ADR's, Dining and other tips

[mom2of2]

There are always new people on the boards or those that may need a refresher course on how ADR's work. Since I do have "some" knowledge, I thought I might share how it works.

ADR's are Advanced Dining Reservations. You call Disney Dining or do them online.

Here's a few hints.

If you do them online with the new system it will automatically make everyone in your party an ADULT. You will be asked at check in how the party is made up. Children who are 10 and older are ADULTS. Please make sure the greeter knows how the make up of you party is. It's not the CM's fault that the rules are 10 and older, please don't make a big deal, roll your eyes or give an attitude. Your server will do everything possible to make sure they have something that they will enjoy eating.

An infant/baby or toddler is a PERSON. They count. Doesn't matter if they will be eating or not..we need to make sure that the amount of people are right for the size of the table. We cannot seat 6 at a 4top even if one is "just a baby" If you have a stroller with a sleeping child, please let the greeter know. They will do everything that they can to make sure that you get a table where the stroller can stay safely out of the way. If you need a high chair or a booster or infant sling..again let them know at check in!!

If you have a wheelchair or ECV, please let the greeter know regardless of whether you will be transferring or not. If we have to get you out of the restaurant quickly, we need to be able to do so.

KNOW where the restaurant is and how to get there!!! Always allow extra time to get there even if you are driving. No, you cannot take a bus from your resort to another resort. You may have to take a tram, bus, boat and monorail!

If once you get to your destination restaurant and check in and find that your reservation isn't showing up...don't get mad at the CM behind the computer!! We can look you up in the system and find out where you are suppossed to be and when. If you are in the wrong restaurant or if you have breakfast reservations and it's dinner time....it's not our fault. We didn't make your ADR's...you DID. We will do our best to get you in but have some patience with us..we just got guests that we weren't expecting.

Please check in when you have your ENTIRE party together. We can't sit part of a party while the rest finish shopping, parking the car, getting off the bus etc. Once you have everyone, send one person up to get you checked in. Please then stay in the general area. Ask how far the pager works and stay to that area. Please don't go for a long walk, take a dip in the pool or go to your room for a nap.

No ADR's? You are a walk up. You will be put on the list to wait and we will get you in as soon as we can. ADR's will be higher priority so if ADR's show up while you are waiting they will get in before you. You cannot make a reservation that isn't more then 2 hours out. For example it's 6pm, you want to eat at 7:30. We can't make a reservation for you. You can either get on the wait list now or come back when you are ready to eat and we can put you on the list then.


When you have an ADR this gets you a table within 15 minutes of your ADR time. Obviously this can't always be the case, but the assignor will do their best. If you show up early for your ADR they will do their best to get you in ASAP but again you may have to wait until your ADR plus 15. Assigning is a guessing game. The assignor is constantly walking around looking at tables, trying to judge when the party will be leaving, the table re-set and can be ready again. They look at all the reservations waiting, walk ups, special requests, upcoming parties and the floor plan.

If you are more then 15 minutes late to your ADR your reservation will be moved to another screen. When you show up you will be put back on the wait list and the next free table for your party size that isn't for an ADR will be yours. You will go ahead of walk ups but not current ADR's.

If once you are shown to your table and you don't like the location, you will most likely be taken back to the podium. You may or may not be shown another table right away. If it's busy, you may have to go back on the wait list until a table that you will like becomes available.

CM's at the podium do not have any control as to where you sit. They simply greet you and get your information. The assigner is the one that assigns you a table, you will probably never even see that person. The printer prints out a ticket with your name on it, server and table number. The seater then walks you to your table.

As CM's in a resturant we know that you are hot, cold, tired and wet. You are in a rush to eat and get to a park, your room, a bus, airplane or on the road. It's really early or very late and you just want to eat. Our job is to get you into a seat in the fastest way possible. We don't want you standing in front of us with your pager giving us death glares or looking into the restaurant and loudly complaining that there are empty tables and you are still standing. We don't want any names on the wait list. We want you happy, full and gone so that we can go home to our families.

I know this was a long post but I hope it helps

 

[mrspopeye]

Thank you so much for posting this and sharing your inside knowledge. I hoping you might clarify one thing I can't seem to get a good answer for. There has been a few threads here that discuss kids 10-12yrs old or so not wanting to order off the adult, but rather kids' menus. I have one of those kids that is technically a Disney adult, but has the size, shape, food preferences and appetite of a kid. Some folks post they were allowed to, other they were not, even for the same TS restaurant. I am recalling Le Cellier being one mentioned in a previous post.

I have called the operators a couple of times to get different opinions, and get for the most part vague answers, it seems that it is up to each individual restaurant. For instance, I called re: our O'Hana reservation and explained my dilemma, hoping someone could help me out, knowing I was going to fork over $30 anyway for a kids meal. Money was never the object. Nope. Sorry- can't do.

