People who like to "relax" on their Disney vacation...

[GuardMusic]

As this is going on our 18th? trip, we've changed.

We used to make a TON of ADRs simply because we wanted to experience so many restaurants. Now we know our favorites. We'll probably make only 3 ADRs this trip.

BUT I do take a list of restaurants (Table & Counter Service) that we like, so if we are in the midst of a park and get hungry, we know where to head. This saves times not wondering around for food.

 

[BeckWhy]

When I did DDP in 2006 I did not find it agonizing that I had ADRs every day. It didn't have an effect on us getting to ride/see everything we wanted, it didn't affect us taking naps mid-day, etc.

Prior to that trip I had always been one to just do CS. What I realized is I like going to the TS to relax and have food that you can't get in many CS. But mostly for the chance to spend an hour to two just sitting there.

This upcoming trip, I plan on having a couple TS meals (which I will make ADRs for) and having CS meals for the rest of the time.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Are you going to be on the DDP? I think that makes a difference. If you are concerned you won't be able to find TS restaurants and use all your credits, you should make more ADRs. We often hear stories of people who go on the DDP and then are floored because they can't get in where they want when they want, and end up not using all their credits.

Also, be aware that with most dishes at TS, you can ask them to leave off a sauce, peppers, etc. If you find someplace you really want to eat, don't let that stop you! They do special orders when they can!

 

[SereneOne]

Wow, lots of responses! And a mix of opinions!

Of course, we are going in November, so without park hours, I haven't determined which parks which days. Waiting for TGM to tell me! That will help with the deciding.

Anyway, I got DH to talk about dining last night and he says, "Let's try something different. Let's eat in....France." So I show him the Chefs de France menu and well, that idea was shot down. I confess, we are un-adventurous eaters, and on a lot of these menus every main dish has some sort of sauce or peppers or something! Just give us a plain hunk of meat please!

I think the plan now is 4 or 5 ADRs and cancel a couple if we feel we should. Just don't know what they will be! 1900 Park Fair is the only must-do.

We are going in December and do not know the park hours, but we based it upon last years and the fact that this year there will be no teenagers, just our preschooler. So we figured dinner no later than 7pm and then back to the hotel to relax until bedtime....we are going to do Fantasmic this year though and Meghan (our 4yo) loves SpectraMagic and the fireworks at MK, but we plan on making a ressie at O'Hana's for the first time and watch while eating.

Glad to hear 1900 Park Fare is a must do. For the first time we are going to the dinner one of the nights and our last day we are having breakfast there! Our four year old is obsessed with the characters, we learned the hard way last year, also BBB. This year we are also going to be doing the My Disney Girl Perfectly Princess Tea Party...good thing they do not make you buy tickets to the Grand Floridian!

 

[PennyW]

We just returned from a week long trip, and had made only one reservation (birthday dinner at CA Grill). We're not big eaters, so we enjoy just grabbing a snack for brunch and then having something later for dinner. We enjoyed nibbling at Morocco, Mexico, and UK. We also ate at Earl's, Beaches & Cream, and BCV room service (first night pizza - we were tired!). We also developed an addiction to the cream cheese stuffed pretzels at MK!

I'd probably be comfortable with two dinner ADR's for a week's trip (next trip, a return to Boma or Jiko). Otherwise, we prefer to park-hop and just see where we end up.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We find it too stressful not having ADR's

 

[Pakey]

After numerous trips (and twice with the dreaded dining plan) we opt for a more relaxed trip without a lot of adr's requiring us to be at a certain place at a certain time.

We were there last week and had ADR's for Flying Fish and V&A; the rest of the week we "winged" it and had no problems eating, including other TS places.

Maybe because we've been so many times, we just don't have our hearts set on having to eat at certain locations and believe the relaxation we get is well worth not having pre-planned dining locations.

 

[dvcdisney]

We find it more relaxing to make ADR's ahead of time and for each day. We usually have a cs for lunch and an ADR for ts for dinner. Each day is planned so we know where we are going and know where we are dining. That to us is a more relaxing vacation.

 

[Laura]

Definitely more relaxing NOT to have ADRs. I don't like having to make sure I'm on time for dinner every day.

If we wanted to eat somewhere, we've either walked up or made same-day reservations. Not a big deal.

 

[Hollymom1229]

We know which park we'll go to on which day. Plan 1 ADR a day around that and that is the extent of our planning. We like having reservvations so we can eat where we want. We do have one random day this upcoming trip with nothing planned, no park, no ADR, nothing.

