How important are advanced reservations???

[tcmorano]

We will going to WDW Oct 6-12. I keep reading and hearing from my friends how I need to make advanced reservations. I hate having to plan where and when I'm going to eat ahead of time. I am more of "go with the flow" kind of person and just figured we would eat wherever we end up when we're hungry. Will it really be that difficult for us to get a table at most restaurants (it will be my husaband and I and our 2 and a half year old daughter)? We will definitely want to go to at least 1 character meal. Any advice?

[thrillme]

I'm a "go with the flow" person to the MAX. I'm a little nervous since the dining plan has kicked in (I REALLY wish it would go away)...the resturants have been a lot fuller than they used to be. The last time we went we had a longer wait for Crystal Palace than we ever did before and we couldn't get into the resturant in Germany at all.

This upcoming trip I made a few ADR's to assure getting into where we absolutely had to go because they're favorites. Worse comes to worse...I figure if we get hungry "earlier" than the planned ADR we'll just show up try to get in as a "walk-up" and if we can't we'll decide to either wait for the ADR or blow it off entirely. If it turns out that we're not hungry at all by that time then I guess we'll just skip it. I refuse to totally "obligate" my trip based on where we're going to eat.

If I were you I'd guestimate where you're gonna be and make ADR's If you don't make them you don't make them...cancel them if you can. It'll be about the only way you're guaranteed at least ONE character meal.

HOWEVER if all holds true and the resturants do reserve a certian amount of tables for walkups...parties of 4 or less have a pretty decent shot at getting in.

[SAHDad]

For character meals (and pretty much for all the TS restuarants at this point), you do need ADRs if you want to have a seat without an inordinately long wait.

What you might consider is trying to do one of the breakfast character meals - Chef Mickey's you may not be able to get at this point, but there are others - and do CS for the other ones.

[c&d]

You'll be there during the Food & Wine festival so if you wanted to eat at Epcot you should really consider making ADRS.

My guess is you may have more luck with walk up dining in the other parks since many people will be over at Epcot for the Festival.

That said, I'd still definitely make your Character reservations.

[gmgdisneymom]

Since the inception of the dining plan I would say that advanced ressies are the most important pre-planning you can do - unless you pan to eat hamburgers and pizza all week

[PittFan]

Just returned from WDW last week and I recall several times, people trying to get a table as walk ins while I was waiting to be seated. Almost every time they were told that there were no tables available and they would have to try somewhere else. Places that I personally witnessed this were Hollywood & Vine, Le Cellier, Mama Melrose, Tutto Italia and 50's Prime Time. At Tokyo Dining a couple was given a very late ressy, around closing time. Without ADR's I'd think you'll pretty much be VERY limited on where you can eat from what I observed.

[disneyfan328]

I would have to say yes you are going to need them. Even though the "Free Dining" will be over when you are there, The food and wine festival will be going on. Also disney just released pin code emails with Free dining for 9/28 - 10/11 and also dates in November and December so even for people that are already booked into those dates, they now have the possibility of getting free dining as well. I would have to say that if its a TS you want then an ADR would be highly reccomended. Just try to figure out what parks you'll be in on what days and then at least have somewhat of an idea where you want to eat and reserve at those places. Try calling disney dining now and ask what is available for the places you want to eat during your stay. That will give you an idea of whether or not going to them without an ADR will even be an option. I think you are going to be surprised that a lot of things may be hard to get into.

good luck regardless.

[RockinRollerMom]

Since the inception of the dining plan I would say that advanced ressies are the most important pre-planning you can do - unless you pan to eat hamburgers and pizza all week


I couldn't agree more!! I have seen so many people turned away because they don't have ADR's.

Just because you make ADR's doesn't mean that you can't go with the flow. I make ADR's for every day of our trip and only plan a couple of days of which park we will be going to. I book lots of ADR's at monorail resorts and at Epcot resorts. That way I have flexibility of which park we will be at.

If you book an ADR and once you get down there you realize that you won't be able to make it just call and cancel. It's much easier to cancel a ressie that you don't need than get turned away from places you want to eat because you don't have an ADR.

Good Luck and have a great trip.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Without ADRs any time at Disney is extremely difficult to impossible to get a table and they don't need to reserve any for walk ups. They've got lots of business without that.

Without ADRs your chances are almost certainly limited to the very first and very last sittings and even that will be hard. ADRs are now a must.

[buzznwoodysmom]

If you are going to want a character meal I would try and make an ADR for that right now. Being that you are visiting in about a month you may have a hard time finding anything available even now.

