Plan of Attack for ADRs

[jmbartlett84]

We have an 8-night family trip(2 adults, 6 yr old, & 2 yr old) coming up in May & our reservation window opens up Monday. I'm trying to decide where I should start booking. I know it's better to put the harder to get reservations further into your stay, so I'm aiming to put Chef Mickeys & Topolinos on the last 2 days of our trip. But I guess my question is do I start with booking the hardest to get reservations or with the closest date reservations?

This is my general plan of reservations...
Saturday: Homecomin' Brunch
Sunday: Hollywood & Vine Lunch
Monday: Yak & Yeti Lunch
Tuesday: Garden Grill Lunch
Wednesday: Wine Bar George Dinner
Thursday: Sci-Fi Dine-In Dinner & Oga's Cantina
Friday: Chef Mickey's Breakfast & Liberty Tree Lunch
Saturday: Topolino's Breakfast

I appreciate the help!

 

[EmilyGahr]

Definitely start with Chef Mickey's and Topolino's. After that, Oga's - that one will likely be very hard to get.
As an FYI, if you don't see availability for Yak and Yeti, Homecomin' or Wine Bar George online, call the restaurant directly. They are not Disney owned so you'll likely have better luck calling!

 

[jmbartlett84]

Awesome thanks for the tip about calling the restaurants not owned by Disney directly. I had forgotten about that. That reservation wouldn't show up in the MDE though right? And how soon do they begin accepting reservations directly?

 

[ajgardner]

Definitely start with Chef Mickey's and Topolino's. After that, Oga's - that one will likely be very hard to get.
As an FYI, if you don't see availability for Yak and Yeti, Homecomin' or Wine Bar George online, call the restaurant directly. They are not Disney owned so you'll likely have better luck calling!

Agree with calling for some of those non-Disney owned restaurants if you are unable to score them online (or get them but not quite the time you hoped for). I just booked a vacation for next month yesterday and there was hardly anything available for ADRs. I called both Yak & Yeti and Homecomin’ directly and was easily able to get a table for 4 at the exact times I wanted.

 

[MikeRx]

Wine Bar George also utilizes Open Table for reservations. We found a better time in October 2020 through OT vs MDE.

 

[jmbartlett84]

Are they still on a 60 day out time window?

 

[MomOTwins]

Hardest to get first, because you may need to shuffle days if you can't get them on your planned day.

Then in general, I prioritize dinner over lunch because I notice dinner tends to sell out first--more people like to do QS for lunch and TS for dinner on average.

You have a lot of hard to get reservations here. I would categorize all of these equally as "hardest to get" and then book them in order of which is most important to your family:
Sci-Fi Dine-In Dinner
Oga's Cantina
Chef Mickey's Breakfast
Topolino's Breakfast
Hollywood & Vine Lunch (this isn't super hard to get at lunch, but because it is early in your trip, am including it with the other hard to gets)

 

[jmbartlett84]

We were really wanting to do Topolino's breakfast on our check-out since we're staying CBR & have mid-afternoon flight home, so there won't be a ton of time to do anything but this would give us one last dose of Disney magic.

After that I'd probably rank them
Chef Mickey's Breakfast
Oga's Cantina
Hollywood & Vine Lunch
Sci-Fi Dine-In Dinner
Homecomin' Brunch(Wife & I really want this one, kids could care less)
Garden Grill Lunch
Yak & Yeti Lunch
Wine Bar George Dinner(Another one that wife & I want that kids could care less)
Liberty Tree Lunch

 

[MomOTwins]

We were really wanting to do Topolino's breakfast on our check-out since we're staying CBR & have mid-afternoon flight home, so there won't be a ton of time to do anything but this would give us one last dose of Disney magic.

After that I'd probably rank them
Chef Mickey's Breakfast
Oga's Cantina
Hollywood & Vine Lunch
Sci-Fi Dine-In Dinner
Homecomin' Brunch(Wife & I really want this one, kids could care less)
Garden Grill Lunch
Yak & Yeti Lunch
Wine Bar George Dinner(Another one that wife & I want that kids could care less)
Liberty Tree Lunch

Honestly--I think that is exactly the sequence you should search for ADRs. Your top choices line up pretty much perfectly with hardest to get.

 

[sophy1996]

Definitely start with the hardest to get. If possible, can both adults get online and tackle some of the harder-to-get reservations simultaneously? I put the onus on my DH to get the Oga's reservation he wanted, as I was busy trying to get Homecomin' brunch.

 

[jmbartlett84]

Well my wife is pregnant so I'm going to try not to disturb her slumber at 5:00am to work on dining reservations lol

If we miss Oga's I'll be fine since we did it on our last trip in October. And I'll setup notification on *********** & touring plans for the ones that I don't get.

 

[Wild4Walt]

I'd start with Topolino, then Chef Mickey's and then Oga's. For Oga's grab whatever time you can get. I've been reading it's easier to try and change a time than to try and get a new ADR.

 

[jmbartlett84]

Just an update...

I got up at 5:00am this morning & was able to get all the reservations I wanted on the days I wanted them, & even the times I wanted them. I also added a Beaches & Cream reservation which I know can be tough to get.

I just checked & most of the reservations I would've wanted were still available, maybe not the exact time but close enough that we could make it work. Being able to book for the length of your trip starting the 1st day of your visit is a big help.

I guess I did a little more worrying/stressing then I needed to. I just remember having a hard time getting reservations when we went in October & that was just my wife & I.

 

[minniqt7]

Are they still on a 60 day out time window?

no they are not some are a 45 day window but not WB George!