Dinner Plan for Large Group

[mikemasco]

Going to Disney with 8 adults and 10 kids (ages 16-20).

what do you recommend when making reservations at Disney Restaurants?

Thanks

 

[jlstwinmommy]

I'm the planner for my group which ranges from 11-16 people depending on the trip. I have one other person from my party login on my dining day and we break up our reservations since it's hard to get large tables in a lot of places. So I might make a rezy for 6 at one place while my sister makes another one for another 6 at the same place and maybe my mom will make one for 4 all all at the same time. We are usually on a conference call deciding which restaurant to go for first and we all grab reservations at the same time so we can at least get times near each other. Usually we are able to grab reservations within 5-15 minutes of each other.

 

[mikemasco]

Thank you

 

[patty57]

You could also look on Open Table. Il Mulino at the Swan is there. Maybe other restaurants at the Swan/Dolphin, and at Disney Springs. You was able to make a reservation for 10 at Il Mulino in December.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I was planning for a group of 9 and a lot of the restaurants at Springs have a limit on how many you can book online using Open Table. 8 for Jaleo and Raglan, 6 for Wine Bar George. On the WDW site there is often difficulty making reservations for a party of more than 6. For a party of 18 you will either have to make some phone calls, or have multiple people book multiple tables at similar times and hope they can merge you or seat you near each other.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

For a lot of restaurants you are going to have to do one or both of the following:

1) Split the reservation into 4 and 4

2) eat at off times

A good amount of restaurants-particularly at hotels and Disney springs in my experience-are easy to get you all together (Homecomin is a great example of this).

you also would probably be better calling. Have everything open online, get what you can first. And then at around 7:30 am start the call.
You also will have to keep trying. It took until a month before (this was back with the 180 days rule-I liked 60 but 90 would be a good amount of time) for me to get 8 people for BoG dinner. Thankfully we were all adults and didn’t mind the 8:30 pm time.

The biggest thing is to keep trying.

For me, the restaurants it was easiest to get for 8 people right away were:
Homecomin (DS)
Via Napoli (EPCOT)
Le Hacienda de San Angel (EPCOT)


the hardest were:
Be Our Guest (MK)
Anywhere in DHS
(We haven’t eaten a lot of places in AK and last ate at Tusker house way back in the start of this new millennium so my apologies.)

 

[MIinNJ]

I was planning for a group of 9 and a lot of the restaurants at Springs have a limit on how many you can book online using Open Table. 8 for Jaleo and Raglan, 6 for Wine Bar George. On the WDW site there is often difficulty making reservations for a party of more than 6. For a party of 18 you will either have to make some phone calls, or have multiple people book multiple tables at similar times and hope they can merge you or seat you near each other.

Interesting, I have never had much issue making reservations for 7 on the Disney site (including tough to get places). There was another thread where someone was talking about booking for 10 and I checked for times during our upcoming March trip and was able to see some openings for a party that size. Have you had problems with a party of 9?

ETA: for our upcoming trip, we have dinner for 7 at Sanaa, Jiko, Citricos, Morimoto, and Le Cellier.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I have STK for 9, an extra 2 were added and we are within a month so it may not be that easy. But the OP with a party of 18 is going to have some issues booking online.

 

[MIinNJ]

I have STK for 9, an extra 2 were added and we are within a month so it may not be that easy. But the OP with a party of 18 is going to have some issues booking online.

Indeed, 18 is beyond my area of expertise!

 

[Her Dotness]

Since you say "restaurants" and "reservations" suggesting more than one--My question would be are you sure all these people are going to enjoy the same restaurant? Or enjoy eating at about the same time with everybody more than once, maybe twice?

I could envision the younger folks wanting to spin off in small groups more than might have occurred to you.

Reason I say that is we took our two nephews to WDW when they were 15 and 16. We saw them mostly only asleep after we said they could go to then-Downtown Disney on their own if they'd rather.