How do you folks plan so far ahead?

[Disney*Dreaming]

Hi there! I'm trying to plan a family vacation (our 1st!) to WDW for next May, but gosh-darn I can't wrap my head around how you people do all of these dining reservations. From what I gather, I can make reservations 180 days in advance, but since that is so far from the date when we will be there in May I simply don't understand how I'm supposed to know which park I will be at on any given day? I haven't been able to come up with a game plan, since I don't know what the hours are for May. For example, I want to take advantage of early openings and plan my park visits accordingly, but since I don't know when that is, how am I suppose to know which day to make a certain reservation on way back here at 180 days out? Can you please help this poor confused soul and share your strategy? How do you do it?
Thank-you for your help.

 

[dvcdisney]

I don't know if this would be of any help, but here goes:

I usually use the general park hours from my previous trip of the same month. So, I use my March 2009 park hours to plan for my March 2010 ADRS. And I will use my August 2009 hours for my August 2010. Then I would usually decided on which parks I will be in. To be honest, I don't change it too much from previous years. I put in our first choice favourite restaurants for each day. We usually only have one ADR per day - usually dinner. So, I usually only have to book 14 ADRs. I don't plan our CS, we tend to go to the same place anyways, so no need planning it.

I do tend to plan early since, as a DVC member, I have booked our resort 11 months in advance. So, I am usually quite anxious at 8 months prior to start planning my ADRs. So, most of the time, I have my planned schedule and just look over it whent the hours come out and in most cases, I only change one or two ADRs. However, each year we do end up adding or removing a restaurant or two from our favourite list, so those are generally the most changes.

If you could get a hold of previous schedule of park hours for the month you are going, this may give you a good indication of possible park hours. You can plan it based on this and then change it when park hours are released.

Good Luck.

 

[Robert P]

Well for us, we've been to WDW more than most people, so the park planning part is now secondary to the dining schedule. After several trips, we've built up our list of places to dine, so we then back that info into the park plans for the trip.

If you look at patterns, the park hours are somewhat predictable when you look at the prior year park hours, and also the months before and after your trip. I say somewhat, b/c they do change, but using the same info I mentioned, I managed to nail down the park and EMH hours before they were released, for our upcoming trip.

You can always make your ADR's, then if the schedule comes out and you need to change, then make some changes. Better to come up with a good idea of what to expect, then book something, than to wait too late and not be able to get into the places you want. Even if you are 50% right on park hours, then half your ADR's would be all set in advance, and you'd only have to change the other ones.

That's what works for us. Others posters may have different methods for planning their bookings at 180 days out.

 

[2Tiggies]

I was going to add some advice but the previous posters were great and pretty much covered what I was going to say! If it makes you feel any better, the first trip is always more daunting.

The tip from dvcdisney on using previous year's park hours is pretty sound. That is what I have done for my next trip next October (which I booked 6 months ago!). There may be minor changes but usually not enough to sufficiently upset things. You can always cancel and try and reschedule later if you REALLY need to, but rather make the ADR's than not. In the Disney Dining game, he who hesitates goes hungry!!!!!

Oh, and by the way, you will find this out for yourself, but the planning is almost as much fun as the vacation itself. It gives you plent of constructive things to do while the time creeps by! HAPPY PLANNING. By the time your window opens you will find out that you are better at it than you thought. Just think of all the things you already juggle about and organise in daily life. Just ask if you need advice - that's what we all do and everyone genuinely wants to help. The magic is contagious.

 

[Spacemonkaay]

Great advice! These people must know their stuff! I'd like to add an additional suggestion, for which I will inevitably be flamed. Sometimes, and ONLY FOR THE PLACES WE ABSOLUTELY MUST EAT AT for fear of withdrawal, I book one set of reservations under my name/number and an alternate set under my wife's. The important thing to add here is that I always promptly cancel the extra reservation once I solidify our plans, so that someone else can enjoy that ressie.

 

[big_red_s]

Here is what we did, hope it helps (first time with the kids):

1) Decided if we are pro or con Magic hours
2) Checked park hours and decided which park we want to be on a praticular day
3) Decided which meals are a "must" (in our case it was Cinderella's Royal Table & Crystal Palace breakfast).

