No ADR's for entire trip

Hi - My husband talked me into not making any ADRs for our trip next week. He didn't want to be scheduled, he just wants to go where we want to go
I can't imagine what it would be to walk around those crowded parks all day without meal reservations. Counter service would be OK every now and then, but waiting in line for every meal? Not for me.

But I hope y'all have a great trip anyway.
 
On the plus side, there are interesting items in CS if you know where to look. Knowing where to look, though, is far from intuitive.
 
I would make some ADRS without telling him. At least try to figure out what park you will be in on what day. When you get hungry you just suggest the restaurant that you happened to have an ADR at. There is no way I'd go without any ADRs unless I wanted to eat counter service the whole trip.
 
Was just wondering how those without ADRs made out? We had ADRs, but saw lots of people being turned away at all of the restaurants we were at.
 

Was just wondering how those without ADRs made out? We had ADRs, but saw lots of people being turned away at all of the restaurants we were at.


Well, I had ADRs for 2 nights of my 4 day trip. I went to Citricos the first night. I had an ADR for 5:50 and arrived at 5:30. They took us in right away and it appeared that there were many "early" tables open to walk ups.

The second night we were at the Hoop Dee Doo.

On the third night, we had no ADRs. We finished up at the park around 4:00 p.m. and the kids were in the mood for a buffet. We headed directly over to the Beach Club because the Cape May is our fave. Got there at around 4:40 p.m. only to find that they didn't open until 5:30.

So, we drove to the Grand Floridian, knowing there were plenty of restaurants there and hoping one could take us (even if it was Citricos again!;) ).

Per the kids' request for a buffet, I checked 1900 Park Fare. They had been open for 30 minutes already. I was nervous. I asked if they'd take a walk up for 5. She said "NO PROBLEM" and we were seated immediately. This was the Monday after Easter.

The last night we ate off-site because we LOVE Bahama Breeze. But I felt confident we could have got in somewhere on site.

The funny thing was, the day that I had no ADR, I did call Disney dining to try to get something and all they could offer was 8:40 - 9:00 p.m. ADRs. She also told me that my chances of getting in as a walkup were probably slim but "you never know."
 
We went last May and made all of our ADR's before going. Whilst there we decided to change a couple, one on the actual day and another for a couple of days in advance. We were disapppointed both times. Personally I wouldn't chance it.
 
We went last May and made all of our ADR's before going. Whilst there we decided to change a couple, one on the actual day and another for a couple of days in advance. We were disapppointed both times. Personally I wouldn't chance it.

Agree. We always go in May and after seeing a lot of people getting turned away, we won't chance it either.
 
I'm so glad I found this web site!!! or I would have not made any ADR at all! As a kid we went to Disney 4 times a year until I was 19(I got married and moved out of the country). I have not been back in 17 years, well now I have a 3 year old and we are taking a trip next month. When we first made our plans I got 2 books and started to plan the trip. I had seen in the books about ADR but thought to myself "no way am I going to make ressies that far out, as a kid we just went to what ever restaurant we wanted! so what if I have to wait a few!"
Then I found this site and stared reading all the tips... now I have all my ADR's and I'm sooo glad!:banana:
Boy, things have changed!!!!
 
Yes, things have definitely changed. I felt so bad for the people that were being turned away. It's a shame that you can't just walk into a restuarant at dinner time and get dinner. Maybe during less-crowded times of the year you might have more luck with walk-ups. But, to be safe, we will continue to make our ADRs as soon as we can.
 
Was just wondering how those without ADRs made out? We had ADRs, but saw lots of people being turned away at all of the restaurants we were at.

I think it depends. We went late April/early May last year and I made only one ADR before we left. It was just me and DH, and we wound up having dinner at Boma twice, once at Raglan Road and once at Biergarten. We made an ADR for Biergarten about 3 hours beforehand, Boma for the second time a couple of days ahead and walked up to Raglan Road. We also had breakfast at Boatwright's 3 times, and never seemed to need ADRs there. We were able to eat when and where we wanted and were never turned away.

I personally don't like making lots of ADRs. I can't plan my trip that much to know what park I'm going to be in every day or waste my vacation time scurrying to another park/resort to be on time just because I can't bring myself to eat a CS meal. Making just one ADR worked for us, and we had a great time.
 
I wish the OP would come back and let us know how her dining experience went!
 
Don't sweat it! Counterservice at WDW is better than kitchen service at home! :thumbsup2

We have been 9 times and have NEVER had a single ADR. We have an advantage being from the West Coast as when we are hungry, others have already come and gone. I, like your husband, don't like being tied down to planning everything around 1 dining reservation.

:confused3 Secretly make a few and if you show great, if not, someone else on standby will be happy??
 
I wish the OP would come back and let us know how her dining experience went!


I came back to check out this thread too to see if the OP had posted.

I'm a dire hard ADR fan. We go to WDW 4 trips a year, more than 40 days a year and always have ADRs. The eating out is on the top of our list of things to do. After more than 60 trips to WDW, we like to stroll, ride when we want, eat and drink and visit with friends. We leave the end of this month for one of our 2 week trips and I was back on the phone today still tweaking and adding more ADRs. This will be the 5th trip since 2006 that we have used the DDP (love this perk with DVC membership).
 
