Navigating Disney World’s Advanced Dining Reservation system is a key part of planning a great vacation. Disney just announced changes to this system that will make finding dining reservations easier at both Disney World and Disneyland.

Disney is fixing one of the most annoying parts of making a reservation by letting guests see all available dining reservations. Yes, that means you will no longer have to repeatedly change the time on your dining reservation search to see all of your options.

Here’s everything you need to know about this change.

Disney’s Announcement

“Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort continue to roll out enhancements to simplify planning and make the Guest experience more convenient so Guests can spend more time enjoying their visit with loved ones. In the coming days, we will update how Guests book dining reservations to make it easier to discover and book reservations on the Disneyland website/Disneyland app and on the Walt Disney World website/My Disney Experience app. These updates include:

  • Visibility of All Available Reservation Slots: Guests will see all reservation slots available to them for their selected dining location and timeframe on the Disneyland website/Disneyland app and on the Walt Disney World website/My Disney Experience app. Currently, only a few available reservation slots that fit the Guest’s selected timeframe are shown.
  • Reservation Slots Sorted by Meal Period: Reservation availability will be sorted by meal period so Guests can view which menu is being served during the time of their reservation. For example, it will be clearer to Guests whether the lunch or dinner menu is being served at 4 p.m.

These updates will roll out in phases across the website and iOS and Android platforms.”

How This is Different from the Current ADR System

The old reservation system.

New Dining Reservation System Screenshot - Scott Gustin Twitter

The new reservation system (via Scott Gustin)

Currently, when trying to book dining reservations at Disney World or Disneyland, you have to select which time you want first to see if there are any available reservations around that time.

The new reservation system transforms this process by allowing you to see all the available time slots, broken up within breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This will be a significant enhancement, especially considering that the menu at certain restaurants does change throughout the day.

When These Changes Go Live

Space 220 - Dining Room Spaceship in Window- Disney World Dining

Disney has stated that these improvements will go live at Disney World and Disneyland within the next few days in phases, adding yet another layer of convenience to your vacation planning.

Guide2WDW’s Take

Dining reservations are an important tool for planning a Disney vacation, and we welcome anything that makes this system better. After all, if you’re waking up to make dining reservations as early as possible at 5:45 am, you want things to be as simple as they can be. Sometimes it takes a bit for that coffee to kick in.

This is a great refinement of Disney World and Disneyland’s current system. Showing the available reservation slots will prevent a lot of unnecessary clicking and reloading, which should also put less of a strain on Disney’s servers, meaning that you’ll encounter errors less frequently.

In planning your next visit, be sure to check our Guide 2 Disney World Dining Reservations which includes essential resources: