Disney Tightening Requirements for Some ADRs

I would hate to do a first come... first serve basis. Then your hoping to get into a place that your not sure you can get into and when you don't... it could screw up the whole day. Say you wanted to go to Ohana... its not like if thats booked or had an hour wait you can go into Magic Kingdom and spend some time. I think at a place like Disney World... ADR's make your day and week a lot less hectic. Might be on some time constraints... but I like some things planned, and to have food done for the day... thats a plus to me.

I actually love this new policy. I've tried for 3 years to get kidlet into chef mickey's and its never happened. We found the castle was much easier to get into, simply because they took your credit card number and would charge you if you didnt show up. I rarely drop a reservation within 24 hours, the two times we did were for legitimate reasons. The first was my mom had gotten glutened so we modified the reservation that morning to possibly let someone else in to eat at the character meal. The second was when we realised we were all so toast that we couldnt do a 7:30 am breakfast, I called before 9pm and moved it.

I was actually thinking of this, getting rid of the adrs altogether. We've had passes for 12 yrs and when we first got our passes, you could go to any restaurant and get in, some with a longer wait than others. I remember waiting for an hr to eat at Boma. Now there's absolutely no way to eat w/o adrs. We often make spontaneous trips for the afternoon or evening, so we never get to eat anywhere but the counter service places. We've tried a few times to call in the morning for that night, hoping for a cancellation, but have never had any luck. I hate the adrs but don't have a solution, except maybe add more restaurants? We can't possibly book 180 days out, except maybe for a holiday. Maybe they could save a few spots for passholders? Not sure how they'd do that, but it's a disadvantage for us, especially when people who travel make reservations at more than one place. I like the booths for the f&w because I can try all the good food but the lines are so long and it's not the atmosphere of a table restaurant. They did add some tall tables along world showcase which is nice if you can get one.

That might be true during busy seasons, but we've had no trouble getting into table-service restaurants without an ADR during off-peak times of the year. Sure, we couldn't get into the headliner places (we've been turned away from Le Cellier every time we tried), but we've never been turned away at Restaurant Marrakesh, and we got into Boma and Sci-Fi Dine-In last November without ADRs and only a 15-20 minute wait at both restaurants. We've also managed to make same-day ADRs at guest services in Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

Ridiculous..yet true. I was a member of another board for many years and this wasn't unheard of. I never loved the idea it just doesn't seem fair.

Thank YOU!! I was beginning to think that I was the only person who was able to get a reservation. I rarely go during the busy season though.

I also never seem to have a problem getting my ADRs. Sometimes I have to go to my second choice, but very rarely have I not been able to get to eat where I wanted to. Last October I couldn't get Chef Mickey's at 160 days, but I kept checking every week or two and before the trip came up we were able to get in for a breakfast ADR, and it was at the time that I wanted.

I've also never had a problem walking up. If you do it right when service starts there's almost always a place for you. If you eat later, yes, you may have to wait 20-30 minutes but I've never been turned away.