Hardest Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) at Disney World
Many Walt Disney World restaurants are hotly in demand, with reservations being incredibly difficult to book if you aren’t up early 60+ days in advance. This post covers the ADRs that are the toughest to score, why that’s the case and how it might change, plus alternatives if you can’t score the toughest spots. (Updated April 14, 2024.)
Before we get to our list, we should probably offer some basics on Advance Dining Reservations at Walt Disney World beyond just “make them.” Conventional wisdom is that you should book ADRs as early as possible, either via the My Disney Experience app or DisneyWorld.com.
Although it’s gotten slightly easier to book in recent months, there are some tough ones–especially for larger parties. You’ll still need to make reservations early or luck-out last minute. See our Guide to Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) at Walt Disney World for tips & tricks to score elusive ADRs, info about the 60+10 rule, and more.
Speaking of which, that 60+10 rule is pretty important here. Anyone can make ADRs 60 days in advance. If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World on-site resort hotel, this means you can book 60 days prior to your arrival date and make ADRs for up to the first 10 days of your trip. For some of the restaurants on this list, that +10 is essential, as ADRs are often fully booked by the 60 day mark, meaning off-site guests don’t even have a chance at them unless there are cancellations.
Most people don’t know where they want to eat 60 days in advance, and this problem is compounded by the fact that Walt Disney World almost never releases final park hours 60 days in advance. If you find yourself faced with this problem, the good news is that you’re not alone–cancellations, more ADR inventory being released, and Walk-Up Waitlist all are great options for snagging relatively last-minute tables. Recommendations for all of that are laid out in the above-mentioned ADR Guide for WDW.
Despite the existence of this post, we rarely make more than a couple of Advance Dining Reservations before each Walt Disney World trip. In part this is because we tend to travel more at the last minute now, and in part this is because booking same-day ADRs or scoring walk-up availability is easier than ever.
Then there’s the final part–that we now have a baby. She’s going to set a lot of the schedule and pace, so we don’t want to arrive with a rigid plan that we have to throw out the window. We’ve seen unrealistic expectations ruining trips for a lot of families when things inevitably don’t go according to the plan. So we’ve decided to set super low expectations and bare minimum planning.
For us, it’s a more pleasant experience to roll with the punches and be flexible in where we are willing to dine than determine our entire schedule months in advance and have our day be beholden to those plans–or “fail” at following through on those plans. There are a lot of restaurants we really enjoy in each park, and usually a few of them have same-day options.
Your mileage may vary on that, though. If you’re a first-timer to Walt Disney World and are doing a once-in-a-lifetime trip, your circumstances are certainly different than ours. We share this simply because there are multiple perspectives on planning your dining at Walt Disney World.
The vast majority of other sites out there certain a sense of urgency about scoring the most coveted ADRs and stress the importance of planning in advance. As a Walt Disney World planning resource, it behooves websites like this one to encourage people to plan. Us telling you to sometimes ‘wing it’ might be a bit self-defeating, but it’s honest. We feel planning is essential in some circumstances, but mixing planning with spontaneity makes for a healthy and balanced approach.
As one final note before we get going, both the Disney Dining Plan and Free Dining impact Advance Dining Reservations. We already know the impact of the Disney Dining Plan, as it’s now available and has already caused some changes in demand since its return in 2024 as compared to last year.
Free Dining is still a wildcard, but we’re expecting it to be even more impactful, as (statistically speaking) a higher percentage of guests will be using the Disney Dining Plan once Free Dining ‘season’ starts. Back in the good ‘ole days (2019 and earlier), Free Dining had a massive impact on both ADR availability and what got booked.
That always happens and, before you ask, it is not a sign that crowds will be high. It’s typically pretty localized to restaurants. (This was the case even in August and September 2019, when the parks were largely quiet but table service restaurants were packed.)
Anyway, we’ve digressed from the point, so let’s cut to the chase–the tough ADRs that you will want to book as far in advance as possible, plus alternatives if those are fully booked…
California Grill – This Signature Restaurant enjoyed a resurgence a few years ago thanks to improved menu quality plus a convenient location near Magic Kingdom plus a pretty fly location with great fireworks views. California Grill still has those last two things, but demand has fallen sharply for a number of reasons.
