See below for lots of additional information and advice about Advance Dining Reservations, including lists of the hard-to-get and easier-to-get locations.

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When to Reserve Your Table

You can book your reservations 180 days in advance for Disney World restaurants.

If you will be staying at a Disney owned-and-operated resort ONLY (includes DVC stays; does NOT include Swan/Dolphin, Shades of Green, Downtown Disney or offsite hotels), you have extra privileges when booking Advance Reservations for dining. Disney resort guests can call 180 days in advance of their day of arrival and make up to 10 days of Advance Dining Reservations, either online or by calling (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463). If booking online, you will need your resort reservation number. If calling, you will be asked for your phone number or reservation number. The agent will verify in the system that you have a reservation at a Disney resort. Once that is established, you can make all your Advance Dining Reservations at once, for up to ten days of vacation!

Swan/Dolphin, Shades of Green, Downtown Disney and offsite hotel guests who want to make Advance Dining Reservations as early as possible will have to call back each day at the 180-day mark. To make your Advance Dining Reservations, go online or call (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463).

The link below goes to an outside site that is not affiliated with MouseSavers.com: Priority Seating Calculator This site allows you to figure out when to call for those hard-to-get reservations for Hoop-Dee-Doo, Cinderella's Royal Table, etc.

Thanks to Small World Vacations for this information and updates.

Information and Advice About Advance Dining Reservations

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Reserving Online

The information below is especially useful if you plan to book any of the restaurants that are very hard to get and/or if you will be traveling at a peak time. If either or both of those situations apply to you, it's critical to start getting your restaurant bookings set up as early as possible -- ideally 180 days in advance.

Before your 180 day mark, go to http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/restaurants to familiarize yourself with the Disney restaurants and the dining system. For any restaurant that takes reservations, you can click on the restaurant name and then on the resulting page, look in the right hand column for menus. Make a list of your preferred dining locations.

If you don't already have an account set up on DisneyWorld.com, do so now (the "Create an Account" link is in the upper left corner of the site).

Next, create a daily itinerary, including which park you will tour and where you plan to eat. These two sites are useful when scheduling your days: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/calendars/ and TouringPlans.com.

Exactly 180 days from the day you check in, be ready to book your preferred dining locations online at 6:00 am ET at http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/restaurants. Booking online gives you a one hour jump over calling for reservations.

Click on the “Book Your Reservation” link in orange under the photo of your preferred restaurant. On the resulting page, you'll see a box marked "Make a Reservation" about halfway down the page. At the bottom of the box that says "Make a reservation," there is a link that says "I want to use my dining plan to book reservations." Click that, even if you do NOT have a dining plan on your reservation.

You'll be asked to log in to DisneyWorld.com, and then taken to a page where you enter your hotel or package confirmation number, last name and arrival date. Once you've done that, your dining reservations will be associated with your hotel/package booking and you'll qualify to book Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) for 180 + 10 days from your arrival date.

• If you are not on a dining plan, have a credit card ready. (See below for a list of locations that require a credit card guarantee.) Disney will charge your card if you don’t cancel on time (24-48 hours in advance, depending on location). Call (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463) or your travel agent if you have questions.

• If you are on the regular or Deluxe Dining Plan, you should not pay for the dinner shows. The system should recognize that you are on the Dining Plan and not charge you. Be sure to choose Level 2 or 3 seating for the Hoop Dee Doo or the Luau.

• You might find more availability if you try to book your ADRs at quarter past or quarter to the hour, instead of on the hour (i.e., 9:15 am instead of 9:00 am).

• If you can’t get an ADR for one of the more popular locations such as Cinderella’s Royal Table, keep trying each day at the 180 day mark. It is rumored that Disney opens up more tables exactly 180 days prior to the day you want to dine.

• Toward the end of your vacation, you might find better availability for the more popular locations such as Chef Mickey’s, Cinderella’s Royal Table, Le Cellier and 1900 Park Fare. This is because people arriving before you whose vacation overlaps your stay grabbed those ADRs during their 180 + 10 window.

Print out a list of your ADR confirmation numbers. Bring it with you to each dining location. Better safe than sorry.

Thanks to Small World Vacations for these tips and tricks.

Getting Through on the Phone Quickly

The fastest way to make your dining reservations is to use Disney's online booking system.

If for some reason you need or want to use the phone, be aware that hold times can be long when calling Disney's Dining Reservations department at (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463), particularly first thing in the morning (because of people trying to book super time-critical reservations like Cinderella's Royal Table) and 180 days before any major holiday. You'll usually get through more quickly on weekday evenings after about 8:00 pm ET. The reservations department is open 7:00 am to 10:00 pm ET.

One of the more aggravating aspects of the Dining Reservations phone system is that it tries to force you to respond to a large number of questions before you even reach a person. Those questions are providing demographic and marketing information for Disney. Since you're making a toll call, my position is that it's ridiculous for Disney to expect you to pay for its research!

Here's how to get to a person more quickly. When the system asks if you are already in Orlando and/or need a reservation for the next 7 days, say yes (or press 1). This shaves at least a minute or two off by bypassing the demographic questions. It makes no difference otherwise.

Note that the system is now voice-activated but you can still press "1" or "2" in answer to the questions.

