Tierra,
Thanks for asking your question to planDisney!
Dining reservations can be made by anyone up to 60 days in advance of the day you plan to dine. If you happen to be staying at a
Disney Resort Hotel, you can make reservations for up to 10 days of your vacation, meaning you could be booking some meals as far in advance as 70 days out.
How that works is this. Let's say you were going to check into your hotel on October 1 of next year and you were staying through until October 10. Because you can start making reservations 60 days out, you can make reservations starting on August 2nd. For those guests not staying at a Disney resort hotel, on August 2nd they can only make reservations for meals on October 1st. They will have to check in again the next day for meals on the next day of their vacation, and so on. But since you are staying at a Disney resort hotel, you can go ahead and make reservations for every day of your trip. So, the reservations you make for your final day on October 10th would be like booking almost 70 days out!
BONUS TIP #1You can typically begin booking your dining online starting at around 6 am, East Coast, Orlando time. Some friends have reported the window to reserve opening at 5:45 am, but for me, it was closer to 6 when I did this a few weeks ago.
BONUS TIP #2When you are planning out your schedule, putting those harder-to-secure meals later in your vacation schedule will help.
Why? Well, for people who booked ahead of you, because their trip dates are before yours, they likely have snatched up more of the available reservations. But they have not gone in and taken the dates at the end of your trip since they will have already ended their vacation. So, getting those hard-to-get reservations at the end of your trip will be easier.
EXAMPLE: In our example, you are visiting from October 1st to the 10th. People who were going from September 27th through October 3rd have probably booked the popular reservations for the dates of their trip, including those earliest dates of your trip through the 3rd. But there would not be as many guests that booked meals for dates from the 4th through the 10th. So, if you don’t see spots early in your week, don’t lose heart and swing to dates later in your trip!
Please feel free to
write me back directly if you have any follow-up questions. I love to chat about dining suggestions!
Have a Magical (and delicious) Vacation!Doug