Questions about Making Dining Reservations

[CJLove79]

Hey everybody, me and my girl's 180th day is coming up this Sunday and I know Be Our Guest will be the most difficult to get. I was playing around on the Disney World site to practice making the reservation online and I want to have an understanding on something. There's been a few times where I pick a random date and instead of putting me and my girl, I put one person and it gives me a timeframe. But when I change it to two people, that timeframe is gone and I'm like WTH. Why does it do that?

I've seen numerous clips of BOG on YouTube and I've never seen any tables where there's one chair. So I play around with the system further, I have my girl take a 12:30pm time and I try to get a time that's closest to hers so we can still be together. The system gives me a timeframe of 12:45pm and I was happy as hell. LOL. But I click on the time and get a message saying it conflicts with my girl's reservation. There was a 1:35pm reservation and when I clicked on that, no problem except the fact that I'm an hour away from my girl's time. So what's going on? How come it would accept one person but not two? three? etc? Is there a way around it so on Sunday I might still be able to get the time we want? Any tips & info you guys give me will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

It could be a capacity reason . My tip is what ever reservations you are doing get bog first. Doesn't matter what day your doing it it will be gone always snag it . Then go To your other ressies, I got 3 dinner reservations in September you will be fine!

 

[CJLove79]

It could be a capacity reason . My tip is what ever reservations you are doing get bog first. Doesn't matter what day your doing it it will be gone always snag it . Then go To your other ressies, I got 3 dinner reservations in September you will be fine!

Oh yeah, I know that, BOG will be my first place to go on Sunday, which was why I was "practicing". LOL. I'm flexible to a certain degree but I want the days/nights & times for a reason. I'ma have my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get them.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm confused...when I book dining, if I'm not doing a broad range search of all restaurants...I get to the page for that specific restaurant, I put in the date, the precise number of my party and either search by time or meal. I guess I'm just not understanding why you'd be an hour away from your girl's time. i.e. if you're a party of 2, just search for a party of 2. Sorry...just trying to understand.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

I'm confused...when I book dining, if I'm not doing a broad range search of all restaurants...I get to the page for that specific restaurant, I put in the date, the precise number of my party and either search by time or meal. I guess I'm just not understanding why you'd be an hour away from your girl's time. i.e. if you're a party of 2, just search for a party of 2. Sorry...just trying to understand.

I think he is saying ressies for 2 are not available, but ressies for 1 are? And he and his "girl" are both trying for a ressie for 1 with time frame close together?

Just as a comment here....I have had ressies for 1 before, and the host/hostess ALMOST ALWAYS ask if someone else would be joining me. My guess would be a ressie for 1 would work for 2 peeps as there are very few 1 seat tables...just sayin

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I think he is saying ressies for 2 are not available, but ressies for 1 are? And he and his "girl" are both trying for a ressie for 1 with time frame close together?

Just as a comment here....I have had ressies for 1 before, and the host/hostess ALMOST ALWAYS ask if someone else would be joining me. My guess would be a ressie for 1 would work for 2 peeps as there are very few 1 seat tables...just sayin

OK...I kind of get it now. I think if it were me at 6am on day 180...I'd still be trying for ressies for 2 before resorting to getting two individual ADRs for 1. But yeah...any table that could handle 1 could surely handle 2 and shouldn't be an issue.

 

[CJLove79]

I'm confused...when I book dining, if I'm not doing a broad range search of all restaurants...I get to the page for that specific restaurant, I put in the date, the precise number of my party and either search by time or meal. I guess I'm just not understanding why you'd be an hour away from your girl's time. i.e. if you're a party of 2, just search for a party of 2. Sorry...just trying to understand.

Sorry to confuse you HouCuseChickie, I log into MDE and go to Be Our Guest through my favorites in my browser. I didn't do a broad search for all restaurants in the Magic Kingdom. We're a party of 2 but just to test out their system, I changed it to a party of 1, picked a random date and chose various lunch & dinner times and those were what the site came with for the selections I made. What I was trying to do is see if me and my girl can still have a dinner together if I was to do two separate reservations that are maybe a half hour or less apart. That way, when we get there, we tell the CMs the situation and that its our 5 year anniversary and hopefully they'll let us through regardless. But as always, Disney thinks of everything because in my test, I was able to get a reservation an hour after my girl's timeframe. So on Sunday, my 180th day, I won't be able to do that and just have to hope that I either get it then or someone cancels later on & I get it. Its just messed up that you can make a reservation for one person but when you try to get the same reservation for two, you can't.

