Confusing and scared

[Guest]

Help wanted or Advice- we have got The Disney Dining Plan. We have only been to Disney once before and that was 7 years ago.
I want to be a little more organised this time... I have been looking at booking Table Service... I have to give my credit card details to secure the booking, then I saw a little small print that said you can cancel within the restaurants guidelines?
My little concern is that I am tieing myself to plans. What if I want to change my mind when I get there?
I want to organise the holiday so we get the most out of it but I don't want to feel like we have a military operation
Please calm my nerves

[nquart]

If you want to cancel you have to give 24 hours notice or they charge you $10 per head.

We have booked and cancelled before, it is really easy to do on MDE.

[Flowertot]

Or the other way to look at it is, why spend all those thousands of pounds going to Disney to waste time deciding what you are going to do when you are there? With regards to the bookings you can change them or cancel but just be aware of terms e.g must cancel within 24hrs.

[sha9]

There are several ways to use your dining plan. You can book all your TS credits and know that you'll eat in all the restaurants you want when you want. You can book some to make sure you get the must do ones and leave the rest flexible and see what's available on the day. Or you can book none and just see what's available on the day. If you look now for tonight you'll get an idea of where may have last minute availability.

For us having meals planned ahead is a huge time saver. We're very indecisive. I can't even get my sister to commit to what she wants for dinner tonight so it's easier for us if we have something planned. Saves dithering.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Just for fun I have just randomly dummy booked some restaurants for today/tomorrow on Disney website (anything to put off the ironing 😊 ). Chef Mickeys is available for 7am breakfast tomorrow and Coral Reef and 50's Prime Time have availability for dinner this evening. Be our Guest had nothing available.

So even at short notice it seems some ts would be available. I guess it depends on time of year of course and I would suggest if you want a very popular restaurant such as Be our Guest then it needs booking at 180 days before holiday.

Even then you have flexibility to cancel up to 24 hours before.

Right, off to tackle the ironing now 😀

[Shooby doo]

If food is food & you don't care what you eat then just "freehand" your dining but you will need to be pretty flexible. For instance I looked at MK for tomorrow evening - 9/14 have no availability, 4/14 have availabilty as long as you eat before 5:00pm, 1 only has 9:10pm & only 3/14 have a normal timeslot & all 3 only have 1 option. I would take from that , that if I want to eat inside the parks then I need to make an ADR. I'm also not sure that you will get the more popular Resort restuarants on the day either.We've certainly witnessed families being told no tables available or 90-120 min waits - T-Rex & Rainforest in particular.
I would also think of it this way, you are vying with everyone else that is on Free Dining & trying to use up their credits.
SD

[sha9]

It does depend on how many of you there are but I've looked for tonight. There are 2 of us and we like to eat around 6pm and there's loads of availability including, surprisingly, Fantasmic and Rivers of Light dining packages at normal dinner times.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by sha9

It does depend on how many of you there are but I've looked for tonight. There are 2 of us and we like to eat around 6pm and there's loads of availability including, surprisingly, Fantasmic and Rivers of Light dining packages at normal dinner times.

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My search earlier was for 2 people as well and had quite good results. I guess if it is for a bigger family it would be more difficult. Plus at main holiday periods such as Easter I would imagine there would be much less available

[nquart]

Originally Posted by Flowertot

Or the other way to look at it is, why spend all those thousands of pounds going to Disney to waste time deciding what you are going to do when you are there? With regards to the bookings you can change them or cancel but just be aware of terms e.g must cancel within 24hrs.

See more...

This, definitely! It would feel like such a waste to me to spend ages deciding what to do each day or wandering around trying to find somewhere to eat. I've also seen people waiting for 90+ minutes for a table in a restaurant, even with an ADR you can wait for 20-30 minutes sometimes.

Even if your plan isn't set in stone I would prefer to have a park in mind for each day and if there are some restaurants that you know you definitely want to eat in get them booked at least.

[BevS97]

If you don't book them now then please book them the day before on or the morning you want to eat. If you try and walk up you will almost definitely get turned away or have a very long wait.

We have made an ADR an hour before we ate but I would never try and walk up.