Disney Advance Dining Reservations Ultimate Guide

Guests at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort can make table service reservations ahead of time for their Disney vacation.

UPDATED 17 Nov 2022 fo new 2-hour cancellation rule.

In this post I’ll go over everything having to do with Disney Advance Dining Reservations and finish up with a FAQ.

1. What Are Advance Dining Reservations?
2. Who Can Make Advance Dining Reservations?
3. When to Make Advance Dining Reservations
4. Details About Advance Dining Reservations
5. How to Make Advance Dining Reservations
6. Disney Advance Dining Reservations Tips
7. Disney Advance Dining Reservations FAQ

What Are Advance Dining Reservations?

The Disney Advance Dining Reservation system allows you to make reservations to dine at Walt Disney World’s and Disneyland’s Table Service Restaurants. Advance Dining Reservation is usually abbreviated as ADR or ADRs for short. ADRs cannot be made for Quick Service Restaurants, but Mobile Ordering allows you to shorten your wait there.

Advance DiningReservations may be made at restaurants in all of Disney’s parks, Resort Hotels, Disney Springs, and Downtown Disney. Certain other events such as desert parties and dinner and show seating combos may also be reserved this way.

Unlike the reservations that you are familiar with at restaurants at home where the restaurant books a time that they will seat you, at Disney, ADRs are different. With ADRs the time that you “reserve” is the time that after you arrive you will be placed on the list for the next available table for the size of you party. Typically this works very smoothly with minimal or no wait after check in. Disney asks that you arrive and check in 15 minutes prior to your ADR time.  Often nowadays you can do the check online as you are on your way. You are often seated shortly after checking in. When very busy however, there can be longish waits. If you check in 15 min. early you might be told that it won’t be until after your actual ADR time that you are seated and in some rare cases it might be well after.

Who Can Make Advance Dining Reservations?

Anyone can book Advance Dining Reservations for Disney restaurants. A resort reservation or theme park ticket is not required to do so. However those staying with Disney do get an extra advantage when making ADRs. I’ll talk about this next.

When to Make Advance Dining Reservations

Anyone can book Advance Dining Reservations for Disney restaurants 60 days in advance of their desired date.

Guests staying at a Disney owned-and-operated resort or the Shades of Green Resort may make Advance Dining Reservations for their entire stay (up to the first 10 days) 60 days prior to their check-in date. This does not include:

• The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin
• The Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels (Chain Hotels on Disney property)

The Booking Window

For those not staying at a Disney Resort or Shades of Green, the booking window for ADRs opens on the 60th day prior to your desired date and remains open until the desired date and time. That means you may make an ADR (based on availability) from 60-days out, up until the last minute.

For example: if you desired an ADR on 31 January you would be able to reserve it on 2 December.

For those staying at a Disney Resort or Shades of Green, the booking window for ADRs  for your entire stay, from check-in to check-out days, opens on the 60th day prior to your check-in date. If you have a stay that is longer than 10 days from check-in to check-out, only your check-in day and the following 9 days will be available for reserving ADRs 60 days prior to check in. Any additional days of your trip would fall under the same rule as those not staying with Disney. This window is typically called the 60 + 10 Window.

For example: if you were checking into Disney’s Contemporary Resort for a 5-night stay on 31 January you would be able to make ADRs for all the days of your trip (31 January – 5 February) on 2 December.

Or if you were checking into Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa for a 12-night stay on 31 January you would be able to make ADRs for the first 10 days of your trip (31 January – 10 February) on 2 December. Then in order to make an ADR for 11 February you’d need to wait until 13 December and so on.

Booking Window Opening Time

There are several different times that booking opens depending on where and how you plan to make your ADRs.

Walt Disney World

By Phone – ADRs can be made from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m seven days a week (7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m on holidays) eastern time zone by calling 407-WDW-DINE (407-939-3463)

Online – ADRs can be made online (disneyworld.com, or My Disney Experience app) at any time. The booking window for each new available day opens at 6:00 a.m. eastern time zone each day.

Disneyland

By Phone – ADRs can be made by calling (714) 781-DINE (3463).

