11 TIPS for Snagging the HARDEST DISNEY DINING Reservations!!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Update: the cancellation policy has been updated! For most restaurants you can cancel 2 hours before the reservation without a cancellation fee! This can lead to more same day availability to check the app or have alerts set up and you may snag a reservation even 2 hours before! 👏👏👏

[@juliecantweight5822]

This was so helpful! Thank you!!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

We need to update and make a new video. The look of how you search for reservations has changed a bit but in my opinion it’s better and easier now. You can log on ahead of your 60 day mark and familiarize yourself with the new format. My advice still stands to have both the phone and computer logged in and ready as it is still glitchy! Also most restaurants you can now cancel 2 hours beforehand instead of the day before so there is much more last minute availability which is nice when plans change. Some of the dining alert services have gone out of business but Steakout and mousedining still are great. Let me know if you have questions!

[@MouseDining]

(7:40) Thanks so much for the shoutout! Lots of great tips to navigate Disney's ADRs.

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Thanks for the comment! You helped us snag some hard-to-get reservations! We love your services!

[@traveldresscode3932]

Great tips. I wish I could stress Tip #2 for others. It seems like lots of folks don't realize how important this can be. I also like the advice about having the tabs open. I had never done it that way, but it makes a lot of sense.

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Thanks! We find the tabs to be super helpful! Appreciate you watching and commenting!

[@mrt8508]

So easy and simple in explanation. Thanks a million, keep up the good work..!!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Thank you so much!

[@justlilholly]

So many amazing helpful tips. Thanks for sharing. Never been to disneyworld so Definitely will be needing these. Thanks

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Thanks! Hope they help you when the time comes to make your reservations!

[@MagicalCreationsDisneyArt]

Great information my friends. I recall going through this my last trip. Disney is a fun place, but also a lot of work to make sure it goes smooth.

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Ain't that the truth! But its a labor of love =) Thanks for watching!

[@ashleymeccia5189]

This is so helpful! Thanks!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Great to hear! Thank you! 😊 I hope you get all the reservations you want!

[@FantasmicTravel]

Awesome tips with awesome footage here! Thankfully, I always travel in smaller groups, but friends of mine who travel with really large parties I always give that tip to split up parties.

[@WDWBound]

Great tips!! I was able to get a reservation for Toppolino's breakfast by getting ready to go at 5:45!! I'm so excited to try it!

[@ThemeParksforGrownUps]

I loved your bonus tip at the end! I always use those Facebook groups to "exchange" reservations.

[@whatifdisneyworld]

I just recently discovered these groups and was able to get some reservations we needed from people dropping them!

[@ellentierney1253]

Wonderful information !!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Thank you for the kind words! We hope it’s helpful!

[@momisinthemood1133]

Fantastic tips!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Thanks, friend! ☺️

[@TheAdventuresofMegGreg]

I always feel so bad for people who don’t realize how much planning can be necessary for a WDW vacation. Tip #4 can be tiring 🤣 I’ve never seen it open at 5:45 am either but good to be ready! Ohana was definitely the hardest for us to book. I would love to check out Space 220 someday, we did miss out on that one this past trip. I didn’t know there was an alert system or apps to help you. I’ve lucked out many times with grabbing good hard to get reservations the day before, that’s a great tip. Amazing tips!! Great video, thank you for sharing all of your amazing expertise! 😊💜

[@whatifdisneyworld]

I did not know about the alert systems until more recently. They helped me get several reservations! Steakout allows you one alert for free and more are paid but if it’s just one you are going for it is free! Touring plans is also free if you have a free account. Mousedining has a free version but it is email only and that’s usually not fast enough for the hard to get ones.

[@TheAdventuresofMegGreg]

@@whatifdisneyworld that’s so awesome! Thank you so much 😊💜

[@gaylemyrick5373]

Amy, we have eight of us dinning at Space 220 and I was able to reserve 4 and 4 - under my name but we are all connected under friends and family.

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Hopefully they can seat you together! If you go early and ask they may be able to accommodate. That’s great you were able to get reservations there! It’s super hard to book!

[@gayledisneyfan9407]

@@whatifdisneyworld I had heard it was. We have 2 Epcot days wanted it on the 1st one but was completely booked and was blessed to be able to get it on the 2nd one.

