What type of ADR planner are you?

[WawaCoffee]

As our upcoming trip gets closer, I find myself constantly checking MDE for available ADRs. I also have several alerts set up via the Touring Plans ADR checker. I'm also modifying a few ADRs based on which parks have Extra Magic Hours, ticketed events, etc. For example, when I saw that the Magic Kingdom was doing a ticketed event in the morning, I changed our Crystal Palace breakfast ADR to Ohana, to allow the morning crowds in the parks to simmer down a bit before entering. For the money I'm spending this time around (1 week at the Wilderness Lodge), I want to make sure I'm getting my money's worth.

For our previous trip, I didn't even think of making ADRs until 30-days out, which left us with several, undesirable dinners at quick-service restaurants (eating dinner at ABC Commissary wasn't exactly the highlight of our trip). I didn't realize how important the planning process was until it was too late. Is it "normal" to be this determined on making sure you get the best possible dining experience while in Disney? At what point do you call it quits and just stick with what you were able to get?

I enjoy the planning process, so I'm not too bothered by the 180-day ADR/60-day FP time-frames.. I just wish it was easier to obtain a walk-up reservation at some of these restaurants. I also feel terrible for those who don't enjoy the planning process and can't eat where they would like because they weren't up at 6am 180-days out.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Planning for the trip is more then half the fun for me, so the 6 month ADR thing doesn’t bother me at all. But we are always a party of 9 (me, dh, 5 kids and my parents) so it’s not as easy to get ADRs when and where I want so I’m constantly tinkering and modifying things, sometimes even on the trip, the day before the ADR! We have places that we eat at every trip, then we throw in a couple “new” ones or ones we’ve not visited in a while. We’re doing the new Snow White/Artist Point meal in early December and I’m so excited!

 

[DrunkJam]

I make all mine at 180+whatever, and then leave them. LAST time we changed a few while we were there, cos we underestimated how difficult it would be for the children, but, I usually spend ages choosing them, so I am glad to get them booked and forgotten about til I get there.
I am HOPING to get some new ones, which might be harder to get this time but, we'll see. If I can't get them, I have backups.

 

[lorenae]

I love vacations, and refuse to let restaurant meals at WDW dictate my schedule. There are a couple that I scheduled in advance, since my friend wants two character meals.

I will make reservations in advance (but never 6 months!) for really special restaurants but so far I've never had a WDW restaurant that inspired me to plan it six months in advance. The character meals were scheduled at about 95 days, and even that is not something that I'm thrilled with.

 

[CynBeth]

I have family members with food allergies so we pretty much have all meals at TS and I make the ADRs at 180 days. Then once FP time comes just work around them.

 

[WawaCoffee]

We’re doing the new Snow White/Artist Point meal in early December and I’m so excited!

We will be trying it in January on our arrival day... this will be our first character meal, so we're both very excited!

 

[Nvrgrowup]

Since we are going from dec 18-26 this year, I knew that the 180 day mark was important for us. We wanted California Grille, Tiffins and my ds requested Ohana and The Boathouse.We are flexible with times, days and fp's.I was able to get what we wanted without any issues. I do continue to look and sometimes adjust and am still waiting for those December hours.

 

[Lovetherodent]

Make ADRs. Change mind. Make new ADRs. Change mind. Ask questions about venues on Disboards. Make new ADRs. Current dilemma? Late breakfast at GG or early lunch at Via Napoli.

 

[Moliphino]

I make the hard to get ADRs at 180 (BOG lunch), then figure out the rest over the next few months.

 

[apartment j]

For me, it depends on the trip.
Sometimes we plan a trip without a lot of notice, so in those cases I'm not making reservations 180 days out because that option has already passed.
For some reason there have also been a lot of trips were the 180 day mark falls on a day that's either an important family holiday, or we're on a trip. I'm not taking time out on a holiday or a vacation to work on plans for a future vacation. When that happens, I get to it when I get to it, and yes, sometimes I lose out on a reservation I want, but I usually find it eventually when someone else cancels.
For big trips with extended family, I do a lot of advanced planning. Those are the trips where I'm definitely online at 6:00am, 180 days out, with a prioritized list of exactly what I want and when I want it. Usually I have a second person helping me from their own computer and we're coordinating over the phone on speaker as we go through the process. Those trips are all about the kids and character meals so I want everything perfect!
On adult trips, especially if it's just me and my spouse, we're all about nice table service meals, but honestly, most of our favorites aren't that hard to get, so planning way ahead isn't that important. I'll still make reservations, eventually, but there isn't the same urgency for Citricos and Il Mulino as there is for Cinderella's Royal Table or 'Ohana.
Happy Planning Everyone, no matter how you prefer to do it!

