Best Disney World Dining Alerts and Tips

Booking dining at Disney World is notoriously hard. Assuming you booked as much as you could as soon as your 60-day window opened, what do you do if you still have a bunch of restaurants and experiences you want to try? You have three options. You can give up and just eat at the restaurants nobody wants to eat at, you could check the app constantly over the next two months, or you can check out sites and apps that offer Disney World dining alerts.

In this article, I’ll let you know the most popular alert services, how much they cost, and how they work. I created the list by scouring multiple forums on Facebook and Reddit and tallied up the results. Then I tested them to let you know the experience. Here’s the full graph for you.

Here’s the data I compiled by tallying up recommendations in forum posts that I created or others created in the last 18 months.

Finally, there have been some reports that many of the alert services have stopped functioning since Disney opened up multi-day searches—something about the algorithm being broken. In fact, Touring Plans shut theirs down entirely. However, I can tell you that the top three below work just fine. I tested them myself after the update. I even paid for a reservation I didn’t take just for journalistic integrity.

Here's the best services for getting alerts at the Walt Disney World Resort for your favorite Disney restaurants.

Most Popular Free Dining Alert Service: MouseDining

What my dining alert looked like on MouseDining’s website.

The most popular dining alert service, free or paid, is MouseDining. They offer a free account service (up to 6 concurrent notifications) that only sends email notifications. There’s no cap on the amount of alerts as long as you only have 6 at one time. The alerts will notify you if a reservation appears an hour before or after your desired time.

(This is an affiliate link. MouseDining reached out and invited me into the program after I published this article. My status as an affiliate had no bearing on what I published).

They have two paid versions currently that will send you emails and texts for 50 or more alerts. This is great if you need a text message, are booking tons of dining (or want options), or are an agent booking for others.

I’ve used MouseDining multiple times and had significant success getting the reservations we wanted. Most recently I was able to get a table for 4 at Le Cellier at 7PM on a Friday night during Spring Break and an Art Smith’s Homecoming Brunch the next morning. Both are relatively hard to get (but by no means the hardest). I only used the free version because I have email communication notifications on my phone and watch that are just as fast as texts. Push notification is your friend here. I didn’t bother opening the email. I just went straight to the My Disney App (see tips at the bottom).

Got a corner booth after using MouseDining to book Le Cellier reservation, one of the best restaurants at EPCOT.

Pros:
-many guests have used it successfully
-decent availability for free plan
-relatively inexpensive paid version

Cons:
-if you don’t like a reservation time (or don’t get it) you must refresh the alert
-only way to get notifications is email in the free version

Most Popular Paid Dining Alert Service: MouseWatcher

A graphic from my case study of finding a reservation. This one cost me $5.

Mousewatcher is by far the most popular paid Disney dining alert service. With MouseWatcher, you pay per reservation, or pay a monthly fee for unlimited reservations (higher than MouseDining). Many people swear by it and say that it gets faster results than any other service. In fact, several people claimed to test all of the top 3 and MouseWatcher was much faster.

But there’s a caveat to trying to compare them. With Stakeout (below) and MouseDining (above), you pick the time you want your reservation to be, and they try to find you something close to that (give or take an hour). With MouseWatcher, you just pick what meal you want. For instance, if you choose dinner, they’ll give you reservation options from 4PM to close. Therefore, if you’re not picky about what time you eat, MouseWatcher might be the way to go.

Unlike other options, they’ll send you everything they come across, via text and email, until the reservation expires. I’ve gotten about 20 notifications over the last 3 days. However, they missed a perfect reservation for Le Cellier (7:15 PM) that both MouseDining and Stakeout found. This is just one anecdotal attempt, so take that with a grain of salt (dining pun intended). Many people swear by them, and by the day of the reservation I had gotten alerts for several similarly perfect time reservations.

Pros:
 -unlimited availability alerts for a reservation
 -known to be fast
-text alerts and email alerts

Cons:
 -costs money for each reservation

Most Popular Dining Alert App: Stakeout

A screenshot from my trial run for booking Le Cellier.

Stakeout (Apple App or Google App) is another popular Disney Dining Alert service, but it’s only an app. In my experience, the app was unbelievably easy to use, and it found good reservations. In my test with MouseDining and MouseWatcher, it edged out MouseDining for a 7:15PM reservation to Le Cellier by about 30 seconds (and MouseWatcher missed it).

You can do one alert at a time for free, but after that you need to utilize a paid service. Therefore, it works great if you only need one reservation. I can’t get over how easy the app is to use, though. I will probably always use them in the future. The reservation finder is so easy to use. I definitely think that it's the king of mobile dining alert apps.

Pros:
 -extremely fast response
 -intuitive, easy to use app from phone
 -paid version is reasonably priced

Cons:
 -only allows one alert at a time for free (compared to MouseDining’s 6)

Most Popular “Book it For You” Service: Add More Magic

What it looks like to book BBB through Add More Magic. For some reason, I couldn’t change the date.

If you can’t be bothered to log into a website, click on a link, or use the My Disney Experience app at a moment’s notice, there are services that will actually book the reservation for you. The huge benefit to this is that it’s doing all the work for you. You can take a nap, and wake up with the reservation you need already loaded into your account. Add More Magic is the most popular full-service companies.

