ADRs

This is Disney lingo for Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs). Now, if you’ve spent even a little time looking into planning a trip to Disney World you’ll see a lot of people telling you to book your ADRs ASAP. And if this just leaves your head spinning like the tea cups on the Mad Tea Party Ride, don’t worry because help is here!

Disney ADRs aren’t like your typical restaurant reservations. Though they do guarantee you a table, they don’t guarantee you’ll get seated right at your reservation time. It just means you will be seated at the next available table once you check-in. This can be a disappointing/frustrating discovery for anyone not aware of how ADRs work. It is suggested that you arrive at the restaurant about 15 minutes before your reservation time, as the wait can still be anywhere from 15-30 minutes from when you check-in. And this can affect plans you might have later on, like Fastpasses.

Why Should I Make ADRs?

Many restaurants don’t require ADRs. The Quick Service (QS) places, for example, are restaurants you can just walk up to and get your food.

For some QS restaurants, you can now use you My Disney Experience (MDE) App for Mobile Ordering. This allows you to essentially skip the lines for ordering, how cool is that?!? So check your app to see what restaurants participate in this new feature.

The Table Service (TS) places can be a bit more tricky to get into. And some restaurants are extremely difficult to get a table at. To see what those restaurants are click HERE. That’s why it’s highly recommended that you get ADRs for your “must visit” restaurants as soon as possible.

Make ADRs ASAP

When exactly is “as soon as possible” for making ADRs? There are two different answers to this question and they depend on whether you stay On Property (OP) or not. If you are not staying OP, you can book ADRs 180 days out from the day you plan on eating at the restaurant.

But one of the perks of staying OP is you can book ADRs sooner than those who aren’t staying at Disney. (For more pros about staying OP, click HERE.) You can schedule your reservations 180 days from the day you check in, this means you can schedule all your dining at once, rather than waiting for 180 days from each date you’d like to make a reservation for.

**If your vacation is longer than 10 days, you’ll have to wait to book the ADRs (for the days of your trip that are over 10 days) in other words, 190 days in advance of your restaurant reservation date is the earliest you can do.**

Covid Update

Because of Covid changes, you are now only able to book ADRs 60 days in advance of your trip. But we are expecting it to eventually go back to 180 days at some point, so we are going to leave the rest of the information here for when they get back to that. In the meantime, make sure you are checking at 60 days out from the first day of your trip if you are staying on property, or 60 days from the reservation date if you are staying off property.

Back to the 180 days Info for Advanced Dining Reservations

Now you may be thinking, “180 days before my trip you want me to what?!?” But yes, there are some restaurants that fill up within the first hour of the window opening. If you’d like to see which reservations are the hardest to get, click HERE. People actually set their alarms to wake up at 6:00 a.m. E.S.T just to make ADRs, this can get pretty serious folks, so take our word for it when we tell you to book asap! If you need help figuring out your window, email us at dolewhipandcastle@gmail.com.

You can also use a Certified Disney Travel Planner (It’s free for you!) to book your reservations if you don’t want to wake up that early. Or if you’d rather call then go online, you can book reservations by calling 407-WDW-DINE, but they don’t start taking reservations by phone until 7:00 a.m. EST.

How to Make ADRs

If you are staying OP, make sure to link (or have your Certified Disney Planner link) your resort reservations to your MDE account right away. If it’s not linked, you won’t be able to take advantage of the head start and will have to wait until the 180 days with everyone else.

**Note: Some hotels may seem like they would be included in the OP category but are not for the purposes of things like the additional 10 days of ADRs or the Magical Express. These hotels include – Shades of Green, Dolphin Hotel, Swan Hotel, or any of the Disney Springs hotels.

Once your reservations are linked and it’s 180 days from check-in (or 180 days from your reservation date) go to your MDE app or open MDE on your computer and login.

Once you’ve logged in, you’ll see your homepage. This will list your resort reservations, linked tickets, Fastpasses, etc. Up near the top right corner, you’ll see a link for “Things to Do.”

The very first item listed in the drop down menu is “Make Reservations.” This is where you will make all your ADRs. Click on this and it will take you to search screen.

This search screen has every place (both inside and outside the parks) that you can make a reservation for. So if you know the name of the restaurant, you can type that into the search bar, or if you know what park (or resort) you want to eat at, you can filter the search that way.

You’ll also notice the place where you can enter the date of the reservation, the approximate time you’re looking for, and the number of people in your party. If you aren’t sure where you want to eat, you can enter your info there and then it will give you a list of all the available choices.

