We just booked our first trip ever to Disney and I have read on here that we should start making reservations.
We have not bought our tickets yet to the parks. Do I have to have my tickets to make reservations?
When we make a reservation do we pay up front?
Also, What restaurants would you reccommend? The trip is for my Wife and I (29 and 26) no kids and we prefer nice restaurants. We dont like chains and we prefer to sit down at a nice dinner. She is Gluten free and also has a shell fish allergy.
Thanks
Congrats on booking your first trip to the World!
You do not need to have your tickets to make reservations, but you should bear in mind that getting to the restaurants in the park does require a valid ticket. So if you don't get park hopping on your ticket, you'll want to spend the day in the park where you dinner reservation is. For example, if you don't have park hopping and you have a dinner reservation at Le Cellier, you should plan on spending that day in Epcot. If you
do add park hopping to your ticket, this whole concern disappears. Hope this wasn't an overabundance of information!
You do not pay up front when you make an ADR, however some Signature restaurants require you give a credit card number when you pay. If you're a no-show on the day of your reservation, you get charged a fee. I don't know the exact amount, but someone here will!
Since your wife is gluten-free, you can have that noted on your ADRs. Disney is
fantastic at accommodating special dining needs. It can be a little trickier at counter service restaurants, but they're still a lot better than most places.
As for suggestions, you're gonna get a lot of different ones here! My favorites are Le Cellier at the Canada Pavillion in Epcot, Tokyo Dining at the Japan Pavillion in Epcot, The Brown Derby at MGM, and the California Grill at the Contemporary. The California Grill is especially great if you can get a window seat around the time Wishes starts. And if you can't, there's an outside viewing balcony. It's such a cool perspective on the fireworks!
Hope this was helpful!