Hi Carol, welcome to planDisney!
Memories of Walt Disney World Resort vacations last a lifetime. Many of my most vivid Disney memories took place around a character dining table. My kids will never forget my husband doing the Hot Dog Dance alongside Goofy at
Tusker House Restaurant in Disney's Animal Kingdom park. I will never forget introducing my four-month-old to the character that inspired the theming of his nursery - Winnie the Pooh at The Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom park (character dining not currently available).
From a practical standpoint, character dining experiences are an efficient way to get quality character interactions, hugs, and autographs. As such, they are extremely popular and can be challenging to secure. I will try my hardest to share my best tips and tricks for creating your own character dining memories.
Advance dining reservations can be made online up to 60 days in advance. Guests staying at a
Disney Resorts Collection hotel may reserve for their entire stay, up to 10 days, 60 days in advance of their check-in day. Other Guests may make reservations as each day reaches the 60-day mark. Exactly 60 days in advance, I recommend being online and logged into your My Disney Experience account by 5:55 a.m. Be on the webpage of your desired restaurant (
Chef Mickey's, for example) and click "Check Availability" as soon as the clock strikes 6:00 a.m. Scroll quickly to your desired calendar date, then choose a meal as opposed to a specific time. The meal names appear at the top of the drop-down menu and you increase your chance of finding a reservation if your timing is somewhat flexible. Select your party size and click "Search Times." You'll go through the steps of securing your dining reservation faster if you leave the members of your dining party as generic "Guest 2," "Guest 3," etc. as opposed to taking the time to assign each Guest to a member of your
Family and Friends list. There will be plenty of time to do this later. It's also beneficial to have a credit or debit card stored as a
payment method in My Disney Experience in advance. This saves you from having to enter your credit card number and billing address manually. Saving time is especially important when you are making more than one advance dining reservation at a time.
If you happen to be staying at a Disney Resort hotel, my next tip is to plan any character dining experiences for the end of your trip. This increases the likelihood of availability since a more limited number of Guests are able to make advance dining reservations over 60 days in advance.
If you are unable to secure a character dining reservation on your first try, all is not lost. Dining reservation availability changes in real-time daily as Guests reimage their itineraries. In the past, I've had luck securing character dining reservations just days before arrival. For an upcoming trip, I was unable to find a breakfast reservation for my party of six at
Topolino's Terrace - Flavors of the Riviera, so my plan is to keep checking and, if need be, join the
mobile dine walk-up list in the
My Disney Experience mobile app on the day I'd like to dine there.
Plan magic; planDisney.
Jennifer