Help required for an adr virgin!

[tinkandonaldfans]

We have never made an ADR on previous trips so after getting free dining it now means we will have to make just a few!

we are there for 14 nights (although we will be spending 4 days at universal studios and discovery cove). I will be spacing these non disney days out so they are not all together. this is how we have done it in previous years.

i want to make sure are big meals are spread out and avoid having a big dinner followed by a big breakfast etc my question is do you get the days and times you intend or do you have to do a lot of shuffling around?

do you plan your days after you make your adr's or do you do them before and find they are able to book you in for what you wanted?

our 90 day slot is far away but i don't want to waste time planning when the adr's will dictate our plans

thanks

 

[Pinkprincessmom]

I decide what parks I'd like to go to on what days and then book ADR's based on that. I try to have a couple of choices so that if my first choice is not available, I have a second.

On our last trip, we wanted to eat at CRT. It was only available one day of our trip, so I tweaked our park days to match that.

Have a great trip.

 

[marmar]

your post reminded me of some of our previous trips to WDW (when we had teenagers with us). It is a lot easier now that it is just 2 jaded adults.

As soon as I made the resort ressies, we would sit down at the family white board and list out the restaurants everyone preferred or hated. The list was always longer than the days we had. Everyone got to pick their favorite. I would then lay out a tentative schedule and call for the adr's. If Le Cellier or CRT was on the list, it was the first one we tried to book and adjust the schedule around them.
If we were doing a character breakfast, the day before the breakfast we would do the big meal at lunch and Counter service in the evening. My family used to make fun of the spreadsheets I used to keep for my WDW trips.

Another thing, you can make ADR's 90 days out fromthe first day of your visit. So it is possible for someplace like LeCellier to be already booked full on that magic 90 day call. This happens a lot during Sept Free Dining.

 

[tinkandonaldfans]

thanks for the response anyone else have any other tips?

 

[ROEDISNEY]

I get my paper out map out the times of the parks open & close or whatever I'm doing that day and then I pick the resturant (for dinner) and the time. Only book maybe 1 or 2 Tb for Bk.
Been doing this for years and it works for me.
Have a Magical Trip