How I ADR
ADR stands for Advanced Dining Reservation and it's the thing you want to have if you plan to eat at a table service restaurant at Walt Disney World.
Be Our Guest Restaurant - one of the harder ADR's to get
You can book ADR's 180 days ahead of the first day of your vacation, either online or by phone. On that day, you can book for the other days of your vacation as well, up to 10 days. If you're vacation is longer than 10 days, you're going to need to call back the next day and so on to get any days beyond 10.
Due to the rising popularity of some dining spots, it can be hard to get the restaurant you want at the time you want. Like many things Disney, this is where an ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure, and I am a master of preparation.
This is how I ADR:
Tiramisu at Tony's Town Square - excellent for during the afternoon parade but you have to plan ahead!
More than 180 days out from the first day of my vacation...
I have drawn up a plan of what parks I want to be in when. This helps me know where I'll be physically so I am not traveling across Disney property to my ADR. If I do plan to travel, I allow 1 hour if I'm traveling from resort to park or park to park and 2 hours if I'm traveling from resort to resort.
I've also researched restaurants and decided where I'd like to eat.
I then slot these into my schedule where the restaurant seems to be convenient, and I draw up a back up time and back up restaurant just in case I can't get my preferred time or restaurant.
At 6:50 AM Eastern Time, 180 days ahead of the first day of my vacation...
My alarm goes off.
Because I prefer to use MyDisneyExperience to book ADRs, I get on my smartphone and launch MyDisneyExperience and check if the date is open yet. I keep checking until the system allows me to access ADRs for that date.
I also have the option to call (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463).
At 7:00 AM Easter Time, 180 days ahead of the first day of my vacation...
The wildly popular create-your-own-Mickey-waffle station at Chef Mickey's
I've probably attempted to book Chef Mickey's a couple times by now but keep finding the day is grayed out on the calendar. At 7:00 AM, that date will suddenly become clickable and I proceed with booking of my prioritized restaurant.
I book in order of priority, not in chronological order. If there is a restaurant I want to go to that is "hard to get" because it's really popular, or if there is a special specific time I want, I book those things first.
Here are the restaurants I tend to book before any others, if I'm planning on doing these, in order of importance. Some of them are more busy during certain times of day and if so, I've noted that:
Be Our Guest (any time, but especially dinner)
Chef Mickey's (any time)
California Grill during Happily Ever After
Ohana during Happily Ever After
Narcoosee's during Happily Ever After
Rose & Crown during Illuminations
La Hacienda de San Angel during Illuminations
Tokyo dining during Illuminations
Spice Road Table during Illuminations
Monsieur Paul during Illuminations
Tony's Town Square during a parade
Liberty Tree Tavern during a parade
Ohana (any other time)
Akershus (character breakfast)
Victoria and Albert's
Crystal Palace (character breakfast)
California Grill (any other time)
Le Cellier
After those, I continue in chronological order until all my dining is booked.
A couple things are important to remember during this process:
1) I won't be able to book any FastPass+ within an hour of my ADR. The system will not allow it.
2) The further out I'm booking, the better chance I have to get what I want, so I tend to leave the really special moments until later in my vacation to increase chances I'll get it.
Some dining requires a call...
There are some dining experiences that require a call to Disney. MyDisneyExperience will clearly mark what those are. An example is Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian. So I make my calls after I've booked online.
I go back to bed...
6:50 AM Eastern Time is earlier than that where I live, so once I'm happy with my ADRs, I go back to bed if I can. Getting up early to do this will pay off. When I check back later in the day (usually just out of curiosity), all of the good times are taken and I'm glad I got it done.
As always, I hope these tips help you plan a magical Disney vacation. Where is your favorite ADR? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page. If you like this blog, please share it with a friend.
