Do you ever go without ADR?

[WDWFanatic]

We are leaving in 2 weeks and haven't made and ADR's :blush: since it's a last minute trip.

Have any of you gone without ADR's and still been able to walk up and get in?

We are winging this trip and don't want to have to plan every day down to the minute.

Do they save any reservations for walk ups?

Thanks!

[AvaNellMouse]

I don't make ADR's. This being said, I always go in the "off season" - we leave in 10 days!!!
If you are willing to eat at the counter at Flying Fish or Jiko, eat at Saana, or eat at off times elsewhere, you should be fine - IMHO.
Have a great trip!

[gardenia]

No, they do not save any reservations for walk ups. You can go without ADRs if you don't mind some disappointment. You will be turned away from some places and may be asked to wait a long time at others. We went to Rose & Crown last week and heard a walk-up being told "1 hour wait". We had an ADR there and waited 5 minutes. If you want a clue as to how busy your favorite places will be, go online and try to make a few ADRs. If you can't get any, you won't have much luck as a walk-up either.

[brivers222]

During our last trip we regularly heard them turning away people at our locations while waiting for our ADR.

Some places were:

Crystal Palace (L)
Ohana (B)
Chef De France (D)
50s PT (L)

trip was 10/9 - 10/18

with that said, i would never go without some sort of ADR... if you can't make it you can't make it... i always have a cell phone on me so i just make a quick call to dining to let them know.

For my Dec 2011... i have the entire 10days of ADRs waiting to made when my 180 window opens 6/10/11

[Disney Hungarian]

I never did the ADR thing either. Had no trouble all the way to 2006. I take a few years break from Disney. Plan a trip on Monday leave for Disney the following Sunday. 10/4-8 2010. Well that cured me. Things have changed. My next trip is this Dec. and I have 2 ADRs booked per day. I decided to make extra in case I changed my mind about what food I wanted to eat when I got there. It is much easier to cancel an ADR than it is to make an ADR.:mickey:

[magicofdisney]

If I were on the DDP, I would not risk traveling without ADRs. On the other hand, without the DDP, you have so much more flexibility and swinging it could work wonderfully.

[brivers222]

I never did the ADR thing either. Had no trouble all the way to 2006. I take a few years break from Disney. Plan a trip on Monday leave for Disney the following Sunday. 10/4-8 2010. Well that cured me. Things have changed. My next trip is this Dec. and I have 2 ADRs booked per day. I decided to make extra in case I changed my mind about what food I wanted to eat when I got there. It is much easier to cancel an ADR than it is to make an ADR.:mickey:

I did that in 2004... i went beginning of May and didn't make ANY adrs, just put on an excel sheet places and times i would like to go... well after the first day there I found that we were getting turned away at the door... so in panic i went back to the room and booked all the adrs for the rest of the trip (the ones i could get on almost no days notice). Called my parents who were going in july and told them to get book stat!

From that point on, i wouldn't dream of doing it as i would around my own home town.

Disney dining plan and FREE dining really screwed up with the no adrs mentality. More and more people are eating onsite then ever it feels like.

[Eponine]

I'm going Nov 12 -- 20 and have all my ADR's done (did them at the 180 mark). Then a friend is going to overlap our vacation and I changed some back in August and have a lot of difficulty!!

Now I'm looking at my week and there's really nothing available at the good sit down places. I don't need to change....just looking. That is thanks to the ANNOYING free dining program :mad: (I'm not on that by the way. I pay OOP).

I wish they never had the free dining because it makes it impossible for those who book last minute. I always book at least 1 year out (have to plan for time off, flights, etc) but for those who decide at the last minute, it's difficult because the majority of the sit down places are booked.

I would make as many as you can just so you don't waste time going from one place to another or end up at counter serivce all the time.

Good luck!!!

[BraddyB]

I would have ADR's but if you go to the restaraunts before noon, you can snag a stray ADR. I was there 10/11-10/18 and actually switched a couple dinners while in the park. Walked up to Teppan Edo asked before noon if they had anything and they had a 5:40 ADR (for 4 people). On a Sunday walked up to Tutto Italia and was able to get right in around 5pm (for 2 people). Good luck and hopefully you can snag something.

[faline]

We took a last-minute long weekend a few years ago and did not make any ADR's. We were able to walk up to Liberty Tree Tavern and Le Cellier. For both locations, we arrived right as they opened and we were prepared to be turned away. We were quickly seated in both locations. We've also gone to Guest Relations and just asked what restaurant(s) had availability and selected from there.

[AvaNellMouse]

We've also gone to Guest Relations and just asked what restaurant(s) had availability and selected from there.

Yes. Yes. Yes.
I have done this and it is a great way to find out what is available without going to each restaurant. I guess my post should have said, I don't make ADR's before I leave home, then!

Happy dining everyone!

[EeyoresBestFriend]

We just returned from 10 glorious days in our second home 4 days ago.

We did not have ONE SINGLE RESERVATION for the entire time. It was wonderful to be so NOT tied down to ressie times. There are two of us only, but we were not turned away once and the longest wait we had was 5 mins. Most of our dinner times were before 6pm and lunches from noon ish to 2pm depending on how late we got up. :secret:

Some spots we ate at included Boma, 50's Diner (2X), TeppanEdo ( the 5 min wait), San Angel, Morrocco, and Boatwrights. Just for fun, we tried a drop-in at LeCellier for dinner (around 4:45pm) and were told it would be a 10 minute wait. As I just wanted to see if it was possible to get in as a drop in ~ which apparently it is ~ it isn't one of our favourites, since we live in Canada, so we did not take them up on it.

You always have to be prepared to be turned away, but we never had ANY problems on our trip at all. And yes, we have done this before this trip, too.

