How far ahead to make reservations

[cancilla]

My family and I would like to have as much flexibility in our vacation as possible, but I hear that if we wait until the last minute to decide where we want to have lunch or dinner, we may be in for some big lines. Can you give me an idea off how many restaurants there are that we'd have to make priority seating arrangements earlier than the night before we are going to visit? For example, I hear that the dinner in the castle at the Magic Kingdom needs to be reserved months in advance, correct? We probably won't be going to any dinner shows.

Thanks for the help!

--Dominick

 

[bicker]

Breakfast in the Castle is actually the most difficult reservation to get.

From what we've read here in the forums, it is clearly much tighter this year than it has ever been, and that got that much worse when Disney announced their free dining promotion. However, even worst-case, there is typically always somewhere on-property you can reserve the day before -- the problem is that it may be a limited set of options available. However, if you're not picky -- very flexible about where and when you eat -- then I wouldn't worry about it much.

 

[Nicolepa]

Well it all depends on the time of year you are going and how picky you are about your resturant and how flexible you are on the time you eat. We make very few ADR's in advance when we go (even during peak season). We usually call the night before or morning of and make reservations based upon where the kids have decided to go. We are very flexible on the time and we usually get our first choice of resturant (including the castle). Dinner at the Castle isn't hard to get into, it's the Cinderella breakfast and now probably the lunch. Dinner shows are the exception, we usually book those as soon as we can as we have had problems booking at the last minute in peak periods.

We are going during the free dining this year and everyone is making such a big deal about ADR's that I called about 35 days out and booked my ADR's. I got my first choice of resturant and time for everyone except Prime Time Cafe at MGM. So I don't really think it is as bad as everyone makes it out to be. When we get there we will shuffle around our ADR's to fit our schedule better, but at least we know we have something.

 

[cancilla]

We'll be going the first week in May 2006 -- is that a crowded time? Because my son and wife are vegetarians, we aren't going to be able to be too flexible about what restaurants we want to go to. So it sounds like we'd be better off at least making dinner reservations in advance. We can do this 90 days out, yes?

Thanks!

--Dominick

 

[bicker]

May is moderately crowded, but not overly so. It's not like a school vacation time, or anything like that. However, given your situation, you probably are indeed far better off making all your dinner reservations in advance. If you're staying at a Disney resort, you can make all your reservations at once 90 days prior to your check-in date. If you're staying off-site, you can make reservations for each day of your trip 90 days prior to that date.

 

[wanna-b-Tink]

We'll be going the first week in May 2006 -- is that a crowded time? Because my son and wife are vegetarians, we aren't going to be able to be too flexible about what restaurants we want to go to. So it sounds like we'd be better off at least making dinner reservations in advance. We can do this 90 days out, yes?

Thanks!

--Dominick

First of all, you can get vegetarian food at any of the restaurants. When we took my in-laws a couple of years ago, we would tell our waiter that my MIL was a vegetarian. In most cases (believe it or not) the chef personally came to our table to assist her in making choices. They also made a beautiful pasta dish for her at Hoop. At Boma, the chef walked the entire buffet line with her to point out the dishes she would like. So, don't let the veg thing worry you one bit.

Now, about the PS (or ADRs), I would make a few at the 90 day window if I were you. Pick the places you think you'd like to try, and make an ADR for one each day or every other day. When you get to the park, if you want to eat, you'll have the ADR waiting on you. If you decide when you get there that day, or the day before or whenever, that it isn't something you want, just give the ADR line a call and cancel. No harm, no foul. You don't HAVE to cancel, but we always do if we decide not to use one so that it opens a slot for someone else.

We are all about food at WDW, so the ADRs are pretty high on our list. I made my list of restaurants and times back in April for our upcoming Nov/Dec stay, and booked our Hoop tickets several months ago hoping for a close table for once. Just waiting a few weeks now until our 90 day waiting period to make the call...