Help! Restaurant reservations

[Jodi1410]

Hello all, I have been lurking trying to get information for my families very first trip to Disney World. We are a family of four with a 6 and 9 year old. I am coming close to my 60 day window and I think I have many hard to get reservations. I would love any tips or rankings on how I should request my desired reservations.
Ohana (dinner)
BOG (dinner)
Sci Fi
Whispering Canyon
TRex
Chef Mickeys (breakfast)
Space 220 (if it opens by early Oct)

 

[Rick195275]

So to me it would kind of depend which days I was planning to do which restaurant, obviously it’s easier to get be our guest on say day 8 than day 3 kind of thing. With the information given I would go 1 sci fi, 2 be our guest, 3 ohana and 4 chef mickeys. Honestly think 2-4 is interchangeable as they are all difficult and would probably rearrange them based on which day they were in my trip. Sci-fi would probably be my number 1 no matter what day. It seems to be the hardest one to get recently, reservation finders and stalking did not help us for our April trip this year.

 

[Meglen]

Hello all, I have been lurking trying to get information for my families very first trip to Disney World. We are a family of four with a 6 and 9 year old. I am coming close to my 60 day window and I think I have many hard to get reservations. I would love any tips or rankings on how I should request my desired reservations.
Ohana (dinner)
BOG (dinner)
Sci Fi
Whispering Canyon
TRex
Chef Mickeys (breakfast)
Space 220 (if it opens by early Oct)

What are your park days looking like? I have made dinner reservations and by the time we're done with the park I was in no mood to travel to a different resort to eat.

 

[Jodi1410]

What are your park days looking like? I have made dinner reservations and by the time we're done with the park I was in no mood to travel to a different resort to eat.

Hello
We will be there the first week in October and staying at WL. The day I want to do ohana is a rest day. I also have park hoppers but I am not sure if I will keep those or just stick to one park a day.

 

[Rick195275]

Hello
We will be there the first week in October and staying at WL. The day I want to do ohana is a rest day. I also have park hoppers but I am not sure if I will keep those or just stick to one park a day.

Ooof we will be there the start of that week and I’ll wish you luck now. Most every hotel, if they aren’t all there now, will be at capacity. It’s going to be extremely competitive to get any reservations that week, especially some you requested. Definitely prioritize whatever is your must do and try to put it towards the end of your trip. The later it is the better your chance of getting it. If you haven’t found the site touring plans go check it out. They have a free reservation finder, they send you a text if a reservation becomes available. But again it’s going to be extremely competitive for that time!

 

[Meglen]

Hello
We will be there the first week in October and staying at WL. The day I want to do ohana is a rest day. I also have park hoppers but I am not sure if I will keep those or just stick to one park a day.

Yea I feel like lowering expectations and picking 2-3 must do and focus on that. My family will be there the week after you and I am not even bothering with ADRs this trip. We are going to do walk up(app) or quick service most days. If space 220 opens that is the only ADR I will bend over backwards for and move a park day if needed.

 

[Eastern]

Ohana (dinner) ---hard to get, prioritize
BOG (dinner) ---hard to get, prioritize
Sci Fi ---hard to get, prioritize
Whispering Canyon
TRex
Chef Mickeys (breakfast) ---hard to get, prioritize
Space 220 (if it opens by early Oct) I am sure that will be impossible to get


Out of those listed, 'Ohana, BOG, and Chef Mickey's will be the hardest to get. I would decide which is the most important and try for that first. If you can't get dinners I would try for lunch at those that offer it.

 

[Eastern]

Yea I feel like lowering expectations and picking 2-3 must do and focus on that. My family will be there the week after you and I am not even bothering with ADRs this trip. We are going to do walk up(app) or quick service most days. If space 220 opens that is the only ADR I will bend over backwards for and move a park day if needed.

I would book a few just in case you change your mind.

 

[Meglen]

I would book a few just in case you change your mind.

We might just nothing we would be upset if we don't get. Times will be crazy I just don't wanna be stuck in a park that got overwhelming due to 50th crowds due to a ADR. If we wanna go back to resort for a break and such. Staying at AKL so Sanaa and boma if it opens is on my radar.

 

[WhitneyMB]

So to me it would kind of depend which days I was planning to do which restaurant, obviously it’s easier to get be our guest on say day 8 than day 3 kind of thing. With the information given I would go 1 sci fi, 2 be our guest, 3 ohana and 4 chef mickeys. Honestly think 2-4 is interchangeable as they are all difficult and would probably rearrange them based on which day they were in my trip. Sci-fi would probably be my number 1 no matter what day. It seems to be the hardest one to get recently, reservation finders and stalking did not help us for our April trip this year.

Completely agree with this above statement. SciFi is almost always the hardest to get. You have other really difficult ones on here too. Every family has different dining styles. When my children were this age, we did the 3 sit down restaurants a day, because our kids were used to eating out and we found the time spent sitting in air-conditioned sit-down restaurants to be some of the most relaxing of the trip. It's really up to your family style. But if you want to do sit-down restaurants, don't let other people's touring styles talk you out of it. We still do a table-service in the park each day, take a rest/swim in the afternoons, and then do a table service at a close resort or the park we're heading back to. If Disney transportation resort-to-resort will be too much or a pain, we just uber/lyft.

I agree with the rest that you might not be able to get all of these reservations. Don't worry if this is the case, as there are lots of good restaurants at Disney that (even right now) don't book quite as fast. I would have add back-up restaurants on your list too.

 

[yorkieteacher]

Can only speak from my experience, but Sci Fi was the hardest for me to get-we were able to modify BOG twice which means there was more availability there. I would try lunch rather than dinner inside the park I was in that day. We loved the midday break rom the crowds and heat without having to do mobile ordering and sit outside, even under shaded tables.

 

[piccolopat]

I agree that Sci Fi should be your first priority unless Space220 opens up. With the age of your kids, I think I would go for Chef Mickeys next. I think the reviews have been very mixed and the price high for BOG and so that would be lower on my list. You won't need a reservation for TRex if you sign up for their Landry's card.

I also saw that you mentioned that you have park hoppers but you might just do one park a day. Unless things changed, I don't believe you can downgrade to non-hopper passes once you buy them. Since you've already paid for them you would be out that money if you don't hop.