How do you make Advanced Dining Reservations for your Walt Disney World vacation? Simple request, right? Sure, it’s simple, or is it? Yes, it is simple. You spend a couple of months choosing restaurants, you make a complete calendar of your trip and pencil in your restaurant choices, you call or go on the Disney website and hope your times and dates are available. Simple. (Yeah right.)

First, I think it’s important to know what Advanced Dining Reservations are, who needs to make them, when they can be made, and how they are made. Ready? Let’s get started.

Now that’s what I’m talking about

A New York Strip from Le Cellier. You'll need an Advanced Dining Reservation for this one. Photo by Mandy Jansen

Advanced Dining Reservations

What is an Advanced Dining Reservation or as most people call them – ADR’s. ADR’s are reservations for Walt Disney World’s Table Service Restaurants. Just like a restaurant around your town, you can make reservations for all the Table Service Restaurants around Disney World.

Dad’s Disney World Restaurants page

Who Needs ADR’s?

Tigger from the Crystal Palace where you will need an Advanced Dining Reservation
Photo by Samantha Decker

If you want to eat at a Table Service Restaurant Disney recommends you make an ADR. Is this really true? Maybe.

There are a few Disney Table Service Restaurants where you can pretty much walk in and get a table just about any time. Very few. There are a lot of Disney World Restaurants that you will have to have an Advanced Dining Reservation even during the slow times of the year.

If you want to go to any of the Character Meals, any of the Dinner Shows, any of the Dining Events you will want to make sure to get your reservation as early as possible.

When can the be made?

Advanced Dining Reservations can be made for most of the restaurants/events 180 days prior to your arrival date. If you use Disney’s website to keep track of your reservations (and you should) it will tell you the date you can make your ADR’s.

What’s this about 10 extra days or something? If you are staying at a Disney Resort (and you should be), on day 180 prior to your arrival, you can make ADR’s for that day and the next 10 days. So you get a head start on the pack just for having reservations at a Disney hotel.

Making ADR’s

Making you reservations is a piece of cake. It’s so easy, Dad’s set up a separate page with the simple 1,000 step instructions (just kidding). It really is easy. Check it out.

Disney World Dining

Advanced Dining Reservations are just a small part of Disney World Dining (get more Disney World Dining information from my buddies). There is everything from restaurants, to dining plans. You’ll want to check it all out.

Disney World Dining page

Dad’s Bottom Line

ADR’s are an intregal (like that word?) part of a Perfect Walt Disney World Vacation. Planning them is fun. They are necessary at a lot of the Table Service Restaurants and highly recommended (that means necessary) even during the slowest times of the year.