Why don't people make ADR's?

[Jessd]

I agree that most people don't know that you can do ADRs ahead of time. We went in July last year and I had all my ADRs booked thanks to this board. We went to check in at CRT and a family came up behind us without an ADR. They were told that they had no openings, they could come by in a few hours if they like to check again. They saw us going in and the mother was very irate that she couldn't eat in the castle when we were able to go right in.

BIL is taking his family in 2 weeks and they weren't aware that they could do it in advance either. His travel agent didn't say a word. I told him that even though you don't want to be tied down to an ADR, you don't want to waste money that you spent on the dining plan when you can't get in anywhere to eat either. He called 3 days later asking how to make an ADR.

 

[Brygida]

We were always allowed in for TS when we (2-3 people) showed up at opening time (even during free dining plan time). Like for lunch that is usually 12:00, and for dinner usually 5-5:30. But, that happens to coincide with when we actually want to eat!

Of course I wouldn't try this for CRT, but then I don't want to eat at CRT, the food is awful.

For next time (August 13th arrival!), I did make ADR each day for TS because we will mostly be a party of 6.

Usually (excluding CRT, V&A) you CAN show up at opening time and be seated immediately.... this even works if the place is supposedly booked (you cannot make an ADR for that time slot).

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

A friend of mine just went on their first trip to WDW that they had booked through a travel agent - the travel agent had told them that with the Dining Plan they could just walk up to any restaurant that they wanted and get in . She called me the night before they were to leave to ask a couple questions and she told me about having the Dining Plan and I asked what ADR's she scheduled, when she got quiet I knew she hadn't scheduled anything. I explained how ADR's worked and she was panicing that they wouldn't get in anywhere (it was too late to call that night for any). Anyway I calmed her down and told her to go to guest services after she checked into her hotel and explain that they have the Dining Plan but no ADR's as their travel agent had the wrong info. She called me after they checked in to tell me that they had a great CM with guest services and she helped them schedule meals for their weeks stay. She told me next trip she will let me help plan it - I tried to help for this one but was told the travel agent was taking care of it all

 

[yankeepenny]

Our trip is sept 1-7, and I booked in Early april for the room.
BUT I WAITED until the end of April for ressies and
low and behold........did not get a few of them. I was glad that I had a list of desirable places, and thank heaven we did not want for 5 pm, all ours are at 7. (seating times)
if we go next year , I will be calling on exactly the 180 day mark. It was only thanks to this board that I really clued in, the reservation people when I book the room were like"you can call whennever
....."
sooo, thank you dis boards!

 

[makinorlando]

Some people just don't realize how busy the restaurants are. I am local (only 3 years) and until I found the DIS late last year, I would never have thought about making and ADR for a meal for a day trip to a park..... now if I think I'm going to want to eat TS while we are in a park, I will try before we leave home to get an ADR - DD will NOT wait to eat in a restaurant!!

We had ADRS for Cinco de Mayo at San Angel Inn and it amazed me how many people were disappointed because they were booked solid for the night and they wanted to 'celebrate' in Mexico!

Just remember that no everyone knows about the DIS and many just "wing" it on vacations as much as they can!!!! Nothing wrong with it -- just their style - but sadly they are disappointed at meal time!

 

[RangerPooh]

But what about all the guide books? They even suggest making ADRs. If it wasn't for the guidebooks DH and I would have not thought about making ADRs for our honeymoon back in 2003. At the time the boards that we frequented were geared to DLR. We thought that it was like Disneyland where you could just wing it (it's hard to do it there these days too). Wrong! But we learned that as a party of 2 and with flexibility that we could get into most of the places that we were interested in. Yet when you are traveling with your family/friends trying to get a larger table can be difficult.

We always tell people that they will need to make ADRs if they plan to eat anything other than cs while at WDW. Most people just look at us as if our head is on backwards when we tell them this. I've told my brother that for our upcoming trip and he prefers to just wing it. But I who thought ahead have made sure that there are two additional seats at our table just in case.

