If you want to have a fairy godmother yourself that can help you book a meal reservation at Disney World and Disneyland, consider your wishes. Disney is updating its dining reservation system to simplify planning for the next trip. You may have seen these changes on Disneyland and Walt Disney World websites and their corresponding apps, but if you haven’t seen it, you should be in the next few days.
Related: The Best Restaurants in Disney World
These updates are based on new features introduced in the past two years, allowing guests to accommodate up to 10 days of specific restaurants at a time and view all available dining reservations for a specific day at a time, rather than forcing them to choose a specific meal for a specific restaurant.
It’s hard to grab the most coveted Disney dining reservations, like Cinderella’s Royal Table, Sci-Fi Little Restaurant or Space 220.
When booking a popular restaurant, time is crucial. In the past, when the booking window opened, so many people yelled at the same restaurant, meaning that supply usually disappears before finding an open location.
Related: Tips for visiting Disney World in 2025: 17 ways to save money and get more fun
With Disney apps and Disneyland apps changing, these frustrations are a thing of the past. This is the knowledge you need to prepare for your next visit.
Know when you can book a meal
When can you book a Disney World catering reservation?
You can make dining reservations 60 days before visiting. If you stay at a Disney World hotel, you can make a dining reservation 60 days before the day of your entire stay (up to 10 days), so that if you book a stay at a Disney hotel you can get a 10-day high jump among everyone else.
Related: Is the Disney Dining Plan worth it? We tested it
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Booking is open on Disney’s website, My Disney Experience app is between 5:45 and 6 am ET, or you can call 407-939-Dini from 7 am ET, but the coveted booking may have been snatched by then.
You can cancel most Disney World catering reservations up to two hours before booking. If you cancel less than two hours in advance, you will be charged a cancellation fee of USD 10 per person. Exceptions will be noticed in the confirmation email you receive when booking.
Still, it’s important to know that for hard-to-get bookings like Cinderella’s Royal Table, if you don’t cancel the Cinderella fee if you’re not at the time, and Epcot’s Paul Monsieur Paul (for example, cancellation fee), if you can get up to $100 if you cancel it for less than three days. So be sure to read all the details.
When can you book a Disneyland catering reservation?
Guests of Disneyland Resort can also start booking 60 days in advance. Disneyland doesn’t offer the same benefits to live hotel guests as Disney World does, but hotel guests do get limited reservations at a selected table service restaurant upon arrival.
You will be able to use the improved dining calendar
Disney’s new and improved dining calendar allows you to see exactly which restaurant is available for dining reservations. The dates with green dots have availability, while the dates with the gray “no availability” symbol do not.
This premium overview may be especially useful if you have been wanting to try a restaurant, or if you put your heart in a location and are dining on the go.
You can search for multiple dates in all dining locations
Disney’s latest meal reservation changes are the game-changer. Instead of searching for one restaurant at a time, you can now view availability of all dining locations for up to 10 days. Add to that all available reservations for a specific day, which makes you more likely to dine at your favorite Disney World or Disneyland restaurant during your next visit.
You can start your search by selecting a date or date range, mealtime preferences (or selecting “all-day” availability), and party size. From there, you can see that all available restaurants can be dined up to 10 days (within the 60-day booking window).
Previously, you would have to do a separate search of each restaurant. Now you can view up to 10 days of available meal reservations for all available locations in just a few clicks.
You can add to the walking list
This option has been around for a while, but it is worth mentioning that it can help you get into a specific restaurant even if you don’t get a reservation. When you are near the restaurants and restaurants you want to dine, you can view availability through Disney World’s My Disney Experience app or Disneyland’s Disneyland app.
If you see availability on the mobile walk list in the app, you can add parties and receive notifications when you prepare your desk. Walking availability may change throughout the day. As they said, “If you don’t succeed in the beginning, try and try again.”
You can find the closest, earliest pickups for mobile orders
Disneyland and Disneyland have also purchased mobile orders for several years, but the park keeps finding ways to improve the experience. Hungry Disney guests can order food from fast service restaurants using the mobile ordering service in the mobile app at a selected time. Usually, you can find the availability of mobile orders right away, but when the park is busy, you may have to wait for a while before you can dine.
With the latest updates to Disney’s mobile ordering service, you can filter mobile order availability to show only nearby restaurants or restaurants with instant availability. Sometimes you need to dine before “hunger” becomes “hunger”, and now you can.
Bottom line
Whether you are planning to book a meal for your next Disney vacation or go to the park soon and wonder how to find food when the hunger explodes, these changes will make it easier to “rumble rumble” (as Winnie the Pooh says it).
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