I'm not an ADR fan. I don't know until I wake up in the morning which park I'm going to that day. Sometimes I just get on whichever bus comes to the resort first once I get to the bus stop. I tried making ADR's every day for my trip last December, and I cancelled the rest of them about halfway through the trip.

Sometimes I will call the night before or the morning of, to see if anything is available. Since I prefer my TS meal at lunch, it's not as difficult for me to get a late lunch as it might be for some people trying to get meals during prime lunch and dinner time. I also like to eat at the resorts more than at the parks. I seldom have a problem with a walk up at a resort TS at lunch. I even did some walk ups at lunch time during Free Dining last year, and never had to wait more than 15 minutes. I guess I was fortunate that way.

I know that I'm taking the risk of eating counter service (or room service!) if I can't get in a TS restaurant, but it makes my vacation so much more relaxing for me. I can do everything, or I can do nothing. But at least my trip doesn't revolve around mealtime.
 
Sorry it took so long. We got back late on Tuesday and have been running around since. Ok, so I did end up cheating, I emailed Sue Ellen before we left to get ADRs for my husband's birthday on Monday the 16th. I gave her a list of places and got an ADR for Artist Point. Other than that we just kinda went by the seat of our pants. When we arrived on Thursday the 12th our rooms were ready so we settled in and took the boat to Downtown. My DH and I walked around and shopped and about 5:30 stopped at Bongo's and got right in. I had the Vaca Frita and my DH had Camarones al Ajillo. I had a yummy blue drink that I can't remember the name of but it was very good.

We ate every morning at the Floatworks and had a great breakfast each morning. Note: It's better to get there at 7:00 a.m. than at 8:00 a.m., less confusion.

On Friday, we met up with our friends who were chaperoning the band trip (remember that's the real reason we're here). One of our friend's daughters had made us an ADR at CP for 3:00 p.m. So we had a great lunch/dinner there.

On Saturday we went to EPCOT and had lunch at the cafeteria place in the Land. Had a great ham sandwich, the bread was unbelievably good. For dinner, we grabbed a quick bite at Pecos Bill's in MK before the parade our DD was in. Cheeseburgers were very good. Loved the french fries.

On Sunday it rained so my DH and I went to Downtown again and did some shopping. When the rain let up we went to MGM to meet up with the band again. At 2:00 we decided to go to Brown Derby for lunch. We again got right in. My DH and I both had the pasta and shrimp dish and it was excellent. Later that night we just grabbed a quick bite back at POFQ.

On Monday we went to our only ADR at Artist's Point. It was early (5:30) because we were leaving at 1 a.m. to drive back to CT. We had a lovely dinner, very $$$$, but nice. They gave us each a menu with my DH name on the bottom of it and gave him a certificate and a birthday card. My DH got the vension spring rolls, the buffalo steak and they gave him the Berry Cobbler for dessert. He enjoyed everything. My DB had the Duck Confit, the buffalo steak and the chocolate torte. My DSIL had the Frisse salad with pears, the buffalo steak and the Coffee Two Ways. My older DD had the salamon and cobbler. My DDBF had the pork chop and no dessert (he's over 6 foot and weighs about 170 now you know why). I had the Frisee salad and the beef tenderloin. Everything was wonderful. I had never had purple potatoes before but they were very good. I also had the coffee two ways. The bread pudding is absolutely heavenly.

So we didn't make out too bad, there were a few places that I had wanted to try but we never made it to them because of scheduling conflicts with the band. The only place we asked and couldn't get into to was Liberty Tavern, so all in all it went well.:)
 
Thanks for coming back with your mini-trip restaurant report. :)

So you made the ADR for Artist Point for DH's bday -- wise move, to make sure he'd have a great bday dinner. And your friend's daughter made the ADR for CP. You got a walk in for HBD for lunch. You ate at several good CS places, and Bongo's -- the only TS you mentioned that isn't on the DDP, I think. So pretty good news for folks without any ADR's. Sounds like you just need to be flexible with times and maybe willing to try out places that might be less in demand. Maybe not on the DDP is part of it -- HBD is on the plan, but many people may not want to spend 2 TS credits on a lunch. The dinner at Artist Point sounds wonderful, and I wish we'd included HBD in our plans...next time ::yes:: Great report!
 
Hi - My husband talked me into not making any ADRs for our trip next week. He didn't want to be scheduled, he just wants to go where we want to go (first trip without kids, daughters are going to be there but one is with her HS marching band and another is with her boyfriend). Now I'm starting to panic and feel like we're just going to be eating counter food all week. Has anyone else ever gone without making any ADRs?:scared:

Unless you are okay with ending up eating counter service I would try to make some ADRs. We always make ADRs but this past September we decided to switch parks and go over to MGM instead of the MK on a given night and we could not get anything at any of the table service places in the STs. We ended up over at the YC Galley. So if you are okay with counter service and your bf wants to not be tied down to a schedule then give it a try but I would not go with high expectations.
 
We were at WDW 4/7-4/11 and did the trip with no ADRs.We ate CS and found a great selection of burgers,hotdogs,various wraps,ribs,roasted chicken,assorted sandwiches and lots of choices from various countries at the WS.Not to mention all the snack stuff like baked goods,ice cream and candy.I enjoyed this trip so much more than previous trips because I wasn t scheduling my day around meals.I have eaten at a lot of the TS places in the parks and at the resorts and some had good food but nothing I just have to have on every visit.
 


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