ADR on your first day there??

[olivia's mommy]

Do you book an ADR on your first day at WDW? Our flight arrives around noon and we have an ADR for 5pm at 50's prime time that night. I am second guessing myself and thinking it might be too much for the first day there. We have NO idea how our DD is going to be with flying and missing naps etc so maybe it's a better idea to just eat a CS that night. Also, you never know, the flight could be delayed right? What do you guys do??

Thanks!

 

[sueh]

On our first day there we have an ADR at the Sci-Fi Dine in @ 7.

We arrive in ORL around 12:30 pm.

 

[bdcp]

Our first day we have a dinner ADR for CP and we plan on spending the afternoon at MK. Our last trip we had ADR at Ohana on the first day. This trip we'll be returning from a cruise, where of course we won't have eaten at all . The last trip, we had arrived on the Auto Train that am and other than checking in at SOG and checking out GF and CR, we had no other plans for the day.

 

[ekidwell0001]

We have an ADR the first day as well, but we will be arriving earlier. Our flight leaves Cincinnati at 7:30am, which means we are in Orlando by 9:30am and i've made an ADR for Akershus at 6:15pm. I always feel like my first day is wasted if it's not planned out like the other days are! But thats just me! lol I like to think of myself as a normal planner, but who am i kidding, im obsessed!!! Whatever you do, have an awesome time!!!

 

[Lamandpercy]

This time we don't arrive till midnight.

We will have to eat at Toronto airport where we have a stop off and get some snacks for when we get to the resort. 12 hours of travelling will mean I'm starving

We do have a 7.30am ressie for Cape May as with the time difference we will be up really early. We are staying at Boardwalk Villas so we just have a nice early morning walk round the lake then can hit Epcot straight away.

 

[littlbugmom]

We did a Princess dinner at Akershus around 6-ish. Our flight came in at noon. We had plenty of time to check in, explore the resort a little and then make it over for dinner. It was nice to see the fireworks the first night but since that was our very first trip to Disney, Epcot really wasn't what I wanted for our first day, kwim?

This year, we're not doing an ADR the day of arrival. My ds(4) needs as much sleep as he can get for a day of traveling. Just flying from Ohio (first time on a plane) and then exploring the resort/pool will be enough for the first day. We added an extra day to the beginning of our trip to allow for this.

 

[KatMark]

Normally we dine at Emeril's at Universal's City Walk on our night of arrival (it's a tradition). But because we have friends traveling with us on this special trip and we all arrive around 11:30 a.m. we have a reservation for Fantasmic Package at 5:00 at Mama Melrose. We also did this because the only other night we could do it is when Night of Joy is going on and we could not get a reservation (this way we avoid the Studios during Night of Joy).

 

[Dizneydaz]

If we get the earlier flight out of ONT (Ca) that leaves about 6 a.m. then we arrive at MCO at about 4:30. If we do this, I like to have an ADR at Kona Cafe. Last year we had 8 p.m. ADRs. It worked well. We had plenty of time to get our rental car, check-in at POP, relax awhile, and then head over to Kona. Wishes that night were at 10 so we were able to watch them from Poly Beach. A great start to a great vacation!

 

[TomLovesBecky]

Do you book an ADR on your first day at WDW? Our flight arrives around noon and we have an ADR for 5pm at 50's prime time that night. I am second guessing myself and thinking it might be too much for the first day there. We have NO idea how our DD is going to be with flying and missing naps etc so maybe it's a better idea to just eat a CS that night. Also, you never know, the flight could be delayed right? What do you guys do??

Thanks!

I didn't because we will be getting in really late, no chance of eating something fancy that night, will probably be granola bars in our room!

 

[VanessasMom]

We arrive at 11:30am and have a 4:45pm at Akershus for a princess dinner. Our princess has never been to a character dinner before. I think it will be great to get to the hotel, swing by MK and then monorail over to Epcot for dinner and some rides before going back to the resort for the night. I wanted to set the mood for the trip with this meal. Also, I figured since we have to leave our house at 5:30am, we won't be getting a meal on the flight and then probably be grabbing McD's for lunch we will be ready for a big all-you-can-eat table service meal that night.

 

[Delta Jane]

We have a 7:30 at Boma's. We are only staying from Mon. whenever we drive after leaving the cruise ship in Port Canaveral, until Wed. afternoon. So, we are using one dinner on Mon. three meals on Tues, then breakfast and lunch before leaving to drive to Pompano Beach to visit our son. We fly back to Baltimore on Sun. That first day we are going to do Epcot and taste the wine and cheese and goodies for awhile. Hope it works out ok, we are older, no children but we may need naps, too. LOL

 

[septbaby]

Do you book an ADR on your first day at WDW? Our flight arrives around noon and we have an ADR for 5pm at 50's prime time that night. I am second guessing myself and thinking it might be too much for the first day there. We have NO idea how our DD is going to be with flying and missing naps etc so maybe it's a better idea to just eat a CS that night.

