If you want a reservation at a Disney-owned restaurant at Walt Disney World, you currently have to call 407-WDW-DINE or use the Disney website/mobile application to do so, but in the near future, it appears guests may be able to use OpenTable.
OpenTable allows people to make reservations for restaurants just about anywhere, in fact, several 3rd-party restaurants at Disney Springs use the service as well as the DisneyWorld.com system. Disney would add the restaurants to OpenTable as well in hopes of gaining more attention with diners in the Orlando area, as the app showcases nearby restaurants when you open it.
OpenTable does have the capability of requiring a credit card hold for restaurants, so the same reservation parameters that currently apply at Disney restaurants would still be in place if this happens.
There is no set time frame for this service to roll out, but it should be fairly soon if it clears all of the appropriate channels.
It’s already happening for some places other than DS. Sanaa is one example that comes to mind. I have also heard Olivia’s and Flying Fish mentioned, but haven’t actually searched for them myself.
If this happens, I’m hoping you can used the opentable gift certs too.
This is a great way of putting the restaurants out there. What I wonder, however, is whether they can pull from the same pool of tables so that no matter which site you go to you’re not limited? I know that some of the current restaurants on OpenTable have a certain amount specifically held for bookings through that site. Just a worry for those who want to use MDE to make bookings so it’s all linked, but could miss out if the inventory is split. Or the other way round!
That part about not requiring a credit card is incorrect as some opentable restaurants do require a credit card. In fact I just made one for next week which has a 24 hour cancellation policy and a credit card guarantee.