Reasoning for 180 day ADR Booking?

[KAT1811]

Can anyone shed a little light on why Disney feels the need to have their guests book dining reservations 180 days out? I'm okay with it only because we plan far in advance but am wondering why so far out? They shortened the window for a little while and then backed it up again.

[HoosierDisneyFan]

I do not know the answer to your question but if getting an ADR is difficult using the 180 day window, just think about the rush using a 90 day window. The more popular resturants would likely be book within hours.

Disney likely does not see this as a problem since they have their most popular resturants booked months in advance. Good problem from their prospective.

I wish we could just show up at 'Ohana without an ADR and be seated but that is not the case. Maybe the new Via Napoli will help spread out the crowd. I am lucky to have ADRs for LeCelier and 'Ohana for my up coming Dec trip. And yes I did reserve on line 180 days in advance.

[Loweschevy]

For as long as I can remember it has been 180 days, except for last year when they went to 90 days. I think they shortened it last year to accomodate guests that book vacations with the dining plan closer to the travel dates.

Believe it or not, we used to be able to call and make a reservation the day of for most of the WS restaurants 4-5 years ago.

[TheDuckRocks]

Back in 2005 when we took our first trip to WDW and reservations for dining were called priority seating, the time out to make them was 90 days. Then they started calling them Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs) and the time went to 180 days. Somewhere along the line they started the +10 thing for guests staying on property. Next change was back to 90 days for ADRs. Now we're back to the 180 days. My guess is as data gathering wacko Disney is, that at this time 180 days is what works best for Disney. If it does not stay that way, hold on as we'll be in for another change. The number one reason to come over to Intercot often.

[#1donaldfan]

It's to get us more psyched up for our trips !!

[joonyer]

Note that WDW does not REQUIRE you to book 180 days out. You are allowed to make an ADR for later in the same day you call, IF a table is available. The problem is the good restaurants at WDW are so popular everyone is afraid not to book as soon as they possibly can. So Disney put in the 180 day policy as the EARLIEST date you can make ADR's. Otherwise, people would be trying to book dining reservations years in advance.

[Ms. Mode]

It's to get us more psyched up for our trips !!

I had my ADR list ready WAY before 180 days. My DD asked me how in the world (no pun intended) did we find anywhere to eat on our first trip in 2004...I told her we went to the less popular spots. They were still good!

[darthmacho]

While it has a lot of benefits for planners like me, it really isn't a good system for people who want to be spontaneous. I think 90 days would be better. Your whole vacation itinerary ends up revolving around your meals, when it should be the other way around.

[beckylovestink]

I agree with the last poster....our trips revolve around our ADR's.
It has worked ok but I would still love to be spontaneous sometimes!

[StuckinOz]

While it has a lot of benefits for planners like me, it really isn't a good system for people who want to be spontaneous. I think 90 days would be better. Your whole vacation itinerary ends up revolving around your meals, when it should be the other way around.

That's one reason not to use the dining plan. On our trips we made ADRs for 2 TS meals and just did CS for the rest, which allowed for more spontaneity when deciding what we wanted to do next.

[Carolanne]

I'm in the pro-180 days out camp. When the ADR system went to the 90-days out plan, it seemed like I had the hardest time getting any restaurants that we really wanted.

I'm a planner by nature--I'm the person that likes to make lists. I like the 180-days system because I know where I want to eat the minute I book my trip. I'm thinking about restaurants for the next trip when I'm walking around the World on a current trip .

I don't feel the ADR system is forcing me to plan out my trip down to the minute (then again, I'm just a planner). Me booking a meal in Epcot doesn't mean I need to spend the hours leading up to the meal there. To me, it might be just a stop along the way back to my resort.

[TheDuckRocks]

I too am a pro-180 dayer. But then again I like planning and making lists. We don't park hop as it takes too much time for transportation. We only go during off seasons when it's cooler. And I don't find it at all difficult to figure out how many days at each park while we're there. The next step is to get the crystal ball out and congure up what days might be the least busy in each park. After that it's just a matter of picking where we want to dine each evening either in a park or at a nearby resort. Then it's just sit back and wait for my 180+10 booking date and getting up early and making our ADRs.
I know that my method is not a good solution for others but it works for me and I never have to do the "Where do you want to go for dinner?" routine while at WDW.

