ADR concerns for Dec Trip

[mrincredible34]

Saw a post a few weeks ago about a forum member not being able to book Ohana due to its popularity and more guests then usual booking with free dining. I can start making reservations soon, but I am concerned I will not get the restaurants I want (ohana, california grill, beaches and cream, BOG, etc.) Our trip is not very long and with the added ten days guests have from their check-in date I am worried most of these have been fully booked. Have any of you had any issues with this? Thanks!

 

[Disney4family]

Just do the best you can.
Remember - book them in the order of importance to you!! It may be totally out of day order, but get the ones you want the most first. (Thursday lunch, Monday dinner, Wednesday dinner, Tuesday b'fast, etc.)
Be flexible if you can - you listed 2 MK resort locations - if you can't get 1 for the night you thought, can you flip flop it with the other night you planned on dining at the 2nd location? We have to play around with this all the time. It may not look like your original plan, but at least you will dine where you hoped to.
Also - be flexible with your time - You may have wanted a 2pm lunch, but only 1 or 3 is available. You're reserving these first so you don't have to worry about your FastPass times.
Keep checking back. People's plans change. Something may open - a day, a time, or both. (I plan on taking my 79 year old mother to the California Grill this year. The time we would like to have isn't available. We have an earlier than hoped-for time. It would be nice to dine later in the evening, but, if not, she'll still get to experience it. It'll be ok. We're in WDW!)
As much as I love planning for each trip, this is one part that's as stomach-wrenching as it is exciting. (no pun intended)

 

[disneyca]

We are going for 2 weeks in December, I too was worried about getting my ADR's.
Make sure you are signed into your "My Disney Experience" account before 6am Est time.
Reservations can be made at 6am Est online, 7am by phone.
Like the other poster said make your reservations in importance order.
I was able to get every reservation I wanted, including dinner shows and 'Ohana at the beginning and end of our 2 weeks.
Good luck!!

 

[Canuckgirl78]

I feel your pain! I get to book our ADRs next week for our 5-day trip, and am sooo nervous I won't get the ones I really want ('Ohana, BOG, Akerhus, etc.), especially with free dining and Candlelight Processional happening at the same time. I guess we'll both just have to wait and see how successful we are at getting our ADRs! Good luck!

 

[Swissmiss]

As another poster said, keep checking back - even when you are there. We've had very good luck moving things around "last minute" (a day or two before) and even finding reservations that were not previously available. Most important is to pick places as your substitutes where you would want to eat, then if in the end you still can't move things around, you are still happy with your plans.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

We will be there the first week of December, and we had no problems getting what we wanted. We had to be up at 4 am to book because of the time difference but we got what we want and all the times we wanted. We had everything written down, where we wanted to eat and in what days. The first meal we booked was O'hana and Beaches And Cream. As I know those are usually the hardest to get.

 

[mrincredible34]

To my surprise we were able to get everything we wanted! I took your advice and went for the most important ones first. I did not get ohana on the first day as planned but was able to get it later on during our trip. Thanks for everyone's help!