What a CM said about ADRs...

[Jasminerk13]

I have been trying for about 2-3 weeks now for a ressie at 1900 park fare for dinner in sept. without any luck at all.

I mentioned this to a CM on the phone this evening. Her advice was that any ressies 90 days out are extremely difficult to get (which is what I've been experiencing too). She said not to try everyday like I have been because very few people are cancelling their ressies right now. She suggested waiting til about 10 days out from our trip and start looking then. She said people start calling to cancel while they are in Orlando and changing plans around. She said it would be really easy to get ressies a week from now versus 90 days from now.

What do you guys think? Is this what you are seeing also?
Should I give up looking for now and try back when we get really close to our vacay?

 

[junebugs]

Well...I have been trying to get an earlier time for our ADR at Teppan Edo
(7:50 pm) for our trip in Aug, but so far NO luck.

I've called a few times and so far I've been told there are no openings at all.

The last CM I spoke to told me to keep trying as people DO cancel. Your CM's suggestion to call closer to arrival sounds reasonable. But I'll probably keep calling to check whenever I think about it.

 

[momtonandz]

I was told to call around the 45 day mark as thats when reservations are set and final payments are due. Thus canceling around then. Who knows. I check whenever I think about it! It is my fun obsession for now!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

The online system makes it easy enough to just jump on and see. I am looking for a better time for my last "imperfect" ADR and I check a couple of times a day. It doesn't hurt, and I had lots of luck with tweaking a bunch of my original ADRs.

 

[dd50]

I was told to call around the 45 day mark as thats when reservations are set and final payments are due. Thus canceling around then. Who knows. I check whenever I think about it! It is my fun obsession for now!

I found that to be try. We are going the week before FD and did get ressies but not at the times we wanted. I called and when they started with the online ressies and nothing came up until we were at about 50 days before trip and we got to change all of them that we wanted as it seemed people were cancelling at that time. Just keep looking online.

 

[Debbie-TN]

Isn't every day somebody's 10th or 45th day? I don't quite understand that.

 

[srferson]

Isn't every day somebody's 10th or 45th day? I don't quite understand that.

Not sure exactly what you mean. The only people you really care about are the ones who are going to be there around the same time as you, so they have similar timeframes. So if a bunch of people cancel around their 45 days mark, then they'll be canceling right around what will be your 45 day mark too.

 

[Debbie-TN]

Not sure exactly what you mean. The only people you really care about are the ones who are going to be there around the same time as you, so they have similar timeframes. So if a bunch of people cancel around their 45 days mark, then they'll be canceling right around what will be your 45 day mark too.

I'm not sure what I mean either. I was just thinking that I'm trying to get a reservation for Hollywood and Vine on Sept 29. So I'm checking every day now, but even though it's not my 45th day until I check in, it's someone's 45th day before they check in, right? It's just all too much for my poor little confused brain.

 

[ktlm]

I have had luck when I was already on my trip and calling about the next day or another day during the week. I have also cancelled or moved ADRs while on our trip, sometimes a day or two in advance and sometimes the day of the ADR, when our park plans have suddenly changed. I gave up a prime pre-park Tusker House ADR the day before (I was luckily able to switch it to a 9:30 a.m. because I realized my 2 year old DD was never going to make it there that early). I also know that some people that aren't that familiar with WDW, show up with 3 TS ADRs a day, and quickly realize they have overdone it and cancel several. Also, what is your party size? For our last trip, I could not get 1900 Park Fare either. We were a party of 5, the CM suggested that if we suddenly had an "extra" person, we could have our pick of times. I said we are a party of 6 then, and I had my choice of times. I wouldn't give up looking for now though. I would just keep trying right up until September. Now that you can make reservations on line, it should be pretty easy to check that every day.

