Room for spontaneity or ADR everything?

[Frequent Flyer]

As much as I like planning, I don't want to drive my family nuts hurrying across every park to get to reservations.

I definitely plan to ADR our "must-do" list (Cinderella's Royal Table, Be Our Guest, Mickey's Backyard BBQ) but can we play any of the rest by ear?

•Sci Fi Dine-In
•Garden Grill
•Tusker House

 

[Frequent Flyer]

Oh, and breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Man, is that too much Character Dining? Lol

 

[MarBee]

When are you going? Depending on when we are going and the crowds, I make more ADRs than other times...

 

[Frequent Flyer]

When are you going? Depending on when we are going and the crowds, I make more ADRs than other times...

January 19-26, 2019

 

[MarBee]

MLK weekend will be crowded then crowds taper off.
We went during a crowded time before and couldn’t even eat at a quick service without waiting 45 mins to get food and a table. Therefore, whenever it’s crowded, I go gung ho on the ADRs. At slower times, I’ll play it more by ear.

As far as character meals, I never say you’re overbooking. Our kids love characters, but they don’t like long restful meals. The characters help DH and I be able to enjoy our food, have a conversation, and relax a bit because the characters (or the anticipation of them coming) keeps our little ones occupied. We love character meals!

 

[hereforthechurros]

Just walking in somewhere that takes Reservations seems unlikely. Even if the place is empty they want to see an ADR. However many have reported being able to seek out ADRs day of without issue so you may be able to risk it. Tusker House is always busy usually with a wait even for this with Reservations so I would reserve that one. Also with TSL opening SciFi is currently one of the hardest Reservations to get on property. Took us 6 weeks to get one by using TouringPlans. I can’t comment on garden Grill or Chef Mickey’s.

 

[NYCgrrl]

So far I've always booked for busy times: Independence Day, T-Day, and the December-January holidays.
ADRs are a necessity for our main meal of the day, dinner, but it's more catch as catch can for lunch. They are unheard for breakfast unless we have a brunch ADR.
After our first trip I realised the importance of keeping ADR and FP locales nearby so the mad dashes across the parks become less necessary.

 

[Kevlar10]

PPO breakfasts are usually hard to get. I would book them if you are considering it and cancel if you change your mind. We usually do rope drop and book a character breakfast later. Tucker house and Garden Grill can be popular so they may be difficult to get. Sci-Fi for dinner is an easier one to get, so you may be able to pick that up later.
Chef Mickey’s seems very popular too but we didn’t like how chaotic it seemed and the food was average or below. It’s also a hard to get reservation, depending on the time you want. Fireworks viewing times are hard to get.

 

[Mome Rath]

Some places won't take walk ups at all. Even if they have room they simply won't seat you (Kona was one of those). If you then go on MDE and make an ADR, you can get right in. So, even if winging it, I'd suggest checking for an ADR as soon as you know where you want to go and when. Via Napoli is one restaurant that let us do walk-up, I don't know now how many more would let you, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[kastoney]

If you are flexible on when and where you eat (and are ok with counter service if something doesn't pan out), then you can most definitely be flexible. This is our preferred method of touring as we tend to be more spontaneous and not very structured. We do make some ADR's for must do restaurants (like California Grill at fireworks time) but otherwise we go where our bellies and open reservations lead us.

For our trip in August, we currently have exactly 2 reservations made. Day of reservations are much easier to come by then people imagine. Rather than just walking up, use the app to find open reservations an hour or two before you think you want to eat. I'd suggest playing around on the website to see what is available on any given day to give you an idea of what could be open. Below are some examples that we get last minute regularly.

