Dining Reservations

[Shannon R]

Dining for our trip opens this Monday so I was curious about a few things.. What is the earliest time I can start making reservations that day? And second, what is everyones favorite way to make dining reservations, online or through phone?? Just trying to figure out if I am going to call or use the website!

 

[LBlovesM&WDW]

You can start at 6 am online and 7am on the phone. I always start online and then call if I have to.

 

[megster1123]

My husband and I both got up early on our ADR day, made some coffee and fired away using the website 6am. We each had a list prioritized by how difficult we thought the ADR would be. After a few minutes of the website being super glitchy, we got rolling and ended up getting everything we wanted. California Grill dinner, H&V PPO breakfast, SciFi dinner, Chef Mickey breakfast, BOG dinner, PPO CRT breakfast, Crystal Palace dinner, PPO Akershus breakfast, Biergarten dinner and PPO Garden Grill breakfast. Granted, I've changed our itinerary a couple of times since then and moved some ADRs around, but I think we were super successful using the divide & conquer by priority method!

 

[heywagners]

I like the website or app much better than calling. I've only had to call once, and that wasn't on my 180 day, just later when I had to add someone to a reservation.

As others have said, 6 am EST online and 7 am EST on the phone. Good luck!

 

[kevgraub]

Dining for our trip opens this Monday so I was curious about a few things.. What is the earliest time I can start making reservations that day? And second, what is everyones favorite way to make dining reservations, online or through phone?? Just trying to figure out if I am going to call or use the website!

No question I prefer online. Not only do you get an hour jump on people calling in, but you can move along much quicker without having to talk to someone on the phone.

 

[megster1123]

Also, tinker around with the website prior to that morning so you're familiar with the process. We also bookmarked the direct link to each of the restaurants we were going to looking for so we wouldn't have to scroll through that massive list each time. This saved time as well. Even little things like having my contact info autofill into the required field saved a few second each time. And (from what I've heard at least?) sometimes a matter of seconds can make the difference.

If all else fails and you miss an ADR or change your mind, set up a reservation finder alert at touringplans.com (it's free.) I changed my mind on one of mine and the alert (took couple of days patiently waiting...) found one for me

 

[jeepwreck]

I always try to do it online

that way I have multiple windows open with menus so I can compare stuff

 

[ariane37]

I also always do it online; quicker than calling and I can see for myself what times are available if my first choice time isn't.

 

[Shannon R]

Thanks so much everyone! Looks like Im setting the alarm for 5:50 so I can get everything going online at 6! Im thinking Im going to set up a command center on my kitchen table with my iMac, 2 laptops and children's tablets, then maybe I can get every reservation I want for the week in one swoop

 

[Parker Clan]

I would prefer to do it online but this year I had to call Disney Dining to do it all for me.. The website completely crashed!

 

[Shannon R]

I would prefer to do it online but this year I had to call Disney Dining to do it all for me.. The website completely crashed!

That will probably be my luck too!

 

[megster1123]

If you're able to have two different accounts logged in, that could help you as well too. My husband has his own MDE account and for the first few minutes after 6am he could only see the first day of our trip, not the +10. If he had been the only one working we would have lost a lot of time. After refreshing a couple of times and logging out and back in the rest of the dates popped up for him. I already had by PPO CRT by then though and had moved on to the next on my list. So those first few minutes can make a difference!

 

[Princess Minnie321]

Enter your credit card information into your Disney account in advance. I got on my computer right at 6am and it took me about 1/2 hour.

I wanted 'Ohana for my first night and it was booked, but I was able to secure it later in the week. Other then my first day not having much availability, I got every reservation I wanted. I had the harder reservations (BOG and Akershus) planned for later in the week and was able to get the exact times I wanted.

 

[heywagners]

Be careful with multiple devices. I got confused with which one I was booking! Once I stopped and only used one device, it went faster and I got everything. Good luck!

 

[Dizzydisney2016]

6AM is the earliest online which is your best bet. I just did mine this past Monday, website gave me a few issues but it worked out! Good luck!

 

[Parker Clan]

That will probably be my luck too!

I hope not... Fingers crossed!

 

[Simba001]

My husband and I both got up early on our ADR day, made some coffee and fired away using the website 6am. We each had a list prioritized by how difficult we thought the ADR would be. After a few minutes of the website being super glitchy, we got rolling and ended up getting everything we wanted. California Grill dinner, H&V PPO breakfast, SciFi dinner, Chef Mickey breakfast, BOG dinner, PPO CRT breakfast, Crystal Palace dinner, PPO Akershus breakfast, Biergarten dinner and PPO Garden Grill breakfast. Granted, I've changed our itinerary a couple of times since then and moved some ADRs around, but I think we were super successful using the divide & conquer by priority method!

Being on the west coast, I don't think I can talk DH into getting up with me and being on the computer @ 3AM.... Hoping for pixie dust to help with my ADRs...... couple more days to go until 180!

 

[Disney_Alli]

This is where working overnights helped me. My ADR time is 4am but since I usually work 6pm to 6am being up at 4am to make reservations is easy since I'm up that late almost every day at home.

 

[Shannon R]

Well I got all of my reservations, except 1.. The Grand Floridian Cafe. I suppose I underestimated how popular it was, because I booked 2 reservations within 3 minutes, went to get GF and it was all gone for dinner for my entire week! I set up an alert with touring plans so maybe I can swap it out eventually!

 

[megster1123]

Well I got all of my reservations, except 1.. The Grand Floridian Cafe. I suppose I underestimated how popular it was, because I booked 2 reservations within 3 minutes, went to get GF and it was all gone for dinner for my entire week! I set up an alert with touring plans so maybe I can swap it out eventually!

Great job!
The touring plans alert worked like a charm for the first ones I put in there. Only took maybe a day or two and I got exactly what I wanted. Just keep trying and something will (hopefully!) open up