Just back: 7 days, no ADR's. How'd we do? Update 11/13 page 2

[my3disneygirls]

I may have to go for that kitchen sink, everything in it sounds so yummy. I know the looks on my kids faces would be priceless.

I have had the guilty conscience about being a no show for Boma last year. Hubby want to MK and was late getting back to the resort to pick us up. Of course we got lost and never made it. I felt like a heel.

 

[gismo1554]

Loving your no ADR trip. We are doing this in January. On our last trip I planned 7 days for 9 people . This trip, no plans.

The kitchen sink can be scooped into bowls. (I saw one lady have plastic bags. she put all the brownies cake cookies and candy inot it and they just ate the icecream, not a novice I am thinking )

Definately came prepared lol Nice idea though!

 

[TigerKat]

Enjoying your reviews!!!!

 

[eliza61]

Thanks every one. Most folks still do go with the ADR's I just wanted to let people know that if you don't have them or if your plans change your not stuck munching on granola bars for dinner.

Day 4 This was probably the hardest day. We decided to go to the MK. The MK is probably the least forgiving without adr's because it is sooo popular. I checked with concierge in the morning and the only thing open was Tony's at 8:30. Hummm what to do? We decided to go with a big breakfast that way we could just do take out at MK. This time we ate at Olivia's at Old key West. Olivias is charming. Big gorgeous fans on the ceiling, lots of rattan and wicker chairs. Once again we ate around 8:15 am Olivia's does not do a breakfast buffet, every thing is to order.
My husband had the omlet, I had the pancake and eggs and my sons had the chocolate french toast. Be warned they are seriously chocolate. Dh said the eggs were good but the potatoes they come with were greasy.
We also had some delicious strawberry smoothies. Olivias was busy, we waited about 15 minutes to be seated. The service was very nice, our coffee cups were always full and the waitress came by 2 or 3 times to check on us.

We stayed at the MK all day without going back to our resort so we decided that once we ate dinner we would call it a day. This time we had Dinner at Shutters at the Caribbean Beach Resort. This restaurant is really pretty. Bright, vivid colors, big plantation shutters around big window. The only draw back I thought it was really loud. every one was yelling and there are no drapes to muffle the sound. We actually loved the appetizer selection better than the entree so we ordered almost one of each and shared. The coconut shrimp were very tasty. I tried the french onion soup but thought it was really really salty so beware. We also ordered the chicken wings and ceasar salads for every one. The salad was good but not noteworthy.

We also tried the desserts. The key lime pie was good to me but it was my first time trying key lime pie so I have no bench mark to compare it to. The cheesecake was ok, nothing special here. The chocolate cake was the best with a rasberry sauce.

 

[eliza61]

Some thoughts on travelling without ADR's

1) The best thing we loved was getting to go to new restaurants. Some times when you travel to the world you tend to do the same ones over and over or if your a first timer you do all the popular ones. This forced us to eat at some different places.

2) You must be flexible. Your next trip try leaving open 2 days without ADR's and see where you land. My family found out we loved eating a sit down breakfast. It really gave us an opportunity to talk with one another and since most restaurants were empty in the morning, they were the easiest to get. The food was always piping hot and delicious and the servers were always nice. If I had made adr's we would have never down a sit down breakfast.

3) try a different time. Eating at 4:30 some times was really weird but you know what, restaurants were in a bit of a lull and around 6:30 we were able to hit some rides a little quicker because a lot of people went to dinner.
But most important by 7:00 pm we were ready for a big dessert. Dole whips here we come.
Park restaurants will always be busy so eating off hours allows you to get into these.
I concede defeat at the MK. Unfortunately I just didn't find a down time here. Epcot was the easiest, just more choices.

Not sure how this would work with a big party.

I would do it again in a heartbeat. IMO it allowed us to do more in the parks because we didn't have to stop to eat if we didn't want to and I didn't feel guilty for not cancelling.

 

[teentoddlermom]

Great report and reviews! I love your opening introduction about your ages. I am also "age unknown"!

 

[Stinky_Pete]

Thanks so much for this report!

The last time I was at WDW was before the dining plan, and the only ADRs most people really had to worry about was CRT (I think Cindy was only there for breakfast and there was no Princess meal in Epcot). I have made some ADRs for special meals for my mid-December trip (Candlelight Processinal, CA Grill) and am glad to hear that I will not be entirely relegated to counter service. I plan on checking at guest relations on my way out of the resort in the am to see whats available - hope this works!

 

[jennynoel]

Sounds like you had a great trip!

I'm just curious - how did not having ADRs affect the rest of your trip? Did you regret getting to the parks later on the days you had sit-down breakfasts, for example?

Since we won't be on DDP on future trips I'll probably be going with a more seat-of-the-pants approach to dining. Your report is helpful, thanks!

 

[eliza61]

Sounds like you had a great trip!

I'm just curious - how did not having ADRs affect the rest of your trip? Did you regret getting to the parks later on the days you had sit-down breakfasts, for example?

Since we won't be on DDP on future trips I'll probably be going with a more seat-of-the-pants approach to dining. Your report is helpful, thanks!

Thanks Jen, we had a great trip!
No not really, most of the parks didn't open until 9:00 am. so I think the most we were late was about an hour. We did miss the morning extra hours at MGM. This was also not a heavy travel time, I don't think I would try this during the summer. The longest time we found on any of the major rides was 60 minutes at soarin' which we fast passed.
The longest trip is when we went decided to go to OKW, getting from resort to resort is the hardest thing.

 

[mainemouselover]

Great report. I would love to do a trip without the ADR's. But it won't happen this time as we are going at Christmas. Gotta have the ADR's for that week!

 

[estherhead]

Thanks for the great review! Our last trip we had methodically planned out ADR's (1st time on DDP & picky eaters.) But we ended up having to make last minute plans twice. One time we failed, the other we succeeded. As long as my kids are little, I think ADRs are important & little kids aren't flexible anyway so there is no easy going. As we get into the teen years, I pretty sure we'll just eat whatever happens to be available & your report shows us how fun it will be!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent