Why the 90 day PS's??

[WDWDennis]

I see so many people talking about getting their PS's at the 90 day mark. I am wondering if I'm the only person who waits until I'm actually AT WDW. There have been 2 times in all of my trips that I made PS's early. One was at V&A's and the other was CRT. Every other time I've been able to get what I wanted the day of or the day before. I may have had to be flexible with my time, but I've never had any problems. Am I just lucky, or is it usually a problem getting into places?? Maybe b/c I travel in the offseason a lot!? I just can't imaging planning out all of my dinner times 3 months before I even go to the World! If there is a place I really want to eat at, we'll make the PS when we get to our hotel. Heck, even if I have to wait a night or two, whats the difference, I'm flexible with my time. I guess having no schedule at all allows me to that!!

 

[WDWDennis]

Thought this was in the wrong forum, nevermind!!

 

[cdnmickeylover]

It really depends when you are going and where you want to eat. If you want to eat at Le Cellier then book it at 90 days. We were unable to get the time we wanted when we went the first week of February when the parks were empty.

Last October we couldn't eat anywhere we wanted to when we tried to make a PS two days ahead.

By the same token though in February we were able to get Cindy's for dinner booking at noon at the time we wanted so it's really hit or miss.

 

[Kaycee]

We usually make a few PS's for each trip. We do so for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I have school-age children so we usually have to visit during busy times. For another thing, we have a couple of restaurants that we really like, and we don't want to take a chance on having to wait a long time or not getting to eat there at all. For example, Sci Fi is one of our favorites. On our last two trips, when we've checked in at Sci Fi we've seen people without PS's being turned away.

I don't necessarily call right at the 90 day mark though. Usually I wait until the last day of our trip is at the 90 day mark, then I call and make all our PS's at once. I often call back and make changes to the PS's as we finalize our plans, and we usually end up cancelling one or two PS's once we arrive and we see what we feel like doing.. I think it's worth us to make the PS's, but we don't feel tied to them. We find that we can make PS's and still be flexible on our vacation.

 

[crisi]

I've also had poor luck AT the parks. Better luck a few weeks out, but I often have to switch dining times by an hour over my preferred time. Since its easier to call than be disappointed, I call early.

 

[Tiger Fan]

We travel more in the busy season and have certain restaurants that we really want so we always pick most of our's in advance. I've been trying to add a Chef Mickey's for later in our trip in a couple of weeks and can only get 9pm at night and that's just too late. When I booked the one for the early part of our trip I booked around the 90 day mark and had my choice of dinner times, which we chose 7pm and think that's a much better time to eat. Thus the reason I don't wait.
Lisa
Tiger Fan

 

[WDWDennis]

I just realized that I havent been to WDW with kids yet. It is always just my wife and I! I guess it gets harder to find a table when you have a table of 4 or more.

I go in October every year and sometimes Sept. and Nov, and even did Dec last year. October does seem to be getting more crowded than in years past. Who knows, maybe next time around I'll be calling months ahead of time also.

Thanks for the replies guys!!

 

[disneyfreakjackie]

I guess for us "plan-a-holics" making all PS at the 90 day mark is essential!!! I can't rest until the last one is made. I get on the phone at 6:59 90 days before each PS has to be made because I don't want to be flexible with the day or time; I need to know which parks we are going to on which day way ahead of time!!

WOW!! I just realized . . . I'm a CONTROL FREAK!!! Maybe my name should have been DISNEYCONTROLFREAKJACKIE!?!?

 

[Mady/Sophiemom]

I think w/ more people getting the meal plan, and w/ the free dining this fall, PS will fill up much quicker.

Not to mention the overplanner catagory- I fall into that as well.

 

[redmomof4]

I totally agree that the dining plan, not to mention FREE special is going to make getting last minute ADRs (PSs) much harder.

jmho

 

[crisi]

I just realized that I havent been to WDW with kids yet. It is always just my wife and I! I guess it gets harder to find a table when you have a table of 4 or more.

I go in October every year and sometimes Sept. and Nov, and even did Dec last year. October does seem to be getting more crowded than in years past. Who knows, maybe next time around I'll be calling months ahead of time also.

Thanks for the replies guys!!

That is very true. Two walk in easier than four. Four easier than six.

Also, our first trip with kids we didn't know what their schedules would be like so we figured we'd "wing it." For US, this ranks up there as one of the worst ideas I've ever had. The parks were more crowded than we expected. The kids (or us) would get really hungry, and small kids can't wait. And then we'd be told "and hour or more" or "sorry, we aren't taking walkups" and end up eating more chicken fingers. If it had just been DH and I, we'd have been able to wait the hour, or grab a snack and eat late.

So subsequent trips with kids have involved having one PS per day, and we plan the day around it. If we are eating at 6:00, we make sure the kids get a snack at 4:00 so they aren't starving at 5. (The old way the kids wouldn't mention at 4 that they were hungry, because we were all so busy, and we'd be in meltdown mode at 5 and not willing to feed them junk because we were closing in on dinner time.)

 

[bigbabyblues]

I just realized that I havent been to WDW with kids yet. It is always just my wife and I! I guess it gets harder to find a table when you have a table of 4 or more.

I go in October every year and sometimes Sept. and Nov, and even did Dec last year. October does seem to be getting more crowded than in years past. Who knows, maybe next time around I'll be calling months ahead of time also.

Thanks for the replies guys!!

This is a big part of it for us, our kids are now 2 and 4-1/2, and when we went last fall, we had a PS for each day, a couple days we had 2 PS. DH and I can wait if we have to to eat, or we can understand if we have to choose another place to eat. The kids, on the other hand, are hungry when they're hungry, and if they (mostly the older one of course) are thinking we're going to eat at X place, they get disappointed if we have to eat somewhere else.

I'll be making our ADR's this trip, each day at the 90 day mark, just like last year. But, I like making them, so I don't mind at all!!!

Steph

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

I think a couple things factor in here. One thing is if you're willing to go to a Disney message board for hours a week, you prob. think that planning your trip is fun, and as soon as you can start locking up restaurants, you do it. Another thing is by calling at the 90 day mark instead of walking up, or making them when you get to WDW you have a better shot of being in control of your vacation. I don't think an hour one way or the other is that big of a factor when the parks are open later, but the crowds are bigger, and more people want the restaurants. When the parks close early, what time you eat makes a big difference in how much you can get done in that time.

 

[whacked]

We have eight in our group. No ADR's = no seating until REALLY late, and possibly not at all in the more popular resturants.

We make ADR'S knowing that (with few exceptions) they are free. If we decided to change, and can get in, it's still no problem.

Better safe than sorry.

by the way, if you're there on a Friday night, ask about a table for eight at 6:00 at Le Cellier, Artist's point, Le Chef's Cali Grill, etc.

 

[shakespeare]

I plan ahead so when I arrive at Disney I can enjoy everthing. I don't have to worry about planning or calling. Everyone is different. My husband would rather be more spontanous than planned out.

 

[ktink]

We were just afraid that w/ the free dining it may be a little harder to get the dates, times , and locations that we wanted so to avoid any heartache on our part we booked at the 90 day mark. But now it's like all of my planning is complete and I don't know what to do.

 

[disneyholic family]

I hope we don't have a problem next month.
I usually make the reservations a day or two in advance, since we don't know until the day before, which park we'll be in the next day. And sometimes, i make the reservations that morning. I sure hope the dining plan doesn't make it impossible for us to get into our favorites.

 

[Blueberry]

I think with the free dining plan it will be very necessary to get into any place you really want to eat at...I am making all our dinner PSs at the 90 day mark and then I can rest easy. This plan is going to put a lot more people into the sit down places then would normally be there for meals, which will make walk ins very hard to get.....just my two cents...

 

[Luv2Roam]

Not to mention it looks as though the parks will be busier than usual BECAUSE of the free dining. And the parks and resorts have been consistently busier this year anyway, without free dining as a factor.
I would not worry about the 90 day mark, as a general rule. But I would make them beforehand. One less thing to think about later.