I completely understand that some people don't like having a schedule and prefer to go with the flow. I hear people say all the time that they don't know what time they want to eat or what they might be in the mood for 6 months ahead of time. However, if you don't have ADRs chances are you still won't be able to get into a restuarant exactly when you are hungry or get to get ADRs for a place that you are in the mood for. For example, you are in Epcot and didn't make ADRs because you didn't know if you would be in the mood for Mexican, Japanesse, or seafood 6 months ahead of time. You also didn't know if you'd be hungry at 5pm or at 8pm. So you decide around 6pm that you are hungry for dinner and are in the mood for seafood and would like to eat at Coral Reef. Well chances are that you are not going to be able to walk in at Coral Reef and be seated within the hour. So you still don't get to eat what your in the mood for or at the time that you would like to eat. I would much rather have the ADRs and be able to have at least one good meal a day instead of being "forced" to eat CS all day, every day for the entire vacation. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with not wanting to have a schedule, its just that without ADRs you become very limited to what will be available, of course unless, you don't mind eating CS all week.

[WishingStar2006]

Some restaurants (Le Cellier, for example) ONLY have ADR's...you cannot ever walk up and get a table...they don't reserve any tables for "walk-up".

I would make ADR's for the "must do's" and go with the flow the rest of the time.

Enjoy!

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I would also say that ADR's are pretty well a must these days. There have been times we've been able to slip in for a TS-lunch without one, but we've also seen tens of people turned right away.

Since you have a young daughter, I think ADR's are even more important, as she won't understand having to wait an hour or more to eat!

I would make a couple of ADR's, and cancel them if you don't want them after all.

[phillydan]

Like the man in the commercial used to say " Don't leave home without them".

We underestimated the need for ADR's on our first trip and ate poorly for the entire week (almost every meal ended up as counter service). We had one ADR around mid-week (for Sci-Fi) and we ate like wolves when the meal arrived!

We are also 'go with the flow' types, but we found that having ADR's has never really been a problem. If you have a true conflict , you may just have to give up the slot and try elsewhere.

Another note - don't be late. We missed our time slot for Prime Time by 5 minutes and ended up waiting almost 1 hour to be seated. However, when we arrived early (once, 30 minutes early) we were seated almost immediately or with little wait. That tip comes in handy, especially if you are in the vicinity of the restaurant and don't want to be criss-crossing the parks while waiting for your time slot. Again, there's another way to add flexibility.

Good luck!

[NJGIRL]

Unfortunately I have to go one further and say at this point you may not even be able to get ADR's at alot of the restaurants since you are less than 30 days out. :( I don't like planning so far in advance either but I made mine at 180 days out and tried to change a few a week later and had a hard time with a couple of them.

[Tinkerbella16]

I am ANTI-Dining Plan (free or not), and just wish that it could go away also!

The "World" was a whole lot easier and better before all this hype, being on the phone at 7am to make ADR's :funny: , planning your entire trip around dining, and limitations to where you can eat because restaurants are so booked up.

Those were the days when you had an option to just walk-up and be seated at any restaurant or make a reservation.

:down:

[JoAnnPan]

Unfortunately, this is the way it is in the Dis world right now. In answer to your question..it is very important to make ADR's if there are certain place you wish to dine at; especially character meals. You can still "go with the flow" but making some ADR's can't hurt..better than not having any at all is my opinion..you can always cancel them. Good luck! :mickey:

[KAT1811]

Since the inception of the dining plan I would say that advanced ressies are the most important pre-planning you can do - unless you pan to eat hamburgers and pizza all week


:ditto: :ditto: :ditto:


Without ADRs your chances are almost certainly limited to the very first and very last sittings and even that will be hard. ADRs are now a must.

Actually many of the early sittings are some of the first to go. With so many people traveling to the World with small children (such as myself) 5:00/5:30 ADRs are getting increasingly harder to come by. Most of the time if there is anything left it is the very late ADRs and even those are going most of the time. I tried to change a few things around for our upcoming trip (all of my initial ADRs were made 180 days out) and was told many times that there was nothing avaliable, no early or late ADRs.


Unfortunately I have to go one further and say at this point you may not even be able to get ADR's at alot of the restaurants since you are less than 30 days out. :(

Again, :ditto: I would call and see what is avaliable, especially for character meals. You are not locked in for life with no way out. If you decide that the ADR you are booked for is not going to work for you simply call WDW Dining from your cell or stop by guest relations and they can cancel it for you and (if you want) see what else is avaliable for your party size wherever you are. Good luck!!!

