You guys are making me nervous!

[mykidsrock76]

Okay, so with all this talk about crazy crowds at the TS restaurants, I am getting nervous. We are going to WDW 11/27-12/4. I can make my ADRs next Saturday, but now I am totally worried. Is it really that hard to get ADRs at the 90 day mark? We are not doing any signature meals or shows, but would like to do some character meals for the kiddos.

Should I be worried that I will not get anything? I have a tentative plan of where we would like to eat, with 2 backups each day just in case we can't get our #1 choice.

We are flexible on times (for the most part). But I do not want to be eating dinner at 8:00 or 9:00. Or spending hours getting to and from meals.

Am I worrying for nothing? Do you plan your ADRs based on what park you're planning on going to or vice versa plan the park on the ADRs you can get?

Thanks!!!!

 

[crabbygal902]

I was really worried too before making my ADRs this morning. I used TourGuide Mike's advice to plan the parks, and then from there planned where we wanted to eat.

I got every restaurant I wanted, and I had some hard-to-get ressies: 'Ohana, Chef Mickey's, T-Rex, Le Cellier, Sci-Fi, California Grill (for T'giving) and The Wave. I wasn't able to Le Cellier and Cali Grill at the exact time I wanted, but everything else I got within 15 minutes of my chosen time. The other two are about 1 & 1/2 hours after I wanted, and I will check online from now until vacation time to see if anything else opens up.

Don't stress! I was seeing availability at even the very popular places on Nov 27 and 28th.

It helped that I sat down last night and made 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices for each TS. I didn't have to use the 2nd and 3rd choices, but it made me feel better knowing I had a back-up plan. Oh, I see that you've already done that! You're a step ahead in the game.

Hope this helps!

 

[dannewi]

Hi,

This was my first time making ADR's ever. We will be in WDW the week of Thanksgiving. Out of 12 reservations, only two did not work out as planned. One is two hours later than I wanted, so we will try a walk up and see if we can get in earlier. I was able to book Thanksgiving for the time and restaurant.

The second was the Fantasmic dinner package, it was booked for the date we wanted. I was able to make a reservation for two days later, but not sure if that is going to work into my plans.


So.. from a newbie perspective.. it went very well. I was on hold for 18 minutes the first call. Called in right @ 6:00 CT. For some reason I had my times mixed up and was originally up at 5:00 a.m to start calling in.

Good Luck !

 

[ShannonMB]

I personally pick my parks/touring plan, then fill in my ADRs based on where we'll be that day.

If you want some encouragement, read the "List Nov ADRs here" thread. There are pages and pages of people who got exactly what they wanted at exactly the times they wanted. I had the same experience for our trip starting 11/14. Everything I wanted was available. I think it was harder to book for the original free dining time period because everyone who was going knew way ahead of time and lots of people wanting free dining planned their trips for that time period. I could be way off on that logic, but so far, November seems like a breeze compared to Sept (except Thanksgiving, of course).

Best of luck, and don't sweat it. You'll get lots of good stuff I bet!!

 

[ToyStory]

The only date that I had trouble with was Thanksgiving. I had a one hour timeframe that I was looking for a my ADR since we are leaving for home that evening.

All my other ADR's I had no trouble with. LeCellier I wanted at 5:30-6:00, but I got it at 7:00. I can get other restuarants at Epcot during that time frame, but my family wanted to eat at LeCellier.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

I highly recommend making ADR's for the park that you will be in that day OR for a resort that is near that resort (i.e. If in EPCOT, stay in EPCOT or go to an EPCOT resort restaurant using the boats from the international gateway entrance).

If you run from park to park or have to transfer to resorts out of that park area you are looking at about 90 min. of travel time each way using Disney buses (you could get lucky, but you would need to leave that much time).
Plus, it just gives vacation a RUSHED feeling to run from ADR to ADR. There are good places EVERYWHERE and some of the quiet places can sometimes be the best. So, try to eat where you are to save some frustration and get the most out of your time.

 

[disneynewbee]

We had no problems getting everything we wanted and there will be free dining when we go.

Our choices were
The castle for breakfast
50s prime time
Scifi
1900 park fare for dinner

 

[disnut8]

Okay, so with all this talk about crazy crowds at the TS restaurants, I am getting nervous. We are going to WDW 11/27-12/4. I can make my ADRs next Saturday, but now I am totally worried. Is it really that hard to get ADRs at the 90 day mark? We are not doing any signature meals or shows, but would like to do some character meals for the kiddos.

Should I be worried that I will not get anything? I have a tentative plan of where we would like to eat, with 2 backups each day just in case we can't get our #1 choice.

We are flexible on times (for the most part). But I do not want to be eating dinner at 8:00 or 9:00. Or spending hours getting to and from meals.

Am I worrying for nothing? Do you plan your ADRs based on what park you're planning on going to or vice versa plan the park on the ADRs you can get?

