Disney in a Minute: What is an ADR?

ADR is an abbreviation for “Advance Dining Reservation.” For years, Disney called restaurant reservations “Advance Dining Reservations.” Disney no longer uses that term, but you’ll often see it on fan sites and in Disney-related chat forums. (And in older articles on our blog as well.)

The world has changed a lot since the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971. At that time, it was common for guests at Disney World to visit guest services after arrival to make dining reservations for their trip. If that’s where you’re starting from, the name “Advance Dining Reservation” seems sensible. It’s one that you make in advance of starting your vacation, instead of after you arrive. ADRs were also different because you made them by phone, instead of in-person at a desk.

Fast forward, and for Disney’s most popular restaurants it became almost impossible to get reservations if you waited until your trip. Managing ADRs for coveted spots has been the subject of a lot of ink on planning the perfect vacation. But technology also changed a lot. Today, you’ll make your dining reservation in Disney’s app no matter if it’s two weeks before your trip or two hours before you sit at the table.

After many years, Disney realized that the “Advance” part of the term Advance Dining Reservations wasn’t useful anymore. For anyone who didn’t know about the history, it was sort of redundant and confusing. In today’s world: “Of course you make a reservation in advance; that’s what a reservation is!” So Disney stopped using it, but long-time visitors haven’t.

Even though Disney no longer uses the term Advance Dining Reservation, you’ll see that on their site they refer to “advance reservations” for dining and other special experiences like tours. If you plan to eat at any table service restaurant at Walt Disney World, it’s always a good idea to make a reservation. And if you’re staying onsite at a Disney resort hotel, you’ll want to know about the 60+10 rule. This gives you a leg up on snagging any reservations that are hard to get.

For more information on Walt Disney World dining and dining reservations, take a look at our Walt Disney World Dining page.

(Side note for you word purists: ADR is not technically an acronym. It’s an “initialism”– an abbreviation comprised of the first letter of the words in a term; they’re pronounced as the letters, not as a word, like CPR.)

Disney in a Minute is a series of short posts designed to help you better understand a Disney term or planning topic. Do you have a Disney term that you think needs a bit more explanation? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks to Erin Foster for an earlier version of this post.