ADR Dining Strategy

[msk]

Okay, tomorrow is my day to begin booking ADRs, I'm beyond excited!. I know to go for the hard to get ones first. However, several places that my DH and I would like to go are not hard to get. Is is better to eat at "off" times so you have more time in the parks? I'm thinking with less people in a restaurant the service would be faster. Or should you just go ahead and book lunch at noon because you can have that time?
Can you tell that I need to slow down, relax and enjoy?!
Thanks so much!!!

 

[Alesia]

Okay, tomorrow is my day to begin booking ADRs, I'm beyond excited!. I know to go for the hard to get ones first. However, several places that my DH and I would like to go are not hard to get. Is is better to eat at "off" times so you have more time in the parks? I'm thinking with less people in a restaurant the service would be faster. Or should you just go ahead and book lunch at noon because you can have that time?
Can you tell that I need to slow down, relax and enjoy?!
Thanks so much!!!

Stop overthinking it - eat when you want to.

We only eat 1 TS meal about every 3 days, so it's easy to be flexible and eat when we're hungry. In general, though, we tend to have a very small breakfast (a poptart or something) while waiting for the park to open, and then breakfast or lunch around 10:30-11:00, lunch or a snack around 3:00 or so, and then dinner or a snack around 8:00 or so. That's what works for us.

You need to figure out what works for you.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

I'd suggest eating at your regular meal times. When we went to Disney last year we booked a few months before the trip, so there wasn't much dining availability. After trying to get a table for Crystal Palace I finally got one after my 30th attempt maybe. It was dinner at 3:45. We had a great time, but by actual dinner time we were starving and had to buy a second dinner. So if you have a choice I think you should book your ADRs for when you normally eat.

 

[Duckiedee]

It's totally up to you. I think you need to look at when shows are you want to see and how often you are dining (are you on DxDPP for example) and book around that.

For us - it is DxDDP and we are Rope Droppers - so we have a lot of pre-park ADRs and we eat again after 'noon' to take advantage of lower crowd mornings. We usually then eat at six or later to allow all that food to settle. But early enough it doesn't affect parades or fireworks. Except one night DH and I are dining while the kids are at the Sandcastle Club. So we are eating LATE at Yachtsman because EPCOT closes at nine. We want some adult EP time and the Club is open late.

 

[cdnjason]

The restaurants tend to be booked solid for the most part. There is no "off" time. So, eat when appropriate for you. You won't be saving yourself much time either way. May as well take advantage of booking 180 days out.

 

[msk]

Thanks all - I was really just curious whether it makes a difference when you eat. In the past we have always been happily "tied" to character meals and hard to get places like Cinderella's. So the strategy was to just get the meal booked. This trip we have the Dining plan and are without kids, so we can really be choosy and can eat exactly when we like. I'm looking forward to trying to just relax and enjoy.