Thanks!!!!

You'll be fine. I think what people "complain" about is not being able to get into a popular place at a popular time. You have backups (2 of them!) for each day.

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[jojomoore]

I made my reservations this morning at 6:00 am. I was able to get everything that I wanted to within 15 minutes of my planned times, including Jiko, Boma, CRT, Chef Mickey's, AK Rainforest Cafe, Crystal Palace, and Les Chefs de France. The only exception was 50's Prime Time Cafe for Thanksgiving Lunch (understandable). But i was able to get Thanksgiving dinner at Chef Mickey's and I was also able to get a dinner ressie on 50's Prime Time on Nov 28 - the same evening I want to see the osbourne lights. . I did have to call in my ressie for Chef Mickey's because the system would not allow me to book any Thanksgiving day reservations. However, all other dining ressies I did online. I also was able to book BBB, the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Cruise, and a carriage ride at Port Orleans Riverside over the phone for the times I wanted. The entire online process took about 45 minutes. However the phone process took somewhere over an hour (lost track of time). All and All, though, I am extremely happy. I was really nervous that the system would be down or something and i would have to book them all over the phone. However, every cm was extraordinarily helpful and friendly.I really feel as though a weight has been lifted.

 

[RayJay]

I made my reservations this morning at 6:00 am. I was able to get everything that I wanted to within 15 minutes of my planned times, including Jiko, Boma, CRT, Chef Mickey's, AK Rainforest Cafe, Crystal Palace, and Les Chefs de France. The only exception was 50's Prime Time Cafe for Thanksgiving Lunch (understandable). But i was able to get Thanksgiving dinner at Chef Mickey's and I was also able to get a dinner ressie on 50's Prime Time on Nov 28 - the same evening I want to see the osbourne lights. . I did have to call in my ressie for Chef Mickey's because the system would not allow me to book any Thanksgiving day reservations. However, all other dining ressies I did online. I also was able to book BBB, the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Cruise, and a carriage ride at Port Orleans Riverside over the phone for the times I wanted. The entire online process took about 45 minutes. However the phone process took somewhere over an hour (lost track of time). All and All, though, I am extremely happy. I was really nervous that the system would be down or something and i would have to book them all over the phone. However, every cm was extraordinarily helpful and friendly.I really feel as though a weight has been lifted.

Yeah,

We got everything except O'hana's which was weird. Everyone had the same problem with Thanksgiving but after 35 minute wait on the phone I got my restaurant and within an hour of my time.

Good Luck.
RayJay

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

After reading all of the threads I was nervous too. I don't arrive until Dec 5 so I have a couple more weeks to go. What I did was go into the online reservation system and play around. I went to the first week of Nov and played around as if it was my week. Even though the 90 day mark is somewhere in the middle of Nov, I was still able to get all of my choices for the first week of Nov. Does this make sense? The only difference was the times. There are a few places I would like to have breakfast in before the parks open so I will still be up early on my 90 day mark but it is good to know I will be able to get most if not all of m choices.

 

[tink2]

Things will slow down the week after Thanksgiving.... shouldn't be a problem for those after Thanksgiving week

 

[mykidsrock76]

Okay... I feel a little better. I am planning on trying the online ADRs and see how that works. If not, I'll call them at 7AM. I will have my backups. But hopefully I will not need to use them. I am a worrier and I will be glad when my 90 day mark is here. Thanks to all!!!!!

 

[Chelley00]

We fly in Thanksgiving Day, so I'm really worried about ADRs for the rest of Thanksgiving weekend. The week after not so much, but I'm really hoping we'll have a place to eat Friday-Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend!

 

[VegasMike21]

I was worried as well, the only thing I wasn't able to get was Ohana's for dinner for my 1st night. I got everything else I wanted including Le Cellier, Coral Reef, Crystal Palace, and 50's Prime Time. I had to settle for Tony's on my 1st night. My suggestion is to book the harder ones to get towards the end of your trip and the easier ones towards the beginning of your trip. Also have some backup plans ready in case you don't get what you want.

 

[momtocnc]

I went online right at 6 am this morning and got everything I wanted when I had hoped for. I was able to get CRT, Le Cellier, Chef Mickey's, HDDR, Jiko, Coral Reef, TRex and Narcousse. All of my dinner times are between 6:30 and 7, except for Narcousse which is 8:30 due to fireworks. I was shocked to get CRT at 8:05 just as I had hoped! We are going over Thanksgiving week, arriving on the Saturday. I never thought that I would get everything exactly how I wanted!! In all the times that I have been playing around with the system so I would be familiar with it today, I have never seen a Le Cellier ressie available so imagine how shocked I was when I got it for 6:30 pm on my first choice day!! We are a party of 6. Good luck to all! I hope it goes as well for you!