Online – ADRs can be made online (disneyland.com, or the Disneyland app) at any time. The booking window here is a little more of a mystery. The window for most restaurants, for each new available day opens at 3:00 a.m. pacific time zone (6:00 a.m. eastern) each day. Availability for some restaurants though doesn’t appear until 6:00 a.m.pacific or in the afternoon.

Details About Advance Dining Reservations

Theme Park Tickets – Again theme park tickets are not needed in order to make ADRs. However if you make an ADR in a theme park, you must have valid park admission to enter the theme park on that day. Also, in these times you must also have a theme park reservation for that park or if park hopping, the park where you have the ADR must be open for park hopping

Credit Card Guarantee – In order to make an ADR you are required supply a credit card. Your card will not be charged however the system will do a 1 dollar credit authorization (in order to determine if it is a valid card) which will expire in a matter of days.

Cancellation Policy – Disney requires that you cancel any ADR that you will not use more than 2 hours prior to the ADR date/time. If you do not, Disney will impose a cancellation fee of $10.00 per person on the reservation (this is why they got your credit card number when making the ADR!). Disney started this fee because in the past there were those who made “shotgun” reservations, that is they made a bunch of reservations for each meal at different locations to cover several options of what their plans might turn out to be. And there was no penalty for not using the ADRs at that time. This prevented those who really knew where they would be dining from making ADRs. Cancellations can be done via the My Disney Experience app, online or by phone. Note, prior to November 2022, you had to cancel the day prior to avoid a fee.

Rescheduling ADRs – ADRs  may be rescheduled to a different time, date, location up till the point that you enter your ADR check-in window, which starts 15 minutes prior to your ADR time. So for example, say I had a reservation for the Liberty Tree Tavern at 11:00 a.m. but on the way to the Magic Kingdom it became apparent that transportation issues were going to delay my arrival until well after my ADR time. I would have until 10:45 to go online or use the app to adjust my ADR, perhaps for a later time if available, or maybe to a later date (which I could then cancel with no penalty if desired). This needs to be done on the My Disney Experience app or online. Rescheduling can also be done on the phone, but not for same day reschedules.

Payment in Advance – The following locations require full prepayment in advance, using a credit card. Generally if you don’t cancel them by two days before the event, you get no refund. Check their cancellation terms carefully, as they can change any time.

• Cinderella’s Royal Table
• Hoop Dee Doo Revue
• Mickey’s Backyard BBQ

Availability of ADRs – Traditionally there are popular restaurants that are hard to get ADRs for.

At Walt Disney World these are:

• Be Our Guest
• Cinderella’s Royal Table
• Fireworks dining packages and dessert parties
• Space 220 Restaurant
• Space 220 Lounge
• Oga’s Cantina
• Victoria & Albert’s Chef’s Table
• All princess character meals
• Le Cellier
• ‘Ohana
• Art Smith’s Homecomin’
• Chef Mickey’s

If you want to dine at the above locations you should book online or with the MyDisneyExperience app at 6:00 am eastern time 60 days in advance. Many of these sell out within minutes each day when reservations open.

At Disneyland these are:

• Lamplight Lounge
• Blue Bayou
• Plaza Inn breakfast
• Goofy’s Kitchen dinner
• Dessert Parties

Some restaurants at Disneyland hold a limited number of reservations for Disneyland Resort hotel guests. If you can’t get on online try calling Disneyland Dining at 714-781-DINE and ask about Preferred Reservation Access at these locations:

• Blue Bayou Restaurant
• Carthay Circle Restaurant
• Catal Restaurant
• Goofy’s Kitchen
• La Brea Bakery Cafe
• Napa Rose
• Naples Ristorante e Bar
• Plaza Inn
• Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
• Tortilla Jo’s

Reservations are required for these locations – Not by policy, but by popularity! Walk-ups are almost nonexistent:

• Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom
• California Grill in the Contemporary Resort
• Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue and Mickey’s Backyard BBQ dinner shows at Ft. Wilderness
• Oga’s Cantina in Hollywood Studios and Disneyland. Also note that guests are limited to 45 minutes per ADR
• Victoria and Albert’s in the Grand Floridian Resort

Overlapping ADRs – Another measure the Disney initiated to allow more people form shotgunning reservations is to prevent overlapping reservations. If you’ve made an ADR for lunch on Tuesday and try to make a lunch ADR elsewhere too close in time to the first one, the system will alert you that you already have a reservation and would you lite to cancel the old one or stop making the new one. You can’t have both.

