What are the most difficult ADRs to get? I need to prioritize

[mala55]

I'm getting ready to soon make my ADRs. We are checking in on a mid-week, so I'm thinking those that checked in earlier in that week will have had a better chance of snagging some of the popular ADRs first.

My normal method is to reserve online in the date order of our vacation, however I'm thinking I should try to reserve the more popular ones first. We aren't doing signature dining as my DD (11) doesn't appreciate them yet.

Which restaurants do you think are the most difficult ADRs to get? I'm assuming BOG.

CRT?
Bon Voyage character breakfast?
Crystal Palace dinner?
Tusker House Breakfast?

What about the dessert parties...Happily Ever After? Frozen Illuminations? Star Wars?


Lastly, any insight how difficult the Early Morning Magic-Fantasyland?

Any help in prioritizing is greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!!

 

[BriLovesDisney]

Booking ADRs in order of difficulty is definitely the best strategy.

BOG is the hardest to get right now. If you want any BOG reservation do that one first. I would say the next on your list is the Bon Voyage breakfast because it's new and offers characters that are harder to find.

I've found that the difficulty of scheduling a Tusker House breakfast depends on the time you want. It's easier to get a 10:00 AM instead of a 9 or 9:30.

I don't remember how scheduling Cinderella's Royal Table was like. It's been years since I've been there because we never had good experiences.

Crystal Palace dinner, in my experience, has been somewhat easier to get than the others you've listed.

I've never scheduled EMM but I do know that the fireworks dessert parties are hard to get. Tip: If you want to do the one for HEA the Plaza Garden Viewing offers a better unobstructed view (and it's less expensive).

Lastly, I've found the best way to get all of the reservations I want at the times I want is to schedule online 180 days out at 6:00 AM.


Hope this helped and best of luck!

 

[chloelovesdisney]

BOG dinner is probably the toughest to get right now, along with 'Ohana dinner. Bon Voyage breakfast is a hot ticket so I would definitely priortizie that as one of the first on your list. I'm four months out and recently booked our trip and have seen CRT and Crystal Palace so those don't seem so hard to get anymore. I also was able to book the Happily Ever After dessert party. Tusker House is popular as an early morning breakfast, other than that shouldn't be difficult.

Another tough one is Beaches and Cream because they have so few tables.

No idea about Early Morning Magic.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Agree with PP advice but would add CRT to the top of the list, probably between BOG and Bon Voyage.

 

[melanielll]

BOG is harder than CRT because you have to prepay at CRT. That slows the multiples.

Bon Voyage is tough, and I have seen a lot less movement on those reservations. People tend to get them and keep them.

Ohana is hard to get once it fills up. Especially if you don't want to eat at 9:30 pm.

California Grill at fireworks time fills up quickly - but those do tend to open up later.

When I book, I do BOG first. Dinner there first, then PPO, then lunch. And before the anti-hoarders start to complain - we eat there several times each trip. I like PPO, one daughter likes lunch and my husband and other daughter like dinner. So - eating there 5 times in a trip is kind of the norm for us. Ohana and Beaches and Cream next. Then Bon Voyage and California Grill. I then add on a CRT. Then I pick up whatever random ones we want - Sci-fi Diner (that one also fills up fast), ROL (done with that for now), any dessert parties (we don't do many of these - too pricey for what you get).

We do not, however, eat at a big variety of places. We do the ones I have listed (and not necessarily all of those) every trip and try out one or two new ones. 1900 Park Fare is one I scheduled for every trip for the past 5 or 6 trips, and we always end up cancelling it. So I no longer schedule it.

I agree with BriLovesDisney - just do it all at once 180 days out at 6am, and you should be fine. There were some problems this fall (free dining and glitchy website made for the perfect storm). I didn't have problems, but I read about quite a few of them.

Also - if you have an odd numbered party and you are having trouble, try looking for reservations with one more guest. The algorithm will say no to a party of 3, but yes to a table of 4 at times.

 

[Mickey92]

I have nothing more to add as far as prioritizatiom goes. Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but if you are staying onsite you can book 10 days worth of ADRs when your initial window opens. It can be helpful to book the more difficult reservations later in your trip when less people have had the opportunity to book that day. Know that wasn’t your question, but hopefully it helps.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

EMM is not difficult to get.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

OP - For EMM, the latest date currently available to book is 3/25/18 which is well within 180 days at the moment. Disney releases EMM dates for booking in an irregular manner, sometimes about 3 months in advance but there is no real pattern. For example, the Jan-March 2018 dates were just made available for booking a few days ago.

