ADR based on parks I want to go to or just grab whatever I can when available?

[The13thLetter]

Hey everyone,

Each trip we do more and more advanced dining reservations, and next year's trip I plan on trying to grab a couple of the hot ones right at the 180 day mark but here is my predicament:

Normally, I look over the park hours for the days we are staying, determine which parks we want to do on which days of the trip (based on the park hours), then look for reservations at the parks for those same days we plan on going. However it looks like the park hours come out about 180 days in advance as well. If I do not book right at 7am on my 180th day, am I going to be out of luck for some of the tougher places? Or do I have an hour or 2 to look over the park hours first?

I guess I am asking do I just make my reservations for any day of the trip that I can grab, then choose the parks to go to on which days based on what reservations I got, or can I still look over the park hours for a little bit then make reservations. What do you guys do for a strategy?

Thanks! Cheers!

 

[KenHutch]

Well I got tired of waiting on hours to decide these things so I started booking most of our meals at park hotels. Another advantage is the food in the hotels tends to be far superior to the parks.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

It costs a little bit, but if you use touring plans, they have a pretty good estimation of park hours, EMH, and crowd levels well in advance of 180 days. I used it this time and so far it’s been spot on with the hours and stuff that were announced. Plus their reservation getter has worked very well for me on the hard to get ones.

 

[DisArmyWife215]

I will grab my ADR's based off where I want to be and somewhat use past hours as a guide. I will also book a few back ups at other parks so I have some ability to modify and cancel ADR's later when times come out and I get my fastpasses. It's been my experience it's easier to change an ADR than to get those super hard fastpasses. I've been able to get CRT, BOG and 'Ohana a few weeks out while I could never seem to get my Frozen fastpass. Sometimes I think it's all just blind luck!!

 

[phyllis1966]

I always plan my parks, then get ADR’s based on those plans. As the PP said, it’s easier to change ADR’s than FP’s.

Have a great trip!