Thanks!

Either plan is fine. My concerns for your ADR time are: you made them for an inside the park restaurant as opposed to a resort or DTD location and at the start of the dinner rush. You'll likely be all checked in and in your room by 3pm, but you'd need leave within an hour to comfortably make it to the park and then the restaurant. That doesn't leave much downtime. I'd do one of the following:

1. Eat CS at the resort or make a resort TS ADR
2. Make the ADR for 7pm or later; less hectic time and would allow for a nap

We were in our room by 3pm. I took my 5yo nephew for a swim while my Mom napped. We were all showered, dressed and on our way to Narcoossee's near 7pm for an 8pm ADR. It was great to have an event to look forward to on our non park arrival day. We loved our meal, service and Wishes was awesome. I should note that we shared a CS meal at the resort right after check in. We were in the air through lunch so no way we could last 'til 8pm to eat.

My nephew was really EXCITED to be going to Disney and had plenty of energy that first day; flight and all. He nearly drove my mother crazy on the 2hr flight and ME boarding experience. As soon as my mother saw me step onto the ME bus she bolted for a seat in the rear, leaving me to the seat next to my nephew. I was glad to have it and boy was he wired, but I didn't even get to give my Mom a hug she bolted so fast. I share that story to say you never know how the Disney bug will strike the little ones. Our little guy could not stop talking! He did finally tucker out at dinner, but lasted through Wishes. Ideally he would have slept on the plane, but that so was not going to happen; just be prepared!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

We always arrive by 9am when we head to Disney, so we don't do without our TS ADR's. We usually hit the parks right from the airport then go back to the resort for a few hours in the afternoon to check in and settle in. By dinner we are all ready for a good meal.

 

[septbaby]

We always arrive by 9am when we head to Disney, so we don't do without our TS ADR's. We usually hit the parks right from the airport then go back to the resort for a few hours in the afternoon to check in and settle in. By dinner we are all ready for a good meal.

This implies you're not on the DP and already have park tickets. You'd need to check in to get your KTTW cards for park tickets and DP access.

 

[Mickey_Man]

We are flying in on July 4th and arriving at noon. We definitely have an ADR - not sure we could get a TS dinner without one! We are doing Flying Fish on the boardwalk @7pm and hoping to sneak a peak at Illuminations that night. If not, no biggie, but I think an ADR is the way to go. We have the Dining Line in our cell phone so if we decide to bag the ADR we call and cancel, but we pretty much set up at least one ADR for every day of our trip, including the day of arrival.

 

[hiwaygal]

We're arriving at MCO at about 1:30 in the afternoon...and we have a 5pm ADR at Ohana's. We should have time to check in, relax a bit in our room, and check out the resort a little before an "early" dinner...then off to the MK for EMH!

I can't wait!

 

[raven69david]

We do ADR's on the first day. We usually do Narcoossee's. Our DD will be 4 in October so we understand how missing naps and the like can affect them, especially at night. She's never had a problem and is usually too excited to act up while off her nap schedule. Of course, everyone reacts differently but at least ours is pretty good about not acting up too much when off her nap schedule.

Since we fly Southwest we never have problems from SAT to MCO. We have a direct flight and there are usually never any delays in our area, at least we've never experienced any in over 10 years of flying out of SAT. This great track record gives us the confidence of making our ADR's in the evening.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

This implies you're not on the DP and already have park tickets. You'd need to check in to get your KTTW cards for park tickets and DP access.

True...we always have AP's...but on occasion we have checked in at our resort first...only takes a few minutes and we're off. We've done the dining plan, didn't care for it. We stick with DDE most times.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We don't typically do a park the first day since we're exhausted - last time we did that, DH fell asleep on the couch in the Brown Derby lobby =)

This time we're taking time to explore the hotel and have dinner at Boma. Our flight leaves at 7am, meaning we have to leave the house before 5pm, which means I will NOT want to be out late.

 

[tigger813]

We have never done an ADR on the day of arrival just in case we are late getting in. We usually stop at the grocery store on the way in to get essentials and then stop at Papa John's for a pizza and breadsticks then we eat at whatever park we are in that evening. This trip it will be MK. Usually Cosmic Ray's!