This Walt Disney World Dining Reservation Tip comes from my reader Kelly…
It’s pretty common and widely known to use Disney’s Dining Reservations line to make reservations. Of course, you can even use them online, and they make it so easy. However, they’re not always the best option because restaurants apparently only releases a certain amount of reservations to Disney Dining Reservations and when those fill up, you’re out of luck.
I ran across this issue when trying to get a reservation for T-Rex Cafe at Disney Springs . I searched and searched Disney’s reservation system and there were no available spots for the entire week we’d be at Disney World! Not for breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner. Nada. Zilch. “That can’t be,” I thought to myself. “They’re new but they can’t be THAT packed, could they? Especially since a friend of mine just ate there this week with no problems getting a table.”
So I decided to call the restaurant direction at 1-407-828-8739.  Much to my surprise, not only did they have a spot for us, but they had availability every 15 minutes of every day I was looking at wanting to eat there! There were PLENTY of reservation spots available…just not through Disney Dining. I’m not sure if the trick would work with Disney owned restaurants, but it couldn’t hurt to try contacting the restaurant directly if you’re really wanting to eat there on a specific date or time. You can easily Google the restaurant’s name and pull up their address and phone number.
Do you have any tips on securing a Disney dining reservation?Â
Learn more about Walt Disney World Dining and get suggestions for where to eat, how to use the Disney Dining Plan and more.
We are going to Disney in September. How far out do you recommend calling TRex café directly for a dinner reservation?
Thank you for your post. I’d been really disappointed that there were no times available for lunch on my sons 5th birthday next week via the Disney ADR. Called and was told they had pretty much all times from 11am > 14:00 open!
That’s great! I’m glad you got your time, he’ll love it!
Thanks so much for this advice!!! I had been driving myself crazy checking the Disney booking website for a reservation time. Two weeks I’ve been trying online. Today, I made one 3-minute phone call and got a reservation for our desired time and day. Thanks!!!
I just used your tip about calling T-Rex Cafe & IT WORKED! Thank you so much.
I am on the DDP & they said no problem booking with them directly & even had several dinner hour options available. The Disney website had no reservations available the whole week we are going to be there in October. Again Thank You.
That’s great!
I am a planner and like to have everything in order long before we take a trip. My daughter and her family are coming in from Texas and my grandson is heavily into dinosaurs. Daily I would try making reservations at the T Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney but it was never available. I finally called them and was told I had to wait until a certain day for the date I wanted to become available. I waited, and that morning I went online and not only did the day we were hoping for say no available reservations but so did everyday that we would be in Orlando. FRUSTRATING!!! Saw your post and called the number you listed. In less than five minutes my reservation was made and confirmed!!! Thank you for your great info!
Thank you SO MUCH! I went through everyday we’ll be going through Disney’s webstie and there was no availability, but on calling and speaking to someone at the restaurant found plenty of times available! Thanks again for the awesome tip!
Glad you got it worked out!
Thank you so much for this post! I thought I totally missed out on eating at T-rex but was able to get a reservation no problem and I am so excited. My boys are going to be thrilled.
Do you know how can I get a reservation at Cinderella’s Royal Table?
Thank you for your tip, it was really usefull!! I just called to the restaurant and could make my reservation for 10 people on Friday April 18 at 1:30 p.m… Really amazing!!!
THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH for this tip!!! Even two years after your original post, the tip worked great!! For starters, let me just say that the Disney dining website showed NO reservations for my party of 5 for lunch or dinner for the entire week we’ll be visiting!!! So, when I called TRex directy, I asked them about a reservation and they told me what they had to offer for the day I wanted. There were several options, but none that I particularly wanted. So I asked about walking in. The sweet girl told me that the average wait for walk in is 30-90 minutes, BUT that you are given a card with a time to return so that you can go walk around Downtown Disney during your “wait”, you don’t have to sit there on a bench twiddling your thumbs. Since we are planning to explore DTD anyway, this will work out perfect for us. Also, to answer a question I saw above… Yes, they do still accept the Disney Dining Plan, and no, it does not matter if you book through Disney or not, you can still use it. Thanks again and I hope this helps others, as well!!
Thank you so much for this tip!!! I have been trying Disney’s reservation line (for cancellations) for weeks now. I called direct and got the date and time I wanted!
