Disney Dining: How to get the reservations you want!
You were ready. You got up early. Refreshed your screen a million times. Logged on the right at 6:59:59 am eastern time and by the time you plugged in Cinderella's Royal Table. You get the dreaded No times Available.
How? Why? You did everything right!
Well, WDW lets anyone on property reserve tables for their entire trip once they have reached their 60-day window. So you have thousands of people who looked for the same reservation, who have already booked your day, plus all the people who have the same 60-day date as you are also trying to secure the same popular dining experiences. Additionally, Disney still has limited dining. Covid-19 protocols that reduce dining space make it feel like getting popular reservations at restaurants like Cinderellas Royal Table, Be Our Guest, and Space 220 are almost impossible! Plus, everyone in the country is having staffing issues right now.
But do not worry! I am going to help you get those reservations!
Let's start with the basics:
Dining reservations are made 60 days from your arrival (I know, it used to be 180 days, this is a post covid change.) So make sure you KNOW YOUR DATE!
If you are staying on property, you can make your reservations for your entire trip at the 60-day window of your property stay.
This gets tricky when you have a split stay. You will have TWO 60 day windows for each resort reservation.
If you are staying off property, you will need to log on each day of your park reservations to get reservations for dining. Be flexible on your park days. You may change the park depending on the reservation you get—my advice is to book what you can and then change the park reservations. Unless you are doing it over the holidays, and even now, it may be too risky to change the reservation with parks selling out. If you are going from October - to the first week of January, it may be more challenging to change your park day since that is the period park days can sell out.
On our trip in January 2022, we had reservations to Space 220, Be Our Guest, Cinderella's Royal Table, Tusker House, and Ohana Breakfast! We even canceled some reservations because we decided that five was enough!
Large Group Tip: If you have a large group, it helps to break your dining alert in two, I did a group of 5 and 6 for our alerts in January 2022. Get the reservations within 20 minutes of each other. Arrive early to the first reservation and ask that your group be seated close together or even at the same time. Disney will do its best to accommodate your party.
How did we get those! We paid for services to find them for us! That's right, some apps and websites will do the work for you, send you an alert, and then it's up to your quick fingers to snatch them up!
There are several out there, but I have listed the most valuable and most-used apps and websites when searching for those perfect reservations.
Pricing may change last update August 2022
If you are planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip, it may be a good idea to invest in multiple sites like we do when planning trips with our friends.
My favorite app is Mouse Dining HANDS DOWN. I have a monthly subscription to it because I use it that often. I have always got the Walt Disney World with every reservation I wanted. The downside of Mouse Dining is that it is computer-based only. To register for Mouse Dining, click here!
If you are looking for an experience like Droid building or Bibbidi Bobbibi Boutique, after a full year of using all the apps, StakeOut is our winner in this category. I do not love StakeOut for dining, but it has been the fastest for Disney experiences. Head to your app store to download this app they do not have a website.
Here are some ProTips in using their sites:
Most dining reservations are canceled 72 hours - 2 hours before the reservation. That is because Disney will charge you $10 per person if you cancel within 2 hours of the reservations. So be prepared for your phone to go crazy those last couple of days. (This is a new policy rolled out in December 2022, it used to be the day before.)
CRT or Cinderellas Royal Table and Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue are pre-paid dining experiences, so make sure you have a card that works on file. You will be charged in advance for your entire meal. We still made multiple reservations, and they refunded all of them. Just keep an eye on your debit card and call Disney Dining if you have any issues.
In the past you were able to hoard a bunch of reservations. Now you are not able to do that. You will be asked if you would like to cancel the other reservation. If you need multiple reservations because of a large group - strategically attache names to reservations. I typically do not fill in names with larger groups. But CRT & Hoop Dee Doo will make you enter names.
There is a Disney Dining group on Facebook called Disney Dining Reservation Exchange Drop/Add, and this group works together to try to get each other reservations you desire.
TURN ON YOUR TEXT NOTIFICATION SOUND. If you are like me, you probably have your phone ringer and text on silent. While trying to get reservations, I turn on my text ringer to a distinct sound that has me running to the phone for that reservation. Since the reservation comes through on the same number depending on the app, you can even set those to have their own unique ringer during these 60 days until your trip.
Remember these alerts do not work ON or BEFORE your 60 day window. It only works after your 60 day window has passed.
Overall, our favorite link was Mouse Dining, and we always had success with this website! Because it allows you to have TWO phone numbers that receive notifications and you receive email and text notification.
How do you know if you did not get the reservation?
If you are logged onto your computer, you will see the message below. That is an indication that you did not get the reservation that time. But do not worry, remember the 48 hours before the day you need the reservation is when the orders come flooding in.
On your cell phone, you will get to a blue screen, indicating that you did not get the reservation this time! But Keep trying!
If you are desperate to get a reservation, and there are times I have been desperate, I invest in ALL 4 apps. That's right, if you want it bad enough, you may have to do that for one month. On average, it would cost me about $25 for that last month before the trip. But I ALWAYS have gotten EVERY single reservation I wanted. Also, with the new cancellation policy only 2 hours before, many reservations will likely open up at the last minute. But I still see the 24 - 48 hours before as a continuous trend of cancellations.
Remember, the quickest hands win, and a lot of times that last week prior to my vacation, my phone is in my hands non-stop. Make sure your face login is saved. It is the fastest way to get logged into your app. Your reservation is only confirmed once you get through to the congratulations screen. Also remember turn on your RINGER! Good Luck!
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Last update: July 2023
