How do you make ADR's when you don't know how late the parks are open?

[Martini Mom]

Help!!! Now that you can make your ADR's 180 days in advance, how do you do so when the parks hours are not yet listed? I'm sure you super planners have been faced with this before, what did you do?

We are having a little bit of a battle in my house over making these ADR's so far in advance. My husband doesn't like the idea of being on such a strict schedule but I am afraid if we don't make some plans to eat at some table service restaurants we are destined to eat chicken fingers, burgers and bad pizza for 7 full days!! and besides, some of the restaurants sound like so much fun!

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Lara

[Drince88]

I always assume that Epcot will close at 9 during most of the year (9:30 in December). This is the World Showcase closing time, some attractions in Future World will close at 7.

I always assume Animal Kingdom closes at 5 or 6. It'll be later in the lighter/summer months.

MK is the tougher one - unless there's a party going on when you're visiting, I'd assume 8 or 9 (later on weekends).

Studios they've been messing with the most and with Fantasmic scheduling. I don't have a good rule of thumb there.

The bigger issue (to me) though is planning around Extra Magic Hours (both morning and evening). I tend to use am EMHs and avoid pm EMHs - so if I don't know when they'll have them, how can I avoid them.

The best I can recommend is make the ADRs for the things you HAVE to do now - and then as they announce the park hours/EMH days, adjust what needs to be adjusted.

ETA: And there's lots of CS options that don't involve chicken fingers, burgers, and bad pizza!

[Drince88]

I just looked - and they have hours up through April!
(At least at Epcot and the Studios)

[Martini Mom]

Thanks for the advice! Hopefully I will be able to get through today and make some reservations.

As always you are most helpful!

Lara

[Dlandmom]

Definitely make some ADRs as soon as you are able based on a general idea of what you think you would like. For my first and only trip earlier this year, I just made a variety of ADRs for places I knew I would like to eat and using the general park hours that Drince88 posted. I made some changes along the way, but they were easy to do on the phone. Just make sure you keep all your reservation numbers handy to make additions and changes.

I ended up not using some of them as it turned out, but I just called or talked to Guest Services that day and let them know. On one day that we didn't have dinner plans, we walked up to Chefs de France to see if they had any room for dinner and were seated in less than 30 minutes (of course that was last January, so a relatively slower time for the parks overall).

Good luck!

[danyoung]

We are having a little bit of a battle in my house over making these ADR's so far in advance. My husband doesn't like the idea of being on such a strict schedule but I am afraid if we don't make some plans to eat at some table service restaurants we are destined to eat chicken fingers, burgers and bad pizza for 7 full days!!

While I completely agree with you that it's a bummer to have to plan that far out, I also feel very strongly that it's absolutely necessary to book as far in advance as possible to guarantee your dining choices. With the popularity of the Disney Dining Plan, restaurants have been booking completely full on many nights, even during the off season. If you don't want to be relegated to fast food only, please do the ADR booking thing. Your husband will thank you.

BTW, they make a great vodka martini in both the Rose and Crown Pub in Epcot's England area and in Mizner's Lounge in the Grand Floridian. Enjoy!