Can you still get TS seating if you don't ADR

[KevGuy]

We are going in April and have made a few ADR for 2 character meals and to see the whoo de doo show as well. But my wife doesn't want to live on a schedule per say and believes that we will still be able to go to the many resturants and get seated for TS meals without making reservations. She tells me that if we are at the park, and are having fun etc. she doesn't want to have stop and leave to be somewhere at a certain time to eat. She thinks there will be times where we have been picking at snacks etc and may not even be hungry, or that if we get a reservation at a certain park because we plan to be there, things may change and we could be done there and want to go to another or something along those lines. I kinda agree about scheduling out every single meal, but we are on the dining plan and I don't want to end up using a TS meal at the counter service food. Thoughts???

 

[disneydom]

Good luck but with many visitors using the DDP and making reservations it may be very tough to get in a resteraunt , I may recomend making reservations and canceling or modifing them if need be. The last thing you need is after a long day to be told there are all filled up In have seen this happen, well good luck:brick:

 

[TwoTigersMom]

I agree, make those ressies! It's better to have them to fall back on than have nothing at all. I just called and changed some adr's for my trip (I believe I'm there the week after you) and I was still able to get what I wanted, but that can change at the drop of a hat.

 

[Monty]

It really comes down to how busy the parks are at the time and how willing you will be to "settle" for a restaurant that wouldn't be your first choice.

There are a number of options if you're prepared to be flexible:

- You can just walk up and wait for an open table [if really crowded, they'll tell you there's no guarantee or there's absolutely no chance]

- You can check with Guest Relations or any restaurant about an hour before you want to eat to see if there are any available ADRs anywhere nearby [they can check the computer and give you an ADR on the spot that is just as valid as an ADR booked 180 days prior].

- You can book ADRs as soon as possible and call to cancel them if you decide you can't make it.

Last February, DS and I each had one TS credit left our last day and walked up to Sci-Fi Diner around noon. The CM outside said they were booked solid all afternoon and evening without a hope of squeezing us in. He sent us to the desk inside to check availability at other restaurants. The inside desk CM looked at me like I had two heads when I asked if there was availability anywhere in the next two hours at any WDW restaurant and said she could seat us right there within 15 minutes, no problem! :lol: We were ordering from our table 7 minutes later

So, you never know...

 

[Lucky]

We are going in April and have made a few ADR for 2 character meals and to see the whoo de doo show as well. But my wife doesn't want to live on a schedule per say and believes that we will still be able to go to the many resturants and get seated for TS meals without making reservations. She tells me that if we are at the park, and are having fun etc. she doesn't want to have stop and leave to be somewhere at a certain time to eat. She thinks there will be times where we have been picking at snacks etc and may not even be hungry, or that if we get a reservation at a certain park because we plan to be there, things may change and we could be done there and want to go to another or something along those lines. I kinda agree about scheduling out every single meal, but we are on the dining plan and I don't want to end up using a TS meal at the counter service food. Thoughts???

The dining plan isn't for everybody. If you're going to use the TS credits for CS meals, it's just not worth buying.

 

[KevGuy]

Well thank you everyone who responded, she has been convinced of the need to make reservations. We are going to LeCellier Steakhouse and Tony's Town Square, as well as our whoop de do and character meals. We'll wing it for lunches and breakfasts. I wanted to go to Teppanyaki but it will be closed for renovations when we are there . Anyone know of a good chinese resturant offsite on the way to USO/SW??

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Well thank you everyone who responded, she has been convinced of the need to make reservations. We are going to LeCellier Steakhouse and Tony's Town Square, as well as our whoop de do and character meals. We'll wing it for lunches and breakfasts. I wanted to go to Teppanyaki but it will be closed for renovations when we are there . Anyone know of a good chinese resturant offsite on the way to USO/SW??

Nope, but I do HIGHLY reccommend Bubba Gump Shrimp Company at City Walk. It's wonderful! We had a blast eating there in December. Le Cellier is a great one too! It's a must for us. We'll be trying Tony's Town Square when we visit the week after you as well as Hoop Dee Doo.

 

[Astro_Digital]

Well I do not like planing my days around reservations.

Just too few days in WDW to waste time.

 

[Dagger]

You might be able to squeeze in with a wait, or you might have to fish around to find a place, but if you start looking a bit before you are actually hungry to eat, you won't have to use a TS for a CS meal, IMO.

We did Le Cellier in Canada for lunch one day and it took someone without a reservation about an hour to get in and our ADRs got us in in about 20 mins (still sorta long compared to other waits, but didn't bother me.) That said, we could've eaten in England with no wait... so I guess you can't be choosey!

 

[Master Yoda]

Well thank you everyone who responded, she has been convinced of the need to make reservations. We are going to LeCellier Steakhouse and Tony's Town Square, as well as our whoop de do and character meals. We'll wing it for lunches and breakfasts. I wanted to go to Teppanyaki but it will be closed for renovations when we are there . Anyone know of a good chinese resturant offsite on the way to USO/SW??

Kobe at the Crossroads is a pretty good teppanyaki style restaurant. The crossroads is a strip mall at the end of Hotel Plaza Blvd.

 

[Hakunamatata]

On our last trip, people that were coming up to "wait" were being told they had to check with the reservation center to see if there was availability. There was no "stand by" line for dining as far as we could tell.

 

[tigsmom]

We are going in April and have made a few ADR for 2 character meals and to see the whoo de doo show as well. But my wife doesn't want to live on a schedule per say and believes that we will still be able to go to the many resturants and get seated for TS meals without making reservations. She tells me that if we are at the park, and are having fun etc. she doesn't want to have stop and leave to be somewhere at a certain time to eat. She thinks there will be times where we have been picking at snacks etc and may not even be hungry, or that if we get a reservation at a certain park because we plan to be there, things may change and we could be done there and want to go to another or something along those lines. I kinda agree about scheduling out every single meal, but we are on the dining plan and I don't want to end up using a TS meal at the counter service food. Thoughts???

I know you have had many answers, but I just wanted to add that we never made ADRs in the past. We would go to guest relations when we entered a park and see what was available and then book one. There were times we just walked up to a place and asked if there was anything available. Our last trip (August of 2005) we had a lot of problems. With the dining plan in place it has become harder. We have the Reservation Center programmed into our cell so we can call when we are in the parks. There were nights when we just had to take whatever was left...thats how we ended up at a Princess dinner in Norway...not bad, but not really our kind of food.

We have decided to book a few sit downs early (for March) and were able to get the places we wanted to try out this trip. You can always cancel if you find something better.