HELP! I don't know where to start...

[BuckeyeMickey]

So I have 17 days before I can make my ADR's. I have the park hours only for our first three days (3/29-3/31). I've never made ADR's before, let alone been on the Dining Plan. So we scored Free Dining, but I don't know what to think about before making an ADR!! How do you decide 6 months in advance where you are going to be and when you are going to want to eat? What am I missing here - besides the chunks of hair I'm about to start pulling out?

I'm guessing I need to know what park we will be in (we don't do Park Hopper), what places sound good, and what else? I don't know what I'm doing!

We have DS 6 and DS 4, my husband & I, plus my in-laws. Everyone likes plain, American food. So my thoughts are:

~Chef Mickey's dinner (not sure - go there after AK? or during an MK day?)
~Crystal Palace lunch or dinner (a MK day)
~Garden Grill dinner (an Epcot day)
~Maybe Hoop Dee Doo (how do I get there from CBR, and when do I plan that without ruining a parks trip?)
~O'Hana (where does this fit in?)

Do you have any tips on how you lay out your ADR's, what things go into your decision?

Thank you Disney friends!

 

[babyrich]

So I have 17 days before I can make my ADR's. I have the park hours only for our first three days (3/29-3/31). I've never made ADR's before, let alone been on the Dining Plan. So we scored Free Dining, but I don't know what to think about before making an ADR!! How do you decide 6 months in advance where you are going to be and when you are going to want to eat? What am I missing here - besides the chunks of hair I'm about to start pulling out?

I'm guessing I need to know what park we will be in (we don't do Park Hopper), what places sound good, and what else? I don't know what I'm doing!

We have DS 6 and DS 4, my husband & I, plus my in-laws. Everyone likes plain, American food. So my thoughts are:

~Chef Mickey's dinner (not sure - go there after AK? or during an MK day?)
~Crystal Palace lunch or dinner (a MK day)
~Garden Grill dinner (an Epcot day)
~Maybe Hoop Dee Doo (how do I get there from CBR, and when do I plan that without ruining a parks trip?)
~O'Hana (where does this fit in?)

Do you have any tips on how you lay out your ADR's, what things go into your decision?

Thank you Disney friends!

First I plan where I want to eat...you seem to have done that. Than I just try to choose what day I will go. Say on Tuesday, I choose CP, if the time I want is available. I reserve it. Once that is done, you can plan what park you will visit that day.

For Hoop Dee Doo, take the bus from CBR to MK than take the boat or bus to Ft. Wilderness. Than do the same in reverse after dinner.

When you go to O'hana, its at the Poly so you can do the monorail. Take the bus to MK from CBR than monrail to Poly.

If you do CM on an AK day, you can take the bus from AK to CR. After dinner, you can take monrail to MK and bus to CBR

I hope I got that right. Happy reserving!!!!!

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

So I have 17 days before I can make my ADR's. I have the park hours only for our first three days (3/29-3/31). I've never made ADR's before, let alone been on the Dining Plan. So we scored Free Dining, but I don't know what to think about before making an ADR!! How do you decide 6 months in advance where you are going to be and when you are going to want to eat? What am I missing here - besides the chunks of hair I'm about to start pulling out?

I'm guessing I need to know what park we will be in (we don't do Park Hopper), what places sound good, and what else? I don't know what I'm doing!

We have DS 6 and DS 4, my husband & I, plus my in-laws. Everyone likes plain, American food. So my thoughts are:

~Chef Mickey's dinner (not sure - go there after AK? or during an MK day?)
~Crystal Palace lunch or dinner (a MK day)
~Garden Grill dinner (an Epcot day)
~Maybe Hoop Dee Doo (how do I get there from CBR, and when do I plan that without ruining a parks trip?)
~O'Hana (where does this fit in?)

Do you have any tips on how you lay out your ADR's, what things go into your decision?

Thank you Disney friends!

We are like you, we don't do hoppers. So for us, planning on where to eat and what park to visit 6 months from now seems foolish.

What I do is plan what parks we will visit each day based on park hours and EMH. From there we decide what restaurants in each park meet our dietary needs (check out the on-line menus. We all like a nice quiet/relaxing meal near the end of the day, so we make all our ADR's for 530-700pm.

That's all there is to it. I get feedback from everyone up front as to which restauarnts are a MUST-DO and book them first.