I am pretty immersed in the world of Disney vacations, as you might imagine. I am in countless groups that discuss the ins and outs of a Walt Disney World vacation. One of the things I see time and time again are people “desperately” searching for certain dining reservations. Usually the ones brought up over and over are Topolino’s Terrace, Chef Mickey’s and Cinderella’s Royal Table. Most of the time it is someone pleading to the masses about how they NEED this one certain reservation, otherwise their vacation will be ruined. I have even seen people wanting to cancel the entire vacation because they didn’t get one certain reservation.
There is no way you can do everything Walt Disney World has to offer in one vacation. The best vacations are discovering something new for yourself. Not necessarily just getting the popular reservations just because that is what people said you should do.
I have been to Walt Disney World around 20 times now, and there are still things I haven’t done. One reservation I still haven’t had is Chef Mickey’s and I will tell you, each trip is still magical even if we didn’t eat there. To a lot of people, this would make or break their trip, but instead of focusing on what I didn’t do, I like to focus on all of the fabulous reservations and experiences we do have. To be honest, most Walt Disney World restaurants are amazing and deserve to be praised but don’t get half the mentions some others do. There are about 90 table service restaurants on property, and chances are you haven’t heard of most of them!
I think when the focus is just on a handful of restaurants people lose out on the chance to try new things for themselves and discover something they might have otherwise missed.
Boma, for instance, is not usually a highly sought-after reservation and it doesn’t have characters either. But, it is by far, my family’s favorite breakfast on property! If we were to just listen to what social media had to say, we would never have had an opportunity to fall in love with this dining location.
You can even find some of the best food you will have at quick service locations and those don’t even need a reservation! I’m looking at you Satu’li Canteen.
The point is this, don’t let the groups and friends make you think your trip will be ruined if you don’t get one hard-to-get dining experience. There are a lot of fantastic restaurants on property, and you need to make the focus of your vacation on all of the magical memories you make, not where you are eating dinner. Because the memories will happen everywhere around you, as long as you are watching for them.