[Polynesian Dweller]

Actually many of the early sittings are some of the first to go. With so many people traveling to the World with small children (such as myself) 5:00/5:30 ADRs are getting increasingly harder to come by. Most of the time if there is anything left it is the very late ADRs and even those are going most of the time.
Interesting to know! Both early and late were tough a year ago and not surprised its even worse. CMs at that time were saying the places were filling up months in advance. Just goes to show that what we are all saying, you've got to have ADRs is even more important.

[Maleficent's Dad]

ADR's have become an absolute necessity with the extreme popularity of the Dining Plan. We book extras (and cancel what we don't want) just to be "sure" that we'll get into a place.

Want Le Cellier during the F&W Festival? You have a better chance of getting a table for 8 PM this Saturday night at Restaurant Daniel in NYC!!! In other words, it ain't happenin'.

I've come to despise the DDP for this reason alone. Sure we're used to making ressies; but man, when Le Cellier has only 9 PM dinner ressies at 182 days out... well, that's a problem.

[Polynesian Dweller]

I've come to despise the DDP for this reason alone. Sure we're used to making ressies; but man, when Le Cellier has only 9 PM dinner ressies at 182 days out... well, that's a problem.
Absolutely agree. The problem with the DDP is only getting worse. Its almost impossible to have a truly spontaneous vacation now. Disney has a guest relation problem that's growing (people despising the program is more common and there are more comments about the spontaneity issue). They need to start looking at solutions that will be a better compromise between guest experiences and their bottom line.

[KAT1811]

They need to start looking at solutions that will be a better compromise between guest experiences and their bottom line.

Unfortunately since all of the restaurants seem to be full on any given night, even during the "slow" seasons, I don't think this is very high on their to do list. Whether or not we are happy about how their restaurants are full they are full to capacity from open to close which is their goal.

[PittFan]

I keep hearing about people making more than 1 ADR for a specific day and then just cancelling the one they don't won't. Isn't that making it harder for others to even get 1 ADR ? I don't think they should allow people to overbook ressies. I'm quite sure that someone is not having dinner at Le Cellier @ 5:00 and then Tutto Italia @ 5:45. This just means that someone else is not getting an ADR. Just my opinion.

[wdw_bound]

Since 2005 (we were on the DDP - love it, btw), on every trip we have seen more and more people turned away at podiums, especially at character meals and other kid-friendly locations. On our trip last year (2nd week in Dec - one of the lowest crowd weeks), we were unable to get an additional ADR during our trip at GG, CM, CP or LTT - we didn't try to get in as walk-ups, this was at guest services at various times during the trip.

If you know you want a character meal, try your best to get one NOW. For other table service, you can either make ADRs now, or wait til you get to the park and see what's available. The resort restaurants usually have more availability than park restaurants. I would at least call Disney Dining and get some plans in place.

[tcmorano]

Thanks for all the advice. I appreciate all the comments!

I called and as I expected most of the restaurants with character meals were completely booked. I did manage to get Crystal Palace for a late afternoon seating. I made a couple other reservations so at least we can have some options.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Unfortunately since all of the restaurants seem to be full on any given night, even during the "slow" seasons, I don't think this is very high on their to do list. Whether or not we are happy about how their restaurants are full they are full to capacity from open to close which is their goal.

I agree with this, being booked is great for Disney (or any other restaurant) and who can blame them for that. However, I feel like they could still book the world out, while lowing the call ahead down from 180 days to a more reasonable 30 - 60 days or so, especially once the ADR process goes online and could probably stop people from making duplicate ADRs. I am someone who will eat hamburgers and pizza all trip to avoid the whole ADR mess.

[kellyisbusy]

I absolutely hate having to make dinner reservations 6 months in advance. First you have to plan out your entire trip and what day and then if you are not in the right park you have to stop what you are doing, it is all such a pain. this year I made only 3 reservations and then just plan to wing it the rest of the time. We leave in 6 days --woo hoo!

[Mrs Bus Driver]

I agree with all of the other posters that you need ADR's. However I don't think making plans is all bad. I am not talking about planning every detail but if you would like to do EMH morning or evening plan around that. If you prefer to avoid EMH all together plan around that. I planned almost all of my ADR's around evening EMH and/or some kind of show or entertainment. However mornings and afternoons are free to do whatever. Having a plan on where we are going to eat will help elminate the ever famous "Where do you want to eat" "I don't know where do you want to eat" and we know we will get in when we get to the restruant. :mickey: