Here are 4 tips for planning for dining reservations at Walt Disney World:
1. Allow time to allow to get to your dining reservation. Walt Disney World recommends you allow up to 2 hours to get to your dining reservation when you use Disney transportation. The smart thing is to plan your park days around where you will be eating. Don’t plan to spend all day in one park and hop to another just to eat. That can really cut into your park time!
If you are planning on a breakfast reservation before the parks open, allow 1 – 1.5 hours to get to the reservation. Your Disney Resort should have a bus that runs around 7 – 7:15 am to pick up the guests that have an early morning reservation. If you don’t see a bus at least 30 minutes before your reservation time, you might want to take a taxi. Bell Services at your Disney Resort can call a taxi for you. Many taxis wait right in front of the resort to pick up guests and take them where they need to go.
If you are planning a reservation at a resort and you are already in the park, it is as simple as leaving your park and taking the transportation to the resort (allow 45 minutes to get out of the park and to the resort). If you are not in the park before your reservation, you’ll need to allow 1.5 – 2 hours since you’ll have to take transportation to the park and then additional transportation to the resort where the reservation is at. You can also take a taxi to get to your reservation.
If you are in the park where your dining reservation is, you’ll just need to allow about 20-30 minutes to head to your reservation. You can always check in 10 minutes before your reservation time if you get there early.
2. Budget for the time it takes for your meal. When you book a dining reservation, you are not reserving a specific table at a specific time. You are actually reserving a seating time at a table that will accommodate your party. When you check-in, you can wait up to 15 minutes for a table to become open. Depending on how close you arrive to your reservation time, you might have multiple parties of the same size in front of you. I’ve found that arriving about 10 minutes before your reservation time will minimize your wait time.
Expect the meal to last anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on the dining experience. If it is a character meal, it will take closer to 1.5 hours while a restaurant with a simple menu and experience will be closer to 45 minutes. If you are booking Fastpass+ reservations around your meals, I would book your next Fastpass+ for 1.5 hours after your dining reservation start time.
3. Space out your meals. The Disney Dining Plans give you an entree and a dessert. Many of the meals have large portions, are buffets or are family style meals. If you plan to have more than one Table Service meal a day, I would space them out by at least 5-6 hours. Make sure you don’t eat anything within 2 hours of your first reservation. You definitely want to go into these meals with an empty stomach. You are paying enough for them!
4. Enter the park before it opens. If you book a dining reservation before the park opens, you can enter the park before everyone else! They will allow you to enter the park 10-15 minutes before your reservation time. Just head to the Cast Member at the entrance to the park who is handling the dining reservations.
Don’t miss these tips on how to book your Disney dining reservation.
Learn more about Walt Disney World Dining and get suggestions for where to eat, how to use the Disney Dining Plan and more.
(Thanks Renae!)