booking meals 180 days out

[ms.ojo]

How is this working for people? I realize Disney has been posting the park hours now 180 days in advance....but do they tend to change a lot? How about the Extra Magic Hours?

Just wondering if people are really booking at 180 days...and leaving it alone...OR...Do you find you have to keep a close watch for the next 6mths and adjust your PS's (ADRs...whatever they're called now) as the EMH schedule changes???

Thanks in advance for the insight. We're not scheduled to go back until April 2007, but an oppty has come up that we may be back again this fall.

 

[allaboard]

We went ahead and did our ADR's for our July trip right at the 180 day mark mostly because our DD had her heart set on a birthday dinner at CRT. We didn't want to miss that on her actual birthday. We worked hard to plan the park/dinner ... but left in a day or two with no TS towards the end of trip. We have dining plan for first half only since we are doing a spilt stay and didn't want to buy an extra ticket for that 2nd resort.
Also, we made sure to make ADR's for mostly dinners so that if we choose to do a different park that day than where our ADR is ... we can do that and still have time to make it to ADR. Since it will be summer time, we plan to have water park days for sure. So, to answer your question ... I haven't changed one thing about our summer trip ... and we're going for 12 days .. so that was a good bit of ADR planning !!! Good luck and hope you get there in the fall !!!

 

[Tink]

We are planning on going in November. We haven't booked anything yet. I just figured out when we need to make the ADR's in May, but I am not even sure if we are going!!! I loved it when the ADR's could be made 90 days out.

At least the park hours are coming out sooner. That at least helps. Even at 90 days out, the hours weren't always posted.

 

[pbharris4]

I made my ADRs right at the 180 day mark. I am a planner and want to get most of it done so all I have to do for the few months before our trip is buy clothes and pack and enjoy the vacation. Our vacation truly goes much more smoothly than just showing up at a park (did that once and it was chaos). I did change a few ADRs around because we decided to go to MK instead of MGM and to go to AK instead of Kennedy Space Center, but other than that..we are set! I did notice that Disney added some EMH during our trip which is close to July4th, but it actually worked out for us because the EMH are at the parks we will be visiting and on the days we will be there so it was just icing on the cake. So I can sit back relax for a few months now.

 

[ms.ojo]

At least the park hours are coming out sooner. That at least helps. Even at 90 days out, the hours weren't always posted.

Yes, I found that SOO frustrating. And I was just wondering...were people finding this new system working better. If they booked at 180 days....did things tend to stay as posted???? or change so many times it was just as frustrating as the old system. Hopefully someone will see this post who is planning to travel in the next few wks and can shed some light.

 

[ms.ojo]

bump

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

The problem is the policy just changed Oct. 28, so people who were 180 days out at that point haven't gone on their trips yet. They are just barely past the 90 day mark now. Disney likes to mess with the hours continually, so no telling what the actual hours will look like when those people arrive at the end of April.

I made our August ADRs at 7 AM, 180 days out. Got everything we wanted, but we still have a couple of things up in the air. I booked 2 Boma breakfasts (different days) but we probably won't need both. I also chose NOT to book a Fantasmic package but I might when they release later times, which tends to happen about 3 weeks out. I'm also waiting for the MGM breakfast but that won't impact anything else I have booked.

We are planning to go back to the resort midday every day, so like someone else said, even if we change our mind about what park we do in the morning we won't change our dinner plans.

 

[karen l]

I made our ADRs for our trip at the 180 mark & it seemed to work fine for us. My Dsis & I had all ready been making a list of the restaurants we wanted so all we had to do was decide on the days & times & call. I figured we could always call & try to change them if necessary - hopefully that won't happen.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Made all our ADRs at 180 day mark, but I'm an obsessive planner. The funny this is I've already changed a few around and I'm sure that won't be the end of it.

 

[beckmrk04]

I just made my ADR's today for May 18-23 and got every single one I wanted at any time I wanted:
Boma- dinner
50's PT- dinner
Chef Mickey's- Dinner
Princess Storybook Breakfast

So, it's fairly obvious that you don't have to do them 180 days in advance, because I just booked my trip this morning for three months from now, and made all my ADR's, no problems.

 

[pbharris4]

I just wanted to add that even calling 180 days out (give or take a few days), some time slots were already filling up (and it wasn't for CRT or anything like that). We're going 6/25-7/5/06 so we'll be there around July 4th.

 

[ms.ojo]

Thanks for the input. Just seemed like there was a lot of complaining on other boards about the ever changing EMH schedule...but when I looked, it seemed pretty consistent...other than adding ADD'L EMH during busier times. So for those folks, it could probably mess up their touring plans and they might make changes to their ADRs. Although as several pointed out....by having park hopping capability you can still eat dinner where planned even if you change your morning park.

 

[BAST]

I made my 180 day ADR's yesterday - it was really nice to be able to make all the ADR's on one phone call since I am staying onsite. My only concern is that WDW will mess with the EMH days during my trip and force me to make changes (this has always happened in the past). I must say that I am impressed that WDW is putting out park hours so far in advance.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I wanted to....but we just put this trip together last month, and I have been unable to sit down and completely finalize our plans...plus I wanted to wait until a weekend to get the free cell phone minutes. Tomorrow I think I can make at least 5 of 7 reservations, and I'll feel better then. It will be 5 months out at that point.
Robin M.

 

[Puffy2]

does staying onsite still include swan and dolphin?

 

[rwenzel2]

What happens if you make some ADR's and end up not keeping them?

 

[beckmrk04]

Yes staying on site includes Swan and Dolphin.

And, unless you book something for which you have to put a credit card deposit, such as Hoop Dee Doo Revue or CRT or Princess Storybook B/L/D, nothing happens if you don't keep your adr's. You should call and cancel as soon as you realize you can't make it, however. If you book something likethe above mentioned events, you must cancel at least 48 hours in advance or be charged a certain amount (not sure how much per event- I think it might vary). Hope that helps.