[KAT1811]

I agree with the last poster....our trips revolve around our ADR's.
It has worked ok but I would still love to be spontaneous sometimes!

I don't care either way. I would like to be able to bit a bit more spontaneous but even with a shorter booking window that won't help. I'm just wondering what Disney's resoning is. Why change it and then change it back again?

I still think it has something to do with predicting resort booking rates. If ADRs are down during a specific time period they have time to release some deals to attract vacationers to stay on property.

[Fangorn]

Just my theory.

I can't see how, from an operations perspective, that it much matters to Disney if the reservation window is 90 days or 180 days. The work needed to make reservations for any given day/venue remains the same - all they're doing is changing the window in which that work occurs.

However, given that Disney is known for their statistical data and studies of human behavior, it seems likely to me that Disney has discovered a distinct correlation between ADRs made at the beginning of the ADR window and the actual occupancy of their resorts. If they can estimate occupancy 6 months out, and find it lagging their targets, they can put out incentives with enough time to make a difference. The 90 day window may not give them enough time to make much of an impact.

Steve

[elephant rider]

I know that my method is not a good solution for others but it works for me and I never have to do the "Where do you want to go for dinner?" routine while at WDW.

That's why I like it too. As a family we tend to be a bit wishy-washy when it comes to deciding things like that. We would end up wasting tons of time trying to decide where to eat every day.
This way we plan our park days and ADRs around EMH and parades/etc. and we mostly know where we're going every day - with some "choice" days penciled in also.
Monday is day 180 for us!!!!

[irish1967]

As planners, we like the 180 day window. In fact, one of the conversations we have on our long drive home from WDW revolves around where we will eat next time .

We don't feel like our visits revolve around our ADRs. But, we tend NOT to eat TS in the parks so we don't have to be at a certain park at a certain day/time. We go in the summer so our standard operating procedure is to leave mid-afternoon, take a swim/nap, go to dinner, then go to a park for a couple of hours after dinner.

IMHO - Disney shortened the window and got a lot of complaints about it so they moved it back again.

[AllDisney]

I have found it easier to get ressies 180 days out rather than 90. We are very flexible so if we don't get reservations at 5:00 ....7:00 is still fine with us.

We remember making reservations IN THE MORNING on our way to a park. We'd wake up. Decide on a park. Call from the room & make reservations...and off we went. Sometimes we waited until we got to the park and made then once we walked through the gates. Those were the days

[KAT1811]

Just my theory.

I can't see how, from an operations perspective, that it much matters to Disney if the reservation window is 90 days or 180 days. The work needed to make reservations for any given day/venue remains the same - all they're doing is changing the window in which that work occurs.

However, given that Disney is known for their statistical data and studies of human behavior, it seems likely to me that Disney has discovered a distinct correlation between ADRs made at the beginning of the ADR window and the actual occupancy of their resorts. If they can estimate occupancy 6 months out, and find it lagging their targets, they can put out incentives with enough time to make a difference. The 90 day window may not give them enough time to make much of an impact.

Steve

I couldn't agree more!

[disneymom2000]

I am a super planner. I plan all the trips for my family and extended family and friends. BUT - I hate the system. I think 7-10 days out is more than sufficient. So many people make reservations 180 days out and then when they are actually on vacation, they change their minds and wind up NOT going to the restaurant they made the reservation at and then they fail to cancel if they change their minds and cheat others out of enjoying a particular restaurant spontaneously. Heck, I couldn't tell you what I am wanting to eat next week let alone 6 months away. But because of the system it is a necessity to make the reservations - JUST IN CASE you might want to eat there when you arrive.

[TheDuckRocks]

In fact, one of the conversations we have on our long drive home from WDW revolves around where we will eat next time .

LOL..........that's us too!!! Was to chicken to admit it first.