The big one is its move to a prix fixe menu, which was popular at first–but the novelty has worn off. It also takes California Grill off the table for those who want to order smaller portions or dine in any way inconsistent with the set menu. Finally, California Grill isn’t on the Disney Dining Plan at all, and very few restaurants can sustain popularity without that. It’ll be interesting to see if popularity falls further and California Grill gets another menu overhaul or starts accepting the DDP in 2025.
Alternatives to California Grill would be pretty much any other Signature Restaurant. In terms of location, Citricos and Narcoossee’s are logical choices. In terms of cuisine and quality, Jiko or Flying Fish are the best fits. Under the same roof, Steakhouse 71 is a great option, but it’s in the “basement” of the Contemporary rather than the rooftop.
Dinner at Teppan Edo – This is the teppanyaki-style steakhouse in the Japan pavilion of World Showcase at EPCOT. Teppan Edo is located on the second floor of the the Mitsukoshi Department Store adjacent to Shiki-Sai: Sushi Izakaya (formerly Tokyo Dining).
Teppan Edo has been one of the best objective values on the Disney Dining Plan for years, and it claims the #1 spot on our List of the 10 Best Uses of Table Service Disney Dining Plan in 2024. That alone probably helps explain its surge in popularity. Interestingly, though, Teppan Edo is a much easier ADR for lunch when it serves the same menu.
Teppan Edo does not offer a fireworks view, so that doesn’t explain the dinner rush. Unless people are confused about the (lack of) view. Given that I just overheard a group of teenage boys on the monorail debating which of Magic Kingdom’s “most intense” roller coasters to ride first, TRON Lightcycle Run or Barnstormer, I’d say that’s a distinct possibility.
Regardless, the best alternative to Teppan Edo at dinner is…Teppan Edo at lunch. That’s arguably the better option, anyway, so you can be outdoors in the evening when it’s cooler and World Showcase comes alive. Just graze from festival kiosks for dinner.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant – This is another one was almost impossible (especially for the “wrong” party sizes) for a few years, but now almost falls off the list. Nevertheless, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant can be difficult to book, especially for larger parties.
We’ve found that Sci-Fi Dine-In is easiest 60+ days in advance or at the last-minute. Now that the new restaurant smell has worn off Toy Story Roundup Rodeo BBQ, this is the toughest ADR in the park. (It’s also worth noting that Sci-Fi routinely overbooks, so the wait to be seated can be lengthy.) As for alternatives, the aforementioned Roundup Rodeo or 50’s Prime Time Cafe are your best options.
Breakfast at Crystal Palace – As a general rule, character breakfasts are more difficult to book than their lunch and dinner counterparts. This is interesting but not totally surprising. Breakfast is usually cheaper and has less ADR inventory, but offers worse bang for buck on the Disney Dining Plan.
Crystal Palace is not a difficult ADR for lunch or dinner. At all. But breakfast is a different story, especially for later seatings that bleed into lunch. Still, if you book early…or even wait until the last minute (Crystal Palace tends to have solid Walk-Up Waitlist availability)…you shouldn’t have too much trouble here.
‘Ohana – As the world’s first Irish-Hawaiian fusion concept, it’s understandable that ‘Ohana is so popular (their Boiled Cabbage and Pineapple Upside Down Cake is to die for!). Joking aside, Walt Disney World fans have come to love ‘Ohana thanks to its good fun, jovial atmosphere, and tasty Polynesian cuisine. This is especially true for dinner, but breakfast is also popular.
Alternatives include Sebastian’s Bistro (our favorite!), Liberty Tree Tavern, Boma, Garden Grill, or Cape May Cafe. Each of these offer a slice of the ‘Ohana experience, but none is a direct analogue. ‘Ohana is something of a lightning in a bottle experience, and it’s impossible for other restaurants to replicate that completely. If you’re unable to get dinner, you might consider “settling” for breakfast at ‘Ohana. We think dinner has by far the best food, but breakfast has characters and a decent slate of food (by Walt Disney World breakfast standards).
Breakfast at Topolino’s Terrace – Flavors of the Riviera – Topolino’s Terrace is basically two different restaurants, both of which are quite popular. For dinner, it’s a Signature Restaurant with a high-end meal that makes for a perfect date night. Although we’ve done ‘date morning’ meals at Breakfast à la Art with Mickey & Friends, it is obviously different by virtue of being a character meal.
