Making dining reservations without a resort reservation?

[6loversofdisney]

We want to go to Disney sometimes in November/December of this year. We are completely flexible with our dates and will drive so the whole trip will depend on when or if they release free dining.

My question is, can I make my reservations at the 180 day mark without ever having an actual resort reservation?

 

[kneedeep]

Yes. I have done this many times.

 

[ses1230]

Anyone can make ADRs at 180 days out.

However, you will not be able to use the +10 perk if you don't have an onsite resort reservation. If that is the case you have to make your ADRs one day at a time.

 

[scard192]

did it every morning at 6AM last April for our October trip. Got perfect times for:

CRT
CM
CP
1900PF
Akerhus
F!

I was logged in and ready to go at 6AM and only took me 5 minutes/day to make the ADRs

 

[Silvana]

Did the ADR's cost anything to book/hold?

 

[purple figment]

Did the ADR's cost anything to book/hold?

Cinderella's Royal Table and the 3 dinner shows (Hoop De Doo, Luau and Mickey's Backyard Barbecue) are fully pre-paid reservations at the time of booking. If you have a dining plan as part of your resort package you can use the dining credits for these reservations and not have to pre-pay. However, you will have to give credit card information as a guarantee in case you fail to cancel by the deadline and then no one shows up at the restaurant. Penalty is the full cost of the meal/show.

For table service reservations you will have to give credit card information for the $10 per person penalty if you fail to cancel the reservation by the deadline and then no one shows up at the restaurant. Nothing will be charged to the card at the time of booking.

 

[Silvana]

Yeah, when I booked in 2008 they had the full pay penalty for CRT, CdF and CP.

 

[scard192]

Did the ADR's cost anything to book/hold?

I had to pay in full for CRT but the money to pay for the trip was in the bank so not a big deal. A few weeks after I made the ADR we got a PIN for FD for our dates which I used but was afraid to change the CRT ADR as I had read that if the CM did not know how to do it correctly you could lose the ADR.

When we ate at CRT I used the dining credits and the full amount was credited back to my Disney Visa.