Anxiety over ADRs

[quoo]

I keep seeing all these posts about how hard it is to get ADRs. We're staying on site for a week, so I should be able to get at least some reservations we want. I think my hardest to get reservations will be our HS day where I would like to try for Oga's catina and Sci Fi Diner. These park days are days 4 and 6 and so I think we might have a chance? I'm worried about our AK day which is our first full day there, I'd like to get a Yak and Yeti reservation.

But - help me out. How bad is it to do all quick service / take out? It's totally doable right? It's not like if I don't sort out these ADRs we won't be able to eat. We did mostly table service last time so this is a shift for us.

Frustratingly I have almost 2 more months until my ADR window opens and I hope I stop worrying about this before then.

 

[Bre23]

I booked last week for the first part of our split stay which is 6 days. I was able to get everything but ogas. I got sci fi, 50s, Cinderella’s yak and yeti, topolinos breakfast and beaches and cream for a 6 day trip. I also got 2 sets of reservations for the droid depot as well.

These were all made for four people except b&c which I made two reservations of two both at 6pm. I figured if we can’t be seated all together my 13 year olds can sit seperate from me and nana ( they have good manners and know how to tip using magic bands).

Make a list prioritize and be flexible and book the latest in the week possible.

 

[ww52]

It's funny (sort of) how ADRs are now more stressful than fast passes ever were!

We are stressing the same way - a party of 11 total; we are thinking we might rarely eat together if ever except take-out.

Frankly, there are a couple people in our group still insisting we cancel the trip again ( which we had to last year) given the restrictions - and they don't even know that we are going to struggle to find a place to eat dinner every day.

My two sons and I are "in charge" and we are dreading the comments we'll get when we find ourselves without viable dining options - especially with 4 kids age 7 and under.

Hopefully I'm over-stressing but it sure doesn't seem like it.

EDIT - thanks BRE23 for some encouraging news!

 

[quoo]

omg. Luckily there are only 4 of us, and I think I'm being a bit ridiculous worrying about this. I do have my list ready and honestly, it's fine if we don't get oga's.

Did you book the latest days first?

 

[Bre23]

Yes my priority’s were topolinos and sci-fi which were day 4 and 5. Then backtracked in order of importance to my family Cinderella’s 50s and yak and yeti. I did beaches and cream on a whim for day 5s dinner.

we are not a quick service family so getting Adrs is very important to us. I had backups for everything and we go often enough that not getting something will ruin our trips but it is always fun to get our first choices especially with some of our favorites still not reopened.

 

[dancergirlsmom]

We were there the week before Easter and eventually managed to get everything we wanted. We at most have one table service a day. The rest of the time its QS and snacks. I have been 3 times since last July and have never had a problem ordering for QS including our Spring Break trip. On that trip, we just did our order in the morning as we were getting to the park for lunch time and it worked great. We had 8 days in the parks and had Homecomin', Yak & Yeti, Toppolinos, Rose & Crown, Olivias, Oga's, Beaches & Cream, Chef Mickeys and San Angel Inn. I was able to get all of these at the 60 day mark. I did end up using a couple of reservation finder places to make a time change for Homecomin' and Beaches & Cream. Now I'm waiting to make my July ADR's and hope I am as successful. Lol!

 

[quoo]

Thank you all! this is really helpful.

 

[jsyork]

Not sure if this helps, but when I finally decided to book our trip, I was a few days out of the 60-day window so I missed making reservations at that point. That had never happened even 180-days out for me so I was very worried and stressed. I grabbed what I could just to make sure I had something. We arrive on Friday and through lots of checking the MDE app everyday, we now have reservations for every restaurant we wanted at great times. That includes Oga's, BOG, California Grill, Le Cellier, Teppan Edo, etc. I basically just checked my phone when I could, but don't feel like it was too consuming. I work during the day, so again, wasn't on it constantly but would say I checked more often then I have in the past. Through all the checking, I saw honestly every "hard to get" restaurant become available, even if it was at a date/time that didn't work for us. The only restaurant I have yet to see become available was Sci-Fi. Not sure what's going on there because I don't remember it being so difficult. I would say this past week was when I saw the most openings so I'm guessing people were holding reservations. I like to have all my ducks in a row as early as possible but would say if you don't get everything right away, even waiting to the last week could give you some success.

The one tip I learned this trip that I wish I had known in years past was using Open Table for Disney Springs restaurants or calling Landry Restaurants (T-Rex, Yak & Yeti, Rainforest Cafe) directly. My DD is older now, but when she was younger, she LOVED T-Rex and I got a reservation but it wasn't always at an ideal time. I used this trick this go around to get a reservation for The Boathouse for a time I've not seen open on the app. I think I'm late to the party on this info but wanted to share it just in case.

