Does anyone else go to WDW without ADR's??

[eliza61nyc]

One of the misconceptions I do find thrown around a lot is that if you do not have ADR's you'll be forced to eat quick service every day. I rarely make more than 2 adr's for an 8 night trip and I get TS almost every night.
In fact some of my best meals have been because I tried a suggestion giving to me from a cm the day of.
Now in the interest of full disclosure, I don't have any restaurant that I "must" do and I think the park restaurants outside of Epcot, are mediocre so I don't have to vie for one of those.
Our last trip in April, we pretty much canceled our ADR's because we wanted to "wing" it and we got into
Boma
Chef de france
The boathouse
and Olivia's for breakfast

Anyone else have luck going without ADR's.

oh I should also say, I don't have small kids. lol my son's are young adults/college students they will beat down Winnie the Pooh for his honey if they get hungry enough.

 

[winstongator]

I’d file this under everyone does WDW differently. I’ll do one adr per 3 days or so. I don’t mind qs, most of the time, with Epcot and AK being better. My daughters are young, so we like character meals, but I’ll do maybe one of those a trip. I like adrs when we’re meeting family as it provides a good rallying time & place. It’s also nice for my parents who don’t do ‘rides’.

I’m not sure how many adrs I’ve made at 180 days out though. I’ve used the reservation finders available online. We’ve done Day of’s At Jungle Skipper a couple times.

With kids, for QS I like the ability to see the menus ahead of time and mobile ordering. The more we went the more we found QS we really liked and my kids developed their favorite dishes (rotisserie chicken at sunshine seasons).

 

[zurgandfriend]

In a word No, we like to have our reservations in place. Part of our trip planning is choosing the restaurants. We usually mix in some new ones with some old favorites. We do however leave one evening meal to “potluck.” In the past, we have gotten in to Biergarten and Restaurant Marrakesh without an ADR, other times we could not get in anywhere and dined at “walk-in” places such as ESPN Club, Liberty Inn or Cosmic Rays.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

As long as you have flexibility - there shouldn't be an issue. If there is somewhere I absolutely must eat at, then ADR. Otherwise, I wing it.
I've never had a time where I wanted a TS that I couldn't get one. Now sometimes it meant leaving the MK for a meal a Kona, or walking out through International Gateway to grab a bite at ESPN Club, Big River, or Flying Fish. Or in some instances a bus or quick drive to DS.

 

[Schneewittchen]

I've done it both ways. Since the kids started school, we usually take our big annual WDW during Easter week. We almost always have an ADR for dinner every night. If/when we visit during other times of the year (January, March, November), we can get away without having them - especially lunch time. We've walked up to Yak & Yeti, Teppan Edo, San Angel Inn, Restaurant Marrakesh, Skipper Canteen, Plaza Restaurant, Trail's End, Kona Cafe and Artist Point.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Until our last trip we had done only three or four adr's in 12 trips. It all depends on how big your party is and if you are able to be flexible with dining times.

 

[RememberWhen]

Our next trip is the week of Christmas and a party of 8, so you can bet I made those ADRs the second I could. But we have gone with a smaller group and not done ADRs and been very happy with our flexibility.

 

[Minnie Mum]

There was a time when I booked a TS meal for every night of our stay; booking as far out as possible. But we aren't as enthusiastic about the quality of the food vs cost anymore. So I only book a couple now - usually a signature, and something with a more interesting menu like Sanaa or Spice Road Table. If we decide we want a TS spur of the moment, I still don't try a walk up. I'll make an ADR on the app- saves wear and tear on the sore feet.

 

[shipley731]

We went this past weekend & only had 1 ADR in place before hand & that was for a Tables in Wonderland Delicious Disney Chef event. The first two nights, we made same day ADR's (Jiko & Blue Zoo) both a couple hours prior to dining. Unless I'm looking for California Grill or a similarly hard reservation to find, we usually wing it & make same day ADR's. That being said, there's only 2 of us & no kids involved.

 

[Patcheslee]

For us we have ADRs cause we are use to eating the same times for work and school. I know my 9yo normal times she gets hungry and the last thing I feel like is having a hangry kid on vacation.

 

[bunnyman]

We never really get ADR's unless it's a special occasion, such as birthday, etc. We'll accept not getting into the hard to get places, but are never usually at a loss for dining options, you just have to be willing to compromise.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I think so much of this hinges on where you want to dine, when you want to dine, and how important these things are to you. You will likely find a place to eat and you may even luck out with someone dropping a hard to get ADR at the last minute, but I wouldn't show up to WDW and think I'm going to pick up Cali Grill timed with HEA, BOG dinner, 'Ohana dinner at a decent hour, CRT for any meal, etc. with little effort.

