Now it’s easier to search for a same day dining reservation and even see which restaurants are available right away. Normally, dining reservations are made 60 days in advance of your trip, but with all of the recent changes to Walt Disney World it’s possible to get a last minute reservation at many of the restaurants.
When you open the app, click on the “Plus” at the bottom. This will bring up a new menu, and you should click on “Check Dining Availability”. From there the app will prompt you to enter your party size, date you’re looking for a reservation, and a dining time.
If you click “now” that will bring up a list of restaurants that have tables available, and will give you a general idea of the wait time. From there you can click “Join the Wait List”, and you’ll be seated as soon as a table is ready. The only catch is that you need to be somewhat close to the restaurant before you are allowed to join the waiting list.
As you’re joining the wait list, you can also add dietary restrictions or any celebrations.
You can also use the app to make a regular dining reservation, so that option hasn’t changed.
We were able to use this new feature recently at the Grand Floridian Cafe. While sitting in the lobby of the Grand Floridian Resort, we decided to try the Cafe to see if we could get a table. The wait list process was very easy, and we had a table in about 5 minutes.
How was our meal? Well, that’s another story… It wasn’t great. The Grand Floridian Cafe has a very limited menu right now. Breakfast is available through lunch time, so I went with the steak and eggs, while my husband had the Impossible burger.
The steak and eggs was okay, but the steak looked like a home-cooked meal and not at all what I would expect from a Disney resort restaurant. It was also very overcooked as I’d ordered medium rare and this came out more like medium well. It had a good flavor though, and while I was disappointed I mainly just wanted to get out of there and get back to the parks.
The Impossible Burger was much better than my sad steak, with caramelized red onions, and vegan gouda cheese.
It’s a sad day when vegan gouda cheese is a better option than a steak.
The service wasn’t great either, which is another reason why it was easier to just deal with what I had rather than try to send it back.
Bottom line? We won’t be going back anytime soon, at least not until the full menu has returned, or we’ve run out of places to go in Walt Disney World.