 

[Donald is #1]

OK, I am going to join in on the no-ADR side. I guess that I work so much normally, when I am on vacation, I enjoy going with the flow. In my case for the most part, I decide the day before which park I am going to the next day. It probably helps that I don't eat at a consistent time at home. So I don't like committing myself ahead of time to what time I am going to eat dinner. I also admit that when I go to the parks, I am flexible about which restaurant that I eat at. So, I don't mind changing my plans for dinner if the wait is too long at my first choice.

 

[Garden Stater]

OK, I am going to join in on the no-ADR side. I guess that I work so much normally, when I am on vacation, I enjoy going with the flow. In my case for the most part, I decide the day before which park I am going to the next day. It probably helps that I don't eat at a consistent time at home. So I don't like committing myself ahead of time to what time I am going to eat dinner. I also admit that when I go to the parks, I am flexible about which restaurant that I eat at. So, I don't mind changing my plans for dinner if the wait is too long at my first choice.

hey donald, i'm with you all the way!

my family (me, my mom and dad) has been going to wdw at least once, if not twice, a year for the last 20 years (and we've been dvc owners since the first year!) and rarely make adr's or priority seatings as we still call them!

vacation is for chilling, all this planning i keep reading about is stressing me out!

my mom just made reservations last week for our august trip - 7 days in wdw and 3 days in vero beach - that includes the air, accomodations (dvc, yay!), and rental car. she refuses to do more than that.

we usually don't decide until we get up each morning where we will be spending the day, and that can change on the walk to the bus stop at okw!

we usually eat our breakfast in our dvc kitchen, or out on our patio, and have a light lunch at a counter service restaurant or a late lunch at a table service restaurant. dinner is usually a table service restaurant at a park or a resort or a snack if we ate our big meal at lunch.

there is never a table service restaurant we haven't been able to eat at yet -flexibility is the key! we generally have a range of choices for the times that we'd like to eat.

life is too hectic enough living in the nyc metro area with all the rushing around and schedules we have to adhere to on a daily basis in our non-vacation lives.

we really enjoy just "going with the flow" while we are at wdw - that's what vacations are for anyway, right?!

 

[BlindTyldak]

The only trips we've ADR'd were this one (lots of character meals and we already knew where we'd be every day) and our last one (13 people in the party). other than that we always winged it too, but we travel at slow times and tend to eat at off times. If you can be flexible and not expect immediate seating when you can see the restaurant is packed then you can easily go without ADR's.

 

[tabrizia]

But what about all the guide books? They even suggest making ADRs. If it wasn't for the guidebooks DH and I would have not thought about making ADRs for our honeymoon back in 2003.

Some people don't get guide books. This is the first time going to Disney that I have gotten guide books and I've been going on and off since I was 5 and half. To be fair my family is pretty laid back, so if there is a huge wait we'll do something else and come back where we were going later, but we never needed the guide books to have a good vacation. We never had a touring plan or ADRs or anything else when we went in the 80s and 90s. Everyone does Disney different and for a lot of people that includes not getting guide books. Even after getting three guide books for this trip I can find all the info from them on the internet and the only pieces in there I didn't already know were about ADRs. So all I've ended up using them for is restaraunt reviews and to figured out ADRs (which I really figured out via this board and allears).

Honestly I have ADRs for this trip, but it is fairly likely next time we go that we will just go with the flow again, though we may make one or two ADRs for character meals or a meal we really want, in general as long as you are flexable you can normally find a Table Service Restaraunt to eat at.

 

[johnvree]

The choir teacher at my former school didn't get ADRs until I told him to... they were on the DDP and his TRAVEL AGENT had told them they could just make reservations when they got there!

Many of the guide books further this belief by recommending that guests visit the kiosk as soon as they enter the park to make dinner reservations.

 

[UKDEB]

I've been thinking about this a bit more and, looking back, knowing I could make ADRs (PSs) was actually a bit of a curse during our first few trips.

Reading threads such as this led me to believe that, unless I had booked at precisely 4.39am during the first full moon to occur within 93.5 days of our dining date, whilst standing on one leg and singing 'Sweet Home Alabama', I didn't stand a chance of getting in anywhere.

It was several trips before we ate at places such as California Grill and Cindy's - I just assumed it wasn't worth trying.

