Do People Consider TRAVEL When Making ADRs?

[Goes4FastPass]

Sometimes I read a post that includes words like, "Concourse Steak House or Spoodles" and I find myself wanting to ask, "Where will you be just before that meal?" or "Where are you on your way to?"

In this case if you say, "Morocco" I would say, "Spoodles". You say, "Space Mountain", I would say, "Concourse Steak House" but if you say, "Space Mountain but headed back to the Beach Club" I'd say, "Well, in that case, Spoodles."

(You say, "Tomato", I say, "Fries with ketchup")

Bottom line is, in my WDW visit planning I sometimes forget the whole resort is like 42 sq miles and if you're using Disney transportation you can't go resort to resort so Boardwalk to Boma requires going someplace (Theme park, DTD) both directions with bus transfers and waits along the way.

I try to set a general tour plan then fit ADRs accordingly - is that what most people do?

Sometimes, though, I let the ADR 'drive' the touring like we just finished dinner at o'Hana, "It's almost Spectromagic and Wishes time and MK is open late tonight. Let's go."

Also, sometimes we support the local taxi trade. After a long day it's nice to walk out of a resort entrance, fall into a cab and say, "Boardwalk, please" and know we'll be home in minutes.

[HockeyKat]

We make our ADRs and then plan our travel around them.

However, WDW is about the total package to us... food, resort, theme parks, water parks. We are not "commando" style (not that it is bad to be that way)... we sleep late if we want, and our plans are loose.

It is just the two of us and we go often, so if we miss a ride or don't want to wait in a line or just feel like vegging at the resort for a while w/ a beer, we do it.

[crazeedizneefinatic]

I know this time around we made our ADR's and whatever will happen on our trip is not planned. That is the only thing "planned". I know that sounds crazy to try and plan your day around meals but with the park hopper option and the numerous times we have visited there is nothing in particular we have to see at a certain time. Our dinners are mostly at Epcot since that is where we end up most nights since the other parks close early. We did think that much ahead and that took too much effort, lol. As far as everything else that is the only thing planned. I even hate to have that in place, but ADR are necessary if you want to get in where you would like to try. When I am on vacation I like nothing to be planned not one minute of the day. I can imagine staying less days would pose a challenge. We are staying 11. You would reallly need to plan and schedule to fit it all in. I have already made spur of the moment plans and only stayed 4-5 days. I disliked all the rigid plans to try and see what I wanted in those short amount of days.

[BelleBeauty]

I generally create our rough touring plan and then plan the ADRs. We start doing each individually. I look at the EMH, show/parade times, and factor all of that in when deciding where to go which day. We make a separate list of our favorite, cannot be missed restaurants, then places we want to try. I usually come up with options based on where we will be in the World and have a back up in case we can't get an ADR when we want.

That being said, our park plans are always flexible. We also will travel and essentially "make it happen" to go to a place we've been wanting to try. If we have an ADR scheduled far away from where we will be, we usually take a break and head back to the hotel and then get to the resort or a park closer to where we have our ADR.

I am usually traveling with young adults (my brother and sister), so we don't have much holding us back!

[Disdad13]

I think it would be very hard to make ADRs without taking into account where you plan to be on a particular day. We always start by deciding what park(s) we will be at on a particular day and then plan the ADR accordingly. So, for example, we plan a day at MGM and will finish the day with Fantasmic. So that day, the ADR has to be for 50s, Momma Melrose, H&V, etc. If we are at Epcot all day and plan to see Illuminations that night, we pick a restaurant in the WS. There is certainly flexibility (especially if you have a park hopper) but I think it would be hard to make ADRs without at least some idea of where you will be and what all you want to see and do that day.

[Marker]

In fact, that's just what I'm doing today. I booked my dates this morning. I've been putting together my spreadsheet of times and schedules of the parks/fireworks/parades/EMH, then taking those times into consideration, I'll decide when and where I might like to eat.

I already have places to eat in mind, so I'll see which ones best fit. Sometimes the schedule dictates which restaurants we choose, and sometimes a favorite restaurant decides.

I don't try to see and do everything, because that just takes the "relax" out of the vacation. Once we're there, we do like to HOP about, from park to park at times, so the predefined schedule may or may not hold up, but at least it's a place to start. In the end, the reservations end up taking priority, because with them, you just may not eat.

I have been known to book 2 restaurant choices, but ALWAYS call and cancel when I figure out which one we're actually going to use.

[Spaceship Tigger]

We make ADRs based entirely on where we will be at the time. We plan our park days, then arrange our ADRs. I think it would make our vacation miserable if we had to rush to get out of a park to get to an ADR and then rush from there to somewhere else.

[prttynpnk]

I usually look at park times and parade times and then have several days/times in mind for ADR's at specific places.

[disneynarula]

Now that ADR's are nessecary I do a little more planning then before. For example we are having dinner at Chef Mickey's the night of a EMH. That way we can head over to MK right after dinner.

I also hate to plan our whole day around eating but you kind of have to now.

[Natazu]

We absolutely consider where we will be when deciding on ADRs. It doesn't, however, impact what restaurants we will patronize. We try to select the night for each restaurant based on our itinerary.

We prioritize it like this:
AK am EMH, then AK pm EMH, followed by EP pm EMH, MK pm EMH, DS pm EMH. Then ADRs go around that. Usually, Brown Derby before DS EMH, a Monorail resort ADR before MK EMH, an Epcot restaurant before Epcot EMH, Boma or Jiko after AK EMH. Fantasmic plays a part in selecting DS dining but not as much as trips to the Aerosmith concert.

[tinksmom02]

I usually look at park times and parade times and then have several days/times in mind for ADR's at specific places.

This is exactly what I did planning for our past and future trip. I also had a general idea of where I wanted to dine, so I just tried to fit them in accordingly. Like, AK day is dinner at Boma. Breakfast at Akershus followed by a day at Epcot.

But the general park times were flexible enough that if I couldn't get the ADR at the time or day I wanted, I could just flip everything around.

What I found on our last trip was that sit-down dining eats (pun intended) away at your day, even just one a day. Not saying that's a bad thing (on the contrary, DD was able to meet A LOT of characters during TS meals last trip, which saved us from long lines in the parks), but it does take a chunk out of the day. It seems kind of time-consuming to me (especially using Disney transport) to be in one park and then head to the other side of the property for dinner, and then to head back again.

I guess what i'm saying is that a little advance prep can save you a lot of travel time.

[iceicebritney]

we make our ADRs as well first and foremost, because u never know if your going to get the ones you want. then we make our arrangements for tours, events, etc around that. we then spend the day in the park (or in the area) that we'll be dining. i think its really the best way to manage your time there. my fiance got very angry the one year we went and we were running around like crazy because we were spending the day at one place, and then eating dinner on the other side of the world. so yeh, plan plan plan!

[MsMin]

I plot out our schedule according to park times and then set the ADR's. When we go in Dec. MK closes early often so it's easy to go anywhere for dinner if you are leaving the park. WE did MK and Concourse Steakhouse knowing the park closed for MVMCP. Since we stayed @ the BWV it was convenient to eat in EPCOT.