But if you do know what restaurant you want, go ahead and click on it and scroll down a bit, until you see this box:

Put in your info and click “Search Times.” If you’re lucky, it will show you some options you can choose from. If it’s one of the harder to get into restaurants, they may not have times available for when you’re looking, You can try searching for different times, or you can keep trying back up until your visit to see if anything’s opened up. For more help with this, please email us at dolewhipwishesandcastledreams@gmail.com.

Once you find a time slot that works and click on it, you will be asked who will be managing the reservation. Keep in mind that whomever you choose, they will be the only one who can cancel the reservation later on, and if you don’t cancel and simply don’t show up to your reservation, Disney can charge you for the meal any way. So be sure to stay on top of your reservations.

It will then ask you to list all the people in your party. This part isn’t as important and can easily be changed later if necessary. After you enter that info, it will ask for a credit card to reserve the spot. Some restaurants will charge you up front, but not all do, so make sure you are paying attention to that. It will tell you if they are going to charge you ahead of time or not. Typically it’s the character meals sand Signature Dining that do this. Otherwise, the credit card is just to ensure people aren’t making a bunch of reservations and then not showing up for them.

If you are using the Disney Dining Plan, make sure it’s linked in your MDE account and you can then choose whether to use the Dining Plan guarantee or use a credit card guarantee. Make sure you read the cancellation policies and that you understand them before booking your reservations.

Leveled Dining

For some of the shows (i.e. Spirit of Aloha and Hoop De Doo Musical Review) you will be asked to pick a Level. If you are paying out-of-pocket, you can pay more and get Level 1, if you are on the Dining Plan, you will typically have a choice between Level 2 or 3. The lower the number, the closer to the stage. So choose that before moving on.

Next you will enter contact information for the LEAD person only. Remember, the lead person is the only one who can cancel or modify reservations. And that’s who Disney will send a confirmation email to as well. Everyone in your party will be able to see the reservations on their own MDE accounts once they’re made. They just won’t be able to modify them.

There is also a spot on the reservations where you can mention any food allergies or special accommodations. Disney does a pretty great job of honoring these requests. And their gluten free options are some of the best available anywhere!

You will not be able to make more than one reservation in the same two hour timeframe. An error message will pop up to inform you of the conflict. In order to make a new reservation, you will have to cancel the old one.

There are a few dining opportunities that cannot be booked online. If you would like more info on these, please email us at dolewhipandcastle@gmail.com.

Try to book your meals earlier or later than the typical lunch or dinner times. This way, you’ll be able to get through the ride lines quickly while most people are eating.

After You Make Your Reservation

If you are the lead person on the reservation, you are the only one who can modify or cancel them. Do do this, you click “My Reservations” in your account. There you’ll find the option to modify or cancel. If you already paid in advance for a meal, you may have to call them to get a refund.

Twenty-four hours before your reservation, the lead person will receive a reminder email. If you need to cancel, do so at this time to avoid being charged a fee. Otherwise, show up for your reservation about 15 minutes early and Disney will have it linked to your magic band. You can also bring the paper copy if you don’t want to use a Magic Band. BUT, if you are using the Dining Plan, you will need your Band.

One last word on ADRs: Disney’s MDE occasionally has technical difficulties. It will take some patience and sometimes some follow up. That’s why we recommend using a Certified Disney Travel Planner. They can help you navigate ADRs and other Disney trip planning. You can get your free Disney vacation quote by clicking HERE to talk to a certified Disney Travel Planner. Their help is always FREE to you so we can’t recommend it enough! *This is an affiliate link, if you use the planner’s services we may receive a small referral fee but it is at no extra cost to you. To see our full disclaimer policy, click HERE.*

But if you are having trouble with your reservations and you are doing it yourself, you can also call 407-WDW-DINE between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. E.S.T. or 7:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. on holidays. But be prepared to wait, because there is usually a queue to speak to someone on the phone. This is another reason we recommend using a Disney Planner, they can do all the waiting for you!

You may still be wondering, “Can I get seated at a TS restaurant without an ADR?” And we can’t say you definitely won’t. There is always the chance that you can wait and potentially still get a seat. But the odds of this happening (especially at the hard to get reservation restaurants) are extremely slim and involve and extremely long wait. That’s why we recommend getting ADRs so heavily. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to email us at dolewhipandcastle@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Good luck! And may the dining reservations be with you!