Are you overbooking your Disney World dining reservations?

Whether you’ve been to Disney World 100 times or you’re getting ready for your first-ever trip, one thing is for certain: Disney dining is always changing — evolving, if you will. Today’s rules aren’t necessarily yesterday’s. With that in mind, we’re calling into question how many Disney World dining reservations you actually need per visit. After some serious dialogue with our team of Disney World experts, we came to some surprising conclusions.

First and foremost, it has to be said: There is no blanket answer. How many reservations you should be booking all depends on the scenario you find yourself in. Are you at Disney World for two weeks or two days? Are you traveling with kids or just your spouse? Do you have the Disney Dining Plan, or are you working with a personal budget? Which parks do you plan on spending the most time at? These questions MATTER, so we’re going to go over a few scenarios that may shed light on how many dining reservations we THINK you should be making — and how many is too many.

SCENARIO 1: You’ve got a short trip planned

In this first scenario, you’re looking at a one or two-day vacation at Disney World. In this case, you’ll want to limit dining reservations to maximize time, most likely.

If you spend a good chunk of time dining or waiting for your reservation, that’s time that you miss out on riding some of your favorite attractions. That’s why, with very short trips like this, we might recommend one or two dining reservations MAX. If you wanted to forgo dining reservations altogether since it’s only a couple of days and opt instead for quick service, we get that, too.

SCENARIO 2: You want to dine at the most popular restaurants

If you’re picky and crave some of the most popular dining options in Disney World — such as Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’, Space 220, GEO-82, and Cinderella’s Royal Table (and most character dining experiences) — you’re pretty much backed into a corner. You’ll need to use Advance Dining Reservations (ADR) to secure a spot.

Disney World’s most in-demand restaurants aren’t the kinds of dining experiences you can just “wing.” Sure, you may get lucky day-of, but the odds are not in your favor. If you want to dine at one of these spots, you’ll need to book your reservations 60 days out, or risk missing out entirely.

With that in mind, if hitting up these hard-to-dine-at restaurants is your TOP priority, we won’t judge you for how many reservations you make. To learn more about Disney World restaurants and find out which ones might be the most popular when you visit, click the link below!

Disney World Restaurants Guide

SCENARIO 3: You are prioritizing balance

Table service dining takes time (and money). If you’re looking to spend ample time riding rides, suffice it to say, a dining reservation will cut into that in a way that quick service dining won’t.

But part of the charm of Disney World is the bounty of wonderful dining experiences offered. You know this. We know this. We all visit the resort for the rides AND the food, right?! So completely writing off dining reservations is unrealistic.

That’s why some of our experts believe having ONE reservation per day is totally reasonable! Setting aside one meal to really take in the atmosphere and good food won’t derail a vacation. In fact, it could do wonders to help! When you start stacking multiple reservations per day, however, complications can occur.

 SCENARIO 4: You’re on a tight budget

You probably already know this, but table-service restaurants will generally cost more than quick-service locations. The food is usually pricier, AND THEN you have to factor in gratuity. It ain’t cheap.

Unless you have a short trip, booking multiple reservations per day is going to make your wallet VERY mad.

Of course, you can always budget for a bunch of dining reservations, but if you don’t plan for this 60 days out while you’re selecting your restaurants, life is gonna hit you very fast once you’re actually dining.

SCENARIO 5: You have the Disney Dining Plan

Of course, you can always take the budget out of the equation and go with the pre-paid Disney Dining Plan! In this case, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of your dining credits.

There are two plans, but the Standard Dining Plan (which is available as an add-on for Disney World Vacation Packages for guests staying at a Disney-owned and- operated Resort hotel) includes the following:

• One table service entrée, dessert (lunch and dinner only), OR full buffet per person, per night
• One quick service meal, including entrée OR combo meal
• One snack/nonalcoholic drink
• One Resort refillable drink mug per person, per package

Additionally, select dining experiences require TWO Meal Credits:

• ONE Table Service meal credit may be used for several Character Dining Experiences. The exceptions are the following, which require TWO Table Service credits:
  • • Cinderella’s Royal Table
    • Akershus Royal Banquet Hall — Princess Storybook Dining
    • Story Book Dining with Snow White at Artist Point
• Two table service meal credits may be exchanged for one of the following:
  • • • One Signature Dining Experience, including entrée, dessert, plus non-alcoholic beverage
      • One Disney Dinner Show (Category 2 or 3 seating at all dinner shows), or Category 1 seating at the 8:30pm show at Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue)
      • *One room service meal, including entrée, dessert (lunch and dinner), plus non-alcoholic beverage — *AVAILABLE AT DISNEY’S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT ONLY
• Two quick service meal credits may be exchanged for Pizza Pickup at participating locations* which includes the following
  • • • • 1 Large Pizza
        • 2 Single-serving Nonalcoholic Beverages (or Alcoholic Beverages, for Guests 21 and older)
        • *Valid at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort, Disney’s All-Star Music Resort, Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter and Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside.

So if you’re already paying for one table-service credit a day, make sure you book ONE table-service dining reservation a day! Sometimes, it really is that simple!

SCENARIO 6: You’re visiting EPCOT during a festival

While EPCOT has a TON of great dining options, you may want to be cautious about booking dining reservations when a festival is ongoing.

Our experts have had to CANCEL reservations because they filled up on food offered at festival booths or found great festival eats for a much cheaper price than sit-down dining. This is a VERY common occurrence during festival seasons, and we need to remind you that IF YOU DON’T CANCEL YOUR RESERVATIONS BEFORE YOU’RE WITHIN A TWO-HOUR WINDOW, YOU COULD BE SUBJECT TO LATE OR NO-SHOW FEES.

SCENARIO 7: You need breaks

For a lot of folks, one reservation per day is plenty. HOWEVER, if you’re traveling with young kids or you’re the kind of person who needs to take long breaks throughout the day, two reservations per day can provide much-needed relief.

Look, you’ve already accepted you won’t be able to do everything, so it’s totally understandable to want to reset, take your time, get off your feet, and have some good food while you’re at it.

Ultimately, we can only suggest how many reservations are too many. You’re an individual with personal preferences, so however many dining reservations you feel are right for you and your family (especially if you’re a seasoned Disney World pro), that’s the right answer.

What’s your usual Disney World dining game plan? Let us know, and continue to follow us here at DFB for all kinds of Disney World tips, tricks, reviews, updates, and more!

We Reviewed the Hardest Dinner Reservation You Can Get in Magic Kingdom

How many dining reservations do YOU usually book during a Disney World vacation? Let us know in the comments!