 

[magsmom]

The game changed with ADRs with the introduction of Disney Dining Plan last year. Prior to 2005 it was really easy to walk in almost everywhere, or to call a few days in advance. I had been one of those people who would book maybe Boma/CG/CRT and wing the rest.

We had a lot of problems getting into restaurants with late or no ADRs in late June-early July last year (week before 7/4 - parks packed). We had similar problems during free dining. I wil tell you, if this were my 1st trip these experiences would have left a bad taste in my mouth.

Since we are doing the plan (paying and getting it free) this August we have planned the vacation very differently - partially as a result of what we saw last year, but I am a planner too and want to get the most out of the plan.

Also, the DIS is a small proportion of the total number of folks that visit and many people rely in the advice of their travel agent. The TA may give them "faulty" information and they have no other source, or do not do the research to get most out of their vacation in general.

 

[golden1]

I think you don't necessarily need ADRs if you are going during slower times of the year and eating at off hours - either really early or really late. If you want to eat lunch at 12:30 at a popular restaurant you will rpobably be out of luck. However, if you try 11 am or wait until 2pm, you might be fine. I enjoy making ADRs and I sort of have to because I have smll children and I don't want to be waiting around for long periods of time. I need a schedule to keep the trip moving.

 

[brat5063]

This is the first time I have made ADRs for all our meals and it is probably only b/c we are going during free dining. We are traveling with another family that we have gone with in the past and she couldn't understand why I was even making ADRs, she said we could wing it when we get there. But I didn't listen and made them for all of us. It was hard making them. I didn't like the idea that we had to be at a specific place and time while on vacation.

We have always tried to go the cheap way when it came to food and normally only eat CS. This will be a big treat for us.

I think a lot of first time vacationers don't realize that they need to. I also don't think they know what restaurants are out there till they get there. I had no clue.

 

[Caren]

I have no ADRs for my August trip. I'll be at a convention at the Coronado, meeting people I know from previous years and making new acquaintances. I'm sure we'll want to go out to eat, and I'd certainly like to eat at Boma or the California Grill, but it's impossible to know with whom I'll be dining and when. I suspect that we'll probably be going off site a lot.

 

[nanalisa]

I have no ADRs for my August trip. I'll be at a convention at the Coronado, meeting people I know from previous years and making new acquaintances. I'm sure we'll want to go out to eat, and I'd certainly like to eat at Boma or the California Grill, but it's impossible to know with whom I'll be dining and when. I suspect that we'll probably be going off site a lot.

You could call as soon as you know where your party would like to eat. You stand a better chance of getting a table doing that than going directly to the restaurant.

Magsmom is right, it did all change with the introduction to the dining plan. There's always a chance you can get the restaurant you want at the last minute but if there's a place you really want to eat, make the call. I don't let ADR's rule our vacation. I made ADR's for one TS a day but if we don't want to do it that day I will call early to cancel and try to make another one.

 

[Mickey1122]

We plan our trips on short notice, but still make ADRs for each meal. We do go in off season though, and could walk up to several of the "essential ADR" places if we wanted to.

 

[Mad4Dizne]

when we traveled as a couple--never made them. We didn't care if we ate at 8pm or did counter service, we just went. With a family and now wanting to have meals at pretty regular hours we never ever go on a trip without them. It also eliminates the "where are we going to eat today??", "I don't know,where do you want to eat today??"-multiply that by a pary of 8 and that gets pretty frustrating. This way with the ADR's it's a no brainer and we all just show up where we are scheduled for that day. Alot!! easier for us. Also, to those who say you don't need them during the "slow" times. We saw people getting turned away in January!! I think in order to have the kind of trip we want, we will always make them.

 

[LeesyUD]

When I took my bf on his first real disney trip a couple years ago, I kept asking him way before hand where he would want to dine..but he has always been a go with the flow kind of guy and did not understand why I wanted to make reservations so far in advance, I got tired of asking so we didn't make any. Well lets just say he understood why we couldn't get in anywhere he wanted to go. So last year he helped me pick the places and this year he woke up early to do the reservations haha!! We had only been there for 4 days without reservations, I could not imagine being there a whole week without them, that is just crazy talk! Especially now with the kickin' dining plan!