Multi-Day Advance Dining Reservation Search Debuts for Disney World

Disney has announced more upgrades to the Advance Dining Reservations systems at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, which will simplify and improve the search for restaurant availability. Here we’ll share the news and offer commentary about these updates, and the potential impact on ADR availability. (Updated March 11, 2024.)

This is actually the third or fourth round of modernizations to the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps (and websites) aimed at streamlining the Advance Dining Reservation (ADR) booking process. And you know what? They’ve been fantastic.

This site is often critical of Disney IT or skeptical that things will go smoothly, but I can’t think of a single complaint about the ADR app changes of the last year-plus. They’ve been great. We have spent far less time doing the whole dance–searching, refreshing, rechecking, and so forth.

Part of the reason we’re wasting less time searching for ADRs is because availability has improved and reservations are now less competitive than they were from late 2021 until early 2023 during the height of pent-up demand, staffing shortages, and reduced restaurant capacity. ADR availability has been improving for a while.

We were worried that trend would reverse with the return of the Disney Dining Plan in 2024, but thus far, that has not been the case. My sneaking suspicion is that, after major price increases for adults and removal of two tiers, the paid version of the DDP is less popular than it was before. Or it could just be that table service restaurants aren’t as popular in the winter and things will change come Spring Break.

At the very least, we’re expecting far less availability during Free Dining. 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.)

The extent of the restaurant options we’ve been seeing is pretty remarkable. Restaurants like Chef Mickey’s, Story Book Dining at Artist Point, Akershus, Cinderella’s Royal Table, Topolino’s Terrace, California Grill, Space 220, and others all have had availability for many travel dates in 2024. Of course, this still varies by party size and seating time. If you’re trying to find a table for 6 at Story Book Dining, you’re still going to have a tough time. Another tough one has been 1900 Park Fare, but that’s always the case with a new-look character meal.

The other reason finding ADRs has been is easier is the already streamlined search feature, which now makes it possible to find ADRs for the entire day. Not only is search simpler, but it’s smoother. In the past, we found ourselves having to toy around with our times to try to get seemingly “hidden” results to display–searching by half-hour instead of by meal service and so forth.

I “joked” before that The Algorithm™️ used to display the 3 least desirable times when displaying only a few results at a time. If we had zero experience with Disney IT, we’d say this was a clever move to redistribute demand throughout the day at less busy times. But we do have experience with Disney IT, so we knew it was accidental or coincidental.

That’s not a problem at all anymore–what you see is what you get. You can now see all available reservation time slots at a restaurant for the entire day on DisneyWorld.com, Disneyland.com, and the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps. Reservations are sorted by breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, so you can easily choose a time based on the menu you’d like to enjoy. We simply search all-day and go from there.

That alone makes finding Advance Dining Reservations for popular restaurants much easier. Of course, nothing with Walt Disney World vacation planning is truly simple, so there’s still a good chance you’ll need tips & tricks to find those tough ADRs. But this definitely makes it a lot easier for the ‘borderline’ restaurants that are somewhat but not super popular. Well, more changes of this nature are on the horizon!

In its announcement, Disney indicates that the company has “continued to listen to your feedback” and is making improvements and updates you won’t want to miss for things like making and viewing dining reservations, mobile ordering and more.  Here’s how to get the most out of your next visit:

Later in March 2024, you will also be able to see dining availability for MULTIPLE days at a time. With a single search, you can view available dining reservations for any given restaurant for up to 10 days at a time. It will make scheduling dining reservations for your entire vacation much easier!

While I don’t think this is as much of a game-changer as the all-day search improvement was, this upgrade should be pretty close. At this point, the most time-consuming part of booking ADRs for us is checking day-by-day. It probably won’t be as meaningful for others who decide upon their park days first and then make restaurant reservations based on where they’ll be, but we often do the opposite: ADRs first, then everything else.

This exact scenario just came up with 1900 Park Fare, as we found ourselves scrambling to check different days quickly, before the scarce slots filled up. This feature would’ve made that much easier and less stressful. I assume the 60+10 ADR planners out there will love it!

March 11, 2024 Update: This feature has now debuted in the My Disney Experience app and on Disneyworld.com. Here’s a runthrough of how it works both in-app and on the website.

How dates are displayed depends upon whether you’re searching for a specific restaurant or checking ADR availability at a higher level, for all of Walt Disney World. Above is the high-level flow.

You start by performing a standard single-day search, which will return results for that day at all available restaurants. From there, click on the “Check Availability for Multiple Days” option at a specific restaurant. For this example, we’re using California Grill since it’s a relatively difficult ADR.

After selecting that, we now have the option for a date range. We’ll pick the peak week of Easter, a popular time for ADRs. As you can see, it’s slim pickins. There was a time when we would’ve loved that last seating, booking it even when other options were open. Sadly, that time has passed for us.

Alternatively, you can go to a specific restaurant page and the multi-day view will be displayed by default. This works the same whether you’re using the MDX app or the website.

For this example, we’ll use another coveted ADR: Story Book Dining at Artist Point. However, we’ll move to a later set of dates–early May 2024. Spoiler alert: this makes finding ADR options much easier…

Easier, but still not downright easy. Several of these days either have the first or last seating.

I can get not wanting the last seating. Either because it’s risky trying to keep your kids up that late or because you want to be back in Magic Kingdom (or elsewhere) for fireworks. But the first seating? That’s pure gold!

