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Do people make so many ADRs when there ISN'T free dining?
- Thread starter jkl2000
- Start date
Disney Shib
Well-Known Member
There are certain places my family and I need to visit when we go to Disney. Free dining or not, we're making ADR's just to make sure we get to do them. Family traditions I guess..
DisneyDebNJ
Well-Known Member
This ^^^^ I have always made ADRs. There are only 2 things we plan while at Disney (a) our resort and (b) where we will have a sit down meal each day. All else, is up in the air.
DisneyDebNJ
Well-Known Member
Exactly how we feel. I can't imagine a Disney trip without Ohana, Chef Mickey's or Kona Cafe.
They been putting some system checks in place to reduce this where possible.
Disney Shib
Well-Known Member
bethymouse
Well-Known Member
I am still waiting for our PIN!
We got back from our trip June 14th. Maybe it's too early or perhaps we won't get one.
bethymouse
Well-Known Member
Well, it is getting harder and harder to snag a good ADR! My DH makes last minute decisions, which means we sometimes can't get the restaurant we want!
BOG is just ridiculous! I just hope that "hype" dies down soon!
I know Disney is working on the system, but it is still very hard to get what you want unless you have already booked and are at the 180 days plus 10 mark!
My DH makes last minute decisions, which means we sometimes can't get the restaurant we want!BOG is just ridiculous! I just hope that "hype" dies down soon!
I know Disney is working on the system, but it is still very hard to get what you want unless you have already booked and are at the 180 days plus 10 mark!
sgtmgd
Well-Known Member
2 peas in a pod we are
ADR's are a must for us free dining or not..at the very least I like to have one sit down meal a day..generally the dinner meal to recharge and relax before a long evening in the parks...good food..an hour break or so from all the crowds and Im ready to go again..can ttell you how many families I see wondering about looking for a place to sit down and eat but cant because the reservations are gone..I dont find it difficult to be in the general area of our place to eat come ressie time..thats just us..I cant or I should say wont eat fast food 2-3 meals a day for a week..lol
I remember the old days too when we would decide in the morning where we wanted to have dinner that night and call to make a reservation for that evening and rarely had a problem getting the time or place we wanted. Sadly those days are over. Now if you want to have a sit down meal, you have to know 6 months in advance where you will be, what you want to eat and when you want to eat it. I also really don't Iike micro managing my Disney vacation, so that is why I only made 2 ADR's for our upcoming trip for the 2 days that we will be at Epcot. Several years ago we were there for free dining and it was such a pain to drop what we were doing because we had to make it over to the restaurant for dinner whether we wanted to or not. I want to be free to eat when I want so the rest of our meals will be counter service. There are a lot more counter service food options other than burgers, and for the most part the food is quite good.
Mr.Skunkape
Well-Known Member
Most people make ADRs at 180 days because they want to be able to eat at the locations/times they want. It is like buying tickets to a sporting event, if you buy them early you have a better choice of where to sit then trying to buy them the day of the event. 47 million people visit WDW per year and it only takes a small % of them to fully book up a restaurant. Free dining has little to do with it.
DisneyDebNJ
Well-Known Member
Yep you are 100% right, our vacation mirror each other's. LOL We do schedule a couple breakfast times though and spend the late afternoon/evening perusing the F&W booths. I rarely eat fast food at home, but do enjoy alot of it at Disney for some reason (looking forward to trying the spicy chix waffle sammie at Sleepy Hollow this year)
armyfamilyof5
Well-Known Member
Nothing stinks more than wanting to sit down and have a nice meal and not being able to because you don't have an ADR. We are local and we still make ADR's before going to the park so we are able to have some down time in the AC. I can remember our first trip and not even knowing about ADR's, we scored a dinner at Tony's and Mama Melrose, character dining breakfast at 1900 Park Fare and a couple other's by calling the morning of or the night before but that was simply luck. For some reason I knew about CRT and we made that one months out (it was also our only prepaid meal), it was really special and we quite enjoyed it. That first trip we would have preferred to eat a several different places and weren't able to because we didn't have ADR's. We learned our lesson then and always make them ahead, we have only used the dining plan a couple of times and for us it's never been free!
armyfamilyof5
Well-Known Member
Same for us. We are going to the MNSSHP and will make an adr for that for sure.
JIMINYCR
Well-Known Member
Part of our planning process is having fun scanning the menus and deciding where and what we want to eat. We always make our ADR's so we can get what we want, usually pretty close to the times we want them. We've seen too many times people walk up and walk away disappointed cause they didnt have ADR's and there were no tables available for them. This year we are getting free dining for our Sept trip but it did't affect our decision to book or not.
Mrs Potts
Member
We rarely make ADRs because we just haven't had good luck with the food there. We just got in the habit of going back to our DVC for a meal and a break and that worked well for us. It's just so outrageously expensive for food that is just..... average at best. We'll usually do one breakfast somewhere in there but other than that skip the table service places.
Now this last trip we didn't have the kitchen for the entire time. We had really great luck with some of the quick services places. We went to the new bakery in France and had some quiche that was really good- The entire family shared a couple of them and it was plenty for us. My son also raved about the pork shank (?) at GT (I didn't try it because I wasn't hungry).
Now this last trip we didn't have the kitchen for the entire time. We had really great luck with some of the quick services places. We went to the new bakery in France and had some quiche that was really good- The entire family shared a couple of them and it was plenty for us. My son also raved about the pork shank (?) at GT (I didn't try it because I wasn't hungry).
RedDad
Smitty Werben JagerManJensen
We never use the DP, even when Free Dining is offered, but almost always make at least 1 ADR per day for our trips. The dining is one of our favorite parts of WDW. We just plan our trips so that we are able to get everything done including the meals. I think free dining probably encourages more ADR's to a certain extent, but it's only offered during limited times, and the ADR fiasco seems to be year round.
stevehousse
Well-Known Member
I honestly do not know how we get pic codes? We have done park surveys before and to top it off we haven't actually stayed on property in about 4-5 years. We have received 3 pin codes in the last year and a half! I will say that I have never received one in my own name, they always come to te DW