Tuesday Tip-The Disney Dining Plan and ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations)

Have you heard these before?  “I don’t need reservations for dining, I have the dining plan” or “You don’t need reservations for table service restaurants, you can always just walk up and get seated”?  Yup, I hear these quite a lot actually.  The reality?  The total opposite is quite often true.

Do you have the Dining Plan?  Make sure you get to use your credits!

First-what’s the difference between Quick Service and Table Service restaurants?  Think of it like this...Quick Service is like a fast food restaurant-you place your order, pick it up at a counter, then seat yourself and clean up after yourself.  Table service is like a casual dining restaurant-a host seats you, you have a server that takes your order, brings your food and clears your table.  Quick Service is just that-meant to be fast to get you in and get you back out again as speedily as possible.  Table service allows you time to sit back and relax, allowing you to dine at a more leisurely pace.

The very nature of Table Service (taking longer to have your meal than Quick Service) means there are less available seatings for these types of restaurants.  And with thousands of guests on the dining plan...and thousands more who aren’t but still want to eat at WDW’s yummy and very popular Tables Service locations, making Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs) has gone from a “just in case” idea to a necessity.  Especially when those Free Dining promotions are running!

Character meals get booked up pretty quickly-make your ADR early!

Here’s your tip...you can make your ADRs up to 180 days in advance of your visit.  The most popular restaurants and prime meal times will fill up quickly like Be Our Guest, Le Cellier and any character meals, so if eating at a particular restaurant or during a particular time of day is important to you, be ready to go online (6am disneyworld.com/dining) or call in (7am 407-WDW-DINE) to make your reservations.  There are a handful of restaurants that don’t take ADRs such as the ESPN Club, Big River Grille & Brewing Works, Kouzzina by Cat Cora and Beaches & Cream Soda Shop...but for the most part, if it’s a Table Service restaurant at WDW, you should be able to make an ADR.

Some Table Service locations don't take ADRs-be sure to plan ahead

After all, you don’t want to let those Table Service credits go to waste, right? While you could use a Table Service credit for a Quick Service meal if there was absolutely no Table Service restaurant available, you’d be wasting the value of that Table Service meal.  So, do a little pre-vacation planning to choose where and when you’d like to spend those Table Service credits and be sure to make those ADRs as soon as the 180 day point hits.

Did you know...if you book your trip through me, I’d be glad to help you with those ADRs too!