[noahsark45331]

We have always just been a kinda "seat of your pants" type vacation planner. Decide where we are going and then take it day-by-day. Only a few things planned for specific days/times. With the dining plan I am feeling we should plan abit more and make some ADRs. How do you decide where you will be each day? Can I make a couple of ADR for the same day around the same times and then cancel later when I have a better idea of what we are doing? Help!

[chris24]

for us, it depends on the amount of time we will be there. then we try to base it off of what park is open early / late that day.

[Dana]

I always pick my parks first. I go to the certain ones on the first and last day of my trip and work the others in. I then coordinate ADR's with the parks that I am going to on those days. It really doesn't matter for a resort ADr however. If you are going to do a park ADR like cp, then make it on a day you intend to be at MK. With the window for ADr's being open 180 in advance and the dining plan being so popular, I highly reccomend making ADR's for the places you have your heart set on eating at. One thing I make sure to do is to avoid the EMH park...always. If that means changing my routine, then I do.

[KarenWDWCP]

I look at the EMH schedule and pick my parks around that (I usually avoid the Extra Magic Hours park). Then I look at the list of restaurants I want to eat at and work the rest around that.

Basically I am always looking to do the least amount of traveling around since I rely soley on the Disney transportation. And I always try to take the most appealing form of transport so I don't feel like I am constantly on a bus.

Thus if I know I will be shopping at Downtown Disney one day, that is the day I decide to eat at a DtD restaurant. Or if I want to eat at Whispering Canyon, I do that on a day I am at MK and take the boat, or if I want to eat at Spoodles I do that on an MGM or EPCOT day and take the boat to the Boardwalk. That way getting to where I am going becomes a bit of an attraction in itself.

[hiner]

I make a mini week calendar, list the ADR's I want on certain days, tweek it a little and then we make tentative plans on the parks. For example, if we want to eat breakfast at Donald's Breakfastosaurus, we then plan on AK that day. If we are going to eat dinner at O'Hana's, we will probably go to MK on that day. We try not to set anything in stone, other than the ADR's. Sometimes, we may have a park listed on paper and change our minds the night before. Or, just decide on what park to go to the night before.

We are on schedules all week long and that is the last thing we want on vacation.

[bethishooked]

We are very much like you, and not liking to have a schedule on our vacation, so never had previously made ADR's. This last trip we got free dining, so felt it would be better to make ADR's for fear of it being crowded. Only made 2 of the ADR's that were made. Felt even more pressure to be at one place at the right time so we didn't miss. So, we made the first two days with our ADR's but cancelled the remaining, and it wasn't that bad. We went on our schedule, ate when and where we felt like it at the moment, and didn't have to wait too long at any of the restuarants we wanted (and this was at a busy time with free dining in August).

[noahsark45331]

Well, thanks everyone. There are a couple of places we want so I think I will make those now and then think about the others for another week. I love the idea of the DP but planning where to be to eat so far in advance is not what I'm used to. But hey, I'll be at Disney World and it won't matter anyway!

[M's DD]

Before hand, We usualy pick a couple resteraunts that we want to go too, then pick the nights that we want to go, and then make reservations. We all think it works best.

[Elmo]

We make our dining reservations as early as possible. This insures were aren't eating popcorn and mickey bars for dinner. We can always cancel or make new reservations once we arrive and plot out our days.

For special events (Christmas party), we obviously plan out in advance. Otherwise, we prefer to wing it each day.