Disney World in Advance: What You Need to Reserve Ahead, and When

The days are long gone when you could simply buy a ticket as you entered the front gate and still expect the full Disney experience. Modern Disney is now a fierce competition for scarce resources, and that begins long before you arrive for your vacation. 

If you're planning a Disney World trip, you're required to make plans ahead of time. Don't miss out by waiting until the day you arrive to book the following tours, shows, activities, and dining experiences.

You will never see a Disney hotel as empty as this. They can sell out in peak periods. It's easy to find places to stay off the resort's property (here are Frommer's picks among those), but if your heart is set on a particular Disney-run hotel, like Disney's Wilderness Lodge (pictured), you'd better book early. Ideally, you should have your reservation set at least two months ahead of time, and the reason why is next.

Continuing the crowd control measures made necessary by the global pandemic that began in 2020, Disney now says it's no longer enough to buy a park ticket. All customers must also secure a reservation to enter the park of their choice on each day that they wish to visit. Both a paid ticket and a park reservation must be pre-loaded in each visitor's account before they will be admitted into a theme park. This requirement ends January 9, 2024.

Pictured above: Festival of the Lion King at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Disney dining reservations open 60 days in advance (call 407/939-3463 or use the Disney World app), and because of the packaged meal plan that the resort sells to guests, you'd better believe that they're popular. If you don't walk into the front gates with a prior reservation, you will often find it impossible to get into any of the table-service restaurants in the parks (including Disney's Hollywood Studios' 50's Prime-Time Café, pictured). Victoria & Albert's, at the Grand Floridian hotel, also opens its reservations 60 days ahead, and availability vanishes in minutes. Sometimes, you can forage for last-minute cancellations by checking the Disney World app for cancellations (Disney fines guests who don't show up for their reservations), but don't count on it.

All this folderol is why people who just visit the park for the day have to stick to counter-service meals, where reservations aren't required.

Having a meal with one of the staple Disney characters is considered one of the must-do activities if you have kids. The most popular "character dining" event outside the parks is the daily breakfast at Chef Mickey's in the atrium of the Contemporary Resort (pictured). Like regular restaurant meals, they book up ahead of time, so starting 60 days out, you should call 407/939-3463 or book via the Disney World app to snag a slot. The toughest two tables to secure are Cinderella's Royal Table inside the Magic Kingdom's castle and the Princess Storybook Dining at Epcot's Norway pavilion. It's not uncommon for those to fill up on the very first day they go on sale. If you fail, and many have, try again 24 hours ahead, because that's when most people tend to cancel.

Unknown to many, the resort offers a healthy selection of special backstage tours that show visitors how the park works (like Animal Kingdom's Wild Africa Trek, pictured). You could learn about how the Magic Kingdom's steam trains run, swim with dolphins in Epcot's The Living Seas tank, or dive into a seven-hour exploration of the resort's hidden tunnels and fascinating maintenance routines (that's the coveted Backstage Magic tour). But group sizes are small, so you have to get in while the getting's good, and that means advance planning. Go to www.disneyworld.com/tours or call 407/939-8687.

Over the last half of every year, the Magic Kingdom capitalizes on the holiday season by mounting separately ticketed theme nights that have included Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. These distinct events have their own parades, fireworks shows, and amenities. If you don't have a ticket, you'll be kicked out of the park around dinnertime before the festivities begin. Each year, many of the dates hit capacity months ahead of time, so try to book at least three months early to increase your chances. The same goes for Epcot's Candlelight Processional, a resort tradition dating to the early 1970s, which books a parade of celebrity guests to read the Christmas story.

The resort is always trying to find new ways to upsell visitors—special dessert parties during fireworks, dinner packages for shows that come with preferred seating, and so on. Offerings may only pop up briefly and then go away, which keeps fans on their toes and also results in frequent sellouts. Keep tabs on what's coming (warning: not all of it is worth the price) at www.disneyworld.com/events-tours and leap if you see something you like, because you can bet the passionate Mouseheads certainly will.

The package that grants you unlimited downloads of the pictures taken of you by park photographers is called Memory Maker, and it's often about 20% cheaper if you buy it at least three days ahead of your visit. That can be done online at disneyworld.disney.go.com/memory-maker.

If your kids want to get makeovers as princesses, princes, or pirates, they'll want to go to the special kids' salons that do that—either in Disney Springs or behind park gates at the Magic Kingdom. The number for reservations is 407/939-7895, or you can reserve a place using the Disney World app. 

Similarly, the Harmony Barber Shop on Town Square, near the front gates of the Magic Kingdom, has been giving toddlers their first haircuts since 1971. Staff members are experts at it—you'll get a baby mouse-ears cap reading “My First Haircut,” a certificate, and wrappings of your child’s first trimmings for posterity. Grownups can get trims and shaves, too, and older kids can get sparkly gel combed into their hair. The salon accepts walk-ins, but don't count on there being space, because up to 700 guests a week use its services. Book ahead using the Disney World app. Search for Harmony Barber Shop. 

Like character meals, dinner shows are kid-friendly, which makes them popular fare. The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue (pictured), running since 1974, starts booking six months out. At Disney Springs, the House of Blues' popular Gospel Brunch on Sundays can also fill up 3–4 months ahead.

Using the Disney World app 60 days out, secure your place for bizarre alien cocktails at Oga's Cantina, for a spot at a guided session of light saber fabrication at Savi's Workshop, and for Droid Depot if you want to build your own radio-controlled robotic toy.

If you miss out on reserving any of them, you'll have to attempt to join the walk-up list, but you'll have to try at the park. Of the three activities, Droid Depot is the easiest to get into without a prior booking.

The pre-planning doesn't stop on the day of your visit. At 7am sharp, the Virtual Queue opens on the Disney World ap. That's when the hottest, newest rides accept timed reservations using a lottery system. If a ride is using Virtual Queue, there may not be a way to wait in line for it otherwise. Don't miss the 7am drawing, in which you can participate from anywhere. There will be a second one at 1pm that you must be inside the park for.

Lightning Lane is Disney's paid system that allows you to book a time to wait in a faster line. A majority of the attractions that have Lightning Lane will permit guests to access the system by paying extra for Genie+, and that starts at 7am on the day of your visit. One or two of the most popular rides in each theme park are not accessible by Genie+; if you want Lightning Lane for those, you have to pay extra yet again. Those slots open at 7am as well. 

That's a lot of bureaucracy to tackle every day at 7am! Hope you didn't need to drive to the parks at that hour.

For more fantastic tips and inside knowledge that will simplify your Walt Disney World vacation and save you money, grab a copy of our annual, always updated guide to Disney World, Universal Studios & Orlando from our online store.