How much do you like the 180 day booking in advance for dining?

AdamEfimoff

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 29, 2015
1-10
with. 10 being the highest i.e. love it


ps. what is a reasonable time frame for booking dining like citrcois?

what I mean is how much time do you think Disney should offer to book in advance for those ventures?
more or less
 


So let me guess your reply to the question might be a 1.......

Don't think you and are talking about something else
 
8, I do like having my days planned and done; I don't have to stress about it any more.
 


1. It should be 60 days out. No one fully knows where they will want to eat and exactly at what time that far out.

Idk what I'll eat for dinner tonight let alone try to book an ADR half a year from now
 
I personally love the 180. I always book 6 months or more out. I can't even imagine the system overload if they waited until everyone knew what they wanted and were on at the same time trying to get ADRS. At 60 days, it would be a mess. They really need to fix how many they let you make in a day through. I seriously just saw someone cancel 3 reservations for the same day all for dinner. REALLY???2 were for the same restaurant- like an hour apart. I'm sorry but did you really need to book 4:30 and 5:30 just in case???
 
It's weird, Who books dining reservations 6 months out in any other circumstance? I mean, since we have to, and we want to eat a table service places, we do it, but, it doesn't feel very valued holidaymaker to me. Imagine going anywhere else where you couldn't get a reservation in the hotel you are staying in WHILE you are there?

FP+ winds me up more though. I have to choose what rides I will want two months before I arrive on holiday at a theme park?
Crazyness.
 
7/10. I like it. We plan trips 10-12 months in advance usually. And I have already decided the places I really want to eat.
There are only a few restaurants that this is really necessary for though.
 
Don't care one way or another since we don't book ADRs in advance with two exceptions. We ate at V&A's last week and I booked it about 30 days out on a whim. I love to have tea at the GF so I book that about 30 days out. Otherwise, we book the day of, like other's I don't know what I want for supper tonight much less 6 months from now. I don't consider it the end of the world if I don't get to eat at the "must have" restaurant, I consider it an opportunity to try that hidden gem. Heck, I rarely even book the hotel 2 months out, we also rarely book FPs any more in advance, if at all, than the night before.
 
I would say 9ish. If they would keep the park calendar at 190 I don't mind the 180 days. But when you are trying to figure out which parks have what hours and magic hours but they aren't posted until after you make your reservations, it's a little frustrating.
 
It's hard for me to say because I don't have a problem with just the dining at 180. However, I think the FP+ bookings should come first. Now whether that meant that FP would be booked prior to 180 days, or dining would be booked at 59 days, that point doesn't matter to me. But with some FP+ bookings more difficult to get than dining, it's tough when you just get all your dining sorted out, and then you can't align your FP+ with the right park. FoP is the big one right now. I see so many people posting that they can't get FoP on their "AK day", when in reality they should just be getting FoP on whatever day they can, and then planning around it. However, if you've got CRT or BOG dinner booked for the only time you can also book FoP - which becomes the priority.

For myself, I usually wait until after I book FP+ to book any dining. I don't book a lot of ADR's anyway, and once I have the FP booked, I know where I'll be on which day and what times I have worked in the schedule for dining.
 
In all honesty, I think it just adds to the hype and has no bearing on where you ultimately eat. I've been able to change reservations the day before to anywhere I want without difficulty. Some people book 3-4 reservations at a time in hour blocks. The day before they decide where they are eating and drop the other reservations. I'm very lucky in that we get to visit WDW at least once a year and to be honest, we have always changed planned because of certain fastpasses or dining reservations opening up and those tend to be the best days of the trip! The biggest mistake people make is they become set in stone with everything at 180 days out. The fastpasses they book at 60 days out are for their MK day or AK day, they aren't fluid. I leave in 5 days (for a 9 day trip) and have only 1 dinner booked bc we know we'll be able to eat where we want and plan each day one day in advance. The other biggest joke no one will bring up is the Jedi Academy. People swear you have to rope drop HS to get a spot... well, you don't, because my boys have been able to walk on twice without a prior reservation because people rope drop and when you go at 5-6pm, those people left the park and their spots are open! A whole lot of hype... the last trick I'll share is for people staying at the Poly. Don't eat at Ohana. Have it for room service. You get a ton of food for half the price. We are a family of four and order two adult portions (we have two kids 8 and 6). There is a ton of food and you get everything! Including the bread and juice. You'll pay for two kids and two adults at Ohana while I pay for two adults in my room. I think it's called the Ultimate Feast. It became our favorite meal on the trip when we were at the Poly. So, to answer your question honestly, the 180 day window is a joke.
 
When i book my disney stay 10 months out, love being able to do the adr's early.

This past January trip I booked in December and had to scramble to get some dinner reservations.
Found it was not a
problem to book 40 days out for dinner at the hotel eateries at AKL
 

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