Add kids to the mix and getting down the right timing for them as well as delivering on a meal with their favorite character makes ADRs in advance is a must in these circumstances. I've witnessed those parents who walk up to Chef Mickey's and CRT with no reservations and have to break it to that little kid who just doesn't understand why they won't be eating with Cindy or Mickey. It's pretty heartbreaking to watch.

All this being said, we're kind of over the whole TS thing. So whenever we go back to WDW, we'll likely be going with little to no ADRs.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Glad youve had success but many others have not been as lucky. Especially with the more popular spots. It depends a lot on the time of the year and those heavier crowd times youll certainly have a more difficult time getting into restaurants as walk ins. And if you are wanting to walk in with a number of diners youll have a much harder time finding tables opened up. The advantage of making the ADRs is not only can you guarantee a table but you can usually get the dining times that you can be happy with.

 

[slappy magoo]

Somewhat related question - what is everyone's go-to restaurant when you don't have ADRs? Those restaurants that you really enjoy but are rarely so busy that you can't get in at the last minute, or even the last second?

Mine include The Wave (Contemporary), Turf Club (Saratoga), Artist Point (Wilderness) and to a lesser degree Kona (Poly - and I use the term "lesser" because sometimes they DO book up solid). Also Marrakesh (Morocco in World Showcase, but you kind of have to be in the mood for their cuisine).

 

[LeighM]

Usually not as we like to have one table service meal a day at places that are usually hard to find last minute - Ohana dinner, Tusker House, etc. Plus we like to eat between 5-6pm and they are really busy then. Our last week long trip with my BIL/SIL, we only had 3 ADRs that I remember - Ohana dinner, Kona Cafe breakfast, and Be Our Guest lunch. Going into this trip, my husband and I wanted to try more of the quick service locations instead of focusing so much on table service. We really enjoyed it. I had to give up my Boma dinner reservation after my husband got sick during the trip.

 

[tasha ratliff]

We like having reservations it gives us a break from the heat (we go in Sept) and we like some places like some of the more popular places that we wouldn't be able to get in otherwise.. We go yearly for the last 15 years or more so we aren't newbies by any means. For us we are there just as much for the food and the relaxation at our resort pool as we are for the parks. We rope drop have lunch shop on the way out go back to resort swim and rest come back around 5/6 have dinner and do the parks until the night time shows and do it all again the next day, we normally take one full day off the parks to sleep in some, rent a boat and relax..

 

[NormC]

We only reserve must do events. Everything else we just wing it. I got BOG same day res by just refreshing MDE app a few times. We buy hoppers so we can do what we want and go where we want. When we are ready we check the app and find a place to eat.

 

[DisDadWoz]

Somewhat related question - what is everyone's go-to restaurant when you don't have ADRs? Those restaurants that you really enjoy but are rarely so busy that you can't get in at the last minute, or even the last second?

Mine include The Wave (Contemporary), Turf Club (Saratoga), Artist Point (Wilderness) and to a lesser degree Kona (Poly - and I use the term "lesser" because sometimes they DO book up solid). Also Marrakesh (Morocco in World Showcase, but you kind of have to be in the mood for their cuisine).

We usually book one ADR for one restaurant we really want to go with for a trip. Then during our trip we wing it based on how our days are going and how hungry we are or what we want to eat. With that said we usually end up hitting Il Mulino as it's one of our go-to's or we can usually hit Ragland Road.

 

[crxbrett]

Somewhat related question - what is everyone's go-to restaurant when you don't have ADRs? Those restaurants that you really enjoy but are rarely so busy that you can't get in at the last minute, or even the last second?

Mine include The Wave (Contemporary), Turf Club (Saratoga), Artist Point (Wilderness) and to a lesser degree Kona (Poly - and I use the term "lesser" because sometimes they DO book up solid). Also Marrakesh (Morocco in World Showcase, but you kind of have to be in the mood for their cuisine).

Jiko for me - the last 2 times I went I had an ADR just in case, but it was definitely not necessary (there were maybe 3 other tables seated). But I have gone twice in the past with no ADR and just walked up for dinner. Most of the time I eat dinner either super early at 5p or really late at like 9 or 9:30p, so that probably helps too.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We do ADRs for the places we really want to go to but leave some days open for either table service or quick. We have gotten some good restaurants either same day or day before while on vacation.