I got to thinking to how much trouble Disney seems to go to accomodate special dietary needs- Kosher, gluten free, food allergies, etc. I had even heard that the chef comes to the table to discuss the meal, and prepare it special in some circumstances. I called back again with this angle and asked what options are available for these special dietary requests, such as Kosher. Well what do you know- they were able to come up with chicken strips or a hot dog for her at O'Hana and noted this in my reservation.

O'Hana was a little different since the menu is all the same, but what about my other TS reservations? Do I need to call for every one of them? I understand that you have to make special dietary requests 24 hrs ahead. I just don't want a surprise when we sit down and get the waitress who is not feeling up to dealing with it that day, when I could have possibly taken care of it earlier.

Any insight?

 

[cigar95]

To be precise, they're "Advance" Dining Reservations.

And although the addition of the online system has made them somewhat more "Advanced", the thing that made them important has always been that we made them in "Advance".

Of course, there are also those who will claim that a reservation is already made in "Advance", and so Disney's name is redundant. It's hard to disagree with that.

This was never an issue when they were called "Priority Seating", but since too many folks didn't know what a Priority Seating meant, Disney changed the name, and only the name, to the still-current "ADR". The system still works the same way as it did back when they were called "PS".

Meanwhile, even with the new name, it isn't really a "Reservation" in the traditional sense either, since there's no table assigned to you and just waiting for your arrival. I guess consistency just isn't a "Priority" for Disney Dining.

So for all those wondering why dining at WDW can be confusing at times, the names used are just a little slice of that confusion.

 

[Kaisara]

Thanks so much for all the information!

 

[cigar95]

I just hope everyone realizes that my posting, while true, was intended to be humorous.

I could have had even more fun going back to the days before "Priority Seating", but I'd have to go back and research just how things worked back then, since can't recall all the details.

One thing I remember for sure is that dining was a lot simpler!

 

[mom2of2]

Thank you so much for posting this and sharing your inside knowledge. I hoping you might clarify one thing I can't seem to get a good answer for. There has been a few threads here that discuss kids 10-12yrs old or so not wanting to order off the adult, but rather kids' menus. I have one of those kids that is technically a Disney adult, but has the size, shape, food preferences and appetite of a kid. Some folks post they were allowed to, other they were not, even for the same TS restaurant. I am recalling Le Cellier being one mentioned in a previous post.

I have called the operators a couple of times to get different opinions, and get for the most part vague answers, it seems that it is up to each individual restaurant. For instance, I called re: our O'Hana reservation and explained my dilemma, hoping someone could help me out, knowing I was going to fork over $30 anyway for a kids meal. Money was never the object. Nope. Sorry- can't do.

I got to thinking to how much trouble Disney seems to go to accomodate special dietary needs- Kosher, gluten free, food allergies, etc. I had even heard that the chef comes to the table to discuss the meal, and prepare it special in some circumstances. I called back again with this angle and asked what options are available for these special dietary requests, such as Kosher. Well what do you know- they were able to come up with chicken strips or a hot dog for her at O'Hana and noted this in my reservation.

O'Hana was a little different since the menu is all the same, but what about my other TS reservations? Do I need to call for every one of them? I understand that you have to make special dietary requests 24 hrs ahead. I just don't want a surprise when we sit down and get the waitress who is not feeling up to dealing with it that day, when I could have possibly taken care of it earlier.

Any insight?

I understand your frustration, I do. I have a very picky 12 yr old who won't eat anything and we don't dine on property except for breakfast. Obviously as a guest you are pretty much stuck and have to deal with it.

Disney rules are 10 and older are adult. Anyone older then 10 cannot order off the child menu. It doesn't matter how big they are, how much they eat or don't eat. It's the rule. Same goes for someone 3-9, they cannot eat off your plate exclusivly.

Like I said in my OP, speak to your server. Ask if you can get chicken strips, pb&j or whatever. My experience in my restaurant is that we do accomodate but that's my location. I have asked for and gotten pb&j in other locations.

Food allergies are very prominent. On any given night the Chef will be making multiple table visits. He visit's to speak about the menu, take the order, goes back to either make or supervise the making of the order and then personally delivers the order. That's a lot of time but he does it to ensure safety!! Asking for a Chef visit because your child "adult" doesn't like what's on the adult menu....well....think about that.

WDW has a ton of restaurants on property. If you want a complete list of all menu items check out Deb's site, allearsnet.com. Make your choices of places to dine based on what works for your families dining needs. Sure there are going to be places that you want to eat but someone in your family won't, so compromise!! Feed whoever it doesn't work for before hand and then let them order desert! Your on VACATION!!

and cigar95....thanks