Are you a "wing it" with meals person or a reservation person..

[katyringo]

So..

On past trips we have had a meal reservation pretty much every day of our trips. Usually just one.

In November I did a solo WDW trip and didn't make a single one. I loved just doing my own thing and as a solo I was able to get a couple walk ups.

I also worry about over scheduling ourselves. But I also feel that having that one a day allows us to rest our feet and take our time. We have 5 parks days and an OBB day. I try to schedule them for either a 1230-1 lunch to take advantage of morning crowds or 5-6 when we return from an afternoon pool/hotel break.

What do you do? What is your style? I'm also struggling because there are so many good QS options!

 

[Reymagsnlevismom]

We do both reservations for character breakfast and cafe orleans and then wing the rest

 

[Boopuff]

We usually do one “meet up” reservation meal where the whole family gets together. Just one meal a day. The rest of the time we wing it.

 

[cari12]

We mostly wing it. For our upcoming May trip we have 3 reservations- a lunch at Carnation Cafe, a dinner at Goofy’s and a dinner at Wine Country Trattoria. Our hotel has free breakfast and the rest of the meals will be whatever’s good near where we are. It’ll be interesting with mobile ordering which may make this style even easier. I find it hard to predict when we’ll want to eat 2 months out Lol.
I am hoping to score a reservation or do a walk up at Oga’s Cantina for a drink one night as well.

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

I usually like to have at least one reservation per day, but for my upcoming trip only 2 of the 5 days will have reservations. It’s just the way it worked out with our schedule and where we want to eat. I’m just planning on keeping my eye on mobile ordering windows more than usual. At least it means less days of waking up at 6 am to score reservations!

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

Accidental double post, deleted.

 

[PirateBrigade]

we used to do like…one reservation for a 3 day trip just to have something that’s not eat-while-standing.

Lately, though, with so much emphasis on the scheduling of things, it’s nice not being subject to the tyranny of reservations when it comes to food.

I mean, I miss my lamplight lunches, but eh.

 

[JoMarch]

Traditionally, I’m a reservation person, however the trips that I “winged it” have been my most favorite and relaxing.

 

[chezcurrie]

Both - typically schedule a nice sit down bruch or dinner on non-park/down days, and will only do an in park reservation if its a must-eat place (like lamplight or Blue Bayou), but probably only once a trip - our plans seem to always change anyways! Have had good success with walk-ups for our fam of 5 at Carnation Cafe as well as DTD restaurants.

One of the things I prefer about DLR is the lack of need for ADRs like WDW - our Dec 2018 WDW trip I felt a slave to our ADRs.

For OBB, I actually would recommend a sit down prior to the party, just because the lines for food can be long and you want to be spending time enjoying the party.

 

[StormyCA]

At WDW we normally do one TS ADR a day, usually a late lunch or early dinner. But at DL it's pretty rare that we do an ADR at all, we just wing it with CS & QS and an occasional 'walk up' for a TS. But it sounds as if things are different at DL now and it might be better to approach it from the WDW angle.

We do ADR at WDW because it's pretty much impossible to just walk up and wait and because there are so many choices of cuisine and in the food. And the 'quality' of the food is more worth the price. DL (IMO) has a dearth of TS places (compared to WDW) and most of them are just not that appealing or worth the price. Caveat: I'm gluten free so I'm talking about my limited choices. WDW does a much better job with GF dining than DL does, although DL is very, very good at it.

 

[mlggator22]

For short stays (1 to 2 days), we wing it. I find we really focus on what we want to do at the moment. So heading off to eat a big meal when we're not that hungry yet or maybe wanting to ride something, just doesn't work for us on a short trip. For longer trips, we may schedule 1 or 2 TS meals depending on how long we are staying, but not everyday.

 

[Pluto468]

On all of our previous trips we'd only do one character meal and maybe something like a Fantasmic dinner.

But since the parks reopened it seems alot harder to just wander into a restaurant and get food. So for our upcoming trip in June I'm making reservations for almost every meal. It's not my preference, though. Most of the places we like don't take reservations, but mobile ordering seems like a hassle to me.

So I guess to answer the question, I am a "Wing it" type by nature but have started making reservations because it seems like you need them if you want a guaranteed meal. I'm going to see how things are in the park as we get closer to the trip and would be happy to cancel most of those ADRa if it seems like we don't need them.