 

[quoo]

is the window the same for open table reservations?

 

[sabrecmc]

If it's any consolation, I made our ADRs for our late June trip this morning. Didn't get up early or anything, just did them when I got to work. Got everything I wanted. Had to be a tiny bit flexible, but not all that much really. This includes Sci-Fi, Oga's, and Homecomin' as well as the lightsaber thing at Savi's.

 

[dancergirlsmom]

I was looking at open table last night and I saw some openings for when I go Mid/late July so some are further out than 60. I don't think all Disney Springs restaurants use open table but there were a lot out there.

 

[ww52]

I'm feeling a bit better based on the posts here! 60 day window opens in a week and we will be ready to take alternatives (and then drop/add much like fastpasses!)

 

[jsyork]

is the window the same for open table reservations?

That's a good question. I'm thinking 60 days although it might depend on the restaurant. I agree with dancergirlsmom, don't think it's all Disney Springs restaurants, but many of them are on there.

 

[xlsm]

Do you have hoppers? I was able to get Oga's by just checking every single day of the trip and selecting a time after "Hopping Hours" begin. I had multiple options. We ended up picking Sunday evening (we arrive on a Tuesday)

I will say, when I first logged on to book for our June trip, I felt discouraged b/c it was hard to find anything. I went back an hour or so later and had my pick of pretty much everything we wanted. Not to say don't try right away - definitely do! But for all our trips, we end up changing our reservations once we arrive and we have only ever had a few instances where we didn't get everything we wanted eventually. Even on week-before-Christmas or NYE trips.

good luck - it'll be ok!! I'm a very relaxed planner after going so often, but this time made me feel anxious too! It's a whole new ballgame.

I hope you have an amazing trip!

 

[quoo]

No hoppers - we prefer just to split the stay by just spending time at the pool. But that’s okay. If we don’t get Oga’s that’s fine.

 

[Sirenitas]

On the day our window opened I was able to get quite a few places we wanted (SciFi, Homecomin' brunch, B&C, Skipper). First one I searched for was SciFi for our 5th day, HC for 7th day.
Then when the park hours got extended many other ADRs opened up and I was able to tweak times (switched SciFi from lunch to dinner) and add a few others (Y&Y, Via Napoli, WCC, R&C).
Before they extended the hours I had gone on TP and made some ADR search requests - I do not have a membership - and was able to get MM lunch on a very busy day at HS (May 4th).

So do not worry if you can't find everything you want right away - keep searching since people cancel all the time, use TP's reservation finder, and watch for when Disney extends the park hours. Good luck!

edit to add - Oh, and CS for most meals is not that bad! Epcot has great options (pretty much all around the WS) and you will either be there for F&G or F&W so booths galore. AK has the Y&Y cs and Flame Tree BBQ. I've heard really god things about Satu'li Canteen and can't wait to try it next week. Fo MK we are planning on Sleep Hollow waffles for breakfast (although their chicken waffle sandwich is also great for lunch) and then going to Geyser Point at WL for lunch or dinner. Capt Cook's at the Poly has Tonga toast!

 

[ww52]

Sirenitas - TP=Touring Plans? Didn't even think of using that. I do have a subscription. Thanks for the tip

EDIT - and we are latching on to the idea of counter service as well; in actuality there are only a few "sit down" table service places we are hoping for (two of which aren't even open yet); with my 4 small grandgirls we realize table service might be pushing the limits of their attention span a LOT (unless there are characters of course.

 

[bdiddy]

We're going for 7 days in mid June so we just booked our ADR's on the 16th. We are doing a full day at each park and then hopping to all 4 the last 2 days. HS is our first full day and I was not able to get Sci-fi or Oga then but I did get both on our 2nd to last day. We've eaten at Sci-fi several times before though so I wouldn't have been that upset to get shut out but we did really want Oga's since we haven'e been to Galaxy's Edge yet. So if you are dead set on getting something try for that reservation first in order of most popular to least popular and then if you don't get it, just keep stalking the site especially as you get closer. So many will open up especially in the week leading up to your trip.

 

[quoo]

My ADRs were this morning. I got pretty much everything I wanted, except for Yak & Yeti on my first full day there. (going to sign up for one of the watcher thingies)

 

[2xcited2sleep]

You can also consider getting the Landry's card and calling them directly to make a Y&Y reservation if the Disney system doesn't show anything as open.