those who Do Not do ADR every day/meal

[missmun52]

Do what makes you happy, if you have doubts then plan more meals, if you think it will be too stressful then dont.

I love planning our meals and there are places I really want to try so I book them in advance, but thats my family, for us eating is a major part of any trip anywhere, we look forward to trying new things and going back to old favs. not here at home. But.......everyone is different, and I am sure all the comments on the Dis reflect that.

 

[eliza61]

Thanks- My reasoning for thinking ppl would say its crazy are posts like "should we book ADR?" and get replies of "only if you want to eat" or about missing out on great places, being stuck with gasp CS. Its the extremes of each I guess, hence the disclosure or I fear getting the OMG/ your crazy replies, just like my standard yes we plan rest into our trips or ppl get on the you must take your kids to nap your kids will melt down... replies,lol.
I am a foodie and while I can find enjoyable meals at WDW the ones I would get to on vacation with 2 preschoolers are not in that category. I love to cook great, elaborate meals at home but on vacation, I am there for experience not food.
Not on DP so no credits to use up. I have a list of CS places, I have the number for dining if we choose

That's my pet peeve too. My 2nd one is "If you don't get to rope drop you wont get any thing done". ugh.. talk about stressing people out.. and what's funny is my famiy and I always manage to 'get every thing done" and haven't done rope drop in years. I will admit we don't go during high holidays so I'm sure that makes a difference.

 

[disneysteve]

I can't remember the last time we did an ADR. We never make advance reservations. We make it up as we go along. It depends on what park we are in which day (which we also don't decide in advance). It depends on the weather. It depends on how tired we are any given day. It depends what special events pop up that we didn't know about in advance. It depends on how much we feel like spending and what type of food we are all in the mood for.

What we will sometimes do is make a reservation while we are in Disney World either a day or two in advance or the morning of but we never plan any meals prior to arrival.

 

[brerrabbit]

Last two trips have been just myself and DW. We never got to a rope drop, we had only three ADR's each trip and still ate a lot of TS. Last year trip was in July, year before was in June. We really like doing walk ups to TS places around 2:00 pm. We get the lunch menu pricing and usually no wait. Then we can eat light in the evening and still have time to enjoy everything. Now the reality is we won't get to walk in to the most popular places but on the last two trips we got in with a less than 5 minute wait using this strategy at Mama Melrose's, Tony's Town Square, Japan ( on the sushi and tempura side), Rose and Crown, Wolgang Pucks in DTD, and Brown Derby. All those with no ADR and little or no wait. Granted it was just the two of us but we had no problems at all.

 

[mjkacmom]

I think it's really only an issue in certain circumstances, such as a newbie "Hi, new to the boards, planning a last minute trip during free dining! We upgraded to the deluxe, and can't wait to eat in the castle - will we get a table without a reservation? So exited for all of the great meals!"

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I've *never* had an ADR and *never* had a problem getting a table.

This really depends where and when and how many are in your party. I've seen lots of guests turned away from popular dining choices, however, there are a few places on property (Esp if you include the Swan/Dolphin) that do NOT take ADR's at all. At those locations you may have to wait for the next available table, but you will pretty much always be able to get one.

That said, we've done a number of trips with minimal ADR's, and had a blast.

Getting to ADR's on time is always kind of a pain when we go to WDW. I often go ina fairly large group,so they are sort of a necessary evil. I also don't want to have to wait an hour for a table.

One downside of minimal ADR's - should you then decide to TRY for a TS, is that you sometimes have to go TO the podium to ask. That might involve a fair amount of travel time.

Some of our best visits to WDW have been when we've had the least number of restrictions! Also, if you are again staying offsite - you can even dine OFFSITE! the area has lots of fun choices, and many of them even cost less!

 

[momof2n2]

I've done Disney about a dozen times and it was only the last trip I ever bothered with ADRs. I hate to waste our time in the park sitting and eating for too long. We are commando tourers.

I only started with ADRs on our last trip, um, probably because of the influence of this board!

Now that we have done a character meal, my kids are excited to do that again. I do have a bunch of ADRs for this next trip, but I will likely cancel half of them a few weeks before, when I am sure we know what we are planning.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We've only ever done 2 or 3 TS per trip.

We are casual and like CS. I hate wasting too much time in the restaurants at Disney and it seems like it's at least an hour to an hour and a half for every TS meal.

CS is alot more than burger/fries if you take the time to look and we've never been disappointed that we didn't do more TS.

 

[Planogirl]

We only had two ADR's during our last trip and some trips we might even go up to three! I do plan meals somewhat but some of my favorite places are CS so I have to make time for them.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Disney Dining Reservations board.

 

[cm8]

You are not crazy! We do the same thing. We are going the end of October for a week and I will be making 3 ADR's, Biergarten and Yachtsman for dinner and then Crystal Palace for one breakfast. The rest of the time we wing it and do CS. I can't be held down to a week long schedule. I'm from old school WDW where you could actually call or go to a kiosk in Epcot the day of and actually get a ressie for dinner!

and we would not have it any other way

 

[jm106]

Ok, I see the PTB deemed this dining reservations post rather then part of my travel and park planning.
Thanks to all of those who helped by commenting on my park and dining strategies. I appreciate the help.

 

[disneysteve]

We've only ever done 2 or 3 TS per trip.

We are casual and like CS. I hate wasting too much time in the restaurants at Disney and it seems like it's at least an hour to an hour and a half for every TS meal.

CS is alot more than burger/fries if you take the time to look and we've never been disappointed that we didn't do more TS.

This is us exactly. Also, I think the TS prices at Disney are insane. When we do a TS meal in Florida, it is usually offsite.

Disney has fantastic CS options. We have several favorites that we return to year after year. It is far more than fast food and typical amusement park fare.

 

[dvcdisney]

You know what you want and you know what to expect and you have a sensible plan....that's all that matters.

It depends on your family. When we first started going, we didn't plan and made many ADRs because we wanted to do a lot of rides and shows and we were only going for a week. We felt that too many TS dining would cut into that.

But as time went on and as our vacations became longer, we decided that we need more ADRs. Now, part of our vacation is experiencing our favourite dining and we're okay if we don't ride our favourite rides a million times. We find our trips are more leisure and less running around. For instance, our upcoming trip is a little over 2 weeks (yay ), we are staying 14 nights with 18 ADRs booked. It's what our family wants and again....that's all that really matters.

However, if you had unreasonable expectations (and you obviously don't) such as being able to walk up and get a table anytime you want and anywhere you want, then you may be in for a few disappointments. And I think that's the problem, I have had many people come to me after their vacation saying that they ended up eating at CS places because they couldn't get in to some TS restaurants and they were upset.

I think it's great that you have a reasonable expectation as well as a plan. Good for you!