First timer here - with dining res questions

[thousandquestions]

This my first time going to Disney World, and my family and I have booked for a week at CBR and have the Dining plan . I am looking at the disney site and see that reservations can be taken 180 days in advance.Is this really needed? We are going the week of Halloween and am thinking that I may need to start planning certain parks for certain days if I need to make dining res. in advance. Again , I am a first timer so I'm already a bit overwhelmed and any help will be appreciated

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If you want to go to sit down restaurants yes they are very much needed IMO. Especially if you want some popular restaurants. It's hard to just get walk ups. You can get lucky but not always.

 

[sherreis]

Welcome to the DIS!

Since the DDP, ADRs are harder to get, especially, at busy times of the day. You might want to join TGM (Tour Guide Mike) or Touring Plans to figure out what your best days at each park are to help you decide on what ADRs to schedule.

Have fun planning.

 

[miprender]

I would get ADRs for most of your stay. I know it is quite hard to know what you will want to eat in a few months from now, but if you are planning any character meals then you better get booking.

 

[TDC Nala]

If you want to be certain that you have sit-down meals scheduled in a theme park, especially if you want character meals, then yes, you need to make some reservations. You can't count on getting a seat at peak mealtimes in theme park restaurants unless you have a reservation.

If you want any of the following: Chef Mickey's, Le Cellier, Cinderella's Royal Table, or Coral Reef - you should probably plan to make reservations as soon as you are able to make them. Other popular restaurants for which reservations are highly recommended (although these don't necessarily book up six months ahead of time) are: Ohana, Boma, any character meal, Rose & Crown, California Grill, 50s Prime Time Cafe, Whispering Canyon Cafe.

If you mean Halloween 2008, you need to call as soon as possible to find out what is available. The most popular restaurants are quite likely to be completely booked by this time.

 

[B-Ride]

If your are on the Dining Plan you definitely need advance reservations. You don't want to get there and find you can't get reservations. You are paying for the TS restaurants so you want to use them.

I am not sure if you have the Park Hopper option but I would definitely recommend it. We always do so we do not worry at all about which park we will be in and where to eat. In fact, on most days we ended up eating in a different park than we started. Also we ate 4 of our meals at resorts so it didn't matter which park we were in.