Hi Leslie,
Welcome to planDisney!
As much as I love planning visits to the Walt Disney World® Resort, my second favorite activity is dining at Disney! Let's make sure you are ready to make those
advanced dining reservations when your
booking window opens. Currently, guests staying at
Disney Resorts Collection and other select hotels can make dining reservations 60 days prior to their arrival for up to 10 nights of their stay. I suggest that you log into
My Disney Experience or the
My Disney Experience Mobile App and start trying to book those reservations at 6:00 a.m. on the day your booking window opens.
Now, let's talk about a few other strategies. Prior to the day our dining reservation window opens, my family sits down and reviews the restaurants we plan to visit during our trip. Everyone checks the menus to make sure there is something they would like to order to eat. We then use those selections to put together an estimate for dining costs during the trip. To check a menu, simply go to the home page of a restaurant and click on View Menu. Be sure to select the appropriate meal period (i.e. breakfast, lunch, or dinner). One of our favorite restaurants is California Grill. We love to dine here during the
Happily Ever After fireworks show. The
dinner menu is fantastic.
Leslie, here is my final tip. Be sure to have a priority list of dining reservations to make when that reservation window opens. For those restaurants that are most popular, I search for availability for those reservations first. A few of our favorites include Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast, Space 220 Lounge for lunch, Topolino's Terrace - Flavors of the Riviera for breakfast, and, of course, the recently reopened
1900 Park Fare. Looking at your arrival date, be sure to keep an eye out for the dates of
Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Those party dates could affect available dining times!
Magic and memories,
Donyell