dining with characters

[Gtyler]

Hi. I'm renting a villa and want to know if I can still book my kids in to dine with characters or do you have to be staying at one of their hotels. Also, how do i go about booking it. Do I turn up at a certain restaurant and queue and which one. Or do I pre-book from UK and is it best to do lunch or breakfast. I know this all sounds a bit vague but i have never been to Disney and don't know the protocol. Any help or recommendations and costings would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks. Best wishes. Gazza

[florida4sun]

Hi,
you can call 001 407 WDW DINE (tap the letters on your phone pad)to make a reservation and then you can pay on the day. Anyone can book character meals.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Gtyler
Hi. I'm renting a villa and want to know if I can still book my kids in to dine with characters or do you have to be staying at one of their hotels. Also, how do i go about booking it. Do I turn up at a certain restaurant and queue and which one. Or do I pre-book from UK and is it best to do lunch or breakfast. I know this all sounds a bit vague but i have never been to Disney and don't know the protocol. Any help or recommendations and costings would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks. Best wishes. Gazza

[/quote]

[Albert the Frog]

I would definitley book before you go-otherwise you probably won't get in or you'll waste a shedload of time queuing-we have done breakfast and dinner and prefer breakfast-the kids are fresh,excited-the food is "less" of a formal meal so you can stop/start as it were and best of all when it's over you've got the whole day ahead of you..............Enjoy!

[Gtyler]

Thanks for the advice.
So I take it that I need to book asap from the UK (like now) if i want to have breakfast at Cinderells'a royal table in the castle or do you think I'm panicing too much as I don't arrive til' mid-October 2010, and should wait until I arrive before booking. Also, is it the case then that I need to pre-book all my character dining experiences now, even for Animal Kindom etc, as I'm worried that I'm not sure where I'll be and on which day as yet, as I've never been before. Any hints, tips and advice on dining with Character and pre-booking are very welcome. Many thanks in advance.
Gazza .

[caroline]

You will definitely need to pre book, Disney used to 'open the book' 90 days prior to the reservation but I believe they've changed it to 180 days, I would phone around mid April - they'll tell you if you're too early and when to phone back.

[lafifille]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Gtyler
I'm worried that I'm not sure where I'll be and on which day as yet, as I've never been before.
[/quote]

Just a thought: can't you pre-book just in case a few dates and then cancel when you get closer to your dates and have more definite plans? Might be wishful thinking on my part...

[JaneB]

If you go to [wensite link edited - the Disney website] you can search for whatever sort of restaurant you want (character dining is near the bottom of the search filters on the left) and then you can pre-book online. You can book them whether you're staying on or off site - it doesn't matter.

You can book a maximum of 180 days in advance (190 if you're staying on site and have a booking code). For Cinderella's Royal Table you need to do this 180 days out as it books up astonishingly quickly, sometimes on the day it's first released. [msneek]

You can book as many as you like and for most of them you don't need to leave a credit card number or deposit so you can just cancel if your plans change (you can use the free phones on Disney property to do this or do it online or at a customer service booth). Cinderella's Royal Table and Fantasmic dining need a deposit to be left.

If you're going in high season or when the Free Dining Plan is operating (August/September, I think - people staying in Disney properties get their meals included) then you have very little chance of walking up to a Disney restaurant and getting a seat - all the decent ones will have been fully booked for months.[msneek]

One tip - when you book you need to give a phone number for when you're on holiday. You can use your UK one, it's fine, they won't check - but miss off the first zero because the form will expect a US number and they have fewer digits. Just make a note of which number you used because you need it if you want to retrieve your booking to check the details or cancel it.

You can have all the details (date, time, ref no. etc) emailed to you so you don't lose all the info.

If you want the Fantasmic dining package you have to phone up for that - I'm fairly sure you can't book that online. Cinderella might be the same.

Sorry it's a bit long but I didn't know this before we went the last time and really wish I had, so hope it helps. [msncool]