Breakfast à la Art with Mickey & Friends is very popular because it’s higher end than Chef Mickey’s or Cape May Cafe (alternatives, I guess) and unlike the equally high-end dinner at Artist Point (another alternative) it features Mickey & Friends…and it’s breakfast. There’s also the fact that Breakfast à la Art with Mickey & Friends is only 1-credit on the Disney Dining Plan (for now), at a time when many premium character dining experiences are shifting to 2-credits.
Breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table – This one has been on the list of most difficult Walt Disney World ADRs for ages. Long before I started covering Disney–possibly since I was in diapers. (Don’t Google “Howie’s Angels” unless you want to go down a fascinating-but-weird rabbit hole!)
While lunch and dinner have eased up a bit, breakfast is still incredibly difficult. This is probably in part because breakfast is ~$15 per person cheaper and because there are fewer breakfast spots than lunch and dinner (which are one in the same). To each their own, but we’re big fans of dinner here and think it’s arguably “worth it” (air quotes because you can’t really put a price on dining with royalty inside their castle, but if you could, ~$100/adult seems fair-ish).
Space 220 Restaurant – This one has managed to defy the odds, continuing to orbit above the competition. The trajectory here is similar to California Grill, except that it opened with a prix fixe menu a few years ago rather than being an existing venue with a redone menu. Space 220 Restaurant also does not accept the Disney Dining Plan and also has received more mixed reviews recently.
For our part, we’re big Space 220 fans. As a complete package experience–theme, cuisine, service, etc–it’s out of this world. We’re also admittedly surprised that at its enduring stratospheric popularity. The new restaurant smell hasn’t worn off, and there’s not really any sign that Space 220 will “need” to make changes in 2025 or move to the Disney Dining Plan. Maybe this summer and fall’s Free Dining ‘season’ will do the trick?
As for alternatives, the very obvious one is Coral Reef–like Space 220, but under (real) water. That’s much easier to book, unique in its own way, but not quite as good.
Brunch at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ – This has become my white whale. I’ve been trying to book brunch at Homecomin’ ever since we last did it a few years ago, because I “need” to try a couple more things before publishing my review. (A great excuse for pigging out further, albeit one I think Sarah sees through.) My effort level hasn’t been that high…but there was a time when I was looking every single weekend while we lived in Florida.
Brunch at Homecomin’s popularity is essentially a math problem. It’s only available on Saturdays and Sundays from 9:30am until 1pm. That alone means a far smaller pool of ADRs than just about any other restaurant on this list. Add to that its cult following among locals and (probably?) sometime WDW diehards, and Brunch at Homecomin’ is exceedingly difficult to book.
All of that is probably a spoiler for our full review, coming at a date TBD, which is that Brunch at Homecomin’ is pretty pretty pretty good. As for alternatives, try Olivia’s Cafe at Old Key West or Grand Floridian Cafe at Grand Floridian–both of which serve glorious fried chicken that’s on par with Homecomin’.
Dinner at 1900 Park Fare – This is a tricky one since 1900 Park Fare just reopened after a multi-year closure. As we’ve seen with every character restaurant that has had a delayed return, there’s been a combination of pent-up demand for that venue and initial capacity constraints as the locations staff up and hit their stride. There’s undoubtedly some degree of that with 1900 Park Fare, too.
However, this restaurant has also been reimagined in a way that hasn’t happened with other character dining experiences, leading us to conclude that it probably has more longevity. At minimum, its “new meal smell” will sustain bookings through its first few months at which point Free Dining demand will takeover and carry it through the rest of the year. But we’re expecting 1900 Park Fare to be a hot ticket well into 2025, and perhaps beyond.
For reference, 1900 Park Fare ADRs were never this challenging pre-closure. It was middle of the pack, often having relatively last minute availability. Our gut says that the character changes, unpopular as they are with diehards, have given 1900 Park Fare wider appeal. Still, it’s not iconic like several other Walt Disney World character dining experiences, so we eventually expect 1900 Park Fare to drop off this list.
Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare – This is listed separately because breakfast at 1900 Park Fare is markedly more difficult to book than dinner. At the 60 mark, I can find a variety of options for dinner. By contrast, I cannot find anything for breakfast–not even a single table–without having the 60+10 advantage. It’s a big difference, but consistent with what we’ve seen for other breakfast vs. dinner character dining spreads.
With that said, we do wonder if Free Dining season will flip the script. While both are good uses of Disney Dining Plan credits, dinner is top tier. If fewer guests are paying out-of-pocket and instead using DDP credits, it stands to reason that more would opt for the pricier meal. But we shall see.
Alternatives to 1900 Park Fare include Story Book Dining at Artist Point, Cinderella’s Royal Table, and Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.
Space 220 Lounge – This is listed separately from Space 220 Restaurant because it is, technically, a different option. Not only is it a distinct ADR, but it’s also much more difficult to book. This is another white whale for me. We did the Space 220 Lounge a couple of times when it first opened, but have been shut out ever since. (I could’ve done it via walk-up a few times, but that meant sitting at the actual bar with no view into outer space.)
Space 220 Lounge is such a difficult ADR for two reasons (above and beyond regular Space 220 Restaurant): supply and that it offers an a la carte menu that can be cheaper. With far fewer tables and the chance to dine in space on a dime, its popularity is sky-high. Also, I personally prefer the view from these seats, but I really don’t think others are taking my personal preferences into account when booking the lounge versus the restaurant.
Victoria & Albert’s – Chef’s Table goes very quickly, in large part because of limited supply: it’s an intimate experience with only one seating per night. The main dining room is easier since there are more tables, but it still can be a big challenge because of scarcity.
Victoria & Albert’s winning accolade after accolade probably doesn’t hurt with demand, either. This is one of the few Walt Disney World restaurants that is elite by real world standards, likely making it appealing to Four Seasons, Golden Oak, etc. guests looking for a sophisticated dining experience.
Unfortunately, there is no suitable alternative to Victoria & Albert’s. The closest you’ll probably get is Monsieur Paul in the France pavilion or Takumi-Tei in Japan. There’s also Capa or Ravello at Four Seasons Orlando or Bull & Bear at Waldorf Astoria Orlando. Maybe a few other third party options I’m forgetting.
No Longer or Not Currently Difficult ADRs
Be Our Guest Restaurant – Ever since Be Our Guest Restaurant moved to a Signature prix fixe three-course lunch and dinner menu, which requires 2 credits on the Disney Dining Plan, its popularity has dropped off. ‘Forcing’ guests to use 2-credits from the Disney Dining Plan or pay for an expensive meal out of pocket has discouraged many guests from doing Be Our Guest Restaurant. It also hasn’t helped that the tides have turned and guest sentiment is now largely negative towards it.
We’re keeping Be Our Guest Restaurant here because we could see that changing. It feels like something’s gotta give. Its menu, DDP status, meal services–something. It’s rare for any restaurant to go from that popular to being mid-tier, but that’s more or less what happened here.
Dinner alternatives include Skipper Canteen if you want a fun themed environment, or Akershus and Cinderella’s Royal Table if you want a dining in a royal environment experience. The latter two restaurants are also difficult to book and are pricey, so that may not be much help.
Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast – Trattoria al Forno at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn is no longer a difficult ADR because the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast is still (temporarily?) suspended. It actually boggles my mind that it hasn’t returned, which I previously attributed to a princess shortage. Now…I dunno? Maybe they’ve discovered tables turn over much faster without characters?
At some point, Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast is probably going to return. Or a new character dining concept will debut here. If and when that happens, it’s sure to be one of the hottest tickets again, just as it was before.
Lunch and Dinner at Akershus – This princess meal in the Norway pavilion at EPCOT has lost a lot of its luster since moving to 2-credits on the Disney Dining Plan for lunch and dinner. Prior to that, it was the #1 value on the Disney Dining Plan, and quite popular as a result. The 1-credit breakfast is still reasonably popular, but not impossibly so.
While we’re on the topic of character dining that recently became 2-credits, we should note that Storybook Dining at Artist Point is borderline. It has dropped off a lot in the last year, but it’s still far from easy to book–especially for larger parties. And we wouldn’t be surprised to see it make this list during Free Dining when families have credits to burn and don’t really care about the one vs. two credit value proposition, since it was a “free” (air quotes) Disney Dining Plan, anyway. However, it’s still too early to tell whether this will be a highly coveted ADR, or if it will settle into more modest popularity.