Good Luck!

[BrerGnat]

We did it over spring break (week before Easter). We HAD made ADRs, but since we came from the west coast, we quickly realized that our kids (and us) were NOT adjusting to the time change as expected, so we weren't hungry at the times we made the ADRs for (typical lunch and dinner times). We cancelled them all, but did 4 walk ups, usually right around 5pm, and had no issues.

I'm never making an ADR again...I hate the whole process.

[angua85]

I havent done the well-in-advanced booked ADR. I prefer walking up to the concierge desk each day and asking what's available in the park we feel like touring that day.

Very relaxing :) We have gotten spots at Ohana during the fireworks and Les Chefs de France. I've also tried places I would not have ordinarily picked and had great fun.

[nfrustaci]

I'm going Nov 12 -- 20 and have all my ADR's done (did them at the 180 mark). Then a friend is going to overlap our vacation and I changed some back in August and have a lot of difficulty!!

Now I'm looking at my week and there's really nothing available at the good sit down places. I don't need to change....just looking. That is thanks to the ANNOYING free dining program :mad: (I'm not on that by the way. I pay OOP).

I wish they never had the free dining because it makes it impossible for those who book last minute. I always book at least 1 year out (have to plan for time off, flights, etc) but for those who decide at the last minute, it's difficult because the majority of the sit down places are booked.

I would make as many as you can just so you don't waste time going from one place to another or end up at counter serivce all the time.

Good luck!!!

I FOR ONE AM THANKFUL FOR THE FREE DINING PLAN. AND GOOD FOR U IF YOU HAVE THE MEANS TO PAY FOR THE DINING PLAN, HOWEVER MOST OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE HAVING FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY AND THE FREE DINING PLAN ALLOWS HARD WORKING AMERICANS THE OPORTUNITY TO GIVE THEIR FAMILIES AN AFFORDABLE VACATION THAT THEY OTHERWISE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO.

before my husband and i had a child we would go to disney without the dining plan and wing it. it was not a big deal we would go anywhere and get seated in minutes. we did try it one year with friends we were a party of 4 then and had a hard time and then made reservations for the rest of the trip. you wouldn't have a problem if u were going to eat at any of the resorts. next month we will be going for 7 days and made our reservations at the 180 day mark. we are trying something new this year. we will be having most of our meals outside of the park. we wanted to visit the other hotels since they will be decorated for the holidays. we are also traveling as a party of 8 so it was easier to get the reservations at the hotels for the times we wanted. we have a 2 year old and we are restricted to times of meals. so with that said i would def make reservations if you are a party of 3 or more.

[badkitty]

I don't disagree that the DDP is a great program for some people but it also doesn't work for everyone. With free DDP, a person is still paying rack rate for the room. I have actually found better discounts with % off room packages. I find the DDP too much food and too restricting so I pay OOP. I don't need all that food and we usually share meals when we go. I am disappointed that the program has made walk-ups very difficult during free dining.

I don't make advance ADRs unless if is for the dinner shows. I have made reservations at Guest Relations first thing in the morning of my park choice of the day. Choices are usually very limited but I have always found something.

If there is a favorite place you must eat at, I would definitely make ADRs right away.

[Gator]

Once and only once - that would be my first trip when I didn't know any better. Now, I wouldn't go there without having ADRs planned in advance.

[SteveO]

My upcoming December trip will be my first with an ADR and the only reason I made it was for seating at the Candlelight Processional. I think I've lucked out getting tables at the last minute. That being said, I am often saddened that it is so dog-gone difficult to be spur of the moment with dining at WDW. I just can't see having to plan that far in advance and you don't even know what you will be "hungry for" then the time comes. I think that's why I eat so many burgers and fries at the world.

[brivers222]

Once and only once - that would be my first trip when I didn't know any better. Now, I wouldn't go there without having ADRs planned in advance.

thats how i was....first time planning no idea of the extent of planning needed... ignorance i my part i guess to think it would be easy to plan a vacation lol

[goofygirl67]

I have only done the DDP once and will not do it again. It was too much food and by paying OOP I can save a whole lot more. I don't need a sit down for every meal and that will save me $$$. I will do an occasional walk up, but not often. The only reason I booked an ADR in December is for the candlelight.

[kemps@wdw]

We found that walk-ins are available @ most dining spots, except maybe for dinner shows (and LeCelliers). The only real ressie we made this time was @ the Hoop-Dee-Doo and Rose & Crown. Everything else was done after we arrived. But we go in Oct. so, crowds are normally not that bad.

[PETE FROM NYC]

DW and I just did a trip for 9 nites in mid-September. I waited too long before trying to make ADRs and got few made. I wasn't worried because we were paying OOP. We did manage to get ADRs for LTT, Plaza, Germany, and Sci-Fi. We were turned away from several walk in attempts, but did walk in to 50sPT and Garden Grill.

[crltkcagle]

This OCD girl has never attempted no ADR's! LOL But I know that you can try and get reservations while in Disney but it can be very hard. Good Luck!

[grumpypima]

We’ve done both: ADRs all day/every day and completely unplanned…for us it works best with a combination of both. I agree with what other posts have already said: check online (now) to gauge what is available and (then) reserve online as needed; and/or go the Guest Relations at your resort or park for same day availability.

Have a great time!!!

[kurt]

i don't use ADR but i'm traveling by myself & generally don't have trouble getting a place for 1.:goofy:

[TexansInNY]

Nope - and I always see folks at 5PM getting bitter because they have to wait until 8.

[cannotbelieveweowndvc]

I have a couple times. Once at Nine Dragons we were seated right away and numerous times to Trails End. But that was if we were over at the World for the day. Staying on site I would make sure I booked where I wanted to eat.