Quick report from the crazy lady that cancelled all adr's and faspasses right before trip.

[eeyoresmom]

I had started a thread about being stressed out having ADR's and faspasses all set up for our quick 3 night trip to WDW to see the holiday decor. Once I made the plans I felt that the trip had lost the laid back feeling i really wanted so I cancelled everything but our Candlelight Dining Package. We had the Dx DDp so most people thought I was nuts. Here is an honest report of how it went for us. Obviously the 2 major concerns were that we wouldn't get into the TS restaurants with our winging it plan. This went really well. We checked MDE the night before and made a few ADR's that way. Most ADR's we made day of, most just hours before. Here's where we got ADR's for: Saana lunch, Kona dinner, was able to switch out Coral Reef CP pkg to Chefs de France the day before, California Grill for the holiday fireworks and dinner, Yak and Yeti lunch, Boma dinner, Crystal Palace breakfast and Skipper Canteen's lunch. We even got a dinner ADR for 'oHana but were not hungry enough to attempt it.I would NOT recommend doing this without a rental car. We had one this trip and I know my way around WDW so visiting the resorts for meals was actually nice but would have been a nightmare using Disney transportation. We didn't care about doing any rides so I wasn't too worried about fastpasses. I was checking MDE throughout just to see though. At 3 days out everything but Pandora and FEA was open. The availability went down the day before ,time of day wise, but most attractions were still available. Day of availability was pretty poor for HS, Epcot had ok availabiity for the late afternoons and MK was open all day the day we went (Tuesday), except for Seven Dwarves. So, if I were going again and definitely wanted to do some rides I would keep the fastpasses. If I ever rent a car again, which DH may insist on, it was so convenient to have, I would definitely go ADR free. I loved not being tied to any restaurant, it freed us up to visit another park, stay at the pool etc. Overall great trip. HS is beautiful at night with all the over the top holiday decor, we love the storytellers in Epcot and MK is as festive as ever.

 

[AngiTN]

I had started a thread about being stressed out having ADR's and faspasses all set up for our quick 3 night trip to WDW to see the holiday decor. Once I made the plans I felt that the trip had lost the laid back feeling i really wanted so I cancelled everything but our Candlelight Dining Package. We had the Dx DDp so most people thought I was nuts. Here is an honest report of how it went for us. Obviously the 2 major concerns were that we wouldn't get into the TS restaurants with our winging it plan. This went really well. We checked MDE the before and made a few ADR's that way. Most ADR's we made day of, most just hours before. Here's where we got ADR's for: Saana lunch, Kona dinner, was able e to switch out Coral Reef CP pkg to Chefs de France the day before, California Grill for the holiday fireworks and dinner, Yak and Yeti lunch, Boma dinner, Crystal Palace breakfast and Skipper Canteen's lunch. We even got a dinner ADR for 'oHana but were not hungry enough to attempt it.I would NOT recommend doing this without a rental car. We had one this trip and I know my way around WDW so visiting the resorts for meals was actually nice but would have been a nightmare using Disney transportation. We didn't care about doing any rides so I wasn't too worried about fastpasses. I was checking MDE throughout just to see though. At 3 days out everything but Pandora and FEA was open. The availability went down the day before time of day wise but most were still available. Day of availability was pretty poor for HS, Epcot had ok availabiity for the late afternoons and MK was open all day the day we went (Tuesday), except for Seven Dwarves. So, if I were going again and definitely wanted to do some rides I would keep the fastpasses. If I ever rent a car again, which DH may insist on, it was so convenient to have, I would definitely go ADR free. I loved not being tied to any restaurant, it freed us up to visit another park, stay at the pool etc. Overall great trip. HS is beautiful at night with all the over the top holiday decor, we love the storytellers in Epcot and MK is as festive as ever.

We actually do that without a rental car every trip. It's the only way we do ADR at Disney and we only eat TS at Disney. Well, maybe not only but 99% TS. It's really no problem to do with buses.

I posted on your original post that wouldn't ever do it with FP but I always do it with ADR

 

[pattyw]

That's wonderful! I have noticed, too that you can get almost any ADR the day before or day of due to cancellations. We have also started only making a few ADR's and then winging it. I do go onto MDE to do an ADR even if it's while we arrive at the restaurant as I've seen people turned away as walk ups, but there are times available on MDE.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I'm definitely done stressing about ADRs after this last trip.

 

[DisneyDad2015]

Thanks for checking back in and giving us the update. Sounds like it’s important to plan FP’s well in advance for some of the major attractions, but that the ADR’s aren’t as important. I’m glad it all went well for you and that you had a great trip.

