Making Advance Dining Reservations

We just completed making our Advance Dining Reservations, this time 180 days ahead of all the days of our stay.  Previously, we had never booked to stay in a Disney Resort, so we didn't have the luxury of this extra perk of selecting all ADR's for our entire stay at once. It wasn't easy or perfect, but my advanced planning helped us to get almost everything we wanted, and when we had hoped to get it.

But before we chose the restaurants, we needed to decide which parks we were going to do on which days, in order to match up locations as best as possible.  As a family, we agreed to do two days in the Magic Kingdom, two in Epcot  (one specifically for the countries in the World Showcase), a day in Hollywood Studios, while skipping Animal Kingdom.  I then waited patiently until Walt Disney World released their Extra Magic Hours schedule, because I usually avoid them, especially in the morning.  I noted on a chart each day's EMH park.  I then used the crowd calendar at the Undercover Tourist website.  I noted on my chart the parks they suggested to go to each day, and more importantly, which one to avoid.  With this information, along with the considerations of which night time shows we wanted to stay for, I set out a parks schedule for each of the days.  We also decided to visit Disney Springs on our arrival day, and one other evening.

So then it was a matter of selecting the restaurants.   We decided on a few that we wanted to return to: California Grill in the Contemporary Resort, T Rex in Disney Springs, Via Napoli in Epcot, and Be Our Guest in the Magic Kingdom.  We also wanted to try Sci Fi Diner in Hollywood Studios, Beaches and Cream in the Beach Club Resort, and The Plaza Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom.  We matched up each restaurant to a park day (if it made sense to do so), and had also made the decision to do BOG for lunch, The Plaza for either lunch or dinner, and everything else as a dinner.  We had already signed up for the My Disney Experience website and phone app, so I was all set once 6 am on the 180th day before our arrival date came. I actually didn't even needed to work out the date, because when I booked my Disney resort stay, they sent me a personalized welcome booklet, including the dates that I could start making my dining and Fastpass reservations.  I highly recommend signing up for My Disney Experience as it makes all your reservations so much easier to do, and to change if need be.

So on that morning, I set my alarm very early, logged in to my computer, and started to make my selections.  If you have a specific time that you want, click it, otherwise click breakfast, lunch or dinner, but the times offered could be almost anything within a few hour span.  If you ask for a specific time, the app or website checks for availability 90 minutes before to 90 minutes after that time.  I got the times and dates that we wanted for all the restaurants above, with the exceptions of The Plaza and T Rex.  There were times available, but they were well before or after, when we reasonably wanted to eat.  Apparently, this is not uncommon for either of these two restaurants.  A member of a Disney World Facebook group noted that T Rex issues very few reservations to Disney, and you are better to call the restaurant directly to get one.  I am planning to do this closer to the time, if we still want to change from our new selection.  The Plaza is just a small restaurant, and sometimes you can just walk up to eat there.  It was not a big deal, as we have some quick service alternatives for the Magic Kingdom.

What I originally decided to do for T Rex, was instead to get a reservation for The Rainforest Cafe in Disney Springs.  But some Facebook group members advised me to reconsider to another, better choice.  In the end, I cancelled it (which is incredibly easy to do on the app or website), and chose the Irish pub, Raglan Road instead, after many glowing recommendations. This reservation was eventually switched to Morimoto Asia.  One thing that you need to be aware of is that a credit card is required to hold a reservation, and you will be charged ten dollars a person, if you fail to cancel at least a day ahead.  You can also just choose a date and time or mealtime, and then all available restaurants will appear, each with some times offered.   You can filter restaurants by location too.

As I said earlier, I was able to make my selections online at 6 am, but even two minutes before that I was unable to make any, as the dates of my trip were not coming up as an option.  If you decide to use the phone, the lines open at 7 am (Eastern time).   We wanted to keep some flexibility open to eat at some quick service locations, particularly in the World Showcase at Epcot and Disney Springs.  I have and will continue to monitor the availability at T Rex and The Plaza, but we are very satisfied with our choices, and now we can relax and wait for Fastpass selections!

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The beautiful ceiling in the banquet room in Be Our Guest restaurant in Magic Kingdom.