How to Make Advance Dining Reservations

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times here, ADRs can be made via the disney.com website, the My Disney Experience app, or by calling the WDW-DINE phone numbers. Keep in mind that the digital methods have a 1 hour advantage for each day’s new openings over the phone method!

Your resort reservation must be linked to your My Disney Experience account for your 60 + 10 window to open!

If you are trying to snag a popular restaurant or a few, you absolutely must attempt to do so via the app or online at 6 a.m. eastern on the day your ADR window opens (60 days prior to the date or prior to check-in). Set your alarm for 5:30, get up, take care of business, and get a cup of coffee so that you are ready prior to 6.

Very Important Public Service Announcement!

Disney’s systems (dining reservations, hotel reservations, and internet infrastructure in this instance) often do not talk well to each other! If you have a Disney Resort Hotel Reservation linked in your My Disney Experience account, at 6 a.m. on the 60th day prior to check in, you should see all of days of the trip turn dark on the ADR calendar versus the grayed out days that are not available for you to make ADRs. This might not happen on all your devices!

I have the My Disney experience app on both my iPhone and iPad. As I write this, today is the 60th day prior to my next check in. At 6 a.m. the 5 days of my 4-night reservation should have shown up as available to book ADRs. This did not happen on the Disney World website or on my iPad app, they did however show up on my iPhone. The same thing happened 3 days ago when making ADRs for my previous resort reservation.

It’s 11 a.m.and the block of days is still not available on the website.

SO BE PREPARED! Have all your devices ready prior to 6 a.m. Log in to your apps and online at 5:55 and be prepared to go right away. If you get an error that says something like We’re having trouble loading this screen, or We can’t accomplish that right now, try it again. That means the system isn’t up yet.

When you see your days as available on a device get to work. You’ll want to work the most popular locations first, also work from the end of your vacation dates to the beginning (backwards) as there is less competition for the later dates (people who check in the day after you but who’s trip overlaps the end of yours can’t start making ADRs till tomorrow). People who checked in the day before you are a day ahead of you for most of your dates.

If none of your devices show the dates as open you’ll have to call at 7:00 a.m. But keep refreshing in the mean time!!!

Prior to the 60th day,  you’ll want to check that your computer works with the Disney site, old computers don’t do well with it. Also be sure your browser works fine, I use Macs and Safari doesn’t work with the calendar on dining or hotel reservations, I have to use Chrome for Disney reservations.

Then become familiar with how to search for and make ADRs, be sure you know what to click, touch, and swipe! The small phone interface is hard to use (lots of swiping needed plus accidental closures of the search, which slows me down).

Note: those with longer resort reservations have a huge advantage! Say I have a 10 day trip and you have a 5 day trip that overlaps with the last 5 days of my trip. I’ll be making ADRs for the dates of your trip 5 days before you can! 

That’s it on how to make an ADR, good luck my friend! On the 6-night, 7-day trip I just worked today, I could not get an ADR for Space 220 Restaurant or Lounge at all, or Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ and Flying Fish ADRs that worked for my schedule.

Second PSA – Since reopening after the 2020 shutdown, All Disney World restaurants are short Staffed and operating at a lower volume than in the past. This is why the Disney Dining Plan has not returned and why the ADR window is still at the 60-day mark instead of the normal 180-day mark.

The lower restaurant throughput means that ADRs for very popular locations are even harder to get than they normally would be! Hence the issues I had today.

Disney Advance Dining Reservations Tips

If you can’t get the ADR that you want, keep trying. People change and cancel dining reservations all the time, so something may open up, so keep trying! If you are staying on Disney property, call every day once you arrive or check with your resort’s concierge.

Try a reservation monitor service. If you can’t get the ADR (or more) that you really want, you can keep trying whenever you think of it, but you are just checking at that moment. There are a couple of services that will check continually for you and notify you immediately if your entered specific choices have availability that opens up. There is a fee for these services. These services are:

• Mouse Watcher
• Mouse Dining

I haven’t used these services in the past, but am not giving them a try.

