Tips for Making ADRs

[Woodmnky]

If there is already a thread that has lots of good tips for actually making ADRs, can someone point it out? Or if anyone has any tips that they have learned I would really appreciate it. I can make our ADRs on Friday. (Hoping to make 180 + 10, so any tricks for this would also be appreciated).

One thing that I learned on my own was to pick the specific time that I want, rather than just choosing the dinner option. When I was picking dinner, the times that were listed were all around 7pm and we want to eat around 5. When I picked 5 pm it listed several times around that time which I could choose.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

yes that is a good tip another is to order your adr's anything very popular do first, then character meals of any kind then anything else

 

[Masonmj84]

Here are a few tips that work for me:

Book the toughest ADR first. These days, that seems to be 'Ohana's dinner. Other tough ones include CRT (especially pre-park opening breakfast), Chef Mickey's and Le Cellier lunch (although, by your dates, this will be 2 TS, which will make it less competitive). Be Our Guest will probably also be very tough (maybe even more so than 'Ohana's dinner). Pre-park opening Crystal Palace and Tusker House breakfast also go pretty fast as do the early showing of the Hoop dee Doo Review and Fantasmic dinner packages (Fantasmic lunch, however, is much easier).

You can leverage 180+10 better if you plan to eat at the most popular places toward the latter end of your trip (although, with your travel dates, you will probably have no problem getting everything you want, regardless of when you plan to eat where).

If you're eating at a lot of credit card guarantee restaurants, you may want to type out your cc# in a separate document, copy it, and then paste it each time you make a reservation.

If you're eating at any credit card pre-pay restaurant (e.g., CRT, dinner shows) and have a dining plan, make sure you link the dining plan prior to making any reservations. Otherwise, you will be charged for the meal.

If you're having a tough time deciding between two places (and are roughly equally torn between the two), book the tougher ADR. If you later change your mind, it will be easier to switch.

Remember, you can always cancel ADRs without penalty (as long as any that ask for a credit card number are canceled at least 48 hours prior to the ADR). On the other hand, you can't book two ADRs within two hours of each other.

Double check your reservations page on the Disney website after you're finished to make sure everything appears to be in order.

 

[Woodmnky]

Thank you. Those are great suggestsions, especially typing the CC # into a document in order to copy & paste. I will definitely book Ohana first and then I have 1 ADR that is needed on a specific day, so I will book that next. I too am hopeful that based upon my dates (the last week in January) that it should be easier to get ADRs. I just checked and was able to get Ohana around the time that I want to dine for a day that is 178 days out, so hopefully booking 180+10 will be fairly easy.

 

[Cafeen]

Make sure to check the date that you are booking for! Countless people have been caught by it defaulting to today (or tomorrow if late enough). Don't want to score that hard to find ADR for your trip 6 months from now, only to realize that you made it for today and now it's gone (even worse when you figure the CC holds into the mix!)

 

[kelleigh1]

When trying to link your resort reservation/dining plan, make sure you enter your check-in date as it will default to today, even if you are logged into your Disney account. If you don't fix the date, you won't be able to make the +10.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

If there is already a thread that has lots of good tips for actually making ADRs, can someone point it out? Or if anyone has any tips that they have learned I would really appreciate it. I can make our ADRs on Friday. (Hoping to make 180 + 10, so any tricks for this would also be appreciated).

One thing that I learned on my own was to pick the specific time that I want, rather than just choosing the dinner option. When I was picking dinner, the times that were listed were all around 7pm and we want to eat around 5. When I picked 5 pm it listed several times around that time which I could choose.

Have more than 1 option listed in case your 1st choice is not available. That way you don't need to check with the family only to discover the 2nd option is no longer available either.

Consider having a meal at a nearby resort if the dining options in the park are taken. For instance, we rarely eat a sit down TS meal at MK as we don't like the options. So we always check out the POLY or CONTEMPORARY resorts intead.

As we don't buy the Hopper passes, we always eat in the same park (or nearby). This also cuts down on the amount of lost travel time to-from the park and restaurant.