Hope that helps.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I'm getting ready to soon make my ADRs. We are checking in on a mid-week, so I'm thinking those that checked in earlier in that week will have had a better chance of snagging some of the popular ADRs first.

My normal method is to reserve online in the date order of our vacation, however I'm thinking I should try to reserve the more popular ones first. We aren't doing signature dining as my DD (11) doesn't appreciate them yet.

Which restaurants do you think are the most difficult ADRs to get? I'm assuming BOG.

CRT?
Bon Voyage character breakfast?
Crystal Palace dinner?
Tusker House Breakfast?

What about the dessert parties...Happily Ever After? Frozen Illuminations? Star Wars?


Lastly, any insight how difficult the Early Morning Magic-Fantasyland?

Any help in prioritizing is greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!!

The dessert parties fill up quickly, but I have been able to find cancellations fairly close to the dates. BOG dinner is always the hardest for me to get. Good dinner times at CRT tend to go fairly quickly, as well as 8 am pre-park opening breakfasts at several restaurants.

Sometimes the Fantasmic dinner packages at H&V and Mama Melrose go quickly.

Sci-Fi also goes very quickly. Beaches and Cream can go quickly simply because it is such a small place.

Other than that, it is really just an issue of getting times you want at the other places.



Unfortunately, they often don't release the dessert parties 180 days in advance. I just booked my ADRs for February and April, and neither Star Wars nor Frozen dessert parties were released for those dates yet. You kind of have to keep any eye out for those closer to your dates. HEA was available at 180 out for April, but last July it was not available at 180 days out.

 

[DisneyMichael]

Chef Mickey's is semi-hard to get.

 

[Dakota731]

EMM is not difficult to get.

What is EM?

 

[Mickey92]

What is EM?

Early Morning Magic. It is a separated ticketed event in MK. It allows early access to mine train, Peter Pan and a few other rides and includes breakfast.

 

[DisneyWillow1975]

The dessert parties fill up quickly, but I have been able to find cancellations fairly close to the dates. BOG dinner is always the hardest for me to get. Good dinner times at CRT tend to go fairly quickly, as well as 8 am pre-park opening breakfasts at several restaurants.

Sometimes the Fantasmic dinner packages at H&V and Mama Melrose go quickly.

Sci-Fi also goes very quickly. Beaches and Cream can go quickly simply because it is such a small place.

Other than that, it is really just an issue of getting times you want at the other places.



Unfortunately, they often don't release the dessert parties 180 days in advance. I just booked my ADRs for February and April, and neither Star Wars nor Frozen dessert parties were released for those dates yet. You kind of have to keep any eye out for those closer to your dates. HEA was available at 180 out for April, but last July it was not available at 180 days out.

OP, thanks for asking this question- I am going to be doing this same thing in a few weeks with a few new restaurants.

CRT will hopefully be a new one for us- what are the good dinner times at CRT?

Here's my list in order of priority, so I have my work cut out for me!

BOG PPO
Bon Voyage
CRT Dinner
Akershus PPO
Garden Girl PPO (another new one, so I may have the priority wrong on this)
Crystal Palace dinner
Roma dinner

I'm also hoping for EMM and HEA, but know that I'll have to keep waiting on those and hope that I planned everything else around them so it fits.

 

[Mickey92]

OP, thanks for asking this question- I am going to be doing this same thing in a few weeks with a few new restaurants.

CRT will hopefully be a new one for us- what are the good dinner times at CRT?

Here's my list in order of priority, so I have my work cut out for me!

BOG PPO
Bon Voyage
CRT Dinner
Akershus PPO
Garden Girl PPO (another new one, so I may have the priority wrong on this)
Crystal Palace dinner
Roma dinner

I'm also hoping for EMM and HEA, but know that I'll have to keep waiting on those and hope that I planned everything else around them so it fits.

I’m not sure about Bon Voyage or Roma, but know that a good time for Garden Grill PPO can be hard to come by.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

There is only 1 restaurant I have ever been unable to get at 180 days out (or any day in the ensuing 6 months): Beaches and Cream. I finally snagged that @!%$#& for this coming trip!

I have always managed to snag Ohana, but not necessarily at the exact time I wanted.

Everything else, I have always been able to get what I was looking for.

