to PS or not to PS

[monty]

This is our 1st and more than likely only trip (we are travelling from Australia) to WDW and there will be no “we can do that next time” if we miss out on something that we wanted to experience so I’m keen to learn as many tips as the experienced Disney goers will share with us before we go. We will be at WDW from 9th Dec to 16th Dec. and I would appreciate others advice as to which restaurants are a “must have PS if you wish to eat at this restaurant” as opposed to “PS is recommended to avoid waiting in a long queue”. At the moment we have WC, 50’s prime time & sci fi drive- in on our “must” list. We also would like to leave some of our dining options open so we can make some spontaneous decisions whilst we are there.
I am also a bit confused in regards to the dinner packages for Fantasmic and Illuminations in regards to what is the latest we could have dinner there? We do not have any young children travelling with us and the idea of eating dinner at 4pm doesn’t exactly excite us .In looking up last years closing hours for the parks, am I right to assume that unless we wish to have dinner at 4pm our dinner options whilst we will be at WDW will be to eat at the resorts or Downtown Disney? Or am I mising something?
Any advice or comments would be much appreciated.

 

[eeyore45]

Welcome Monty -

I'm sure others will answer with more experience than I have!! I've never been to WDW in December, so I have no experience with that!!

I know they have Fantasmic Dinner Packages - with certain places and they only seem to have the 4 - 4:30 reservations available 90 days out... I am going in Oct this year, with the look at historic times, and now they've posted the Oct hours, I may keep that 4:30 so we dont have to rush our meal as Fantasmic is only once, and early (I think 7:30 pm) BUT, I believe many dis'ers that post 30 days out they release more times for Fantasmic Diner pkg...

I'm not aware of Illumination dinner pkg - but I know many people like to try and get seatings at Rose and Crown to watch Illuminations at Epcot.

I went ahead and made a grid of days of the week at the top, then hours down the side and added anything special we were doing... those 'special' items coincided with parks, which I added to the calendar... there were a few "must dos' like you have and threw those into the mix (Spectromagic parade is only shown a few days, etc)

Like I said, others with more experience will be able to help you

 

[abacobaby]

Last year was our first trip to DW and even though I read all I could about making PS's or ADR's as they are now called, I didn't pay any attention to it and we just went with the flow when we got there. By the way, we went in November last year. We really thought it wouldn't be busy, but it was crowded.

Three weeks before our trip I had to find a new hotel (original hotel closed down for renovations) and they only moderate hotel that had any rooms available was POR (which we stayed at and loved!).

Anyway, back to my original point - we got there and were only able to eat at two sit down dinners because we didn't make any ADR's. I totally felt I had missed out on a huge part of the disney magic, which is the many amazing dining choices. Luckily, we are going again this November and since we have the Dining Plan added on to our package, we will be taking full advantage of it.

So, I think since this will be your one and only trip to DW, if I were you I would review all the online Restaurant menus ( I think you can find them on allearsnet.com), and make ADR's for your trip according to where you would like to eat/where you will be that day. You can always cancel any ADR's when you get there, but at least you will have them if needed! Since your trip isn't until December, you still have some time left before your 90 day mark to book your ADR's, which gives you some needed time to find out all you can about Disney Restaurants.

I'm sorry I can't help you with the early dinner times. I made my ADR's for November (parks close early then too) and I didn't have any trouble getting any of the times I wanted. The majority of times were around 7 pm.

Anyway, hope this helps you some. Good luck and have an awesome trip!!!

 

[vanyel]

Definitely make PS (now called ADRs) for your meals. As far as Fantasmic goes, the week you'll be there shouldn't be all that crowded. I'd probably eat somewhere else then go get seating at Fantasmic. I've sat in the reserved section and in other parts and never had any problem seeing the show. I understand about eating at 4 pm - though you could eat a bigger breakfast that day, have a snack in the afternoon then go to dinner. There are other places to eat at MGM besides the Fantasmic places, even if you decide to do a quick counter service meal or you go out for a great meal afterwards at PI. Just thinking of some options!

If you're on the dining plan, it's even more important to make ADRs. You'll need them at Sci-fi & Prime-Time. I would try to make adrs then check out other places when you get there. You can always cancel an adr if you find another place and it's available. Plus, the restaurant you eat at, if it's at wdw, will call and cancel your adr (at least they used to do it). The resort restaurants are usually easier to get into and there's some great dining at the resorts.

 

[bicker]

I've gotten the impression that, just over the past year, ADRs have gone from "essential for a few specific meals, and a good idea for others" to "essential to avoid having to eat somewhere you'd rather not". YMMV.