180 Days of Drama: Disney’s Advanced Dining Reservations

I have a love-hate relationship with Disney’s Advanced Dining Reservation system. More specifically, the famous 180 day mark before a Disney World vacation. I love the reservation system in general, because it ensures you’ll get the activities you want during your vacation. Those of you planners out there know the sheer joy of securing vacation details in advance! I also hate the reservation system though, because choosing when and where you want to eat more than six months in advance is just plain crazy. I think bonkers is the technical term for it. Today’s post shares tips on how to tackle the drama of Disney’s Dining Reservation system.

Let’s start with the basics. If you’re traveling to Disney World and you want to eat at a traditional sit-down restaurant while you’re there, you’ll probably need a reservation. Disney World is often crowded (news flash!) and despite zillions of restaurants, hungry guests still exceed table capacity with surprising regularity. Popular restaurants, like Be Our Guest or ‘Ohana, are difficult to reserve in any time frame. This is partly due to the number of fun restaurants available as well as the popularity of Disney’s Dining Plans.

If you want to make a dining reservation you can start doing so 180 days before the first day of your Disney World trip. They’re called Advanced Dining Reservations, or ADRs in Disney-speak. Guests make them for breakfast, lunch, dinner or certain “special” events like dessert parties. You can secure reservations yourself through Disney World’s website, 407-WDW-DINE (407-939-3463) or the My Disney Experience app. Or, you can pass the crazy off to a travel agent and they can manage the details for you.

Or at least they can try. Sadly, even at the 180 day mark there’s no guarantee you’ll get what you want. (See why I chose the word bonkers?) This was disappointing to me the first time I tried it, because I assumed if you booked the moment the reservation window opens you’d be all set. To help you avoid the same frustration, I’ve compiled a short list of tips to help you with the 180 Day Dining Drama.

And to be clear, I’m only referring to a handful of really popular Disney World restaurants. The vast majority of restaurants are easy to book way past the opening day point. As I’ve said before, it’s far more likely you’ll go broke before you go hungry at Disney World.

All set? Here are the tips:

(1) Book your reservations at 6:00AM EST on the 180th day.

Ugh. I probably already lost some of you with tip number 1, especially if you’re on the west coast! Honestly though, your best chance for getting the reservations you want is to book them as soon as the window opens. That means early morning exactly 180 days before the first day of your trip. If you booked your vacation directly with Disney, you will probably receive a mailer that tells you when your reservation window opens. You may receive an email reminder too, but they typically arrive later in the day.

If you’re staying off-property or booked with somebody else, you can easily find this information by googling “180 day calendar” or counting the days old-school-style. Unlike Disney’s FastPass+ system that offers different start times for resort guests, EVERYBODY can make Disney dining reservations at the 180 day mark. This includes people that are still considering going to Disney and haven’t booked anything else. As a result, the competition is fierce.

So, when exactly on the 180th day does the reservation window open? The official response is 7:00AM Eastern Standard Time. I say “official” because that’s what Disney told me. As you can tell from the time stamps in the image above though, sometimes you can start a little before 7:00AM. I recommend logging on around 6:00AM Eastern Standard Time if you’re able and have your heart set on something. Even if you can’t get in right away, it will give you time to set up a credit card and get familiar with the system if it’s your first time.

(2) Start with the end of your trip, then work your way backward.

So even though EVERYONE can book dining reservations 180 days out, only those guests with Disney World ticket reservations can book up to an additional 10 days beyond that time frame. In other words, if you’re planning to stay at Disney World for a week, you can choose the entire week’s worth of meals starting 180 days before the first day of your trip.

I mention this detail, because this advanced timing gives you a significant advantage over the masses that will be competing for spots right on the 180 day mark. The deeper into your trip you go, the better your odds of getting the hardest reservations. In my own experiences, I’ve had much better luck finding reservations for day four or later in our trip than I did for days 1 through 3. That’s why I recommend starting with those dates if you can, and working your way back to the beginning.

Unfortunately, that means if you’re only staying at Disney for 1-3 days, you might not be able to get your top choices. Frustrating, I know. Then again, if booked your vacation after the 180 day mark and you were wondering if that decision cost you the chance to snag a reservation at your first choice restaurant, take heart. Even planning way in advance is no guarantee.

(3) Prioritize the most popular restaurants.

Similar to starting at the end of your trip, it’s also best to start with the restaurants that are hardest to get. I don’t have gobs of data to back this up (former researcher!), but from my personal experiences the most difficult reservations to get, particularly for dinner, are: Be Our Guest, Beaches ‘n Cream, California Grill, Chef Mickey, Cinderella’s Royal Table, ‘Ohana, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater and the T-Rex Café. Be Our Guest for dinner is the most difficult reservation to get, due to reasons I’ve explained in my previous post. The other restaurants on this list can be challenging too, due to a combination of awesome theming, limited seating, fun views or character meetings.

I’ve never been able to secure dinner restaurants for the first day of our trip at any of these locations. Well, at least at not at reasonable times. For our last trip I found a dinner reservation at T-Rex at 10:00PM or Chef Mickey at 3:45PM. I passed. Lunch reservations were much easier. Keep that in mind if you can’t find a slot for dinner that you want. Sometimes the entrees are less expensive at lunch too.

Photo from oh my Disney

(4) Don’t get caught up in the hype.

So this final tip is probably the most important one. Before you try to make dining reservations, think about what makes the most sense for your trip. Look at the menus. Consider which parks you’ll be visiting. Think about what your travel party likes. I think some of the most popular restaurants achieved their status by playing hard to get, rather than delivering exceptional experiences. You may not want to eat at any of them anyway and you can save yourself the headache. (And a wad of cash!)

Once you’ve made up your mind, write down a list and use it the morning the reservation window opens. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Having a list will help you stay on track. Plus, you can always make changes later if needed. Disney lets you cancel reservations up until 24 hours before the appointment without penalty. If you don’t cancel on time, the penalty is $10 per person in your party.

If you did have your heart set on something and you can’t find it, you also have options. First, keep checking. Sometimes there’s a spike in availability around 30 days out because that’s typically the deadline to cancel a trip without payment. Second, consider other restaurants that are much easier to secure. Places like Cape May, Akershus or Tusker House can typically be booked much closer to your departure date. Third, replace that experience with something else you’ll enjoy! You could reallocate the cost of the meal toward another fun experience like a dessert cruise or park tour. Maybe you could drop the kids of at a Disney Activity Center and snag a reservation for two?

So, that’s it. Four tips for facing the drama that is the 180 day reservation window for Disney Dining. Hopefully you learned something to help you with your planning or make you feel better about your trip. Even if you don’t book a single meal, you can still have an awesome time at Disney World. There’s always quick-service, food carts and Mickey-shaped snacks!

Add a little (180-day) magic to your world!