However, it costs for each reservation, though cheaper for restaurants than MouseWatcher. There’s also a longer set up process that involves letting Add More Magic be connected to your My Disney Experience app. Finally, you can’t book prepaid experiences like Cinderella’s Royal Table through it because they would be spending your money.

Edit: Add More Magic reached out to me to clarify that they don’t have access to your Disney account. They get connected as a friend just like your traveling party might book something for you.

That being said, if you are desperate for a reservation because a restaurant just opened, or you accidentally promised your child that she could go to Be Our Guest the day after Christmas, this might be the way to go.

Pros:
 -removes a step and books for you
 -great for the absolute hardest to get reservations

Cons:
 -expensive (but they only charge if they are successful at booking)
 -long set up compared to self-service apps
 -can’t alert you for prepaid experiences

Add More Magic is the Best for Booking Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Add More Magic came up frequently with guests who were trying to book Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. This is one of the most popular and difficult experiences to book. Many people had a lot of luck using them to book this experience. It’s going to cost you a fortune anyway, might as well pay the price to have Add More Magic book it. However, experiences cost much more than restaurants with their service. At time of writing, it cost $12 for BBB.

My daughters at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Tips for Using Disney Dining Alerts Services

Here’s a few tips for using dining alert services, regardless of who you choose to use.

Best Time to Use a Dining Alert Service

I get it. You logged on a 6AM 60 days out and couldn’t get the reservation you wanted. The kids wanted that Space 220 reservation. Your husband or wife wanted a date night at California Grill. In your panic, you might want to sign up for every alert service that second. If they are free alerts, by all means, set them up.

However, if you’re using a paid service, it’s helpful to understand when and why availability shows up. Lots of people (and agents) hoard reservations when they first open. They decide exactly what fits their plans. Then, they cancel what they don’t need.

My girls eating at Space220. Our agent snagged this one for us. Shout out to agents.

Since Disney lets you cancel up to 2 hours before your reservation without penalty, they’ll hold on to reservations until they’re absolutely sure. Therefore, if you’re using a monthly paid service, wait until you’re only a month out. As the trip gets closer, other people’s plans will finalize, and you can grab what they drop.

This is especially true the week leading up to a trip. If someone decides they are going to EPCOT on Monday, but have a Cinderella’s Royal Table in Magic Kingdom booked that day, they’ll drop it. As the days progress, they may decide that they are too full or too poor to afford another dining experience, and they might cancel then.

Finally, I have noticed that a lot of hard to book reservations will suddenly appear in the last 24 hours. I don’t know if that’s because of cancellations or because restaurants release more availability, but it happens. On our last trip, there were no reservations for Cape May or Toppolino’s on a certain day, but the night before, every 15 minutes was available. This also happened in my test study. On the day of the Le Cellier reservation I tried to book, I got about 10 notifications from MouseWatcher after only two total on the two days leading up to it.

Donald and Goofy interact with guests at Cape May Cafe.

Be patient, and know that a lot of the best reservations are last minute.

Busy Times are Really Hard

If you are going at one the busiest times of year (Thanksgiving, Christmas, President’s Day, or Spring Break), know that everyone is fighting for the reservation you want. Temper your expectations. Have back up plans, and be patient. Even if you pay for a dining alert service, know that thousands of other people are, too.

Use the My Disney Experience App to Book

Here’s the logo, so you can find it on your phone.

Each dining alert service will give you a link to click on that will take you to the reservation. In my experience, and in the experience of many others in forums, you have a much better chance of landing that alert if you go to the My Disney Experience app yourself and look for the reservation instead of using the link.

Be Fast, but Keep Trying

Apparently, a lot of Disney World dining alerts are too fast for even Disney. A lot of people report that after getting an alert, the reservation isn’t there. Usually, this means that someone else beat you to it. However, many people report that after several minutes, the reservation will appear. Keep trying until you’re sure there isn’t a glitch in the system.

Conclusion and Further Reading

The food and dining environments are one of the greatest parts of Walt Disney World and worth fighting for. If you didn’t get the reservation you wanted at 60 days (or if you’re like us and booked a last minute trip), sign up for one of these amazing services to get yourself into these restaurants or experiences. It's also important to point out that party size matters. Parties of four are easiest to book. Bigger parties will take more time. Surprisingly, smaller parties are also difficult because they don’t want to give a larger table to a small party. 

If you're new to Disney World, remember that reservations at Disney parks require admission to the park, but a reservation a Disney resort does not. Another thing to note is that the more popular a service is, the more people will be fighting for the same reservation. This might mean you might have better luck with similar services that are lesser known might be more effective, but who knows if they are faster.

All in all, I believe these services are a great idea to get reservations for specific restaurants. However, remember that using third-party websites are not what the Walt Disney Company have in mind, so there may be complications for what you want. Just go to Disney World and have fun.

If you don’t even want to bother with this, check out my guide to the best last minute restaurants that always seem to have availability.

And, let me know if in the comments if you’ve had any luck with any Disney World dining alerts.