How necessary are ADR's?

[tkoran]

We are going Feb 7-13 and am considering DDP, but we really like to be able to eat when we feel like it. Also, this is our first trip so I am a bit leary of having to be in a certain place at a certain time. I know if we want to see HDDR or something on that order we will need ADR's, but how big of a deal is it for other TS restaurants that time of year since hopefully it will be less crowded that time of year.

 

[dburg30]

There is still only limited seating and time for restuarants.. So ADR's IF you want for sure to eat somewhere, are pretty much a requirement. A buddy and myself went down in Feb, and we wanted to eat in Epcot one night, I dont think there wasnt anything available 'walk up' for a table service..

 

[imthatgirl]

everyone here is going to tell you you have to have ADRs and what a big mistake it will be and awful of a time you will have. but, no you dont have to make ADRs. you will still get to eat.
last year for free dining we didnt make a single ADR. we ate at coral reef, liberty tree, chef mickeys, rose and crown and sci fi. for chef mickeys and sci fi i did go to the front desk and made a reservation in the morning, the others we just walked into. sure we waited around 20-30 minutes, but i was ok with that as i knew i didnt make ADRs.
especially at that time of year, you will eat at table service restaurants without them, i promise!!
im sure you already know there are a couple that you probably wont get into without them. cindys table, hddr, le cellier...but those are obvious.

 

[Evan&Kimberly]

Well It will be my first time at WDW in Sept, and from what I have learned if you are a detailed person and want to know where and when you are going to be! Make your ADR'S, It is better to have than not to have, and if you want to change are cancel, you will still have this option, rather you go in high season or low season, You may be able to walk up at some of these places but again that's a 50/50 so why not make the call and give your family the 100% chance to have the restuarants you guys want! ADR'S Dont Hurt!
PS You Need ADR'S Like Mickey needs His Ears to hear lol...... because you dont want to hear sorry we dont have any openings tonight

 

[Blessedx3]

everyone here is going to tell you you have to have ADRs and what a big mistake it will be and awful of a time you will have. but, no you dont have to make ADRs. you will still get to eat.
last year for free dining we didnt make a single ADR. we ate at coral reef, liberty tree, chef mickeys, rose and crown and sci fi. for chef mickeys and sci fi i did go to the front desk and made a reservation in the morning, the others we just walked into. sure we waited around 20-30 minutes, but i was ok with that as i knew i didnt make ADRs.
especially at that time of year, you will eat at table service restaurants without them, i promise!!
im sure you already know there are a couple that you probably wont get into without them. cindys table, hddr, le cellier...but those are obvious.

Really you walked up to Chef Mickeys and got in. There is hope for me!!!! Did you go for breakfast or dinner? What time in the am did you do this?? Maybe I will get so lucky.

 

[vicki_c]

We did about 6 Disney trips with no ADRs except for Chef Mickey's. Mostly we ate counter service or in our resort. It didn't bother us in the least. I remember one trip we did get a TS at Liberty Tree Tavern with no ADR (maybe 2004), but we had to wait about 30 minutes.

Now I'm crazy WDW planner and make all these ADRs, but you don't have to, if you're happy with just eating CS or catching whatever TS you can. You definitely won't starve, regardless.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

we didnt have an ADR for Ohana once and they took us but we had a LONG wait!

 

[gelebean]

This will be my first trip on the DDP so don't know if I am really qualified to answer but here goes.

I am not one to really eat TS when we go cause we go to often for our bank account to carry that . But for this upcoming vaca I figured what the
hay.

My thing is if I am going to pay for 3 TS meals (since we are staying 3 nights) I want to make sure we get to use all 3 TS meals. (I am somewhat of a pennypincher).

JMO

 

[imthatgirl]

Really you walked up to Chef Mickeys and got in. There is hope for me!!!! Did you go for breakfast or dinner? What time in the am did you do this?? Maybe I will get so lucky.

no, like i said for chef mickeys i went to the front desk that morning and got my ADR for i think it was like 4:30? maybe? i went to the front desk first thing. i forget what time the concierge gets there but i was there waiting for him when he arrived.

 

[jenn-]

If you go with the dining plan, I would get the ADRs. There is 1 park that has a lot of TS (Epcot), but the rest of them really only have a couple. Do you really want to have to use a TS credit on a CS just so you can have food for the day? Are you traveling with any children? You may not care what and when you eat but if you have anyone with you under the age of 18, they might have a different opinion on the matter. I have been to Disney twice without ADRs. The first time wasn't to bad (2003) and was only DH and I, but Disney dining has grown in popularity since then. The second time (2005) with kids we spent a lot of our day stressing out about the next meal, and roaming aimlessly around looking for whatever we could find. The last trip (2007) we were on DDP and I had all of our ADRs scheduled as soon as I found the DIS and learned I should make them...lol. It was by far the least stressful trip as I knew when and were at least 1 major meal would be. You can always "wing it" for your CS throughout the day.

 

[dburg30]

Well, let me say this then, if you are considering doing the DDP, unless it's free, it may not make financial sense to do it. If all you are going to use is the CS and snacks bascially, I think it would be cheaper to just pay cash then. I still know what I saw when I was there in Feb, and early december (after pop warner, before christmas, one of WDW slowest times), and I saw people getting turned away a LOT, and in MK they would have signs up that told you were you could get TS, and I think there was only one place listed a few nights..

