Are Restaurants Easier to Reserve Now?

[Jabroniville]

This just struck me- I'm about a day from being able to book restaurants for my trip (waiting for 6am their time) but checking the website out of curiosity... and Be Our Guest actually has LOTS of time available for today (March 5th)! Akershus has nothing today but plenty of times in the weeks ahead, albeit not at lunch.

The only one totally booked for every day is Cinderella's Royal Table, but even THEN I see it still has time available 60 days from now (6:50 Florida time, well after opening reservation slots).

I recall BOG in particular being nigh-impossible to book last minute (I had to get lucky and get one of those "notification slot opening" websites to email me at just the right time), so it's weird that it even has space at all, much less PLENTY of it. Cinderella's must still be the hottest ticket around, especially now that you can actually meet Princesses there again (it was easier to book in 2022 when there were not, I think).

So are these easier to reserve now, or is it just me? Maybe it's the sheer amount of other stuff opening (Space 220) eating up those slots. Just curious (and I'll see what I get when I try tomorrow evening for slots- 4am my time!).

 

[moonshadow]

I'm interested in this topic too as I can start making reservations tomorrow!

 

[wabbott]

No question. I don't know if anyone has quantified it, but it seems to have been the case for about 10 months or so. Pricing fatigue for WDW experience? Overall attendance drop? Or maybe this is the place guests have chosen to save, as opposed to hotels, Genie, or shopping?

 

[CWTC]

It seems like it. In the past we have had a lot of website errors and it seemed like limited availability at 6am EST 60 days out. Today we had everything booked in under 8 minutes (2 breakfast, 3 lunch, 5 dinners) with no issues.

Edited to add: We don’t do the dining plan ever. I had forgotten it was back but uncertain if that is affecting availability.

 

[sponica]

What I found is that 2 credit restaurants are somewhat easier to reserve. I got dinner at Storybook Dining at Artist Point at 58 or 59 days out.

 

[Monykalyn]

We leave for Disney Friday and have only made one reservation. Nearly everything is a available at some point for the next week except Space 220. We plan to eat breakfast and like late lunch/early dinner in the villa anyway as pricing of the restaurants has reached ridiculous proportions.

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

We have always gone to a TS dinner for the past 20+ years. However, in late 2022 and through out 2023 one of the things that we noticed is that the price was not equaling our perceived value. We were paying $225 dollars for 4 margarita, two shrimp taco dinners and a shared app. While the food was good it just wasn't that good for the price. We are slowly weeding out restaurants that we no longer feel are worth the price and replacing them with a nice meal in our villa. I wasn't sure about this at first as I still wanted to feel like I was on vacation. We are now 1/3 in 2/3 out and our nights in, I have found to be very relaxing and we actually utilize our resort more. I do think more and more people are moving away from so many TS restaurants.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

This just struck me- I'm about a day from being able to book restaurants for my trip (waiting for 6am their time) but checking the website out of curiosity... and Be Our Guest actually has LOTS of time available for today (March 5th)! Akershus has nothing today but plenty of times in the weeks ahead, albeit not at lunch.

The only one totally booked for every day is Cinderella's Royal Table, but even THEN I see it still has time available 60 days from now (6:50 Florida time, well after opening reservation slots).

I recall BOG in particular being nigh-impossible to book last minute (I had to get lucky and get one of those "notification slot opening" websites to email me at just the right time), so it's weird that it even has space at all, much less PLENTY of it. Cinderella's must still be the hottest ticket around, especially now that you can actually meet Princesses there again (it was easier to book in 2022 when there were not, I think).

So are these easier to reserve now, or is it just me? Maybe it's the sheer amount of other stuff opening (Space 220) eating up those slots. Just curious (and I'll see what I get when I try tomorrow evening for slots- 4am my time!).

It definitely seems like it. We got everything we wanted and then while we were there last week, switched things around, and saw Space 220 open, got Toppolino's for dinner, Ohana was always available.

 

[Minnie1222]

Yes, ADR has been easy to get since early 2023. I'm not sure if this is due to fewer diners or shorter intervals between reservations. Based on my personal experience, I am willing to bet that it's due to the increase in allotment of reservations. A restaurant may have had one reservation every 15 minutes in the past, but now it has one every 5 or 10 minutes, causing a jump in availability from 4 per hour to 6 or 12 per hour. That would explain why the restaurants we frequented were always full, and the wait times between check-in and seating had increased, on average, from 5-20 min to 20-45 min.