 

[loves to dive]

That's the way we do it. We decided last week to go the week of the 17th so I booked a room and haven't booked anything else, including FPs and won't until we get there. We just don't know where we want to go on any given day. We have a car since we drive down but rely totally on Disney transportation with one exception, the night we ate at V&A's (which I did book a week ahead on that trip) we took Uber just because we didn't want to be riding the bus in August all dressed up and we certainly weren't going to drive knowing we were doing the wine flight. I do check every day for FOP FPs because my son likes the ride but otherwise we just book while we are on the bus to whichever park we are going to. We tend to go to the bus stop and hop on the first bus to appear. We eat TS just about once a day and always book it day of.

 

[eeyoresmom]

I'm definitely done stressing about ADRs after this last trip.

It's so hard to know what you will be hungry for and when. And then there's no flexibilty or at least limited if you have to be somewhere for an ADR. Even for someone like myself who goes 3-4 times a year I can only anticipate when we may be hungry. I loved being ADR free...it was so exciting to check the app and see CG pop up for the perfect time to see the holiday fireworks. There really was great availability. One caveat is that DH and I are adventurous eaters, nothing turns us off so we weren't limited to a specific menu.

 

[SaintsManiac]

It's so hard to know what you will be hungry for and when. And then there's no flexibilty or at least limited if you have to be somewhere for an ADR. Even for someone like myself who goes 3-4 times a year I can only anticipate when we may be hungry. I loved being ADR free...it was so exciting to check the app and see CG pop up for the perfect time to see the holiday fireworks. There really was great availability. One caveat is that DH and I are adventurous eaters, nothing turns us off so we weren't limited to a specific menu.

This is why we've mainly booked breakfast ADRs, because we know we'll always eat that. My daughter likes Crystal Palace, so I would probably book that one only if she keeps requesting it.

We saw SO much availability Thanksgiving week it shocked me. If stuff can pop up like that during such a busy time I know I can stop getting up at 5am on our 180 day

 

[mom2rtk]

It would never work for us. There are certain places I just know I have to eat at to be happy with the trip. And we don't go that often, so we can't just catch what we miss next time.

That said, thanks for posting back. I'm glad it worked out for you and helped you enjoy your trip!

 

[eeyoresmom]

We actually did get to do a lot because we made rope drop 2 of the 3 days. TT, Soarin, EE, Kilimajaro Safari, Dinosaur, We didn't want to do Space or Big Thunder but hopped on Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion. I didn't want to plan on making rope drop because DH likes leisurely mornings but it just worked out that way. One other thing. We had an early flight out on our arrival so when we got to our resort at 1 pm and had a late lunch at Saana, DH went to rest by the pool and fell asleep for 3 hours!! Our tentative plan was to go to HS that night so I was so glad we didnt have an ADR...he would have been miserable. Instead I was able to tweak our next day to do AK in the morning and HS at night. That first night we took the boat over to WL which was gorgeous, we spent 2 hours there, popped into MK to see it dressed up, then a late dinner at Kona. Worked out beautifully.

 

[eeyoresmom]

It would never work for us. There are certain places I just know I have to eat at to be happy with the trip. And we don't go that often, so we can't just catch what we miss next time.

That said, thanks for posting back. I'm glad it worked out for you and helped you enjoy your trip!

I agree totally. If you must eat at your favorites I wouldn't risk it. For this specific trip for us, it was a good plan to have no plan.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Glad that you had a great time!

 

[bebec22]

On my last trip my son got sick on our first night. I had to modify all of our plans including ADR's. I couldn't believe how much availability popped up the night before. It changed my view on ADR's and ended my stressing over them!

 

[KenHutch]

I actually thought of you yesterday when we hit the 180 day mark and I was making reservations. Glad to hear ir went well with your family. I thought of you when making an ADR for BOG and was only able to get it for 20:45 hours on one of our MK days.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Glad you had a great time!

I would never do without FP+ just because we go to ride rides and having 3 set rides a day isn't great IMO.

Next trip it'll only be DD12 and myself. We are only going to book GF tea, CRT, BOG lunch and HEA dessert party since they are our must do's. We may also book HDDR but I will decide that when park hours are released. That's it for 9 nights. After that we will wing it. I check the app here and there and find lots of availability the night before or just a few hours for very popular restaurants. It really made me see ADR's in a whole new light. I won't stress over them anymore.

