Am I crazy, I cancelled all of our ADRs for our upcoming trip?

[aml3679]

We are going to Disney World from January 5th until the 12th.

When dining opened 6 months ago, I excitedly made 1 reservation per night.

Recently, when we were going over our plans, my husband said to me "why are we eating at Epcot, when we are not spending the day there?" I agreed and cancelled all of our reservations except Hoop-Dee-Doo-Review. When I made the new reservations, I felt like I was compromising when I looked at the menus. Therefore, I cancelled them and we agreed to play it by ear.

Last time we stayed (2 weeks in early December of 2013) we had the Deluxe Dining Plan and felt like we were running from reservation to reservation. Plus, we could not eat all of the food we had credits for.

It is hard to believe, except for a few places, that you cannot get in without waiting a bit. Maybe I am wrong.

We are hoping to eat at 50's Prime Time.

We agreed, that since we only live 90 minutes away and have Silver Annual Passes, we can eat at Disney Springs any time we want to.

 

[Ambehnke]

Our first trip we had deluxe dining and spent too much time in restaurants. Our second trip we booked five days ahead of time. I was able to snag a PPO Akershus but other than that we are quick service or booked as we were hungry. We were able to get the Plaza and Yak and Yeti with no wait. But those were our only three sit downs for 6 days. I would say if you want to have a sit down meal you can probably find one, pending the time of year. But, if you want a specific meal-like 50s prime time- you should book it. If you are ok with eating quick service instead if you can’t find what you want then play it by ear.

 

[lpereira]

This isnt a "once in a lifetime vacation" for you. Cancel them and see whats up day of. I do this all the time. Only rarely do I book adrs in advance. Like for birthdays, nye at epcot, etc. Otherwise we split qs or ts or sometimes do a character meal. Ive walked up to Tusker House before and finished my online adr as I reached the podium. Its very freeing.

 

[Monykalyn]

It’s been my experience recently that walk ups are “discouraged” that they will give you a long wait time. But go online and book the place and suddenly it’s no problem-literally did this standing in front of a Disney Springs restaurant this summer. DH was finding out wait times while I was making online reservation for that time (he got too impatient to wait for slow WiFi lol). I’ve made lots of day of ADRs for two people day of this past year- including Christmas/New Years week, spring break and beginning and end of summer.

 

[AngiTN]

We are going to Disney World from January 5th until the 12th.

When dining opened 6 months ago, I excitedly made 1 reservation per night.

Recently, when we were going over our plans, my husband said to me "why are we eating at Epcot, when we are not spending the day there?" I agreed and cancelled all of our reservations except Hoop-Dee-Doo-Review. When I made the new reservations, I felt like I was compromising when I looked at the menus. Therefore, I cancelled them and we agreed to play it by ear.

Last time we stayed (2 weeks in early December of 2013) we had the Deluxe Dining Plan and felt like we were running from reservation to reservation. Plus, we could not eat all of the food we had credits for.

It is hard to believe, except for a few places, that you cannot get in without waiting a bit. Maybe I am wrong.

We are hoping to eat at 50's Prime Time.

We agreed, that since we only live 90 minutes away and have Silver Annual Passes, we can eat at Disney Springs any time we want to.

Yes, about the bold you are wrong. They won't regularly accept walk ups. Some of the non-Disney owned locations will, but you'll need to research to figure out what all they are. Mexico, China, Japan, are some I'm recalling off the top of my head.
However, we never make ADR earlier than 24 hours out. And we never eat without an ADR. We find WDW QS sorely lacking so we don't eat it (except for the QS in Pandora).
We open the app and book what is available for that day, usually about an hour before we want to dine.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

I also believed that they don't accept walk-ups, but last week, I was surprised when I walked up to WCC and asked what time they opened for dinner. I told the hostess that I wanted to know for future trips. She told me 5 p.m. (it was 4:45 at the time), but no need to wait for a future trip, she could take me then. I explained that I had to catch the DME bus for a flight. After asking what time, she said no problem. By the time I went to find my DH and discuss it with him, it was 5:00 and they took us right in. We were in and out with plenty of time for the bus. I never made an ADR for it. Again, I was very surprised by this. I don't think this happens usually. But back to the OP, we had ADRs, but we changed them constantly on this trip and had no problem. We have decided on our future trips, we will go with none (unless there is one we just have to have) and we will check the night before what's available and decide then. It is very freeing.

 

[nycdisneygal]

You can make last minute ADRs at goodplaces based one where you are so I say thats fine! Just enjoy.
We also used to to deluxe dining and felt so tied town. We do fewer now and I like it. And honestly, I dont love the places as much now. A few must dos but other than that....

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I think it’s fun to just wing it.
We only book a few ADRs per trip now (typically just character stuff) and then wing the rest.

We have gotten great ADRs last minute, even with a large group. I don’t like feeling pressured to get to a meal and with toddlers, I like to play it by ear based on how everyone is doing.

I will say that we never try to walk up. We just check the app to see what’s available.

Have fun!

