A Trip Without Dining Reservations

[pkrieger2287]

Hey Everyone - Was wondering if anyone has ever done a trip without setting up ADR's and had fun trying restaurants that were available to walk-up or book last minute?

My wife and I have done a lot of the crazy reservation planning in the past and are just thinking of winging it for our next trip.

If you have... What was your biggest surprise either availability wise or a restaurant that was better than expected?

Thanks!

 

[Anthony1971]

we never make ADR's never had an issue either... but we will make ADR's the same day for some places. If you are going during FD or PEAK season--as in Christmas day you better make ADR's other times of the year including all summer months we never had an issue. Note is we do not eat at the more popular places like Ohana nor do we want to... I will also note we go a lot the end of August which is FD and still had no issues always got what we wanted a few hours before.

 

[RealBlast3]

I have sometimes thrown out all my dining ressies near the ends of my trips, and just decided to wing it. By winging it, I of course mean I just made new reservations day of or night before, of course. There was tons of availability for many, many wonderful restaurants basically everywhere. So, a trip like this is totally doable.

Walk-up, however, really isn't recommended anymore simply because, as per what I have learned from this site, most sit-downs, for awhile now, have supposedly been told to turn down walk-up requests, even if there is available seating, and tell those dining patrons that they have to make a dining reservation. People on here have told me that they have literally walked out the door, got on their phones, made the reservations that way, and then walked back in and were seated!

So, just keep that in mind.

 

[Dawn68PA]

My DH and I never make reservations. There are so many wonderful places, we always have plenty of options. Especially since we enjoy sitting at the bar. We have great service, talk to new people, and usually learn something new about the world!

That being said, if there is somewhere we definitely want to do, like a character meal, we will make a ressie for that.

 

[Oneanne]

For a seven day trip I'll only make a couple ADRs, for places I really want to eat at. The rest is either CS, or I check and see what's available day of, and as you've mentioned have tried some new things doing it this way.

As for surprises I guess the one that comes to mind is being at DHS and thinking I wanted to head over to EPCOT for lunch and finding Le Cellar available. I only wanted something light and the menu said they had a Caprese, which is a favorite, but when I got there is wasn't being offered. I had a Beet salad instead, something I normally wouldn't chose, but it was lovely.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We only make a couple ADRs in advance of our trip and anything else is decided during the trip based on how we’re feeling. QS and often last minute TS.

Even with a group of 8-12 we have gotten last minute ADRs at very popular restaurants.

I never walk up, I always just check what’s available on the app.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We make very few ADR's for our trips. On our last trip, I think we had one. We don't really care where we eat and if we have to eat QS we will, but we've had some great surprises on many trips with lots of same-day availability at many great places. BOG, Garden Grill, Flying Fish, Monsieur Paul, Spice Road Table, Biergarten, etc. Especially in EP, there is always something available. We typically wait until we know where we want to be and what time we will be there and then I go on the app and see what's available. We've never gone hungry! Our best meal on our last trip (Flying Fish), was a very last minute ADR. I think the fun part of it is it has made us try some new places and has kept our trips less stressful and more spontaneous. Some of our best experiences at WDW have been things we haven't planned.

 

[Kimberle]

Hey Everyone - Was wondering if anyone has ever done a trip without setting up ADR's and had fun trying restaurants that were available to walk-up or book last minute?

My wife and I have done a lot of the crazy reservation planning in the past and are just thinking of winging it for our next trip.

If you have... What was your biggest surprise either availability wise or a restaurant that was better than expected?

Thanks!

I went the 3rd week of Dec, last year. I had ADR's. But, I was also able to make last minute ADR's at several restaurant. You probably won't have much luck with the "popular" ones, but for the more "low key" ones, you should find availability. Instead of walking up, I just used the WDW app to make the ADR shortly before I wanted to eat.

 

[TeresaWen]

The only time I make an adr is if for some reason I must have one particular restaurant on a specific day at a certain time. And then sometimes I end up canceling these the day before

Example - I really wanted to try bog. I thought I had THE perfect day and time. Then the day before I changed my mind. Was able to grab a same day adr and canceled the one I thought was perfect.

