Is park reservation required from dining reservation?

[richard22929]

Hi all,

Due to travel to WDW in May, One issue that I'm starting to get concerned about is whether or not I need to make a park reservation to attend a dining reservation. For example one of the days we're planning to be at Magic Kingdom from open until late afternoon therefore we've booked a park reservation for Magic Kingdom on this day. However our evening meal on this day is at a restaurant in Epcot, does this mean I also have to book Epcot on this day too? Is it even possible to reserve two parks on the same day?

Any advise is greatly appreciated.

Richard

 

[RememberWhen]

You don’t need to book Epcot as well. You cannot, in fact, have two park reservations for the same day.

Assuming you have park hopper tickets, you are all set. You just need to tap into your first park of the day (MK) and then after 2pm you can hop to any of the other parks.

 

[nickys]

Just to emphasise that you must have a park hopper ticket (or AP) to be able to go to your ADR at a different park to the one you have a reservation for.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

You do not need to and cannot book two park reservations for the same day.
What you DO NEED is a park hopper ticket.
If you do not have a park hopper ticket you are limited to one park per day.

 

[SteveAZee]

As an add-on question (since I haven't tried this), do you need to have a park reservation before you make an ADR in that park? If you can make and ADR and then the park 'sells out' before you can make a park reservation, does the ADR get cancelled automatically, or can they charge you for a no-show if you can't get into the park?

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

As an add-on question (since I haven't tried this), do you need to have a park reservation before you make an ADR in that park? If you can make and ADR and then the park 'sells out' before you can make a park reservation, does the ADR get cancelled automatically, or can they charge you for a no-show if you can't get into the park?

ANYONE can make ADR's.
If the park is "sold out" for that day and you did not get to make a park reservation YOU will need to cancel the ADR.
When park hoping restarted Disney did say that if your secondary park was at capacity and you have an ADR the CMs could help you cancel without penalty however at this point if you have a park hopper you will not be denied entry into another park.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I really hate park pass reservations.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I really hate park pass reservations.

I actually think its pretty beneficial to the company and the consumer because it helps Disney better manage staffing.
I do think the PH restriction should drop off though since they know who has it each day and can likely anticipate where crowds will shift throughout the day.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I actually think its pretty beneficial to the company and the consumer because it helps Disney better manage staffing.
I do think the PH restriction should drop off though since they know who has it each day and can likely anticipate where crowds will shift throughout the day.

I still hate it, but you and Bobby enjoy it so.....

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I still hate it, but you and Bobby enjoy it so.....

You really going this route?

 

[Disstevefan1]

You really going this route?

I apologize... But Bobby still loves it.

 

[Chi84]

I have no objection to park reservations if Disney is using them only as a heads up to know where most guests are planning to spend their day. After all, that's what they had with FP+. But if you had fast passes for AK and then were able to score a last-minute reservation to Be Our Guest, with only certain times of the year excepted, you could drop the fast passes and go to MK instead. Most people weren't doing this, so it still gave Disney a good idea of which parks guests would visit so staffing levels could be adjusted.

What I'm seeing now with the park availability calendar is causing me some concern. I can understand certain parks (or even all of them) being sold out due to lack of capacity during the traditional spring break season. But now certain parks have no availability the last week of April - well beyond spring break and a full week after Easter. I'm willing to give Disney a certain amount of leeway at this time based on continuing labor shortages attributable to COVID.

But if Disney is using this park reservation system to deny people the flexibility to change their minds and go to the park of their choice as long as that park is not at capacity, that's another story altogether. There are many reasons people may decide to switch parks - weather, last-minute restaurant availability, missed opportunity to ride something that wasn't working on their chosen day, or simply a child falling in love with a certain park and wanting to visit it again. As long as the park is not at capacity, that decision should weigh in favor of the consumer, not Disney's convenience.

 

[Kingoglow]

A lot of pressure would be taken off of the park reservation frustrations is Disney loosened the Park Hopper restrictions a bit. Since park opening times have been getting earlier (more often than being extended later in the night), it would make since to move up the Hopper time earlier along with them.

If parties could park hop at 11 am, for example, at least then people could make lunch reservations where ever they choose. Disney would probably sell more Park Hoppers as well...