Some ADR questions

[WanderlustNZ]

Hi everyone,

I have a few questions and thought I'd ask them all in the same post to save time. Any help you can give would be much appreciated.

Firstly, I get the whole 180 + 10 day thing, but what happens if you are staying 11 days? I can start making ADRs on the 1st April, but would I be able to book the 11th day on the 2nd April, 11th April, or something else? That 11th day will be my most important as it's my son's 6th birthday.

What if I am on a split stay? I'm staying 5 nights BWV and 6 nights AKV, and am hoping I can make 10 days worth of booking (rather than 5) at the 180 day mark. I asked this question a few weeks back, but got two very different answers. I'm hoping someone else might be able to shed more light on this question.

Thirdly, does Disney usually release park hours and EMH at least 10 days before the 180 day mark? If not, how do people decide where to book? Similarly, does anyone know when MNNSHP and F&W Festival dates are released as these will also affect our ADR decisions?

Lastly, has anyone spent a birthday dinner at Sanaa? If so, were you made to feel special? I'm thinking of booking a Tusker House Character breakfast and a Sanaa dinner for my son's birthday. What do people think? I know Sanaa doesn't seem like the ideal first choice for a child's birthday dinner, but the animal views looks great, the food looks delicious, and most importantly it's convenient to our hotel (Jambo) to allow for an early night (We're flying back to NZ early the next morning).

[TDC Nala]

You will not be able to see animals from Sanaa once the sun sets.

the Epcot Food and Wine Festival is scheduled from September 27 through November 10.

The MNNSHP dates have not been released.

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by TDC Nala

You will not be able to see animals from Sanaa once the sun sets.

the Epcot Food and Wine Festival is scheduled from September 27 through November 10.

The MNNSHP dates have not been released.

Thank you.

I didn't realise the Epcot F&W dates had been officially released. Those dates work well with my arrival.

For Sanaa, we'll be eating early (about 6ish) to give us about an 1.5 hrs before it gets dark.

[WanderlustNZ]

Bumping this up incase anyone knows answers to any of my other questions. Thanks

[figment_jii]

With the split stay, you can still access the +10 days part. The number of days after your check-in does not tie to the number of nights you are staying. So if you stay for 5 nights, you would still have access to the first 10 nights (at least that's how it worked last year for me, but with the new website design it might have changed).

Disney normally releases the calendar in the middle of the month for the next six months (at least that's when the TA calendar seems to go live). So you should be able to see the planned EMH and park schedules before your 180 day mark.

[MHSweb79]

As for the split stay, I was NOT able to book past my first portion of my stay the last time we did this. I even hung up, called back and tried another CM. I have seen others say that they WERE able to do it, so it may just depend on who you talk to. We only had the dining plan for one portion of our trip, so that may have been a factor.

As for park hours/ EMH, that too can vary. They are released when Disney is good & ready, they don't care that people need them 180 days in advance! I've seen them as much as a couple of weeks into the 180 day period but I do think that they have improved in recent years as I haven't seen a lot of "When will Disney release park hours for XXXX" threads around here.

And finally, relax! You should get most of your ADR's whether you book 180 days, 170 days or 150 days ahead. And if you don't, you have several months to keep trying.

[WanderlustNZ]

Thank you both of you for your very helpful answers.

And yes, I do need to relax :-)
It just seems like there is so much to think about with this vacation. I guess with the time and expense involved in coming from the other side of the world, I want to try and make everything as perfect as possible.

[jojomoore]

There is a trend to Extra Magic Hours. If I understand it correctly parks have the same Extra Magic Hours each week. So you can estimate which parks will open early and close late. You can look at park schedules on WDW website for current week and then apply to the week you are staying. Keep in mind that times may change depending on the time of year but I believe the actual day of the week stays the same. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

[purple figment]

Originally Posted by WanderlustNZ

Hi everyone,


Thirdly, does Disney usually release park hours and EMH at least 10 days before the 180 day mark? If not, how do people decide where to book? Similarly, does anyone know when MNNSHP and F&W Festival dates are released as these will also affect our ADR decisions?

Here's a link to the TA (Travel Agents) calendar. It is the most accurate calendar and tends to come out someplace between the 15th and 20th of the month so at least 190 days before your ADR date of April 1. I'm guessing that your trip is late September or early October. The Oct calendar should be out in mid March. Just change the aug in the address to sep for September dates (they'll be out next month) and oct for October dates.

http://media.disneywebcontent.com/st...lendar_aug.pdf

F&W dates have been announced for Sept 27 - Nov 10, 2013.

MNSSHP dates won't be announced for a while, but once the Sept and Oct calendars come out most people guess that evenings when the MK closes at 7PM are party nights. The exceptions are Sept 6 and 7 which have already been announced as Night of Joy.

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by purple figment

Here's a link to the TA (Travel Agents) calendar. It is the most accurate calendar and tends to come out someplace between the 15th and 20th of the month so at least 190 days before your ADR date of April 1. I'm guessing that your trip is late September or early October. The Oct calendar should be out in mid March. Just change the aug in the address to sep for September dates (they'll be out next month) and oct for October dates.

http://media.disneywebcontent.com/st...lendar_aug.pdf

F&W dates have been announced for Sept 27 - Nov 10, 2013.

MNSSHP dates won't be announced for a while, but once the Sept and Oct calendars come out most people guess that evenings when the MK closes at 7PM are party nights. The exceptions are Sept 6 and 7 which have already been announced as Night of Joy.

That is so useful. Thanks heaps Purple Figment! You're right, I am looking at Sep/Oct.

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by jojomoore

There is a trend to Extra Magic Hours. If I understand it correctly parks have the same Extra Magic Hours each week. So you can estimate which parks will open early and close late. You can look at park schedules on WDW website for current week and then apply to the week you are staying. Keep in mind that times may change depending on the time of year but I believe the actual day of the week stays the same. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

You could be right JoJo. I never thought to look for a trend or pattern in the EMH days. I'm going to check now. Thanks for the tip :-)

[purple figment]

With regard to EMH and park hours you can take a look at last September and October to get a general idea of park hours and EMH last fall. If you go to the TA calendar and change aug to sep or oct it will bring up last year's calendar.