Reservations for Walt Disney World restaurants can be made up to 60 days in advance. For many popular restaurants, those reservations will be gone in the blink of an eye! Does that mean you’re out of luck? Not necessarily.
Two of the newest establishments at Walt Disney World are GEO-82 and The Beak and Barrel. Both are lounges that require reservations. They will still be listed as “lunch” and “dinner” when you book, but these aren’t places for full meals. They’re two of the most unique spaces at Walt Disney World, and reservations fill up almost immediately at the 60 day mark. I’ve been able to get reservations for both, much closer to the date that I wanted to go. I’m local, so I don’t really think much about what I’ll be doing 60 days from now.
In order to grab a hard to get reservation, you need to be flexible. You can now search for a ten day range at Walt Disney World, so make the range as large as you can to fit your plans. You’ll also need some flexibility when it comes to the time. If you’re booking last minute, take what you can get! If the only reservation is for 1:30 but you were hoping for 5:00, grab the 1:30 reservation. You can always cancel if something else opens up.
If you see a reservation open, grab it immediately. You won’t be the only one who sees it, and others will try for it as well.
Reservations that haven’t been cancelled two hours before will be charged a no-show fee. People will change their plans but forget to cancel the reservation. Email reminders are sent the day before, so there could be last minute openings. Also, some people will wait until the day of to cancel. I’ve seen this a lot with Dining Packages. A show will have no reservations available three days before, but then suddenly there are plenty of spots the morning of. Keep checking.
The opposite of this is also true. If you aren’t going to use your reservation, please cancel so that someone else will have a chance. This isn’t just to avoid having your card charged as a no-show. It’s the nice thing to do.
Always have a backup planned, just in case you don’t get the reservation that you wanted. My backup is usually counter service, but that’s just my preference. Who knows, you just might end up with a new favorite restaurant!
My best piece of advice about dining reservations is to not let whether or not you eat at a certain restaurant be the main focus of your trip. If you don’t get a reservation, have fun anyway. You’re at the Most Magical Place on Earth! Don’t let missing out on a restaurant ruin your day.