I pity the fool that doesn't have ADRs....

[Cool-Beans]

Yes, but is the same true during the free dining period? I have been calling every week to change times for a few of our ressies (doubt kids will be ready to eat dinner at 3:45pm), and everything I have requested has been booked with the exception of a few 8:45pm or 9pm slots---too late for a 3 and 1 yr old.

Kinda-sorta.

I'm not trying to talk people into NOT getting ADRs. They're always a good idea and especially so if you are picky on times/places. If you want to eat at the Rose & Crown at 7:30 during Free Dining an ADR is a very good idea, IMO.

I'm just reassuring people who haven't planned or planned obsessively. The folks who are thinking, "Hey, why don't we go to WDW on Thursday/next week/in a couple weeks?" should know that they are NOT going to starve. Not all of the restaurants are full ALL the time. In fact, it is rare that all of the restaurants are totally booked.

I've never, including during Free Dining, not been able to find a place to eat. And the majority of my trips are not planned far in advance.

Also, just because Le Cellier is the "in" restaurant on the DIS right now, dinner at Biergarten and Restaurant Marrakesh can be just as good or better. It isn't that I don't like Le Cellier - it is just that people shouldn't fret if they can't get seated there, you know?

 

[MissMichelle]

To my family, eating is a BIG part of vacation. We can always make time for a nice dinner together as a family in air conditioning after being in a park all day. It feels like vacation for me, and with a little planning I don't at ALL feel like I am scheduling my day around an ADR. It is the time I would eat in my real life so I don't throw off my schedule. But that is just us and I know others feel that winging it is much easier..DH would kill me if we didn't have a structured plan as he is a planner and needs to have every moment figured out--never on a whim (I wing a few things on vacation but never let him in on that--he thinks everything is planned haha).
But in the afternoon my kids are ready for a nice relaxing meal--becaUSe that is what they are used to at home...a nice sit down family dinner no matter what they are doing at the time. I was brought up that way and I guess that is why it is so easy to say "eh, ToT can wait, we have an ADR to get to, let someone serve me!" LOL

 

[deltachi8]

I pretty much ALWAYS travel without ADRs. It's not a big deal. There are very few places I can't get in. LeCellier comes to mind and based on my last visit I don't think I am missing much. Hopefully this years CP will be better.....(CRT probably but I can't imagine I would ever want to LOL!)


I am flexible. I don't have to have lunch at noon or dinner at 6.

A few months ago I walked into Jikos.....

When at the World this past March, my GF and I walked in to almost all our meals save for Spoodles (called in the morning for the same evening). The only place we got turned away was LeCelier for lunch and even that was a "soft turn away" as they said to come back in a bit and check. We decided to just hit Marrekesh instead.

 

[mickeysaver]

With the changes for the DDP in 2008. I'm sure making ressies won't be as hard

http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/me...s/08Dining.pdf

Yeah, I am thinking that there will be a lot less DIS'ers doing the DDP next year, which will hopefully make ADR's much easier to obtain. Maggie

 

[mickeysaver]

My kids don't want to vacation according to our ADRs!!

While I don't have kids, I don't like touring around ADR's either. This is why I booked half of our ADR's as breakfast meals. Everyone needs a good start to the day and when there is Kona coffee waiting on you, it's much easier to pry yourself out of bed. Maggie

 

[DisneyHumbug]

While I tend to burn the candle at both ends while at WDW, the "kids" (21 and 23) asked if I would please let them sleep in a bit on this vacation. Hey, I'm just thrilled that they still want to go with me!! They're willing to eat CS just to have the flexibility of not having ADRs. I'm willing to go with the flow....we'll see how it works out this time!

 

[GolfCrazy]

When we first started going to WDW regularly, back in 1998, we used to get PS's or ADR's quite often. Then we found that our trip ended up being planned around the meals and too much effort was made to always have to be at a restaurant at a particular time. I think we lost some enjoyment always having our day dictated around where we ate.

Now that we generally go twice a year being DVC members, we very rarely will have an ADR....maybe for one of the more upscale restaurants but for most everything, we just walk up. Our philosophy is that if they are full and we can't get in; it wasn't meant to be. Many restaurants keep some walk-up tables available plus you always have people cancelling at the last minute or not showing up at all.

I understand we have a bit of a luxury because our youngest child is now 16 and if you have younger kids, it becomes more important to plan the meals. Plus, we drive everywhere and that makes it so much simpler to get around WDW. I don't think I could go back to doing buses anymore.

Anyway...mealtime now is much more enjoyable now that we don't have to rush around getting to an ADR. I'll let everyone else fight over where to eat; we tend to have a much more enjoyable time when we just 'eat-on-the-fly'!

 

[KorieDWnut]

Usually when I go with dh and the kids we just eat at cafeteria style places because 1) we are on a budgeted vacation and 2) my kids eat VERY little which is also why we never do the dining plan, because it is a waste of money on them. Going to sit down restaurants is frustrating with them because we will order them food and then they just won't eat.

Also, we usualy do not decide to go until literally a few weeks, maybe a month or 2 before we leave so it kind of stinks to already know that we are out of luck on sit down places anyway simply because we decided to go last minute.