Just made my October ADRs today!!! Any feedback welcomed

[Natalya]

We are basically first timers. It is our kids first time ever at Disney and my husband's and my first "on site" trip...also our first time really eating ts in the parks. I was really overwhelmed with all the planning but you guys are really great and with all the information on this board I was able to make some ADR's.

The basics: DH (31), me (30), DS (12), DS (4)
Going October 15 - 20.
Staying at the GF


Sun (10/15): our anniversary, No ADRs made for this night. We will be in Florida for a wedding already (the wedding is 10/14) so as soon as Disney is ready to part with our room key, we will be able to get started. We plan to spend some time in MK this day but not commando style. Just enough to get the kids immersed in the "magic". We will probably also see Wishes this night. (Since we are going in October, we are limited in the nights Wishes is offered....only Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday but we won't be there on Saturday so that only leaves Sunday and Wednesday).

Mon (10/16): Garden Grill 7:10 pm. We left this day open for exploring MK or Epcot as we wish. I would assume we will finish up anything we missed from MK and then start our exploration of Epcot. Or we may hang by the resort if we wish.

Tues (10/17): Le Cellier 7:30 pm. We have designated this day "Epcot Day". We also want to catch Illuminations this night.

Wed (10/18): Coral Reef 7:30 pm. This will be our Animal Kingdom day. Although this is EMH day for AK (evening) we're thinking we will be done early enough to get back to Epcot for a 7:30 reservation. Also can watch Illuminations this night if we miss it the night before...or if we just want to watch it again.

Thursday (10/19): No ADRs made today. This is MGM day. And we will probably stay long enough to catch Fantasmic.

Friday (10/20): Crystal Palace 8:25 am. This is the day we leave I figured we could use a good breakfast on that last morning and then we can finish up anything else we "forgot" or "missed". Or we can swim in the pool. We are driving down so we are very flexible about what time we have to leave Disney.


Because our stay is so short I had a hard time fitting a day of each park in with the restaurants that I really wanted to eat at. This seemed to be the best that I could come up with. I am also missing an ADR. Not sure if I want to make it for the first night we are there...or on Thursday night (MGM night).

So, any advice you guys have would be welcome...or if you want to just tell me I'm a genious, that would be okay too...I'm all ears ....

 

[TiggerFamily]

We just were there last week and we ate at Crystal Palace and loved it and we also ate at Garden Grill and it was very good too. I strongly suggest to make ADR for at least once a day. At noon time at CP they were saying to peolpe walking up it would be 8 PM and Sci Fi drive in they said 10 PM to walk in's. Nancy

 

[WDWCPAlumni]

if you do a fantasmic package on your mgm night it does not actually cost you any extra, just you need to prepay for the meal, unless you are on the dining plan....then they "hold" your credit card info........you can eat at one of the three resteraunts that participate and you get a voucher for reserved seating to fantasmic. The show is definately worth seeing, it gives you good seats that you do not need to sit around and wait for. Worth considering. IMO

 

[nurseypoo5]

I'm a bit worried about your dining slots during Epcot days. You might not get done in time to catch illuminations.

Even tho you have ADR for 7:30 chances are very very good you will still have a 30 minute wait, sometimes more for that table. Then dinner is an event, most say it takes well over an hour, depending on service some say 2 hours. Just heads up, maybe others can give you feed back, as that is all im going on

Have a good time, i'll be coming home around the time you leave

 

[Natalya]

if you do a fantasmic package on your mgm night it does not actually cost you any extra, just you need to prepay for the meal, unless you are on the dining plan....then they "hold" your credit card info........you can eat at one of the three resteraunts that participate and you get a voucher for reserved seating to fantasmic. The show is definately worth seeing, it gives you good seats that you do not need to sit around and wait for. Worth considering. IMO

I will definately look into that. So it is just one credit for a fantasmic package meal then. That would be good..that would just leave me with one night with no planned dinner. We could probably do an out of pocket ts meal that night or use our counter credits for dinner somewhere.

 

[Natalya]

I'm a bit worried about your dining slots during Epcot days. You might not get done in time to catch illuminations.

Even tho you have ADR for 7:30 chances are very very good you will still have a 30 minute wait, sometimes more for that table. Then dinner is an event, most say it takes well over an hour, depending on service some say 2 hours. Just heads up, maybe others can give you feed back, as that is all im going on

Have a good time, i'll be coming home around the time you leave

I was a little worried about the 7:30 time. I was trying to make it late enough to enjoy the park but early enough to make it to the show. There really is no reason why I can't move it up (unless they are booked of course) on the night that we will actually be "playing" in Epcot because the park actually closes at 7 so the 7:30 reservations were just to give us enough time to get from where ever we are at the moment to the restaurants.

Thanks for the heads up and I'll see if I can move at least one of those up to 7pm.

 

[Ava's Mommy]

last year i made adr for everynight we were there.... to be honest.. i'd only do it a few nights .. its a vacation, not a work or school schedule.. enjoy yourself without deallines everyday. It made everything feel rushed. that ohh we can't do this because of dinner at 530 or whatever..

 

[Natalya]

BTW Nurseypoo... which low carb diet are you doing and how are you doing on it?

I've just started my diet today so hopefully I get somewhere by October.

 

[wanna-b-Tink]

Are you hitting the MNSSHP while there? If so, grab a dinner at Liberty Tree around 5 pm if there are any ADR's left that night.

As far as not not getting all the meals in, why not do another breakfast one morning? One morning each trip we'll do a really early breakfast to get us going. 1900 is one of the very best ones and you won't have to catch transportation to get there.

 

[Sweedee]

Sun (10/15): our anniversary, No ADRs made for this night. We will be in Florida for a wedding already (the wedding is 10/14) so as soon as Disney is ready to part with our room key, we will be able to get started. We plan to spend some time in MK this day but not commando style. Just enough to get the kids immersed in the "magic". We will probably also see Wishes this night. (Since we are going in October, we are limited in the nights Wishes is offered....only Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday but we won't be there on Saturday so that only leaves Sunday and Wednesday).

You can register at your resort, and get your keys as early as you can...we registered at our resort at 8 AM. We didn't have our room ready, but we got our keys.

As for your evening ADRs.....if you schedule everything during the 7 PM hour...you are gonna miss so much! Ask me how I know this???? All my upcoming ADRs are for 4-5:15. We are also eating our CS around 11AM as to avoid the crowds...hopefully!

 

[Natalya]

You can register at your resort, and get your keys as early as you can...we registered at our resort at 8 AM. We didn't have our room ready, but we got our keys.

As for your evening ADRs.....if you schedule everything during the 7 PM hour...you are gonna miss so much! Ask me how I know this???? All my upcoming ADRs are for 4-5:15. We are also eating our CS around 11AM as to avoid the crowds...hopefully!

Why did you make your ADRs for 4-5:15?

Sorry for being nosey but I'm just trying to look at this from all angles, I'm just trying not to miss anything. And we only have 6 days there so I'm trying to plan our time as efficiently as possible. Any tips would be welcome

 

[Sweedee]

Why did you make your ADRs for 4-5:15?

Sorry for being nosey but I'm just trying to look at this from all angles, I'm just trying not to miss anything. And we only have 6 days there so I'm trying to plan our time as efficiently as possible. Any tips would be welcome

For us, we found that we were finishing our meals when the parks were gearing up for the fireworks and evening shows. The only show we got to do was Fantasmic! because our ADR that night was 5:45. We want to have the ability to see the evening shows. Also, if we go earlier in the afternoon/evening it shouldn't be NEARLY as crowded (we are hoping!).