Magic Hours & Booking your Dining

[ReturnToOz]

I was wondering does the Park Hours & Calendars (extra magic hours) come out 180 days from visit? If so how do people plan restaurant bookings that also can be booked 180 days out.

For example if a certain park opens early (magic hours) do you book a character breakfast for the magic hour morning or a regular morning opening? How about dinner? What is logistically better?

I understand that if you can get magic hours you should plan on going to that park that day.

Out of curiosity is there better magic hours for certain parks in the evening or morning?

[ReturnToOz]

Any thoughts......??

[bigbabyblues]

We don't do EMH, but I wouldn't book an early breakfast reservation in a park that was having morning EMH.

The calendar should be released around six months out, and they have been extending/updating operating hours after that.

[thorphin]

A good rule of thumb is to plan to eat when the park is at its most busy (i.e. when everyone else is in line for attractions). I think that's a good reason to avoid a breakfast during AM EMH -- the attraction lines will be shortest during the EMH. By the time you finish your meal, the park will likely be open and will be filling up.

I don't believe ADRs are generally available after regular park close (i.e. during evening EMH). Then again, we typically grab something quick so that we don't waste our EMH touring time seated in a restaurant.

[jhryb]

All families have different eating schedules.... but if I was planning to book a breakfast at a park with early Magic Hours then I would probably look to book my ADR for 2 hours after the the EMH park opening. This gives you 2 hours of park time before it starts getting super busy. If the EMH openning is at 8am then I would schedule my breakfast for 10am (this is a late breakfast so it only works if you can wait this long). Hopefully this gives you a chance to pick up a fastpass just before your breakfast and hopefully you will be able to use it shortly after you are finished breakfast.

[itradehilton]

I like to book early breakfast in a park that does not have early hours & it works great at MK if they had late hours the night before. Main Street at MK is so empty before the park opens. This allows us to eat breakfast and enjoy the less crowded am hours.

[ses1230]

Originally Posted by ReturnToOz

I was wondering does the Park Hours & Calendars (extra magic hours) come out 180 days from visit? If so how do people plan restaurant bookings that also can be booked 180 days out.

For example if a certain park opens early (magic hours) do you book a character breakfast for the magic hour morning or a regular morning opening? How about dinner? What is logistically better?

I understand that if you can get magic hours you should plan on going to that park that day.

Out of curiosity is there better magic hours for certain parks in the evening or morning?

The hours do come out that early. I usually look at the park hours and decide what park I want to go to, then pick which restaurants.

I would not schedule a breakfast during a morning emh because that would be a great time to be in the park doing the rides. If you want a breakfast on an emh day, I would do it at least 2 hours after park opening so you can take advantage of early low crowds. If you can I would schedule a pre park opening breakfast.

Just an fyi, the travel agent calendar is usually the one that come out first, so that is a good calendar to keep your eye on when it is nearing your 180 mark.