No ADR's? What do you think?

[lovelylins]

Do you think I'll regret not making any Dinner ADR bookings?

I kept considering it, but really can't cope with the idea of having to be at a certain place at a set time.

The real reasons I'm still unsure is that 1. we will be staying at POFQ which only has a food court, no sit down restaurant, but having said that I don't expect that we will be at the resort most evenings at dinner time anyway and 2. it seems from other posts, that we will be unlikely to be able to just 'walk in' to any of the sitdown restaurants.

I'd be grateful for your thoughts on this, we won't have a car, so will need to eat 'Disney', and I'm just worried that we will have 9 nights of junk!!

 

[a1tinkfans]

I always suggest having ADR's ESPECIALLY during Free dining period. Better to have SOMETHING then get stuck eating burgers ad fries the whole time. You can always cancel. And when you call, you MAY be surprised (either good or bad) at what your told is available. At least you'll have a heads up.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Do you think I'll regret not making any Dinner ADR bookings?

I kept considering it, but really can't cope with the idea of having to be at a certain place at a set time.

The real reasons I'm still unsure is that 1. we will be staying at POFQ which only has a food court, no sit down restaurant, but having said that I don't expect that we will be at the resort most evenings at dinner time anyway and 2. it seems from other posts, that we will be unlikely to be able to just 'walk in' to any of the sitdown restaurants.

I'd be grateful for your thoughts on this, we won't have a car, so will need to eat 'Disney', and I'm just worried that we will have 9 nights of junk!!

Honstly I would be worried . I could never do it. It's better to have somthing than nothing. It is hard to make all the ADR'S but when your going up against eveybody making them your going to be out of luck. So I don't know when you are going but I would get on the phone ASAP and have some kind of plan in place. Good Luck

 

[VAN]

Are you on the dining plan? If you are, you will definitely want ADRs. If not, you can always eat at CS if you can't get into a TS restaurant.

If you have your heart set on eating at a certain TS restaurant, then you will definitely want ADRs.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I could not go for 9 days without ressies but thats just me, it would stress me out! You can always call the dining line every day and see what is available....if you dont like to plan ahead

 

[lovelylins]

I always suggest having ADR's ESPECIALLY during Free dining period. Better to have SOMETHING then get stuck eating burgers ad fries the whole time. You can always cancel. And when you call, you MAY be surprised (either good or bad) at what your told is available. At least you'll have a heads up.

Thanks for this. We are going this October - not during the free dining period, so I guess I was hoping this may make a difference to availability.

I hadn't considered booking then cancelling if we couldn't make it. Are there phones in the resort room that we could do this from? Also, if I'm going to try to book, where do I start?!!! I guess by reading through the threads on here!! Oooooh, it's all starting to seem much too complicated!

 

[OtherFigment]

"I kept considering it, but really can't cope with the idea of having to be at a certain place at a set time."

I totally understand your reluctance to lock yourself into a schedule! I was last in WDW early December '07 and didn't book any ADRs for that reaason. I assumed since it wasn't the busy season, that we would be able to do walk-ups with perhaps a short wait.

Long story short (too late!), I was wrong. Very, very wrong. We ended up doing quick-service most nights for dinner as we didn't want to wait an hour plus at some places and others were booked completely.

Our next trip is next April for our honeymoon and I am definitely booking my ADRs 180 days out!

 

[goofy4tink]

Oct is Food and Wine time....there will be a lot of folks wanting to eat at table service places. No way would I go without an ADR in place for just about every day. If you know what park you'll be in on any given day, it's easy to book an ADR for dinner or lunch.
Most of those ADRs can be cancelled at the last minute if you choose. For instance, let's say you're at Epcot. You made an ADR at Coral Reef based on thinking you would be at Epcot that day. But, you find you're just plain tired and want to head back to the resort or go to another park. Just stop off at Guest Services on your way out of the park, and have them cancel your Coral Reef ADR. A ton of people never bother with cancelling...they just don't show up. I think that's rude, so I stop and cancel anything I won't be using.
For a 9 day trip, I would book at least every other day with an ADR. I would hate to be stuck eating counter service for every meal. That being said, you may get lucky and be able to eat at less popular spots and at the resorts, without ADRs.

 

[lovelylins]

you can always eat at CS if you can't get into a TS restaurant.


Thanks for this but what is 'CS'? (I'm fairly new here, and a lot of the abbreviations are still puzzling me!)

 

[KatMark]

you can always eat at CS if you can't get into a TS restaurant.


Thanks for this but what is 'CS'? (I'm fairly new here, and a lot of the abbreviations are still puzzling me!)

Counter service meal

 

[secretpantssam]

See I'm the same way. I hate having to plan all of my reservations in advance because who knows what I'll be in the mood for that day and I don't like to be forced to be at a certain place at a certain time. But I'm going during free dining this year, so I'm getting really worried. I'm starting to face the fact that if I want to get any table service meals, I may have to make a reservation...uggg.


Though I will tell you that I went in February and we ate a table service restaurant almost every day and I only had one reservation, which was liberty tree because I knew that would be a busy place, and we got into every restaurant we wanted. The longest we had to wait was about 30 minutes at Tokyo Dining, and they just gave us a sensor thing and we went shopping downstairs until our table was ready. So if you probably can get in if it's not during free dining. Just don't go to dinner too late.

 

[scottsod]

yes you should so make ADR's. My uncle went down with his kids and my in-laws went a different time and didnt listen to me when i said they should make ADR's, they spent a majority of the meals either eating counter service or at there hotel which was either POFQ or POR. if you don't want to make ADR's for every meal then do just a few so this way you are at least going to have some really good meals.