MK - Liberty Tree, Skippers Canteen (we've even gotten BOG lunch a few times)
MGM - 50's or Hollywood Brown Derby
Epcot - Via Napoli, Tokyo Dining, Rose & Crown, San Angel
AK - Tiffins, Yak N Yeti (the Landry's card also works great here), Tusker House
Resorts - Jiko, Artist Point, Whispering Canyon, Narcoossee's, Kona, Grand Floridian Cafe, Flying Fish
Springs - Ragland Road, Morimotos, Boathouse (note for Ragland and Boathouse you can also make Open Table reservations and there is no penalty if you cancel day of)

Specific to the ones you mentioned, we've done day of at Tusker though SciFi can be a little harder to get but we have gotten day of availability (start checking the night before if you don't have an ADR). We haven't done Garden Grill, but I see availability often.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) For an important meal or eatery, we make an ADR.
2) For almost everything else, we just walk-in.
3) We have yet to be overly disappointed without an ADR.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

There have been a lot of recent reports that Sci-Fi has become one of the harder to get ADRs, so I’d try to look for one if it’s a must-do or even a really want to do. Otherwise, I think if you’re not picky you can look in the app day before/day of and you’ll have plenty of options from which to choose. At that time, I would make the ADR vs. trying to walk up. Some places are so dependent on “the system” that they’ll say they aren’t taking walk-ups when you can log into the app and secure a reservation for 5 min later! The Disney Springs spots are all pretty good about taking walk-ups.

 

[OKW Lover]

is that too much Character Dining?

For us it would be way too much Character Dining. Of course you have to think about your travel party...

 

[gharter]

We do a blend of both. For our TS meals , we do ADRs so we can eat where we know we want to and at the time we choose.
Obviously, the QS places are just walk up. For our evening meal, if we don't have a preference, then we will see what we can do walk up.
If we are there during a busy time, then more likely we will book more ADRs.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

Agree with the advice that if you're not doing ADRs, you need to be flexible. Last summer my daughter and I had a trip without many ADRs (we had a few) but had mostly kept our evenings open. A few afternoons we decided we wanted to go somewhere for dinner. We got on the app and took a look at what was open in the time range we wanted to eat. It worked out well. It was fun being spontaneous like that as opposed to other trips where we've done nothing but a week of ADRs.

 

[hawaiilife]

ADR everything. It's really the only way you won't be disappointed.

I don't think it's too many character meals - my children are only young once and they love characters, so why not meet characters while dining?

 

[crabbygal902]

As much as I like planning, I don't want to drive my family nuts hurrying across every park to get to reservations.

I definitely plan to ADR our "must-do" list (Cinderella's Royal Table, Be Our Guest, Mickey's Backyard BBQ) but can we play any of the rest by ear?

•Sci Fi Dine-In
•Garden Grill
•Tusker House

No, it is not too much character dining if you enjoy that type of dining. We did, especially when our kids were little. It was a great way to meet characters without standing in lines.

Making ADRs for everything can be a good thing, especially if you’re on the dining plan and want to get your full value. If you’re like us and have been many times and tried most everything, we hardly make ADRs anymore, preferring to eat in bars and lounges and out-of-the-way places.

When making those ADRs, keep in mind how enormous WDW is and plan your meals around your location, not the other way around. Nothing can bring a fun vacation to a screeching halt like gathering your brood to get a bus, maybe a 2nd one, to go all the way across property just for dinner. There are great places to eat everywhere!

Good luck with your planning!

 

[disneyseniors]

As much as I like planning, I don't want to drive my family nuts hurrying across every park to get to reservations.

I definitely plan to ADR our "must-do" list (Cinderella's Royal Table, Be Our Guest, Mickey's Backyard BBQ) but can we play any of the rest by ear?

•Sci Fi Dine-In
•Garden Grill
•Tusker House

My husband and I gave up the dining plan with every day ADR's 2 years ago, for the reason you mentioned. Some days, we didn't feel like trekking to Epcot, for example, for another TS meal. We often weren't hungry at our set times for adr's, which you have to make so far in advance. I think the whole idea of ADR's so far out is kinda crazy! Who knows if they will even be hungry at that time?
We are a lot happier only doing a few TS meals that we love. The rest is QS when and where, and what we want to eat.
We won't go back to all those ADR's again, too much planning, for us. It's freeing to be able to change parks and eat where you want. Hope this helps

 

[OKW Lover]

Agree that there needs to be room for spontaneity in meals - and everything else at WDW.