Anyone happy with No Meal Plan???

[herbg]

Seems that instead of looking forward to the attractions at Disney World, this whole new concept of Dining Plans and Advanced Reservations is overshadowing the main reason for our visit. I can't believe how people are making reservations for specific restaurants months in advance. You've basically committed yourself to a specific park for that date... no room for a change in plans in case of bad weather etc. Oh well, to each his own

In any case.. my question..

Can reservations be made at Table Service restaurants even if we did not sign up for a specific Meal Plan? How to go about that? Would prefer reserving the day before... is that even possible or is that a pipe dream? LOL

 

[gem21]

Yes, you can make reservations for any TS restaurant with or without the dining plan. I see you are staying on site, but if you were staying off-site it wouldn't matter, you can still make ADRs regardless.

Are ADRs necessarily... well since you are going in July, which is probably one of the busiest months at WDW, I would say for most of the restaurants getting an ADR the day before would be very difficult if not impossible, unless you don't have your heart set on a specific restaurant or don't mind eating at odd hours.

 

[RitaE]

Like you I actually prefer no Meal Plan to the Disney Dining Plan, especially if I've gotten a discount on my room instead. I love to eat just as much as the next woman but the Dining Plan really does tie you to a series of tables and you have to get your money's worth. Sometimes it is really nice just to say "I'm NOT hungry right now and I think we can skip lunch and just grab a snack!" or "No I'm full, I don't want dessert!" The Dining plan really messes with that.

We do make ADRs for restaurants, but with the new ability to make online ADRs from my iPhone I foresee much more flexibility in our vacation.

As for reserving the day ahead - that really depends on how tied you are going to be to specific restaurants and times. The Free Dining promotions really book the restaurants up but if you are willing to be flexible and most importantly eat at off times, you can certainly still find plenty of food. For instance, I just did a search for the Magic Kingdom for dinner tomorrow night for 4 people and found plenty of availability, as long as you are willing to eat after 7pm.

 

[Laz]

I never book the dinning plan and have never had trouble booking a table 24 hours in advanced. I save up my Disney credit card points and use them to buy all my family's food for the week. We also eat at non peak times.

 

[TDC Nala]

I am much happier without the dining plan. Last time I had one, I ended up really wanting something that wasn't included and had to put off getting it. That means I missed out on trying the food at La Cava del Tequila on its opening day.

If you are within 180 days (180 plus 10 for those with Disney resort reservations) you can make any restaurant reservations you want, it makes no difference whether you have a dining plan or not.

As for reserving the day before...that is likely not going to work for the ultrapopular restaurants or character meals. And the more particular you are about where and when you eat, the sooner you should make reservations. In a busy month like July, at a park like MK which has only 5 full service restaurants, you may want to consider looking at restaurants in nearby resorts instead of inside the park.

 

[MHSweb79]

There's a "Dining" button on your phone at the resort. You can call from your room or go down to the Concierge in the lobby, who will be happy to help you.

You'll almost certainly find SOME availability but you probably won't find the most desirable restaurants at the most desirable times. The more flexible you are, the happier you'll be.

We do book our ADR's months in advance, but we also remain flexible. If we realize an ADR just doesn't suit us on a specific day, we'll try to change it or we'll skip it in favor of something else. ADR's support our trip, they don't rule it. We don't do any meals that require a CC hold so there's no penalty for last minute cancellations, or even no-shows, which we try to avoid if at all possible.

 

[herbg]

your responses have put my mind at ease ... glad to hear that even without the dining plan it is possible to make advanced reservations. We'll sit down and decide if any of the table service restaurants including character breakfasts in any of the parks are a "must do" for us.
Other than that we'll be happy with counter service for the remainder, since our objective at Disney World is to see the sights, not be seated and wait for a meal

thanks again for the input...

 

[TLSnell1981]

your responses have put my mind at ease ... glad to hear that even without the dining plan it is possible to make advanced reservations. We'll sit down and decide if any of the table service restaurants including character breakfasts in any of the parks are a "must do" for us.
Other than that we'll be happy with counter service for the remainder, since our objective at Disney World is to see the sights, not be seated and wait for a meal

thanks again for the input...

The park hours are posted about six months in advance. This is how we determine were to book our dining. Our days don't revolve around meals, rather we use this as "down time". Disney is a master at turning tables. It's nice to have an air conditioned seat and relax for an hour.

Just remember, you are not locked into any dining reservation. The most restrictive ressie can be cancelled with no penalty, if it's done 48 before your dining time. Most have no penalty at all. You can always book and "tweak" as you near your vacation date.

Good luck!

 

[MarriedToAPrince]

I think the key for some people is making some type of plan as to where they will be on a specific day so they can adjust for rest time. Like for us, we know what parks we are planning on being at because we are making our itinerary work for us with a toddler, so ADRs work well for us, BUT if for some reason we need to make a change we can. Pick up the phone in your room and hit the button for dining reservations. You can make reservations or even cancel them. That is the beauty of the system. You can make plans but change them if needed.

 

[kristinmajor]

I am going in 10 days and will be at Villas @WL for 8 days. I have no meal plan. We have 8 TS ADRs.

I looked at tourinplans.com and chose my parks and then made ADRs. 3 for lunch (Crystal Palace, Tusker House, Hollywood & Vine), 1 breakfast (Chef Mickey), 4 dinner (Trail's End, Whispering Canyon, Le Cellier, and Coral Reef (thinking seriously about dropping that last one; it is our last night)).

I almost had myself talked into the dining plan because I was spending a lot of time on this site. Cooler heads prevailed. We are going to the parks primarily for the rides/entertainment, not the restaurants. We will eat breakfast at villa and another meal. One nice meal a day is great for us.

