Hi Anthony!
I love a Guest with a plan, and I’m impressed that you’ve been checking out availability and reservations in advance. We often travel with extended family and friends and so traveling with a large group is one of my specialties. Your observations are correct and I’ve got some tips and tricks to help you secure those important
Advance Dining Reservations!Currently, most Disney locations are not taking Advance Dining Reservations for groups larger than 6. You will need to attempt to book two tables at the same time, or within 15 minutes of each other. Two tables of four will be your best choice. The other complication is that
My Disney Experience will not let one person reserve more than one table at the same time. This means you will need to have a second person, with their own My Disney Experience Account to book a second table. If there is another adult in your home that you can coordinate with, that is usually the easiest. For our upcoming visit, my husband I sat at the kitchen table at 6 AM Eastern with matching cups of coffee and worked as a team to book our tables. If you don’t have someone in your household to work with, make a plan to do a phone or video call with another member of your party so you can work together that morning.
Luck favors those with a plan, Anthony, especially if there will be two of you working at once. If you’ll be staying at a
Disney Resort Collection Hotel, make a written plan for which Advance Dining Reservations you plan to make, preferred times, and an order in which you plan to try to reserve. One of my best pieces of advice is to remember that when staying on-site you can make reservations for your entire stay and you don’t need to make them in chronological order. Plan the more popular locations for the second half of your trip, and attempt to book those first. For example, you are much more likely to get a reservation if you try to book it at the end of your trip which will be 64 or 65 days out rather than only 60 days out.
If you are staying off-site, you will need to book each day, one day at a time. This will be more challenging, but it can be done. I would have backup choices for each day in case your first choice is booked. Be sure to keep checking back as the trip approaches to see if other Guests cancel and the tables you need may open up!
On the day of your reservation, I would visit the podium early in the day or at least 15 minutes before your reservation to let them know you are a group traveling together. There are no guarantees, and you may end up sitting across the restaurant from each other, but Cast Members will do their best to seat you closer together if possible. Earlier reservation times, close to restaurant opening will have the greatest flexibility in this regard so keep that in mind when making your reservations!
Sending you pixie dust, Anthony, for those perfect Advance Dining Reservations!
- Kate