UPDATE: I’ve been using MouseWatcher for the trip I discussed above and another Disneyland one and have found that you have to be very quick. As soon as you get the text you need to click on it and rush through the reservation process if the opening is still available. These openings go fast for popular locations. I’ve had about a 40% success rate getting an ADR right when I get a text and if I don’t do it right away it is a lost cause…

Try for Same-Day Reservations. Do so by calling Dining Reservations from your hotel room (if you are staying at a Disney resort), asking the lobby concierge (in your Disney resort) or by walking up to the podium of the restaurant you desire as early as possible (preferably right when it opens). All of these may or may not work.

One of Disney’s great new innovations is the walk-up waitlist in the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps. Restaurants that have empty tables (due to no-shows or quick diners), will offer walk-up slots via the Disney apps.

On the Disney World My Disney Experience app look on the info screen for the restaurant in question, or by going through the normal ADR reservation steps and clicking Now rather than a time. When doing the second, only restaurants near you (via your GPS) will show up. You can’t check the walk up list for a restaurant in the Magic Kingdom when you are in EPCOT. If there is availability an estimated wait time will show and there will be a “Join Waitlist” button. If the restaurant doesn’t have any waitlist slots open, the app will say so.

On the Disneyland app, you must be on the info page for the restaurant! To get there, use the search function in the app or the GPS map and click on the restaurant.

Link ADRs made by phone to your My Disney Account. It’s easy to keep track of all your reservations in one spot. You’ll be using the app all day anyway, no need for a separate digital or physical list or keeping email verifications! ADRs made online or via the app will be in your Plan already.

If you are doing a “split stay” (staying at multiple Disney Resort Hotels), you will have 2 or more 60-day windows depending on the number of hotel reservations. For example the trip I worked today, I have a 2-night stay at the Wilderness Lodge followed by a 4-night stay at Pop Century. My WL reservation allowed me to make ADRs for the first 3 days of the trip 2 days ago, and the Pop reservation allowed me to make ADRs for the rest of the trip this morning. Doing a split stay can put you at a disadvantage for ADRs on the end of your trip as you are delaying when you can start making ADRs for the later days of the trip by having more than 1 reservation.

Reserve Independent Restaurants Directly – There are many Non-Disney restaurants located on property, mostly in Disney Springs (and Downtown Disney) and some in the parks or hotels.

All of them take ADRs via the Disney Dining system, but many also accept reservations directly via phone or dedicated website or OpenTable.com. They may actually have availability even when Disney says they don’t, because they allocate a portion of their reservation slots to Disney and keep the rest for themselves. An advantage to booking directly or via OpenTable is that there is usually no credit-card guarantee or no-show fee to worry about.

Some restaurants may not start taking reservations at 60-days. They may ask you to call back later, sometimes as late as 2-4 weeks before arrival.

Book Directly

The following Disney World Restaurants can be found on OpenTable (subject to change…), Direct phone numbers  and sites noted:

Amare (Swan Reserve) swandolphin.com/dining/amare/
Big River Grille (Boardwalk)
The Boathouse (Disney Springs)
City Works Eatery (Disney Springs) (parties of 7 or more can call (617) 321-3170) cityworksrestaurant.com/locations/disneysprings-2/
The Edison (Disney Springs) (407) 560-WATT (9288) theedisonfla.com
Enzo’s Hideaway (Disney Springs) (407) 560-3696 patinagroup.com/enzos-hideaway
Flying Fish (BoardWalk)
Fresh Mediterranean Market (Dolphin)
Frontera Cocina (Disney Springs) (407) 560-9197
House of Blues (Disney Springs)
Il Mulino (Swan) (407) 934-1321 swandolphin.com/dining/il-mulino/
Jaleo by José Andrés (Disney Springs) (321) 348-3211 jaleo.com/location/jaleo-disney-springs/#reservations
Jiko (Animal Kingdom Lodge)
Maria & Enzo’s (Disney Springs) (407) 560-8466 patinagroup.com/maria-enzos
Morimoto Asia (Disney Springs) (407) 939-6686 morimotoasia.com
Paddlefish (Disney Springs)
Paradiso 37 (Disney Springs) (407) 934-3700 paradiso37.com
Planet Hollywood (Disney Springs)
Raglan Road (Disney Springs)
Shula’s Steak House (Dolphin) (407) 934-1362 swandolphin.com/dining/shulas-steak-house/
Splitsville Restaurant (Disney Springs)
STK Steakhouse (Disney Springs) (407) 917-7440 stksteakhouse.com/venues/orlando/
Terralina Crafted Italian (Disney Springs)
Todd English’s bluezoo (Dolphin) (407) 934-1111 swandolphin.com/dining/todd-englishs-bluezoo/
Toledo (Gran Destino Tower)
Wine Bar George (Disney Springs)
Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill (Disney Springs) (407) 815-2100