[@teamshonuffvlogs]

Great video...definitely applying all these steps.. I just sub team shonuff vlogs

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Thanks for watching and following along!

[@amalave82]

This was great information! Thank you so much. Any chance you can give us a breakdown of the best restaurants that require reservations per park? There are so many that I don't know where to start 😂

[@whatifdisneyworld]

It is overwhelming! A video like that was in the works but you’ve now inspired us to bump it up the list to do very soon! Thanks for the idea! And thanks for watching and for the kind words! We are so appreciative!

[@amalave82]

@What if Disney World... any chance it will happen before Monday when my 60 day window starts? No pressure 🤣

[@whatifdisneyworld]

@@amalave82 lol It won't be ready but I'll give you a quick list/sneak peek! In Magic Kingdom, we love Cinderella Royal Table, Skipper Canteen, and Liberty Tree. In Epcot, we usually eat quick service but really like Space 200 Lounge and Akershus. In Hollywood Studios, we love Hollywood and Vine character meal but also we typically eat quick service here! In Animal Kingdom, also we often eat quick service. We haven't eaten at Yak and yeti but it's on our list because i hear it's great. Tusker is meh in our opinion. Table service we love outside of the parks: 'Ohana (breakfast and dinner but especially dinner) at the Polynesian, Beaches and Cream at Beach Club, Topolinos at the Riviera, Storybook dining at Artist Point at Wilderness Lodge Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I hope that helps!?! Good luck on Monday!

[@amalave82]

@@whatifdisneyworld awww thank you so much! Truly appreciate it! 🩷

[@stevenb1804]

I was logged on and refreshing for Yak and Yeti reservations right at 6am and it refreshed and came up with a message saying nothing available. This can’t be true. All reservations for Yak and yeti could not have been taken in less than 1 second. It’s impossible.

[@whatifdisneyworld]

That is frustrating! We've been there! Yak & Yeti is part of the Landry's card. You can give that a try. Also, keep checking back. Sometimes they drop more reservations.

[@dkt3232ify]

You realize people can book the days that aren’t available to you yet. It may have been available to them three days before you. Staying on site lets you do your whole vacation. So it didn’t disappear in one second

[@LauraB.335]

One of the best ways to get Yak & Yeti when we go in January is to go right when they open and put your names on the list. You’re eating early (11:00 am), but you did get a table.

[@a.w.1319]

What were those Facebook groups called?

[@whatifdisneyworld]

One of the most active ones is “Disney dining reservation exchange drop/add”. And other is “Disney dining reservation exchange” and another is “Disney dining drops only”

[@alexak9172]

These are the ones I’m going to try to get: Be Our Guest, Ohana dinner, Storybook, Yak & Yeti. It seems that they’re all hard. Which order would you book them? For my son, Be Our Guest is probably most important so I feel inclined to try that first but then what order would you recommend the others?

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Those are all great choices! And you are correct, they are all hard to get! Of those, Storybook and Ohana are the most difficult in our experience. They are smaller restaurants than Be Our Guest and only do dinner so more limited spots. Be Our Guest can be difficult some times too but if you don’t mind doing lunch there I typically see availability. For example, if you look today at Dec 3 there is still lunch availability for a party of 4. Also with it, be sure you click through specific times and not just “dinner” or “lunch”. But if it is the most important, you can certainly prioritize that so you are sure you get it for your son! Yak and Yeti is also hard to get but you could sign up for the landrys card and get priority waitlist seating! So I would put it lowest on my booking day priority. And they also have a quick service window (called Yak and Yeti local foods) where you can still get some amazing food (just not the same menu). That’s a long explanation to say I would go: 1) be our guest since it is most important to you (but if you are ok eating lunch there instead of dinner I would knock it down to #3 priority), 2) storybook dining, 3) ohana dinner, and 4) yak and yeti. Hope this helps! And good luck!

[@alexak9172]

So helpful, thank you! I think I will take your advice on moving Be Our Guest to #3.

