15 Rookie Disney World Dining Mistakes

Not Making Reservations 180 Days Out

One of the most surprising things people find out on their first Disney trip is how far in advance you plan. You can, and should, start making dining reservations 180 days in advance of your trip.

This can be an overwhelming thought for people, but it is the best way to keep your options open. Make sure to set your alarm 180 days in advance and be online at 7 am EST to make the reservations you want.

It is also important to know that you will need a credit card to make a reservation. Unless it is a special experience like Dining With An Imagineer, the credit card is simply to hold the reservation. Nothing will be charged.

Also, if your plans change, you can cancel your reservation up until the night before. If you wait until the day to cancel a reservation made through Disney’s online system, you will be charged $10 per person. This is to make sure people actually show up instead of just grabbing the popular dining reservations to keep their options open.

Not Realizing You Can Book For Your Entire Trip

We already discussed that you can book 180 days ahead of your trip, but the second biggest mistake is thinking it is only 180 days for each day. A lot of people think it means they have to make their reservations 180 days out of their first day, then again on the second day, and so on.

You can technically make reservations 190 days out, assuming you are staying for 10 days. This fact will help you avoid making some of the other common dining reservation mistakes.

Not Realizing What Restaurants Are the Hardest to Get Into

A lot of people know you can eat inside the castle at the Magic Kingdom. This unique experience makes Cinderella’s Royal Table one of the most sought-after reservations, especially for first-time guests.

They think that because it is six months in advance, they shouldn’t have a problem getting into any restaurant they want, at any time, for any day of their vacation. This is simply untrue.

You need to familiarize yourself with some of the hardest Disney ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations) and decide if any of them are going to be a part of your trip.

TIP: Just because a restaurant is one of the hardest to get into at Disney World, doesn’t mean it is necessarily one of the best. There are plenty of places that are better than a lot of difficult reservations to get. If you aren’t able to score one of the harder reservations, don’t get too upset.

Not Booking In Order Of Difficulty

Much like booking FastPass, you should never make your reservations based on date. They should be made based on difficulty. Always schedule your harder dining reservations toward the end of your trip because it increases the likelihood that you will be able to get them.

You should also always book those reservations first. Just because you will be eating at Sanaa on your first day doesn’t mean that should be reserved before your reservation at Chef Mickey’s on your sixth day.

Booking in order of difficulty and further away from your first day means fewer people will have had the opportunity to book for those days already. This greatly increases your chances of getting the reservations you want.

Not Researching Your Options

It is easy to think that Disney is just like any other theme park when it comes to food, except Disney has Mickey bars. This is clearly inaccurate. Disney offers everything from grab and go options at a food cart to upscale fine dining restaurants.

No matter what type of dining you are looking for Disney has it covered. There are different cuisines, experiences, and settings for every type of Disney vacation.

I suggest researching reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp so you can see photos as well as opinions for each restaurant. Also, there are plenty of bloggers who regularly review restaurants to give you their honest opinion.

Make sure when you are looking at reviews you don’t get to sucked into one specific one. Everyone has their own opinion and all Disney restaurants can have good and bad days. It is usually pretty easy to see which ones are stereotypically solid choices and which tend to be more questionable.

Not Considering Resort Restaurants

Thinking that you can only eat at a Disney park is one of the biggest mistakes first time Disney visitors make. They think that the resorts only have a cafeteria type layout, when in reality, almost all except the Value Resorts, have multiple options for meals.

Some of the best restaurants are located at a resort. Ohana is one of the most popular restaurants at Disney World and is located in the Polynesian! In fact, some of the best character meals are going to be outside of the theme park.

Any of the monorail resorts (Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian) are a quick ride from the Magic Kingdom. Over at Epcot, you can walk to the Boardwalk to visit any of those resorts (Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, or Swan and Dolphin). You can actually walk there from Hollywood Studios as well, it just might take a little more time. Take a break out of your park day and explore the resort.

Thinking Character Meals Are Only For Kids

This is one of the things my mom was reminded of on our recent trip to Disney. It is easy to think that meeting Mickey Mouse is just something for kids, but there is something so magical about seeing the mouse who started it all!

Every trip we go, we try to schedule in a different character meal. It makes it feel like more than just a vacation but really emphasizes the Disney feel. There are so many to pick from with a range of characters and cuisines. While the majority are buffet style, there are a few that have a standard restaurant set up.

Make sure you check out the character list of who you could potentially see. Whether you want to dine with princesses, the fab five, or even some villains, you can definitely find it at Disney!

TIP: Some restaurants change characters from breakfast to dinner, so keep an eye out for that!

Skipping Over Counter Service Meals

We were guilty of this for a while. Partly because we almost always got a Deluxe Dining Plan so we opted for table service restaurants. A lot of people skip over counter service because they think it is just your standard theme park food.

Counter service or quick service restaurants vary cuisines throughout the park. You can find your typical hamburgers and chicken fingers if you would like, but you can also find such meals like fish and chips, grilled salmon, BBQ ribs, quinoa bowls, falafel, and more!

TIP: If you are short on time counter services are a great way to sneak in a meal without eating up your time in the parks.