Alternatives include Garden Grill if you want an EPCOT character fix (with better food, in my estimation) or Cinderella’s Royal Table in Magic Kingdom. Even though the latter is more expensive, we think it’s the better character meal. Plus, who can exist dining inside Cinderella Castle?!
Restaurants that didn’t make the cut but that can be fairly difficult include Beaches & Cream, Via Napoli, Rose & Crown, Minnie’s Seasonal Dining (especially during Free Dining), pretty much all other character meals during Free Dining, and most special options like the Candlelight Processional Dining Package or the Fantasmic Dining Package.
A few others that have been historically difficult include Le Cellier, Crystal Palace, and Chef Mickey’s. More recently due to price increases or policy changes, I’d say these restaurants have become much easier to book. That doesn’t mean they’re downright easy, but gone are the days of these being must-book dining options 60 days out.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Which Walt Disney World restaurants do you think are the most difficult to book? Do you agree or disagree with our list? Any tough ADRs we didn’t mention? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Two things to try if making the 180 day ADR didn’t work out (aside from planning, which is best of all!):
1. Internet stalking: I’ve gotten “lucky” so many times just checking for ADR’s fastpasses randomly through the day. I’ve even spent five minutes every few hours and scored flight of passage FP+ and ‘Ohana reservations. A little luck + persistence.
2a. Call Disney dining. Sometimes things will pop up on their screen that are not showing on yours.
2b. If you are staying on a concierge level floor, they can frequently help get you in.
Are you typically just booking ADRs for the 2 of you? I would think it’s a lot easier to get last minute reservations as a smaller party. As a larger family, I’ve not had much luck scoring last minute reservations!
I just booked my ADRs and noticed that even if park hours are not posted for your whole trip, you could book an in park restaurant and once you do, that park posts with the hours to your mydisneyexperience itinerary. So if you are looking for park hours, you could play around with the reservations until you find which park has magic hours. I was able to get all of the reservations I wanted for our trip, albeit I woke up super early and logged in at 180 days, 6 am est. Thanks to all of Tom’s suggestions, I booked Artist Point, Ohana, 1900 Park Fare, Cape May, Be Our Guest, Tusker House ROL, Hollywood and Vine F! And Boma!! So excited to eat my face off!!!!! Thank you, Tom!
There’s no way to take advantage of the 10 days if you want to wait for the Free dining, is there? Because Disney don’t release free dining more than 180 days in advance.
Hi Cinthia, this would not be true. We have our free dining package booked already for Aug. 19th-28th and actually have to wait until Feb 20th which is the 180 day mark for us. 🙂 Cheers!
Hi, we have the middle of line dinning plan. We have 2 snacks a day, 1 Entree or Nuffet sit down and 1 quick service Meal daily.
If we book a dinner, it’s covered at our restaurant perfect? We Aren’t paying out of pocket for anything?
I need to add, it’s our first visit to Disney.
Veronica, if you’re on the basic dining plan (one table service/day), the gratuity will be out of pocket. Also, one alcoholic beverage is included but if you have more than one, that too will be out of pocket. Hope this information helps, and hope you and your family have a great first visit. Don’t forget to get your First Visit buttons to wear to the parks (they’re free).
Hi Barbara, we are first timers, so would like a button / badge! Where can you get these, please. Thanks!
Dave Todd, you can request First Visit (or any celebratory) pins when you check in to your hotel, or at Guest Relations at the theme parks or Disney Springs. Ask any cast member and they will direct you to the nearest Guest Relations. Have a magical trip.
Hi Veronica, the only thing you will need to watch for are how many dining credits the restaurant you want to eat at takes (some require two credits and may not be worth it) and also will require payment of tips. Parties of 6 or people (including infants) require a mandatory 18% gratuity!.. Cheers! 😉
I would kill (not literally obviously) to be able to secure an Ohana reservation. I’m one of the distance challenged folks who travels to WDW from Australia. I stay on site so I can get all the perks like early bookings but this particular booking is too darn elusive. Oh well, at least I got to go to Be Our Guest for lunch on my last visit in 2017 and, I ordered and paid for my meal prior to arrival which saw me take the ‘short-cut’ straight to my table with no standing in line. I highly recommend doing that.
