Table Service for the average park visitor???

[gojoe]

I've made ADR's for a couple of special meals. California Grill for Wishes and Sci-Fi. It was the first place we ate the first time our family went. Our girls will be off to college and this might be last time for a while as a family.
Here is my point. I am an obsessive planner but I have a hard time trying to figure out what park we will visiting. I don't think it right to make an ADR at every park for each night.
Our last trip I made our special ADR 184 days out (staying on property, linked it to my room). It was for Rose & Crowne for Illuminations. The best I could get was a 7:50 ADR. Rose & Crowne was half empty July 4th week, too many people making multiple ADRs. I'm glad you need a deposit for some place but I will is was for all sitdowns.

 

[clomahony]

My first trip was in 2006 with my husband and 3 kids. We had no idea what we were in for. We only booked for 2 nights (which I thought I'd see everything in 3 days!) and made no ADRs. As a result, we were able to get some last minute table service meals but they were not in the really popular restaurants. We ate at Whipering Canyon and Hollywood & Vine. We kept ending up extending our trip until we were there for 5 days and now 6 trips later we still haven't seen everything.

What made me love Disney was their customer service. My 2 younger kids have numerous food allergies and this was the first place ever that seemed to care as much as we did. I ended up doing papers and case studies using the Disney service model in business school. My hope is to one day work for the mouse but I work in finance and accounting so I'm not sure it will happen.

 

[BriarRosie]

Back in the day when I needed to do Commando Style touring (also known as "the early years", I was a PLANNER. Back in the day (1987), I read the Birnbaum's Official Guide from cover to cover. Multiple times. Planned the spring break trip with my best friend during study hall. We knew where we wanted to eat!

Back then, there were no ADRs. You could use the nifty World Key kiosks in Epcot Center to teleconference LIVE with a cast member you could SEE a la The Jetsons! Such high tech back in the day! And even then some plans needed to change. My friend and I were going to eat at the Odyssey restaurant counter service the first night. Little did we know the Birnbaum guide didn't know the place closed a year prior. So we adapted.

And when I stayed at a Disney resort for the first time, 5 years later, and the brand new Port Orleans resort, we found out that resort guests could make dining reservations up to TWO WHOLE DAYS early! Heheh.

So yes, I did make Priority Seating (the ADR back in the early days of advance reservations) much of the time, and it helped. I made ADRs for places I knew might be more popular. And lately, I've decided to see how long I could go without making any ADRs. In December, I didn't make any, but I mooched off of friends who did make them. (I was invited to join them, so it worked it my favor!) For places that I went to solo, I sat at the bar (Tune In Lounge; Todd English's bluezoo™) or did a walk-up inquiry (Hollywood Brown Derby lunch).

I haven't made any ADRs for May. I'm wondering if I can keep the trend going.

 

[Justin Jett]

I haven't made any ADRs for May. I'm wondering if I can keep the trend going.

As I have mentioned in the past, I would use system all the time, to make priority seatings. I was young and it was cool. After World Key was discontinued, I stopped making dining reservations, because the coolness factor was gone.

http://youtu.be/nVucGtprAbI

My family has never been turned away from a table service restaurant. I will not have time on my next trip, but on a future trip, I want to see if I can get turned away at least once. Just to see what it is like, and how Disney handles it.

 

[Greenfield1984]

When you are offered help with ADRs, are you told that restaurants require reservations? Are reservations presented as an option or a need?

nope. Just presented as an option.

 

[lovethecastle]

This is very interesting to me, because my personal experience is that my family has always been given the option to wait for a table. Granted, it can be a 90 minute or 2 hour wait sometimes, but some dining experiences are worth the wait. If I am willing to wait for an attraction, I should be willing to wait for a table at a restaurant that I want to experience.

Just my personal thing.

Disney fans always tell me that I "NEED" ADRs, but Disney themselves have never stressed a "NEED" for ADRs.

The whole ADR thing truly fascinates me. People are not wrong for wanting ADRs. The issue just fascinates me.

Okay, I broached the subject with my brother(he still seems kinda pissed about the subject) they were not in fact turned away from the podiums but the wait times were way too long for them(they had at the time a very young daughter)
And they just wanted to eat when they wanted to eat.
They are now aware of the ADR system so maybe next time this won't happen.

 

[DrMomof3]