That's basically it - everything else was secondary.

One recommendation which we found very useful since this was our first time at Disney as a family:
We used Deanna from Small World Vacations which is a "Disney" travel agency. She got us 100% of our dining requests. From what I understand the system is opened to travel agenst several hours before the public.
Deanna stayed in contact with us from the moment we were put in her hands until a day before we were about to leave.

Since they are a "Disney" travel agency this is at no cost to the customer - I guess Disney pays them to book a vacation.

 

[Hoopfamily]

We find the only way to do it is when the Park Hours come out decide which park which day. After that we take our list of where we have to eat and build it around what parks we'll be at. You have to look at Extra Magic Hours though if only so you're not let down by arriving at a park after breakfast to find it already open. Some people avoid Extra Magic AM openings because of crowds, but we never have an issue with it.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

I have used Tour Guide Mike for my last 3 trips to plan my park days and have been very pleased. On his website he has the previous years calender and recomendations until the new calender is released by Disney. So I just use the last year's calender to get an idea of how my week is going to look.

Make a decision if you are going to take advantage of EMH. If you do decide to do early EMH, plan to leave that park and hop to another when it becomes crowded (usually around lunch time). If you don't have hoppers, then I would avoid EMH parks.

We plan 1 day each for AK and DHS and 2 days each for Epcot and MK.

I talk to each person in our group and ask what restarants are "must dos" to narrow down the restaurant choices.

Prioritize your restaurant list and have back-ups listed if you don't get your first choice. If Cinderella's Royal Table for Breakfast, Hoop Dee Doo, Le Cellier, or Ohana is on your list, have alternate days for those because those tend to book up quickly.

If park hours are not released by your reservation day, and you have hoppers, it may be a good idea to book mostly dinners, that way you are not "locked" in to a particular park that day.

Good luck! Happy planning!

 

[MournNStar]

Generally I'll look up the park hours for last year for the month we're planning on going. Then I'll look to a crowd calendar to help pick out the best days for each park. Also I will take a look at EMH and days for Fantasmic and take that into consideration too. We like going to parks that are staying open late. So I'll think about that for dinner reservations for those particular late nights. Then after picking parks for each day I'll go through and stick in restaurants that would be close or in the same park. I have a list of restaurants that we are interested in going to so I choose from that. Also if there are restaurants we love and have to do again we'll take that into consideration as well. The restaurants by themselves take a lot of research! If its the first night there or morning we are to leave I'll make a reservation for a restaurant in our resort to make it alittle easier on us. Then I'll order the reservations from the ones that need to be made immediately to not so much. I type all of it up on the computer and make changes with park hours, special events, etc as need. Hmm, I think thats about it... I have it down now!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Well, our plan only works if you have park hoppers. We generally always spend the first morning/afternoon in MK, second Epcot, third DHS, and fourth AK and any extra days we just go back to wherever we want or wherever we have an ADR for. We generally make our lunch ADR's about 12-1 p.m. based upon our usual schedule and then pick either a place we want to eat at that park for dinner or a resort TS place and make a dinner ADR about 6 p.m. We leave the first park about 5 p.m., get to the place to have dinner, and then go to whatever park has EMH (we don't do EMH mornings).

 

[LaughingGravy]

I only add that it doesn't appear to matter so much when the reservations are gotten, as in what time of day, more than when you can get them for your stay.
Our example. We only had 5 days. We wanted 5 particular restaurants for our sit downs.
We looked at which parks had EMH (extra Magic hours if staying on site) and tried for the desired restaurants in those parks on those days, with evening EMH having the priority, since they're longer than one hour.

