Trust Us, If You’re Doing This in Disney World Restaurants, You ARE THE PROBLEM.

It is 12 PM at Disney World, and everyone in the parks is hungry and ready for their mid-day fuel.

You were prepared for this and placed your Mobile Order in advance, you are ready to pick up your food when you look all around you and see that there are no tables open around you, and you panic! We have all been there, and it can be so frustrating.

Finding a table to eat at during peak dining times can be an Olympic sport and a team effort. Someone has to order and pick up the food. Someone needs to help carry the food and drinks. Someone needs to get utensils and napkins. And then someone is the seat saver. 

We have some unfortunate news: Seat savers are actually affecting the flow of people dining.

We know that it is just normal Disney instinct to see an open table and dash for it to save it, but we suggest waiting for your food to be ready before you start saving a table. 

But even if you do all the right things and wait to find a table once you have your food, you may still struggle to find one, especially during busy meal periods. It can be awkward to have to stand and wait with your tray of food, looking around for a table. It can also be even worse to have to eat your food standing off of your tray to keep the flow of your day going.

While you can’t control seat savers, you can control some aspects to a certain extent. 

First and foremost, make sure you are using Mobile Order when you can. You can schedule your Mobile Order in advance to avoid popular times being taken when the time rolls around for lunch and dinner.

One of our biggest tips is to dine during off-hours. If you do not want to worry about waiting for a table, one of the best things you can do is to dine when it is not a popular time. 

We like to eat lunch between 2 and 4 PM to avoid the lunch and dinner rush. This way, we do not have to deal with the crowds and have plenty of tables to choose from. 

When we do this, we make sure we have a nice, filling breakfast or we stop for a mid-day snack, which is not hard since we could eat all the snacks at Disney World.

If you are still worried about finding a seat and want to rest in the AC for a bit, you could always book a table service restaurant by making an Advance Dining reservation. As a reminder, you can start making Advance Dining reservations 60 days before your visit.

Don’t sweat it if you forget to make a reservation in advance. You can always check the My Disney Experience app and see if there are any last-minute reservations. Some table service restaurants even have walk-up lists.

Another tip we like to give is to actually leave the park for meals. Disney World hotels and Disney Springs have so many great dining options. This is a great way to avoid the crowds for a little bit and rest up in the AC. Depending on what park you are in, you can take the Skyliner or monorail to different hotels for easy transportation back to the parks!

We have all been guilty of being seat savers and while it can be tempting to grab the first open table you see, wait until you have your food to help the flow of traffic and people looking for tables.

Four Disney World Dining Cheats We Use All the Time

Have you ever dealt with the lunch rush at Disney World? Let us know in the comments!

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