If you could all keep your fingers crossed for Ohana for me on our next trip in 2021, that’d be much appreciated 😉
Hi Deb G! My family went to WDW for 2 days on a total whim for New Years. We had no reservations anywhere. We were able to get a breakfast reservation at 7:45am at O’hana for 2 days later on New Year’s Eve for a party of 5!!! When you get to WDW and get all checked in, I would definitely call the Dining number to see if there is any availability! You might get thrown some “pixie dust” your way! Good luck!! 🙂
Not only that but go to your front desk after check in and ask them for help, the Cast Members will literally do ANYTHING to make sure you are having a great time.
How are you able to book dining 10 days before the 180 days. We are staying on property and tried and couldn’t book. Our arrive date is December 1st
It’s not that you can book 190 days…it’s just that you can book for your entire stay at 180 days…the first day being 180 days out:)
I am not sure same day or walk up reservations are realistic for families (we are 6)-maybe it is easier than ever because you are just 2 people-would love to hear your take on this
Was there in November (9 of us). We had made several ADRs but a few we couldn’t get due to fastpass conflicts. We were able to walk up to 50s Prime Time without a reservation and were seated within 15 minutes. It is possible if you try. Also, had made a reservation for Coral Reef and they weren’t able to sit us all together so made two separate reservations, 5 min apart. Once we checked in they saw that we were together and the awesome hostess was able to get us all together at one table. We were all appreciative. BTW we did Ohana breakfast for the first time and absolutely loved it! My daughter got to meet her favorite character, Stitch, and I was able to get a very memorable picture of my parents with Mickey. Food was delicious and there was plenty of it. Atmosphere was nice, not your typical buffet style breakfast–they bring the food to you!! We had made an ADR for this place and will definitely do it again.
What time do reservations open?
We are going to in late November and Memorial day was our 180 mark, so I set my alarm for 5:30am. I got up made coffee and then sat down at the computer. I was able to make reservations at Be our guest, O’hana for dinner, Coral Reef for lunch, Bon Voyage breakfast, Morimoto for lunch, Tusker House, Tiffins and Princess dinner at Akershus hall. But I was most proud of the breakfast at Cinderella’s castle before the park opens!!!!!
That’s amazing! Question, in what order did you book those restaurants?! I’m interested in Tusker, Cinderella’s, Be Our Guest, Ohana or Garden Grill, etc. Thank you!
I would book them in most wanted by you, then most popular with others order… for instance I made a BBB and then CRT table reservation first, then BOG dinner, Trattoria breakfast, California grill, arkeshus. Then booked ‘lesser’ restaurants like tusker house, BOG breakfast, coral reef etc after as they aren’t as popular and I wouldn’t be as disappointed if we missed out on these
I didn’t find Bon Voyage Adventure breakfast hard to book — I was finding reservations for it easily at 3 months out, 2 months, 2 weeks, 1 week, week of, etc. These were all for 2 guests, so you and Sarah should be able to find something if you’re flexible on day and time.
On our last trip we finally kept a reservation and went. The food was competent, but forgettable. It was, for me, the epitome of internet hype + artificial scarcity, as there was nothing objectively special about this character experience other than meeting Flynn/Eric (which we didn’t care about, but recognize they’re supposedly rare characters and that is why people book this). Glad to have tried it to see what the deal was, but imo it was hardly above other character breakfasts.
I agree on all the restaurants !! So difficult to book these. I will be there in October and I was finally able to book a ressie for dinner at BOG.. I believe I got the very last reservation ! Anxious to try out the new prix-fixe meal … I have eaten breakfast there and don’t think I will do that again. Food was cold and we had to find a table,get our silverware, and our drinks. I know it was considered a counter service meal but we wondered around forever before we found a table. I didn’t like that at all. But looking forward to dinner there !
I understand that in the past years guests were able to book 10 days out from their arrival date, but now Disney has me limited to the just the days of my trip, 5 nights – 6 days. So I can book 6 days of dining reservations not 10 as it used to be. this was disappointing, when not leaving Disney right away. I have checked this several days now, to be sure.
