It's upto you, it depends how important it is to get the restaurants you want at the times you want really. I book all mine at 180 days because I like to have what I want and not be disappointed.
CP is buffet. LTT is family-style. (Bowls of food brought to your table that they replenish as much as you want.) With children, I prefer family-style service than a buffet. I end up going through the buffet with the children carrying their plates, and then have to go back to get my own, it's more of a hassle to me.
CP is Pooh characters.
LTT is Minnie, a chipmunk, pluto??? can anyone help me out - too many character meals are running together for me
The home site of this board (wdwinfo) has good information. I prefer Deb Willis' allearsnet.com Mary's mousesavers isn't good for what you are looking for, but is another site to bookmark.
You can also buy a guidebook - there are tons - for your first visit I like Birnbaums - it has the least content and the prettiest pictures. A Passporter is nice - good content, lots of planning sheets. Lots of people are fans of the Unofficial Guide, I find it overwhelming for first timers.
We are arriving at WDW on 11/2. I booked my ADR's on 9/17. I got all the restaurants I wanted at the approximate times I wanted (I asked for 7pm, my times range from 6:50 to 7:20) Except fro the 1st night we are doing Boma at 5 becasue we are going to MNSSHP. I have eaten at CRT and the kids didn't care for the food. I would love to try LeCellier, maybe next year. Last year we booked ADR's even closer in and had no trouble getting Chef Mickey's or Coral Reef (we go "Jersey Week" every year...1st week in Nov.) We didn't care for Coral Reef. The atmosphere was wonderful, the food, not so much. Except for the lobster bisque.
we are going to book ours at 180 days... but we are flexible too... we have a plan and are excited at the opportunity to eat at several resturants at several times and we dont want to miss out... like a 12 noon lunch at CRT etc...
We are going in mid-December and wanted ADRs at some very popular places like LeCellier, Cali Grill, Rose and Crown, Kona Cafe but didn't book any of them until the 120 day point and still got times within 15 minutes of when we wanted. Even got LTT close to the time we asked for on our MVMCP night.
It helps that we are going just before the busiest time of year but we did ask for very popular places and times. When I made my plans I tried to look at sites that advise on park touring to do my itinerary first but I was very willing to be flexible and switch days and times if necessary!
Our last spring break trip we managed to also get decent ADRs at 90 days out by being very flexible but being a party of 2 that helped I think.
Hubby and I refuse to plan our entire vacation 180 days ahead. Sometimes we enjoy just waking up and deciding what to do that day. (Then again, we don't have kids either so we are not too worried about meal times and character meals).
We leave in 3 weeks and I just booked Le Cellier the other day (granted I had to be flexible and take a lunch instead of a dinner but we are just as happy to walk off the heavy meal during midday).
Personally, I think Disney has created a monster by setting up the ADRs this way and it causes people to panic and worry they won't get TS restaurants. I did find that in the past we'd check the TS's in the morning at whichever park we were at for the day. Then we'd pick one and book it. We didn't go hungry!
Best advice given... if you have a specific dinner show or hard to get restaurant on the list, book those asap. Then, if you can, try and be flexible on time/day/restaurant as you can. Hubby and I were surprised at how many TERRIFIC restaurants we ate at that we may have missed had it not been for our spontaneous approach. Good luck and ENJOY!
Book the popular ones early! We tried (starting the first part of May) to book Coral Reef for the dates we were there and never did get an ADR (I would even call back periodacally to check for cancelations).