 

[melanielll]

There is only 1 restaurant I have ever been unable to get at 180 days out (or any day in the ensuing 6 months): Beaches and Cream. I finally snagged that @!%$#& for this coming trip!

I have always managed to snag Ohana, but not necessarily at the exact time I wanted.

Everything else, I have always been able to get what I was looking for.

Please get the Kitchen Sink as a reward for overcoming the struggle!

If you makes you feel any better, I have found lots of irregularities in booking Beaches. The dates often aren't loaded correctly, you get Olafed a lot during times that all other restaurants are booking fine on the site...things like that. Add to that the size of the place - and it can get tough.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

OP, thanks for asking this question- I am going to be doing this same thing in a few weeks with a few new restaurants.

CRT will hopefully be a new one for us- what are the good dinner times at CRT?

Here's my list in order of priority, so I have my work cut out for me!

BOG PPO
Bon Voyage
CRT Dinner
Akershus PPO
Garden Girl PPO (another new one, so I may have the priority wrong on this)
Crystal Palace dinner
Roma dinner

I'm also hoping for EMM and HEA, but know that I'll have to keep waiting on those and hope that I planned everything else around them so it fits.

For me, the good times (and the harder ones to get at CRT) are typical dinner hours- 5 pm until about 7 pm. You can often find CRT dinners on or at day 180 at 4:30 or 9 pm, but 9 usually coincides with the fireworks. If you want CRT for a good dinner time that is not too early and doesn't prevent you from seeing the fireworks, then you will want to be online as soon as reservations open for your trip. BOG PPO is usually still open right at day 180, but you might have to take an 8:20 or so. That is fine. You still get in with those who have 8 am reservations.

In my experience, Garden Grill PPO is significantly easier to get than Akershus PPO. I have been able to get Garden Grill PPO within 3 months or so of a trip. Never hurts to book early though.

There is only 1 restaurant I have ever been unable to get at 180 days out (or any day in the ensuing 6 months): Beaches and Cream. I finally snagged that @!%$#& for this coming trip!

I have always managed to snag Ohana, but not necessarily at the exact time I wanted.

Everything else, I have always been able to get what I was looking for.

Wow. Have you gone during September free dining? That is actually the only time I have not been able to get exactly what I wanted when I was online first thing in the morning at day 180. I had trouble getting the Fantasmic dinner package and BOG dinner during that time period, though through persistent site stalking I eventually got them. Free dining can make reservations tough to get- especially those that are the best values on the dining plan, like the Fantasmic dinner package.

Also, for specialty meals like Dine With an Imagineer, you sometimes have to be online at 180+ at least six if you want that (if the reservations are released that early, which sometimes they are not yet and you have to stalk the site every day or follow a thread on these boards).

For my February, July, and April trips, I have not had trouble getting the restaurants I wanted at all- and sometimes I book just a few months in advance. I do have trouble getting good dinner times at BOG, CRT, and Cali Grill though.

 

[Surgie2]

My ADR date opens Nov. 5 for our May trip. I have been doing "dummy" bookings from time to time just to check availability. We have 10 people so that could be trickier but this morning, nearly 3 hours after the window opened for April 11, I would have been able to get CRT for breakfast for 8 people (not 10). So that gives me hope that if I get online right at 6:00 EST I will have success.

I also was easily able to change a reservation for Fireworks Dessert Party - Plaza Garden Viewing for later January by moving it two days when our schedule changed. So that was done at only a bit over 90 days out (2 people). I don't think you should have a problem especially for 3 people. The only time my "dummy" bookings have hit a snag was during free dining periods.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I was easily able to get multiple PPO breakfasts well past my 180 for spring. Also no issues getting a good time for BOG dinner and 'Ohana even though I didn't get up at dawn's break; dropped them both and currently hold (oh god I am a sucker) Chef Icky for 5:55.

(oh god)

(save me)

(it was a special request by one of my kids. kill me.)

 

[mala55]

Oh man....you all are the best!!! Woke up this morning and check my post and saw all your many responses. This helps so much. I'll definitely be booking at 6am on 180 days out for our complete trip.

I'll try to snag BOG first, then Bon Voyage, then Beaches and Cream followed by the dessert parties if available at that time. Fingers crossed I get what I want. It's so frustrating to not get an ADR on the date you want as it can completely change the itinerary I've drafted. Everything depends on the other...Park hours, firework schedules, fast passes, etc.

Thanks again!