Planning ADRs without Sept Park Hours

[Lightning_McQueen]

Hey everyone, looking for some advice...

This is our second visit to WDW, so we are pretty new to ADRs etc. I am trying to plan the dining for our upcoming trip in September 2011 but without the park hours/event details, I am finding it hard. What's the best way around this?

Thanks

 

[Pakey]

You can't make the ADRs yet. Wait for the park hours. They will be released before you can make ADRs.

 

[jcarwash]

First thing you can do is look at the historical hours for September 2010, to get an idea what the hours might be for 2011. The details may change, but this gives you a sense of what to expect:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours/sep10.cfm?requesttimeout=1000

But then the park hours will be released in time for your ADR day...while also checking the main disney world site and the DIS sticky on "when will park hours for..." you can keep an eye on this travel agent link, which will show a PDF file when the hours are ready -- right now it shows an error page.

http://www.disneytravelagents.com/S.../pdf/ParkHours/WDW_Operating_Calendar_sep.pdf

From experience last Sept 2010 I can also say there are ongoing changes to the park hours as well, so keep an eye on that as the months progress. In particular there were changes to the DHS hours and Fantastmic! shows in September 2010.

Another site I find interesting for research is easywdw.com. You can look at the analysis for September 2010 (http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/september/) to get advice on what to expect for crowds and what parks to visit. That site will also release a Sept 2011 analysis when the hours are released for that month.

 

[mcd2745]

I'm not 100% on this, but I believe they should have the September park hours on their website by mid-late February. They have up until July on the site now and I think Aug will be posted later this month and then Sept next month. I hope this is how it plays out because I am about to book a trip for Aug 26-Sept 3 with the 40% PIN we just got. Therefore, our 180 day ADR date will be the end of FEB. I sure hope all park/entertainment schedules are available at that time.

 

[aaylasecura]

I usually like to pick where I want to eat, and then go from there. I decide what park I want to go to on what day and then assign (on my paper) what restaurants I will do that day. Then, when park hours are posted and if they don't fit, I just move that entire day to another day!

 

[LilyWDW]

Hey everyone, looking for some advice...

This is our second visit to WDW, so we are pretty new to ADRs etc. I am trying to plan the dining for our upcoming trip in September 2011 but without the park hours/event details, I am finding it hard. What's the best way around this?

Thanks

If you are talking about just trying to get a general idea, I'll tell you how I do it. I know how many days I will be spending at each park on our next trip. I then do a very sketchy layout based off of historic hours and park recommendations on Tour guide Mike. From there, I pick restaurants based off of that information.

I already knew a few places we REALLY wanted to try or go back to. Boma, Raglan Road, and Jiko were must dos. From there, we pick places that sound really go and would work in our plans.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I'm planning my September ADRs off of last years hours for now. We will be there for 2 weeks so we have flexibility on days, but I'm concentrating on DHS and Epcot our first week since we'll be at BCV that first week. I have a list of where I want to eat, now I'm going to match with which park/meals, for resort ADRs I'm matching with which park(s) are closest or on rest days. I'll also have alternate restaurants if available ADRs don't fit my time schedule the way I want.