 

[Ladyslug]

The only reservation we usually make is Blue Bayou -- it's a must-do for my husband on every trip (we don't go to Disneyland very often, and it's usually 2-3 day trips). Other than that it's pretty much wing it, and now with mobile order it's even easier to do that. On our most recent trip, we made mobile order window bookings and a same-day reservation for Cafe Orleans (we really had a craving for a Monte Cristo for lunch) while we were waiting for the rope to drop.

 

[StarlitNight05]

We definitely wing it. We may do one reservation a trip, usually Blue Bayou since I'm a sucker for the atmosphere, but sometimes we do all quick service and walk-ups. I don't particularly like being tied down to a certain time. It's hard to predict when I want a snack, or a bigger meal, so I like being spontaneous. The quick service at Disneyland is also excellent so that helps out quite a bit!

 

[StarlitNight05]

The only reservation we usually make is Blue Bayou -- it's a must-do for my husband on every trip (we don't go to Disneyland very often, and it's usually 2-3 day trips). Other than that it's pretty much wing it, and now with mobile order it's even easier to do that. On our most recent trip, we made mobile order window bookings and a same-day reservation for Cafe Orleans (we really had a craving for a Monte Cristo for lunch) while we were waiting for the rope to drop.

You sound like us!

 

[beachdreamr1229]

We wing it for the most part. I typically don't like wasting valuable ride time on table service restaurants. Mobile ordering is more my style. Just get in, eat, and get out fast. When we recently went to WDW for a week, we did 2 reservations over the course of the week. For DLR trips, we're usually only there for 1-3 days, so at most we'll do 1 reservation, but even that is pushing it.

 

[smartlabelprint]

We wing it. I made Oga’s and 2 LL res throughout the trip as they came up. Going with a big group and they’re all for only 5 though.

 

[JeannieNM]

We are wing it. No idea when we will be hungry or what we want to eat in advance. We are also Magic Key holders so we never know that far in advance when we are going. We do club level GCH if we overnight so they have breakfast and snacks. We have Blue Bayou on our to do list but we can never get reservations and now I believe it is closed for remodeling.

 

[danceintherain]

We've gotten to be more on the "wing it" side over time. The kids get hungry when they're hungry, and that's rarely at a scheduled meal time. I also like having the flexibility of going back to our hotel for a break at any point, then possibly not return to the park. So if it's 12:30 and we only have one more thing in the park "to do" then I'll just do that thing, and not plan to come back.
My last Disney trip, which happened to be to Disneyland I booked one. This time, also to DLR, I don't have any booked. I may try to snag something day of or walk up, but the counter service food is so good that it's more likely I will just do a mobile order as soon as we know which area of the park we'll be in around meal time. I actually prefer to eat a bunch of smaller meals when I'm traveling, rather than 3 large meals.
As far as breaks are concerned, I have a really difficult time relaxing, unless I leave the parks entirely, so I'd rather grab something on the way back to or at the hotel, and eat there. If I'm sitting in a restaurant, it's fine, but not particularly relaxing or rejuvenating, especially if my kids are along.

I try to think about my traveling companions more than anything. For our WDW trip next year, I think my parents will like having one meal a day planned, because it will allow the whole family to gather together. Eating together without an ADR probably won't happen with 20 people. I may try to convince them that 1 or 2 is a better plan, since 6 of those people will be under 10, and 2 of the three children over 10 have special needs. Probably none of the kids will still be taking naps everyday, so breaks may actually take longer, while the adults take turns resting.

My next trip to DLR will be just ODS and I, so it will be fun for me to just focus on him. If he's hungry, we eat. If I'm hungry, we eat.

With 5 park days at DLR, I doubt you'll need a fixed sit down meal every day for relaxing. It also won't be overscheduling to do it either. In your position, I would probably book one for every day to start, then reevaluate as you get closer. Or even see how the first day goes, but cancel the ones for later in the week if you decide its unnecessary.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Usually do a couple of reservations for a 3-4 day trip but wing it most of the time. This trip we have 5 day hoppers, and I have reservations for at least one meal for 4 of the days. It feels slightly over scheduled to me, but this is our last planned trip and we wanted to experience some things we'd never done.