 

[crisi]

We've been going in October for years - even pre dining plan it was difficult to walk into a lot of restaurants. Now its REALLY hard. Lunch is easier. Small parties easier. Signature dining easier. Epcot is hard due to Food and Wine (however, because of Food and Wine, with a credit card in hand you can't possibly starve). We watch people every trip turned away from popular (and even not so popular) table service places around dinner time.

If you are happy with counter service and flexible, then you can wing it. If you need table service meals - either because you've already paid for them with the DDP or because you get cranky on a diet of counter service, you'll want to at least make a few ADRs. Yes, you can cancel them from your room - or your cell phone. You can also try to switch them around when you are down there.

Our last non-ADR trip involved us deciding we were hungry, being told at the restaurant we wanted to eat at that it was a forty minute wait - deciding that was too long - walking from restaurant to restaurant - getting hungrier and hungrier, to discover that the forty minute wait was reasonable - going back and being told no more walk ups for the night. Eating counter service.

 

[Goofyz3girls]

Its not life or death like everyone is making it.OMG you have to make ADR's...WELL no you don't.We were down during xmas 08' (12/21-21/28)with no ADR's and ate during normal dinner times at Kona Cafe,Coral Reef,1900 Park,Blue Moon,Cape May,Artist Point..etc.Don't get me wrong if we wanted Cali Grill or V&A probably would have not got it but lets not make it like there are no places to eat in Disney except counter service.DVC is not the best kept secret its Disney restaurants take walk up ressies.

 

[mickeynut1]

I could never go without ADRs, but that's just me. We just pick the places we like (or want to try) and make our plans around that, rather than try to make our ADRs around a certain park or where we "think" we'll be on a certain day . But if I were you, I would make a few ADRs atleast....that way you have something . But if you're ok with trying the walk up method, that's fine, too . But I would also be prepared to be turned away, especially if you're going during free dining. Good luck .

 

[blugill13]

Why dont you call wdw dine and just feel it out?

give them your dates and pick a popular restaurant (not crt or chef mickeys maybe ohana or coral reef) and see if you can get an adr.

if they give you lots of options - great you may be able to go without adrs but if they say we only have 9pm for a party of 4 at ........(o hanas) then Id go ahead and get a couple of adrs for places you want to go to. You can always cancel closer to your trip but atleast you'll have a place to sit down and eat.

 

[jenn-]

Your original post doesn't mention if you are bringing children. I think this should play a major part in your decision. If your kids are used to a full meal on the table at 6pm every day, then they will get extremely cranky walking from restaurant to restaurant hoping to get into one at a reasonable time. If it is just adults going and you are willing to do some extra junk food eating then just familiarize yourself with the CS options in case you can't get in.

As for me I have done Disney 3 times, first time just dh and I and a DW rookie 1 ADR set ahead of time, lots of CS eaten (even way back in Feb 03 it was hard to get in). 2nd time large group and SFIL was "taking care of the ADR's" this translated into 1 lunch ADR and nothing else. I was 5mos pregnant (aka feed me now!) with 3 kids under the age of 5. I would say a good portion of that trip was spent trying to find something to eat with screaming fussing kids. Last trip large party again, I said screw everyone else my family of 6 would have ADRs every single day and I would know which CS we would use at each park. OMG was life grand. I knew when and where I was going to eat next and life was a big happy place. For some the thought of eating hamburgers and fries everyday 2 meals a day doesn't bother them, but I refuse to be stuck in that situation again.

 

[VAN]

We've gone many years without going to any sit-down restaurants. Then we started with a "special" dinner at O'Hana. Now we have to go there every year. Then we added HDDR ... now that's added to our must to list.

Anyway, if there is a place you think you want to go to, get busy and call Disney Dining - give them your dates - and see what's available at those restaurants.

We are going for free dining and I also started out overwhelmed about where/when/etc. Just looked at menus and picked out some restaurants and some back-ups and then called...started with the restaurants at the top of the list and then worked my way down.

Once I had it all set up, the anxiety started to go away. I have called back a few times to find out if a better time had opened up and the times are just worse!! Am feeling VERY happy with what I have now!!!

 

[perla75]

If you are on the Dining Plan & are not planning to make any ADR's, I would probably cancel the Dining Plan, as you may not be getting your money's worth.

TS restaurants are super busy all year round. We go during value season (low crowd season) &, with the exception of a few lunch places, walk-ins have always been turned away.

BUT, if you are not on the dining plan and are ok with the possibility of CS places, you should be fine.

We are actually only planning 2 TS restaurants on our next trip & going CS for the rest of it. We are doing this to save money. We also found on our last trip, that if you research it, you do NOT have to end up with pizza and burgers at CS places. We found ALOT of healthy & great CS options on our last trip. We are generally very healthy eaters & found a great deal of yummy salads, sandwiches, & novel options at all parks!

 

[kwelch10377]

Thanks for this. We are going this October - not during the free dining period, so I guess I was hoping this may make a difference to availability.

I hadn't considered booking then cancelling if we couldn't make it. Are there phones in the resort room that we could do this from? Also, if I'm going to try to book, where do I start?!!! I guess by reading through the threads on here!! Oooooh, it's all starting to seem much too complicated!

I went last year at the end of Oct with no ADR's and we had no problem finding TS places to eat both in the park and at the resorts. Were were able to eat breakfast at Crystal Palace, lunch at Mama Melrose's, dinner at 1900 Park Fare, Dinner at Spoodles, Lunch at Kona and a few other places. If you are just realistic and flexible I don't think you will have any proble