Good Luck with Reservations

StarshipDisney

Well-Known Member
Wow! I was up at 0500 this morning ready to make ADRs for our December trip to Disney. I was at it the moment the reservations opened up for days 61 through 65 of our "60 + 10" day window. So, I was guaranteed to be ahead of anyone staying off-site who can only do 60-days. Again, only days starting after the day after we arrive were checked (days 61-65).

I could not believe the UNAVALABILITY:

'Ohana: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner.
Space 220 Cafe: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner including the lounge.
50's Prime Time Cafe: Nothing available except an 8:25 PM dinner on day 62. Time is unacceptable so nothing.
Tusker House: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner.
Steakhouse 71: Nothing available for days 61-65. Changed the party to 3 and got a table on day 61. But will show up with 2. Hopefully they don't turn us away.

Tried changing the party to 3 on all others...no change.

I was able to get us a place to eat in each park, but not what we wanted. Had to settle for the likes of Chefs De France and Rainforest Cafe. I guess one positive was that I got the Keys to the Kingdom Tour at MK and the Caring for Giants Tour at AK.

Let this be a lesson to those staying off site that you are basically screwed regarding ADRs. Even staying on-site does not guarantee you any premium places to try.

Overall, this morning was not a positive experience. I really wanted Space 220 but nothing doing. I'll check continuously until the trip but do not have high hopes.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Wow! I was up at 0500 this morning ready to make ADRs for our December trip to Disney. I was at it the moment the reservations opened up for days 61 through 65 of our "60 + 10" day window. So, I was guaranteed to be ahead of anyone staying off-site who can only do 60-days. Again, only days starting after the day after we arrive were checked (days 61-65).

I could not believe the UNAVALABILITY:

'Ohana: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner.
Space 220 Cafe: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner including the lounge.
50's Prime Time Cafe: Nothing available except an 8:25 PM dinner on day 62. Time is unacceptable so nothing.
Tusker House: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner.
Steakhouse 71: Nothing available for days 61-65. Changed the party to 3 and got a table on day 61. But will show up with 2. Hopefully they don't turn us away.

Tried changing the party to 3 on all others...no change.

I was able to get us a place to eat in each park, but not what we wanted. Had to settle for the likes of Chefs De France and Rainforest Cafe. I guess one positive was that I got the Keys to the Kingdom Tour at MK and the Caring for Giants Tour at AK.

Let this be a lesson to those staying off site that you are basically screwed regarding ADRs. Even staying on-site does not guarantee you any premium places to try.

Overall, this morning was not a positive experience. I really wanted Space 220 but nothing doing. I'll check continuously until the trip but do not have high hopes.
I'm sorry to hear that but keep trying. The labor situation is very fluid and I don't believe they're releasing all of their table inventory at 60 days because they don't want to risk being overbooked for what they can staff.

Disney has eight job fair events scheduled for this month. Hopefully they're successful.

10/5 - All roles
10/7 - Lifeguards
10/12 - All roles
10/13 - Housekeeping
10/19 - All roles
10/20 - F&B
10/26 - All roles
10/27 - Housekeeping
 
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ceecee101

Active Member
Wow! I was up at 0500 this morning ready to make ADRs for our December trip to Disney. I was at it the moment the reservations opened up for days 61 through 65 of our "60 + 10" day window. So, I was guaranteed to be ahead of anyone staying off-site who can only do 60-days. Again, only days starting after the day after we arrive were checked (days 61-65).

I could not believe the UNAVALABILITY:

'Ohana: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner.
Space 220 Cafe: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner including the lounge.
50's Prime Time Cafe: Nothing available except an 8:25 PM dinner on day 62. Time is unacceptable so nothing.
Tusker House: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner.
Steakhouse 71: Nothing available for days 61-65. Changed the party to 3 and got a table on day 61. But will show up with 2. Hopefully they don't turn us away.

Tried changing the party to 3 on all others...no change.

I was able to get us a place to eat in each park, but not what we wanted. Had to settle for the likes of Chefs De France and Rainforest Cafe. I guess one positive was that I got the Keys to the Kingdom Tour at MK and the Caring for Giants Tour at AK.