 

[Rylee]

We always schedule 1 ADR per day.

For us, it's not a hassle to be at a certain place, at a cerain time, once a day. We look foward to it.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Since my family and I will always have our own transporation we don't mind going offsite to eat a restaurant or eating at counter service locations in WDW.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

We have one ADR a day. Our ADR doesn't determine which park we go to that day, EMH determines it.

I've seen too many people in the heat of a Florida summer get turned away at the hostess stand thinking they can stroll in with their family of 6 and eat dinner at CM's at 7:00 rotfl: ) gosh its just heartbreaking seeing those kids get turned away. I don't want our kids to feel that - that's why we make ADRs.

We tend to like the more popular places and do like to eat around 7p, which in the summer is prime time for dining because of the late park hours. We have one ADR a day and to us this is relaxing.

 

[bigbabyblues]

It's MUCH better for us to have at least one ADR per day. That's part of the deal for my DH. We do as little cs as possible.

Everyone is different though.

 

[Clotho]

For us (Me, DH and DD8) we like to come back from the parks mid afteroon unwind, maybe use the pool, clean up and head out to dinner. We enjoy Disney TS meals and feel they are part of the magic and feel of being on vacation. We don't mind that they take longer and we are prepared to sit and relax. Since we know where we are going, where we are eating and what time we need to be there we are very relaxed in our manner.

I would also add that sometimes you may feel like having a sit down meal instead of the usual CS fare, and it is NOT relaxing to go from restaurant to restaurant, being turned away without ADR's, all the while your tummy is grumbling and you are getting grumpier.

We make more ADR's than we think we will want (maybe 6+ ressies for a 10 day trip). And if we find during our trip that our plans change, or on the day of we don't feel we want to make that reservation, we have the dining line plugged into our phones, and can call them and cancel or try to change.

For instance, on our last trip, we had dinner reservations for 'Ohana, but ended up having such a great time at DHS, and looked into other places to eat there and opted not to do 'Ohana. So as soon as we knew (maybe 2pm for an 8pm ressie), we called the dining line and canceled. They asked us why we were canceling, concerned we had some complaint, and we just explained we made other arrangements and wanted to make sure that slot was open for someone else. We hope that someone who walked up got that spot and wasn't turned away for once!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Not making ADRs is fine if you are flexible, nor picky, going at a real busy time, or have extra time if needed (unless most any kind of counter service/food satifies you).
We often make an ADR just an hour before arrival. However we are not trying for hoty spots such as Le Cellier, Chef Mickey's, etc.

 

[lady danger]

I'm a childless young adult so I may come at trips to WDW from a slightly different perspective than most, but I can't think of anything less relaxing than a vacation without dining reservations. I go to WDW with a close friend who lives in a different part of the country than I do, and to us, part of vacation to us is eating out together. We love the parks, but dining at WDW is as essential to our trips as seeing our favorite attractions. And to us dining is not waiting in line, hunting around through crowds with laden trays for a place to sit, and eating food of varied quality. CS is fine for us for lunch, but I don't think we'd want to try it for most of our meals. And given how hard it can be to get into a lot of the restaurants on a walk up, trying to eat the way we do on the fly sounds crazy.

On our last trip we made ADRs for every night of our trip, and even though they involved some resort hopping and we relied on Disney transportation, I never really felt stressed or rushed during our trip. A nice, long meal was a relaxing way to cap a day running around the parks. I don't know that I could do WDW any other way!

 

[tigercat]

On our last trip we had the free dining. It was great and I don't know if we will go back without the dining plan. It was really nice to know where we are going to eat. I have a problem with wheat and it is really hard to get something to eat except for salads with most of the CS places. At the TS places they really catered to me. Some of the places had meals that were out of this world. I can't eat salads everyday, it is as bad as the wheat for me.
tigercat

 

[bjscheel]

Well I did make one today- 1900 Park Fair for supper on our last day. It is a MK day and MVMCP, so I knew we'd have to leave the park around supper anyway.

I think we will end up with 4 ADRs over our 6 days. Sounds reasonable to me!

 

[Safari Queen]

I'm with Beccasmom. We only do ADRs for 1-3 favorites -- otherwise, we do CS that we like. We don't like being tied to being in a particular place at a particular time every day. We don't usually go during super-busy times, so it's not that much of a hassle to do CS. We also tend to sleep in, so we're not eating during the busiest times of the day, either. That's all past of having a relaxed vacation!