 

[ShannonMB]

I've only decided on table service last minute a couple of times, but they are some of my favorite meal memories! Last trip DD and I decided at the last minute to try the Wave for breakfast and it was out of this world! A nice change of pace from the extremely hectic, chaotic scene at, say, Crystal Palace (which we also love). I've tried to leave lots more room than usual for those type of experiences on our next trip, but the planner in me still has some ADRs.

 

[keahgirl8]

I rarely make ADR's. If there is a place I really really want to go, I will make maybe 1-2 per trip. Sometimes, I don't make any. I really don't like to have much of a schedule on vacation.

 

[DisBuckMan]

We will be there in 25 days, and have zero ADR's.

We haven't made pre-trip ADR's in about 3 years now. We now make day before or day of ADR's. Have no problems getting in where we want to eat. Really takes the stress and "schedule" out of vacation...which we love.

 

[holden]

We make less reservations than we used to. Now that the kids are older, we don’t want to me committed to getting to a dinner on time if we are having fun at the parks, pool, etc. When they were younger it was more important to maintain their routine. Not so much now.

If we have a week trip we might book 2 dinners and 2 lunches but that’s about it. The rest we might do on the fly with the app.

 

[beccasmom]

It kind of depends on the timing, but we mostly wing it and have been pretty successful. We just don’t get our hearts set on a certain place. If our hearts are set, to avoid disappointment, we make the ADR. But we value being somewhat spontaneous on vacation and don’t mind “settling” for counter service, some of which are some of our favorites like Columbia Harbour House.

 

[kastoney]

Another no ADR fan here. You can check out my trip reports to give you an idea of how much you can book last minute, but the reality is as long as your are flexible on time and restaurant the options are pretty endless. We went into our last trip with only 1 ADR (California Grill for my birthday) and managed to get just about everything we would have wanted and also got to try some new to us places that we wouldn't have otherwise. We do still book ADR's but do so day of based upon what our stomachs want then not 6 months ahead of time.

Bottomline go for it. Just be flexible and open to new experiences and you won't be captive to Disney planning.

 

[princessmocha]

We were there during Spring Break (the week before Easter) and we made a couple ADRs, but we did lots of on the fly decisions and had no problems finding a place to eat at a table service. It was kind of freeing to not be completely tied down to our dining reservations for the whole trip. Our upcoming trip I have made all of our ADRs but mostly because we had very specific places we wanted to try this time and to make sure we got them I made them. It is very doable and fun to see what you can get when you are there.

 

[pkrieger2287]

I have sometimes thrown out all my dining ressies near the ends of my trips, and just decided to wing it. By winging it, I of course mean I just made new reservations day of or night before, of course. There was tons of availability for many, many wonderful restaurants basically everywhere. So, a trip like this is totally doable.

Walk-up, however, really isn't recommended anymore simply because, as per what I have learned from this site, most sit-downs, for awhile now, have supposedly been told to turn down walk-up requests, even if there is available seating, and tell those dining patrons that they have to make a dining reservation. People on here have told me that they have literally walked out the door, got on their phones, made the reservations that way, and then walked back in and were seated!

So, just keep that in mind.

Wow... My mind is blown.

 

[pkrieger2287]

My DH and I never make reservations. There are so many wonderful places, we always have plenty of options. Especially since we enjoy sitting at the bar. We have great service, talk to new people, and usually learn something new about the world!

That being said, if there is somewhere we definitely want to do, like a character meal, we will make a ressie for that.

We ate at Homecomin' our last two trips... once at the bar and once at a table with a reservation. I actually preferred the bar more due to being able to talk to other guests.

 

[pkrieger2287]

We will be there in 25 days, and have zero ADR's.

We haven't made pre-trip ADR's in about 3 years now. We now make day before or day of ADR's. Have no problems getting in where we want to eat. Really takes the stress and "schedule" out of vacation...which we love.

You nailed it with the last sentence... 100% agree!