The following are not on OpenTable, but have  phone or web reservations

T-Rex (Disney Springs) (407) 828-TREX (8739) trexcafe.com
Kimonos (Swan) swandolphin.com/dining/kimonos/

The following Disneyland Restaurants can be found on OpenTable (subject to change…), Direct phone numbers  and sites noted:

Catal Restaurant (714) 774-4442 patinagroup.com/catal-restaurant
Naples Ristorante e Bar
Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen (714) 776-5200 rbjazzkitchen.com
Splitsville Dining Room splitsvillelanes.com/location/anaheim/

The following are not on OpenTable, but have  phone or web reservations

Ballast Point Brewing Co. ballastpoint.com/location/ballast-point-anaheim/

Disney Advance Dining Reservations FAQ

Here are all of my Advance Dining FAQs. Just click the arrow to see the answer.

When can you make advance dining reservations at Disney World?

Everyone can make Disney advance dining reservations 60-days prior to the desired date. Guests staying at a Disney owned-and-operated resort or the Shades of Green Resort may make Advance Dining Reservations for their entire stay (up to the first 10 days) 60 days prior to their check-in date.

What time do Disney advance dining reservations open?

Disney advance dining reservations open at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone for online and in app reservations. Disney advance dining reservations open at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone for phone reservations.

How early can you show up for a Disney dining reservation?

Disney recommends that you arrive 15 minutes prior to your advance dining reservation time.

How to get dining reservations at Disneyland?

Disney advance dining reservations for Disneyland can be made online at disneyland.com, via the Disneyland app, or by calling Disney Dining directly.

How many days in advance can you book dining at Disney?

The furthest in advance that you can make Disney advance dining reservations is 60-days prior to the desired date. Guests staying at a Disney owned-and-operated resort or the Shades of Green Resort may make Advance Dining Reservations for their entire stay (up to the first 10 days) 60 days prior to their check-in date.

How to make Disney advance dining reservations?

Disney advance dining reservations for the Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort can be made online at disneyland.com, via the Disneyland app, or by calling Disney Dining directly.

How far in advance cancel Disney dining reservations?

You may cancel Disney advance dining reservations immediately after making them if desired.

Is Disney planning on bringing back Dining Plan?

Disney has indicated that the Disney Dining Plan (DDP) will return once restaurant staffing and throughput levels return to normal.

Why hasn’t Disney brought back the Dining Plan?

Since reopening after the 2020 shutdown, All Disney World restaurants are short Staffed and operating at a lower volume than in the past. This is why the Disney Dining Plan has not returned and why the ADR window is still at the 60-day mark instead of the normal 180-day mark.

Is Disney bringing back more character dining?

Yes, most character dining has returned ot Disney World!

Wrap Up

Since the 2020 shutdown, Disney Advance Dining Reservations have been harder to obtain for popular and sometimes even less popular restaurants! I can’t wait for Disney to get a handle on their manning crisis and for things to return to normal.

I long for the return of the 180-day ADR!!! And not to have to make Theme Park Reservations!!!!!

So for now if you are planning on dining at a Table Service Restaurant in Disney’s Parks, a Disney Resort Hotel, or Disney’s entertainment areas, it’s best if you have an ADR, especially if you want to eat at a highly desired restaurant!

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