Hiya, Deborah!
It is so great to see you here at planDisney!
Deborah, I spend hours looking for the perfect dining reservations for each of my trips, so I completely understand the frustration that comes with having been affected by a technical glitch.
Walt Disney World Resort has not announced the exact distance that you must be to check-in for the new
Walk-Up Waitlist feature. Since you would need to be in the correct theme parks to register for a Walk-Up Waitlist for a restaurant located inside of a theme park, I imagine that you would need to be relatively close.
What I would recommend is to check and see if you can access the waitlist from
Disney's Pop Century Resort as soon as you arrive, even if you do not join the wait-list at that time.
But Deborah, I have had the BEST luck with eating at a hard-to-get location by snagging last-minute dining reservations. As people's plans change (often the week of or even the night before) I am usually able to pick up whatever I want using the
My Disney Experience Mobile App.
I hope this helped, Deborah. Good luck with your fabulous meal at
Chef Mickey's!
See you real soon!
Sarah B.