Help! Reservations seem impossible to get for Nov 2015

[PrincessBelle23]

LOL. I spent 2 hours the other morning when my 180 day opened up constantly hitting refresh. I felt like I needed to take a xanax or something, lol. I still have 4 ADR's I am trying to get. Hang in there, I am sure you will get what you want eventually.

P<G
OMG same here!! I was up at 5:45 and anxiously watched the clock to start booking the ADRs, then called at 7am to see if they could help with any that I couldn't get. We snagged a BOG but in hindsight I don't even know if we will make it that day unless we re-work our week a bit, but I was so shocked when it popped up. I was able to get Ohana and a Chef Mickey's for a different night than what I originally planned for, but no BOG

 

[abs1978]

That's where we are exactly. Free dining was a nice bonus. Then we got a 30% off pin and used that instead. Now we think we will just switch because while I can handle crowds I can't handle eating at odd times. We have Akershus finally but it's at 3:10. 1900 Parkfare is at 7:45. Those times just don't work with a 4 year old! Decisions, decisions. Will keep stalking the site for a few days and see if something pops up. I am still absolutely baffled by the whole Hollywood and Vine thing. Right now I could book an 8 am breakfast almost any day in early November. So odd.

Funny you should mention that..thought crossed my mind as well. We were already going in november when FD popped up...then we were like "yay", now we're like "boo"! I've maneuvered my ADR's in the last 3 days, somewhat to my liking..so anything is possible i suppose. I'm just not interested in the crowd levels having gone up. I'm a princess i know!

 

[lazer]

Funny you should mention that..thought crossed my mind as well. We were already going in november when FD popped up...then we were like "yay", now we're like "boo"! I've maneuvered my ADR's in the last 3 days, somewhat to my liking..so anything is possible i suppose. I'm just not interested in the crowd levels having gone up. I'm a princess i know!

I thought the same thing, but restaurants being crowded is different than park crowds. According to some forecasts, most park days for our trip are still around 4/5s (on a 10 scale). Much better than holiday weekends or summer

 

[lazer]

Just saw a Hollywood and Vine for 4 people on the 15th at 12:30! If someone wants to grab it!

 

[FunTimeMom]

I am so frustrated, and confused. One of my favorite parts of Disney is my son who has food allergies can eat easily at Disney. He can have dessert and have it be special and good. It is such a treat and pure magic for us. I followed all the rules to get the reservations we wanted - we booked early enough to make ADRs at 180 days, we are staying on property and I was up early ready to go. To have so many computer glitches and then pretty much everything booked solid is such a disappointment. My son asked if we got into his favorite restaurant, Ohana, and when I said no his eyes looked so disappointed before he said we would have fun anyway. I know he is right, we'll still have fun, but knowing I couldn't get one of the special things he asked for is disappointing. We haven't had this problem in the past, even with FD at the time we went, so I was not anticipating this level of chaos. It seems so out of character for Disney to have something go so poorly.

 

[mjallemand]

P<G
OMG same here!! I was up at 5:45 and anxiously watched the clock to start booking the ADRs, then called at 7am to see if they could help with any that I couldn't get. We snagged a BOG but in hindsight I don't even know if we will make it that day unless we re-work our week a bit, but I was so shocked when it popped up. I was able to get Ohana and a Chef Mickey's for a different night than what I originally planned for, but no BOG

How the heck...I was up at 5AM on Monday and the first restaurant I tried to get ADRs for was Be Our Guest, but they were completely unavailable...and still are, along with Raglan Road.

 

[PrincessBelle23]

How the heck...I was up at 5AM on Monday and the first restaurant I tried to get ADRs for was Be Our Guest, but they were completely unavailable...and still are, along with Raglan Road.

We got lucky, but I was surprised at the ADRs that weren't available. If we're able to get our planned day for BOG and I drop the other one I will definitely post in the cancelled thread to hopefully help someone else out..

 

[JimmyBean42]

We got very lucky when we booked last Sunday. We were booking tables for 18 people (big group trip). We had to do a lot of split tables (10 one table 8 another) but were able to get Chef Mickey's, CRT, and a few other tough ones. BOG dinner was impossible, even if we wanted to just have a small group of us go (we even tried for 4 so the kids who love the Beast could go with one adult and no luck). We were able to get a BOG lunch on our last day though. The only other places we had a tough time with were Garden Grill (it was the last restaurant we tried to book), Tusker House (which I attribute to a lack of TS restaurants at AK), and TRex our first few days there. Overall we were very lucky though and got 7 good TS meals booked. I am nervous for what FP+ booking will be at the 60 day mark though.

