but sidewinders if we had no ressie!

 

[Jedi]

if there are any additional places that you are set at eating eating at I'd make ADR's (or if you are on the dining plan so you dont waste credits) but if you arn't really picky you should be able to find some walkups somewhere, BUT i'd make some the day of, just to avoid waiting for 2 hours etc

 

[pld5]

Thank you everyone for your information. I'm picturing in my head that it will be a ghost town while we are there, but definitely needed a reality check.

We are going to take our chances with Le Cellier depending on our mood while there in January, but did do an ADR for Coral Reef while there on a day where we have a story time experience for our son through AAA. I'll ask for assistance from the concierge at WL while there, too!

Thanks again!

 

[philandjd]

Have been there in January and were able to get into just about anything making reservations the day of. This year it was the complete opposite. We couldn't get into most places we checked, thank goodness we had all of our ADR's and were just trying to make changes. We bad a res at Le Cellier that we tried to change the day we got to Disney and they had no openings for our entire two week vacation (lunch or dinner).

 

[mattsmom2000]

We have been there 3 Januarys in a row and some days it is quite busy. We always make them just to be on the safe side. Although one day we had a change of plans and were able to walk up to LeCellier at 5:30pm and be seated right away without an ADR. It is always hit or miss.

 

[jdb in AZ]

We were able to have dinner at Coral Reef without a reservation, tho we had to wait for about half an hour. We tried to get into the Italian restaurant for pizza but they didn't have anything.

I read in a Disney tour book several years ago that if you call the "morning of" as soon as the reservation phone lines open, you might be able to get something. That's how we got into the Hoop De Do Review.

 

[PoohsFan1]

We are going the same time as you and I made all of our ADRs because we too will be going to the usual hard to get restaurants. We are doing CRT dinner, Le Cellier lunch, Cali Grill, Teppan Edo, Cape May Cafe breakfast, and Crystal Palace breakfast (before the park opens). If you are determined to go at a certain time at a certain restaurant, then I would highly suggest making the ADRs (it's better to be safe than sorry) and if you decide that later down the road you don't think you will be going to that park, then you could always cancel (as long as it is within the specified cancellation time).

 

[Tricia1972]

We are January travelers, usually from the Tuesday after MLK day and then we stay for 10 days.

This year we had incredible luck walking in and planning once we were there. One day we were walking around Epcot and it was an absolute Ghost town. We were talking about lunch and my sister mentioned that she always wanted to try LeCellier. I looked around and we decided 'what the heck'. We took our party of 6 and went to the reservation podium. People ahead of us were looking for dinner that same night and were turned away. When it was our turn I said "I know you don't have availability for dinner, but could we sneak in for lunch right now" Gave our party size and we had to break up 4 and 2, but we were seated in about 10 minutes.

We had reservations for Coral Reef for one night. Loved our dinner so much that we wanted to come back later on in the trip. Called the reservation line and were easily able to get a party of 7 (added one person mid-trip) about 5 days out.

Wandering through the MK one day we were hungry for a sit down lunch. Walked into Liberty Tree Tavern and were seated in about 5 minutes. (Party of 7)

So long as you are flexible with where you eat on any given day, I'd say that you'll definitely be able to get SOME sort of TS in the park on any given day.