I am taking three little boys. They will enjoy the 3 character meals and Whispering Canyon. Le Cellier is for the adults.

I did make ADRs at 180 days, but I have changed several (admittedly not CP, CM, or Le Cellier)

 

[free2div]

Also I know at Epcot at guest services they have a list and times of resturants that have openings for that day..so you can always stop by Guest Services and see .I think all the parks have that at guest services

 

[disneyfan55]

Seems that instead of looking forward to the attractions at Disney World, this whole new concept of Dining Plans and Advanced Reservations is overshadowing the main reason for our visit. I can't believe how people are making reservations for specific restaurants months in advance. You've basically committed yourself to a specific park for that date... no room for a change in plans in case of bad weather etc. Oh well, to each his own

In any case.. my question..

Can reservations be made at Table Service restaurants even if we did not sign up for a specific Meal Plan? How to go about that? Would prefer reserving the day before... is that even possible or is that a pipe dream? LOL

That's the one thing I miss about WDW. Before FD you could pretty much make a reservation the day of and eat where you wanted to!! I don't like visiting WDW in such a structured manner. We did do FD a few times. The last few trips we used TIW but still the structure. We are returning in Nov/Dec and we only have 1 reservation for a character breakfast. The vacation, to me becomes much too structured with all the necessary reservations so far in advance.

To answer your question, you can make a reservation without having a dining plan purchased. If you go during a very slow time, you might be able to get a reservation the day before-it depends where you would like to eat though. It seems some places are booked up for the 6 months! I recall even up to 2001 that you could get a reservation in the CASTLE the same day!!!

My daughter (32) even realized after our last trip in Feb that these trips in the later 2000s are much too structured and it does take away from the real purpose of going to WDW (at least to us!)

 

[1moremile]

If you are within 180 days (180 plus 10 for those with Disney resort reservations) you can make any restaurant reservations you want, it makes no difference whether you have a dining plan or not.

How do you make reservations 190 days out with resort reservations? Is there a way to check multiple restaurants for a certain time?

 

[gem21]

How do you make reservations 190 days out with resort reservations? Is there a way to check multiple restaurants for a certain time?

You can only make reservations 180 +10 days out if you have a resort confirmation. Otherwise you are out of luck. (There was a glitch for a while that let anyone make ADRs 190 out, but it has since been fixed).

You can easily check more than one restaurant at a time. Just go to the Disney Dining main page "Where to Eat", in the information box at the top enter the date and time of your desired ADR, click on the search button and it should pull up all the available restaurants for your date and time.

 

[1moremile]

You can only make reservations 180 +10 days out if you have a resort confirmation. Otherwise you are out of luck. (There was a glitch for a while that let anyone make ADRs 190 out, but it has since been fixed).

You can easily check more than one restaurant at a time. Just go to the Disney Dining main page "Where to Eat", in the information box at the top enter the date and time of your desired ADR, click on the search button and it should pull up all the available restaurants for your date and time.

Thanks! And a big DOH on my part. I used that page but always put in a restaurant. I see now that I can put in a date/time and get a list of what's available. Took a quick look and didn't see where to put in resort reservation info, but we're going to be there in 3 weeks for the half marathon so it's not important for this trip plus we already have ADR's. I am learning so much from this forum and thought this info would be handy for the next trip. Thanks again for the quick reply!!

 

[jillgunter]

Our last trip in December, we had ADRs to very hard to get restraunts (Crystal Palace for example). People were walking up and getting tables at most of the places we ate at. I was kind of put off that I couldnt get any reservations, even tried from our room. So the last day we just walked up and was able to get a table in 5 minutes at the Mexican place in Epcot. And according to the CM when I called, there was NOTHING at Epcot that day! So as long as you dont have a must have, I would do what you feel comfortable with. We have a 4 yr old, so we have to make ADRs. Dont want to wait long when you have a hungry child.

 

[txtara]

I just cannot justify the cost for a dining plan. The QSDP would cost my family 152.00 a day. Looking at the menus and prices I find it hard to spend that much at 3 quick serve meals per day (let alone two). I really don't think we would get our monies worth. I guess we will find out in March.

 

[Mom of 2 Wife of 1]

You've basically committed yourself to a specific park for that date... no room for a change in plans in case of bad weather etc. Oh well, to each his own

Uh, so if it's raining in Epcot we should change our plans and go to Hollywood Studios instead... where it won't be raining?

Why wouldn't you commit yourself to a particular park on a particular day, yes, months in advance? There are only four parks. Would you go to London or Paris and just "wing it," or would you maximize your precious time by knowing what you would do and where you would go on every single day of your vacation?

You don't have to plan for WDW. But don't get upset when you can't walk into a certain restaurant and get a table, or if you get to the parks and have to wait 120 minutes to go on a ride. Just sayin'.

 

[TDC Nala]

I think it's more like if you spend the day in MK and absolutely love it and everyone wants to go back to MK instead of going to AK the next day you don't have to tell them "We can't, we have a lunch reservation at Tusker House."

 

[AdventureLover67]

herbg-
I think the Dining Plan is great, however, it does add some "stress" to planning (frustration of times, location, etc.). I think if your willing to be flexible and don't mind which location you eat at and it's best for your budget, you can always wait until you check in and ask the concerige desk what is available. The first year we used it that's exactly what we did. I personally love the pre-paid concept but don't like the fact it seems I have a hard time getting into places we really want to try (i.e. the Canadian Steak House at EPCOT, trying for 3 years to get in!).
I also don't always like being tied to a schedule but for us the Meal Plan does work in the long run so we just formulate a wish list and go from there.
I agree with the other posters that it's really just personal preference and you sound like the type of person who is there to relax and enjoy so you'll most likely make out fine with whatever you choose!
Have a wonderful time!