No ADRs—will we be able to eat? :)

socaldisfan

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
18
I have not made any ADRs for our visit mid-August. We won’t be very choosy, and can eat at many of the QSRs. Will we be able to get in without an ADR? When we went three years ago, we had only two ADRs, both for BOG, and just winged it for the other meals. That worked fine for us...is that still possible? Thank you.
 
Yes, you can still wing it. I'd recommend, though, if you figure out where you are wanting to go, check to see if there are ADR's available then. Some restaurants won't seat you if you don't have an ADR even if there are empty tables. Some places still do ok with walk-ups.
 
I agree with PP about checking for ADRs available at the time. When we were there right after Thanksgiving, there were lots of day-of ADRs available!
 

Yes. Check as soon as you wake up in the morning to see if a favorite restaurant you have a taste for has become available.

Many people (definitely me) cancel their ADR prior to midnight of the day before.

And yes, on each trip we’ve (2 people) done walk ins. (Mexico, Italy, England).
 
Agree with the others. One time we were in Tony's and the person in front of us at the host stand was arguing about how they had zero tables available for walk ins. I opened up my app and showed them they could make an ADR for right then at other MK restaurants. But they definitely were not taking any walk ins at Tony's that day, and the ADRs were sold out. I suspect that in order for you to be able to walk in, there has to be an open ADR in the system, which is always possible due to no shows or last-minute cancellations.
 
Of course you can , as long as you have some flexibility and patience lots of opportunities can present themselves as many guest constantly tweak or cancel their reservations as their vacation draws nearer ;) Good luck and enjoy your trip .
 
I have found the night before many open up including pre park breakfasts at character meals which are hard to get, just check the night before or morning of ....even in the afternoon for evening dinners may work
 
Yes, it’s possible to find openings. We often wing it too. We ate lunch at Maria & Enzo’s last week with no ADR and dinner at Olivia’s. In my experience lunch is always easier without an ADR except at incredibly busy times. We’ve never needed an ADR at Olivia’s; it’s a great place but a bit off the beaten track, although becoming more popular. We’ve also managed to snag lunch at Le Cellier with no ADR, although our hearts weren’t set on it so it was a nice surprise. If you really want to eat at a specific place, I think an ADR is always a good idea to avoid disappointment (especially with little ones!).
 
As others have said, you'll be fine. You may not find anything at hard-to-get places (but you may be surprised!), but you won't go hungry. We typically wait until about an hour or so before we want to eat and simply go on the MDE app then to see what's available close by. If nothing interests us, we do mobile ordering for QS. On every trip, we almost always do a walk-up at Spice Road Table at least once and have never been turned away. We also like to go to Nomad Lounge in AK where they have an apps menu plus you can order from the Tiffins menu with no ADR's. If you think you might want to eat at Yak & Yeti or Rainforest, get a Landry's Card so you can walk up whenever you want and get priority seating.
 
We did that - last minute ADR for Skipper Canteen (last trip, my kids and I enjoyed it so much we had lunch there twice). We were about a 10 minute walk away, hungry and wanting to be waited on. I made the ADR on my phone, by the time we got there it was in their system.

I've only made one for next trip (lunch there with DH who hasn't eaten there, but found a time right between Big Thunder and Splash). We're doing some F&W booths and I'll wait and see last minute for others. Lots of hidden gems are available last minute.
 
Oh yes, you won't have a problem. My last couple of trips, what I ended up doing for the last several days of each of them was throwing my scheduled itinerary out and just used the My Disney App to look for dining reservations the night before and even the day of and there were always perfectly good dining openings open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, especially in Disney Springs, but also Epcot too, I still had plenty of choices.
 
We do this all of the time. I find as long as you pick somewhere by late afternoon and make the ADR you will be fine. Also check Open Table which has many choices and no cancellation fee!
 
You will be able to do all of the QS options. If you choose to eat at off times for lunch and dinner, you can walk up to many of the TS restaurants. Walk up at the popular times often doesn't work well.
 
Also depends on the size of your party. Just 2 of us in May and it was very easy to get last minute ADR'S.
 












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