ADR's Christmas Week

[Mobes]

We are planning our trip for Dec 22-31, 2013 and have a question about ADR's that week. Has anyone had issues getting the popular restaurants this week without the 180+10?

We have a family of 5 and are currently booked at the Dolphin Family Rooms under a great AAA rate. But we are concerned about not being able to get all our ADRs as the Dolphin does not qualify for 180+10. So in turn we are thinking of moving to the POR. The benefit being we get 180+10 but the downside being we will get a much smaller room. We're not dining plan people, so that piece is irrelevant and we are actually driving, so ME doesn't matter either.

Thoughts?

 

[MSaboCLBR]

My initial thought is don't worry about it. Stay where you are for lodging. There are so many great restaurants allover WDW that you can always find something, especially at the 180 day mark.

 

[dvcterry]

I made my adr's for Christmas and NYE at 90 days out and less, beginning Nov. for some, as we were still deciding where we would be on which days. We made adr's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner without problems.

 

[wdwmaw]

You will be fine, not to take it lightly but make them when you can. That is a very busy time of year but booking ADR's are not like a free dining time of year where it can get very hard to find anything. We also have found that Disney does hold reservations this time of year. Book what you can get but constantly watch as around Nov lots of availability will open up. We had all our times set this year and were able to make adjustments in Nov when our plans changed a bit.

Every place we ate during our 15 day trip this year 12/20-1/3 were taking walk ups, never waited more than 30 minutes, and we always could see empty tables while we were dining.

Great advice is don't plan on published hours as those will change as your dates get closer. So many people were on here frantic with pre park opening reservations only to have the hours change and really messed with the early riding before the crowd gets packed. It always happens and those hours can even change during your trip so stay on top of that. We had a couple of days where CM's let people through the turnstiles and a few rides 30-40 minutes before official opening to help with all the people heading to the gates. This was our 5th Christmas trip and the least crowded we have ever had

 

[Mobes]

Thanks everyone. This is really helpful. This will be our 3rd Christmas week trip and as the planner of the group, I like to get it out of the way early

Great tip on calling back in November if I don't get my ideal times. Hadn't thought of that. Not to worried on the time changes as we are rope drop people and tend to get their early and book any morning reservations for late mornings saving some money by not needing to each lunch.

 

[tinka-belle]

A lot of the Epcot dinner slots are held back for the Candlelight Processional packages and won't show as available when you try to reserve early. As the date gets closer (not very close, but well within the 180 day window) it seems that Disney loads more dining slots for normal ADRs at Epcot if the CP packages didn't use them.

 

[Connears]

We have been Xmas week for last 6years. No problem at 180. Only thing we couldn't get this year was Be Our Guest ...I think just because it had just opened. Don't worry too much be flexible with time is best.(we usually eat very late dinner)
Connears

 

[tarheelmjfan]

They seem to hold back many of the ADRs for 180. I've had much better luck at 180 than 180 + 10. You should be fine.

 

[BOG Obsessed]

You will be fine, not to take it lightly but make them when you can. That is a very busy time of year but booking ADR's are not like a free dining time of year where it can get very hard to find anything. We also have found that Disney does hold reservations this time of year. Book what you can get but constantly watch as around Nov lots of availability will open up. We had all our times set this year and were able to make adjustments in Nov when our plans changed a bit.

Every place we ate during our 15 day trip this year 12/20-1/3 were taking walk ups, never waited more than 30 minutes, and we always could see empty tables while we were dining.

Great advice is don't plan on published hours as those will change as your dates get closer. So many people were on here frantic with pre park opening reservations only to have the hours change and really messed with the early riding before the crowd gets packed. It always happens and those hours can even change during your trip so stay on top of that. We had a couple of days where CM's let people through the turnstiles and a few rides 30-40 minutes before official opening to help with all the people heading to the gates. This was our 5th Christmas trip and the least crowded we have ever had

Thanks for posting.
Planning our first family vacation to Disney 12/22-12/28. Was feeling pretty pessimistic of not being able to obtain a ADR for CRT and BOG at the 6am 180 day window.