Planning your ADRS.

[real mad hatter]

So the 180 days arrive and your about to book those special gastronomic adventures.My question is,how do you plan your ADRS?.What are the main factors in your choices?.:wave:

 

[eddiemcgarrigle]

By the 180 day mark, I already have a rough idea of where I will be on each day of my holiday which helps to narrow down where I will be eating. For instance, we always hit Magic Kingdom on the first day (wife's favourite) and Epcot on the second (my favourite).

We always take a break away from the parks every few days to go shopping or explore the other resorts which accounts for my ADRs at Boma and O'Hana. The ADR for the Yachtsman also comes from our love of a stroll around the Boardwalk at least once or twice during our two week visit.

I hope this helps to explain my choices.

 

[real mad hatter]

Cheers.

By the 180 day mark, I already have a rough idea of where I will be on each day of my holiday which helps to narrow down where I will be eating. For instance, we always hit Magic Kingdom on the first day (wife's favourite) and Epcot on the second (my favourite).

We always take a break away from the parks every few days to go shopping or explore the other resorts which accounts for my ADRs at Boma and O'Hana. The ADR for the Yachtsman also comes from our love of a stroll around the Boardwalk at least once or twice during our two week visit.

I hope this helps to explain my choices.

Yeh,great choices by the way.There's so many brilliant restaurants at WDW it would take a month to try them all out,hey there's an idea,where's that lottery ticket:ROFLOL:

 

[Fletch]

Well, we try to plan out as best we can what park for each day. We take in to consideration the early/late hours. Once that is square we hunt for table reservations.

For example, on our next trip we arrive on a Sunday afternoon. MK is open until 12 AM that night so we booked Tony's at 7:30. I know, I know Tony's but the kids love it there and the wife likes going to MK to start things off. Wed is AK all day so we booked Sanna after the park close.

While we typically have set days for each park the balance of time is sort of a wild card if you will. For example, head over in the morning to DHS ( early entry), cruise over to DTD for counter lunch and make a reservation at Rose & Crown at night.

I hate being a hostage to the dining plan but you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[wolf359]

When planning a vacation I break my days into a morning park and an evening park, taking into account the morning and evening Extra Magic Hours, and plan restaurant reservations around that.

 

[stuart]

We tend just to dine at the what have become our favourite places, and split them up, which is then easier for planning.

For example - Yachtsman Steakhouse is always on the last night, California Grill normally middle weekend. We'll do a Chef Mickey's in the first week and a Crystal Palace breakfast on a day that MK has Extra Magic Hours in the morning - tend to book it the back of 9 so get a few rides done and then round for breakfast.

 

[UPbeekeeper]

This trip will be my first experience with sit down dining and planning ADRs, so I am definitely a novice, but I will share what I am doing.

I have 2 *extremely* picky eaters in my group, so my first step is going through all of the online menus I can find and picking places I think will have choices all of us can enjoy.

When it comes closer to our trip date and I can actually see EMH schedules, I will be able to get a better idea of which parks we will spend which days in. As wolf359 said, I plan on breaking my parks schedules into two parts, day and evening. Once I know where I plan to be, I will do my best to get my ADRs in the park I plan on spending my evening in, to avoid wasting time hopping from park to park. But...having said that, if I can't get the exact ADR in the exact place, at the exact time I want, it's not do or die. I'm on vacation...I can go with the flow. As long as we eat SOMEWHERE and still enjoy ourselves at the parks, all is well.

I have only 1 ADR that I will be extremely disappointed if I can't get in on our night of arrival, and that is 'Ohana. But, as I said, it's not the end of the world, just a disappointment if it doesn't work out.

 

[stuart]

You should still get a decent choice nearer the time when you arrive as Disney now have a $10 per head charge for no shows at most restaurants. Previously, people would blanket book places on the basis they didn't know where they would be on that day, which then meant places appear to fill up quickly, but were in fact going to have a number of no-shows.

Certainly, I missed the 180 day window this year by a few days, and fully expected not to get the times for places i wanted - as had been the case before. However, when I went on, all the ideal times I wanted were available. Even for most popular places around 3rd/4th July you could get any time you wanted - and that certainly wasn't the case before.

 

[nc_disneyfreak]

Usually by the 180 day mark, we pretty much know what the park hours will be for our stay. We set each park day by the xtra magic hours, then the ADRs are decided upon that. Dwntwn disney? trex and rainforest cafe, Epcot? beirgarten all the way, magic kingdom? we like crystal palace, animal kingdom we usually do quick service, and hollywood studios we love sci fi dine in..

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

So the 180 days arrive and your about to book those special gastronomic adventures.My question is,how do you plan your ADRS?.What are the main factors in your choices?.:wave:

Some of our choices are what we consider *must dos* every trip, (O'hana, Chef Mickey, LeCellier) for nostalgic reasons, mostly, but being a serious foodie and Private Caterer, I read the boards, and those marked *must experience*, go on our list. I am not a cupcake, cake, candy type of person, but on this year's list is the various cupcakes at Starring Rolls, and Sunshine Seasons strawberry shortcake. (Among a bunch of others) So in short, part nostalgia, part curiosity :wave: