This just seems silly to me...

[MScott1851]

DH and I have been to Disney several times, and we enjoy eating at different places throughout the parks and at resorts.

We're doing a land/sea package in September, but we're coming in a day early to go to the waterparks, since I have some plusses left on an old pass. I haven't decided where we'll stay yet, but we are going to spend the day at TL and BB, then we wanted to go to eat at Ohana that night and watch the MK fireworks from the Poly.

I called today, at the 180 day mark, and couldn't get a reservation for Ohana (or ANYWHERE, for that matter) since I wasn't 'officially' checking in until the next day.

It's cool, I'll just call back in the morning. But it got me to thinking...how do people that live in the area get ADR's if they wanted to go eat at California Grill for a special occasion? Or if I had an AP, and wanted to go to WDW, stay off-site but eat in the parks, is that possible? If you don't have a reservation number, how do you get an ADR? It's something I've never thought about before until today.

It just seems kind of silly to me that I'll be in Orlando, spending money at a Disney park, wanting to spend more at a Disney restaurant, and I can't make plans to do so. Now I'm even wondering if they'll let me make an ADR for the night before our 'official' arrival when I call tomorrow...

Any thoughts?

 

[wdwhereicome]

I have family in Orlando and we always call to make reservations at the 180 day mark. We have never had a problem. The automated system allows you to enter your phone number if you don't have a reservation number. When the cm asks what resort we're staying at, we say - we're not sure (if we haven't made a reservation yet) or - offsite (if we're not staying overnight at all).

Try again soon! You must have gotten a cm who was having a bad day or new! You should have no problem whatsoever!

 

[3mickeys&me]

I would keep trying, we added an extra day to our 7 day land and sea and we ate there and loved it.

 

[Allison]

I'm confused, if today is your 180 day mark, why would you not be able to make an ADR?

Anyone can make ADR's at 180 days. It doesn't matter if you have a resort reservation. The only difference is resort guests can make them for up to 10 days at that point.

Did the CM get the days wrong?

 

[supersuperwendy]

Maybe you miscounted ?

try this site with the date you want to eat and see if it's right!

http://pscalculator.net/pscalc.php

 

[daisy112878]

If your staying offsite or do not have a wdw hotel reservation then you have to call 180 days exactly from the day you want an ADR. If you have a wdw reservation then you can call 180 days from check-in and do ADRs for 10 days from check-in.

If you calculated right and today is 180 days from the day you want an ADR then call back. Give them your phone number and NOT your wdw reservation number. They should be able to book it that way.

 

[sandisuze]

I just called and made an ADR for May at Epcot -( Doll & Bear Show ) we have AP's and we never need a Ressie number - just your phone number -
I have called and made ADR's for a week in advance not of course for Le Cellier or CRT or anyplace like that -But Crystal palace or Garden Grill , Tusker house etc..There are times we have to adjust for lunch or dinner (we like to eat at "off" times less crowds etc.. but we normally get in except for the busy times - we normally avoid the parks during those months-
don't think I've ever called 180 out except for CRT

 

[LMO429]

im confused 2! u should have been able to get adrs at 180 days

 

[skipperkim]

Since I'm using AAA I can still make my ressies 180 days + 10 right?

 

[MScott1851]

Yep, I double checked the dates and used the PS calculator...we are arriving on 9/20/08. We 'officially' check in for our land/sea package on 9/21/08.

But I knew that today was absolutely my 180 day mark for the first night's dinner. The 180 day mark for the package is tomorrow. I've had both days marked on the calendar since I made our reservations in October. And I did enter my telephone number, NOT my reservation ID...this wasn't my first rodeo, so to speak. Maybe I did just get a dud agent. Probably one of the same ones who tells people appetizers and tips are included on the DDP, hahaha!

But I have good news! We had used DU to book this package, so I emailed my agent to ask her about it, since she was going to be the one booking the ADRs for our land/sea package. Even though it was well after 6pm, she was still at work and called Disney Dining for me. Not only was she able to get me Ohana for that Saturday night, she was able to go ahead and get all my ADRs for the whole trip, a day early!

 

[disnut8]

It's cool, I'll just call back in the morning. But it got me to thinking...how do people that live in the area get ADR's if they wanted to go eat at California Grill for a special occasion? Or if I had an AP, and wanted to go to WDW, stay off-site but eat in the parks, is that possible? If you don't have a reservation number, how do you get an ADR? It's something I've never thought about before until today.

Because the 180 day mark doesn't have anything to do with where you are staying. It's 180 days from when you want to make your dining reservation. The only perk you get by staying on site is that you can make all of your dining reservations with one phone call.

We stay off site all the time and we are Annual Passholders. If we need dining reservations, I can call at the 180 mark from when I want that reservation. And I just say that we are staying off site. No problem at all.

 

[PrincessBelle39]

I'm confused as to why you couldn't book also. We stayed offsite and I made many ADR's. I just had to keep calling 180 days from the date I wanted the ADR. No one ever asked what day we were arriving as really it was irrelevant.