Taking A Chance..No ADR's!

[mcr5298]

My DH and I planned a last minute trip last week. So last minute, that we are leaving to drive down to Disney this Wednesday. We only booked the room Friday night, and were happy to get anything at that point. We are staying at All Star Sports. We booked a value resort so we could spend the money that we want on food!

So we are going down with no expectations at all! We have been to Disney World more times than we can count. We were just down there this past Easter week.

So we do not have any ADR's booked at all. We were not able to do the dining plan either, since we didn't book a package. So we are pretty much willing to wing it. We are hoping to do mostly lunches for sit down meals. If we get in early enough, we should not have a problem, I hope. And it will hopefully not be so crowded at this point.

We are hoping to have lunch in Chefs de France, Restaurant Marrakesh, or Rose and Crown. We will have our car, so we plan on having breakfast at Boatwright's at Port Orlean's Riverside our first morning. We try to have breakfast here every trip, it's our tradition. We will also try to get in for an early dinner somewhere on the Boardwalk. Maybe Spoodles or Flying Fish.
We have pretty much done all the restaurants at the Magic Kingdom and MGM, so we will probably eat counter service there most days.

Hopefully this will be a nice and relaxing trip with just me, DH, DD(4) and DS(2)!

 

[Vivianne]

It's just DH and I and we try to get ADRs usually for a late lunch especially for the weekend. We haven't done the dining plan, we usually stay at the Swan. It doesn't hurt to get them, with the increasing volume at the parks. We've seen people turned away even for lunch.

 

[wilma-bride]

I think, as long as you are not too fussy about times, you will stand a fiar chance of getting to eat at most of the places on your list. It wouldn't hurt, though, to call in advance - even if it's only in the am or the evening before.

 

[mcr5298]

I hear what you are saying Vivianne. We will probably try to sit down and make a schedule of what parks we are going to do each day. But we understand that we have to be flexible. I might try to make a couple of ADR's before we leave. But I won't be stressed out if I can't get any, at this late notice. If the place that we want isn't available, then we'll just try another one. Sometimes this has shown us some restaurant's that we never would have thought of trying.

 

[fla4fun]

Sometimes I call Disney Dining from the park that morning to make lunch ADR's. In fact, I remember making an ADR for Rose and Crown one day at 11am from the payphones across from the restaurant (and the ADR was for 12:00)! The important thing with the last minute trips is to have a back up plan in place, or to be OK with eating CS if the park does turn out to be crowded.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I am one of those who take a chance on their trips to WDW.. We have been many times so I try to go where the day takes me. I may make an ADR the day before at guest services for one of my fave restaurants, but really I am just content being there and kind of go with the flow....

 

[eliza61]

We did the same thing in March. Took a last minute vacation and didn't book any ADR's. I loved it!!. In fact we are going down again in November for Jersey week and I'm thinking about trying to do it again.
I never realized how restricting it was to tour around my meal reservations until this trip. It was great to simply get hungry and then say "what should we eat" instead of watching the clock at the parks because we have to be at XYZ for a meal. The big problem I have is that me and my family are unpredictable on vacations and it's hard for me to narrow down times for ADR's. We had a car also which made it doubly nice because there are so many decent restaurants at the crossroads right down the street from DTD.

Go for it.

 

[JibeMan]

We went last September with no ADRs (during free dining, but we were not on the dining plan). We got into Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey, 50's PTC, Rose and Crown and Bomas within an hour of when we wanted to eat! The only place we did not get in was Le Cellier.

We are doing free dining this year and I am scheduling my ADRs -- I HATE having to plan where I am going to eat 4 months out! I hope it is worth the trouble!

 

[LoveThatDarnMouse]

It really is a drag to be on vacation watching the clock and planning exactly where you should be, but we did it again this year. If it was totally up to me, I would just wing it.

On the up side, it is nice to have peace of mind knowing you will at least have a nice, sit-down meal at some point during the day to break up the hustle and bustle and not have to wait or worry about whether you will get in somewhere you really want to eat.

 

[LiteBrite]

I figure, why not make the ADRs (whenever you're able, even if it's last minute). You can always cancel them if you decide to do something else, but that way at least you have a sure thing if you have trouble getting in elsewhere.