Glad you got it worked out!
It worked! Yeah! Thanks for the tip!
I’m going to try this tip! Do you mention that you’ll be using the Disney Dining Plan when you call to ask for a reservation? Or just tell them when you get there?
You are wonderful! I had been trying for months in advance to get reservations to T-Rex Cafe for dinosaur-crazy kid! Always got a “NO!” Just called them after finding this site – NO PROBLEM! And at a time when a person would actually want to eat dinner.
Thank you so much!
Just wanted to say thanks so much for the tip! I was so disappointed not to be able to get reservations online for t-rex as my son is dinosaur crazy, but i’ve just called them direct and got exactly the reservation i wanted – thank you!
Were you on a dining plan when you called directly to the restaurant?
Can someone tell me where is the best place to request to be seated at TREX in Orlando? someone told me the Geotek room, others said by wooly mammoth. Ive never been there – all help is appreciated :)
So my family has gone to Disney close to 20 times now, so I’ve learned a thing or two about Disney dining. The most important thing to know about Disney dining is to be flexible. You aren’t going to be able to go to every restaurant you want. What we do is before the trip, the family looks at all of the restaurants. (because all of the kids are older and like to try new foods, we usually go to Epcot for dinner) Based on the number of dinners we would be eating, we pick two additional restaurants that we would like to visit. So if we were eating 6 dinners, we would choose 8 restaurants. Then, once we get to Disney, we go to guest services at any one of the parks. From there, you can schedule all of your dining reservations for the week. We see what is available and have learned to adapt our eating habits based on the reservation times. On our most recent trip, we got reservations at all of our top restaurants including Akershus Princess Dining and the Morrocan restaurant. All of the sit-down meals I have eaten have been fabulous in Epcot. There are some people that have to have an itinerary for their trip, but because we are a relaxed-kind of vacationers, we have a more flexible schedule. Hope this helped!
We ate at T-Rex a couple of summers ago. It’s a great dining adventure! My 6 year old loved it! We plan to return this summer.
any tips for making reservations at disney land
I was only able to get a 4pm dinner reservation for our upcoming trip in September; when I called them, I was able to get a better dinner time! Now, my question is do I need to cancel the reservation I made through Disney’s website since I went to the restaurant directly??
You should, it would give someone else the opportunity to book online, who may NOT know to call like you did. You can cancel right online.
That’s what I was thinking; thank you!!
We are going to Disney in Sept. At the 180 mark, i tried to make reservations at T-Rex and the had none! I just called direct and I got the reservation with the time of my choice!!!! WOW…thanks so much!
Yay! That’s great!
We leave for Disney next week and I tried calling for reservations for TREX for about two weeks straight with nothing available. Last week I finally called the restaurant directly and finally got a reservation. I def. recommend calling TREX directly if you want a reservation there.
That’s so exciting. :)
My boyfriend and I went to Disney in March, and we had not made dining reservations for a Saturday night. We were walking around Downtown Disney when I decided I wanted to eat at T-Rex. So he went to see how long the wait was, and the guy told us it would be over an hour and a half, which we were not willing to wait. However, there was a sign that said, “Immediate bar seating available” so my boyfriend asked about that. It was exactly as the sign indicated, there was immediate seating at the bar, which is GORGEOUS to sit at with the fish tank. As we were sitting there eating, they kept coming over the intercom stating seating was available at the bar for adults and children alike. More people began sitting at the bar, even a family of 7. So now we know when we decide to go somewhere without making reservations first, we should inquire about the bar seating.
This is very good tip! My husband and I often do this at home but I don’t think about doing it with the kids when traveling.
The tip doesn’t work with Disney owned properties. The non-Disney restaurants only release a small percentage of reservations to Disney Dining so it is always better to book them yourself. In fact, sometimes such as HoB’s Gospel Brunch, calling direct is the only way to book.
Hi Kristen! we’ve been following your site for about 2 months now. Love your site. So anyway, my family and I are going to Disney Land in about 4 weeks, for the first time and I would love to make this journey a special and magical experiance for everyone. So I was reading your post “Disney Dining Reservation Tips” and I noticed that you were talking about Disney world. So would you by any chance have any dining reservation tips for Disney Land? I’d really appreciate any types of advice/tips that you may have for us. Thank you for taking the time to read my email.
Sincerely,
*Lily*