About MagicFinders
MagicFinders is an independent alert service for Walt Disney World and Disneyland trips. Tell it the restaurant, event or resort hotel room you couldn’t book and your date. It checks around the clock, more often as your date gets closer, and emails you when a check finds an opening. You book it yourself, in your own Disney account. We never ask for your Disney login and never hold or book anything. Up to 3 email alerts are free. A one-time $24 Trip Pass gives you 12 alerts at a time and 90 days of checking. Nothing renews. MagicFinders was started in 2026 and is run independently in California. It is not affiliated with The Walt Disney Company. Questions: hello@magicfinders.com.
Independent and unofficial · last verified 2026-09-02 · hello@magicfinders.com
What does MagicFinders watch?
Three kinds of Disney bookings, on both coasts:
- Restaurants that take reservations at Walt Disney World (all four theme parks, Disney Springs and the resort hotels) and at Disneyland Resort (both parks, Downtown Disney and the hotels).
- Events and experiences you reserve ahead through Disney: dessert parties, dinner shows, tours, Savi’s Workshop and Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Most open 60 days out, but each has its own payment and cancellation rules, and some need park admission.
- Resort hotel rooms: a sold-out room type for your dates at a Disney resort hotel on either coast. The Swan, Dolphin and Swan Reserve are on our Walt Disney World list too. See hotel alerts and sold-out rooms by resort.
You pick the place, the date (or a range of up to 7 days with a Trip Pass), the party size and, if you like, a time window. For a hotel you pick the check-in and check-out dates, the room type and the guests.
How do we check?
We check around the clock. For restaurants and events, dates in the next 2 days are checked every few minutes, day and night. Dates further out are checked less often, and some of them less often still at night. At busy times, far-off restaurant dates wait longer between checks. Hotel rooms are checked several times an hour, day and night, and more often in the week before check-in. When a check finds an opening, we email you right away, with a button that opens Disney’s own booking page. We watch, you book. We never hold, book, transfer or sell reservations, and an alert is not a reservation. Popular tables can go in minutes, so be signed in to your Disney account on your phone before an alert arrives.
Each Walt Disney World dining date opens 60 days before that date, at about 6:00 AM Eastern. Staying at a Disney Resort hotel? You can book dining for your whole stay, up to a 10-night stay, starting 60 days before check-in. Disneyland dining opens 60 days ahead. Disney gives no time, and in our checks new dates usually appeared a few minutes after 6:00 AM Pacific. Hotel rooms are sold many months ahead.
For restaurants and events, you can set an alert for any date up to 180 days away. It shows as Scheduled until Disney opens the date, 60 days before, and we start checking that morning. Disney World hotel guests can book their stay’s later dates up to 10 days sooner, so book those yourself on your check-in date’s opening morning. Hotel alerts start checking right away. The details are on when to book and what time Disney World dining opens.
We log every check we run and every opening we spot. Check logs are deleted after about two weeks and openings after 120 days, as our Privacy page explains. We do not publish live availability. Our public pages show numbers from our own checks, labelled unofficial, with the dates they cover and how many observations they are based on. A number appears only once we have enough data for it, and the guides wait for 30 days of data.
Do you ever need my Disney login?
No. Never. You sign in to MagicFinders with a link we email you. There is no MagicFinders password either. You book on Disney’s site or app, in your own account. Nothing about your Disney account passes through us.
What does it cost?
Email alerts are free: up to 3 at a time, up to 2 of them restaurants. Each restaurant or event alert covers one date, and a hotel alert covers one stay. That covers a few must-do meals. For more places or a range of dates, there is the Trip Pass: $24, paid once. It gives you up to 12 alerts at a time, of any kind, with date ranges up to 7 days, and 90 days of checking, counted from your first check. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel.
No ads on the site, no selling or renting of your data, no newsletter unless you ask. See Privacy.
Who runs it?
A solo founder in California who plans their own Disney trips and built the alert they wanted. MagicFinders is a small, independent US company (the legal entity is named in our Terms) with no outside investors, no ads and no data sales. Email hello@magicfinders.com and we read it.
Is MagicFinders affiliated with Disney?
No. MagicFinders is an independent notification service, not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by The Walt Disney Company. Disney, Walt Disney World and Disneyland are trademarks of Disney Enterprises, Inc., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. We use the names only to say which places our alerts cover. We don’t use Disney logos, characters or artwork.
How does it compare with other alert tools?
In a table: Disney dining and hotel alert tools compared. It lists 12 tools, including MagicFinders and one that we could not find working, and checks the same 9 facts for each, with the date we checked. It also names the cases where another tool is the better pick. If you used the TouringPlans Reservation Finder, here are the free alternatives.
Restaurant, event or hotel room. We check for openings around the clock and email you as soon as a check finds one. You book on Disney.
More: Set an alert · When to book · Dining cancellation policy · Partner program · Compare tools · Accessibility · Terms · Privacy