Not sure we will book any Restaurants and why !

AMYROSE

New Member
Original Poster
We have a family Vacation booked for December 2020...My wife, myself and 2 grandkids...Our grandkids are grown so locating food won't be a problem... We have never really like the booking of Restaurants, because so many things change from min to min when your in the Parks....We have always enjoyed Picking a Restaurant or a place to eat at the moment...To us it seems to have less stress doing it this way...We have never had a problem eating at any Restaurant at Disney World with no booking, and not a long wait time either.. my question is Do any of yall folks go to Disney World without Restaurant Bookings like we do ?? Thanks, The Aucoin's
 

Communicora

Premium Member
On my last trip the only reservation we started with was at Jaleo on our arrival day and Sanaa for lunch on our "break" in the middle. We were able to find day of reservations on the other days as we needed them -- we could have even done Be Our Guest, but chose not to. I do think the reservations are important if there is a specific restaurant that is a must do for you.
 
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Queen of the WDW Scene

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
I do if I'm doing QS only and not going to BOG for lunch.

Otherwise I book ahead of time so I have a spot secured.

I also have my park routine down so I know where I want to eat and when and what I'm going to get off the menu.

To me its less stressful to know beforehand instead of trying to figure it out when everyone is hungry and tired.
 

nickys

Premium Member
Some people have reported recently that restaurants in the parks would not seat them without an ADR. So if you do do a walk up, you may find you will need to go on the app and book a table there and then before being seated, even if there is space.
 

AMYROSE

New Member
Original Poster
I do if I'm doing QS only and not going to BOG for lunch.

Otherwise I book ahead of time so I have a spot secured.

I also have my park routine down so I know where I want to eat and when and what I'm going to get off the menu.

To me its less stressful to know beforehand instead of trying to figure it out when everyone is hungry and tired.
Thanks for reply, you may have put thought into my head about this ! Aucoi's
 

AMYROSE

New Member
Original Poster
Some people have reported recently that restaurants in the parks would not seat them without an ADR. So if you do do a walk up, you may find you will need to go on the app and book a table there and then before being seated, even if there is space.
Thanks for reply ! Aucoin's
 

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
We've always booked a few ADRs (fewer and fewer as the years go by), but I can understand why people would rather be spontaneous!

I've always thought the onsite CS restaurants were good options (some of them I'd even call "great" options), the app makes it easy to see if any TS reservations are available on the spur of the moment, and if you have a Landry's Select Club card, you can always walk up to Yak & Yeti, Rainforest Cafe and T-REX anytime you want and get priority seating even without a reservation. While many people will breathlessly tell you that this restaurant or that one is a "must do," it's really not. I never stepped foot into any WDW restaurant (CS or TS) until I was a full-grown adult: all of our family trips when I was a kid had a shoestring budget, and we brought and ate our own food at the campground, yet I never felt our vacations suffered one iota by not having restaurant reservations! In fact, my own family's vacation planning, I've never regretted not making a reservation somewhere, but I've regretted having my schedule dictated by dining reservations on several occasions.

*Note: I see you mentioned "December." If you're planning a visit near Christmas, there will be lots of competition for dining venues of every kind. If you don't care to make TS reservations, be prepared to eat CS instead, and make use of mobile ordering (where available - your My Disney Experience app will have all the information and a link to order) to minimize your waits!
 
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Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
It depends on when I'm visiting and whether or not I want to visit specific restaurants that are known to be popular.

During free dining periods, ADRs can be harder to get. Places like Ohana, Sci-Fi Dine-in, and Be Our Guest warrant advance reservations.

Epcot is restaurant heavy and generally has lots of walk-up options.

I don't find ADR booking to be stressful. I know where I'm going every day, because I'm also booking Fastpasses, so it's not like a restaurant ADR constrains me more than any other booking.
 

Prince-1

Well-Known Member
Some people have reported recently that restaurants in the parks would not seat them without an ADR. So if you do do a walk up, you may find you will need to go on the app and book a table there and then before being seated, even if there is space.

