Disney dining tips to prevent headaches

This post comes from many of my friends and family about dining at Disney so I thought I would write a short post to clarify! This is the process you should probably follow especially if you are a first timer to Disneyworld or even just the dining plans.

1. First thing you should always do is determine where you would like to eat and on what day. This seems like such a simple task but the choices are overwhelming and the possibilities endless. If you are staying on Disney property you have a built in grace period of the length of your stay. What I mean is you may make reservations 180 days in advance of the day you check in to Disney! That means if you stay 10 days your last days Disney dining reservation is actually 190 days in advance. Those staying off property will have to call everyday and make 1 reservation then call back each day after that or wait and make them all at once. This means if you would like to eat in Cinderella's Castle you could schedule that for the last day of your trip and your odds of getting the reservation jump tremendously! This will go for all hard to get reservations.

2. After you make your decision call Disney direct on the 180th day before you check in at 7am because that is when the call center opens. You might get lucky and be answered immediately but you may also be on hold for a while! When the reservation desk calls you will go through a bevy of questions and the you begin with the reservations. Always start requesting with the hardest places first which is typically Cinderella's Castle, Ohana's, and LeCellier and make sure those hard to get places are locked in first then do the rest. If you have in questions go to disneyworld.disney.go which will take you to the main Disneyworld site and it should answer any questions. There should be a link directly to disneyworld.disney.go directly to the right or the bottom of this post and you can just click there and it will route you there!

3. After you have your reservations they will give you a confirmation number for each reservation and yes they are like 10 numbers each so do not lose those numbers. My advice would be to put them in a computer, save them in multiple places, and finally print them on a piece of paper the size of a business card. If you can have it laminated and stick it in your wallet before you leave on your trip. Take it to every reservation you have just in case there is confusion. It doesn't happen often but if they can't find your reservation this confirmation number may be the only thing between you and not eating!

4. To complete the overkill I always call about 30-45 days before we arrive and verify all my reservations and confirmation numbers with Disney dining. This will ensure you wrote down the numbers correctly and you days are correct. I can't tell you the times we have been waiting to check in at a restaurant and the person in front of us had the correct confirmation number but wrote down the wrong day and was supposed to be somewhere else that day. This will ruin your day and the chances of making it to the correct place in time to be seated is approximately zero.

5. Lastly when you check in to your Disney resort you can go to the guest services desk and request a printout of all your dining reservations. Compare those to what you have on your laminated business card to ensure they match up! If you do you are good to go and if not the guest services desk can help you to remedy the situation.

For those of you who have never stayed on property the one thing Disney does better than anyone else is service. If you have any issues while staying on property just be kind and ask for help. Of course Disney is not perfect but they will do whatever is they can to accommodate you! This Disney trip you are planning involves time and effort before you get to there so you can ensure less chaos after you arrive. Disneyworld is an enormous place and planning is critical to make sur you get the most for your money. Do not go expecting to wing it especially if you are a first timer because you will be stressed and overwhelmed.