 

[samsteele]

and TRex our first few days there.

If you still want a TRex reservation, you could call direct. If you google TRex, you will find the tel number. Its a Landry's restaurant (not owned by Disney) so likely they have openings available for your date and time. Others have had success with this.

 

[JimmyBean42]

Oh and my wife swears (conspiracy warning) that WDW is deliberately holding back dining reservations b/c this is a free dining week and saving some for profiles that are either not on free dining or will release later hoping people booking the TS restaurants are last minute and paying cash. I think that may be a stretch but interesting conspiracy.

 

[JimmyBean42]

If you still want a TRex reservation, you could call direct. If you google TRex, you will find the tel number. Its a Landry's restaurant (not owned by Disney) so likely they have openings available for your date and time. Others have had success with this.

Thank you very much. I'll try that out. Greatly appreciate the help.

 

[samsteele]

Oh and my wife swears (conspiracy warning) that WDW is deliberately holding back dining reservations b/c this is a free dining week and saving some for profiles that are either not on free dining or will release later hoping people booking the TS restaurants are last minute and paying cash. I think that may be a stretch but interesting conspiracy.

Holding back ressies is likely true. A pattern has been forming over the past few weeks. Just what the rationale is . . . is known only to Disney. Keep trying over the next few weeks as it seems more ressies open up approx 2 to 2 1/2 weeks after the 180 +10 d-day. If no luck then, also try in the 24 hrs before your wanted time as people drop their reservation to avoid the cancellation fee. Good luck!

 

[lazer]

How the heck...I was up at 5AM on Monday and the first restaurant I tried to get ADRs for was Be Our Guest, but they were completely unavailable...and still are, along with Raglan Road.

Book Raglan Road through opentable (opentable.com). They had tons of availability when I was booking both that and Paradiso 37. And, you can use your dining credits.

 

[Sherrkel]

At my 180 day mark (this past Tuesday) the only day I could get BOG for lunch was 11/21 (the very last day of our trip that starts 11/15). And the only times available for 2 ppl were 10:45am or 1:45pm. Since we have to be on ME at 3pm, I couldn't chance the later ADR. So, we'll be having a very early lunch at 10:45am! I will keeping checking, I just have a feeling more availability will open up.

 

[abs1978]

We are officially switching our dates to early December when free dining isn't being offered. This is nuts. We are going for my daughter's 5th birthday and she has asked for exactly three meals--Hollywood and Vine, something with Cinderella, and Akershus. I can't make any of it happen. I think availability will open up but I don't want to risk it. DH and I were talking about our trip in 2009 and how crowded all of the QS places were. It was impossible to find a table and we were waiting 45 minutes in line just to order. Quick search shows that was free dining. Nope. I'll take my room discount and run to another time! Once we switch I'll post here before releasing any reservations.

 

[Bella749]

At my 180 day mark (this past Tuesday) the only day I could get BOG for lunch was 11/21 (the very last day of our trip that starts 11/15). And the only times available for 2 ppl were 10:45am or 1:45pm. Since we have to be on ME at 3pm, I couldn't chance the later ADR. So, we'll be having a very early lunch at 10:45am! I will keeping checking, I just have a feeling more availability will open up.

Same here, my 180 day was Monday and I had to go to the very last day of my trip 11/20 for an early BOG lunch. It seems like the people that have at least a 7 night stay can at least snatch a BOG reservation for their last day.

 

[JimmyBean42]

Same here, my 180 day was Monday and I had to go to the very last day of my trip 11/20 for an early BOG lunch. It seems like the people that have at least a 7 night stay can at least snatch a BOG reservation for their last day.

We have a nine night stay in mid-November and could only get BOG QS lunch at 2. All dinners were booked already. I find that a little hard to swallow seeing that we are staying 9 nights, but I'll take the lunch and use a TS credit somewhere else. I did talk to a customer service rep and they did confirm the system was upgraded and has been very quirky and not working right. Keep trying!

 

[FunTimeMom]

Has anyone spoken to anyone at Disney above the reservation number? I imagine they don't like a bunch of angry customers.

 

[22Tink]

I'm staying 8 nights and I could only get BOG for dinner on our last day, too. I didn't even try for earlier dates because I didn't think I'd have any luck.

 

[midnightlouise]

We're staying 7 nights and I have yet to see a BOG open up for lunch, even on our last day. And I'm trying every day, multiple times lol. This system is crazy. I mean, to be fair, I have 6 months to worry about it, so something will likely pop up, but sheesh. I didn't have this much trouble booking dinner for 6 people during free dining 2 years ago...