When I go with our family of 4 I book ADR's everyday or else I'll hear everyone's opinion on what and where we should eat and why can't we eat here and blah blah blah. It's easier to have a plan when we go as a unit. But with just DD, we have similar tastes and are very laid back, I know we will be fine picking the night before or just a few hours before. Or just do QS if we want, a snack if we want or eat around the world (F&W).

 

[mdsouth]

It's so hard to know what you will be hungry for and when. And then there's no flexibilty or at least limited if you have to be somewhere for an ADR. Even for someone like myself who goes 3-4 times a year I can only anticipate when we may be hungry. I loved being ADR free...it was so exciting to check the app and see CG pop up for the perfect time to see the holiday fireworks. There really was great availability. One caveat is that DH and I are adventurous eaters, nothing turns us off so we weren't limited to a specific menu.

It is great you had such a wonderful experience. Thanks for reporting back how it went. I agree it is nice to just be able to take the day as it goes.

When I go with our family of 4 I book ADR's everyday or else I'll hear everyone's opinion on what and where we should eat and why can't we eat here and blah blah blah. It's easier to have a plan when we go as a unit. But with just DD, we have similar tastes and are very laid back, I know we will be fine picking the night before or just a few hours before. Or just do QS if we want, a snack if we want or eat around the world (F&W).

I just had to laugh at this statement -blah, blah, blah. It reminds me of the Peanut cartoons when you can't see the adults but just hear them in a non descript way. I so totally get you when you said it works best for you to make some ADRs for your family so you don't here all the complaints and arguments on why you can't eat certain places. This is totally my family, primarily my son, and so I too will be making some ADRs just to have some peace! It is also why I think I will plan at least three maybe four evening meals for my family while we are there next time on a six day trip.

On my last trip it was a combination of four days with just me and my daughter who was 11 at the time and then three days with the entire family (hubby and son) joined us. For the days it was just DD and me, we just went with the flow of things and had a great time. We had a couple of character meals that I planned out ahead of time but other than that the rest of the time was just unstructured. It was great. Then when my hubby and son were there, I had made ADRs for the evening meals and one lunch at MK at the Beast's castle. It worked well too.

 

[elaine amj]

So awesome that it worked out for you! Having a group of 2 helped too. There is definitely always Fps/ADRs as long as you are willing to be flexible. Accessing resort dining easily makes it even more likely to get ADRs.

When I was there in August, there were a couple of days when I didn't make FPs until we got to the parks (usually MK). I also scored FEA for my DD one afternoon at Epcot. Unfortunately I could only manage one so she had to ride alone. I probably could have gotten one more but my DD was sick of me being stuck on my phone hitting "Refresh" .

We also got last minute ADRs for Yak and Yeti and even Garden Grill lunch for 7 (booked late the night before). Also had no trouble with a last minute mod of of Mickey's BBQ ADR. Couldn't modify our F! ADR (ended up cancelling) or our Sci fi ADR though.

Like OP said, MK was the easiest for FPs and I'd snag Peter Pan, Talking Mickey, Winnie the Pool, BTMR, Space, etc all at the last minute. Easiest to do it for one person at a time and refreshing constantly. This did mean sometimes I'd run out of time and some in our party of 7 would have to sit out.

I will say this last minute thing was nice for flexibility but a lot of work for me, the planner. Normally, I do all this work before the trip and we get there and just follow the plan. This time, I constantly had my head in the phone trying to get one they wanted. My family teased me a bit and my SIL would say it was obvious when I was planning as she could SEE the wheels churning in my head haha!

Oh well, it was necessary for this specific trip and the group dynamics. I personally prefer planning though. I get to relax more during the trip and just have to keep an eye on the time and the schedule. No need to figure out logistics when I am actually there.

That said, last year I was there with my girlfriend and went out on 2 solo mornings. I was there at rope drop and didn't use FPs and had a blast just wondering around riding whatever caught my fancy. It was a hoot watching Country Bear Jamboree at 9:20am!!

 

[eeyoresmom]

I actually thought of you yesterday when we hit the 180 day mark and I was making reservations. Glad to hear ir went well with your family. I thought of you when making an ADR for BOG and was only able to get it for 20:45 hours on one of our MK days.

BOG was available for all three meals. Not every time slot but DEFINITELY popped up regularly.

 

[sponica]

Honestly I'm tempted to cancel some of our ADRs (except the character ones and BOG). Especially since right now we're doing 2 TS a day (ugh but traveling with people who want sit down meals). It's fine when it's character bfast and dinner, but lunch and dinner is obnoxious.

So I'm glad it went well for you

 

[zebrastreyepz]

I'm glad it worked well for you!