We once planned an entire trip around the first ADR I could find for Ohana, and it was exactly 180 days away on a Sunday at 4 pm. We have a tendency to work backwards from ADRs and fill in hotels and fast passes later! Our first stay at POFQ was because my fella wanted to eat at The Boathouse at Disney Springs, and I saw there was a boat to take us there and thought that sounded nice. Now it’s our favorite resort!
We got a breakfast reservation at Trattoria al Forno for our Spring Break trip. I have a family full of picky eaters so we knew that we were only going to order pancakes. But Flynn Rider wasn’t there that day. I know this is possible but we only booked this reservation to meet him, since we weren’t interested in the food selection. Plus our bill was just over $100 for 2 adult orders and 1 child order of pancake.
We just returned from a rainy week in Disney World. We were totally disappointed by BOG! We had a lunch reservation. Arrived on time and waited in a long, hot, wet line. Once inside, the ordering process is via touch screen. At least two of the screens were out of order! Other patrons were unfamiliar with the technology and had a hard time ordering as they all gather around the terminal. Once inside: ambiance is non-existent, food is awful, the west wing is nothing special, and the server told us our rose “did nuthin’.” A completely disappointing experience. Do not waste your time, energy or money on BOG.
I have been saying just this for ages. A complete disappointment and waste of time and money!
If you are going PRE BOOK YOUR MEAL we were straight in while everyone else had to wait in a long queue. There are 3 rooms to dine so have a look around before seating.
Last trip we did dinner at Akershus and 1900 Park Fare (character meal buffets, huge hit with 5 and 8 years old kids, good food for a buffet). Really worth it (we had the free dining plan). Be our guest for breakfast is a really good idea (we arrived early and did rides with no line up at the opening of Magic Kingdom). We also tried Sanaa (at Animal Kingdom Lodge) where food was excellent. We booked most of the restaurants 4 to 6 months prior to our visit, but ended up changing the time of our reservations when better dinner hours became available (if you look often on Disney reservation site, early in the morning, you will probably be lucky). Food was an important part of the Disney experience for us.
I am confused by the 180 +10 days to make dining. I just booked my trip for dec 2 and they told me I could make my dining in June 5th which is only 180 days prior. And we are staying on the property..
That means at the 180 day mark, you can book your first day and the next 10 days of your trip. If you were staying off-site, you could only book at 180 days. Each day of your trip would open up one day at a time.
Tara, if you are staying on site you could make your dinner reservations for up to 10 days of your vacation on June 5th. If staying off site you could only book one days worth of meals and then next day you would be able to book the second day of your vacation, etc. So basically if you stay offsite you can only make a single days worth of reservations instead of 10 days worth of ADR’s. Does that make sense?
I am not an ARD hoarder per-say, but I do tend to make some that I am a little iffy on, then cancel as soon as I make a definite decision, but only one or two in a week’s trip and usually I cancel within a few weeks of making them. I am a rope drop person, so for breakfast, unless I can get a very early pre-park breakfast I don’t want it – however I have had very good luck modifying my times as I get closer. For example I got an 8:45 reservation at Garden Grill at 170 days out – since I decided after the 180 that I was going – this time is later than I want to go, but then a few weeks later I modified to 8:20. I need it just a little bit earlier so it is possible that I will cancel right before I go unless I change it but I just keep checking. I have managed to go to BOG between 8:05 & 8:15 the last 3 times I have been so I am hopeful I will have good luck this time too. I haven’t tried BOG for dinner, but mainly because we usually go back to the hotel in the afternoon, then eat at the hotel before going back to the park. I was thinking about trying this trip, but the menu will have changed when I go in Sept & the new menu is not anything I am interested in :), so I don’t think that is going to be in the cards for me even if I managed to get the reservation lol
The primary focus of our November 2018 trip is not food, but I did want to try ‘Ohana and BOG…just like everyone else! Nothing available, but I did go ahead and make an account at Touring Plans and set up two reservation finders. Thanks!
Will a dinner reservation will be extra hard to get at BOG during November/December because of the Mickey Christmas thing? Won’t the restaurant closes at 6, along with general admission the park, on the days when the party is held?