Worry about ADRs in late jan?

Not only have I never placed an ADR before, I've never even given much thought to them...call me old-fashioned, I guess, in that I just show up and hope to eat!

But reading some of you hyper-planners here (and I say that as a compliment), I'm wondering if I should be worried if I haven't yet placed them for a trip the next-to-last weekend of January...especially if you are my competition!

I guess I don't really care when we eat, early or late, but I would like to try some of the more popular places, since this will be our first time with the meal plan. Anyway, do I have time to spare or should I make these as soon as possible?

The dining plan has pretty much made show up & eat a thing of the past. I am not sure of crowd levels in January but the Disney marathon and Martin Luther King Jr Day brings in a lot of guests those weekends.

Since you are on the plan and you already paid for the meals, you want to make sure you don't get shut out and get stuck with some leftover meals. I think you should make some TS ADRs especially since you want to try some popular places. Worst case scenario, you change your mind and you call to cancel them.

I don't think it's too late to call.

I'm going the last week in January and Le Cellier dinner reservations are all booked up. We had to book lunch.

Definitely be sure to make ADRs. As Christine said, walk ups at the popular places really doesn't happen any more and if you're on the DDP you're risking spending 2-3 hours wandering around trying to find a TS place that isn't booked each day. ADRs aren't just for the hyper planners anymore. Whether you could get into a place like Le Cellier? Probably if you're persistent in calling back or flexible on your times you can still get in. Good luck!

I think most of us wish it could be like it used to be, less planning and more spontaneity. But the DDP has pretty much ruled that out and IMHO is now one of the most negative things about WDW. We find that we are now slaves to our ADR times. Not only do you have to plan months in advance when and what you want to eat (hard to know for sure 6 months out) but once you are there you have to put the travelling time aside and work your day around your ADRs.

Now the trips seem as much food oriented as theme park oriented. Disney needs to look at ways of bringing the spontaneity back. To answer your question directly, yep, make at least a few ADRs for the places you really want as soon as you can.

I've been in denial about having to make ADRs but with the dining plan you definitely have to. We don't like to have everything so planned out but that can't be helped. I made ADRs for our trip last month and was definitely glad I did. Restaurants we normally walk into were turning people away who didn't have reservations. So save yourself a lot of aggrevation and make ADRs ASAP.

Wow....well, thanks for the responses.

It's something that just never factored in my trip planning before and I can see how Poly Dweller's comment about being a slave to your ADR would hold true. I'm particularly dismayed at Borisfam's report that Le Cellier is booked for dinner! Does that mean every slot for every day for every dinner of your stay??

Given all this, I'm now seriously reconsidering getting the dining plan (haven't signed up yet). I don't have the package booked yet...it sounds like because I didn't nail down the ADRs already that maybe we should just play it by ear.

And it does sound like it takes some of the fun out of the park...at least for those who don't know WDW that well and don't research enough...I picture the average family walking to restaurant after restaurant for lunch and getting turned away at each one and getting very discouraged about Disney.

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Originally Posted by Mendelson

Given all this, I'm now seriously reconsidering getting the dining plan (haven't signed up yet). I don't have the package booked yet...it sounds like because I didn't nail down the ADRs already that maybe we should just play it by ear.

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It's not that bad making ADRs and you do have to eat. Disney has a lot of great restaurants and I love the dining experiences. We scheduled early dinner reservations so there's time after dinner to go to the parks or back to the hotel and hang out at the pool.

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Originally Posted by Mendelson

Does that mean every slot for every day for every dinner of your stay??

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That's exactly what it means. Le Cellier books up immediately 180 days out from availability. You can usually get something there during the slower times, like late January, if you keep calling.

