Dining Reservations - For Upcoming Trip

[Shibafam2011]

We have an upcoming trip for the second week of July and are staying at the Riviera. I have been watching the dining reservations each day as they open up for days in June - and I am finding that there are no options for restaurants like Topolinos, Be Our Guest, Hollywood and Vine, and Garden Grill.

I know that when our dates open up we will have the option to book out for our whole trip but I would like to know if you all have been able to get reservations that were outside of that 60 day window (because you were staying on property and had the option to book for your trip - 10 days out from the 60 day mark). I just want some reassurance that others are able to get reservations, mostly for the character meals.

We are taking our three year old, so it would be awesome to get at least one reservation for a character meal. I know for previous trips (that we have had to cancel because of the pandemic - one in May 2020 and the other February 2021) we were able to get the reservations we wanted because we had that buffer of the 60 days plus ten, because we were staying on property.

The only one we really want is Topolinos, the others would be a plus! At this point, we are excited to be going to Disney.

Also, any tips for booking dining reservations during this crazy time are welcome and appreciated.

 

[ElizabethG]

I was able to get all of the reservations I wanted - within about 15 minutes of the time I wanted.
I got Topolino’s, Garden Grill, BOG, Beaches & Cream, Oga’s Cantina, and more.

 

[Shibafam2011]

I was able to get all of the reservations I wanted - within about 15 minutes of the time I wanted.
I got Topolino’s, Garden Grill, BOG, Beaches & Cream, Oga’s Cantina, and more.

That is so great!! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Disturbia]

I wasn’t able to get any of the reservations I wanted for the first 4 days of our June trip (Oga’s only on the 7th checkout day which we want to change to Epcot (more relaxed paced; kept an extra day of HS park reservation)). This was shocking as I was easily able to get reservations back in Nov. MK is our 2nd and 5th day and I couldn’t get BOG for our entire party (only partial on 5th day). Summer seems to be more crowded (people are booking 5 night trips) and park reservations are full for HS and MK. If you plan a longer trip you can get things later in the trip. I was only able to get Topolinos dinner at 9:15 pm after constantly checking.

I think Disney is extending hours and then opening dining which is complicating things even further. Hopefully they get hours figured out before your trip and don’t make people jump through hoops.

 

[WishesQueen]

I was able to get all of the reservations I wanted - within about 15 minutes of the time I wanted.
I got Topolino’s, Garden Grill, BOG, Beaches & Cream, Oga’s Cantina, and more.

We're arriving June 6th and I also got everything I wanted with the exact times. I hope they come through for you, try touring plans. You can set up two reservations for it to search. Good luck

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

My suggestion is to make the hardest to get reservations as late in your trip as possible. This will increase your chances of getting them at the time you want. But if you're online at 6am EST right when your window opens you should be able to get a lot of good reservations and anything you can't get, just keep checking as availability changes often.

 

[Disturbia]

I checked starting at 5:45 EST (I logged in 30 mins before and was checking using multiple devices). I think it’s because we are a larger group of 5. If you’re a party of 4 or less I think you have a good chance of getting your reservations, but it might be at a different hour.

I did not get a reservation at any time for dinner even for a party of 4 for BOG for the second day of our trip. I could not get Oga’s until the 7th day (DH wants to do Epcot on checkout day so we will probably not get to do this). I did see reservations for smaller parties of 1 or 2 on the 4th day and beyond. I got Topolinos for 4 but was able to change it to 5 after stalking for 2 days but its at 9:15 pm. I tried booking 4 and modifying reservations (was able to change Topolinos but not BOG to 5 ppl 5th day). I am checking in the same day as WishesQueen.

 

[Disturbia]

Also, my credit card info doesn’t get stored on my profile and IT (open ticket for 3 years; among others issues) was never able to fix that. Sometimes that info does appear on the app so I have to waste a few seconds refreshing and filtering info on the app or getting my phone to scan my credit card.