 

[EmmieSue]

Sorry to confuse you HouCuseChickie, I log into MDE and go to Be Our Guest through my favorites in my browser. I didn't do a broad search for all restaurants in the Magic Kingdom. We're a party of 2 but just to test out their system, I changed it to a party of 1, picked a random date and chose various lunch & dinner times and those were what the site came with for the selections I made. What I was trying to do is see if me and my girl can still have a dinner together if I was to do two separate reservations that are maybe a half hour or less apart. That way, when we get there, we tell the CMs the situation and that its our 5 year anniversary and hopefully they'll let us through regardless. But as always, Disney thinks of everything because in my test, I was able to get a reservation an hour after my girl's timeframe. So on Sunday, my 180th day, I won't be able to do that and just have to hope that I either get it then or someone cancels later on & I get it. Its just messed up that you can make a reservation for one person but when you try to get the same reservation for two, you can't.

Like has already been stated, if they are only letting one person in at those times then there is a good chance they are booked to capacity for all, but one person. In which case they most likely will not let you in with her until a single spot opens up. So you could be stuck waiting for an hour after she has already gone in to eat to go in yourself. Nothing they can do about capacity since it's a law. Generally Disney works in twos. A two person table fits one or two people. A four person table can be used for three or four. A six person table is for five or six etc. So if they weren't at capacity then they would allow for two, but since they are only allowing one...it's probably capacity.

People are already booked through for part of your 180 day period since on site guests can book 180+10 days out. You have a better chance getting a reservation farther into your vacation than at the very start of it. Really though, you'd be better off just waiting for a two person reservation to open up. The way you want to do it seems way too messy and very unlikely to work out.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Sorry to confuse you HouCuseChickie, I log into MDE and go to Be Our Guest through my favorites in my browser. I didn't do a broad search for all restaurants in the Magic Kingdom. We're a party of 2 but just to test out their system, I changed it to a party of 1, picked a random date and chose various lunch & dinner times and those were what the site came with for the selections I made. What I was trying to do is see if me and my girl can still have a dinner together if I was to do two separate reservations that are maybe a half hour or less apart. That way, when we get there, we tell the CMs the situation and that its our 5 year anniversary and hopefully they'll let us through regardless. But as always, Disney thinks of everything because in my test, I was able to get a reservation an hour after my girl's timeframe. So on Sunday, my 180th day, I won't be able to do that and just have to hope that I either get it then or someone cancels later on & I get it. Its just messed up that you can make a reservation for one person but when you try to get the same reservation for two, you can't.

I think I get it. Well, a couple of thoughts...
- as I noted before, if you're booking right at 6am on day 180, I'd try for a party of 2 before ever trying out this whole 2 different ADRs for a party of 1 idea. i.e. better to try for something more ideal before having to get too creative.
- my 2nd thought...if you have to resort to trying for two separate ADRs for a party of 1...do you have 2 separate Disney profiles/accounts? You'll need it because the system will view it as a double booking and force you to cancel the other.

While I've never used any of them, there are some sites out there that are paid services for ADRs. I guess they are set to automatically send you an alert when the ressie you're trying to get has an ADR opening. Just thinking it might be a good back up plan if you need it.

Either way- wish you the best of luck on getting this booked

 

[CJLove79]

Like has already been stated, if they are only letting one person in at those times then there is a good chance they are booked to capacity for all, but one person. In which case they most likely will not let you in with her until a single spot opens up. So you could be stuck waiting for an hour after she has already gone in to eat to go in yourself. Nothing they can do about capacity since it's a law. Generally Disney works in twos. A two person table fits one or two people. A four person table can be used for three or four. A six person table is for five or six etc. So if they weren't at capacity then they would allow for two, but since they are only allowing one...it's probably capacity.

People are already booked through for part of your 180 day period since on site guests can book 180+10 days out. You have a better chance getting a reservation farther into your vacation than at the very start of it. Really though, you'd be better off just waiting for a two person reservation to open up. The way you want to do it seems way too messy and very unlikely to work out.

I think I get it. Well, a couple of thoughts...
- as I noted before, if you're booking right at 6am on day 180, I'd try for a party of 2 before ever trying out this whole 2 different ADRs for a party of 1 idea. i.e. better to try for something more ideal before having to get too creative.
- my 2nd thought...if you have to resort to trying for two separate ADRs for a party of 1...do you have 2 separate Disney profiles/accounts? You'll need it because the system will view it as a double booking and force you to cancel the other.

While I've never used any of them, there are some sites out there that are paid services for ADRs. I guess they are set to automatically send you an alert when the ressie you're trying to get has an ADR opening. Just thinking it might be a good back up plan if you need it.

Either way- wish you the best of luck on getting this booked

Thanks Ladies for your ideas & tips, I wasn't going to do that mess on Sunday, I was simply trying to look for a way to game the system, that's all. LOL. I'm going to have the ADR Sniper website be on the watch for my specific days & times. Yeah, there's no guarantees that something will come out of it but its worth a shot. Besides, there's still plenty of time to change my Theme Park Touring Plans if I can only get a later reservation, I'm cool, hakuna matata.

