Hi Diana,
Welcome to planDisney!
I am right there with you making those
advanced dining reservations for a trip in December. Although I always suggest making dining reservations, it is definitely harder to secure them at the time of year you are traveling. Availability can be limited because Guests with Disney Resorts Collection or select resort hotel reservations can make dining reservations for the length of their stay up to 10 days. In practice, this means that there are folks whose dining reservation window opened before yours and they could make reservations for several of the same days that correspond to your stay.
If you have not done so already, I suggest that you search the entire
restaurant list for locations that accept reservations and not just search for specific restaurants. I just checked for your arrival date and saw quite a few options for lunch for four. If your party is larger, that may be why you are having trouble. When I travel with a party larger than six, I often split our group up into smaller groups and we make two reservations around the same time. To do so, you will need to have different lead Guests on each reservation or you will need to make the reservations using two different
My Disney Experience accounts.
Also, if you have not done so already, check restaurants that are not in the theme parks. My family loves Grand Floridian Cafe, Kona Café, California Grill, Narcoossee's, Ale & Compass, and
Tratorria al Forno. We also like to spend an afternoon at Disney Springs and do dinner at either The Edison or Chef Art Smith's Homecoming. We are super excited about dining at the new
Steakhouse 71 at Disney's Contemporary Resort on our upcoming trip in December.
We have also used a dining reservation finder tool online that searches for Disney dining reservations and sends alerts when they become available. These tools have worked for us at times but I also have had success just searching consistently on my own. Even when making last-minute plans for a trip in September, we were able to get some good dining reservations.
Diana, do not lose hope! Cancelations do happen! We have always been able to find reservations even if we have to select different restaurants. So, consider a few other dining locations, remember that you can use
Mobile Food & Beverage Ordering for some locations, and keep planning!
Magic and memories,
Donyell