 

[Boopuff]

I sit down with my daughters right on the 180 mark. We make a "rough" daily plan and plug in dining. We are big park hoppers so most of the time we only book breakfast or late dinners so it doesn't affect our touring.

 

[apartment j]

We’re doing the new Snow White/Artist Point meal in early December and I’m so excited!

It's a really nice experience, and being at Wilderness Lodge while the Christmas decor is up will be an extra bonus. We've done the meal twice since it started and really enjoyed it both times.

 

[jventur3]

Make ADRs. Change mind. Make new ADRs. Change mind. Ask questions about venues on Disboards. Make new ADRs. Current dilemma? Late breakfast at GG or early lunch at Via Napoli.

I always lean towards early lunch - late dinner - skip breakfast altogether.

 

[scard192]

only doing one TS this trip, made 2-3 and will have my grand daughters pick one and then cancel the others at 60 days out when I do FP+. All are on the monorail loop so convenient to our MK days.

made some for QS restaurants: BOG lunch, ABC Commissary and Pizzafari. nice to know we have a place to sit/eat.

 

[Malyficent]

For example, when I saw that the Magic Kingdom was doing a ticketed event in the morning, I changed our Crystal Palace breakfast ADR to Ohana, to allow the morning crowds in the parks to simmer down a bit before entering. For the money I'm spending this time around (1 week at the Wilderness Lodge), I want to make sure I'm getting my money's worth.

If that is Early Morning Magic I wouldn’t plan around it. Those tix sold are so few as to be not noticeable to the RD crowd.

I’m a planner. I love the Disney planning and booking my meals at the 180 day mark. Of course I’m a tweaker too so I’m constantly adjusting. Just last week I snagged CG for December. And then dropped it after realizing it was far too late at night for my kids. It’s a fun game for me.

But yes, I feel for the people who do Disney with minimal planning. By having a plan I was able to jump on a good deal last year at the last minute. I wouldn’t have known the real value and savings if I hadn’t done my homework.

 

[YawningDodo]

In the past I haven't really booked ADRs. For my trip in January I currently have two meals plus Oga's Cantina booked. The two meals are the same two restaurants I reserved at the 180 mark, but since then I've changed the time of one booking and moved the other booking to a different day entirely. I snagged Oga's when those reservations first came available and have left it as-is since I'm happy with it and it seems difficult to move.

I'm at a double advantage, in that I'm a solo traveler and in that I tend to prefer restaurants that have decent availability later in the game. My two must-do's for this trip were Skipper's Canteen and Biergarten, and as of a week ago I was still able to move both of those around fairly freely. That also means that I'm able to leave my schedule relatively open; if I want to add more table service meals during the trip I'm pretty open to the restaurants that tend to have best day-before availability. I have only mild interest in most of the signature restaurants and character meals, and mild interest isn't enough to justify the price point, let alone the time and effort of booking it very far out.

I also like a lot of the counter service at WDW, which has been steadily getting better on the whole. I actually refrained from booking a restaurant for my day at AK because I like AK's counter service options so much that I felt like I'd be missing out!

 

[Markal]

Planning is part of the fun for me. I schedule ADRs at the 180 mark, and then keep watching for some I might want to change. We usually eat breakfast in the room. We schedule a TS for dinner, and choose a QS while we are in the parks. We are park hoppers so we can work around our TS dinners.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

For my last trip and my next trip, there will only be 3 ADR's for a weeks vacation. Nothing to stress over.
Last time I had the FREE Dining package, a lot more thought went into planning.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Really depends on the trip. Next one is over Christmas so we had to be on it with ADRs to avoid the crowds.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I book one TS a day around 3:00 at every park except AK since we love Yak and Yeti. We just pop in there whenever with our Landry's card. We also book our Disney Springs dinners on the nights we plan on going there and just one PPO Breakfast at Akershus so we can get on Frozen with no wait and no FP+. Then the fun begins. I am constantly changing where we eat or modifying reservations up until the last day. It's some sick obsession.