Hi Denise! You must be so excited to be visiting Disney World for the first time!
The answer to your question depends on when you're traveling to Disney World. Holidays, spring break, and summer are extremely busy times at Disney. During those times of year, you may walk up to a sit-down restaurant to find no available tables. At less crowded times of year, it may be possible to dine at a table-service restaurant without a reservation, although you may need to be flexible about the restaurant and willing to dine at off-peak times. While I understand your desire to just "wing
it" and not plan where you'll be or when you'll eat, I think that you'll really
have a much more relaxing vacation if you do a little advance planning. There's nothing worse than being hot and tired and finding that
the restaurant in which you'd like to dine is booked not just for that meal, but
for the rest of the day. That's happened to me, and I don't want it to happen
to you.
I recommend that you take a look at the park calendars on the Disney website to determine the
operating hours of the parks during your visit, as well as the times of any
parades or shows you'd like to see. Use that information to decide which park
you'd like to visit each day, and then pick at least one restaurant in that park
that you'd like to try, and make a reservation for lunch or dinner. (You can browse the restaurants
here.) If your
plans change, you can always cancel the reservation, but you'll have it if you
need it.
I want your first trip to be magical -- if you need help choosing restaurants or deciding which parks to visit on particular days of your vacation, we're happy to help you here at the Moms Panel. Just ask!