Hiya Bethany,
Welcome to planDisney! Were you as excited as I that
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has reopened?! I’m not a big coaster girl, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Big Thunder Mountain, so I was super excited to see that it has been refurbished so that more Mouseketeers can fall in love with it (especially now that the height requirement has been lowered).
Great question, by the way, Bethany. I’ve certainly been in this position before, where my itinerary has some potential roadblocks. During one of my visits, I had a reservation at
Tusker House and a Lightning Lane for
Kilimanjaro Safaris beforehand. Due to the magical unpredictability of the animals in the Savanna, I ended up running 10 minutes late to my reservation at Tusker House and was in a full panic. Historically, Cast Members have accommodated late check-ins for reservations (generally up to 10 minutes), in my experience, but there are no guarantees, and I learned that during this reservation. Unfortunately, Cast Members were unable to seat my party, and we had to wait 30 minutes for a table to open up for us to be seated. Depending on how busy
Chef Mickey’s is, you might have a similar scenario happen for you. Taking a look at your Lightning Lane time for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and your dining reservation for Chef Mickey’s, you are right, that is an extremely tight window, and the chances that you will be a little late to your reservation are high. If you get on Big Thunder Mountain at exactly 4:35 pm, you would, in a perfect world, be off around 4:40 pm. Then it should take about 10 minutes to reach the front of Magic Kingdom Park, which would put you at around 4:50 pm. Then the walk to the Contemporary Resort is likely an added 10 minutes, in my experience, so that would get you there right at 5:00 pm and up to Chef Mickey’s a little after that. It would certainly be tight, but that is only if you hustle and are on the attraction as soon as your window opens. If it were me, Bethany, I would see about shifting either the lightning lane or the dining reservation, so that you don’t feel like you have to rush, and you aren’t constantly staring at your watch.
I hope this was helpful, Bethany. If you haven’t been able to move your dining reservation, don’t worry. Guests' plans are always changing, and I have found that even on the day of, there's a little bit of movement with reservations. Check your
My Disney Experience mobile app about 3-4 hours prior to your dining reservation. Since Guests can cancel without penalty up to 2 hours prior, there are often many cancellations in that window. Even an extra 10-20 minutes would make your evening much less rushed. If you need anything else, please come back and see us.
Happy Planning,
Ashley F.