***Official January 2026 Thread***

[CoachBeard]

All of our 60 day booking windows are opening soon!

I'm doing a split stay so I get to do it twice!

 

[Drewsdad]

 

[Artygal90]

Add me to the list! I booked a one-night stay at the Doubletree in Disney Springs on January 15th and am planning one solo day at Epcot for the first day of Festival of the Arts. This will be my first solo Disney trip and I am SO excited!

 

[CoachBeard]

I’m in “overwhelmed with dining possibilities” right now since half of my trip window opened. I’m just making a ton and I’ll end up canceling most them likely. But it’s fun to do it and plan and move things around. Adds to the trip experience for me I guess. The “thrill of the hunt”.

Couldn’t get rose and crown fireworks dinner unfortunately.

 

[pixiedust2u]

I’m in “overwhelmed with dining possibilities” right now since half of my trip window opened. I’m just making a ton and I’ll end up canceling most them likely. But it’s fun to do it and plan and move things around. Adds to the trip experience for me I guess. The “thrill of the hunt”.

Couldn’t get rose and crown fireworks dinner unfortunately.

I’ve had great luck with mouse dining site. You can set an alert and they will email you if it comes available, if you pay extra they will also text. Good luck!

 

[ak517]

To anyone who has traveled at this time of year before - thoughts on the difficulty of getting a specific dining reservation.

When we went last February, early in the month, we booked nothing in advance. It was intentionally a very non-structured trip with just the 2 of us. We ended up eating pretty much anywhere we wanted, which included our favorites Tutto Italia, Trattoria al Forno, and Cape May Cafe. Last trip, and this trip, are both during the Festival of the Arts, and we loved eating food there, and hope to do so again. Also, we don't consider the food the biggest draw to WDW. With a few exceptions, we're easily pleased with just about wherever we dine.

However, this trip, we are a total of 8 - including a toddler and a pre-schooler, so I know that most things will be more complicated. I'm still leaning towards no real set-in-stone must-do reserved dinners, except for one meal.

My 4-year-old granddaughter wants to dine with some princesses, so we're going to do Akershus Royal Banquet Hall for breakfast. I understand that breakfast there is more popular than lunch or dinner, so I'm curious if anyone has any first-hand knowledge of booking there. I'm hoping that if I get on it at exactly the 60-day mark, I'll be ok.

Anyone have any words of wisdom, or words of encouragement, or words of discouragement? Any words at all. LOL

We like to have one lunch booked per day on our trips with our toddler to have a little reset. I try to schedule lunch on the earlier side so we can get him to rest either in the stroller or back at the resort. By the end of the day we’re likely to be exhausted and the meals just aren’t as enjoyable, but that’s just what we’ve found works best for our family.

 

[Suze10860]

Well, I was able to book our character breakfast for 8 at Akershus Banquet Hall in Epcot for very late in the morning on our first full day there. Which is exactly what we wanted.

My thought process: Even though Epcot is our favorite park, I'm thinking the littles will probably fall in love with the Magic Kingdom, so I don't want to hit that up very first thing.

We can walk to Epcot as early as we like that first morning, see what we can accomplish (Remy and Frozen are high on our list!) then be at Akershus for our 11:30 a.m. reservation. We want the breakfast food, but not the early breakfast time, so this is perfect.

 

[NikkiDP]

We will be at The Poly the 23rd-30th! Did dining this morning and got everything we wanted! Hoping to adjust BBB reservation to a bit earlier in the day, but it will be our first time going so I'm just happy to have a spot!

 

[liquid17]

Made my dining reservations this morning - quite successful!!!

Now to decide if/when we want some Fast Passes. Hate paying for them but I'm glad that we can choose some in advance again. I remember running through the parks getting FPs fondly...but I am legit too old for that these days

 

[peachiepie]

Ah, free fast passes, those were the days!

 

[ak517]

I was watching Mammoth Club videos on LLs over the weekend -- it's only been 10 months since our last trip but I was still flabbergasted by how expensive they are! And it seems like all the tools I'd use to strategize my selections are now defunct. Stumped at what to pick for a party of three adults, a toddler, and an infant to minimize our time in line.

 

[CoachBeard]

I may get LL for a few days but I have no idea how to pre plan and pick the rides and all that. Plus, I never know how I’m going to feel until the day of. I may not want to go to the park I planned for that day.

 

[pixiedust2u]

I may get LL for a few days but I have no idea how to pre plan and pick the rides and all that. Plus, I never know how I’m going to feel until the day of. I may not want to go to the park I planned for that day.

There is a modify option, so you can always modify your selections day of to different times/ or different rides.

I’m not sure how Disney would handle moving a MP from one day to another. I’d call or open chat and ask them their policy. You can buy MP day of, but then you lose benefit of better accessibility for your tier 1 rides and in demand times vs if you do it 7+ days ahead.

 

[CoachBeard]

There is a modify option, so you can always modify your selections day of to different times/ or different rides.

I’m not sure how Disney would handle moving a MP from one day to another. I’d call or open chat and ask them their policy. You can buy MP day of, but then you lose benefit of better accessibility for your tier 1 rides and in demand times vs if you do it 7+ days ahead.

Thanks. I’m going watch a few videos and see if I can comprehend it. I am there for 10 park days so I think I’ll only purchase LL for a few of those. Luckily, going solo I can take advantage of single rider lines on a couple of my favs like Test Track and Remy’s.

 

[Suze10860]

Pretty sure that the above mentioned 11:30 a.m. breakfast for 8 at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall will be the only reservation we'll be making in advance. At this point, I'm all about playing it by ear and deciding what we want to do once we're there.

I know it's not the way most people feel, but I find it more stressful to make these decisions 60 days in advance, rather than take the chance that we'll be more limited in our choices while there. With our grands being 2 and 4, they don't have that much on their "to do" lists, so I don't have to worry about disappointing them. Even the breakfast idea only became a thing when our daughter asked her 4-year old if she wanted to eat a meal with princesses or Mickey and Minnie! Otherwise, she wouldn't have a clue.

As far as paying for the privilege of not standing in lines, that's going to be a hard pass too. For some reason I can justify the amount of money it costs to treat our daughter, her husband, and their kids to 6 nights at a Deluxe resort, but spending that extra money for Lightening Lanes is a nonstarter for me. I guess we all have our lines in the sand. LOL

 

[ralphie]

Hi, we're in Pop l/12 to 18, then 18 at Movies, and last in 19/24 Carib. We're winging the meals - we haven't had any trouble booking when we check in.

 

[pixiedust2u]

Thanks. I’m going watch a few videos and see if I can comprehend it. I am there for 10 park days so I think I’ll only purchase LL for a few of those. Luckily, going solo I can take advantage of single rider lines on a couple of my favs like Test Track and Remy’s.

Maybe consider for it toward the end of your trip, so you can see how it’s going using standby and single rider, and if there’s anything you really wanted to do and missed, you could buy a MP.

Each park has 1-2 “fancy rides”, not included in multi pass. That you purchase separately, if you aren’t going at an especially busy time they are often available day before or even day of. So those are easier to play day by day.

Mammoth club has a really good video on YouTube that goes over multipass system. If you have any specific questions feel free to DM me.