Really need ADR?

[mom21monkey]

Ok, I'm a little bummed that we couldn't get ADR's at some restraunts for our trip.
My DH swears we don't need them. That we should see where the trip takes us and when we find a restraunt just walk right up.

Is he crazy? or right? Can we just walk up to a restraunt (not counter service) and expect to get in after a possible short wait 20-30 minutes?


Help!!!

 

[ducklite]

I"d keep checking back, people do cancel and they do release more tables at various points. Many places that will tell you they are sold out over the phone will take a limited number of walk ups but it can be a long wait.

And there are plenty of great places to eat, so if you can't get in to one, try a new place!

ANne

 

[jann1033]

the fact you can not get adrs shows you need them imo. don't know when/where you are going but sometimes with an adr the wait is around 20-30 so without one i think you might be looking at a lot longer. if you call close to your trip and still can't get them for a walk up i would try lunch either early or late, right at the beginning of dinner time for dinner or late, just a little before the park closes

 

[bicker]

Jann hit the nail on the head: You only need ADRs for the places you can't get them! From what I've read, it seems to be getting much tighter, so I'd be sure to have them for any of the full-service restaurants that you really want to eat at. You can almost always get ADRs at the last minute, but they may not be for any restaurants you actually would want to eat at.

 

[Figment2]

Friends told me that while they were waiting to be seated at LeCellier, they saw walk ups being turned away. Keep trying and/or change your times a bit.

Good luck!

Cyn

 

[bicker]

Le Cellier is renown for turning walk-ups away, even during the off-season.

 

[jann1033]

same with Ohana ( lack of walk up ability)

 

[DrTomorrow]

I'd also guess that the new Dining Package is causing an increase in TS dining. It's one thing to say "I'm tired, it's late - let's pick up Taco Bell on the way back to the room" but it's totally different if you have TS credits for 'free food'.

We rarely do ADRs, but we rarely eat at on-site TS, so it works out fine....

 

[Shanan]

I think you also need to take into consideration when you are going. If you are there in January-February, ADR's aren't as necessary. If you are going between Christmas and New Years or during then spring break, then you probably need to like counter service a lot.

 

[magicaldisney]

FYI...in the past we never made ADR's. We always walked up and waited maybe 30 minutes at the most to get seated. We never wanted to be tied down by the ADR's.

We just went in October and couldn't get into any of the resteraunts. They were booked for the whole day with ADR's. So it's not as easy to just walk up anymore.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

As the parks get busier, ADR become more and more necessary. You might want to try calling from the resort in the morning.

 

[Mad4Dizne]

During this time we were given two choices of times available at Le Cellier and Chef Mickeys and Crystal Palace were filling up fast (only a few times available in the time frame we requested). I don't think you can go to Disney anymore and expect to eat where you want without ADR's.....unless they discontinue the dining plan.......

 

[Tigger714]

I would keep checking back and then once you get to the resort, call again. It seemed to me that some places we were trying to eat at didn't have ADR's available before hand but suddenly did once we got there and the day was nearly upon us. The only place we never got to eat at last week was O'hanas for dinner. Couldn't get in to save our life.

 

[MicheleC]

I would say to try to make ADRs if you can. We just got back yesterday *sigh* from a 9-day trip and if we didn't hve ADRs, we wouldn't have eaten many good meals. We tried to get into 50's Prime Time, Mama Melrose and several others with our neighbors who we ran into but every place was booked up. While waiting to get seated at Le Cellier, Chefs de France, Garden Grille, Nine Dragons and Liberty Tree, we heard them turning away all walk-ups. In past years we have mostly been able to get the restaurants we've wanted by calling Dining that morning but this year there was no chance of changing any of our ADRs. I tried several times dpending on our plans but had not luck on any day so we used all the seating arrangements we had already made and were thankful to have them. I'm already concerned if we go in April I've missed the 180 day window!

 

[Cinderella94]

Jann hit the nail on the head: You only need ADRs for the places you can't get them!

You got it!

 

[Steamboat Marti]

I know its true about the ADRs - if you don't have them, you can't be sure that you'll get into that restaurant AT ALL, no matter what time of year. But what size is the OPs party? I'm sure it would be easier to seat 2 people vs. 10 people. That should be taken into account, right?

 

[robinm1215]

Just got back on Monday and heard them turning people away at many places. We also at the last minute made a late lunch ressie for Le Cellier (after deciding it was not worth it to do Coral Reef). We kept trying to change it to dinner with no success. Our ressie was for 2:40, which is about the latest you can get for lunch since lunch ends at 3. The restaurant was pretty empty while we were there which was very surprising. They must not take any ressies between 3 and 4 (when lunch ends and dinner starts) which I thought was very odd since they could have filled the whole place. They were turning people away. Anyway, we had a great meal and the restaurant wasn't crowded at all so we had great service too!

Our last night we had ressies for Whispering Canyon and we cancelled them since we didn't realize MK closed at 8 and we didn't want to spend all of our time the last night eating. We called dining and asked if they could take us earlier and they said they were all booked up -- we didn't want to waste the time taking the boat over there to see if they could actually take us early. So we just went into MK and figured we would wing it. LTT was not taking any walk ins, but CP seated us within a half hour or less and the buffet there was great -- probably the best one of the whole trip!

Good luck!

 

[ZoZo]

I would make ADRs. I know it's a pain, but you probably won't be able to get into any of the more popular restaurants without them. We tried to get Le Cellier for dinner a few weeks ago by walking up at around 3:00 pm (thinking we could get something around 7:30 or so); the only thing they had was 8:50 pm.

My theory is that this is just like using fast pass - if you take the time to plan ahead, you can get what you want without waiting in horrible lines.