Am I missing something? H&V ADR full?

[WooPigScientist]

My ADR window opens tomorrow morning for our trip starting 1/2/16. I've been looking at what was available to reserve today for 1/1/16 - just to get an idea of how fast our restaurants/times are filling up and help me prioritize my ADR order. H&V is already full for lunch and late breakfast! I am I missing something that's going on at the park to cause this? Seems like a lot of people don't care for H&V, so I wasn't expecting it to fill up very quickly. It makes me a little nervous because HS is our second day (1/3) and my kids are bonkers for Doc, Sofia, and Jake, so I don't want to miss out on this one. I initially looked yesterday with the same results, but thought that NYE probably had something to do with it.

 

[Yzerbear19]

Not sure. I wasn't able to get it on the day my ADR window opened up for the day I wanted but did manage to get one for the day we are planning to leave. The CM I spoke with on the phone was just as baffled about it as I was because there was NO availibilty.

 

[quakechicago]

It's very popular and the only HS character meal. If you see something open up, grab it. Now stuff does open up at the 60 days because people cancel and you CAN get lucky and MAYBE get in when you're there, but don't count on it. My kiddo got ill while there and we went back another day (had to completely lose an epcot day to go back but it was important to my kiddo as you can see in her pic). Luckily they remembered us and we were able to get back in (it took a lot of CM help and phone calls btw), but each time we've been there, every trip, they turn people without reservations away even ones who try to come back for a table. It's a tough one.

 

[DJFan88]

Have also heard some people get early ADR's there, and then one parent goes over to stars wars academy to sign up kids while all finishing up at HV

 

[carmelhp]

There have been lots of recent complaints about the lack of open times at H&V around the end of the year. No one has been able to explain it.

 

[Minnesota!]

My guess..not an educated one, at all, is that H&V will either be under refurbishment, or rebranded...

 

[WooPigScientist]

Thanks for the input everyone! I was able to get the time I wanted this morning - I was up at 6 ET making my ADRS and had no problems. It just seemed very odd to me. I see a lot of lukewarm to negative reviews for H&V here and on other websites, and it seems like the characters would have more limited appeal to most than say, Mickey or Pooh. And it IS the only character dining in HS, but the same situation applies to Tusker House (which most people seem to really like) - TH was higher in my priority list. And HS still has some pretty cool TS spots - Prime Time, Sci-Fi, etc. So while the ADR is important to me because of my kids, I figured I wouldn't have any trouble getting one even if I wasn't trying early in the morning (my target time was 11 - 11:30 BTW).

It's very popular and the only HS character meal. If you see something open up, grab it. Now stuff does open up at the 60 days because people cancel and you CAN get lucky and MAYBE get in when you're there, but don't count on it. My kiddo got ill while there and we went back another day (had to completely lose an epcot day to go back but it was important to my kiddo as you can see in her pic). Luckily they remembered us and we were able to get back in (it took a lot of CM help and phone calls btw), but each time we've been there, every trip, they turn people without reservations away even ones who try to come back for a table. It's a tough one.

That's awesome that the CMs remembered your situation and went to so much trouble to get you a table! And the picture is priceless - love it! While my son will likely be pretty excited, my daughter is NUTS for Sofia and I cannot wait to see her face when she meets her! Hopefully its not tears and crying

Have also heard some people get early ADR's there, and then one parent goes over to stars wars academy to sign up kids while all finishing up at HV

I forgot to include my time in my original post, but I was looking at 11:00ish. I'd heard about the Jedi training/morning ADR strategy, but had completely forgotten. The only reservation I could come up with was 9:35 am - but what the heck with the lunch ressies?!

 

[WooPigScientist]

My guess..not an educated one, at all, is that H&V will either be under refurbishment, or rebranded...

Wondered about that too. But I hadn't seen any rumors to that effect here, so wasn't sure. I did hear that Disney is making some statements about the HS renovation in August, but didn't figure they'd actually have much going on by January. Is there a history of allowing people to make ADRs if the restaurant will be down during that time?

 

[Aggieamy5]

Have also heard some people get early ADR's there, and then one parent goes over to stars wars academy to sign up kids while all finishing up at HV

It's always been my understanding that the child doing the Jedi Training must be present with the parent in order to sign up. Has this recently changed?

 

[Aggieamy5]

Also, from reading posts on this forum, people have been able to make limited reservations from Sept through December (myself included), but like you said, the ADRs are extremely scarce. I would think if a refurbishment is even a possibility for these dates, no ADRs would be released at all. I have no idea what's going on and no one on the phone can seem to explain it

 

[rebsie]

Have also heard some people get early ADR's there, and then one parent goes over to stars wars academy to sign up kids while all finishing up at HV

Just for clarification, you cannot sign the kids up unless you have the kids with you!