Pre-Covid, Walt Disney World dining reservations opened 180 days prior to your arrival and the more popular restaurants like Cinderella's Royal Table were booked almost immediately, making it hard (and frustrating) to get a reservation. With COVID restrictions and procedures in place, dining plans are now made 60 days prior to your arrival. This hasn't made it any easier to get a popular reservation though! There are however, several ways to snag those hard to get dining reservations. Keep reading to find out how!
Cinderella's Royal Table
1: Book online 60 days prior to your arrival date. The first step in getting the dining reservation you want is to book online. Dining reservations open up exactly 60 days prior to your arrival date, at 6:00 a.m. EST. Phone reservations open at 7:00 a.m. EST, so make sure to have the Disney dining phone number handy just in case there are problems with the website or obtaining your reservations (1-407-939-3463.)
2: Try to book the hard to get restaurants first. It can be easy to want to book your dining reservations by day or by park, but make sure to prioritize and go after the hard to get ones first. The following reservations are some of the most difficult ones to book:
- Cinderella's Royal Table
- Be Our Guest (dinner - breakfast and lunch are quick-service.)
- Oga's Cantina
- Chef Mickey's
- Victoria and Albert's
- California Grill (especially at dinner when you can watch the fireworks.)
- Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
- Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno
- Storybook Dining at Artist Point
- Most character dining
- Signature dining experiences
3: Book from your computer, not your phone. Booking from your computer allows you to open up and switch between multiple tabs much easier than you would be able to on a phone. Have yourself up and ready before 6 a.m. and have each hard to get restaurant open in a different tab - this way once 6:00 a.m. hits, you can quickly hit "check availability." (Make sure you are already logged into your MyDisneyExperience account prior to 6:00 a.m. - this way you won't be slowed down by having to login.)
4: Try booking at an "unpopular" time. An "unpopular" time is of course a time that people aren't normally sitting down to eat, such as having breakfast at 10:00 a.m. or dinner at 9:00 p.m. (If you are wanting to watch the fireworks while you eat at a restaurant like La Hacienda de San Angel, 9:00 p.m. will be a popular time and you'll need to prioritize that reservation.)
5: Check back daily for a reservation to open up. Of course, some of the hard to get reservations can book up quickly, even if you've tried all of the previous tips. Reservations for the restaurants you want can still open up though, so don't feel discouraged if you don't get one right away! It's hard for a lot of people to decide what they want to eat 180 days (or even 60 days) prior to their trip, and often guests will cancel the reservation they have booked in exchange for a different one. By checking the website every day, you have a chance of finding a reservation that someone has let go of.
6: Use a dining alert website. Checking the website every day can be a tedious task, so luckily there are websites you can use to help with that. Websites like Mouse Dining allow you enter the restaurant you want, the date and time you want, and the size of your party and they will notify you via text or email (or both) when a reservation opens! An important thing to remember if setting alerts is that these alerts can come at any time, at any day and you usually need to get on the website and book pretty quickly before someone else snags it.
7: Go to the restaurant directly. If you still haven't been able to find a reservation for the restaurant you're looking for, there is still always the chance they could have one available when you get there. Go directly to the restaurant when you arrive in the park, and they will take down your info and let you know if any reservations become available (it's not impossible for guests to no-show to reservations or cancel last minute.) We personally have had luck getting a reservation that was let go of last minute, but it's of course not guaranteed - you should usually be able to find a reservation before you get to this point.
8: Use a travel agent. This is of course the easiest option for getting a difficult dining reservation. A travel agent costs nothing to use, and we do all of the hard work for you so you don't have to stress or worry!
Do you have any good tips for snagging a hard to get reservation that have worked for you? Let me know!
Ready to plan your Walt Disney World vacation? Contact me today for a free, no obligation quote!
Catherine@RopeDropTravel.com
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