{"id":42450,"date":"2015-11-05T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T17:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/?p=42450"},"modified":"2022-05-04T22:59:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T02:59:45","slug":"tips-planning-advance-dining-reservations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/tips-planning-advance-dining-reservations\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for planning your Advance Dining Reservations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

How to plan your Advance Dining Reservations<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the best parts of visiting Walt Disney World isn\u2019t the characters or the rides, but the food. \u00a0Disney provides so many different and unique food options in and outside the four main parks that guests could spend their whole vacation just eating. \u00a0As with the characters and rides, restaurants have become extremely popular causing the need of Advance Dining Reservations<\/a> or ADRs to be extremely important. \u00a0Those guests staying on Disney property are able to book restaurants at 180 days prior to their vacation. \u00a0This process is loved by some (myself included) and hated by others (my husband included). \u00a0I love the pre-planning, research and excitement it brings whereas by husband doesn\u2019t like that he has to figure out what he wants to eat 180 days ahead of time. \u00a0As this can be extremely stressful, I have a few tips to pass along as to how I go about getting ready for the big 180 day mark.<\/span><\/p>\n

Question One: \u00a0Where will we be?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The first decision I like to go through is where do we want to be on each day. \u00a0Again, sometimes it is hard to determine exactly where you want to be in six months from now, but there are a few things that might help you out in making this decision.<\/p>\n

Extra Magic Hours<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign at Hollywood Studios<\/em><\/p>\n

First look at which parks are offering Extra Magic Hours<\/a> (these are extra hours given to those staying on Disney property). \u00a0If this is something you would like to participate in, either morning or evening extra magic hours, this will help you determine where you might want to be. \u00a0On the other hand, if these aren\u2019t something you want or can participate in, then it is often suggested to stay away from the park offering this perk as crowds tend to be higher.<\/p>\n

Crowd Level<\/span><\/p>\n

Another way to determine where you would like to be is using the variety of different crowd calendars\/predictors out there. \u00a0There are a variety of different companies (some free, some not) that provide predictions on what they feel crowd levels will be like during your vacation. \u00a0Some vacationers live by these, others use them as a guide. \u00a0You can determine how much you would like to follow them. \u00a0Keep in mind, they often don\u2019t consider Extra Magic Hours, so if that is a perk you are taking advantage of crowd calendars might be harder to use in your decision making.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shows, Entertainment, Rides<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The main focus should be the different rides, shows and evening entertainment you would like to see while vacationing. \u00a0Knowing which of these are a must for you family will help you determine how much time you need to spend in different parks giving your a better idea of where you might be eating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking into consideration Extra Magic Hours, crowd levels as well as which parks we might want to be in more all help me determine which parks we will be in each day.<\/span><\/p>\n

What types of foods do we want?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

Be Our Guest is a popular choice<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Service Style<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After deciding which park we want to be in each day, I then begin to dive into our food style as a family. \u00a0This is where I start to look at what we want as a family. \u00a0Disney restaurants offer buffets, family style, as well as menu ordering. \u00a0It is important to think about what your family would prefer. \u00a0Although we liked buffets when we went with our son who was two, when my husband and I headed back for our anniversary, we wanted to just sit and be served. \u00a0As we are heading back this summer with our kids and extended family, we know that buffets would be better for the kids to allow for choice, but we also don\u2019t feel like we want to spend all of our table service choices at buffets so we are going to mix it up a little.<\/p>\n

Cuisine Choice<\/span><\/p>\n

\"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

We branched out at Boma<\/em><\/p>\n

Next we need to determine what type of cuisine we want to eat. \u00a0Our family enjoys Italian, Mexican, and American, but seafood, Japanese, and African are a little more extreme. \u00a0We had to decide if we were going to use our trip to branch out of our food safety bubble or stick to what we know we like. \u00a0Disney, especially Epcot, has so many unique choices that it is the perfect time to branch out and try something new. \u00a0With that said, I do get nervous spending money on a place I am not sure my kids will eat. \u00a0Finding a restaurant with a happy medium is key for us.<\/p>\n

What are my options?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

Just a few resources I use<\/em><\/p>\n

Now that I know which park we will be in as well as what type of service and cuisine we want, it is time for my favorite part! \u00a0Research! \u00a0I love digging into the specific restaurants at each park as well as Disney Springs and resorts. \u00a0I use a variety of different websites, books and blogs to gather information about the restaurant. \u00a0I look for reviews (always taken with a grain of salt) as well as a detailed list of the menus offered, times they service food, characters that are available and just the atmosphere that goes with the restaurant itself. \u00a0I start by taking notes of different options that I think my family would like to tryout and then take that narrowed down choice to them for feedback. \u00a0As you are looking at options, don\u2019t forget that Disney resorts have great food choices as well. \u00a0Once I know where I want to eat, it is time to make a plan for the 180 mark. \u00a0I will share my strategy as we get closer as well as how my booking goes for a large party after I am done. \u00a0Hopefully these tips will help you know how to narrow down your selections for restaurants and prepare you for making your reservations.<\/p>\n

What tricks do you utilize to help decide what Advance Dining Reservations you make for your vacations? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to plan your Advance Dining Reservations One of the best parts of visiting Walt Disney World isn\u2019t the characters or the rides, but the food. \u00a0Disney provides so many different and unique food options in and outside the four main parks that guests could spend their whole vacation just eating. \u00a0As with the characters…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":42455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1688,1695,1,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wdw-dining","category-theme-parks","category-uncategorized","category-walt-disney-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42450"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85610,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42450\/revisions\/85610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}