Wondering when to book your Disney dining reservations? If you are staying on property and have your resort reservation linked in your My Disney Experience account, you will be able to book your reservations for 180 days + the first 10 days of your trip at 6 am EST. So that works out to 190 days from the day you are able to book. Double check that your resort reservation is linked before it is time for you to book.
On the morning of your 180th day, you will be able to book your dining reservations at 6 am EST on MyDisneyExperience.com or on the My Disney Experience app. At 7 am EST, you will be able to book by phone at 407-939-3463. Make sure that you have signed in and your credit card is on file at least 2-3 minutes before 6 am EST to make sure you are ready to go!
Before you’re eligible to book, make a list of all the restaurants you would like to dine and 3 possible times you would like for your reservation. I try to make my dining reservations at off times, 11-11:30 or 1:30-2 for lunch, 4-5 or 8-9 for dinner. Also list 2 different dates you would want to dine at that restaurant just in case you need to be flexible. You don’t want to be making split second decisions when you are attempting to make your reservations.
When the window opens, you need to start with your most popular restaurants first even if they aren’t on the first day of your trip. This includes Be Our Guest, Chef Mickey’s, Cinderella’s Royal Table and Akershus.
Next, you want to book your reservations backwards from departure date to arrival date. This is because your dates have already been open for those that are traveling within 10 days of your arrival date due to the 180+10 rule. You will have better chance of grabbing any remaining reservations in your time slot if you are going from departure to arrival because the majority of guests start booking from arrival to departure.
Grab the first time you see and book quickly. You can change the dietary requests after you are booked. You can also check for other times and dates for that restaurant but you will already have one reservation on the books just in case other times are not available.
If you are not able to get the reservations you wanted, keep checking back. People cancel all the time. I’ve found that looking around the 45th day before your arrival date thru the 45th day before your departure date can land you that reservation because people have to either pay in full by that date or cancel.
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Learn more about Walt Disney World Dining and get suggestions for where to eat, how to use the Disney Dining Plan and more.