Soooo.. While you may be able to walk up 'somewhere' and get a TS, if you are good with that, then go for it. If you dont have picky eaters you may be able to pull it off, or if you arent afraid to try a resort or other park if the one you are in doesnt have a TS you are interested in.. But I kinda knew where we were gonna be on a certain day, so made ADR's accordingly...

Different strokes for different folks. But again, if you are just going to wing it, I would reconsider the DDP.

 

[Blessedx3]

no, like i said for chef mickeys i went to the front desk that morning and got my ADR for i think it was like 4:30? maybe? i went to the front desk first thing. i forget what time the concierge gets there but i was there waiting for him when he arrived.

I never even thought of that. I am going to try. I can never get a good time to go here even at the 180 days out. It is always like 9pm and with 3 little ones that won't work. I am going to try. Thanks for the info.

 

[ljcrochet]

When we went to Disney in 2006, we did not have a single ADR. We had lots of plan changes and who was joining us, who wasn't.
First day we try and get a TS resturant and could not get any. So we ate in the food court at All star Music. We where able to make ADRs either that night or the next morning for a bunch of great places. (Whispering Canyon, Boma, Donald's breakfast buffet and Cinderall'a royal table for breakfast) Next two trips we made ADRS. Just easier.

 

[vicki_c]

Somehow I missed the part of the OP's post about the DDP.

That totally changes my answer! I wouldn't even consider paying for the dining plan unless I had ADRs that made use of all my credits!

 

[Amy&Dan]

If you are doing the DDP you need ADR's. Because one way or the other you are paying for those meals. Even with free dining you pay rack rate for a room you could have gotten with a heavy discount, so to me its not completely free and therefore you need to insure your money is not wasted.

Last minute ADR's and walkup's do happen. But you have to be flexible, willing to call around or take the time to go to guest services and have them check. I simply wouldn't chance it. You can always change ADR's if you aren't in the mood for the meal you have planned. Basically you can either plan now when you have the time to research, or you can spend time planning last minute on your trip when what you really want to be doing is having fun. Not spending time walking up to restaurants or on the phone with Disney Dining or standing at guest services.

If you aren't on the DDP than I think it is not necessary as long as you are okay with eating cs if you can't find a ts place that can take you. And WDW has some excellent cs options, a far cry from the typical burger you associate with theme park counter service. Also, there are several restaurants in DTD that don't take the DDP so those can be a way to eat a full service meal without an ADR. And of course, there's venturing off site. We changed our ADR's around a lot in June last minute. We were on the DDP so I made reservations but we seemed to be in the mood to change our minds constantly. But we were willing to eat at off times (eating dinner after 9:00 p.m. many nights) and we chose a lot of off the beaten path type places that don't fill up. We have done the parks so many times that we spend a lot less time eating inside them and go to the resorts more. For a first trip, if you do the DDP, make the ADR's because I assume you'll want to be in the parks quite a bit and those are the ones that are hardest to come by.

If you don't want to plan (which is understandable) just skip the DDP. Than at least you have nothing invested that might get wasted.

 

[kbbunny]

We are going to WDW in January for the first time. I have made all of ADRs already only because my son is very shy and I figured having the characters come to him while he is eating will be a lot better than having to stand in line and him worrying about it. I am hoping to get most the character signatures that way ---

 

[tkoran]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I still have time to plan since we are one of the "lucky" ones that have to wait until October to make our ADR's (I will go ahead and make the ones such as HDDR that will still be allowed 180 days out.) I'm going to look at the menus of the places that interest us and compare prices DDP vs. OOP and see how that looks.

I like the idea of paying ahead of time because DH will freak at the prices and force us to eat cold cut sandwiches most of the week otherwise. :lol I really have to analize it though with the plan not including tip and we never order dessert either. We like it for later though so we could take that to go I suppose.

We do have 2 kids (6 & 12) and they are very much on a schedule of when they want to eat so I suppose I'd better plan accordingly.

Thanks again!

 

[gn2wdw]

I don't like planning our meals that much in advance either, but it has become more of a necessity over the past few years. Walk-ups are still possible at some restaurants, but not as common as they used to be.

I look at it like this - every detail that I can take care of at home (ADR's, tickets, etc) is one less line that I have to stand in or one less phone call that I have to make once we are on vacation. Then I am not taking time away from having fun once I get to WDW!

 

[SmallWorld71]

Really you walked up to Chef Mickeys and got in. There is hope for me!!!! Did you go for breakfast or dinner? What time in the am did you do this?? Maybe I will get so lucky.

FWIW - I was also there last year during free dining and they were turning people away left and right from CM's. Our ADR was for 5, right when the place opened for dinner.
Also, we were at Sci-Fi for a 12:15 lunch and a lot of unhappy people were told they were not taking any walk-ups for the entire day!
Also saw people turned away from CP, 'Ohana and Cinderella's Gala Feast at GF.
Every other post I've seen about free dining, people have similar stories to mine. Of course, as PP mentioned, sometimes things open up. Just wouldn't want you to get your hopes up.


OP- If there is somewhere you want to eat, make an ADR. You can always change it when you are there if you don't like it. But, having your heart (or your family's) set on a place and not making an ADR would just be silly.

 

[RMulieri]

I agree with the previous poster.During free dining last year, I saw many . many people turned away.Alot of resturants had signs outside that said they were not taking ANY walk ups, and I saw people yelling at podium cms, and one family I saw going in and out of WS restuarants trying to get a table because they didn;t make ressies,I also overheard one very irate family complaining to guest services that they have this free dining plan and no place to eat!