Even before, we were last or first seating people, and the reason for that range is because those are the best times at any Walt Disney World restaurant. That’s doubly true at character meals, where you’ll often get more attention as fewer tables are full (which is the case at the beginning or end of the night).

Not only that, but kids should be wide awake at ~4pm! You’re also getting out of the parks at a time that’s still hot and busy, and will be back by nightfall for fireworks, cooler weather, and calmer crowds. Moving dinner forward also means shifting lunch earlier, which is a savvy strategy. And if you’re like me, it also opens the door to Fourth Meal–a great excuse for Casey’s Corner (or something else) at the end of the night. (Maybe I haven’t been singing the praises of this “strategy” enough?) But anyway, not the point of this post…

Here’s another popular restaurant where this type of search yields no results. Same story at Space 220 restaurant or lounge, which is another hot ticket ADR.

Speaking of hot tickets, this multi-day search feature also works on the page level for other individual offerings, including but not limited to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Savi’s Workshop for Handbuilt Lightsabers, dessert parties, and more.

From my perspective, the individual location pages (not the higher level) for these coveted reservations is going to be where the multi-day search will be most handy. If I have a list of must-do restaurants, I start with a tentative day-by-day park schedule and see if my ADRs will work with that. If not, I book what’s available on the multi-day search, making compromises where necessary.

Disney has also indicated that other recent mobile order updates make it even easier to find and order food whenever hunger strikes. You can sort the list to see which mobile order locations are close by and offer the earliest available pickup times in the app. If you’re walking around Sunset Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you can easily order from nearby locations like Rosie’s All-American Café.

I haven’t tested this new mobile order feature in the parks, but honestly, I never had issues with mobile order in the past. It seemed pretty intuitive and typically defaulted to a display that I wanted to see. Then again, I also don’t really make dining decisions based on proximity. That’s a recipe for being directed to Restaurantosaurus or the Lunching Pad. No thanks.

There are also additional updates to the My Disney Experience and Disneyland app navigation menus that make the services and features you need during your visit – like ordering food and making a dining reservation – easier to find and access. If you’re feeling hungry, head to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to download the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps, so you can plan your dream dining experience. Already have the app? Make sure it’s up-to-date for the latest features.

All of these changes are great for both diehard Disney fans and first-timers, as they make searching for ADRs easier and more intuitive. As with just about all facets of the planning process, making Advance Dining Reservations can be surprisingly unintuitive for the uninitiated. You may not recognize this or think the system is great as-is, but as a reader of a site like this, you are almost certainly a power user. As with all aspects of visiting Walt Disney World, knowledge has been a big barrier to entry.

Many visitors are unaware that it’s even possible to make ADRs a couple of months prior to their trips, or the ins and outs of booking reservations. These first-timers or casual guests are at a distinct disadvantage as compared to power users who book far in advance and find loopholes for securing multiple simultaneous reservations. (To that point, 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.)

For its part, Walt Disney World has done a lot to even the playing field and make it easier for casual guests to dine at table service restaurants. When the parks reopened, Disney shortened the ADR window from 180 days to the current 60 days. While some fans bemoan this, it has been a positive change for most average visitors. It’s difficult to make firm plans at Walt Disney World that far ahead of time given all of the moving parts of the vacation destination. (Not to mention that few people know where they want to eat 60 days beforehand!)

More recently, Walt Disney World made changes in the ADR modification and cancellation policies. This was actually more controversial with fans, who bemoaned the unintended consequences that would make ADR hoarding easier and could lead to diminished availability. We’ve since noticed the opposite (as discussed above), but that’s probably more a matter of availability as a whole easing up. Our view is that hoarders are always going to find a way to hoard, and that–in the end–the availability would be there. Either days in advance or at the last-minute via the walk-up waitlist.

In isolation, these are incremental improvements to the ADR process that probably don’t deserve a ton of fanfare. But in aggregate, there have been multiple phases of improvements to the Advance Dining Reservations systems on both coasts aimed at making the process easier for average guests.

On a not-unrelated note, Walt Disney World recently made several different backend and frontend changes, including ones to the Advance Dining Reservation and Genie+ processes. It’s our understanding that this has been with the intention of shutting down third party ADR finder and Lightning Lane finder/booking services. This has worked to an extent, but some of them are back up…for now.

We’ve been asked about these and would caution against purchasing anything far in advance of your trip. Perhaps these services will be around for years to come with the workaround–or maybe Disney intended to send a message subtly, and will follow-up more directly with cease & desists for those businesses that didn’t take the hint. It would not be the first time. (We’re not saying that you shouldn’t use them at all–just don’t pay for something way ahead of time; these businesses may disappear overnight at any point leaving you without a service and without your money.)

Anyway, we’re very pleased with the recent and announced enhancements and looking forward to seeing what else changes (or doesn’t!) with the Advance Dining Reservation systems at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. We’ve been big fans of all of the updates to the restaurant reservation booking systems on both coasts in the last year-plus. It’s exceedingly rare that we find ourselves giving two unequivocal thumbs up to anything Disney IT does, but that’s exactly the case here. Credit where credit is due!

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

What do you think about these enhancements to the ADR systems at Walt Disney World and Disneyland? Any other procedure or policy changes on your ‘wish list’ for Advance Dining Reservations? Is this a good, bad, or neutral news from your perspective? If you’ve visited or booked ADRs for Walt Disney World in the last few months, what has been your experience? Have you had success at the last-minute (0-3 days in advance)? Had challenges at the 60 day mark? Notice any differences in the dynamic as compared to pre-closure? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!