Let this be a lesson to those staying off site that you are basically screwed regarding ADRs. Even staying on-site does not guarantee you any premium places to try.

Overall, this morning was not a positive experience. I really wanted Space 220 but nothing doing. I'll check continuously until the trip but do not have high hopes.
I was able to get 2 of ours but also in the same boat on others. Space 220 lounge, nope. Feel good you got Keys tour, nothing doing for us the whole week we’re there.
 
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ADRs seem very scarce compared to every other December we have gone (pretty much every December for more than 10 years). There are probably lots of factors, including enormous demand plus guests making multiple reservations on the same day that they’ll cancel later, limited staffing resulting in fewer ADRs offered, IT issues with loading all restaurant availability 60 days out, lack of timely decision making about things like Candlelight Processional packages. I’m sure there are many more issues. Bottom line for me is a much less enjoyable visit.
 
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DisneyfanMA

Well-Known Member
Dining alerts. Off property so I was in even worse shape. Saw 4th and 5th choices for my trip every day at 6am. What a downer.

$8 for a month of 50 alerts with sms TXT at mousedining.com and I got 90% of what I wanted in 2 weeks. I canceled after a month but if I kept it I have no doubt I'd probably get them all. I was satisified with my overall choices though and moved on in my planning. the final week before your trip is your best chance to get alerted due to cancellations last minutes. Don't give up keep trying abd being patient. Eventually you will get them and it feels awesome.

Bottom line: Disney needs more heavily themed restaurants. Over and over the same pattern held - the unthemed kind of generic restaurants are available and the themed ones gone.
 
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BraveGirl

Well-Known Member
Keep checking. We were able to get last minute (as in, the day before) reservations for Prime Time at a prime dinner time slot (7pm). I also saw Sci-fi availability when I was booking. People cancel all the time.
 
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Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
Keep checking. We were able to get last minute (as in, the day before) reservations for Prime Time at a prime dinner time slot (7pm). I also saw Sci-fi availability when I was booking. People cancel all the time.
Good advice! Just out of curiosity, I did a quick search, and availability was significantly better for the near future than 60 days out:

Lunch for 4, 60 days from now at 1pm: only about 40 restaurants with availability, most an hour or two later in the afternoon, and mostly low-demand resort/Disney Springs restaurants.
Lunch for 4, tomorrow at 1pm: well over 50 restaurants (including Be Our Guest, 50s Primetime, and Steakhouse 71) with availability, most with multiple slots right around 1pm.
 
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DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
Good advice! Just out of curiosity, I did a quick search, and availability was significantly better for the near future than 60 days out:

Lunch for 4, 60 days from now at 1pm: only about 40 restaurants with availability, most an hour or two later in the afternoon, and mostly low-demand resort/Disney Springs restaurants.
Lunch for 4, tomorrow at 1pm: well over 50 restaurants (including Be Our Guest, 50s Primetime, and Steakhouse 71) with availability, most with multiple slots right around 1pm.
Might be people cancelling due to the hurricane that just went through.
 
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Vacationeer

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
We just got Space220 lounge 4 weeks out through MouseDining today (Nov 1, 12:50pm).

First time we’ve ever paid for a service like this. We had 3 or 4 places in mind, were very flexible, didn’t need to get all of them, but couldn’t find anything. Not even ONE. Would’ve been happy with 1 or 2 even if it meant going out of our way to make the day/time work. So I paid the darkside. At least we got a preferred time/day for the ADR I wanted most.
 
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DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
We just got Space220 lounge 4 weeks out through MouseDining today (Nov 1, 12:50pm).

First time we’ve ever paid for a service like this. We had 3 or 4 places in mind, were very flexible, didn’t need to get all of them, but couldn’t find anything. Not even ONE. Would’ve been happy with 1 or 2 even if it meant going out of our way to make the day/time work. So I paid the darkside. At least we got a preferred time/day for the ADR I wanted most.
Glad it worked. I missed a text today by 10 min for Space 220 in December. Ugh lol.
 
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Vacationeer

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Glad it worked. I missed a text today by 10 min for Space 220 in December. Ugh lol.
Good luck! Time is on your side for something to come along.

