We are taking our first family Disney World holiday later this summer, and the Disney planning is in full swing in the O household, including booked our advanced dining reservations! Any Disney holiday takes serious planning, whether it’s the decision to stay on or off site, what characters you want to meet, or simply how long you want to stay, there is A LOT to think about!
If your a Disney holiday expert, then you’ll be sure to know what ADR (Advanced dining reservations) is all about. However, if you are a Disney novice, then you may need some clarification…
When staying onsite at Walt Disney World, you get the opportunity to opt in for a Disney Dining Plan (DDP). For us, we took the option of opting in for this, as we received FREE dining when booking our Disney holiday. Depending on what level of resort you stay at will determine what FREE dining plan you’ll receive. (value, moderate and deluxe) As we are staying at a moderate resort, we received the quick service dining plan. However, there is an option to upgrade your dining plan, which we did for an additional cost.
If you do decide to go for the Disney Dining plan whilst staying onsite at Disney World, then you’ll be given the opportunity to prebook your restaurants. You can make your advanced dining reservations at any table service restaurant within Disney World 180 days in advance – that’s crazy huh!?
Some of you may be thinking – how will I know where and when to dine so far in advance?! Of course, you do not have to make these ADR’s if you wish not to. The option is simply there for you to take advantage off. Disney World restaurants are extremely popular and can get booked well in advance. So this is simply an extra perk to staying on Disney property. These reservations are secured by a debit card, however you can cancel or modify your bookings up to 24 hours. There is then a possibility that you could be charged $10 per person.
As soon as we hit 180 days prior to our Disney holiday, we made our dining reservations! Disney will release the first 10 days of your holiday for you to get booking! If you are staying longer than 10 days, then you can book your dining each day after the 180 day mark. For example, day 11 of your holiday you can make a dining reservation on day 179 prior to your holiday, and so forth.
There are three ways to book your dining reservations.
Simply download your MyDisney Experience App and log into your account (you’ll receive a booking reference etc when booking your holiday) you’ll holiday will then be linked onto the App, and you’ll be able to do many things on here. You can:
Via the app, you will be able to book your ADR’s. Within the booking reservations tab, open the calendar and chose your date, time and restaurant. You’ll then be given a time or similar time to that of your request, which you can then chose to book or not.
Simply log into your account via the My Disney Experience website and follow the instructions as above!
If you prefer to speak to a Disney cast member, then simply call from the UK on 0800 16 90 730 to book your Disney World dining reservations. We actually chose this option as both the app and the website had not released our dates yet despite it being 180 days until our Disney holiday. (I was told this can happen!) This was very easy to do and the cast member was so helpful. It’s also handy to know that by calling, means you can book additional extras too such as Disney tours, Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and event tickets such as Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party at the same time (which is what we did!)
It took many weeks to create a Disney dining itinerary, but it was so much fun doing so! We used a spread sheet, inspired by Charlotte Ruff which helped – A LOT! Some of the table service restaurants we have included are Character breakfasts, a Disney Princess meal inside the castle, and even a meal with a T-Rex!
Dining at Disney is just as much a big deal as being on the rides and meeting characters. Each restaurant is an experience in itself and I cannot wait to share that as a family.
What do to think of the disney dining plan at Walt Disney World?
Thanks for reading xxx
Hi and welcome to The Willow Tree. I’m Michelle, also known as Shel and I am a mama to three beautiful crazy kids – I have two handsome boys and a wild and wonderful girl.
I really wanted a concrete place to share my love for travel, in particular Disney and offer my readers a chance to gain some knowledge around what we love to do as a family of 5.
I share our family adventures which include days out, travel advice and tips, holiday reviews, restaurant visits and of course, our love for Disney, including Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World.
Life is about creating memories, and here we are sharing them with you
xoxo
Some great tips there!