We were able to secure reservations at the most exclusive restaurants in Disney World, and we are going to share how you can do this too!
There are many perks to staying on Disney property while on a Disney vacation. You get early park entry, free Disney transportation to the parks, but one of the biggest benefits is the ability to pre-book your dining reservations. Normally, Disney reservation calendars open 60 days in advance. So at the time of me writing this post, on February 5th, Disney dining reservations are open for booking up until April 5th. So for all the days in between, you can check the dining availability of these restaurants and reserve a time slot. But, Disney resort guests have the special privilege of booking dining reservations an additional 10 days out. So instead of only seeing dining availability from February 5th to April 5th, you can see an additional 10 days past that; something that comes in handy!
Some of the hardest reservations to get in Disney World include Space 220 in EPCOT, California Grill in the Contemporary, and Ohana in the Polynesian. Lucky for you, we have a foolproof method to help you get every Disney dining reservation you want, especially those hard to get ones!
By the way – this method is more catered to Disney vacationers who are staying on property, however if you are staying off property, no worries! Take the steps that I will share with you below, and repeat them for every day during your Disney trip that you want to book reservations for!
HOW TO MAKE RESERVATIONS
Here is our Magical Michas How To, on securing those hard to get dining reservations. No matter the caliber of difficulty in securing a reservation at a restaurant, we always recommend that you wake up early on that exact 60 day mark from your Disney vacation to schedule your dining reservations. You do not want to be a week out from your trip and not have any sit-down dining experiences to enjoy!
The Early Bird Gets the Worm
Now, you may not like this, but the saying is true. We suggest waking up between 5:30 and 5:45 so that you can pour a hot cup of coffee, slide on your Mickey ears for good luck, and prep your device(s) for reservation time. Reservations open at 6:00 AM EST, so you want to be alert beforehand!
Prep Your Devices
Last time we booked dining reservations, Magical Mom and I worked together on two separate devices. Her phone and my laptop were both logged into her account to schedule reservations, but I can’t say I entirely recommend this method. In the end, I was the only one booking the reservations since Magical Mom’s phone was taking too long to process to the next screen. My suggestion: have two people, and one device. A little moral support goes a long way! I found that using a computer was much easier than the phone, as I was a faster typer on the computer keyboard. If this sound like you, I highly suggest using a computer!
Don’t Log In Yet
Before the 6:00 am EST mark, open up the Walt Disney World website, and make sure that you are logged out of your MyDisney account. If you are logged in, it will affect the responsiveness of the website come reservation time. We recommend having the WDW website open in multiple tabs; one for every restaurant you are hoping to make a reservation for plus one extra one to account for any unaccounted for hiccups. For each tab, enter the name of the restaurant into the search bar and click it when it pops up. The restaurant will now pop up on the page, and there is a big “Check Availability” box that will be on the screen. This is the button you will hit at 6:00 am. This is where the website will prompt you to enter your login information, before opening the reservation window.
To save even a few more seconds before reservation time, make sure your MyDisney account login is saved on whatever device you are using. If you can quickly confirm your login using facial or finger recognition, then you’re golden! If you have to manually login, we suggest copying your email address so you can quickly paste it into the box. Unfortunately you cannot copy and paste passwords, but being able to paste the email will save you a few seconds. In order to copy your email, you need to type it out somewhere on your computer, whether in a new tab, your notes app, etc. Then highlight it by double clicking your mouse over it. Next you need to copy it. If you have an Apple computer, you hit Command + C keys at the same time. If you have any other computer model, you hit Ctrl + C. The email will be effectively copied to your clipboard. If you want to double check that it worked, you can hit Command + V or Ctrl + V and see if it pastes. If the email does not reappear, repeat the steps above, and try again.
Use That World Clock
Here at Magical Michas, we love utilizing this World Clock website with seconds for all our Disney needs! If you have read some of our other blog posts, you know how much we utilize the website world clock for everything from getting a virtual queue for rides like Tron and Cosmic Rewind, to securing hard to get Disney reservations. Set up a separate device that has the clock down to the seconds, and make sure that it is set to Eastern Standard Time Zone. When it comes to Disney, you need to be punctual! Make sure that you do not log in to your MyDisney account until the clock hits exactly 6:00 am EST. Anything sooner, you jeopardize losing everything.
Create a Schedule
Our final suggestion for preparing yourself before making your reservations is knowing what days and times you want each reservation. While it may seem obvious, it really helps to have a solid plan going in so that you are not aimlessly hitting random days during your stay trying to find an open reservation.
It’s Go Time!
As 6:00 approaches, stretch those fingers, and feel the magic because it is time to get those reservations!
When that world clock hits 6:00 am EST, log in to your MyDisney account, and book away! Once you initially sign in to the tab at the first restaurant, you will not have to do so again.
The last time we booked reservations the only restaurant that popped up having availability was, surprisingly, Space 220. We tried all the other restaurants that we wanted to get reservations for, including some less exclusive restaurants like Raglan Road and we were met with zero reservations every time. Feeling defeated, we weren’t sure what to do. However, utilizing the MyDisney Experience tab, at the far right of the WDW website bar, we found dozens of reservations. When you hover over that tab, one of the selections is “Reserve Dining.” Under this tab, we found a reservation for every, single, restaurant that we wanted. Without waking up as early as we did, I don’t think we would have gotten all these reservations. By the end of the morning we had one Space 220 reservations, two California Grill, two Narcoossees, one Ohana, one Raglan Road, and one Hollywood Brown Derby!
Our Final Tips to You
Don’t be afraid to stack reservations. Meaning, if you want to schedule two dinner reservations every day of your stay at five different restaurants, go for it! You can always cancel the reservation, free of charge afterwards. Amidst all the chaos in the beginning, it helps that Disney will let you book multiple reservations for similar times as long as they are more than 40 minutes apart. Finally, utilize the filter options on the dining reservation tab. Not only can you limit your search to a specific area in WDW, you can also filter your search to only show specific meal times!