Dining Plans / Reservation Advice

[c88951]

I was wondering if anyone with experience in these areas could help me out with a couple of dinning related questions.

1. If I have a breakfast scheduled at Topolino's terrace, can I leave my car at Rivera all day and take the skylinner to a park and return for my car after the park closes?
2. How do you request (I know requests are not guaranteed) special seating arrangements? For example, if I reserve a table at sanaa at animal kingdom, how do you request a table with a savanna view? Do you call after scheduling the table through the Disney site?

Any advice on these two subjects would be greatly appreciated.

 

[FCDub]

1. No. You should not use resort parking as theme park parking. Not fair to people staying there. Someone will surely come along and say they did it and it’s no problem yadda yadda yadda. But don’t do it.

 

[HiStitch626]

2. There is no way to request special view seating ahead of time. You can inquire when you arrive to check in the restaurant. I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that "everyone" requests window seating at Sanaa. Most of the tables are not next to the windows. The best chance for this is to book your reservation for the first opening at lunch (11:30) or dinner (5:00) and be the first party to check in. The nice thing about Sanaa is that there is an outdoor animal viewing area just outside the restaurant that you can enjoy before and after your meal.

 

[c88951]

Exactly why I asked. We are staying at Animal Kingdom and I am trying to find the best way to get over to Rivera for breakfast then to Hollywood studios. Do you think there is a bus / skylinner plan that could work?

 

[c88951]

2. There is no way to request special view seating ahead of time. You can inquire when you arrive to check in the restaurant. I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that "everyone" requests window seating at Sanaa. Most of the tables are not next to the windows. The best chance for this is to book your reservation for the first opening at lunch (11:30) or dinner (5:00) and be the first party to check in. The nice thing about Sanaa is that there is an outdoor animal viewing area just outside the restaurant that you can enjoy before and after your meal.

2. There is no way to request special view seating ahead of time. You can inquire when you arrive to check in the restaurant. I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that "everyone" requests window seating at Sanaa. Most of the tables are not next to the windows. The best chance for this is to book your reservation for the first opening at lunch (11:30) or dinner (5:00) and be the first party to check in. The nice thing about Sanaa is that there is an outdoor animal viewing area just outside the restaurant that you can enjoy before and after your meal.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[FCDub]

Exactly why I asked. We are staying at Animal Kingdom and I am trying to find the best way to get over to Rivera for breakfast then to Hollywood studios. Do you think there is a bus / skylinner plan that could work?

Drive to breakfast, drive to park.
Uber to breakfast, skyliner to park.

 

[subtchr]

Exactly why I asked. We are staying at Animal Kingdom and I am trying to find the best way to get over to Rivera for breakfast then to Hollywood studios. Do you think there is a bus / skylinner plan that could work?

Depends what time the breakfast is.

If HS opens at 9, you could do a bus to HS and Skyliner to Riviera as long as your reservation is at 9:15 (9 might work, but it would be pushing it...) or later. The first HS bus should be at about 8 or 8:15.

 

[HiStitch626]

Depending on park opening times and the time of your reservation, I might recommend bus from AKL to AK, and then bus to Riviera. You can skyliner to DHS after your breakfast.

 

[c88951]

Wow, I didn't see the obvious choice.. Park at the theme park and ride the skylinner to 10 am breakfast. The Uber to reviera seems like a great idea also since my wife and I are covid vaccinated. I didn't realize Uber had access to the resorts, I thought this was limited to the mini van service that stopped. Thanks for the suggestions this helped a lot.

 

[subtchr]

Wow, I didn't see the obvious choice.. Park at the theme park and ride the skylinner to 10 am breakfast. The Uber to reviera seems like a great idea also since my wife and I are covid vaccinated. I didn't realize Uber had access to the resorts, I thought this was limited to the mini van service that stopped. Thanks for the suggestions this helped a lot.

Or just take the bus from AKL to HS.

 

[Disturbia]

I would uber if you see a long line to get on a bus. Due to social distancing, bus capacity is even more limited than usual.

We stayed at AKL in Nov and took an Uber to and from Riviera for dinner to save time and frustration on our HS’s day (we left early due to long lines; had planned to take the skyliner at close).

 

[DenLo]

We were at WDW two weeks before Easter and had an ADR 11:00 am for San Angel Inn on Saturday, March 27, 2021. We have Gold AP and ticketing blocked out Gold Passes for that day. We were denied entry into the park because of our Gold AP and Guest Services canceled our ADR without us paying a fee for canceling the same day. Why would the system allow me to make the reservation when it was a block out date?

 

[HiStitch626]

Why would the system allow me to make the reservation when it was a block out date?

ADRs are not tied to tickets or park reservations.

 

[DenLo]

ADRs are not tied to tickets or park reservations.

The requirement is that you have tickets and park reservations for an ADR in a park. From the Know Before you Go section on WDW website for Dining:

In-Park Dining
Guests must have valid park admission and a reservation for park entry through the Disney Park Pass system to dine at in-park restaurants.

 

[Erica Ladd]

That is just so you can get into the park to get to your reservation. I don’t think the system recognizes whether you have a ticket or park ressie when booking ADR’s

ETA - I can make an adr for any park anywhere and I have no tickets or park reservations

 

[ElizabethG]

We were at WDW two weeks before Easter and had an ADR 11:00 am for San Angel Inn on Saturday, March 27, 2021. We have Gold AP and ticketing blocked out Gold Passes for that day. We were denied entry into the park because of our Gold AP and Guest Services canceled our ADR without us paying a fee for canceling the same day. Why would the system allow me to make the reservation when it was a block out date?

ADRs are not tied to tickets or park reservations.

The requirement is that you have tickets and park reservations for an ADR in a park.

You need it, but it is not tied to the tickets on your account. On each dining reservation page for in-park dining it says "Valid Admission and Park Reservation for Same Park on Same Date Required". It doesn't check this for you. It is up to you to make sure you have 'valid' park admission.

 

[subtchr]

The requirement is that you have tickets and park reservations for an ADR in a park. From the Know Before you Go section on WDW website for Dining:

That requirement is to actually dine at the restaurant, not to BOOK the restaurant.

Disney is assuming you know your block out dates, so you don't book in park dining on those dates.

 

[DenLo]

Thanks for the clarification. But I am disappointed in Disney that they allow people to make ADRs they cannot keep. It prevents others from legitimately getting an ADR they can actually attend.

Disney really just hurt themselves as they just lost out on the money we would have spent at that restaurant.

 

[HiStitch626]

Just wondering how you thought you would get to the restaurant. Since you didn’t have a valid ticket for that day, did you have a park reservation?

 

[focusondisney]

Why would the system allow me to make the reservation when it was a block out date?

Because the ADR system does not screen for valid tickets. It’s the guest’s responsibility to have a valid ticket to access their ADR. I think the question is.... why would you make a dining reservation knowing your ticket is blacked out that day??

That would be quite a loop hole if Disney allowed anyone to make an ADR & let them in for it, regardless of the terms of their ticket. I would imagine there are thousands of people who would use that loop hole to avoid buying an anytime pass, or go to a second park on a day when they don’t have parkhoppers. Any number of scenarios come to mind if they let people without tickets into the parks for ADRs.