Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) stress out almost every guest visiting Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Dustin Checketts, content creator, and owner of the website MouseDining.com joins Chad Pennycuff to help you secure the dining reservations that will make your trip even more magical. Whether you’re trying to score a rare and highly coveted signature restaurant or just missed your 60-day mark and need some help, your Walt Disney World or Disneyland experience will be rocked to the core when you learn about how MouseDining can unlock your best Disney meals. After all, some of us are just here for the snacks! Episode 212
Season 10 of the My DVC Points Podcast was brought to you by:
DVC Resale Market – Industry Leader in DVC Resales
DVC Rental Store – DVC Point Rentals
Monera Financial – Exclusively Financing DVC Contracts
Patreon supporters in the My DVC Points VIP Producer Club.
MouseDining was born when Dustin Checketts and his family planned a huge Walt Disney World trip and wanted to score ADRs to eat at Cinderella’s Royal Table, Hollywood and Vine, and beyond. Dustin’s family spent a ton of frustrating time hunting down those ADRs when Dustin’s wife revealed that a notification service for ADRs would change their trips for the better. Dustin’s brother happens to be a software developer, and just a few days later, the rest is history.
Using MouseDining is a breeze. There’s both a free and a paid-for version, and you can set up notifications to be sent to your email (free) or by text to up to 3 numbers (paid) when your desired dining reservation becomes available. The paid version includes Walt Disney World and Disneyland at $9.00 monthly or $90 annually. Whether you want multiple alerts or just need to eat at the elusive Space 220, MouseDining is ready to help you. MouseDining is not just for ADRs at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. You can set alerts for some fireworks events, dessert parties, Saavi’s workshop (lightsaber building), and Droid Depot, with more experiences added regularly.
As a Disney Vacation Club member, you might be great at locking in your ADRs because you book your DVC villas at 11 or 7 months. However, you might end up with a new contract or last minute trip where you missed your ADR’s window. This is another way that MouseDining can help you make the most of your dining experiences at Walt Disney World and at Disneyland!
If you want to win a paid MouseDining subscription, make sure you like, subscribe, and ring the notification bell for the MyDVCPoints YouTube channel. When we go live every Sunday, we will be giving away some MouseDining premium subscriptions to our viewers.
So, what exactly are the most requested ADRs at all of Walt Disney World? As dictated by MouseDining users’ requests, Dustin posts the data to the MouseDining subreddit. Overall the top 10 most difficult restaurants to get across Walt Disney World and Disneyland are: Space 220, Topolino’s Terrace, Space 220 Lounge, Chef Mickey’s, Ohana, Blue Bayou, Cinderella’s Royal Table, Oga’s Cantina (Disneyland), Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, and Story Book Dining at Artist’s Point. Even with a MouseDining notification, you will have some competition with other Disney guests to grab these. We recommend setting a VIP alert on your phone for MouseDining notifications to increase your chances. For other pro tips on how to use the MouseDining service and increase your chances of locking in the best ADRs, check out the MouseDining YouTube channel.
Let’s break it down further with the most requested ADRs at each park and at Disney Springs. At Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, the top ADRs are for Tusker House, Yak and Yeti, Rainforest Cafe, and Tiffins. A pro tip – make sure you get your Landry’s Select Card for Yak and Yeti and Rainforest Cafe to help jump the line. For Disney Springs, T-Rex and Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ trade back and forth for the toughest ADR to book, followed by the Boathouse, Rainforest Cafe, Raglan Road, the Edison, Morimoto Asia, and Planet Hollywood. At Epcot, Space 220 and Space 220 Lounge take the top spots followed by Garden Grill, Teppan Edo in the Japan pavilion, Via Napoli in the Italy pavilion, Le Cellier in the Canada pavilion, San Angel Inn in the Mexico pavilion, Rose and Crown in the UK pavilion, and finally the Coral Reef restaurant. Looking to Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, Oga’s Cantina, Hollywood and Vine, and 50’s Prime Time Cafe. The most predictable of the park lists is Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, with Cinderella’s Royal Table and Be Our Guest coming in at the top of the most difficult-to-get ADR list. Jungle Skipper Canteen, Crystal Palace, Tony’s Town Square, Liberty Tree Tavern, the Plaza Restaurant, and finally, the Diamond Horseshoe round out the list.
Let’s move on to the resorts. Topolino’s Terrace breakfast leads the list of toughest ADRs. Chef Mickey’s surprisingly enters the list at #2. That one surprised us because the food isn’t our favorite, but the classic fab 5 are fun character dining. Next up for the resort based ADR’s, you might need MouseDining to help you land Ohana, Story Book Dining, Beaches and Cream, Hoop-dee-doo Musical Revue, California Grill, Steakhouse 71, Sanaa, Kona Cafe, and Jiko. It’s great to book your ADRs at Walt Disney World resorts because you do not need a theme park ticket to get a great meal.
Just a little more about Dustin before we sign off. He and his family are also past Disney Vacation Club (DVC) owners at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. From 2017-2019, his family used their points to stay at Disney Vacation Club’s treehouse villas at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa and at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. While they loved their DVC experience, Dustin and his family wanted to invest in a home, so they let go of DVC for the time being. Because DVC tends to hold good value over time, Dustin was able to sell his DVC contract in favor of a home. He worked with our sponsor, DVCResaleMarket, and was able to break even on his original purchase. He and his family do intend to come back to DVC at some point in the future. If you want to reach Dustin, reach out on the MouseDining website by clicking “Contact” and mention Dustin in your note.
Show Credits:
- Chad Pennycuff: Host and Curator of Magical Stories at MyDVCPoints
- Mary Ann Tracy: Episode Producer
- Dustin Checketts: Guest and Owner of MouseDining
- Dustin Checketts: Audio Editing
- Jill Creighton: Show Notes and WordPress
My DVC Points is an awesome community of DVC members. Our positive, respectful, and authentic conversations about Disney Vacation Club are designed to help people make informed and educated decisions about what's best for their families. Please join us to continue our Facebook Group and YouTube channel conversations.
It takes an incredible community of DVC members to produce our content. We're always recruiting people to help research, produce, edit, or join our shows to share their stories. Thus far, we've had over 400 DVC members on our shows.
If our content has been a blessing to your family, please consider supporting our show through our VIP Producer's Club at Patreon.com and join us for the Patreon After-Party from our live shows.
Facebook admins and moderators of the My DVC Points Community Group: Sandy Symianick, Gina Grotsky, Shannon Ford, Caleb Allison, and Mary Anne Tracy. “Take Flight” music by Martinrowberry1 on Pond5.