It feels like we’ve been planning to do Space220 for years! Probably because we have over many many trips 😂 It kept dangling like a carrot each trip and then they’d move the date out each time. It was finally ready for our 5th trip and they held it back for the 50th. Pbbt.

Finally 🥳👯‍♂️🎉🎉👯‍♂️👯‍♂️ Might actually happen this time.
 
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JohnD

Well-Known Member
Wow! I was up at 0500 this morning ready to make ADRs for our December trip to Disney. I was at it the moment the reservations opened up for days 61 through 65 of our "60 + 10" day window. So, I was guaranteed to be ahead of anyone staying off-site who can only do 60-days. Again, only days starting after the day after we arrive were checked (days 61-65).

I could not believe the UNAVALABILITY:

'Ohana: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner.
Space 220 Cafe: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner including the lounge.
50's Prime Time Cafe: Nothing available except an 8:25 PM dinner on day 62. Time is unacceptable so nothing.
Tusker House: Nothing available for days 61-65 lunch or dinner.
Steakhouse 71: Nothing available for days 61-65. Changed the party to 3 and got a table on day 61. But will show up with 2. Hopefully they don't turn us away.

Tried changing the party to 3 on all others...no change.

I was able to get us a place to eat in each park, but not what we wanted. Had to settle for the likes of Chefs De France and Rainforest Cafe. I guess one positive was that I got the Keys to the Kingdom Tour at MK and the Caring for Giants Tour at AK.

Let this be a lesson to those staying off site that you are basically screwed regarding ADRs. Even staying on-site does not guarantee you any premium places to try.

Overall, this morning was not a positive experience. I really wanted Space 220 but nothing doing. I'll check continuously until the trip but do not have high hopes.
Regarding the ADR you want but at an unacceptable time, I recommend making the ADR then trying to change it from time to time. For example, accept the 8:25pm ADR for 50s Prime Time, then try to modify it to another time. I've also found that increasing the number of guests MAY increase the availability (tends to work with Boma). Accept the one with the time you want then modify it back to the number of guests you really want. That time will still be shown.
 
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ryguy

Well-Known Member
Nothing says Disney vacation like waking up at 5 am to get dining reservations 60 days out. This is absurd. And why planning a Disney vacation is no fun. Planning used to be one of my favorite parts of the trip but its become so laborious these days.
 
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JohnD

Well-Known Member
Nothing says Disney vacation like waking up at 5 am to get dining reservations 60 days out. This is absurd. And why planning a Disney vacation is no fun. Planning used to be one of my favorite parts of the trip but its become so laborious these days.

To each their own and I won't fault anyone who wants to do that. I'll typically make reservations after I wake up 60 days out. Part of the fun, for me, is continuing to request modifications or look for new ADRs for the next 60 days. I do this a lot but I usually hit on what I want. Last week, I could have had Skipper Canteen and LeCellier but there was a pesky hurricane in the way. Oh well.
 
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G00fyDad

Well-Known Member
Keep checking. We were able to get last minute (as in, the day before) reservations for Prime Time at a prime dinner time slot (7pm). I also saw Sci-fi availability when I was booking. People cancel all the time.
I am still looking for Sci-Fi around Lunch for 1:00pm or later or dinner on 10/16. :( No luck yet. We have a lunch there already set for 11:45 but we have a Savi's set for 12:45 and that is not enough time when we need to be at Savi's no later than 12:30.
 
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wendysue

Well-Known Member
Nothing says Disney vacation like waking up at 5 am to get dining reservations 60 days out. This is absurd. And why planning a Disney vacation is no fun. Planning used to be one of my favorite parts of the trip but its become so laborious these days.
Exactly! I don't even bother any longer. We just eat wherever we can walk into or order from the pizza window at boardwalk.
 
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Sirwalterraleigh

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry to hear that but keep trying. The labor situation is very fluid and I don't believe they're releasing all of their table inventory at 60 days because they don't want to risk being overbooked for what they can staff.

Disney has eight job fair events scheduled for this month. Hopefully they're successful.

10/5 - All roles
10/7 - Lifeguards
10/12 - All roles
10/13 - Housekeeping
10/19 - All roles
10/20 - F&B
10/26 - All roles
10/27 - Housekeeping
That excuse is getting a tad old, isn’t it?
 
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