ADR's vs Fastpasses

[Thorpy]

As a double figure trips, regular QSDP, and 2-3 ADR's visitor. I now have dining plan for next year. 14 ADR's is a mind boggling prospect.

With fastpasses, there are fastpasses that are really not required, and there are fastpasses that are gold dust.
Can anybody please point me in the same direction regarding restaurants.

[WDWfangirl]

I'm not sure that there is a list (although other Dibbers may well be able to correct me) but when I booked my ADR's I definitely ranked them in order of priority and was lucky enough to get everything I wanted. First ADR's booked were for popular restaurants (e.g. BOG) then for popular times (e.g. early breakfast at Crystal Palace back when the entry show was by the train station) and then for large numbers (we went with friends so sometimes we had a large party to book for).

CRT is always quoted as being the one restaurant that gets booked up within minutes of availability opening up. Ohanas and the restaurant at the top of the Contemporary during the fireworks are also very popular.

[MrsEgg]

I always find choosing restaurants at 180 days out more stressful than trying to get fast passes.

I normally get a list together of all the restaurants we want to try and plan if we would want them breakfast/lunch or dinner and then wait for the busy day guide to be released to work out where we may be when and try and plan the restaurants around that.

Some of the harder ones are -
Beaches and Cream - I think they only have around 20 tables.
O'hana Dinner
Crystal Palace Breakfast
Cinderella's Royal Table
Be Our Guest Restaurant
Chef Mickeys
Akershus

Always easier to put these if you want them to the back end of your holiday as that is where the +10 days staying on site will be beneficial.

We've just booked on Sunday for our May trip and had no problem getting all the ones we wanted but we are a family of 3 this year, when we've been a family of 5 we didn't have so many time options but there was still availability.

[sha9]

There isn’t a definitive list and because there are so many restaurants and plenty to satisfy all tastes you’ll find there’s not the same urgency to get everything booked. That said, I would definitely book the ones you feel strongly about, especially if there are specific times you would prefer them. Character meals are often booked quite quickly and Be Our Guest is still popular.

[Guest]

If you book at 180 days, you will almost certainly get everything you want. I don't think I have ever seen anyone struggle. I have only ever seen thousands of threads with posters feeling pleased they got everything.

However, after 180 days a few options will start to disappear. I would include in that list, pre-park opening BOG breakfast and also PPO Garden Grill breakfast, CRT, Beaches & Cream, California Grill brunch. I have heard 'Ohanas although never personally tried to book it. I have struggled to get Chef Art Smiths for my next trip, weirdly.

I don't think there is much else I would worry about.

[Thorpy]

Thanks all, that's the sort of stuff we are looking for.

Our list in no particular order is as follows...
Garden Grill
Teppan Edo x2 (Mrs Thorpy and number 1 daughter's favourite)
Chef Mickeys
Tusker House
Crystal Palace (First morning possibly.)
Rainforest (AK)
Splittsville

Trattoria al Forno (For Ariel and Rapunzel)
Olivias at OKW - we're staying here.
SciFi dine in
+ 3 more to be decided/argued about

Aside from the last 3, we've eaten in the rest before, and they are selected because we enjoyed them.

As multiple time visitors we are not planners anymore. We regularly play bus roulette in a morning, and will happily write off a decent fastpass knowing we have another shot at it later on in the holiday. (I'll pick 3 and book the same ones on day1, day 5, day 9, then another park on day 2, 6, 10 etc. Then later on in the holiday we start to plan to cram in what we missed. I'm a little worried that so many ADR's will tie us down somewhat. We're used to 2 or 3 per holiday, and occasionally do a walk up.
So on the basis of whats in this thread, Chef Mickeys and Crystal palace would be hard to rebook if we wanted to move it later on in the holiday. I'm sure I've heard on podcasts in the past that Olivia's would be easy to walkup, and we've done walkup at animal Kingdom rainforest a few times. Anyone any thoughts on the others ?

[sky13]

If you will have 14 TS credits - you could perhaps also consider doing a couple of signatures? They will be 2 TS credits each, but may be a different experience (and will cut down on one restaurant to think about ). (I am a massive fan of CG brunch but understand that it's not for everyone though.)

Of your list - if you're trying to get a pre-park opening ADR for any of them (Tusker House and Crystal Palace) then you would need to book it early as pre-park is popular. Maybe a bit less so at Crystal Palace now though as they let everyone into the park up to the castle before opening now, so you don't get an empty park to yourself anymore.

As a note, if you can't get the ADR you want - keep checking back again and again as ADRs open up as people cancel them. There are even some services that can look for ADRs for you (not used them personally but one of my friends has to get things like BoG close to the date).

[sha9]

You’ll get a walk up at Olivia’s no bother. Rainforest Cafe you will get a walk up if you join their loyalty club, the Landry Select Club. Although it costs $25 to join you get that back as a reward so effectively free if you thought you’d spend $25 on appetisers or alcoholic drinks.

I’ve found some character meals available when I’ve been searching. It all depends on how “must do” they are for you. This year we decided we fancied a BoG breakfast and booked the day before. We still had a choice of times and got 8am no bother.