Time Saver # 5: Make Dining Reservations

The Disney Dining Plan has made table-service restaurants very popular! If you don’t have dining reservations, you could spend 30 minutes to an hour waiting on a table.

That’s not how I want to spend my vacation time, and I’ll bet that you don’t either.

Taking an hour, maybe a little more, to reserve your table-service meals in advance will save needless frustration and up to four or five hours of waiting time on a weeklong vacation.

Making your dining reservations takes some background work:

  1. Start planning your Disney World vacation by learning about the parks and vacation options. That’s what you’re doing by reading the Mouse Map Savings Guide and Mouse Map.
  2. Decide what’s most important, where you’ll stay, how you will tour the parks, and whether you’ll add the Disney Dining Plan.
  3. Check the park schedules and decide which park (or parks) you want to visit each day. You can use the Fun Sheet: Our Disney World Vacation Plan—Schedule, on Page 82-84 in the Mouse Map to make notes about park schedules and your plans.
  4. Make a list of your dining preferences, considering what day you’re visiting each park and which restaurants you want to try.

How To Make Reservations

First create your list of dining preferences. With your tentative schedule and a pencil in hand, call 407-WDW-DINE (939-6244).

Start with the restaurants that are your highest priorities. Looking for a character meal? Reserve that first!

Listen carefully to all of the information provided by the Disney cast member. Some restaurants require advance payment, so pay close attention to the cancellation policy.

Work through your schedule with the reservation agent until you have reservations for all of your table-service meals. You may need to change or rearrange your schedule… that’s why you should use a pencil.

When to Make Reservations

If your vacation arrival date is in 90 days or less, call TODAY!

If your vacation arrival date is more than 90 days away, mark your calendar at 90 days. Call as early as possible on that day.

Calling for dining at Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom or the princess dining at the Norway Pavilion in Epcot? Start dialing a few minutes before 7:00 AM Eastern time.

A couple more notes … The earlier you make your reservations, the greater your chance of getting your top picks.

… Every fall there’s a short period of time when data for the next year is being added to the Disney reservation system. You might not be able to make reservations for some restaurants. Try calling back every day or two.