Walt Disney World is fixing dining reservation hassles with two new features

Oct 25, 2023 in "MyMagic+"

Posted: Wednesday October 25, 2023 3:09pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World's dining system is about to get two major upgrades to make finding hard-to-get restaurant reservations easier.

According to sources familiar with the upgrades, new features will include availability notifications for fully booked restaurants and the ability to search a date range for reservations.

Disney is yet to announce the upgrades officially, but we understand that some of the new features are expected before the end of the year, with more to come in 2024. Disney recently rolled-out another upgrade to let guests view all available reservation time slots for each restaurant on a given date. The system previously only showed a few available slots based on a specified timeframe.

Availability Alerts

You will soon be able to set alerts for when availability opens up at restaurants that show no availability on your selected date.

Currently, guests have to manually keep checking for an opening or rely on a third-party service to do the work for them. The new notification system will send you an alert via My Disney Experience when a reservation opens up, and you will then be able to book it through the usual methods. The reservation will not be made for you automatically however, so you may be competing with other guests who have setup availability alerts for the same restaurant and date.

Date Range Search

When searching for dining reservations, you will soon be able to choose a date range. This update will allow guests to specify a start and end date for their trip, and the system will identify when the restaurant is available during that time frame. The existing system requires the guests to manually search through each individual date, looking for any available reservation slots.

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JohnDMar 12, 2024

The filtering is still a little awkward but I'm getting used to it.

wdwmagicMar 11, 2024

This is good update. Nicely implemented, very easy to use. Should make life a lot easier for people.

RememberWhenMar 11, 2024

I guess I was hoping to be able to put the range of dates in before selecting individual restaurants. But this is definitely an improvement!

DCBakerMar 11, 2024

The up to 10 day reservation search seems to be available on both MDE and the Walt Disney World website. From My Disney Experience: From the website:

BrianMar 08, 2024

Disney couldn't even change a lightbulb that quickly.

JohnDMar 08, 2024

For the last week, I've been checking a particular restaurant for any times beyond 5:05pm multiple times a day. Maybe Disney caught on and decided "Enough already!" 😉

monothingieMar 08, 2024

I wonder if this means they will stop the process of holding back reservation slots till within a couple of days of the desired date. I usually don't have FOMO for missing booking at 60 days and can usually find 90% of the reservations I want to day of, day before, or week of.

MisterPenguinMar 08, 2024

It will certainly put a damper on the 'need' for a 3rd party reservation finders. Especially the ones charging for it.

wdwmagicMar 08, 2024

No specifics, but with Disney confirming the move, I would say it is fairly imminent.

DznyGrlSDMar 08, 2024

Any idea of when?

MisterPenguinOct 30, 2023

It was the same number whether you had a paid or free subscription. The point is that they'd be in trouble with Disney if it was for a fee. So, it was the same for free and for pay. The paid subscription was for other services, not for the ADR finder.

JD80Oct 30, 2023

I believe TP allowed 2 searched at once with a subscription vs. one free? I've always been subscribed so I don't remember.

GCTalesOct 30, 2023

Same here. After trying several other ADR finders, the touring plans one worked the best and was most successful for me. Their paid services have been worth the $$