Hi Nora. Welcome to planDisney, where we try our best to bring a little magic to each vacation by answering Guests' questions.
Don't you just love
Character Dining? Instead of waiting in line or making a reservation for a
Lightning Lane through Disney Genie+, you can dine in a beautiful environment, eat delicious food, and just wait for characters to come to you! You can dine with the princesses at
Cinderella's Royal Table in
Magic Kingdom Park or
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in
EPCOT, Mickey and friends at
Chef Mickey's at
Disney's Contemporary Resort or
Tusker House Restaurant in
Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, and many more wonderful options at the
Walt Disney World Resort!
At this time, reservations for most restaurants can be reserved starting 60 days before the date you'd like to dine. Since it looks like you are arriving later in July, it wouldn't be until later in May that your dates would become available. If you are staying at a
Disney Resorts Collection Hotel, you can make
advanced dining reservations for your entire vacation (up to 10 days) starting 60 days before your
arrival date. This means that you'll get an advantage over other Guests when making reservations for dates later on in your vacation. This is why I recommend that Guests looking to dine at a very popular location make that reservation toward the end of their vacation as fewer Guests will have had access to those dates when your booking window opens.
Nora, no matter which Character Dining experience you select, you are bound to have a wonderful culinary experience with some new character friends. And if you are visiting with little ones, be sure to check out the
planDisney Guide to Planning your Walt Disney World Resort Vacation with Little Ones and the recent
planDisney Podcast that talks about visiting Walt Disney World with little ones!
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to
reach out!
Where there is kindness, there is goodness,
Matt