This may have happened to some people but I can say that the last time my wife and I went to WDW we had zero reservations and were able to walk up to most restaurants and get a table. The only time we didn't get a table was because they were full.
 

correcaminos

Well-Known Member
This may have happened to some people but I can say that the last time my wife and I went to WDW we had zero reservations and were able to walk up to most restaurants and get a table. The only time we didn't get a table was because they were full.
This is true for us as well. No issues unless full so far.
 

unmitigated disaster

Well-Known Member
The last three times we have just gone with quick service and we were fine. Well, okay, in 2013 we did walk up Tusker House because we were right there and it was the off-season and it was 2 PM and we were seated in 5 minutes (though they told us 20).

These days there is enough variation that unless you want burgers or hot dogs every time you don't ever have to have either ever.

Plus I bet the kids would like to eat fast then do more rides, shows, etc.
 

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
This is really good news. There was a time it was impossible to get into any sit down restaurant in WDW without a ADR made 90 days in advance, and at that time you would walk up and ask, the cast member would say there was no openings, you would look into the restaurant and there would be mostly empty tables!

It looks like they fixed what ever problem that was. I also think with the current lower attendance and higher prices, this helps to create availability.

It’s a win for all who can still afford a WDW vacation...
 

Nottamus

Well-Known Member
We stay for a week, book 2 table dinners, and wing the rest. Its just the wife and I, and we like to be less tied to plans the more we go.

Sure, we do our Fps...sometimes 3 a day, sometimes more, and often..less.

There's so much to see and enjoy (in our opinion) that might be missed being tied to plans.

OH....and if we want a table dinner while there, its pretty easy to find same day reservations at SOME places.
 

Vacationeer

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
We like to be spontaneous as long as we have decent back up plan options. ADRs are a pain.
Less is more;) But we still use a few, right now we have 3 ADRs for a 5 day trip.

During Free Food there's less availability for TS, noticeable at HS so we've made an ADR at Hollywd & Vine.

For MK, we have BoG breakfast QS ADR because that can fill solid.
For dinner we'll be spontaneous because worse case scenario, it's easy to do a monorail TS from MK.

At Epcot, no ADR. We're dying to try Space220 if open! Otherwise there are tons of TS options and Food Booths.

In AK we love Tiffins and usually make an ADR. We've never tried Tusker House so this trip we made an ADR to ensure we have a decent time slot. This park closes at 6pm on our day so that could affect availability, especially during lunch.
 
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eliza61nyc

Well-Known Member
So we don't make a lot of reservations generally one or two. We make sci fi diner mainly for the atmosphere and via napoli.

Truthfully like @helenabear and others we rarely get turned away when walking up especially at resort restaurants.
I haven't tried it with the new Disney springs places yet
 

Stellajack

Premium Member
We book very few ADR's. This time...BOMA'S (non-park day), TTFWDParty, Hollywood Brown Derby (just for the Cobb Salad at lunch!)
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
My wife and I hate being tied down, so we usually pick 1 meal a trip ( usually yak and yeti) and thats our sit down meal. Other than that we only do quick serve so we can live in the moment and the magic and come and go as we please.

Were considering a table service plan for 2023s trip, with my sister in law, but thats more for her than us.
 

DISR

Well-Known Member
I agree with the OP...Disney is already a vacation with a lot semi-hard scheduling. With rope drops, show times, and fast passes already set, I hesitate to add too many pre-determined dining times and locations into the mix. I may not get a 6:00 pm Ohana table, but I can usually find something I'm OK with with walk up or same day ADRs. The only real exception I make to this is if I want a fireworks dinner at the California Grill. My other go-to is Jiko and that is usually pretty accessible without a six month ADR. I will say that at some point in every trip I get very tired of counter-service and need a nice table service meal.
 
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Ricky Spanish

Well-Known Member
We usually do QS when at WDW.
On the rare occasion when we do TS, we don't make reservations.
This was only a problem one time, but there was a quick solution.
A trip or two ago, we decided to do the Biergarten for lunch.
I think it was during Thanksgiving week.
We walked up to see if we could be seated and the CM said they were very busy and we needed reservations.
So we walked away, whipped out the phone, and checked to see if there were any available times.
Found one that was like 10 or 15 minutes later.
We booked it, walked back to the podium, and gave him our reservation.
We were seated within like 5 minutes.
 

ninjaprincesst

Well-Known Member
There a certain place my family consider must do's so I always make my ADR's and a good thing because I just checked and not one of the places books have any opening at all for when I booked them.
 

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