Walt Disney World has announced some changes to the current Advanced Dining Reservation system, as well as an announcement of an upcoming online system to debut this Fall.
The Walt Disney World Resort will release a new reservation booking system for dining, recreation and tour reservations in late October 2008. The new reservation system will replace our current Dining Reservation System and will allow you to book multiple dining reservations in one experience, while associating reservations to your Walt Disney World Resort room reservations.
In the future, Guests will be able to make dining reservations online at disneyworld.com with this new reservation booking system. The launch date for this enhancement will be announced at a later date.
As a result of the system upgrade, effective July 29 through late October 2008, Guests will be able to book dining reservations up to Jan. 25, 2009 arrivals. In late October, booking processes will return to normal, allowing Guests to book up to 180 days of arrival.
The system upgrade will not impact Victoria and Albert’s Restaurant, Cinderella’s Royal Table, and Chef Mickey’s Restaurant. Those three venues will continue to observe the normal booking processes throughout the system cutover.
Note: Any and all dates listed above are subject to change without notice.
So, dining reservations will stay as normal until July 29, 2008. At that time, basically everything stops in time, with the exception of the three restaurants listed above, which will retain their 180 day booking window. If you are traveling after January 25, 2009, you will need to wait until October to book your dining reservations, with the exception of those three restaurants, of course.
This is an exciting change, that guest and travel agents will not be able to book dining reservations online. No more calling Disney at 7 AM to get that coveted Cinderella’s Royal Table time slot. It will be interesting to see how the system is implemented, and if you will be required to have an existing Disney World reservation to use it, and if it will limit the number of reservations you can have at one time. I hope Disney takes their time to prevent any possible misuse of the system before it is launched.
Kevin says
July 17, 2008 at 2:28 pmI am traveling with with my family to Disney August 2-10 and we have already made reservations for all of our meals with the deluxe dining plan. Will this new change have any effect on existing dining reservations?
Keith says
July 17, 2008 at 3:15 pmKevin
No, this change will not effect you at all. It only effects those who will be traveling after January 25, 2009, as they will be delayed in being able to make their reservations.
Have a great trip!
Steve says
September 11, 2008 at 10:13 amMy concern is the number of people who will be looking to make reservations when they go lve with this. It has now been pushed back 1 month and the new time line is late November for a launch date. We are travelling at the end of Feb and first of March. Anyone who decides to make a trip to Disney during the same period over the next 75 days is going to have the same opportunity to book reservations as we do. Doesn’t seem right.
Keith says
September 11, 2008 at 10:42 amSteve
I would have to agree. I see the launch date being pushed back again, this is Disney after all. My guess is they will open up phone reservations past January 25 sometime soon. Rumor has it Disney will revert back to the 90 day window once the online system goes live, meaning if this does launch in late November, 90 days out will only be late February, so the rush won’t be as bad as you think.
Hopefully we will get an update from Disney on this soon.
Joe says
September 24, 2008 at 7:32 amHow will Disney communicate the completion of the upgrade? Do they have a staus update posted on their website?
Keith says
September 24, 2008 at 8:26 amJoe
Great question that I cannot answer. I guess we will have to wait a bit to see what they do as we get closer to the announced October 24 date. I spoke to a few higher ups last week, they all had the impression it would be delayed for a few months, and we would not see anything until 2009, which really isn’t much of a surprise.