Not Sharing Meals

Regardless of counter service or table service, you can absolutely split meals at Disney restaurants. Flame Tree BBQ in the Animal Kingdom offers a ribs, chicken, and pulled pork sampler that can easily be split between two people.

If you are not hungry enough for an entire meal, but really want to try a specific entree, splitting it with someone in your party is a great way to save money. Also, if you are on the Dining Plan they will still let you split an entree!

This is also great if you are traveling with kids. You can split a full-size entree for cheaper than ordering two kids meals at some restaurants. This really depends on how old your children are and what the selections are, but it definitely comes in handy!

TIP: This isn’t something I would always count on to save money. You never can predict how hungry you will be, especially after doing all that walking in the parks. However, this is a good option if you want a more substantial snack to hold you over until your next meal.

Not Using Mobile Ordering

Mobile Ordering is new to Disney World in the past few years. Recently, they made it so you can take advantage of it with a Dining Plan as well! Guests who have never visited before or haven’t visited in a while might not be aware this exists.

Simply open up your My Disney Experience app and select the items you would like!

While this is usually the quicker option, there is a small portion of the time where it is quicker to wait in line. To ensure the food is hot and fresh, they won’t start making your order until you are within a certain radius of the restaurant. Wait until you are close enough to check out both the standby line and the mobile order line. If you have your items already selected, simply select “order” and you are good to go. If you see the standby line has almost no one in it, just exit the app and head to the line.

TIP: Some places have secret menu items that are only available through mobile ordering!

Giving Up On A Reservation You Want

Just because you woke up by 7 am, 180 days in advance, doesn’t guarantee you will get the reservation you want. The important thing to remember is this doesn’t mean you can’t get it later.

People are always canceling and changing reservations as it gets closer to their trip. Stay flexible with when you want a specific restaurant and check different times and days.

Since you need to cancel before midnight the day of your reservation, if you happen to be up at midnight, check then for new availability. A lot of times you can find stuff the day before because people have adjusted their plans for the next day. I know people who grab different time reservations for the same day and then cancel one of them the day before because they weren’t sure what time they’d be at a park.

TIP: If you can’t find it through the Disney booking sit, check open table. You can book Disney restaurants there as well and they sometimes have availability that booking directly through Disney doesn’t.

Not Pricing Out The Menus Before

Disney is expensive. This isn’t a secret at all. It should come as no surprise that when discussing prices for certain menus you’ll hear people say things like “it is inexpensive by Disney standards.” Which basically means if it was priced like this anywhere else it would be overpriced.

You don’t necessarily need to know what you will be ordering at each restaurant. However, you should look at the prices to get an idea of what the price range is. Disney makes it easy on their dining page to sort by location, type of cuisine, type of restaurant, and most importantly, price range.

TIP: Don’t let a price deter you from a restaurant automatically. If it is a restaurant you absolutely want to experience, see if you can budget in other ways. Bring your own water and snacks into the parks. Save up beforehand with surveys or cash back sites!

Ignoring Your Plans For The Theme Parks

It is easy to get swept up in planning your dining reservations. There are so many places to eat throughout the parks and resorts that some people forget to make a plan. Remember how many days you plan to spend in each park. Just because you want to eat at 7 restaurants in Epcot doesn’t mean you’ll be there enough days to eat at them.

Also, check the park hours and extra magic hours. It helps you figure out what days you should be going to which park. The park hours are always subject to change at it gets closer, but usually, they only add time, not remove it.

TIP: You can schedule a breakfast before the park opens to try and get empty park photos and get on some rides before the park fills up. Just be sure you don’t schedule it for a day they have early morning extra magic hours!

Automatically Assuming the Dining Plan Is More Expensive

This is a pretty common misconception. The Dining Plan has its pros and cons, but it isn’t always inherently more expensive. There are three tiers at various prices. Depending on how you plan to spend your time eating they can either be more expensive or less expensive.

Deciding which Dining Plan is right for you or if it doesn’t make sense to get it, is a completely different topic and requires a lot of math (typically). However, it is typically good for a group of adults that enjoy eating. The Dining Plan now includes an alcoholic beverage with each meal so that greatly raises its value. Kids can get an artisanal drink, but not every location offers these to make up the price. Also, after the age of 10, the price goes up and most kids do not eat the amount an adult does to make it worth it.

Not Realizing You Can Pay With A Gift Card

First-time visitors are always surprised to learn that you can use a Disney gift card to pay for more than just merchandise. You can pay for your meals, drinks, even hotel stay with a gift card! Why is this important? Because you can purchase gift cards in advance of your trip to save money.

You can use resale sites to buy gift cards or pick up discounted versions at BJ’s or Costco. Also, any Target RedCard holders get a 5% discount on all gift cards purchased. While this won’t save you hundreds it does add up!

The other reason it is important is that you can earn gift cards through Swagbucks. I use Swagbucks in all sorts of ways to earn extra cash and then convert it into either PayPal cash or Target gift cards and use them for Disney gift cards. This helps me keep track of what I want to spend. Also, when I earn them through Swagbucks it is more like “fun money” that I earned for a trip rather than cutting into my own checking account.

You can learn more about Swagbucks and how I earned over $1,000 for one Disney trip here!