Elevate Your Disney Dining Game

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This episode highlights essential strategies for securing Disney dining reservations, ensuring listeners maximize their dining experiences during their magical trips. Listeners will learn tips for utilizing the My Disney Experience app, the importance of off-peak reservations, and the value of exploring lesser-known dining spots.

• Overview of the importance of Disney dining reservations 
• Strategies for booking early and utilizing the My Disney Experience app 
• Recommendations for off-peak dining to increase availability 
• Tips for managing larger groups when making reservations 
• Hidden gems: dining options available at Disney resorts 
• Successful strategies for last-minute walk-up options 
• Encouragement to explore new dining experiences and restaurants

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
hey friends, justin here with the people mover
podcast, and today, in episode 9of 2025, we are going to talk
about disney dining reservations, so let's kick off the episode
right now.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the people mover podcast, the length of
the iconic ride and yourultimate guide to disney world
and disney cruises.
Whether you're a first timer ora seasoned fan, we've got tips,
tricks and the iconic ride andyour ultimate guide to Disney
World and Disney Cruises.
Whether you're a first-timer ora seasoned fan, we've got tips,
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(00:41):
Disney magic.
Buckle up and let's dive intothe world of Disney.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
As always, these episodes are brought to you by
magicvacationfamilycom.
Once again, if you want helpplanning your next magical
vacation, make sure you visit usmagicvacationfamilycom, click,
book a trip and my wife and Iwill get back to you and help
you plan your next magicalvacation.
Once again,magicvacationfamilycom.
So, like I said earlier, todaywe are going to talk about

(01:06):
Disney dining reservations.
So if you're hoping to dine atsome of Disney's best
restaurants, you're going toneed to know how to score a spot
.
So let's get into it.
First off, why are Disneyreservations important?
Disney World is a popularvacation spot probably one of
the most popular vacation spotsin the world and the restaurants
get booked up fast, especiallythe fan favorites like Be Our

(01:28):
Guest and Cinderella's RoyalTable.
So if you want to eat at thesespots, you need to plan ahead
Now.
Remember, you can start bookingyour dining reservations 60
days in advance if you arestaying at a Disney resort.
So staying at a Disney resort,like I said again in a previous
episode, definitely has itsbenefits.

(01:48):
They give you a first shot attrying to get those Disney
reservations Now.
I highly recommend setting analarm for 6 am, eastern time,
when the reservations open.
So basically, the first day ofyour arrival 60 days prior to
that is going to be the day thatyou're going to want to start
booking those reservations.
I know from my experience as atravel agent working with our

(02:10):
customers.
We all help you plan that outand make sure that you know what
those dates are and also, basedon what your tastes and needs
are, I can make recommendationsfor you as well.
Now, one of the biggest thingsis to understand how to utilize
the Disney my Experience app,and that's where you're actually
going to be.
Making all of these diningreservations is directly in the

(02:30):
my Disney Experience app.
It's quick, it's easy to use.
Plus, the great thing is, whileyou're actually on your
vacation, let's say you wantedto try something else, or you
want to maybe try to find a lastminute dining reservation
somewhere that you may have nottried before.
You can actually use the app tofind a last minute dining
reservation somewhere that youmay have not tried before.
You can actually use the app tofind that.
So simply open up the app,search for the restaurant you
want and you pick a time.
It's really that simple.

(02:51):
Now, if the restaurant you wantis fully booked, I recommend
checking back often, becausecancellations can happen up to
two hours prior to yourreservation time.
So if I have a reservation atnoon at Cinderella's Royal Table
, I could actually have until 10am to cancel that reservation
without any penalty.
So make sure you hop on the appand you stay up to date on the

(03:15):
app, because the ones that youmight try to get that you might
not have thought that you couldland you might actually be able
to get last minute.
So always keep up to date onthe app.
Another big thing I recommend is, if you're having a hard time
trying to get your reservation,try booking off those off-peak
hours.
The busiest times are usuallygoing to be 12 to 1 pm for lunch

