Hi Leigh,
Dreaming about an upcoming Walt Disney World Resort vacation is always so much fun, and putting together your itinerary and making your dining reservations makes the magic feel even more real. SO exciting!
Since you're staying at a
Disney Resort hotel, you'll be able to make
dining reservations for the entire length of your trip beginning 180 days before your arrival, which is an excellent
perk! With so many delicious
character meals, fun
dinner shows, and
cuisines to please any palate, you'll have some tough choices to make, for sure. To help you plan, Disney generally releases park hours (including
Extra Magic Hours) 180 days in advance. This will help you for the first day of your trip, but you won't have anything official to go off of to plan your remaining park days and meals. Hakuna Matata...no worries, though. I do have a suggestion for you! I'd encourage you to visit touringplans.com as they do list park hours 190 days in advance and estimate them even further out than that. I'd suggest putting together a preliminary itinerary and going ahead and making all of your dining reservations when your window opens, but checking the
official park hours as they're released and making any changes if necessary. Park hours are always subject to change, so if that happens, you can always decide to either move your dining reservation or change your plans a little bit if you have a hard-to-find, must-try reservation already made.
Thanks so much for visiting us at the Disney Parks Moms Panel, Leigh, and please come see us again if you have any other questions or would like help choosing restaurants. I hope that you have a truly magical...and delicious...vacation!
Missy