First time using ADRs. Help?

[Gearbm95]

I have two trips coming up, one in June staying at the Dolphin with my boyfriend, and a last minute one I just booked for April with my mom and sister, staying at the Gaylord Palms. Need some help with ADR questions pertaining to both trips.

1) I booked a 9:20am breakfast for Grand Floridian Cafe on Tues. Will we be able to drive to the resort and park there during our meal, or would it be better to park at TTC and take the monorail. We plan on doing MK or Epcot after breakfast. Would we have to move the car after breakfast if we parked at the GF?

2) Have dinner reservations for Cali Grill on Mon at 920pm, same question, can we drive right to the resort and park for our dinner?

3) In regards to my trip in June, we want a late ADR for Epcot, around 9pm or 10pm depending on park closing. When Disney expands the park hours weeks prior, do they open up additional ADRs at that time, based on the revised park hours?

 

[MomOTwins]

I have two trips coming up, one in June staying at the Dolphin with my boyfriend, and a last minute one I just booked for April with my mom and sister, staying at the Gaylord Palms. Need some help with ADR questions pertaining to both trips.

1) I booked a 9:20am breakfast for Grand Floridian Cafe on Tues. Will we be able to drive to the resort and park there during our meal, or would it be better to park at TTC and take the monorail. We plan on doing MK or Epcot after breakfast. Would we have to move the car after breakfast if we parked at the GF?

2) Have dinner reservations for Cali Grill on Mon at 920pm, same question, can we drive right to the resort and park for our dinner?

3) In regards to my trip in June, we want a late ADR for Epcot, around 9pm or 10pm depending on park closing. When Disney expands the park hours weeks prior, do they open up additional ADRs at that time, based on the revised park hours?

1. Officially, you get 3 hours to park at a resort with an ADR. However, several people on these boards have recently reported being allowed to park all day following a breakfast ADR. YMMV.
2. That would not work because they check for your ADR when you pull into the resort parking lot, and yours would be many hours away. You would need to park at TTC in the morning and pick up car in the evening.
3. They do open up the later ADRs but usually a few days after they expand hours—or sometimes even before they expand hours. It is not simultaneous.

 

[Gearbm95]

1. Officially, you get 3 hours to park at a resort with an ADR. However, several people on these boards have recently reported being allowed to park all day following a breakfast ADR. YMMV.
2. That would not work because they check for your ADR when you pull into the resort parking lot, and yours would be many hours away. You would need to park at TTC in the morning and pick up car in the evening.
3. They do open up the later ADRs but usually a few days after they expand hours—or sometimes even before they expand hours. It is not simultaneous.

Thank you! Sorry, forgot to mention no parks on the day we’re going to CG, but you already answered my question by saying you get 3hrs parking with an ADR.

 

[Pumbaa_]

1. You may park for breakfast then move your car to ttc or Epcot
2. Yes, you may park for dinner at CG
3. Who knows. No parks are having closing fireworks, not sure how late dining will be. Currently I haven’t seen any adrs at 7 or later, all earlier. Each restaurant will show their dinner hours.
Biergarten Dinner – 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM

 

[MomOTwins]

1. You may park for breakfast then move your car to ttc or Epcot
2. Yes, you may park for dinner at CG
3. Who knows. No parks are having closing fireworks, not sure how late dining will be. Currently I haven’t seen any adrs at 7 or later, all earlier. Each restaurant will show their dinner hours.
Biergarten Dinner – 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM

I am looking right now for a day on my upcoming trip (March 20), and there are plenty of late night in park ADRs available. Le Cellier at 9:40pm, San Angel 9:45 etc.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Fascinating
you can tell when crowds are expected. The 27th has dinner til 7
The prior 2 saturday nights have late hours

I don’t know I have seen such changes in availability like this. Has anyone else?

OP, based on this info your best chance of a late night adr is Saturday and Friday which is an hour earlier.
With adrs being 60 days out, if a weekend is an option that may be your best bet. Love that they have later dinner options during the busier times

 

[MomOTwins]

Fascinating
you can tell when crowds are expected. The 27th has dinner til 7
The prior 2 saturday nights have late hours

I don’t know I have seen such changes in availability like this. Has anyone else?

OP, based on this info your best chance of a late night adr is Saturday and Friday which is an hour earlier.
With adrs being 60 days out, if a weekend is an option that may be your best bet. Love that they have later dinner options during the busier times

I think that could just be because they haven't released any extended park hours for Sunday March 21 onward. My stay includes the first part of that week so have been watching the park hours like a hawk. They just dropped the new extended hours for March 14-20 at the end of last week, so I am expecting another drop for the end of March to occur Thurs/Fri this week.

Disney sure is not making it easy to plan ahead these days!