ADR Before Park Opening

[mikana876]

I know that there are some restaurants that have ADRs available before the parks open.

At which restaurants can you do that and which ones are the hardest to get?

Also how does EMH factor into this? If the park has EMH that morning, can you make an ADR for an hour before EMH starts? If the park has no EMH that morning, can you still get an ADR an hour before the park opens? Or is this something that happens only on EMH days?

 

[Hopefully]

Restaurant opening times are a set schedule. They do not revolve around EMH. They open the same time in the AM, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Generally they begin taking ADR's around 8 AM/
So if it is an EMH morning opening at 8 the hours are the same as park opening.
Very frequently during busy times of the year, WDW extends operating hours beyond what they originally announce. So your pre entry 8 AM ADR becomes a non - pre entry ADR. This makes many guests very upset who do not realize this could happen.
In the MK CP, CRT, BOG have early breakfast.
In the AK Tusker House has an early breakfast
IN EC Akershus has an early breakfast.
In DHS H & V has an early breakfast
Have Fun

 

[mikana876]

Thank you sooo much! That was very useful information!

I didn't realize that sometimes the park hours could change like that. I'd be upset too!

Which of those restaurants has the most difficult ADR to get? I'm sure CP, and probably BOG?

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

A previous poster answered a lot of your other questions, so I will address the difficulty question. Basically, if you want to get an ADR between 8-9 AM for any of these restaurants, you want to make it at 180 days prior, as close to 6 am as possible, because that time slot fills up quickly for all of them. The later you make the ADR, the later the time you will get.

For instance, the system was giving problems with the 180+10 when our window opened up for August. We saw 8:05 and 8:10 online at 6 AM, but due to the error, we could not get the reservation to go through for them. By the time the phone lines opened, the earliest time left was 8:25. I have been trying to move it earlier for weeks now, but now all that is available is after park opening at 9:25 am. Occasionally people will cancel, but pre-opening ADRs book up very quickly!

I would say with breakfast at BOG being new, that's probably the hardest and the one I would do right at 6 am if I wanted to get it. Then I would do the others in their order of importance to me.

 

[mikana876]

Thanks so much!

So with the 180+10, should I start with the hardest to get ADR at the end of my trip for the best chance of success?

 

[mikana876]

Very frequently during busy times of the year, WDW extends operating hours

We are thinking of flying out after thanksgiving, with our first day in the parks being the Sunday after thanksgiving and being there the week until the next weekend. Are the hours likely to be extended during that time?

 

[Felipe4]

You can find the operating hours for each park on the disney world website.

 

[Hopefully]

But the point is that these hours frequently change as it nears the date.
I am not sure about the week after Thanksgiving. Myguess would be not, but it is just a guess

 

[Felipe4]

It changes from the schedule they planned months out?

I've already looked up the times the parks are open during the week of my trip in June, made note of EMH and what days the parks normally open at 9AM and 8AM respectively in addition to when closing times change, and scheduled my activities accordingly. The times do fluctuate in terms of when parks are open on any given day. For example, during my trip MK is mostly open 9AM-12AM, with late EMH to 2AM and early at 8AM, but on one day it's only open until 11PM with EMH to 1AM. I've made note of all these abnormalities.

It looks like they release the month's park schedule 180 days out since they currently have park hours listed until the end of September. So I would think come May you would be able to get a better sense of what the park schedules will be.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

It changes from the schedule they planned months out?

Yes it does. Sometimes they change the hours as late as the day before during peak season. Always check the park hours the evening before going.

 

[Donald - my hero]

You can add this to your plans as well. When we had a tour in MK that was set for 8 a.m. The park didn't open till 9 BUT that day, without any warning, the Brazilian equivalent to Good Morning America was filming directly in front of the flag pole on Main Street. The entire main street was blocked off right up to Casey's to allow cameras to have full view of the castle (and the fireworks that they set off as well) Anyone who had a pre-park opening ADR at either CP or In the castle, along with the tour groups, were escorted through the stores and exited through the side entrance to Casey's. There were some mighty annoyed parents who missed the chance for empty main street pictures. ME?? I was thrilled to get some shots of the camera crew

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I remember reading about that. All those pre-opening restaurant goers who booked just so they could take photos on an empty Main Street - and the street was not empty, and they weren't even permitted to walk down it because of the show taping.

 

[MermaidMommy]

It changes from the schedule they planned months out?

I've already looked up the times the parks are open during the week of my trip in June, made note of EMH and what days the parks normally open at 9AM and 8AM respectively in addition to when closing times change, and scheduled my activities accordingly. The times do fluctuate in terms of when parks are open on any given day. For example, during my trip MK is mostly open 9AM-12AM, with late EMH to 2AM and early at 8AM, but on one day it's only open until 11PM with EMH to 1AM. I've made note of all these abnormalities.

It looks like they release the month's park schedule 180 days out since they currently have park hours listed until the end of September. So I would think come May you would be able to get a better sense of what the park schedules will be.

They release the INITIAL schedule around 6 months out. Then, they usually revise it several times. We just got back from a March trip. The hours were first posted in August, but there were changes made in November, December, January, February, and March. Usually, the changes are just extensions of hours or additions of shows -- for example, staying open an hour or two later or opening at 8 instead of 9, adding a second Fantasmic or MSEP, etc. However, they did switch the EMH parks on us for one of our days after the schedule first came out. And, if a park is unexpectedly busy, they might even extend the hours the day of.

 

[mikana876]

They release the INITIAL schedule around 6 months out. Then, they usually revise it several times. We just got back from a March trip. The hours were first posted in August, but there were changes made in November, December, January, February, and March. Usually, the changes are just extensions of hours or additions of shows -- for example, staying open an hour or two later or opening at 8 instead of 9, adding a second Fantasmic or MSEP, etc. However, they did switch the EMH parks on us for one of our days after the schedule first came out. And, if a park is unexpectedly busy, they might even extend the hours the day of.

Yikes! I'd be mad if they changed our EMH morning also!

I'm glad you guys are telling me about these possible changes. At least I've been fore warned!