 

[~M&M~]

I agree to keep trying, especially now that you can check online. We are going in Sept also and it took a little effort to secure everything at the times we wanted. Online wasn't up yet at our 90 day so we called right at opening on our 90 day and we did get all the choices we wanted, however, not all the times we wanted. I kept checking online and was able to change all the times eventually to my original choices. Also, it can make a difference to add a "person" to your party like previously suggested. I had one reservation like that that I made to secure in case we couldn't find anything else. I kept checking though for our proper party size and I actually just got it the other day for exactly the time I wanted. It's a great feeling when you finally get one you've been trying for! I hope this happens for you too!

 

[PrincessBelle39]

I've been checking daily online for those hard to get ADR's that i was unable to secure at my 90 day mark. So far i have managed to snag all but one. I'm now about 75days out. Its easy to check online and you never know what you might pickup.

 

[tami82]

I have had luck with most of my reservations with the online system. I have been tweeking for the past few weeks and they are about perfect. I still think you should check daily. You never know when someone is going to cancel. I have had already 5 popular places come up for me so i can make changes for the better on my original reservations. It does make sense though as i was thinking about that just recently, i have a feeling once our vacation comes around that there are going to be many last minute cancellations. I bet there are people booking more reservations than they really need since they dont what they want to do from day to day. I am also sure there are some people that book two or three meals a day (1 or 2 of them which they probably have no intention of using each day just so they have that option of choosing either place depending on their circumstances that day)

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

Just wanted to pop in and say I think this is true We just planned a very last minute trip and I was able to get everything I wanted using the online reservations: Chef Mickey's for Bfast, CRT for dinner, California Grill, Le Cellier, Rose and Crown and Yak and Yeti at decent times within 7 days of our trip - we leave for the world tomorrow

I did have to look around and try for a couple days but I was able to get great times and great ADR's at the last minute.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I would still go on line and check every day or call every day but I do agree that while in Disney things did open up for us...for 3 weeks before we left I was trying to get dinner at 50's Prime Time and it was sold out. Then I called one night while in Epcot to change things around and I was able to get dinner at 50's for the next night at many different times! Same thing with Flying Fish, I got that at the last minute too!

 

[carol-lamb]

The CM I spoke with when I was making my ADRs told me the same thing when I couldn't get Le Cellier for my September trip. They told me the same thing for my last trip this past June. I never was able to get a reservation there in June - not at my 90 day mark, not a few weeks before or while I was there!

I'm not counting on eating there in September either, but I have been checking online daily!

 

[MommyGina]

Just keep trying to get what you want via the on line reservation dining. We are going in August with another family. I had originally booked my reservations and then they decided to join us. I went to the onl-line booking and couldn't get everything for dining that we had. This was a week ago now. So they made alternative plans to go their own way.

Yesterday, I tried again, as I have been doing, and found all the reservations that matched our. We even got a reservation for a party of seven at Ohana for breakfast. There was none to be found a week ago.

It seemed like a whole lot of reservations opened up yesterday.

Good luck.

 

[pooch]

I'm not sure what I mean either. I was just thinking that I'm trying to get a reservation for Hollywood and Vine on Sept 29. So I'm checking every day now, but even though it's not my 45th day until I check in, it's someone's 45th day before they check in, right? It's just all too much for my poor little confused brain.

you only care about people who have ressies for the 29th. Their day 45 will fall right around yours, give or take a few. Someone who's 45 day mark is today, for example, won't be there on Sept 29th (although I will!!) so their cancelling makes no difference to you. Calling around YOUR 45 day mark may give you access to cancellations being made by people going when you are and the possibility of snagging something you need. Make sense?

 

[Debbie-TN]

you only care about people who have ressies for the 29th. Their day 45 will fall right around yours, give or take a few. Someone who's 45 day mark is today, for example, won't be there on Sept 29th (although I will!!) so their cancelling makes no difference to you. Calling around YOUR 45 day mark may give you access to cancellations being made by people going when you are and the possibility of snagging something you need. Make sense?

Thanks. That makes sense.