ADR's, EMH, park hoppers etc is it way too much?

[Joannelet]

I have gone to WDW many many times. I am wondering if anyone feels the same way I do....
I feel that now with all the ADR's etc that I am constantly running back and forth between parks and so worried about times and reservations that the whole park experience takes 2nd to the dining reservations? I just feel like it's a lot of running around because it really is!
I know a family that is there now for their first time. I think that they are doing it the right way....by doing NO park hopper option. They planned it around doing only one park per day. They have ressies in the park that they are doing for that specific day...and free dining. This is how we use to do it when I was younger....I am wondering if anyone else thinks that it may be worth doing it this way again?
I just don't like the idea of planning a trip around meals. It is really time consuming...and runs the entire trip.....

[faline]

The nice thing about Disney is you can plan the trip that fits your style - or your whimsey if it's not your usual style.

Over time, we've gone from focusing solely on the parks, to enjoying the dining with lots of park time still, to enjoying our resort and pool time, regardless of whether it takes us away from the parks.

You can decide what you want your trip to be like. If you don't want to park hop, don't. If you don't want any, or many, table service reservations, don't make them!

Enjoy your trip, regardless of the direction it takes!

[JPL]

I try to make a few ADRs and then wing it with CS or maybe the rare walk up. I agree the few times I went all out with ADRs I felt like I was a prisoner of the ADRs and the Dining Plan. I ate at times I wasn't really hungry and felt like I missed out on quality park time wasting it in a restaurant or going to and from the restaurant. However Park Hopping is a must for me. I enjoy going from park to park and having the option of taking advantage of EMH after spending the day in a different park or just heading to Epcot for Illuminations or the MK for the MSEP & fireworks.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We had started doing the same thing. Booking tons of ADRs per trip and felt we were always running to eat. After a few of these trips we realized how foolish it was to tell our kids they had to wait to meet a character at a later time, or we couldn't ride a certain ride just yet because we had a reservation. On our last few trips I've tried to tone down our ADRs (booking about half of what I had on past trips) and try to wing it a bit. It was so nice to not always be watching the clock. I've also decided that if we are having fun, in the park, at the pool, or anywhere that an ADR can always be cancelled rather than pulling our family from a fun time to go eat. I always try to cancel as far ahead of time as I can and I never make ADRs just for the sake of having them, but sometimes (maybe once per trip) we've decided that what we were doing was more important than an ADR and I've called and cancelled.

In the end its all about what you want out of your vacation. If dining is more important to you than the parks then by all means plan for it that way, but if you feel that its not worth it to have so much of your vacation planned around eating then tone it down a bit. I've been surprised on our last several trips at how often we can call the day of and find a decent place to eat, and we've even tried new places that we wouldn't have tried otherwise. Some of these new places turned out to be hidden jems!!!!!

[Suz36]

We've had the park hopper option for 3/5 of our trips, and usually only use it 2 or 3 times per trip. I am a mega-planner, usually plan to be in one park per day, and plan our ADRs around that. It works well for us. The only time the PH has come into play for us is at the end of the week, when we'd missed something and wanted to try to catch it. For me, the PH just causes more stress, costs more money, and I don't like wasting the time traveling from one park to the next. To each his own!

[Pop Centurion]

We always book our ADR's based on what park we will be at that day. The only time we've deviated from that plan was last year when my wifes niece came with us. Her & her BF weren't staying as long so we wanted to do the places we knew they'd enjoy before they left. This meant doing Boma on a day we we're at DHS. Which wasn't too bad but it meant lost time at the park due to the travel time. Normally we do Boma when we'll be at AK and book it for after park closing to make it more convenient.

[Canuck Park Hopper]

We went with a QS based dining plan for the very reason that if we had gone with a TS plan we would feel obligated to line up so many (14 days worth) dining reservations and then not having the freedom to enjoy the vacation itself.

So instead - we made a list of 6 restaurant experiences that were "must have" and made just those reservations. The remainder we will take as QS, on our plan, where and when we need it.

[WishingStar2006]

We just got back last night from a week long trip with the deluxe dining plan. Our plan was a TS for lunch and a signature dinner late in the evening (8 pm or later). Although the food was fabulous and I just did the calculation and saved over $900 using the deluxe dining plan vs. what it would have cost out of pocket, we did find that we were slaves to the ADR's and had to schedule our parks and times around the ADR's which weren't always where we wanted to be. However, these days you can't "walk-up" at just about any TS restaurant.

As previous posters have written, if experiencing the glorious food at WDW is a priority on your vacation then you sacrifice the flexibility of "going with the flow".

[Joannelet]

I am so glad to see that I am not the only one that feels like a slave to the ADR's at times
Now that I have a child I know that I don't want it to be like that. I want to enjoy everything for what it is
I have been thinking of toning down the ressies...which looks like that is the way I am going to go for our trip next year.

[CleveRocks]

We eat almost exclusively counter-service. We make MAYBE 2 ADRs for the entire week.

I never ever considered making our Disney trips about food. In fact, we really hate it on those 1 or 2 days when we have an ADR ... we hate the feeling of having to be somewhere at a certain time ... too much like real life, not vacation-y enough.

[thumperbug]

we generally look at the park calendars, decide what day we are doing what park and plan 1 adr per day at that park. We always use our itinerary as a loose guideline. We don't feel like slaves to ADR's and for us the dining is as enjoyable as the park experience. we love the ph option because some nights we decide to pop over somewhere else for a little bit.

[TheVBs]

We used to do the same thing, park hoppers and ADRs every day. We've decided we don't enjoy doing it that way any more either. The last time we went we did by the PHs, but never even used them. I think the big difference is that our girls are a little older and they don't need that mid-day break, so we can enjoy one park for a whole day. We also passed on the every day ADRs and just made a few sit down reservations for our 9 day trip. It was perfect for us! I like enjoying a few good meals there, but I don't want to be a slave to ADRs.

[disneymom15]

We maybe make 1 or 2 ADR's on our trips. We don't want to have to work our days around a dining schedule. Plus it seems like we eat less when its hot outside.

[BigRedDad]

I feel exactly the way you do. The table service dining is way over priced for what you get, so we stopped doing them. We do try to plan the counter service dining for places that have things other than hamburger, pizza, chicken nuggets. Epcot is great for this. MK has Columbia Harbor House and a few others. AK has Flame Tree BBQ. DHS has ABC Commissary. I know Pop Century has the standards but they also have the section that changes daily. I think other resorts have this as well.

I no longer even plan which park I am going to each day unless there is morning EMH. When we wake up, we go to the bus stop and see what shows up first. If we did it the night before, we wait for the next bus.