Arriving by plane, do you make an ADR for arrival day?

[PoohsFan1]

Our flight is scheduled to land at 9:30am so we have dinner reservations. I wouldn't make a lunch reservation, it might be too close.

Our flight lands at 9:35am and we have dinner reservations for 5:30pm at Biergarten. I too wouldn't make a lunch ADR, instead we will be eating at our resort (POFQ) before heading over to Epcot.

 

[dcab27]

We have a similar flight and reservation but at Akershus. I know it's a gamble...and I'll be bummed if it doesn't work out and we are charged... Fingers crossed

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) When we have daughters anf families fly-in we do not make TS ressies within 5-hrs f arrival.
2) Too often the planes are late.
3) We just go to eateries where it is a good chance at walk-up, even without an ADR. (In Order)
. . . Trails End, Fort Wilderness
. . . Olivia's, Old Key West
. . . Grand Floridian Cafe, Grand Floridian
. . . Maya Grill, Coronado Springs

 

[HollywoodTowerHotel]

We do not usually make a reservation for our arrival day because we try to make our first day spontaneous. Since we take the earliest flight out which means we are up around 3:00 am, we usually take it easy on arrival day. We check in to the hotel, unpack our stuff, and decide where we want to go eat. Sometimes we see what ADRs are available or we just head over to EPCOT for our favorites.

Now, our next trip is in 16 days! We booked a package with dining, so that means we made ADRs for all our favorite TS places (and some new ones). The only day that we could get BOG was on our arrival day at 8:00 pm. So, even though it goes against our normal touring plans, we booked it and figured it will be a nice way to start our vacation. Since our flight is scheduled to land at 10:00 am, we should be okay.

We will also be experiencing FP+ for the first time this trip. We scheduled our FP+ around our ADRs, so that means we are headed to the MK on our arrival day which is a Saturday. This is something else we do not normally do in our touring plans - head to MK on a Saturday - but hey, we have FP+ for 7DMT, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder as well as an ADR for BOG for dinner. What a great start to our trip, right?

I feel okay with the ADR on arrival day since it is later in the evening. I would be worried if it were within three hours of our arrival time.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We always do because after a day of traveling, we want a nice dinner. Usually we try to take an early flight, but this past year we didn't arrive in Florida until 3:30, but I still made a 7:30 ADR and we made it no problem.

 

[happymommy]

Not us.

Since the cancellation policy is in effect, we may NO ADR's, with the exception of last year the day of our DD's birthday. To add, that one was a COMPLETE PITA. Late afternoon (late lunch/early dinner at Sci Fi, and we still waited such a long time. Never again).

Arrival day, no way would I may ANY plans set in stone. To me, vacation is about relaxing, not worrying about where I need to be (that's what I do at home).

 

[Simba's Mom]

So I'm just curious how many of you who travel by plane make an ADR for your arrival day? With the new cancellation policy of having to cancel the night before in order to avoid paying a fee, I'm hesitating to make an ADR for that day. Especially since I'm traveling in January and the weather can be iffy.

Anyone take the risk anyway? I'm arriving around 11 AM and figuring I can make an ADR somewhere for dinner after I arrive.

Just idle curiosity what others do.

Absolutely not! I've flown in so many times I know that planes are notoriously late (sometimes hours, once we didn't arrive until the next day). Like you, arrive around 11:00 on my next trip, yet I still won't make ADRs. Instead I'll hope for a walk-in at Sci-Fi when I get there. I've made ADRs on the DME bus before, but not for that day. Unfortunately, the DME App won't take reservations any closer than 3 hours out. But come to think of it, 3 hours from the time my plane lands isn't unreasonable. So if you see someone in line for DME texting on their cell phone on January 18th around 11:00, it's just me trying to make an ADR for the Sci-Fi.

 

[nat8199]

Our flight gets in at 9:30 am. Last year we had lunch FP for BOG and made them at 12:45. Then we had a dinner ADR in our resort.

This next trip I am not making any lunch ADRs, but I am making a dinner ADR at 5:30 in Epcot.

 

[sndral]

My flight is scheduled to arrive tomorrow at 5:50 pm and I have an 8:30 reservation that night. I've been watching the weather and if it looked like there'd be delays I would have cancelled. Part of the party is traveling from LAX and I'm traveling from SFO - so even if one set is delayed the other can still show up and avoid the cancelation fee. Both fights are non stops so less chance of delay. Finally the ADR is for the TS where we are staying.
We also made FP+s for tomorrow night - those I'm not so sure we'll make

Update made it w/ an hour to spare & we were starving so it was great to have dinner right at the resort. Also made those MK FP+s, not that we needed them except for 7DMT, lots of 5/10 min walk ons on rides.

 

[NickEslick]

It honestly all depends on where you are flying from, what time you are flying, when you will be landing and what time of year it is.

My family always make one but usually late around like 8 or 9 PM. We also usually do it at Narcooses since we stay at the GF.

For example, my family flies out of San Francisco and its usually an early flight around 6 AM. Now this is usually in May or August, so we know we don't have to worry about weather in San Francisco, but sometimes we worry about thunderstorms in Orlando. We usually end up landing in Orlando between 3-5 PM because sometimes we have a non stop and others we have to catch a connecting flight.

My suggestion would be that if you want to make an ADR on your arrival day, you make sure the restaurant is either at your hotel or very close to it. I would not make one however if say you are flying in the winter out of the North East because of the possibility of snow storms.

 

[navyblue8]

Typically, yes. This last family trip however, we had a 7-hour delay that started as a 40 min, progressed to an hour, 2, 3, and so on. Thanks Jet Blue. Our flight was at 6 something and so I'd made reservations for 2:00 at Raglan Road. We finally took off at 1:30 and I was in touch with Disney Dining the whole time. We ended up having to cancel after rescheduling several times and we were not thankfully not charged. The whole experience scared me from making plans for the first day. I have not decided what we will do this next time but winging it seems to be the way to go. If I do make one, it will be after 7.

 

[bbak3030]

Yes we do. But we fly in the early morning and make a dinner ressie. It's also a one hour direct flight for us--so not a ton of opportunities for delays.

 

[kozmo40]

We always arrive in Disney in the AM. And we always make ADR for dinner that evening too. Typically either at the park we will be attending that evening or at our Disney Resort.

 

[holden]

We always get the 6:50am flight out of Philly. The last time we were delayed a few hours! I had to cancel our 12pm lunch at Crystal Palace. We were not charged a cancellation fee after I explained why we had to cancel.