(03:35):
and then 5 to 7 for dinner.
So if you try to maybe bookmaybe a late lunch around like 2
or 3 or an early dinner fromlike 3.30 to 4.30, these times
are typically less crowded andyou're going to have better luck
getting a reservation.
Something else I'm going tocall out here as well that a lot
of people overlook let's sayyou're traveling with more than
four people, let's say it's fivepeople, eight people, whatever

(03:57):
it might be, break the party up.
So, for example, I was helpingout a family that had a party of
eight.
So instead of doing areservation for eight, which is
really going to be hard to get,we broke it up into reservations
of four and we were able to getmore reservations available to
us because we weren'trestricting ourselves to just

(04:18):
eight people.
So keep that in mind when youare also trying to book those
reservations.
Keep that in mind when you arealso trying to book those
reservations.
Another thing that getsoverlooked all the time is the
resort that you're staying atactually has a lot of amazing
dining options.
So, for example, if you'restaying at Disney's Polynesian
Village Resort, ohana is afantastic option.
If you want to dine whether youwant to do breakfast or you

(04:40):
want to do dinner highlyrecommend either one of them.
We love it all the time.
Stitch is out at breakfast andthen at nighttime.
It's kind of luau style, right.
So a luau and plus, dependingon the time that you're eating
and dining, at Ohana, you canactually see the fireworks from
Cinderella's Castle.
Also another tip resort hotelsare a hidden gem.
They usually offer great foodand unique experiences and a lot

(05:03):
of the times they have moreavailability because most people
are trying to just get to apark and dine there.
So don't rule out the differentDisney resorts, because they
have a lot of great options thatdo get overlooked and usually
have quite a bit of availability.
So, like I said again, what ifyou can't get the reservation
that you want?
Don't worry, there's stilloptions available.

(05:25):
Now I have had a lot of luckdoing walk-up requests and
actually walk-up availability.
Like I said earlier, therecould be a time or there could
be people that canceled theirreservation last minute or a
couple hours prior and peopleweren't checking back on the app
.
Go to the restaurant themselves, say, hey, what is the wait
time?
Is it possible to get on astandby line?

(05:45):
Is there any walk-upavailability?
A lot of the times they can tryto figure something out.
Now I'm not saying it's goingto work every time, but I have
had a lot of great success beingable to walk up and find a
table.
Now, like I said, a family offour is going to be easier than
a family of eight or a couple oftwo, but guess what?

(06:05):
You're going to be able tohopefully get something that's
going to meet your expectationsor exceed them, and the other
thing that I recommend is beopen to other dining spots.
You might be on these differentblogs, you might go to the
different Facebook groups andyou only see maybe some of these
certain restaurants.
I know that I've brought upOhana, I know I've brought up
Cinderella's Royal Table, butJungle Cruise Canteen, that's a

(06:27):
great one that you don't hearpeople talking about a lot.
That's one of those ones thatwe had kind of ruled out in the
past, that we had never reallytried.
We've walked past it a thousandtimes going through the park,
never stopped there.
Now, my wife and I and the kids, we couldn't find any dining
reservations available.
It was like peak seasonEverything else was packed.

(06:49):
But Jungle Canteen we were ableto actually do a walk-up and
get on the wait list and I willtell you I really regret the
fact that that was the firsttime I tried that restaurant and
I had probably been to Disneyat least 50 times prior to that.
So be open to new dining spots.
Don't just try everything thatis trendy.

(07:09):
Try something new, because itmight be one of those
restaurants that becomes one ofyour favorites, just like ours
was.
I know this episode is kind ofshort, but there you have it,
your go-to tips for Disneydining reservations, from
booking early to exploring newspots.
Also, like I said, making sureyou're staying up to date on

(07:30):
your app as well.
Right, keep checking back.
If there's a real certain placethat you want to eat at and you
want to dine out with yourfamily or your friends, keep
checking back.
Also, feel free to walk up, tryto see if there's any walk-up
availability, but also ifthere's anything else that you
need help with with your Disneydining or your upcoming vacation
, you want to plan a vacation,let us know.
That's why we are here at MagicVacation Family.

(07:50):
We're here to help you makeyour trip stress-free and full
of magic.
But until next time, let's keepthe magic alive and I will see
you at episode number 10.