Resort Discounts vs Dining Reservations

[odd man out]

My wife and I are looking to go to WDW next year (early March or May). Have been there a couple of times when kids were young. This would be our first trip as a couple and first time to stay on-site. Would love to stay at the AKL. I see that resort discounts for March often become available in October. If we wait until then to book, would we miss out on the chance to make dining reservations 6 months in advance? Is it possible to make reservations further out, get preferred dining reservations, and then re-book if better rates become available? Or am I worried about nothing.

 

[dansdad]

My wife and I are looking to go to WDW next year (early March or May). Have been there a couple of times when kids were young. This would be our first trip as a couple and first time to stay on-site. Would love to stay at the AKL. I see that resort discounts for March often become available in October. If we wait until then to book, would we miss out on the chance to make dining reservations 6 months in advance?

Anybody can make Advance Dining Reservations 180 days out whether they have an onsite reservation or not. The advantage of having an onsite reservation is that once you hit 180 days from your check in, you can make your ADRs for you entire trip, up to 10 days, at once. Without an onsite reservation you would have to make ADRs for day #2 the next day, and then day #3 the next day, etc.

Is it possible to make reservations further out, get preferred dining reservations, and then re-book if better rates become available?

Yup.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Anybody can make dining reservations 180 days in advance. People staying at a Disney resort can make ADRs 180 days in advance of check-in and can make ADRs for up to their next 10 days if they are staying on site that long. Many people refer to this as 180+10. So if you want to be able to reserve up to 10 additional days of ADRs at your 180 day mark, then it would be beneficial to have a resort reservation. If you are trying to reserve hard-to-book places like Cinderella's Royal Table or Be Our Guest, this can be very helpful. But if you do not have a resort reservation, you can still book ADRs at the 180 mark, you will just have to book each day at its 180 mark. If you do make a resort reservation then book dining, you can certainly change your resort reservation at any time without the ADRs you've already booked being affected. People do it all the time.

 

[odd man out]

Thanks for the clear answers. I will probably have many more. I like to plan.