 

[smcabee]

Not crazy at all. We usually just book one or two places and then just see whats available on the app in the morning every other day. Havent been disappointed yet. Unless you must have a certain reservation just go with the flow.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I am a type A super planner, but on a girls trip a few years ago we only made a reservation for CRT and winged the rest. We made reservations for dinners at The Grand Floridian Cafe and Kona Cafe about an hour out.

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

I just got home last night from our trip and my DD and I felt like all we did was run to a reservation and we decided that unless it was something that was a must do we are not making reservations in advance again. We will either take our chances and book something the day of (or hour of) or do QS.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I've seen every single restaurant have prime spot openings the night before - things start popping up as people reach that cancellation period.

V&A's, CA Grill during fireworks, 'Ohana, BOG dinner - all have shown up. Make reservations for the not-to-be-missed and wing the rest. YES even Disney spots take walk-ups (esp at hotels) or you can snag a reservation minutes ahead of time.

You won't go hungry and it's so much more relaxed!

(we are also silver & semi-local like you!)

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I think your reasoning is a bit off.
So just because your DH wondered about one ADR you cancelled most of them?
I agree the DxDP is entirely too much and wasteful if you're not going to want to do 3 TS meals per day.
Do you have a dining plan this time or is it just OOP?
You are going to find it difficult to walk up to most TS locations that are in the parks anyways.
My opinion is that yeah you're crazy for just up and dropping everything.
I would have not dropped things that were important to you.
If you want to eat at 50'sPT then why wouldn't have an ADR for it???

 

[disneyseniors]

OP, I tried for BOG lunch for all the days I could book it before our trip Dec 10th to the 19th. Nothing was ever open. Then while at WDW, I checked the day before and got the time I wanted all along. Don't know if this works all the time, but I was surprised.
We only booked 3 ts restaurants for our 10 day trip and did QS all the other times. We quit the DP 2 years ago and never looked back. It was way too much food for us and tied us down too much. We love going OOP now.
I say don't stress it. As other posters have said, you can usually get what you want if you check 24 hours out or so it seems. Otherwise, there are great QS places to eat. We are not foodies and realize that WDW is not a gourmet place. We like good food but are not picky. Go for it!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I think it is fine, there are plenty of places to dine at the day of, I wouldn’t worry!

 

[AngiTN]

I also believed that they don't accept walk-ups, but last week, I was surprised when I walked up to WCC and asked what time they opened for dinner. I told the hostess that I wanted to know for future trips. She told me 5 p.m. (it was 4:45 at the time), but no need to wait for a future trip, she could take me then. I explained that I had to catch the DME bus for a flight. After asking what time, she said no problem. By the time I went to find my DH and discuss it with him, it was 5:00 and they took us right in. We were in and out with plenty of time for the bus. I never made an ADR for it. Again, I was very surprised by this. I don't think this happens usually. But back to the OP, we had ADRs, but we changed them constantly on this trip and had no problem. We have decided on our future trips, we will go with none (unless there is one we just have to have) and we will check the night before what's available and decide then. It is very freeing.

Pretty much any restaurant on property CAN take walk ups, always have been able to. Problem is, you can't know if they WILL. You can waste a whole lot of time trekking to a restaurant only to be turned away. When you can open the app, check for an ADR and book it, and know for sure you won't be turned away. I've never seen a case where the app said no ADR and a restaurant accepted a walk up, but there's lots of cases the other way around. So it's always a good option to book the ADR. Now, if like you, you just happened to be there and just happen to check, great. It's just good to remember, use the ADR, even if the only "advanced" part of the ADR is 5 min.

 

[bumbershoot]

There is a massive difference between deluxe dining vs having an adr each day.

There is a difference between wondering why you’re eating at Epcot on a day you won’t otherwise be there and canceling it all.

It is hard to believe, except for a few places, that you cannot get in without waiting a bit. Maybe I am wrong.

You might well find something.

Wouldn’t be my choice, though!

Pretty much any restaurant on property CAN take walk ups, always have been able to. Problem is, you can't know if they WILL. You can waste a whole lot of time trekking to a restaurant only to be turned away

Agreed.


I like making adrs that work well with the schedule and have foods we like. Gives me something to look forward to.

I’ve never done more than one sit down meal a day at Wdw, and that works out very well. I’ve never felt like I was just trekking to get food.

 

[sahu]

I would definitely make the reservation for 50sPT if that's important to you, but you should be fine making reservations on the fly if you're not picky about where you eat.

 

[Sparkly]

We felt the same way about the DDP last trip, looking forward to just having the QS plan and eating when we want next time

I actually like the QS places as much if not more then the TS ones! Shock horror.

 

[js]

Wow! I thought you were crazy but reading all these replies, I just went onto MDE and looked for dinner for tonight, Christmas Eve, and was very surprised at what was available and restaurants that I would book.

We go 1-2 a year and always book a dinner ADR but I wont stress so much about it maybe for September.

We will be at Disney same time as you, January 4-12, and three adult women and booked ADR for dinners. Our only musts were Wine Bar George, California Grill and Boathouse, two of which are bookable on OpenTable. We dont soend all day in a park, but usually go back to Epcot for dinner.

See you on Main Street!