My family's 1st trip to Disney World was in January, 2008 (I went twice in the 1970's and I remember staying off-site and a few rides but don't remember anything about dining! ). I was 20 weeks pregnant with child #3 and had a not quite 2 year old and not quite 4 year old. We had my mother-in-law with us as well as our au pair. I read the Unofficial Guide with Kids. Or I read part of it. We stayed at the Polynesian and had no ADRs. (I'm wrong. My DH and I had a reservation for Victoria and Albert's for a date night.) We still had a wonderful trip but we found it incredibly frustrating that we couldn't eat sit-down meals. Once we realized that we needed ADRs, we called the dining number and got an ADR for 'Ohana for later in the trip (the food wasn't very good - I've read that it's gotten better recently). We ate many meals at Kona Cafe since you didn't seem to need an ADR for that.
Our 2nd trip was May, 2009. We called for ADRs about 2 weeks before our trip. We were traveling with our 3 kids, my parents, my stepsister and her family (DH and 2 kids). We still hadn't really learned our lesson! We were staying at SSR and had many meals at Downtown Disney since that was the only place I could get ADRs at that point in time! We had learned about ADRs but not the part about 180 days in advance...
We generally like to eat sit-down meals but I absolutely HATE having to plan so far in advance. We probably change 1/2 of our dinners by the time the trip arrives because our plans change. I go to Disney to be on vacation, not to have a schedule that I have to follow with military-type precision! We're slowly moving away from so many sit-down meals, not because we don't like them, but because our family needs more flexibility. Kids get tired or hungry at the "wrong" time. Or we're having fun and don't want to stop because we have an ADR that we scheduled 6 months ago. I know that there is no good answer to this. Part of me wishes that Disney left about 30% of tables unreserved, although I realize this would create it's own set of problems.
As an aside we have NEVER gone during peak season. We go for Marathon Weekend (and we had to change 2/3 of our dinner reservations because my parents decided to join us 3 weeks before the trip and we couldn't add 2 extra people to our ADRs. Still had great meals!). We also go the last week of August which is generally pretty empty since most schools outside the Northeast are back in session.
One more thought... As the local Disney expert I get a lot of emails from other parents who are going to Disney World. One friend emailed me about 2 weeks before their Christmas break trip. She had NO ADRs and didn't realize they would need them! She was very grateful for my help but more than a bit annoyed that she couldn't get into many of the character meals (she has a 3 year old and a 5 year old). So I don't think most non-DISer types understand about ADRs.
My 180 day window for our August trip opens soon and I'm honestly not sure what I will do. Many of the places we want to eat seem to not fill up terribly quickly (my 6 year old's favorite restaurant is Bluezoo!). Maybe I'll book Garden Grill and Teppan Edo and Cape May Cafe and then wait until the travel dates get closer to pick the rest?

Amanda

 

[BriarRosie]

I did think the new credit card hold for character meals and signature restaurants would make it easier for people to get ADRs at some of the most popular places, but I haven't really seen anyone try to test the theory.

 

[Floridian Princess]

Our first trip was in 2004 with my mother and father inlaw,DH,DS 5 DD 18months we stayed at POR,which we thought was a lovely resort.

Our travel agent sold us an expensive package and gave us no advice at all about ADRs, we could not get any table service meals that we wanted, when DH enquirer at Le Cellier if they had a table the cast member almost laughed at him and said they were booked 6 months in advance!

Anyway we did have a fabulous time despite eating rather too many counter service meals

We returned in 2006, just the 4 of us this time,our plane was delayed by 7 hours not a great start but when we got to our castle view room at the wonderful GF I just felt overwhelmed with hapiness We had booked all our ADRs and had some delicious meals,I can honestly say this trip was the best holiday we had ever had!!!

This trip in July my inlaws are coming back for the first time since 2004 with us, staying at OKW they still don't appreciate how fab the restaurants at WDW can be so we can't wait to show them how much we have learnt through the Dis and the unofficial guide book.

 

[Justin Jett]

Okay, I broached the subject with my brother(he still seems kinda pissed about the subject) they were not in fact turned away from the podiums but the wait times were way too long for them(they had at the time a very young daughter)
And they just wanted to eat when they wanted to eat.
They are now aware of the ADR system so maybe next time this won't happen.

This is very close to the experiences that my family has at the podium. Also, friends that I have planned trips for have been given long wait times, but have never been turned away.

I have gone to other restaurants, but for restaurants I really want to try, I treat it like an attraction that I really want to experience.

I did make an ADR on a trip last May, and when I checked in, they gave me the same buzzer thingy that they give me when I don't make an ADR. I thought "Well, I have the buzzer thingy, so what was the point of making the ADR?" That experience confused me and made ADRs seem pointless.

I personally view ADRs as Fastpasses for dining. They are an option for people who want to be seated quicker, but people who do not have one are allowed to wait in a "standby line" of sorts.

I do feel that ADRs should be made for parties of 5 or more, as a common courtesy to the cast members. I've been a front line employee at the local water park since 1994, so I believe in being nice to the front line cast members at all times. Just showing up with an Army of people would (in my opinion) be unfair to the restaurant staff.

Also, before park opening, the ADR confirmation is needed for the early admission to the park. Once the rope drops, I treat ADRs as Fastpasses for dining. Nine times out of ten, I will just use (what I call) the "standby line" for table service.

I've gotten E-Mails and private messages about this topic, and now, I am very curious about getting turned away completely at table service restaurants. This is a very interesting thing to study.

 

[sayhello]

I've gotten E-Mails and private messages about this topic, and now, I am very curious about getting turned away completely at table service restaurants. This is a very interesting thing to study.

I have gotten completely turned away at table service restaurants. Sci-Fi, Le Cellier, 50's Prime Time come to mind. And I never go at peak times. Lots of other times, it's just been *really* long waits, but I do occasionally get turned away.

Sayhello

 

[scjo68]

This is an interesting question. I agree with you about equating ADR's to a Fastpass and Walk- up dining to standby.

My view is different, though, in that I don't ever wait too long for an attraction or Table service. If there is a Ts. restaurant where I (or my kids) really want to dine, I will make an ADR. These are usually character meals that my kids enjoy. Otherwise, we eat at counter service, and it hasn't been bad. If I really want to experience an attraction that I know is very popular, I will either go at rope drop, or get a FP. THere is so much to experience and enjoy in WDW, much of it without much wait, that I don't like to spend much time waiting. So far, this has worked well for me.

My first trip, in 2003, I knew to make a PS at CRT at exactly 7:00 am 60 days in advance. And I got it on my first try. I knew to do that because I researched. No one told me personally. I knew my DD wanted to eat with the princesses, and I researched how to make that happen.

I have heard CM's at Crystal Palace tell breakfast walk-ups that there is absolutely no more space for breakfast, but if they wait for lunch, they should get seated.