I really see both sides of this issue. However, while we don't particularly like the DDP (when you add up our eating habits it's really not that good of a value) I don't think it has to make you a slave to the ADR. We don't run around crazy looking for something to eat. We plan which day we want to be in which park and then we decide where we want to eat in that park. No big deal, really. I guess where it removes the spontenaiety is if we suddenly decided to go to a different park that day we would be stuck or if we wanted to ride something but needed to get to our ADR time, but, for us, that's really not a big deal. So, it's not a total negative, but I don't view the DDP as any great benefit either.

[QUOTE=Strmchsr;1761958] I don't think it has to make you a slave to the ADR. We don't run around crazy looking for something to eat. We plan which day we want to be in which park and then we decide where we want to eat in that park. QUOTE]


I understand what you mean, Strmchsr, and had planned on doing just that - if we're at MK on Monday we'll go to X restaurant at MK on Monday for dinner. I guess my concern now is that nothing I want for dinner at those restaurants will be available and so we'll have to do something that's not top priority, thereby altering the park day. And I want the park/rides/shows to take priority over eating. So....maybe I'll feel better about not locking in. We'll see.

I can't even imagine what it's like during free dining!

Another thing to remember is that since places like LeCellier book up quick, even in the "slow" times, you can always try Resort Restaurants. It may just be coincidental, but Ive never had a problem getting into place like Jiko, Ohana, etc, and I believe its cause they are not in the parks. We always try ADR's in Epcot, at least 2, but then wing it for a couplenights as well.:thumbsup:

Might be worth a try. But if youre set on a particuler place, as mentioned here repeatedly, KEEP CALLING!

Just got an 8:50 ADR at Le Cellier on the 23rd. Couldn't believe it!

That's Epcot's EMH night....is the place going to be ridiculously crowded? (The general thinking is to avoid the EMH park, right?)

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Originally Posted by Mendelson

Just got an 8:50 ADR at Le Cellier on the 23rd. Couldn't believe it!

That's Epcot's EMH night....is the place going to be ridiculously crowded? (The general thinking is to avoid the EMH park, right?)

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We were there in the beg of Feb last year and EHM were not crowded at all, they were enjoyable. The big tickets rides like soarin and fast track had waits but the rest of EPCOT was nice. We'll be down ther starting 1/24. See you there!!:thumbsup:

I just made ADRs yesterday for 4 meals (granted not super-fancy ones) - Ohana's, Boma, CP and Akershus - all for late Jan. (Jan. 26-30) and there was tons of availability and choice of time. I'm hoping the crowd levels will be low that week, especially as we are going Mon-Sat. I would think there would still be ADRs for other days in late Jan.

I fall into the "planner" catergory. Once I know when I am going, I wait for park hours for my trip and plan from there. I generally plan out what park we are doing on what day (or half days) and then plan ADR from there.

We do 1 TS meal a day... We decide as a family where we would like to eat at which park and then decide whether to do B, L, or D.

I don't think it makes us slaves to meals/ADR's but I really like knowing that at least one meal of the day I have an ADR...a place to sit and enjoy a meal.

I don't like having to scramble for a place to sit to eat. I've seen too many folks try to walk up to any TS meals with tired, hungry kids and being told there is nothing available.

we are not a hyper-planner family, but as WDW "vets", we know that there is simply some planning that MUST be done in order to have an enjoyable time @ the World. And meals fall into this category. Not all meals ,of course, but there are just some places that if you want to eat there, ressies are necessary. We do not use the DDP, as it isn't that great a value for us personally, but we do have fave places we like to go each time, and always make ADRs and schedule our park choice around that. We don't feel like slaves to our ADR choices, rather we are always in the park of our ressies, to avoid having to rush to another one for meals. One of our fave meal options is to take an afternoon/evening stroll about the WS lagoon, and eat and drink our way "around the World." This is especially fab durung the Food & Wine Fest in Oct. as there are more countries to chose from. :thumbsup: We usually do this a couple times during our stay and can check out some excellent music while we're at it (Off Kilter, British Invasion, etc...) Great time and no rushing...aaahhh