Planning with no calendar/hours

[LindyWebb]

Hello Everyone

My 180 window opens this weekend for the holiday season, but they still have no hours posted, including EMH. This will determine which park we go to when and the reservations for dining. How do people pull off determining the dining reservation with no posted hours?

Thanks for the seasoned insight, we haven't been to WDW in 2 years but I do not remember this dilemma before.

 

[sponica]

Honestly, I just book the time of day I want to eat.

The hours aren't finalized until about a month before anyway...

 

[NYCgrrl]

I pay little attention to the hours either when it comes to ADRs. We eat most of our main meals (late lunch or early dinners) at Disney Springs which we rarely make ADRs for unless it's a special occasion or holiday. Our last 3 or 4 trips had 2-3 park and resort ADRs and that's it since opentable.com is such a game changer for most DS reservations.

 

[gharter]

You should be able to look back at last year or look on Touring plans for last years schedule.
In general EMH hasn't changed much year to year. Except this year,
Previous months:
MK EMH 7-8, park opens 8 am daily
EPCOT unchanged
HS 6-9 EMH daily, park opens 9 am
AK EMH 7-8, park opens 8 am daily.

While no guarantee, I would expect these hours to continue through the Holiday season, and probably add more late hours.
As others suggested, just plan the times you want to eat.
In the past, we have tried to go to a park the day after EMH. Now with HS and AK, that's not an option.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

You seem to be laboring under some illusion that this is suppose to be easy. No, you are expected to know what you want to eat 6 months in advance and when you want to eat it. And then hope that maybe you can get ride times that don't conflict with your dining.

(I quit playing. I don't do many TS meals any longer at Disney.)

 

[epcotobsessed]

This is the order I book: resort, FPs, ADRs. The only place I have ever not been able to get an ADR at 60ish days is California Grill and even that usually opens up a day or two before as people's plans change. Otherwise I get every place I want at the time I want.

 

[deakam]

I usually pick 2 parks per day and make a lunch ADR at one and a dinner ADR at the other. When I get closer to knowing where I will be I cancel one. EPCOT has always had EMH on Tuesday evenings. Magic Kingdom during the holidays is usually morning extra magic hours because 4 of 7 nights has a party.

 

[Burgundy Rose]

I had the same question when I started planning my trip last year and then realised at some point that something had got to give.
My priority was securing the ADRs I wanted, because I'm a foodie. I secured those and then looked at the parks/resorts they were in and secured Fastpasses in those parks. The end. I never looked at the EMH calendar and looked at opening times only once we'd arrived. We did splendidly, never felt the crowds, and it was two weeks in July. Personally at some point I had to put a stop to planning and start trusting the moment - it worked for us, hopefully it'll work for others as well

 

[BalooFan]

As my 180 day mark approaches, I typically look at the hours for the latest week or two available on the WDW website and make the assumption that the hours for my week will be similar. It’s far from a perfect strategy, but better than nothing and at least gets the planning ball rolling. I then adjust my plans, if needed, when the hours are posted and spend the next few months tweaking as the park hours change.

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

I look at last years hours for the same week to guesstimate where EMH will be on which day and some crowd calendars and then create a general schedule. I don't usually switch which park I'm in on a certain day, but I will switch around some dining times after I make my FP+ times. We are pretty flexible on dining, so it hasn't been a problem.
Laurie