 

[EmmieSue]

Thanks Ladies for your ideas & tips, I wasn't going to do that mess on Sunday, I was simply trying to look for a way to game the system, that's all. LOL. I'm going to have the ADR Sniper website be on the watch for my specific days & times. Yeah, there's no guarantees that something will come out of it but its worth a shot. Besides, there's still plenty of time to change my Theme Park Touring Plans if I can only get a later reservation, I'm cool, hakuna matata.

If you do end up doing it the messy way though, I do suggest doing it for dinner and not lunch. I believe with lunch you have to order from a computer kiosk thing before you go and sit down, so whoever went in first would have their food right away. Where as with the dinner you could wait to order. Best of luck to you!

 

[iluvMainStMagic]

Just a random thought here (and I might be missing something), but could the problems you are having be because you are not actually in your 180-day window? i.e. the system won't let you work within it at this point because it knows you aren't yet eligible to make any ADR's? So I maybe these issues are "normal" before the window opens up??
I wish you the best of luck getting your ADR's!

 

[CJLove79]

Just a random thought here (and I might be missing something), but could the problems you are having be because you are not actually in your 180-day window? i.e. the system won't let you work within it at this point because it knows you aren't yet eligible to make any ADR's? So I maybe these issues are "normal" before the window opens up??
I wish you the best of luck getting your ADR's!

Its funny you should say that because I've been thinking the same thing too. But I kinda doubt its that because I was able to actually MAKE the reservation on a day that we're not going, which was next Friday. LOL. I cancelled the reservation of course but the fact that it worked is weird to me. I'm thinking that if what you mentioned were truly the case, it wouldn't even let me make a reservation for next week y'know? But hey, what do I know? I'm not as knowledgeable about their systems as most of our fellow Mouseketeers on here. But I'm not going to worry so much about it, I WILL get a reservation at Be Our Guest, its just a matter of time & a little luck. I'm impatient like the next person but I'm not going to worry about what I can't control.

 

[stevehousse]

Just to add, even if you are having trouble getting dinner, lunch is just as good, and you can also book that at 180 days out, even though it is considered quick service.

 

[CJLove79]

Wow!!! Who knew making Disney World Dining Reservations would have you feel a bunch of feelings all at the same time? LOL. So my heart was beating like crazy five minutes before 4am in MST because I was nervous about the unknown y'know. I was already logged into my MDE account. When it hit 4am, I was fighting with the website like crazy, had to talk to Dining Reps four times, website crashes on me, I accidentally mess up a reservation, among other things. In the end, I got MOST of what I wanted. LOL.

I got BOG reservations for both Lunch and Dinner but not at the times and days I wanted. So I'ma keep track of BOG for the next few months. LOL. But despite how exhausting my morning has been, it was actually pretty fun. Have to look at the Disney side of things. I will be doing this again for my Room Only reservation on Thursday when it's the 180th day for THAT reservation. Thankfully, they're for restaurants that are not as popular as BOG. LOL. Thanks again for your tips everybody.

 

[iluvMainStMagic]

Its funny you should say that because I've been thinking the same thing too. But I kinda doubt its that because I was able to actually MAKE the reservation on a day that we're not going, which was next Friday. LOL. I cancelled the reservation of course but the fact that it worked is weird to me. I'm thinking that if what you mentioned were truly the case, it wouldn't even let me make a reservation for next week y'know? But hey, what do I know? I'm not as knowledgeable about their systems as most of our fellow Mouseketeers on here. But I'm not going to worry so much about it, I WILL get a reservation at Be Our Guest, its just a matter of time & a little luck. I'm impatient like the next person but I'm not going to worry about what I can't control.

That is interesting/weird that you could make an ADR outside of your window. I assumed that having an AP was the only way to make ADR's pretty much anytime, since an AP allows the holder entrance anytime, but I didn't think the system would allow it otherwise. Apparently I have a few things to learn! Sounds like you have the right attitude & plan for your ADR's

From your later post after making your ADR's:
So sorry you had so many problems! & Congratulations on getting some BOG ADR's! I agree that it is Very likely that you will be able to make some changes later to get closer to the times/dates that you want. But it always makes me feel better to have something in place to work from, that way, if it turns out that I can't get a day/time that I like better, I still have the opportunity to eat there......or if I cx the ADR, it was by choice.
And if it isn't too late to make acceptable changes in your plans, you might be able to get a day/time that you want even after you get there, since people sometimes cx ADR's as late as the day before.

Yay!! you are well on the way in your planning!!