Which ADR's do I ask for first?

[sssgrandma]

My first time making ADR's is quickly approching. I plan to be online at 6am(5 Central) and on the phone at 7am. I assume I try for the harder to get ADR's first. Can anyone advise me in what order I should request our selections below?

O'Hana- breakfast
Hoop Dee Do -6:15
Coral Reef- late lunch or dinner
Sci Fi- late lunch or dinner
50's Prime Time- late lunch or dinner

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall or Royal Table- breakfast (at which one are we more likely to see Ariel?)

Also, if we are lucky enough to get a lunch BOG fastpass, can you just go in and order desert? My grandaughters don't care for any of the entrees.
Thanks for any help!

 

[shanejoseph]

Sorry, I noticed you didn't mention which days you wanted each ADR of you trip. Here's how I approached the whole planning process:
- Determine which parks I was going visit on which days, using trusted crowd calenders.
- Chose which restaurants you want to go to. Which you've already done.
- Match those restaurants with your park days, or as close as you can, to avoid as much travel time, to and from restaurants.
- Now, at your 180, or 180 +10, start with the last, or last day, wanted ADR for your trip, and work backwards. Not from the hardest to get.
Several trip planning sites advocate this method, and it worked for me! We're going during the busiest time of year, 12/27 - 01/03, and I got every ADR I wanted, on the day I wanted. Bongo's, Yak & Yeti, Mama Melrose, BE OUR GUEST , Via Napoli, Le Cellier, and Boma, so there must be something to it! Well, just my $0.02.

 

[djp0630]

I think Cinderella's Royal Breakfast would be first. We saw Ariel at both CRT & Akershus.

 

[shelbyf31]

CRT
Akershus
Ohana
Hoop Dee Doo
Ohana
Sci Fi
50s Prime Time
Coral Reef

 

[figment_jii]

The PPs have answered your question about ADR priority order, but in terms of BOG, yes, you can just order desserts. You'll still need the BOG FP+ (as you noted), but after that, you can order as much or as little as you want.

 

[sssgrandma]

- Now, at your 180, or 180 +10, start with the last, or last day, wanted ADR for your trip, and work backwards. Not from the hardest to get.
Several trip planning sites advocate this method, and it worked for me!

I'm having a hard time understanding why to work backwards on ADR's?
We will be wanting for example, Hoop De Do one of the first few days we are there. Can you help me understand this strategy? Many thanks!

 

[Madame]

I'm having a hard time understanding why to work backwards on ADR's? We will be wanting for example, Hoop De Do one of the first few days we are there. Can you help me understand this strategy? Many thanks!

For me this strategy is only for hard to get ADRs like BoG. I always plan MK as our last day & when the booking window opens I go directly to the last day to search for BoG.

People with vacations starting a day or two before yours have already booked into the timeframe for your vacation because of the 180 + 10.

I personally don't work backwards. I look for the hardest to get ADRs on the days I want first, especially if the day & time are important to me.

HTH!

 

[figment_jii]

I'm having a hard time understanding why to work backwards on ADR's?
We will be wanting for example, Hoop De Do one of the first few days we are there. Can you help me understand this strategy? Many thanks!

The theory is that fewer guests have access to those days so you stand the best chance of getting hard to get ADRs.

For example, let's say your 180+10-day was today (11/14/14). (Let's further say that 180+10 means you get access to the ADRs that are from your arrival day plus the next ten days - there is some inconsistency whether it means the next 10 days or is the arrival day day 1, so it's the next 9 days. For this example, let's go with arrival day plus the next 10.) You can make ADR for 5/13/2015 through 5/23/2015. In theory, only guests with 5/13/15 as their arrival date have had access to the ADRs on 5/23/15. On the other hand, if you search for ADRs on your arrival day, guests arriving from 5/3 to 5/12 have already had access to the ADRs on that date because it fell into their +10 range.

So, what this means is that guests with arrival dates before you may have had access to the dates during your trip for over a week already. It doesn't mean you won't find ADRs for early in your trip; it just means you stand the best chance of finding the most popular ones later in your trip when fewer other guests (arriving before you) have had access to those dates.

 

[shanejoseph]

The theory is that fewer guests have access to those days so you stand the best chance of getting hard to get ADRs.

For example, let's say your 180+10-day was today (11/14/14). (Let's further say that 180+10 means you get access to the ADRs that are from your arrival day plus the next ten days - there is some inconsistency whether it means the next 10 days or is the arrival day day 1, so it's the next 9 days. For this example, let's go with arrival day plus the next 10.) You can make ADR for 5/13/2015 through 5/23/2015. In theory, only guests with 5/13/15 as their arrival date have had access to the ADRs on 5/23/15. On the other hand, if you search for ADRs on your arrival day, guests arriving from 5/3 to 5/12 have already had access to the ADRs on that date because it fell into their +10 range.

So, what this means is that guests with arrival dates before you may have had access to the dates during your trip for over a week already. It doesn't mean you won't find ADRs for early in your trip; it just means you stand the best chance of finding the most popular ones later in your trip when fewer other guests (arriving before you) have had access to those dates.

Sorry sssgrandma, I didn't explain the theory behind my strategy, and I just logged back on. However, I believe figment_jii explained it better than I ever could have! Hope you understand, and good luck!