Has the need for ADRs changed your WDW style?

[disneynarula]

Has the need to make ADRs changed the way you do disney? I am not trying to complain but I am just curios if it was just me or if someone else had to change the entire way they do their trip?

I used to be a day by day ADR person. I realized that sometimes I would not be able to get in when I wanted but for most places you could just call in the morning or walk in.

I was never a big planner but now I feel like I am planning my days around my ADR's. It seems as if my plans are set in stone now because there isn't a table to be had anywhere I change my mind.

[MMouse6937]

I feel that way somewhat. Before the dining plan we used to just make ADRs the day of if there was someplace we thought we might like to eat. Most of the time though we went off property once we were done at the parks for $$ sake. Now with the dining plan, I do make things a little more structured, but when we did this the last time it really worked out very well. My DH thought we were too planned but I think in the long run it made the days go smoothly and we got to see and do everything we wanted to. :mickey:

[Polynesian Dweller]

Quite a bit actually. I think our vacations are less spontaneous now. We used to just wake up in the morning and depending on the weather and how we felt decide what we were going to do.

Now, with ADRs necessary, we have to check 6 months in advance when the later hours are in parks to make sure an ADR doesn't mean we miss time in MK or Epcot. Then, you have to plan where you are going to be so you can get to your ADR.

The need for extra planning does take away some of the fun.

[LoriMistress]

I plan my days first. Then I plan my ADRs. I want to make sure I get into the restaurants I want without an issue.

[LibertyTreeGal]

I am a planner, so I would make ADR's anyway :) I hate trying to figure things out at the last minute!

[disneynarula]

My problem was that I neglected to look at the park hours when I made my ADRs. I should have made my plans and then scheduled my ADR's accordingly. Now I am trying to schedule our day around ADR's and it doesn't always fit with EMH. I did manage to change a few things by changing to TS lunches at really early hours.

I did not realize that everything would be full. Is it because of free dining? Or is it always like that?

[GreenBeetle]

I'm a big planner too. I don't like to leave anything to chance on vacation. So figuring things out way in advance hasn't changed at all for me.

[LauraF]

I've always been a planner (and in a family full of picky eaters), so I've always made ADRs as soon as I could.

[tink'72]

I am a HUGE planner.:cloud9:I love it!! I feel that planning our trip is half the fun. As soon as I got back in April I started planning our June 2008 trip.

I first look at the time of the year we are going. I then look at the attendance history for that time of the year for each day. I then pick the parks I want to attend and on what days. I look up the park hours and plan my ADRs from there.

I find this works for us, some say it's a little too planned. The one year I said we were going to be "spontaneous" we seemed to get nothing done and couldn't get into a bunch of the places we enjoy to visit. :(

So from now on I plan!:mickey:

[Lizzie]

This is my first trip on the Dinning plan. I am looking forward to all the meals. But I am only used to having one or two adrs and only have sit down meals for those. I am a little nervous to how its going to go having so many.

[SBETigg]

Actually, it hasn't affected me much at all. We always did table service meals, and I've always planned way in advance. I like having my schedule set early. But it was nice to be able to change ADRs easily if plans changed. Now we're just a little more married to the schedule. Not a big deal.

[Nicki'sMom]

I enjoy the planning process and when we get to Orlando all we have to do is look at our Disney calender that I have made and it tells us what park we will be in that day and has all of our reservation numbers right there. I have to say this works wonderful when you are travelling with small kids. We do as much character dining as we can fit in. When my daughter is older we probably will only make ADRs for a couple dinners and breakfasts and eat at counter service the rest of the time.

[disneynarula]

I think that planning ahead is going to be of help to me this year. I made a list of all the attractions we want to see and made a spredsheet schedule to make sure that we won't miss a thing.

[Tinkerfreak]

Quite a bit actually. I think our vacations are less spontaneous now. We used to just wake up in the morning and depending on the weather and how we felt decide what we were going to do.

Now, with ADRs necessary, we have to check 6 months in advance when the later hours are in parks to make sure an ADR doesn't mean we miss time in MK or Epcot. Then, you have to plan where you are going to be so you can get to your ADR.

The need for extra planning does take away some of the fun.


We feel the same way. I don't mind planning but it seems like there is no wiggle room anymore. We used to just make a few adr's for the more popular places and make the rest when we decided what park we wanted to go to. We used to get up and ask the kids what park they wanted to go to that day. Now we have to explain to them that we have to go to MK because we have adr's at CP even though they want to go to Epcot or AK today. We had tossed around the idea of not doing the dining plan in the future and eating more cs to free us up a bit more and with the new changes to the plan it is just pushing us more in that direction.

[KylesMom]

Actually, it hasn't affected me much at all. We always did table service meals, and I've always planned way in advance. I like having my schedule set early.

We feel the same way as Sherri. We usually go to Disney during summer months, and we've never been able to just walk up to our favorite TS restaurants - not even during the slow times seen by Disney in the years following 9-1-1. PS' have always been necessary for us, but except for CRT you did feel you had some leeway if you wanted to 'change your mind' 60 days before your vacation. With the dining plan in existence, that has made making changes closer to your vacation hard, if not impossible.

Is figuring out what you're going to do six months in advance versus 3 months more difficult? Yes, but at least Disney is now releasing park hours to coincide with the 180-day ADR opportunity. :mickey:

[MsMin]

I love the ADR's. I make my schedule knowing we like to go to MK or EPCOT first. Since we go in winter and the parks often close early we often shift to EPCOT for the evening anyway. I've put an ADR @ a resort that can give us flexibility for the evening, etc.
I'm from the old days --- when EPCOT opened and you had to run to the base of Spaceship Earth the morning of to make your ressie then hope to get something you wanted. Too much left to chance for me and limited flexibility-- I feel better knowing I have the ADR.

[septembergirl]

This trip I have planned around EMH, then ADR's leaving some flexibility for either the evening or afternoon block. So, if we have a morning EMH, and a lunch ADR, then we are free that evening to be spontaneous. If we have dinner ADR and evening EMH, then we take it easy that morning/early afternoon and do DTD or hang at the resort.