Hi Joanne! Welcome to planDisney! It's great to have you stop by!
Oh boy! A Walt Disney World holiday is on the horizon! Only a few more months until you arrive onsite to spend time with Mickey, Minnie, and the rest of the crew! With countless resort accommodations to choose from, staying at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando hotel is one of your best options. This hotel is considered an
Official Walt Disney World Hotel, which comes equipped with some special perks.
One of the biggest perks is being able to
make dining reservations 60 days in advance of your stay, including up to 10 days thereafter. (If your trip is longer than 10 days, you'll need to make dining reservations each day at the 60-day mark for the extra days.) Being able to make reservations for this amount of time gives you an advantage over other Guests staying in offsite hotels. You'll be able to secure some of the harder-to-get dining reservations during your holiday.
In order for your
My Disney Experience account to recognize this perk, you'll need to link your hotel reservation to your account. Depending on how you booked your stay, you should have received a confirmation number during the booking process. To link your resort, log on to your My Disney Experience account and click "Resort Hotel" followed by "Link Reservation". Once here, enter your confirmation number along with the last name on the reservation. If for some reason this is unsuccessful, you may need to call the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to retrieve the proper confirmation code to link to your My Disney Experience. The Waldorf may have an internal confirmation code when booking that does not coincide with the one required for your Disney account. Now that your hotel is linked to your account, starting at 6 AM EST at 60 days out, you can start making dining reservations for your holiday! Remember to go after the hard-to-get reservations first, since they will not be guaranteed to be there for long.
Another big perk to staying at an Official Walt Disney World Hotel is access to
Early Theme Park Entry to any of the four theme parks each day. You will be allowed to enter the parks 30 minutes before the official park opening time. If you're an early riser like myself, this extra time will allow you to fit in a couple of additional rides before the crowds start to form not long after. You can also use this time to get in line for one of the top attractions, which will significantly decrease your wait time.
Joanne, I hope you have an easy time booking your Advanced Dining Reservations in just a couple of weeks. Have a magical time during your upcoming stay!
See ya real soon!
Greg