Reservations for table service question

[usarmywife84]

Do you recommend making a reservation for ANY table service, even lunch?
I'm assuming this would be hard to plan for us, as explore the parks at liberty of our 1 year old

Will we have a hard time getting seated if we dont have reservations at lunch time?
Also, we are considering the Deluxe plan, that is 3 either counter or table service meals is that correct?

Thanks a million!

 

[Pakey]

If you want to dine at a TS, especially inside a park, you should have an ADR.

Yes the DxDDP is 3 meal credits per night.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

Depends on what time of the year you are going (busy vs not) and how picky you are regarding where you eat. That being said, if you're planning on doing the dining plan I would recommend making reservations especially if you are paying for it.

 

[figment_jii]

When my family goes (we do not have any small children) we make ADRs for every TS meal we want. That way we know we have a place to eat. "Busy" moments creep up unexpectedly; for example, we had an late breakfast ADR for Boma (not normally a really busy place/time), but because of a huge rainstorm that morning, the wait time for the non-ADR folks was about 45 minutes.

The necessity of an ADR depends on when you're going, when you want to eat, and where you want to eat. If it's during free dining or the busy season, then ADRs for the traditional meal time is really useful - you can probably find walk-up locations, but they might not be somewhere you really want to eat. Also, if you want to eat inside a park (especially at MK) then an ADR is beneficial.

However, if you're willing to eat at odd times and aren't very fussy about where you eat, then you can probably find an opening somewhere. In most cases, the resort restaurants are less busy than the in-park TS options. With the DxDP you're spending a lot and have a lot of credits. Without ADRs you stand a pretty good chance of wasting credits at the end of the trip.

 

[starrysky]

We made all of our ADRs for the TS credits last year and we were very glad we did. Even with our ADRs we still had to wait a few times past our booking time.

If there are places you specifically want to eat at then make a booking. When we did the QSP we struggled to get into most TS places at times we wanted to eat at. Spent at lot of time waiting for our ADRs and seeing lots of people turned away.

 

[RMulieri]

Given you have a 1 yr old..MAKE the adrs..First, popular places are often booked months in advance.Second, there isn't always walk ups being taken.Third, with a small child in tow it can be time consuming, melt down inducing and stressful trying to find some place to eat TS on a whim if things are booked up.Fourth , the deluxe plan is ALOT of time in restaurants and is expensive.To not book anything or leave it to whim might not be the best use of your money spent.It doesn't hurt anything to make adrs and make them around your routine mealtimes

 

[AshleeH]

It's better to have an ADR. They don't guarantee the time of your reservation, but you are guaranteed a seat!

We lucked out at Sci-Fi last year and our party of 6 walked right in at open, but I was shocked that was possible. I'll be making ADRs for us this year as soon as the 180 day mark rolls around .

 

[nkereina]

If you do DxDP, you should absolutely make TS ADRs. In fact in order to get your money's worth, you pretty much have to do 2 TS meals per day with a few signatures thrown in, or else you will lose money. I think it would be difficult to get the places you want at reasonable times twice a day as a walk up. Doing quick service meals on DxDP means you will lose money, so you might want to do some calculations. If you want to play it by ear and try doing walk-ups, no dining plan or at least the regular one might be better.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I would not do the DxDP with a baby. To get your money's worth you are going to have to do a LOT of TS and or signature places and with a baby that just might not happen.

Absolutely make your ADRs. Last week only ONE place we ate all week were taking any walk-ups.

Regular dinning plan with a lunch sit down works really well with little ones.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Last month on December 15th myself and some friends of mine had a Lunch ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern for 11:30 AM and while we waited I saw some guests who got turned away since they were told the restaurant was full.