We check in to Port Orleans on April 7, 2017, but won’t be visiting any parks until April 8th, so hadn’t planned on making any ADRs until the 8th. I assumed that meant my ADR date was 180 days before the 8th…am I wrong? Is it 180 days from when we check in instead? If so, that means it’s tomorrow instead of Monday. Oh my God!
Yes your ADR date is 180 days prior to your checkin date! You definitely want to take advantage of doing it tomorrow so you have the highest probability of getting what you want, even if you don’t need any reservations until the 8th and later.
It’ll be ok, lol!! At least you realized today and not AFTER your ADR date had passed…do you know what places you want reservations for?
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Thank you! Yes, I have a list together, but I was going to spend some of this rainy day prioritizing and getting one of my computers logged in with my sister’s account (in case we have to split our party of 7 into two reservations of 4 and 3).
This works out better, I think, because I think I’ll be up late Sunday night and 6 am was looking painful for Monday morning.
YES I’m SO glad I realized this now. I would have been so mad at myself if I missed the beginning of our window after all the planning I’ve already done.
What are your top choices? Obviously the general knowledge is if you are hoping to snag something like BOG, 'Ohana or CRT go for those first…
Definitely take advantage of when your ADR window opens up. I have found that most restaurants are available then but often the reservations for the really popular places like the character meals and places like Cali Grill and above mentioned soon go. If you cant get a reservation online that you want, sometimes you can get it by calling.
Be Our Guest is the only one of those we’re looking at. I’m going with my parents and my sister’s family (including nephews, 7 and 8), and there’s no interest in the princess stuff. I want to get inside a castle, though, and I think the boys would like BOG better than Cinderella’s place.
My parents and sister haven’t been to WDW since we were kids, and are leaving the planning up to me. They don’t have any requests, so I’m doing my best to guess what they’ll like. They don’t want to spend a ton of money, so we aren’t planning to eat Table Service for every meal. I don’t think we’re going to do any breakfasts at all, although I might reserve 1 or 2 in case they change their minds. My sister doesn’t think her boys will care enough about meeting characters to sign up for Character Meals.
Oops - I just remembered I do want to try for lunch at Garden Grill, only because Chip and Dale are my favorites, and the only picture I have of my sister and I with characters from our 1984 trip was with them, and I’ll like to get another one. 
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Love that idea! You’ll have to post a side-by-side, lol!
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If there isn’t any interest in the princess stuff, BOG dinner would be fun since you jut meet the beast after dinner…
You may want to consider an 'Ohana breakfast…good, good food and just on the off chance the kids get into the idea of characters (so many do once they’re there and see all the meet & greets etc…), you’ve got Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch who come to your table, no standing in line for them.
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You can also find Chip and Dale at AK, without needing to eat at Garden Grill.
I thought the same thing about the characters! I think I’ll try for lunch at Tusker House for that reason.
Thanks!
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Oh? Are they just walking around AK? Or are they at a character spot?
For anyone interested, I’m trying for:
Be Our Guest for lunch
Liberty Tree Tavern for late lunch before parade
Biergarten Restaurant for dinner
Tusker House for lunch
Garden Grill for lunch
Via Napoli for dinner
Rose and Crown for dinner before Illuminations
lunch or late afternoon snack at Sci-Fi Drive-In
lunch or late afternoon snack at 50’s Primetime Cafe
The first four, I think we’ll all want to do.
The kids might not be interested in Garden Grill, Via Napoli, or Rose and Crown (and my sister might not be interested in paying for them to go if they aren’t), so it may just be some combination of the adults for those.
I know the food isn’t supposed to be good at Sci-Fi or 50’s Primetime, but I think my parents especially would get a kick out of the theming.
Also on the list are: Dole Whips, ice-cream at the Plaza, and funnel cakes. 
We have two easy days planned, where we may do some return trips to favorite rides, or hang out in Disney Springs (we’re staying at French Quarter) or do some resort-hopping (my dad was in construction and would probably like just checking out all the variety of the architectural styles).
Most characters at WDW no longer just walk around. They tend to have a designated spot. I forgot to mention all the other spots for Chip and Dale. At AK, they are at Rafiki’s Planet Watch (fairly short line). At HS, they are at Commissary Lane. They’ve also been at MK, such as in Tomorrowland, but I’m not real sure if they’re still there. The best site I’ve found for characters is Kenny the Pirate.
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We were at WDW last week and did BOG for lunch. It was one of our favorite meals. I had the braised pork and my husband had the turkey sandwich. We both very much enjoyed our meals. Our 3 boys, 8, 8, and 4 also scarfed down their food. The cupcakes are awesome as well. The other hit with everyone was Tusker House lunch. Goofy was hilarious! They serve some breakfast food with lunch until 11:30, which my husband really liked. Garden Grill we ate at for dinner. Great character interactions. We even saw Mickey twice. Our server was fantastic. There was a lot of food and it was good. If you get a booth on the lower level, it feels like you are in your own “dining room”. Oh and my 8 year olds (as well as the 4 year old) loved seeing the characters.
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Thanks for the input! I think my nephews will like the characters more than my sister thinks they will. My plan is to do Tusker House on our first park day, and see what they think. If they are into it, we’ll look into it more. I know it’ll be too late to get any of the in-demand character meals, but since there’s no one in particular they’re dying to see (except maybe the Star Wars people), I’m not too worried about it.
This is my first draft of my priority list for tomorrow morning. I’m only going to make one of the BOG reservations. What do you think? Is there anything I should move up or down the list?
4.13.16 Be Our Guest (lunch) 11:30 am
4.12.16 Be Our Guest (lunch) 11:00 am
4.14.16 Be Our Guest (lunch) 1:00 pm
4.14.16 Be Our Guest (dinner) 7:00 pm
4.8.16 Be Our Guest (dinner) 7:00 pm
4.13.16 Rose and Crown (dinner) 7:45 pm
4.8.16 Tusker House (lunch) 1:30 pm
4.10.16 Garden Grill (lunch) 12:00 pm
4.9.16 Biergarten Restaurant (dinner) 6:00 pm
4.11.16 Liberty Tree Tavern (lunch) 2:00 pm
4.12.16 Via Napoli (dinner) 6:00 pm
4.14.16 The Plaza (dinner) 7:45 pm
4.10.16 Mama Melrose (dinner) 6:45 pm
4.9.16 50s Prime Time Cafe (lunch) 11:00 am
4.10.16 Sci-fi Drive-In Diner (snack) 4:00 pm
Thank you for sharing your experience and wisdom!
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How’d ADRs go, did you get what you wanted?
Great - thanks for asking! I went in the order I listed, preloaded 12 different tabs, and got everything I wanted except The Plaza. There were a few that I couldn’t get close enough to my requested time, so I went in afterward and tried putting in 8 people instead of 7, and that worked. For Garden Grill, I had to split up into two groups and that worked. I had a second laptop logged into my sister’s account just for that purpose.
I’m so thankful for everyone’s advice in the Disney community - there’s no way I would have been so successful without it.
Oh! I didn’t notice the Plaza on your list. I think they are only doing walk ups these days.