Restaurants That Require a Credit Card Guarantee or Prepayment

These locations require full prepayment in advance, using a credit card:

• Cinderella’s Royal Table
• Hoop Dee Doo Revue
• Spirit of Aloha Luau
• Mickey’s Backyard BBQ

Beginning 10/26/11, additional table service dining locations began requiring a credit card to hold a reservation. You will be charged $10 per person if a cancellation to this reservation isn’t made at least one day in advance. This policy will not apply to dining reservations made before 10/26/11. However, any modifications made to dining reservations after 10/26/11 will then be required to provide a credit card to hold the reservation, regardless of what date the reservation was originally booked.

Dining locations participating in the credit card guarantee policy include:

• 1900 Park Fare
• Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
• Artist Point
• California Grill
• Cape May Café
• Chef Mickey’s
• Cítricos
• Crystal Palace
• Flying Fish Café
• Garden Grill
• Hollywood & Vine
• Hollywood Brown Derby
• Jiko
• Le Cellier
• Narcoossee’s
• ‘Ohana
• Tusker House
• Victoria & Albert’s (cancellation policy is $25/per person)
• Yachtsman Steakhouse

Disney will charge your credit card if you don’t cancel on time. Call (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463) or (407) WDW-CNCL to cancel.

Restaurants You Really Must Book in Advance

If you want to attend the Cinderella's Royal Table Character Breakfast, it is critical to call (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463) at 7:00 am ET, 180 days in advance. It sells out within minutes each day when reservations open. (Lunch and dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table sell out quickly, too.) Full prepayment in advance is required for Cinderella's Royal Table.

The Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's in the Grand Floridian Resort also sells out every morning, exactly 180 days in advance. There is only one Chef's Table seating each night and it is not available Wednesdays and Fridays.

Reservations are required for these locations -- you will never get a walk-up table:

• California Grill in the Contemporary Resort
• Victoria and Albert's in the Grand Floridian Resort
• Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue and Mickey's Backyard BBQ dinner shows at Ft. Wilderness (both require full prepayment in advance)
• Spirit of Aloha Luau dinner show at the Polynesian Resort (requires full prepayment in advance)

Reservations are virtually required for any of the restaurants that require a credit card guarantee. Your chances of getting a walk-up table at those locations is extremely small.

Also, during the Free Dining promotion, almost all full-service dining locations will be fully booked up. It is critical to have reservations during that time period! Disney does usually add some extra hours to certain restaurants (i.e, Chef Mickey's, which is not normally open for lunch, often offers lunch during the Free Dining period; other restaurants may have extended hours for lunch), so if you find yourself without a reservation, that might be worth a try.

Can't get a reservation at the restaurant you want?

• Keep trying. People change and cancel dining reservations all the time, so something may open up. If you are staying on Disney property, call every day once you arrive, too.

• You may be able to make same-day reservations by calling Dining Reservations from your hotel room (if you are staying at a Disney resort), asking the lobby concierge (again, only at a Disney resort) or by walking up to the podium of the restaurant right after it opens. Don't expect to get into anyplace that is really popular, however. We tried to get walk-up reservations for the Princess Storybook Lunch in Epcot's Norway one morning on a very low-season day in January and were told they were fully booked for the whole day!

• Try a new restaurant. See below for restaurants that are more likely to have openings.

Don't want to make reservations?

Then be prepared for very limited or even zero choices, particularly if you are visiting during a weekend, holiday, summer or Spring Break period (mid-February through mid-April). Don't count on being able to walk up at ANY of the table-service restaurants in Magic Kingdom or Disney's Hollywood Studios at any time of year. If you must do walk-up seating, your best bets are:

• Tusker House lunch & dinner in Animal Kingdom
• Yak & Yeti dinner in Animal Kingdom
• Rainforest Cafe dinner in Animal Kingdom
• Restaurant Marrakesh lunch & dinner in Epcot's Morocco
• Nine Dragons lunch & dinner in Epcot's China
• Tokyo Dining lunch & dinner in Epcot's Japan
• Bistro de Paris dinner in Epcot's France
• Teppan Edo lunch in Epcot's Japan
• San Angel Inn lunch in Epcot's Mexico
• Tutto Italia lunch in Epcot's Italy
• Chefs de France lunch in Epcot's France

In addition, certain Disney resort table-service restaurants are open at lunch: Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge, Kona Cafe at Polynesian Resort, Grand Floridian Cafe at Grand Floridian Resort, Captain's Grille (formerly Yacht Club Galley) at Yacht Club Resort, Olivia's at Old Key West and The Wave at Contemporary Resort. They are usually not all that busy in the middle of the day, when most people are in the theme parks. Not only are these usually easy tables to get, they provide a relaxing break from the crowds.

Beaches and Cream is a table-service restaurant at Beach Club Resort that does not take reservations. Be aware that it is very popular, however, so waits can be long.

Some of the table-service restaurants at the Swan and Dolphin are very good and may not be fully booked.

Restaurants in Downtown Disney are usually not busy at lunch, because most people are in the theme parks. You will usually need reservations for dinner in Downtown Disney, however.

Canceling Reservations

Other than prepaid reservations and reservations that are guaranteed by a credit card, you don't technically HAVE to cancel reservations you won't be using. However, it is the right thing to do, since reservations can be so hard to come by. When you cancel, you may be making it possible for another family to enjoy that restaurant.

If your plans change, you are responsible for canceling any Advance Dining Reservations that require a credit card guarantee or prepayment. If you do not cancel such reservations, the normal penalty will be charged.

Cancelling a Disney resort reservation does not automatically cancel your Advance Dining Reservations!

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