WDW ADRs
Over the years with increased tourism at Disney, preplanning your park days and dining spots are a must do. Complicating matters even more is Disney’s special promotion during the month of September the past few years: Free Dining. Now before you get too excited over the possibility of something for free note that when free dining is offered you are not eligible to use any other codes for discounts so you have to weigh your options and do some basic math. Often times people are having to choose between the 20-40% discounts on room rates, free upgrades on park tickets, or free dining and depending on your eating style free dining might not be the best choice.
Either way it doesn’t really matter because you will want to sit down at least once while you are at Disney for a character meal in the air conditioning. Character meals are the best way to see 4-5 characters and they are themed so if you want a certain character such as Mickey you can find one of the few restaurants he appears in and book there. That way you aren’t wasting valuable park time standing in line at his house to meet him.
So when should you make your ADRs? Actually what is an ADR? An ADR is an advance dining reservation. Depending on the time of year you go and where you want to eat determines how early you want to call Disney. The most popular restaurants are Cinderella’s Royal Table, Le Cellier, and Chefs de France which book up right at the 180 day mark. The 180 day mark is the earliest you may call for dining reservations and it represents that you have exactly 180 days before your trip! Its a very exciting time.
My 180 days is getting very close so I have already created my Dinner dining wish list. Check it out below and if you have any recommendations or words of caution please leave me a comment! I will update after my phone call to let you know which ones I actually got.
- Cinderella’s Royal Table (Cindy and Princess friends in the Castle) (dinner)
- Crystal Palance (Winnie the Poh & Pals) (dinner)
- Rose & Crown (England Restaurant in Epcot) (dinner)
- Garden Grill (Epcot - Micky, Pluto, Chip & Dale) (dinner)
- 1900 Park Fare (Cindy and family) (dinner)
- Sci Fi “drive-in” diner (zombie movie clips galore) (dinner)
- Liberty Tree (Minnie, Goofy, Chip, & Dale) (dinner)
- Biergarten (Germany in Epcot) (dinner)
- Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge (our alternative to Cindy’s) (dinner)
- Ohana (Lilo, Stitch, Mickey) our goodbye breakfast
First, how exciting!! I’m sure you’ll be up right at 7am to make that call on Sunday!! I would too!
I love all your choices! I’ve been to about half of them. Not going to try for Le Cellier huh? We really love that one! We also love WCC so if you do have to use it as a back up, you should be happy! Another we really like, if you need another back up, is Momma Melrose. A lot of people don’t like it, but we did & missed it last year when we didn’t go there. Oh & ‘Ohana for dinner is fabulous too!
Never been to Biergarten, 1900, Rose & Crown or Garden Grill. Trying out Sci Fi & ‘Ohana for breakfast next month!
You’ll have so much fun! I can’t wait to hear what ADRs you get!!
We really liked breakfast at 1900 PF-we found it very adult-friendly. I’ve heard reviews it’s loud, but I didn’t find it any louder than any other character meal.
I’m interested to see how you like Crystal Palace and 1900 Park Fare for dinner - I actually booked both for my brother and his family when they go down in August.
I’ve been to CP for lunch and 1900 for breakfast, atmosphere-wise they felt pretty similar. The food was good at both but I definitely prefer ‘Ohana for breakfast, I hope you guys like it!!
We loved WCC for dinner, but I have a bunch of rowdy boys so that is probably a large part of it!
Liberty Tree and Sci-Fi are on the list of “possibilities” for our next trip so I can’t wait to hear how you guys like them.
Sounds like a great trip!
What a great list. I know this is going to be a super trip. How do you decide which days to do what ADRs?
We did CRT for breakfast last time. It was a nice experience. We’ve also done Liberty Tree Tavern and 1900 Park Fare. Both were really nice. The step family at 1900 Park Fare were a trip!! Trying Garden Grill for the first time during our August trip and ending with Ohana’s.
Sounds so great. Can’t wait to hear how it goes after you call in. Be sure to let us know.
Great choices! I’ve been to most of them!
CRT- tasty dinner, I went before photo package was mandatory. The prime rib is pretty darn good- HUGE portion. Sort of slowish service the night we went.
CP- I LOVE THIS PLACE for dinner. You must try the salmon- I also love their broccoli with the ‘puri puri’. (whatever that is, it’s GOOD). A little noisy, but interesting and tasty choices.
Sci Fi- we ate here for lunch- one of the best burgers I have EVER had. Also really good service the time we went. I’m not sure they serve burgers for dinner though- if that’s something you want double check the menu. And definitely order a shake for dessert! The desserts we all tried were just ‘eh’, but the shakes- TDF.
WCC- this is a standby for us- we’ve gone every time. Love it.
Rose n Crown- we had the BEST service here when we visited in 2003. I liked the fish, again HUGE portions.
Now I am hungry!