[@PixieDustPhD]

Great tips! Do you have any anecdotes about the alert systems you've used? For me I've found Mouse Dining to be the most successful... I'm not sure if perhaps their bots just search more often...? But ya, that one is my favorite thus far!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

I had the most luck with mousekepros far out from the trip and then steakout the closer we got to the trip. No clue why. I did not have luck with mousedining or touring plans. It seems so random though because they’re all searching at different times and it’s whichever one happens to catch the reservation first. Touring plans tells you when the last search was though and it’s not very frequent BUT it’s free so I use it anyway! Doesn’t hurt! Also the push notifications from steakout allowed me to click faster than the text messages so that may be why it was better too for me.

[@PixieDustPhD]

@@whatifdisneyworld I've never tried steakout before, so thanks for the tip! Touring Plans I've had the least success with easily LOL (I assume because it doesnt search very often, as you pointed out)

[@whatifdisneyworld]

I take it back. Touring plans just got me a space 220! TP for the win!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

I think the key is to use them ALL! 😂

[@PixieDustPhD]

@@whatifdisneyworld LOL for sure, if it's free definitely using them all is the best strategy if the dining reservation is really important to you. Yay Space 220!!! I haven't had the chance to do that one yet. Hopefully next time!

[@sharon4412]

I have a question. I’m going with a group of 8 people (3 adults and 5 children) and would love to get Ohana for dinner. I get it that breaking the group up might makes us more likely to get the reservation but I’m not sure how to go about that. Should I try to get the reservation for 8 people first then if I can’t get anything, break into smaller groups? Also, I’m really the only one doing the planning for this trip. Like I said, there are only three adults and I’m the most familiar with the app and booking things . The other two, with all due respect, don’t fare as well with technology. How would I go about booing two reservations for ohana if it’s just me doing the booking? Thanks and I loved your video!!!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Hi! ‘Ohana has a good number of large tables so it’s a great restaurant to try for a table of 8. I have successfully gotten party of 7 reservations for ‘Ohana twice now when we have brought grandparents along! I would search for 8 and if you don’t find 8 then quickly search for 6 and then if nothing there, search 4. If you have to split try to get times within 15 minutes of each other. If they aren’t tech-saavy, you could just open their phone app if you have access to their phone (that’s what I do with Stevie’s while he sleeps 😂) or if they are comfortable sharing their login, you could log in to the website under their account. Alternatively when you book on the website (not the app) it will let you select a different person as the “person who will manage the reservation” so you could choose someone else from your party as the primary then and not put yourself in the party. That would free your account up to make another reservation in the same time window. I hope that makes sense and helps!

[@sharon4412]

Great! Thank you so much!!!

[@erinharmon468]

I was lucky to get Ohana breakfast but would prefer later time. If something were to open for the time I prefer, would I get charged the no cancelation fee? That is if something would become open less than 24hours before our current reservation.

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Great question! In our experience, the cancellation fee applies if the reservation is cancelled after midnight on the same day so as long as you modify it or cancel it before midnight, you should be ok. Or if it were the same day, I would imagine you could call or stop at guest relations or the restaurant to explain. Disney has great customer service and you could ask that the fee be waved. I find so many people cancel the day before so I would be hopeful you can find something later! Enjoy ‘Ohana! It is one of our favorite breakfasts! 😊

[@saltygirl764]

I did find several of your tips helpful but what would really help would be to tell us how we find these fb groups. I have no clue and tried typing in disney reservations, disney dining swap etc and I can't find what you're talking about.

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Oh sure! Let me see if I can post a link to the sites but in case they don't work, try searching "Disney Dining Reservation Exchange Drop/Add" and "Disney Dining | Reservations & Reviews" There are more but those were the two that were most helpful for me personally

[@whatifdisneyworld]

facebook.com/groups/disneyworlddining

[@whatifdisneyworld]

facebook.com/groups/100741850436638

[@debracurtis5013]

Is it 6 am eastern time?

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Yes! 5:45/6am eastern time!

[@ericscivicque]

It's 60 days for all visitors.

[@whatifdisneyworld]

Correct! 60 days for all visitors and 60 days plus the length of your stay for Disney resort guests!

[@hellolove1576]

But if you're staying not at a Disney hotel you could only book for one day ahead if you stay at a Disney hotel you can book all your reservations up to 10 days in advance

[@photographthemagic]

This was so helpful! Thank you!!

[@whatifdisneyworld]

I’m so glad! Thank you for watching and for the feedback!