Help the Newbie! ADR's

[dcforbreakfast]

Hi guys, thanks in advance for your patience with me! What is an ADR and why would I want one? I understand that it's an Advance Dining Reservation, however, are the restaurants so packed you need to do reservations? We are going Christmas 2007. Where do I start? Any advice would be great!

 

[MickeyNicki]

You def need reservations for that time of the year. I would go to allearsnet.com, look at the restaurant menus and start picking some you and your family would enjoy.

Try to get the hardest ones first like Cinderellas Castle, Le Cellier and Chef Mickeys

 

[Lynne M]

The restaurants are so packed that you need reservations at just about any time of the year. Adding to this, many restaurants no longer take walkups. If they're fully booked (and some are fully booked months in advance), they won't let you wait for a table, they'll just turn you away.

But at Christmas, the very busiest time of year....your chances of getting into a TS restaurant without an ADR are virtually nonexistant. On the busiest days, I've heard of multi-hour waits for counter service food.

If it were me, I would make ADRs for any meal that I wanted to eat in a TS restaurant during Christmas week. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And I would make them right at 180 days out.

 

[Hopefully]

Welcome to the DIS.
I agree with the others, if you want a Table Service meal, you need to make an ADR well in advance. I made all of ours at exactly 180 days in advance and we are going at a time that is not as popular as when you are going. If you are on the DDP you definitely want them. You do not want to pre pay for meals that you can not take advantage of eating!!!
You can start by looking at the restaurant menus on allearsnet.com and here on the DIS. Look at menus for restaurants in the parks, as well as in nearby resorts. Decide what might appeal to your group.
Next I basically lay out which day I will go to which park and then make my ADR's in that area. You really want to minimize traveling distances to get to meals. The Park restaurants fill up quickly.
We really enjoy eating in the different countries at World Showcase in Epcot, and we usually have a few dinners there. We also try different resort restaurants on evenings when we are not going to be in a park late.
There are over 100 restaurants in WDW, so the choice is very broad.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but it is definitely worth effort if TS is in your plans.
If you are happy just eating Counter Service type meals, then you won't need ADR's, but at that time of the year you will wait in lenghty lines to get your food.
Have fun, planning is half the fun:

 

[disnut8]

You will need reservations. Especially as a first timer. The last thing you will want to be doing is hunting for a place to eat while your kids are crying that they are hungry and your spouse is saying "anything BUT hamburgers or chicken nuggets".

Go t allearsnet.com and look at the menus. There's one there for just about every place. Concnetrate on the table service ones since those are the only ones you will need a reservation for.

Have a notepad ready to write down restaurants that interest you and those that will not fit your family at all. Read up on what the entire restaurant experience is like. Some offer interaction and some don't, some are buffuts with characters and some have no characters, etc. Make your choices based on your entire family's preferences, not just because you love crusted red snapper in a balsamic red wine reduction (I made that up, I have no idea if it exists on a Disney menu).

After you have the choice narrowed down (include resort restaurants, there are some good ones there too). print out the menus and give a copy to each member of your family. Have them pick their favorite five place. BUT also have them write down why they don't like the other ones. Sometimes you'll find out that one person doesn't like it because the salad description has tomatoes in it. A simple thing that can easily be changed once at the restaurant.

Then, compare the results, check your bank balance and make the decisions based on a prelimiary itinerary. There's no penalty for cancelling a reservation (unless you are asked for a credit card up front).

Warning - do all this on a full stomach, just like what you would do when you go grocery shopping.

 

[dcforbreakfast]

Is there a fee if I have to cancel a reservation? How far in advance will they let you make reservations? Do you have to call or can you do it online? You guys rock! Thanks!

 

[Lynne M]

You need to call 407-WDW-DINE to make your reservations, and you can make an ADR 180 days before the meal.

If you're staying at a WDW resort, you can make 1 call, 180 days before the first meal, and make reservations for the first 10 days of your trip.

 

[vamom]

YES you need to make ADR! We are going for Thanksgiving this year & we have made our ADR already. LTT for Thanksgiving day! We did not get the time we wanted, but we did get in. On info site they have a priority seating planning report, which you can use when you decide what restaurants. This will tell you when you need to call for ADR & has a place for the time & confirmation #. I will tell you I called at the 180 day mark to make my first ADR & the wonderful lady let me make them for the entire week. So remember to ask to book all of your ADR.

 

[The Sweetness]

Resaerch the menus to see where you and your fam want to eat. At 180 days out you can do 2 things (usually) find out which parks will be EMH (extra magic hours ((either 1 hour early entry, or 3 hours extended at the end of the day)) days. This will help you decide which park(s) you want to visit on each days. Then its easier to decide where you want to have TS each day, if at all (some ppl would rather not have a TS EVERY day) Also at 180 days, you can call Disney dining at 7 in the morning (eastern time) and make your ADR.

THIS IS NO JOKE~ If you want to eat at certain places, on certain days at certain times, you make the ADR ridiculously early. Otherwise, you are taking a huge risk ((esp at a busy time ie Christmas/ holidays)

The good news is you asked early. You have a bit of time to plan when and where your fam would like to eat, and even have a couple of alts in mind incase one of your choices isnt available on the day/ time that you wanted. GOOD LUCK

 

[dcforbreakfast]

If we decide we don't want to do a reservation we've already made, are there fees/penalties? Thanks! Great advice everyone!

 

[ukwildcat]

No penalty for canceling unless you are required to give a credit card to hold the reservation. The only ones you need to do that for, that I know of, are Cinderallas Royal Table, the Hoop-de-doo Revue, and the Luau at the Poly. Things always change, though. There have been rumors about credit cards being required to hold all reservations.