 

[Minnie1222]

I recall BOG in particular being nigh-impossible to book last minute (I had to get lucky and get one of those "notification slot opening" websites to email me at just the right time), so it's weird that it even has space at all, much less PLENTY of it.

BOG has been easy to get ever since it became prix-fixe.

 

[reddog21]

Ever since they changed the cancelation window, I don't find the need to make reservations months ahead anymore. We basically got into ever TS restaurant we wanted making reservation the day of or the day before. You just have to be flexible with the times.

 

[CraigInPA]

We booked only dinners for our Feb 2024 trip at the 60 day opening window. I was looking for Space 220 lunch, but couldn't get that at 60 days. When we were there, I checked the day before we were going to Epcot and snagged lunch at Space 220, and had my choice of times! A LOT of people cancel the day before their reservation as their plans change!

 

[loves to dive]

Ever since they changed the cancelation window, I don't find the need to make reservations months ahead anymore. We basically got into ever TS restaurant we wanted making reservation the day of or the day before. You just have to be flexible with the times.

I think this is spot on. I'll add we have never made ADRs in advance, always day of (since the early 1980s) and have never had a problem finding somewhere to eat. Usually around 2 or 3, one of us will start getting hungry and ask where we are going to eat that night. When I'm solo, I just look while I'm back at my resort on a rest break, somewhere between 1 and 5 and always find something. Is it the "must do" places, not always but I have seen even BOG and Cali. Grill for night of. Personally, we like trying new places so supper roulette is fun.

 

[Pyxie]

With the exception of a few very difficult restaurants (Space 220 Lounge for example), yes it has gotten easier. BOG specifically used to be very hard to get when breakfast and lunch were QS. Now that it's a fixed menu all day, people aren't as interested.

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

We had no problem getting any reservations for our upcoming April trip. I did notice that after we booked 'Ohana dinner all the times in the 4-7 pm range were gone quickly. When I tried later at night to adjust times, I noticed that Beaches and Cream had nothing available and Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' only had availability after 9:00pm. Be Our Guest no longer interests us since they changed the Lunch menu. 1900 Parkfare went quickly this morning so I'm guessing that might be more challenging.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yes they’re easier. Maybe they added more to the system since they went to the 2 hour cancellation policy? Although BOG as cited above became easier after it went prix fixe and really easy after the last couple price hikes. Unless you want Space 220 or CRT I wouldn’t even bother to wake up early to book ADRs anymore.

*the restaurants still feel crowded though so don’t go expecting crowds to reflect reservations. The exception is BOG which has been reported full but not as jam packed as pre-Covid days

 

[kylenne]

Yes they’re easier. Maybe they added more to the system since they went to the 2 hour cancellation policy? Although BOG as cited above became easier after it went prix fixe and really easy after the last couple price hikes. Unless you want Space 220 or CRT I wouldn’t even bother to wake up early to book ADRs anymore.

*the restaurants still feel crowded though so don’t go expecting crowds to reflect reservations. The exception is BOG which has been reported full but not as jam packed as pre-Covid days

Topolino breakfast has been the hardest thing to book for a while now, that one you still definitely have to be up early for.

 

[MainMom]

I booked a Crystal Palace lunch 1 week before my trip. 2 days before I modified it to breakfast. There were no breakfast times originally. While on our trip we booked a Chefs de France ADR the day before. We were seated a good 45 minutes early for our Topolinos breakfast. The restaurant was not full. Lots of empty tables.

 

[Mle8308]

I think once free dining starts, it might be a little more challenging. I don't think we've hit that 60 day window yet.

 

[Jabroniville]

Checking just today, and I see Be Our Guest has tons of time only at the "unpopular times" right now (am and very late at night- LOTS of 8:40 times 60 days out and a bunch of post-9:30 pm times on the day of). Absolutely no actual dinner time ones anymore. Thankfully I'll still be up for when it opens tonight, haha.

Akershus, looking more closely, has a lot of morning and lunch times but nothing for dinner. It seems like Peak Dinner Rush is still pretty hard to catch. 1900 Park Fare indeed seems to be mega-popular, with nothing available.