We wanted 50s Prime Time on the one day that the studios had EMH , so we tried for that until we got it.
It was at 3:50, not exactly dinner time, but that's when we could get it, on the day we wanted it, so we planned the day around it.
One can always snack before and after.
There's no shortage of food at WDW.
On a short trip, we maximize the time, so won't travel off site, or even out of the park to eat as it takes too long.
If we could stay for 8 or 9 days we may be more relaxed about it.
Doubt it, though

 

[ppan77]

Luckily I enjoy planning ahead. There must be a condition for all the Disney planning I've done. We are heading to the world in January and my husband thinks I'm nuts to be planning this far ahead. I use TGM and I am constantly rearranging our days until its perfect. Now I have ADR's to make the end of the month and am planning those plus some extras. I just pray we dont go too off course from my plan. But I will make some ressies around our resort so it wont matter which park we go to for those reservations.

 

[cinderella_mom]

I agree with the posters above. I am a planner. I find it really fun. I make a spreadsheet of all of the park hours for each day and include the extras I want to see - fireworks, parades, EMHours, etc. Then I decide which park on each day. From there I look at the restaurants that are easily accessible to that park - either in the park or at a neighboring resort - and add those restaurants to the spreadsheet. When my date for makings ressies comes up, I go online or call with all of the info in front of me. For our upcoming ten day trip, it took about 30 minutes to make online ressies and another 30 on the phone to make ressies for the Fantasmic and Holiday Processional package.

 

[apostolic4life]

.....and be willing to accept not everything will be 100% perfect. You may show up at an ADR on time but end up waiting for a while, you may not get everything you want from the restaurant (i.e. seating outside for Illuminations at R&C), you may even have to change your plans at the last minute (parks do close due to occupancy or you could find yourself running late) but you need to chalk this first trip up as starting place for your understanding of all things Disney.

Things in The World are awesome and wonderful, but they are far from perfect. Do your best to plan out your days/meals and be willing to change when your well layed plans burst into flames. We can sit here and tell you how to do everything based on our experiences, but we are not you and after you get this first trip under your belt future planning will be easier (your experience will allow you to get more magic out of your future trips). Go into this trip with an open mind, basic plan and be very flexible in your daily schedule, this will ensure your enjoyment while you build this much needed WDW experience........in no time you will be a Disney Veteran giving others helpful advice!!!

 

[francie57]

We are like several of the other posters, we have been so many times that we now make our dining reservations for the must dos and any new restaurant and then let the rest fall into place. We stay at the BWV so we have easy access to Epcot and the Studios. We use park hoppers so we go to a park in the morning, go back to the pool, and then go to whatever park we have reservations for.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Well for us, we've been to WDW more than most people, so the park planning part is now secondary to the dining schedule.

I'm the same way.

Here is what we did, hope it helps (first time with the kids):

1) Decided if we are pro or con Magic hours
2) Checked park hours and decided which park we want to be on a praticular day
3) Decided which meals are a "must" (in our case it was Cinderella's Royal Table & Crystal Palace breakfast).

I think that's good advice. I would also advise against extra magic hours unless you have a park hopper pass, the park just gets too crowded to stay there all day.

 

[diamondpixienc]

You guys have such great advice. I am already planning our first trip for Sept 2010 and have decided to do just what one of the previous post have already suggested. The kids and I have already decided our restaurant must do's i.e. Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, Cinderella Royal Table, Fantasmic Dinner Pkg, California Grill, Coral Reef, & Ohana w/ the character meals being more of a priority (it is mainly about the kids after all) Hoping to get as many of our must do's as possible but have back ups just in case. The rest will fall into place w/ CS & snacks not going to sweat it too much as it is our family vacation and would like to enjoy it

 

[ms_missy66]

It's just the nature of the Disney Beast if you want to eat at table service restaurants - especially if you have specific ones in mind.

 

[Nancyg56]

Generally I'll look up the park hours for last year for the month we're planning on going. Then I'll look to a crowd calendar to help pick out the best days for each park.

This is exactly how I plan. I m in the beginning stages of planning for an April tip and have already checked the best days and will look at the historical park hours. I'll make ADR's and then if I need to change them I will but am always thrilled to begin planning!

 

[MickeyNicki]

I just pick the places we know we want to eat at and wing it from there. Usually we do just TS dinners so that is pretty easy and sometimes I add a TS breakfast or lunch later on but the most important thing is to get the dinners taken care of